Even as the injured veterans undergo treatment or therapy, the Walter Reed Equal Employment Opportunity Office (EEOO) offers classes to help prepare them for careers in information technology (IT) and tech support.  As a part of the Assistive Technology Training Program (ATTP), educators guide participants to develop the knowledge and skills they need to become Microsoft and Network + certified technicians or even engineers.

Early on, the program was a huge success with a number of men and women passing their first level of certification and, more importantly, gaining needed confidence to excel in a new career.  However, many in the program were discharged from the hospital before they were able to complete the program. They were unable to learn the full set of skills necessary to pass certification exams.

Carl Stephenson, the primary educator for the Walter Reed program, began looking for an “on-demand” solution to continue training those who could not be present in the physical classroom.  After evaluating a few collaboration tools, Stephenson chose WebEx Training Center Online Classroom to help extend the reach of the training program.

Today, with the help of WebEx Training Center, educators are able to work with injured soldiers no matter where they are recovering, ensuring that they are able to gain the skills and knowledge they need to pass certification exams.  In addition, WebEx enables participants to continue on with the program to expand their skill set and qualifications by allowing access to advanced new training classes with educators around the country.

Karl Unbehagen is one of the soldiers who have benefited from the program.  One of the original students, Unbehagen suffered from TBI (traumatic brain injury) and worked with Stephenson to gain new skills as well as to meet his goal of returning to active duty.  Today, Unbehagen has 8 IT certifications, is back on active duty and is currently at Fort Hood in Texas preparing to return to Iraq.

Stephen Holden is still in training with Stephenson and plans to leverage the skills and training he has received to start a new career after he retires from the military.  Holden noted that there will come a time when it will be difficult for him to commute to work every day and he values the ability to have a sustainable career from anywhere.

That online collaboration tools have transformed the way millions of people approach their jobs is no secret or surprise; however, it is exciting and inspiring to see the ways it helps injured veterans discover new career opportunities and options.

Bob Lee is senior product marketing manager of WebEx Learning Solutions, Cisco WebEx

Effective global websites require much more effort than simply translating content: from rewriting marketing pitches to reflect different cultural values; to reconceptualizing website design and colors; to getting small details right, such as formatting or currency, explains Prof. Nitish Singh, California State University, Chico, author of a pioneering book on this topic.

Some companies with vast resources such as IBM, Ikea and even MTV (the music network) have done a credible job of implementing culturally customized sites, says Prof. Singh. Not surprisingly, most companies lack both the necessary management support and the staff expertise to attempt this localization initiative. Still, Prof. Singh, who has developed a unique course and certification program for multicultural website localizations, says there is a shortage of these skills.

“If a person has a background in languages and international business getting some localization training is valuable leverage,” says Prof. Singh. “Now you have a skill which very few people have and that gives you an edge over people who are competing against you.”

With two-thirds of the world’s billion Internet surfers speaking languages other than English, there’s plenty of room for growth in this nascent field.

Beyond those two fields, however, it’s hit-and-miss, according to top cultural trainers. Without the insights of cross-cultural training, many American managers – who often lack international travel or global business experience – face a heightened risk of project failure.

The return on investment in training global workers isn’t always evident to senior management, many of whom have never played a globally collaborative role in the organization. “What I have learned is that it’s extremely difficult to [initiate] formal training,” says Natasha Crundwell, President of People Going Global, a Washington-D.C. cultural consulting firm. “In many cases executives may not see the need for structured training.”

Yet, companies that hire third-party trainers typically approve group classes that last just one half day up to two days at most. Is some training better than none at all? Absolutely – I went through Berlitz training shortly before assuming a cross-cultural editorial management role in the fall of 2005. I came out of it with a better understanding of Indian culture, which improved my ability to absorb other information later. However, I felt eight hours was just scratching the surface.

“I would love two days of building and bonding and making it work but we’re not given that,” concedes Lu Ellen Schafer, president of Global Savvy in Palo Alto, Calif. She says the key takeaway, after eight hours, is this: “Most important is to get over the hump of not being able to communicate across cross-cultural or distance barriers. Once you get over that barrier than you can figure things out with international colleagues. ”

The training sessions are typically jam-packed with interactive discussions, study guides, videos, and thick training manuals. “We look at whole thing from contrast and compare perspective,” explains Crundwell. “By the end of eight hours we come up with a global communication protocol. It’s just how to become a more aware communicator in a global workplace.”

Even if senior executives don’t see the ROI, the executives engaged in cross-culturally collaborative roles certainly value the information, says Crundwell. “There’s a lot of awareness that they need this skill and there’s an awareness that if they want to stay competitive that they have to work with cross-cultural peers.”

Considering what’s at stake for workers engaged in globally-collaborative roles, the wisest course of action is to start with one of these courses and then dive into the additional reading list to deepen your skills as needed.

