Those companies are among multiple businesses thanked Monday at the 2011 Thoroughbred Awards luncheon organized by the Northern Kentucky Tri-County Economic Development Corp. (Tri-Ed) at the Northern Kentucky University METS Center in Erlanger.

Northern Kentucky Tri-Ed president and CEO Dan Tobergte will report that those firms are projected to create a combined 1,812 primary jobs by 2013.

The 2010 figures are up greatly from 2009, when Tri-Ed reported that 10 companies it worked with had plans to create 1,286 jobs over three years.

Tri-Ed officials attribute the gain to an uptick in economic conditions and aggressive marketing to bring new companies to Northern Kentucky.

Tobergte expects the job gains to come mainly from the advanced manufacturing, information technology and financial services industries.

“It shows that Northern Kentucky is pulling out of the recession,” he said.

Normand G. Desmarais, founding partner at Tier 1 Performance Solutions, a Covington-based a provider of online learning and knowledge management, said both revenue and employment at his firm are expected to grow 30 percent this year, fueled by new clients and doing more business with existing clients. The firm now employs about 40 people in Northern Kentucky.

He expects local employment to increase by about 60 people by 2013.

“We’re experiencing a positive climate for job creations and expect to continue do so at least for the next two years,” Desmarais said.

The 22 companies Tri-Ed helped attract last year are projected to generate 3,513 primary and indirect jobs over the next three years. Those firms expect to invest more than $200 million into the community during that period.

Tri-Ed said primary jobs are those created by companies as they hire new workers when they open or expand. It says indirect jobs are created as result of a new company expanding and that growth drives the need for additional services in the community.

“In 2010, we saw an increase in primary jobs and capital investments within our three-county region of Northern Kentucky,” said Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery, chairman of Tri-Ed’s board. “The number of new and expanding companies in the region more than doubled from the previous year and businesses started investing again despite the economy.”

Tri-Ed’s latest economic-impact study was completed by Northern Kentucky University’s Center for Economic Analysis and Development, run by its senior director and local economist Janet Harrah. Tri-Ed also uses that center to compile a data analysis of actual jobs created annually in Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties that’s typically released by fall.

Tri-Ed places special emphasis on the “primary” jobs because those are the kind it’s responsible for creating in Northern Kentucky. Those jobs had an average pay last year of nearly $55,000 per worker.

Since 1987, Tri-Ed has encouraged 512 companies to move into or expand in Boone, Kenton or Campbell counties, creating 50,267 new primary jobs and spending $4.8 billion mainly on land, building and equipment.

As part of the Vision 2015 process announced in early 2006, civic leaders called for Tri-Ed to create 14,300 primary jobs by 2015 plus other jobs, including those caused by ripple effects, for a total of 50,000.

Karen Finan, senior vice president at Tri-Ed, said the economic downturn in 2009 has not deterred Tri-Ed from working to reach its overall goal.

Wake Smith, CEO of Pemco World Air Services, said his company hopes to employ up to 300 workers by 2013 at the regional aircraft maintenance and repair operation it opened in October 2010 at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

He said the company now has about 100 employees at its hangar at the airport and plans to boost employment as business increases.

The Tampa, Fla.-based firm does mechanical repair work on regional aircraft with 50 to 100 seats. It also has hangars in Dothan, Ala., and Tampa, Fla.

“CVG provides us a central location to serve the eastern half of the country,” Smith said.

Smith said Tri-Ed assisted with his firm’s expansion into Northern Kentucky by helping get local and state tax incentives.

Mike Hyslop, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Jacobs Automation, a Hebron-based firm that develops new automation technology for the packaging and material handling industries, said the firm expects to create nine high-tech jobs in the next 18 months. He said job growth at Jacobs Automation, which now has six employees, would come from landing business with new clients.

“We expect to create more jobs because we’re in a $30 billion packing industry that is growing fast,” Hyslop said.

Working with everyone from NASA to FedEx, TiER1 creates value and develop strong relationships – with our clients, our team and our partners. We do this by doing whatever it takes, whenever it’s needed to deliver solutions.

