Month: July 2016

2016 Blogs

Which Industries Are Finding Out the Benefits of Dynamic Training Rooms?

Post author By Rap Industries
Post date July 14, 2016

The benefits of training courses are constantly being re-affirmed in the media and through studies. Whether your company chooses to keep sessions in house or outsource them to affiliated training courses, work is constantly being done to improve and enhance these so that attendees can take away as much information as possible. It is not just the content which is at the top of the list of priorities either as recent studies have shone a light on what were originally considered minor aspects, but have been found to have a profound effect on how students learn. Regardless of the age group or the industry, pushing training courses towards being more interactive has begun to demonstrate why it is not ‘what you learn’ but ‘how you learn it’.

For many industries, the traditional lecture style approach is mundane and does more to stifle learning than encourage it. Certainly, in most areas of work where the job is more hands on, it is far more appropriate to re-create a situation whereby attendees can learn on the job with the safety net being that it is not a live environment. Therefore, our clients have increasingly been proposing the question; is it possible to re-create these environments? With a bit of creativity, we are increasingly able to create dynamic training rooms for a variety of industries, whereby learners are placed into replicated environments in order to help them get a feel for the physical conditions, which in the past were impossible to get a sense of.

The ideal setting for this is environments which can be simply replicated through graphic design. One such way is in medical environments such as hospitals, clinics or even medical vehicles whereby portable screens can be adapted to replicate these surroundings. In the past, we have worked with clients to develop environments such as these in order to create a feel of the environment for trainees, allowing them to learn where certain things are and get a taste for how a life-like scenario would play out.

Similarly, the same concept can be applied to other emergency services. In the past, it had become a necessity to take vehicles out of commission in order for training to take place. However, by investing in dynamic training rooms, this no longer has to happen and ultimately helps to save a portion of the budget longer term. Services such as fire departments or the police are able to create immersive surroundings which can be utilised in more interactive scenarios which ultimately give trainees a more hands-on experience.

Portable dividers have far more potential to be used to create dynamic training environments. Their versatile nature means they can be customised in order to adapt to different spaces and a variety of courses. With the ability to include fabric display boards with high pressure laminate boards and printed boards, this opens up the opportunity for them to be utilised as portable classrooms, enabling training rooms to be set up in a matter of minutes. Regardless of the industry, this ability allows any company to create immersive training spaces almost instantly.

Tags PortableClassrooms, TrainingRoom, TrainingSpace

2016 Blogs

Top 4 Ways of Enhancing Training Courses with Portable Dividers

Post author By Rap Industries
Post date July 12, 2016

As organisations look for more affordable and effectives ways of enhancing training courses, we are beginning to see a trend of more industries turning to portable room dividers to create dynamic and immersive courses. As manufacturers, it is possible to adapt and tailor portable dividers so they can achieve much more than just separating open space, but instead, are customised to enhance the training course itself. Regardless of your industry, training courses are increasingly geared towards interactive experiences which require the learner to engage with the content and portable dividers are offering a unique way of achieving this.

Creating Training Spaces:

As opposed to being used as a divider, the portable screens can be combined together to establish portable rooms. Rather than the considerable expense of creating a permanent training area, it is far more cost-effective to establish a comprehensive setting which is geared towards helping learner’s development. These portable dividers can be tailored with a variety of materials to enhance the course itself, such as a pinnable fabric, high pressure laminate or even printed panels which open up the opportunity to re-create active environments using graphic design.

Designed to be portable, screens such as these can be deployed when required, allowing the organisation to make the most of communal open spaces without having to create dedicated areas for training. Not only is this a substantial economic benefit for the company, but it is also a far more viable option in the context that not all training courses run all year round. This means the space can then be utilised for other activities or courses when the training course is not taking place.