Ever since my post about studying abroad in which I suggested that it was becoming a bit of a business, my e-mail in box has become the beneficiary of notices about various college courses and services.

As a blogger and journalist gazing at college life like earth through the Hubble telescope, I wanted to talk to David Gaston, Director of Kansas University’s Career Center, to discuss rumors that Jayhawk students have been seen tramping the streets of London in search of a global career.

“The main thing we were trying to do,” Gaston says of the group of seven students he brought to London, is “realize there’s an opportunity out there but you have got to take risks to understand what it’s all about.”

Believe it or not, nearly one in four KU students will spend time studying overseas before graduation. Gaston is among those tasked with pushing those numbers up to 40 percent, which would be truly impressive indeed.

Gaston’s students devoted their spring break to a London trip that included daily meetings with various corporations, academic representatives (they checked out Cambridge), plus various KU grads working in global jobs. 

Gaston’s program is promising but it’s hardly immersive – like many universities KU offers a full range of opportunities and course credits. And it’s competitive: A number of Ivy League universities are partnering with corporations and even government agencies to create job, academic or internship experiences that require foreign language skills and a commitment of three months to a year.

Yet, Gaston’s on to a good thing. It’s better to experiment in college rather than jump in 20 years later only to find out it’s not right for you or your family.

Have you studied abroad and what did it do for your career?

The latest evidence – you guessed it – those pesky SAT scores.

• The average math score dropped from 518 in 2006 to 515 in 2007
• Critical reading dropped from 503 in 2006 to 502 in 2007
• Writing scores fell from 497 in 2006 to 494 in 2007

For its part, the College Board, which administers the SAT to American high school seniors, insists that the decline wasn’t “statistically significant.”

Perhaps, but the needle isn’t pointed in the right direction either.

Are American students getting dumber or are schools, teachers or parents getting worse? My take is none of the above. The curriculum isn’t as exacting as what we see in Europe and Asia and, worst of all, we underfund school programs. Raising teacher pay should yield long-term dividends.

In other words, it’s our own damn fault for electing politicians with other priorities.

And yet, money doesn’t solve everything. According to the Wall Street Journal, “The test takers reported as being among the wealthiest [US$100,000+] were one of the groups that saw the biggest declines.” On the other hand, students with family incomes of $10,000-$20,000 were the only group that saw an increase in all three test areas.

No doubt, the wealthiest can switch their children to private schools or hire tutors. But as a matter of national policy does it make sense to overlook or under-invest in our best & brightest? Time magazine charges that we are “Failing our Geniuses.” As evidence, there’s a high college dropout rate among the top five percent of high-school grads according to one study cited by Time. It gets worse.

Are we doing enough to nurture and prepare students to compete in the global economy?

It’s no secret that foreign students pay higher tuition fees than domestic ones and colleges will go to considerable lengths to reel them in. Even the U.S. Congress is getting into the act.

A new piece of bi-partisan legislation called the Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act sets an ambitious goal for 1 million U.S. students to study abroad by 2017. The bill authorizes $80 million for grants to individual students, colleges and universities and nongovernmental institutions that provide study abroad opportunities.  The bi-partisan bill is in tribute to the late senator from Illinois. (I remember Simon’s bow ties, and recall that he jumped into a presidential race in 1988.)

One of the session highlights involved a presentation by Hobsons spotlighting data from a 2006 study of college students planning to study overseas from their bases in China, US, Nigeria, and India. By far, the most popular reason to study abroad was this: “Standard of education is better abroad than in my home country.”

Students from more affluent countries prefer to study abroad more for the ‘experience’ than to learn a particular skill.  Have you studied abroad and would you recommend it to others?

I would start with an innovative program launching this summer in India and the U.S. by two of the world’s top business schools, called the Global Leaders Program: Growing and Innovating in a Flat World. Students will spend eight days in Ahmedabad, India, followed by eight days in North Carolina. The program is staffed by professors from the Indian Institute of Management – (IIM-A) and Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Sounds cool, but for US$19,000 it had better deliver the goods, right?

The program will include interactive sessions with both Indian and American business leaders. A key takeaway is that participants will be asked to create and present a leadership plan that has to stand up under multicultural scrutiny.

One of the key advantages of a program like this is an intangible – networking. “Part of the role of this program is not just learning it’s also networking – you meet people from the rest of the world who are leaders,” says S. “Vish” Viswanathan, Robert L. Dickens Professor of Finance at Fuqua.  

If you are a manager with global aspirations but little international experience, you should evaluate whether executive education will better prepare you to realize your ambitions. There is still plenty of time to sign up for the Global Leaders program: Session 1 is in India, August 20-27; followed by Session 2: USA, Sept. 17-24.

Do you plan to attend any cool educational programs this summer? Would you check out this program if you had means to do it?