Think you have what it takes? We need people who:

- Have Captivate experience including:

• Timeline animation
• Building assessments and results pages
• Using built-in interactive objects such as Buttons and Text Inputs

- Can handle simple audio editing
- Have photo/screenshot capturing and editing skills (using tools like SnagIt and Photoshop)
- Possess a basic knowledge of programming logic (using variables and if/else statements)

If you’ve got these additional desirable skills, even better:
- A graphic design and illustration background (Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.)
- Able to build animations and simple interactions (Flash)
- Know the code: HTML/CSS/Javascript
- Have instructional design experience

We have an immediate need for someone with 1-3 years experience but we are growing quickly and are ALWAYS looking for talented folks at all experience levels. Interested? Send resumes to our recruiter, Monika Royal.

Check out Friday’s Business Courier (March 26th) or visit www.nationalmssociety.org to learn more!

Congratulations, Brad!

Here are the other Fast 55 companies:       

• 2trg                            
• Ascendum Solutions LLC           
• BioRx                    
• BlueStar Inc.                         
• BSI Engineering Inc.               
• CarePoint Partners LLC       
• Caruso Inc.                         
• CE Power Solutions LLC        
• Cold Jet LLC                             
• Divisions Inc.                     
• Donna Salyers Fabulous-Furs         
• DunnhumbyUSA                     
• Elan Technologies                     
• Emerge Technologies LLC            
• EMI – Online Research Solutions      
• E-Technologies Group                  
• Floral Marketing     
• G/C Contracting Corp.                
• Graybach LLC                            
• Healthcare Regional Marketing LLC
• Home Care by Black Stone             
• INET Interactive                     
• Infintech                               
• Intelligrated Inc.             
• iSqFt/Construction Software Inc.        
• JTM Provisions Co. Inc.          
• KeySource Medical Inc.            
• LeanCor LLC                        
• Links Unlimited                      
• Medpace Inc.               
• Metal Resource Solutions Inc.        
• MHC Medical Products LLC                
• Mobiletek Consulting                 
• NexGen Consultants Inc.                  
• OMEGA Processing Solutions LLC     
• Partner Professional Staffing       
• Paycor Inc.                            
• Penklor Properties LLC
• Phillips Edison & Co.           
• Pro Scope Systems                     
• Pure Romance                      
• RDI Marketing Services Inc.       
• RoundTower Technologies Inc.        
• RSW/US                               
• Sheakley                           
• SpringDot                       
• Teasdale Fenton Carpet Cleaning & Restoration LLC 
• The Eisen Agency                         
• Top Gun Sales Performance             
• Total Quality Logistics         
• Triplefin LLC                      
• Unity Financial Life Insurance Co.
•  Worldwide Graphics & Sign Co.        

We recently wrapped on our first in-house shoot. Check out the before and after shot!

These are some of the questions that we occasionally wrestle with at TiER1.  There is a healthy amount of research on this topic (a quick list of resources is listed at the bottom of the blog).  But these are not merely academic debates.  We are attempting to find better and faster ways to help our customers improve performance within their organizations.

I summarize the two sides of the debate in the first of four installments on the blog.

The defenders of the analysis, design, development, instruction and evaluation (ADDIE) model lay out some of the following arguments:

The systems approach to instructional systems design (ISD) has a long history of success and continues to be the best and most easily understood of any model that has been developed to enable effective instruction. 

The ADDIE model in particular has come under a lot of scrutiny from practitioners and some scholars. Typically, those who are most negative about it provide little in the way of information or data to back up their claims or they point to some large failure that has been well publicized.  This is an unfair and biased way of looking at ISD in general and the ADDIE model in particular.

If you look at the historical foundations of ISD it is a field that has always drawn from multiple disciplines, has been difficult to define and has never produced a unified theory of how to produce instruction. In fact, the ADDIE model itself is something that has grown organically within both the academy and amongst practitioners…there is no one ADDIE model that is the standard.

