By the year 2000, technology was increasingly being introduced to enhance the learning experience through active engagement, group participation, interaction and feedback, with the ability to connect to real-world contexts and access ongoing information.

With the advent of social media and collaboration tools, educators gained significant opportunities to connect learners and take education in new directions. Being able to simulate real-world situations enabled students to engage in ways that were not possible with previously available instructional methods.

Learning in the 21st century places new demands on learners to use technology to access, analyse and organise information. It places responsibility on learning providers to establish an environment that supports creativity, innovation, communication, collaboration, problem solving, decision making and engagement with the learner, to ensure learning occurs within the context of the real-world environment they are involved with.

Technology in training is driving change in terms of empowering and encouraging self-directed learning. For it to succeed, learning providers need to shift their emphasis to being facilitators and collaborators in the students’ increasingly self-directed learning world.

This book provides guidance on how to establish, run and manage a commercial technical training organisation from a managerial perspective. It covers business disciplines, employee skills, risks and opportunities as it relates to supporting a training business within a broader product and service-oriented organisation.

For managers with prior knowledge of training provision, it provides a detailed insight into all aspects of running a successful business, be it a small to medium enterprise or large multinational organisation. For those new to training or progressing their managerial career, it provides knowledge, guidance and reference on the requirements one needs to establish a successful service-based training business.