When it comes to professional development for investigators, education is key.*
*Full disclosure: Pursuit Magazine and PI Education are owned by the same company—Storyboard EMP, LLC.
No professional survives and thrives in any industry without continually re-educating himself.
In the investigations field, what we know (or think we know) shifts quickly beneath our feet. From social media surveillance to big data, cyber investigations to paperless record-keeping and the changing legal environment for investigators, there’s a lot to know, and it’s changing by the minute.
Pursuit and PIEducation share a mission: to explore emerging trends and techniques in our industry, and to offer a broad platform for experts to delve deeply into their research and share what they’ve learned—an exciting mission, indeed…which is why, a year ago this month, we formed a company and dove into this business headlong.
Even before we acquired these assets, PI Education had been a favorite source of knowledge and professional development for professional investigators for more than a decade. We love it when our learners share their enthusiasm about our content. Scott V., a lead investigator in Georgia, said this:
[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]“ … everyone was so impressed with the content I shared with them about your organization, that we all voted unanimously to use you for 2014 training needs.”[/quote]
Sure. We love this kind of feedback, and we’re pleased to provide continuing education to large investigative firms nationwide. But we’re not planning to rest on our laurels. With our field’s knowledge base evolving by the minute, our courses must evolve as well.
We’re working hard to update existing courses with new material and more interactive content, such as Camtasia tutorials and online video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrv83SKUIyk
We recently posted an updated version of our popular Serious Surveillance course, which has been getting great reviews and has impressed leaders in the investigative, education, and behavioral science fields. Look for a new course on deception detection coming soon; and this winter, we’ll break the sound barrier—with our first gripping installment of the PursuitMag podcast.
PI Education also recently overhauled its learning management platform, making it easier for you, the learner, to navigate courses and engage with instructors. It’s a simple and clean design that allows you to focus your efforts on specific areas. We’ve included videos, white board presentations, and slide-decks that augment the reading material. In short, we’ve made the process easier and more interesting for you.
[quote align=”center” color=”#999999″]Education is about making ourselves not only stronger investigators, but better-informed humans.[/quote]
Finally, we’re on the verge of offering our new live webinar series. Storyboard EMP, LLC has enlisted some of the thought leaders in our industry to host webinars on topics from background investigations to criminal defense, from surveillance to deep-web research, from social media to courthouse research. Our webinar series will host a limited number of participants and will allow interaction with the instructors. Once the webinar is completed, we’ll host a recorded version at PI Education into perpetuity at a reduced cost.
Education is about making ourselves not only stronger investigators, but better-informed humans. At Pursuit and PI Education, we’re excited about our role in that mission. With new courses and webinars coming online soon, and respected journalists and industry experts joining the Pursuit contributors’ masthead, we at Storyboard EMP look forward to our second year in the business of human improvement.
If you’re into the whole human improvement thing, join us in the virtual pages of Pursuit, and click over to PI Education to check out what’s new. And please do share your suggestions for topics you’d like to learn more about. We’ll dig in, learn more, and share what we know. —THH