Backdrops:

The variety of materials available with portable dividers makes them equally suitable for being established as a backdrop for training courses. In the same vein of portable training rooms, these backdrops can be rolled out when necessary and then neatly packed away when not in use. Whether they are used as a pinnable screen to display training content or incorporate whiteboards into the panel, each can be customised with additional information and details which move training courses towards a more interactive experience.

Open Plan Environment Dividers:

The core concept behind the portable dividers is that they are designed to help organisations make the most of large open areas. Whether this is a gymnasium or a hall, portable dividers excel at creating privacy and building more conclusive environments to provide an area which helps learners to concentrate. These can be deployed in a matter of minutes, enabling the space to be used as a dynamic environment which is set up to incorporate multiple functions, saving both on space, but on revenue also.

Mobile Classrooms:

Budget restrictions are a frequent issue for smaller organisations such as schools and portable dividers are proving to be an effective tool in creating mobile classrooms. Incorporating the high pressure laminate with the panels means they can quickly and easily be used to create effective and recognisable areas. They benefit significantly from being able to create private spaces, which reduce the number of visual and audible distractions, thereby creating an area which helps learners to focus.

Tags PortableRoomDividers, PortableTrainingSpace, RoomDividers, Training

2016 Blogs

How to Create Realistic Training Environments on a Budget

Post author By Rap Industries
Post date July 8, 2016

Training and on a more fundamental level, learning, has been developing over thousands of years. We’ve reached the point now where in some industries we can create simulations of realistic situations to provide the most optimal training possible. Now, while this is obviously the best way of creating the most realistic environment for learning, we do not all have multi-million pound budgets to do so. Therefore, the challenge that many industries have is to replicate the conditions in order to provide the best possible experience for trainees to learn. Fortunately, with the advancement in technology, there are a host of new ways to help create effective training courses.

Environment:

One of the most challenging aspects to replicate is the complete environments themselves. Without the financial outlay of creating a dedicated training space, being able to achieve a similar result has been unrealistic in the past. However, in recent years we have begun to see a rise in ‘pop-up training rooms’, composed of portable room dividers which can be customised to re-create the conditions which are being taught. For example, we have worked with the emergency services to re-create the inside of emergency response vehicles. In the scenario of a training session, this means a vehicle does not have to be taken out of service, but the inside, designed completely to scale, is available for trainees to work with.

What makes these an incredibly cost-worthy addition is that the training space does not have to be permanent and essentially in dis-use for the remainder of time when the course is not taking place. The dividers are designed to be neatly packed away, meaning that despite the initial investment, they can be preserved for hundreds more training courses in the future.

Content:

For thousands of years, skills and knowledge have been passed down through word of mouth, but this approach has been faltering more and more in recent years. With bloating numbers in courses and less one-to-one time spent with tutors, there is now more of a push to develop technology which enables people to learn in different ways. While creating lifelike environments using Portable Room Dividers can help to replicate some environments, there are others where this is simply not possible. The best way to remedy this currently is through e-learning and interactive courses.

While e-learning is far from the face-to-face intuition which we are used to, it provides a realistic, if virtual environment that is near impossible to re-create. Being able to develop games, courses and experiences in the virtual space has the added benefit of being able to keep users constantly engaged (especially when used with headphones). There is also the opportunity to have far more one-to-one intuition with video calls and interactive courses which offer significantly more stimulation than repetitive and often boring lectures.

Application:

The most challenging aspect of creating these environments is that each industry is unique in its own way, so there are certain techniques which excel in some whilst are ineffective in others. The advantage that they do have is that they are significantly cheaper than some tailor made courses and ultimately provide the most efficient way to conduct training courses in the future. Both the environment and the course need to be lifelike for the user which are ideally designed to create an immersive situation for the user. Engaging learners with the content is the best way to help them to learn, and regardless of whether they are in a practical or virtual setting, it is crucial that they are able to learn from their mistakes in a safe environment.

