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Useful Guides
Testimonials
Alstom
With over 2,000 downloads to date we have found our Useful Guide Library an excellent training resource for our staff. The Useful Guides are practical, well written and reinforce the learning through exercises, relevant web links and online questionnaires. We recommend them highly!
David Kirby, Learning and Development Manager, Alstom Grid
Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education
The Pansophix Useful Guides have been a terrific find for us at the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education and have helped fill a void for our users in many areas of personal development and management and leadership.
Lesley Grimes, Senior Pharmacist, Learning development, Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education
The Pansophix Useful Guides have been a terrific find for us at the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education and have helped fill a void for our users in many areas of personal development and management and leadership.
The Useful Guides are written in a relaxed yet informative style which makes them easy and enjoyable to read and are full of useful tools and interactivity to help you apply new skills and techniques to day to day life.
Ian and Steve are a joy to work with and have been extremely supportive and helpful with all our requests. If anyone is looking for a library of resources like this then we would have no hesitation in recommending Pansophix.
De Montfort University
We've found that the Useful Guides from Pansophix have been a very cost-effective solution to develop staff in a large variety of subjects. They have helped complement our face-to-face workshops and enabled us to provide our staff another way to learn and develop.
Mohamed Kassam, Training and Development Technologist, De Montfort University
In times where the face and nature of Higher Education is changing rapidly in the UK, those working in the HE sector have to be exceptionally prudent and wise where resources are being utilised and spent.
Consequently, we've found that the Useful Guides from Pansophix have been a very cost-effective solution to develop staff in a large variety of subjects. They have helped complement our face-to-face workshops and enabled us to provide our staff another way to learn and develop.
The Useful Guides are available in digital format (PDF) so they can be easily saved and printed, viewed online, distributed by email, and also browsed on various mobile and tablet devices.
Pansophix (Ian and Steve) have been great in their support and service, and I commend them highly.
Durham University
Excellent value for money. We have recommended this product to other Higher Education institutions in the area via the North East Staff Development Network.
Mark Crabtree, Assistant HR Director (Training & Development), Durham University
How has the University benefited so far?
The university provides a comprehensive portfolio of personal development opportunities for all staff across the organisation with a number of initiatives focussing on management and leadership. The aim of these initiatives is to enable the university to enhance its leadership and management capacity. The materials available from Pansophix provide an excellent additional resource to support these programmes and ensures that all staff have an opportunity to build upon and reinforce the learning they have received in a timely and easily accessible manner.
How have you encouraged use of the resources?
We offer a blended approach to learning recognising that not all staff wish to attend a face to face training session. The Pansophix materials have been promoted through our training course website and via our on-line training course booking system. Facilitators at training events also promote the materials.
Have you had any comments from staff on their views on the resource in general or specific Useful Guides?
Staff have found the range of titles useful to support management development programmes and personal development. The titles have been promoted via the personal development area of the staff intranet.
Has it been good value for money?
Excellent value for money. We have recommended this product to other Higher Education institutions in the area via the North East Staff Development Network.
Edge Hill University
Lecturers are encouraged to put a link on the Virtual Learning Environment to guide their students towards the resources and students can also access the Useful Guides directly when they log into their account from anywhere in the world.
Sally Wilson, Head of Staff Learning & Development, Edge Hill University
From the very beginning we made all the identified Useful Guides available to students as well as to staff.
Two years on and students continue to make best use of them!
Lecturers are encouraged to put a link on the VLE to guide their students towards the resources and students can also access the Useful Guides directly when they log into their account from anywhere in the world.
Exactly the same applies to Edge Hill staff and it's interesting to see how the University planning cycle impacts on the number of downloads at particular times of the year.
We regularly publish the number of downloads for the top six Useful Guides by students and staff to give people a flavour of what's in demand and also provide a link to relevant Useful Guides to support workshops in our central staff development programme.
Over time we've added to the library and are currently delighted to be collaborating on A Useful Guide to Being Resilient which we're looking forward to welcoming into the collection!!
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
The Useful Guide Library series has been a roaring success at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. We initially launched 10 programmes and were so impressed with the style, ease and quality of the courses we added an additional bespoke programme to our portfolio.
