President's Message:
Occasionally I find myself starting out these messages with an impression of something I had just read, seen or experienced, and this quarter is no exception. It seems that even in the face of turbulent markets and housing construction declines, innovations abound. Recently in a USA Today article I noted the innovations regarding interactive services for children relating to the internet. There was a focus on the development of educational games that helped students improve performance in the areas of reading and math and there was mention of an online tutoring system. The difference is that the tutoring system was available for your avatar (your virtual self) on Second Life (your virtual world) so that the real you can improve in the real world. You probably know that the electronic gaming industry has recently overtaken profits made by the Hollywood filmmaking industry, so it’s certainly a very large market. Why do I start with a story like this? Because we want you to know that we monitor the trends and evaluate the possibilities. The Whitener Group is a relatively small company which makes us both agile and aggressive when it comes to serving the customer. Though we currently don’t offer services for your avatar, we are offering a number of innovations and improvements that will better serve our clients!
First, we continue to have a strong partnership with our friends at ACTE (Association of Career and Technical Education). Through this partnership we’ll be offering our second Pre-Convention Assessment Conference. This conference will incorporate presentations on industry certifications, apprenticeship and technical training. The conference will take place in Charlotte, NC on December 3, 2008. More information will be available later, but for now, please mark your calendar!
We have made a number of advancements on the technical side; text to speech, a new Client Services Site, newly formatted reports, and of course, greatly increased online testing capacity. With the majority of our clients relying on the speed and accuracy of our online systems and software we felt we had to give this proprietary system a name. The name we’ve chosen is QuadNet. QuadNet provides Quality User-friendly Assessment Development and Delivery services. It contains four primary services for our clients; management, development, report delivery, and resource availability. Both Whitener Group and its holding company, NOCTI, are powered by QuadNet!
In an effort to increase your efficiency, we are proud to say that your phone calls to The Whitener Group will be answered by a “live” person. You’ll have the pleasure of talking to Julie, Laura, Anne, or Lana when you call our 800 number. Our customer service specialists will determine the person best suited to answer your question when you call. They have also been trained to recognize technical support questions and to connect you immediately to one of the Quad Squad: Andrea, Mandy, Helen, or Eric. Quad Squad experts are available to assist you with technical issues during our regular business hours, however, after hours support may be arranged if requested.
The Whitener Group’s real value is in helping you improve your workforce. We offer professional development programs and workshops designed to help your staff understand assessment, accountability, training gap analysis, using data to improve programs and much, much more. These sessions can be delivered in person or through web-conferencing tools. You’ll also discover that we have listened to your requests and have begun offering Spanish translations of some of our tests.
This year we will begin to roll out our new assessment blueprints. They will offer updated information on what your technical training should include using charts, graphs, and graphics. For a preview of the new format, please take a look at http://www.nocti.org/Jobready.cfm.
Lastly, a new Director, Bruce Hopkins, has joined The Whitener Group Board. Bruce is Vice President of Standards & Education at RVIA (Recreational Vehicle Industry Association). He replaces Jerry Balda, also from RVIA. Although Jerry will be missed, we certainly appreciate his leadership during his tenure on the Board and his assistance in nominating Bruce Hopkins.
As always, if we can help in any way, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We consider ourselves to be an important partner in helping prepare the workforce of the future. On behalf of the entire Whitener Group staff, thank you for the good things you are doing to improve the training of your employees and our economic future.
Please feel free to contact us and let us know how we may be of assistance to you and your colleagues. Sincerely, |
 |