As manufacturers of bespoke Portable Room Dividers, if you are looking for further information on how they can be applicable to your training course, then please get in touch by calling 01733 394941 or by sending an e-mail to sales@rapind.com and our team can discuss the possibilities with you.

Tags Pop-UpTrainingRoom, PortableTrainingSpace, Training

2016 Blogs

How Portable Room Dividers Can Adapt to Enhance Training Courses

Post author By Rap Industries
Post date July 6, 2016

Training courses are increasing in their ingenuity as designers and teachers look for more immersive ways to help students to learn. Whether the learner is young or old, the traditional lecture method has never had much success in helping people to develop. Many of us in work will rebuke the phrase “it’s always easier to learn on the job”, which is why training spaces are increasingly being designed to attempt to imitate more realistic environments. Whether this is by introducing more practical activities or transforming the environment altogether, there is a great deal of flexibility on offer to find a solution which is perfectly tailored for the subject.

Here at Rap Industries, we are increasingly working with organisations to develop training spaces using portable room dividers, which enable them to create separate areas for courses in a matter of minutes. These can be tailored and customised to adapt not only to the environment, but to the subject itself. Portable room dividers are very efficient in the sense that they can be deployed quickly and easily as well as being packed away neatly, enabling them to be stored for future use. This means that training sessions can be set up when required, while the space can then be utilised for other operations whilst training is not taking place.

Tailor-Made:

As manufacturers of portable room dividers, Rap Industries have extensive experience designing and producing dedicated training spaces for companies from a wide variety of industries. In the past, clients have often opted to use printed dividers, where they can take advantage of graphic design to re-create environments which otherwise would not be accessible. For example, this includes emergency services and educational establishments where designs can be created which immerse the student in the environment.

Furthermore, they can also be customised with high pressure laminates as well as a fabric finish, so there are a variety of options available when creating separate training spaces. Each can be personalised with different colours as well as different accessories to make the space as effective as possible. Portable room dividers are available in a variety of shapes and sizes, so there are a number of ways to make the most from the space which you have available.

Adaptable:

One key feature of the dividers is that they are portable, which becomes incredibly useful if the training is not scheduled to run all year round. Rather than having to create permanent training facilities, these dividers can be deployed in existing large spaces like halls, gymnasiums and more. It is possible to create a huge range of different spaces such as a simple wall right the way through to creating a new room entirely, depending on which works best for the subject. By combining multiple kits together, it is possible to create large or small training spaces when required, allowing them to adapt to whichever subject is being taught.

Optimised:

The original purpose of portable room dividers is to create separate spaces, whether for classrooms, exams or offices, which means they are designed to reduce the number of distractions and help to create private conditions for those inside. This quality is easily adaptable for training spaces by blocking out both visual and audible distractions and therefore creating a far more effective learning environment.

For further information on how we can design and manufacture portable room dividers to adapt to your subject, please feel free to get in touch with us by calling 01733 394941 or by sending an e-mail to sales@rapind.com and one of our experienced advisors will be able to explain further.

Tags EmergencyServices, Training, TrainingSpace

2016 Blogs

Creating Immersive Learning Environments in the Classroom…

Post author By Rap Industries
Post date July 5, 2016

Encouraging children to learn is very often a fruitless task. Especially from an early age, the challenge is to create activities which actively engage them and appear a more interesting and exciting prospect than playing with mobile devices. The prospect of creating education-based video games is very much in its infancy and frankly the financial outlay simply is not worth the cost for many educational establishments. In which case, lesson plans need to be modified in order to adapt to children who have a very different upbringing than our own. This means looking at the environments themselves as well as the activities which take place within them in order to create a more engaging experience for children.

Students and teachers alike are beginning to agree on the fact that lecture-like lessons are simply not as effective as we once considered them to be. Studies over the past few decades have explored how students concentrate in class and why the emphasis is now on approaching teaching in a different manner. The current method is obviously beneficial to some yet it leaves the rest feeling alienated and ultimately disinterested.