Matthew Alexander, Statutory, Mandatory & Vocational Facilitator, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust
The Useful Library guide series has been a roaring success at Imperial healthcare NHS Trust. We initially launch 10 programmes and were so impressed with the style, ease and quality of the courses we added an additional bespoke programme to our portfolio.
The range we chose invited our staff of 10,000 to re-engage into further developing their current skill set and abilities.
The bite size programmes meant you didn’t need to remove yourself from the workplace for a full day to study or attend a time consuming class based session. This was a huge benefit to our organisation, working in the healthcare setting, where allocating study time was at a premium.
Using our internal intranet and in-house publications, we rigorously promoted the various programmes and the take up was instant.
Positive feedback from employees who have completed programmes have demonstrated the courses to be an excellent and worthy addition to the Learning & Development network frame and we are extremely happy we made the decision to work in partnership with Pansophix and look forward to continue doing so in the future.
Lancaster University
Users have commented favourably on the ease of access to the materials and the broad range of coverage. With over 1,750 downloads so far, Lancaster staff have made good use of this provision. From the institutional point of view, this provides a relatively low-cost and useful adjunct to our staff development programme.
Joe Thornberry, Organisation and Educational Development, Lancaster University
Lancaster University has been using the Pansophix Guides and support for over two years as part of our staff development provision.
We use them in a number of ways: as recommended back-up further reading for in-house workshops and programmes, as an alternative to course attendance, and as individually-accessible development where there is no in-house or departmental provision immediately available.
Lancaster has in place an annual performance and development review process for all staff, and the Guides and Tips and Tools provide both the means to explore development options and access to support for particular development needs.
Users have commented favourably on the ease of access to the materials and the broad range of coverage.
With over 1,750 downloads so far, Lancaster staff have made good use of this provision.
From the institutional point of view, this provides a relatively low-cost and useful adjunct to our staff development programme.
London Borough of Bromley
They are a great resource to have as a stand alone learning intervention or to supplement some of our established training programmes. The level of service and support we have received from Pansophix has been excellent. Highly recommend!
Mat Brooks, HR Strategy Team Leader, Human Resources, London Borough of Bromley
The Useful Guides provide excellent value for money and are a high quality training resource.
They have proved to be popular and well received amongst our employees with almost 1,500 downloaded in the first 6 months since launch.
They are a great resource to have as a stand alone learning intervention or to supplement some of our established training programmes.
The level of service and support we have received from Pansophix has been excellent. Highly recommend!
London Borough of Newham
Our initial and ongoing investment, in our view, has been very cost-effective and currently we are paying less than 65 pence per download. This compares more than favourably to sending an employee on a 1 day internal course at a cost of about £50.
Stewart Aldersley, Chartered MCIPD, Learning & Development Manager (Corporate & Leadership), Learning & Organisational Development, London Borough of Newham
Newham is going through significant changes as we come to terms with central government reduction in budgets.
As part of a re-engineering of our training resources and to provide a greater range of flexible learning opportunities to our employees we purchased an 'unlimited' licence for the download of the Useful Guides.
They have proved to be a great success and over 9,067 downloads have been accessed by our employees so far.
Our top 5 downloads to date are ...
A Useful Guide to Interview Success
A Useful Guide to Assertiveness
A Useful Guide to Create a New You
A Useful Guide to De-Stress You
A Useful Guide to Minute Taking
We have encouraged and promoted the downloading of these Useful Guides by advertising them via our Intranet front page on a regular basis and also directing employees to them when dealing with staff who need learning support on an individual basis.
On a regular basis we have also published our 'top 10' downloads, so that employees can see what topics have been of most interest and help to other colleagues.
Employees have said that they have benefited from having a wide range of titles to chose from, at a time convenient to them, and something that they can take with them when they change jobs within the authority or otherwise. Of particular benefit have been the Useful Guides that have supported colleagues as restructures and re-organisations have required them to attend competitive interviews through redeployment etc.,
Our initial and ongoing investment, in our view, has been very cost-effective and currently we are paying less than 65 pence per download. This compares more than favourably to sending an employee on a 1-day internal course at a cost of about £50.
We have also benefited from a growing list of new titles and on occasion had items tailored to meet our specific needs.
We feel that these Useful Guides have been a very good investment and we hope to continue with this flexible learning resource well into 2012.
Plymouth University
Plymouth University have been using the online guides for just over 12 months and they have proved hugely popular amongst our diverse range of staff, with almost 3000 downloads!