The model grew out of the military, in other words the original model was highly prescriptive and perhaps overly bureaucratic to begin with. The Interservice Procedures for IDS (IPISD) was adopted by the military as a way to standardize instruction across the branches of the military. That said, the field has developed a variety of instructional theories and perspectives that amount to a working theory. 

Eclectic theory and practice is what underpins much of ISD: “Reasoned and validated theoretical eclectism has been a key strength of our field because no single theoretical base provides complete prescriptive principles for the entire design process” (Smith & Ragan, 1993).

Analysis, design, development, instruction and evaluation (ADDIE) are the standard of instructional design; however, there is a fundamental charge against ADDIE in general: it is too slow and clumsy (is because ADDIE is being misused or used in an unimaginative manner. 

The defenders of ADDIE would say that by its very nature the ISD process is flexible. There are circular models that have evaluation at the center of the process, other models are profoundly simple or are organized around central themes for metaphors.  At the end of the day the usability of any given model depends on clarity and completeness.  The VALUE of the model depends on the suitability to your given situation.

No model has emerged that is as easily grasped and executed by the novice to intermediate practitioner than the systematic models of ISD as represented by ADDIE.  Who could argue that instructional program development should NOT follow the Analyze, Design, Develop and Evaluate sequence?

Today’s training challenges are no different than yesterday’s – at least not in any truly meaningful way. Do organizations want better results that are also faster to implement…of course.  But we do not have to throw away a proven and successful model because of the failure of a few to properly grasp and implement the model.

The skeptics of the analysis, design, development, instruction and evaluation (ADDIE) model lay out some of the following arguments about its ability to deliver timely and/or quality results:

ADDIE is being used in an overly linear fashion that slows down the process: it essentially follows a sequential waterfall model.  Each step in the ADDIE model has to be completed before the next step can begin.  It shares an orientation to overall project management methodology as embodied in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) that is the bible of Project Management International or PMI.  This is a deeply flawed model for the development of instruction.

Using this process forces a linear progression: the outputs of the first step become the input of the second step.  If an initial needs analysis takes one month longer than was scheduled, then the design process is on hold until the analysis is complete.  Likewise, if the design step requires many modifications, the development step is further delayed.  This contributes to the slowness of the traditional ADDIE model.

Waterfall methodology gathers all the requirements, then creates the design, then develops the course, then tests the course etc.  Between each of these steps or phases are a series of review meetings.  Stakeholders are invited to these meetings to review progress and provide input on whatever is being developed…basically asking the customer the fundamental question: is this what you really want? 

Pity the customer who says no because what we are really saying is you better say yes or it is going to be very difficult and expensive for you to change your mind!  We have to get out of this mindset and start developing the capability to develop smaller more complete slices of instruction that can be rapidly prototyped, changed on the fly and built in much smaller iterations or chunks.

We need to look to other disciplines such as software development, lean manufacturing and quality assurance protocols to drive efficiency AND instructional integrity.  There is no reason why we can’t have both.

These models are what that some rebel practitioners who get it done day in and day out in field, are starting to work with.  They have no choice or they will find themselves out of a job. Businesses, and increasingly schools, are results driven and not process driven.  We need to start thinking backwards from the result and then determining what other strategies will best fit to get the job done.

Basically, the key culprit in the whole issue is that the analysis step has become overly complex and time consuming.  By the time the audience and task analysis is complete the product or course has become redundant.  This is incredibly frustrating and costly for clients and customers.  Business opportunities have come and gone while we are still in our lockstep analysis phase.

So the question begs how are people using the model improperly?

Users of the model can make the mistake that every step and every sub-stage of the process must be carried out regardless of the situation. Some have compared it building the Brooklyn Bridge over a creek in Oklahoma.   It was never meant to be the one-size fits all model – but from a lack of knowing how to approach instructional design, people have reverted to ADDIE as the one means of completing the task of instructional design.

Next blog: There’s no “there” there. Does ADDIE have any theory behind it?

References

Addison R., and Johsnon, M. (1997). The Building Blocks of performance.  Business Executive 11:68, 3-5

Branson, R. K. (1991). Instructional Systems Development in the Military and Industry. L. Briggs, K. Gustafson & H. & Tillman (Eds.), (Chap. 14). New Jersey: Educational Technology Publications.