Engagement:

Even for adults, trying to learn passively just is not the same as getting experience on the job. This applies even more for children, especially when they are unable to relate to a realistic scenario. This kind of teaching encourages the now well-worn phrase of; “when am I ever going to use this again?” The aim is to create environments and activities which provide context for what is being taught and engaging them in a way where they can see the value in what they are learning. The most crucial aspect in achieving this is being able to create a connection between the learner and the subject.

Creating a Comfortable Environment:

While making the surroundings as realistic as possible is important to making the subject engaging, it is important to prioritise an environment which is comfortable for students to learn in and feel safe in the knowledge that failing is simply a learning curve. One of the major issues that you can find in classrooms is a raft of distractions and once concentration is broken for the learner, it can be difficult to regain. To help dampen the number of distractions and boost the levels of learning, here at Rap Industries, we manufacture portable room dividers in a range of different materials which can be tailored to suit the subject as well as the surrounding environment itself.

Imitate Popular Entertainment to Find Success:

Considering the type of entertainment that children enjoy currently, it has perhaps never been easier to imitate it and apply it to a learning environment. From the widespread popularity of YouTube videos through to video games, a trend has emerged and it is from this that we can establish quite why they are able to engage students for so long. While the immersive experience is the first hurdle to getting children interested, it is the introduction of reward systems which keep them attached and give them motivation to continue playing. This same model can be applied to a learning environment without it obviously being a dumbed-down version of the entertainment they enjoy outside of the classroom.

First Steps to Achieving This:

An overhaul of how lessons are structured is likely to take time, especially as each subject is unique and finding an effective combination will take some testing. However, a great place to start is by creating surroundings which transport learners away from what they are used to. A great way that we’ve seen this begin to happen is by creating portable room dividers with bespoke graphic design to quite literally imitate real life environments. These not only block out visual distractions, but they create the impression that the children are no longer in the classroom but are in a more immersive learning environment.

If you are interested in finding out more about the what portable room dividers are capable of, then you can give us a call on 01733 394941 or send an e-mail over to sales@rapind.com and our advisors can explore the options with you.

Tags Education, Learning, PortableRoomDividers, Training

2016 Blogs

How Portable Room Dividers Can Create Unique & Diverse Training Spaces

Post author By Rap Industries
Post date July 3, 2016

Training areas can be notoriously difficult to get right. Even at a young age, many despise the prospect of being sat in a rigid classroom and being delivered a lecture on a wealth of information you scarcely understand. This resent tends to only grow as we get older, which is why we are now having to think more outside of the box when it comes to training programmes. This has meant an increase in practical exercises, interactive technology and more, all designed to engage and interest the trainee. However, surrounding that, even the environment which the training takes place in can have an effect and this is why portable room dividers are increasingly being used to create intuitive training courses.

They fit this role perfectly by being adaptable as well as versatile, meaning it is possible to create training rooms of various shapes, sizes and even materials in order to adapt to the course itself. It also means that you never need a dedicated room for training, which hopefully means the end of rows of desks and the beginning of environments which genuinely help trainees to learn.

Flexible:

In every sense of the word, Portable Room Dividers can be moved or locked in place in a wide range of layouts. Whether you wish to use one as a backdrop, a divider to create privacy in large open spaces or as a completely temporary room, they can be designed to suit your environment. Having the option to set up a training space in a matter of minutes not only saves a significant amount of money because there is no need to build a dedicated room, but they also feature many of the tools required for the training course.

There is a variety of different styles on the market, but each panel features wheels at the bottom, meaning they can be rolled out in a matter of minutes when required and then packed away very easily. This is incredibly effective in open spaces such as gymnasiums or open offices, where you can quickly transform open areas into dedicated training spaces. To finish it off, they also feature stabilising feet, so the divider is safe and secure once you are set up.

