These great POV glasses have swappable lenses - sunglass or indoors.

In fact, if you already wear glasses you may prefer to use them without any lens at all.

BITTS are importing these glasses and are happy to give you a quote (bulk order discounts apply)

Please email les [at] bitts4learning.com.au for enquiries.

Order now as shipments do not last!

A funny thing that was discussed at the recent AU POV conference was the label we are using for this emerging technology - POV.
Do we say ‘pov’, and have all the generation Z think we are poverty stricken or using cheap tricks?
Do we say P-O-V and feel like we may as well have just said Point of View?

The phrase that got bandied about in this discussion as an alternative was Wearable Computing.
Didn’t actually grab me at all I must say, though a photo I saw the other day of a keyboard built into a set of jeans would grab me as wearable computing!

As the BITTS / National Training / Australian Flexible Learning Framework Innovations 09 project takes off now there will be some information posted here to keep those that are following the progress of the project informed of it’s progress.

You can use the project wiki as a base point to follow along.

Even geeks still get together face-to-face sometimes for seminars, even though we love webinars. Last week saw one such collection at the inaugural AU POV conference in Wollongong.
Point-of-View (POV) technology is wearable video technology that is generating a lot of interest in the education sector.
There were some great presentations at this conference on subjects such as how different types of educational organisations are using the technology, government funded trials involving the technology, building custom versions of wearable technology and ethics and social implications.

How can wearable technology possibly be used in an educational context? How can it bring any value to a learner?

The great thing about the POV technology is contained in the name – point-of-view. One of the hardest things to do for educational instructors is to demonstrate something technical so that everyone can see, here and follow easily. If you have a group in a room, there are always some people that can’t see as well as others, or someone talks beside you and you miss something important, or you are away that day!

Imagine demonstrating something for a group – say how to correctly clean a paintbrush. You put on a pair of POV glasses and focus on completing the task, with narration. Now you have a video recording of the process that looks directly into the cleaning bucket rather than at you.

Learners can watch the recording, as many times as they wish to get the process right, and you don’t have to keep setting up a classroom to repeat a demonstration.
The technology comes in many forms – glasses, head bands, safety goggles, helmets and may be water resistant as in the technology used by Bondi Rescue which you have possibly even watched before.

Next week I’ll discuss how this technology is being used for assessment.

BITTS were successful in gaining an Innovations project this year funded by the Australian Flexible Learning Framework.
We are aiming to trial the use of POV glasses (glasses with inbuilt video camera and flash drive) for assessment within the warehousing industry.

Katrina is presenting at a conference on Friday 19 at Wollongong about the project.

BITTS are always committed to Innovations within education, looking for ways to customise training always so that it is totally relevant to the learner and the workplace.

The workplace traineeship initiative by the government gives exciting opportunities for people to learn in the workplace, have their skills recognised towards qualifications and have this all paid for.
It doesn’t get much better than that!

BITTS can provide workplace training under this scheme that could be the key to getting your business through this tough economic time.

You staff will benefit by gaining Nationally Recognised qualifications that are highly regarded in all industries.

Check our website for more information and contact us if you have any questions or would like to discuss how this could take your business forward.

Don’t ignore this great opportunity and miss out on that ‘edge’ you need.

Whilst the economic decline may be turning around, the reality is that business owners still need to find ways to stay afloat and ride this recession out.

For many this means just holding out, making savings however they can, but for many it means looking at how to gain new business and making changes in how you run your business.

It’s survival of the fittest, and continual improvement is needed to stay fit.
To do this you need to keep up with what is going on around you, watching the movements of your market.

Knowing where you are in your industry is the key to knowing where you need to get to.  To get there you may need to develop your own skills and the skills of your staff.

There are two aspects here – improving efficiency and expanding markets.

Achieving these in your business involves learning.  But learning is not enough on it’s own, you then have to apply that learning!

A wealth of online information is at your fingertips to assist your learning, but finding your way through this information is difficult and hard to organise.
Enrolling in a course in technology usage or business studies provides an invaluable structure to learning, but taking time out to attend classes is preventative.
Courses available online may reduce that obstacle allowing flexibility around other commitments.

Learning in the workplace is another flexible option, and with the right approach can allow learning completely within the context of your own business.
Embarking on a learning journey with several or all of your staff involved can be a huge advantage as you target the learning across the breadth of your business no matter how small the business, and enable everyone to become engaged in innovation that may be that key.

There are government schemes that may surprise you with their ability to assist in funding learning to move your business forward.

Financial reporting is too often left to accountants and then seen as dry or dull.
This should not be the case!

Your financial situation is the core of your business and becoming familiar with financial reporting actually gives you more control of your own business and that is exciting!

There are a few critical reports that will tell you in a nutshell where your business is at any given time.

Balance Sheet -
here is a simple formula:

Assets + Liabilities = Equity

Your accounting software provides you with a Balance Sheet report. This report tells you the current Equity situation of your business - what you have, and what you owe.

Profit and Loss -
we have what we call a gross and a net profit or loss.
Gross is sales minus the direct cost of sales (eg I sold a gate, and I paid for the aluminium and powder coating process as a direct cost for that sale, so my gross profit is the sales price minus cost of the aluminium and powder coating.)

Net is the gross profit minus the expenses incurred in running the business such as rent, phone, electricity etc

Basically, these 2 reports give a full picture of where a business is ‘at’ at any given time.

Predicting where a business will be involves budgeting and cash flow projections. These are critical if you want to grow your business, change focus or direction, or innovate something new.

As the financial year draws to a close it is wise to spend some time checking your financial and tax position. Rather than wait and see how it comes out after the end of June has passed, time spent on financial reporting and planning now can save you money.
Today all but the smallest of businesses use computerised accounting packages, from simple spreadsheets to commercially available products.
Remember when financial planning and reporting was a huge task requiring a good grasp of math and a deep understanding of the dreaded double entry record keeping?
Today with the assistance of technology we don’t need such a deep understanding, and the math is thankfully done for us.
Even more importantly an error corrected does not mean we then have to recalculate all those figures to get our reports corrected, the software does this immediately.

Still we need a good relationship with our accountant to get the most out of the way we handle our business finances.
Some time spent now looking at where your business is at, and what is likely to happen over the last month of the year gives you a projection of where the business will be at the close of the year, and what the tax situation will be.

It is also important to keep up to date on issues such as changes the budget may cause for you, maybe increasing what you can claim.

Accounting packages allow you to produce many useful reports that assist you with decisions such as spending more money this month, closing a few more sales, or holding a few over.

It is also time to review your budgets and plan new financial year budgets.

A combination of using reliable, updated professional software and creating a proactive relationship with your accountant can save money and give you solid control over your business.
Don’t be caught out with a surprise once the financial year is over, it’s too late then to change the past!