Carroll, J. M. (1990). The Nurnberg Funnel: Designing Minimalist Instruction for Practical Computer Skill. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Collins, A. (1991, September) The role of computer technology in restructuring schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 28 – 36.

Gordon, J., & Zemke, R. (2000, April). The Attack on ISD. Training, 43-53.

Gustafson, K. L., Branch. (1997). Re-provisioning Models of Instructional Development. Educational Technology, Research and Development, 45(3), 73-89.

Merrill, M. D., Drake, L., Lacy, M. J., Pratt, J., & ID2_Research_Group. (1996). Reclaiming instructional design. Educational Technology, 36(5), 5-7.

Molenda, M. (2008). Historical foundations. In J. M. Spector, M. D. Merrill, J. V. Merriënboer, & M. P. Dirscoll (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational communications and technology (3rd ed.) (pp. 3-20). New York: Taylor & Francis Group.

Molenda, M., Pershing, J. A., & Reigeluth, C. M. (1996). Designing instructional systems. In R. L. Craig (Ed.), The ASTD training and development handbook 4th ed. (pp. 266-293). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Project Management Institute (PMI). (2004). The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) (3^rd ed).

Reiser, R.A., & Dempsey, J.A. (Eds.) (2002). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology. Upper Saddle River , New Jersey : Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Rowland, G.  (1992). What do instructional designers actually do? An initial investigation of expert practice.  Performance Improvement Quarterly. Vol 5(2),1992, 65-86.

Schwaber, K. (2004). Agile Project Management with Scrum. New York: Microsoft Press.

Stolovitch, H.D.  & Keeps, E.J. (Eds.) (1999). Handbook of Human Performance Technology. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass.

TiER1 is looking for an energetic, entrepreneurial Business Analyst/SharePoint Development Consultant consultant who can be part of our rapidly expanding team in Denver. The position is primarily client facing and will include onsite time with our clients, with the opportunity for some offsite work.

The right individual should have:

• Experience in analysis, definition and documentation of business processes and requirements.
• Experience and full understanding of SharePoint functionality and capabilities.
• Experience with Microsoft SharePoint related tools, e.g. SharePoint Designer, Visio, MS-Excel
• Experience building SharePoint workflows, site architecture, and custom web parts utilizing SharePoint Designer
• Strong communication and planning skills, to create communication approach with business area stakeholders and implement ongoing communication protocol.
• Be well-respected and trusted professionally and very likable personally
• Be capable of both big-picture thinking and detailed task execution
• Align well with the TiER1 culture which means they should enjoy collaborative work, be disciplined but entrepreneurial and creative, place a high value on personal relationships and the opportunity to impact people, have very high personal standards of excellence, and value the creation of value for others.

If this describes you, contact us – we’d love to talk to you. Email our recruiter, Monika Royal

TiER1 is looking for an energetic, “smart but humble” SharePoint Business Consultant who can be part of our rapidly expanding team.

The right individual should:
• Be a business analyst with experience in facilitating business process discussions and documenting outcomes.
• Have experience in mapping SharePoint capabilities to address business requirements.
• Have experience in mapping workflows and configuring them into SharePoint environments
• Possess knowledge of user interface and user experience best practices
• Have very strong written and oral communication skills.
• Have 3 – 5 years experience with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) and Windows SharePoint Services implementation and deployment, including the creation of custom Web parts
• Demonstrate an understanding of how to build CSS and modify SharePoint master pages, page layouts, themes, and templates according to specifications.
• Have an understanding of working with Microsoft Infopath and Microsoft SharePoint Designer.
• Align well with the TiER1 culture, which means they should enjoy collaborative work, be disciplined but entrepreneurial and creative, place a high value on personal relationships and the opportunity to impact people, have very high personal standards of excellence, and value the creation of value for others.

If this describes you, contact us – we’d love to talk to you.

Other information:

• We are headquartered in Covington, KY.
• Apply at http://www.tier1performance.com/content/about-careers.aspx or email our recruiter, Monika Royal