Adaptable:

While investigating portable room dividers, be sure to keep an eye out for manufacturers who can tailor your design to make them a perfect fit with your environment as well as the training course. This means a variety of different shapes and sizes to ensure the Portable Room Dividers are effective as possible once in place, but it also means you can pick out the materials which work for the approach you are taking. Here at Rap Industries, we offer the choice of a Velcro friendly loop nylon fabric, as well as a high gloss laminate which operates as a whiteboard or even applying high quality graphic design to really make the Portable Room Dividers stand out.

Customisable:

The ability to include bespoke graphic design opens up a wealth of creative opportunities to make truly immersive training experiences. For example, they can be designed to replicate certain environments and situations, such as for the emergency services where it can be costly as well as time-consuming to use a real version. By creating such an environment, you are able to provide a stimulating environment for trainees which in fact helps with their learning and development.

Overall Portable Room Dividers can provide you with far greater freedom than dedicated spaces. The ability to completely customise them opens up the opportunity to be creative and enhance the training course itself by making it more interactive for trainees. If you would like further information on the options available with Portable Room Dividers, then you can give us a call on 01733 394941 or send an e-mail to sales@rapind.com and our advisors would be happy to help.

Tags PortableRoomDividers, Training, TrainingSpace

2016 Blogs

Our Top Tips for Creating Dynamic Training Spaces

Post author By Rap Industries
Post date July 1, 2016

Training courses are often regarded as being bland and a throwback to the trainee’s school days. Nowadays, courses are increasingly being developed to be more engaging and realistic to keep them interested in order to help learning and development. This means the end of rigid classrooms and a growth in the number of dynamic environments which encourage trainees to participate and learn while completing more practical activities. This is fantastic in theory, however being able to budget for dedicated training areas is not viable for small businesses or many industries.

Instead, there is the option of creating dynamic training spaces, ones which can be employed whilst training is taking place and then stored and preserved until they are required again. The added benefit of this is that you are able to create unique learning environments that replicate the situations which are being taught. Furthermore, they also utilise open areas, meaning dedicated training space is not required and a significant portion of the organisation’s budget can be retained.

Portable:

Permanent training areas can be very expensive, especially when it comes down to including furniture and equipment inside. However, in order to make an effective space that makes the most from your budget, opting for a portable solution can provide the best of both worlds. Firstly, the cost is drastically reduced and while trainees may not have an identical experience, the environment is still effective for stimulating and encouraging learning. A clever way of achieving this is by using portable room dividers which can be completely customised in order to adapt to the content which is being taught.

This means that display boards, white boards or even bespoke graphic design can be integrated into the environment without the need for permanent surroundings. This allows you to make the most of the space you have available, as the training space can be rolled out as and when you need it and then neatly packed away once the course is complete.

Adaptable:

Dynamic training spaces should incorporate all the benefits of training rooms and more. The very definition of the word means they are constantly changing. In particular, if you are planning to host a variety of different training courses, then making sure your space is adaptable will extend its usefulness. As outlined above, incorporating different elements such as display boards and white boards opens up the scope for different activities and exercises in order to engage with.

Immersive Experience:

Training courses can take on many different forms, but the best ones are those which involve the trainee in the surroundings and create a stimulating experience in which they are interested to learn. Depending on the industry and the course, there are many different approaches to this, but it is important to tailor your space to compliment the course itself. Through working with clients, we have found some fantastic ways that they have effectively used portable room dividers to create immersive environments, designed to transport the trainee into the surroundings without having to use a “live” set.

By creating dynamic training spaces which combine these factors, it is possible to develop an environment which is not only great at allowing you to gain the most from your budget, but to also create an experience which is tailored to helping trainees to learn. If you are interested in creating a space such as this and would like further advice on the options available, then please feel free to get in touch by calling 01733 394941 or send an e-mail to sales@rapind.com and a member of our team would be more than happy to help.

Tags PortableRoomDividers, Training, TrainingSpace