We strongly believe in self leadership and with that goes self-directed learning; the Pansophix online guides, tips and tools really do enable that to happen.
Laura Beahan, Organisational Development Manager, Plymouth University
Rethink
Our Pansophix Useful Guide Library enables us to provide high quality learning materials to a very dispersed workforce in a timely and cost effective way. It has been an important element in the development of a Learning Culture and in the promotion of self-directed learning.
Graham Clark, East Midlands Workforce Development Manager, Rethink
Our Pansophix Useful Guide Library enables us to provide high quality learning materials to a very dispersed workforce in a timely and cost effective way. It has been an important element in the development of a Learning Culture and in the promotion of self-directed learning.
Our Pansophix Library is linked through our internal E-learning Zone which also hosts some mandatory induction courses for new staff. As a result, staff have visibility of the library from the very start of their employment and are encouraged to use its resources to aid their personal development.
The workbooks are very clearly written and presented, and the additional on-line materials easily accessible. The many exercises that are included encourage staff to actively engage with the learning and to plan how they will put new skills and knowledge into practice.
Each year we have reviewed which workbooks we include in our library so that we have available those which best meet staff and business needs. This flexibility, coupled with the Pansophix commitment to continually increase the range of titles, means that the Useful Guide Library subscription continues to be excellent value for us.
Feedback from learners and managers indicates the very positive impact that these resources are having on the performance and personal development of our workforce.
University of Dundee
Excellent value for money, unrivalled in fact! The most popular on-line resource we have ever used.
A well-chosen set of topics - they make e-learning for all affordable.
Terry Vickers, Management and Personal Development Director, University of Dundee
University of Manchester
Initial feedback from those using this approach has been extremely positive in that they have found the Useful Guides easy to access and very useful. We have therefore had no hesitation in renewing the licence for the third year and anticipate continuing in the foreseeable future. The support received from Ian and Steve has been exceptional.
Sandra Booth, Management Development Co-ordinator, Staff Training & Development Unit, University of Manchester
We originally looked at the Useful guides to support our Middle Manager Development programme as we wanted to offer managers a range of support materials and a variety of learning and development approaches to suit all learning styles and also have the flexibility to fit with their extremely busy workloads.
However, our Useful Guide Library has enabled us to open this opportunity across all levels of management, staff and even students throughout the campus which has been extremely well received.
In the first 12 months we had 3,575 hits on the guides which means we have amazing value for money at just 32p per hit, with the most popular being A Useful Guide to Assertiveness and A Useful Guide to Time Management.
A number of personal development guides have also proved extremely popular: A Useful Guide to Creating a New You, A Useful Guide to De-Stress You, A Useful Guide to Overcoming Anxiety and A Useful Guide to Self Management. The popularity of this approach continues and we have added an number of new Useful Guides this year including A Useful Guide to Work Life Balance, A Useful Guide to Being Influential and A Useful Guide to NLP for Coaches all proving to be very popular with an overall 6,849 hits in two years.
People are taking the opportunity to research personal development approaches themselves which is extremely encouraging as this is what we have tried very hard to encourage within the Management Development Programmes.
Initial feedback from those using this approach has been extremely positive in that they have found the Useful Guides easy to access and very useful. We have therefore had no hesitation in renewing the licence for the third year and anticipate continuing in the foreseeable future. The support received from Ian and Steve has been exceptional.
University of Sheffield
The resource has been well received, and I have received feedback that staff have found it useful. I have also received reports that teams are working through the workbooks as a group, which is great.
Dan Newberry, HR Adviser - Organisational Development, University of Sheffield
How has the University benefited so far?
The Useful Guide Library has enabled us to supplement our existing training provision, by providing self-directed learning activities that staff can use at their convenience, and work through at their own pace.
How have you encouraged use of the resources?
The Useful Guides are promoted on our webpages, with reference to specific Useful Guides based on the topic of the course (e.g. links to A Useful Guide to Public Speaking from our Communication Skills page). We also promote relevant Useful Guides to staff on the waiting list for courses, and also at the end of courses as useful further reading.
Have you had any comments from staff on their views on the resource in general or specific Useful Guides?
The resource has been well received, and I have received feedback that staff have found it useful. I have also received reports that teams are working through the workbooks as a group, which is great.
