Record delegate numbers, passionate debates, real-life case studies of elearning in practice and the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the leading figures in the industry today were the highlights of this year’s eLN member’s showcase, reports Kim Peatfield.

‘Current’, ‘insightful’, ‘very worthwhile’, ‘offered new ways of thinking’, ‘exceeded expectations’ – these were just some of the eLN’s members’ reactions to the sell-out showcase.  Held at the newly opened De Vere Venue in Canary Wharf, London, the showcase is a key event in the eLearning Network’s calendar.  It combined presentations and seminars covering all aspects of elearning, including design, delivery and deployment, with a members’ exhibition and opportunity to showcase products and services.

eLN chairman Clive Shepherd said:“The Showcase demonstrated how the eLN can bring together suppliers and customers to explore current issues and create mutually-beneficial relationships. Each of our ten sponsors showed in their presentations how alert they are to current trends and how they are leading the way in making elearning more accessible, more engaging and more cost-effective.”

A two track conference meant that delegates were able to plan their day to suit their own particular needs.  Presentations demonstrated leading examples of elearning, offering a rare opportunity to hear real-life case studies and learn what other organisations are doing in elearning as well as how they are adapting to new threats and opportunities.

SESSION REPORTS

Mortarboards, Mindsets and Mavericks
Mark Tointon, Aardpress digital publishing

After a rousing welcome from eLN Vice Chair Neil Lasher, Mark Tointon from Aardpress kicked off the day’s proceedings.

Mark looked at how mass collaboration, information and idea sharing are changing mind sets in every arena and developing new models for the way people do business.  Businesses are no longer ignoring the world of education and are adopting innovative learning methodologies. Web 2.0 has initiated a changing emphasis from proprietary to open source, from restricted information to unrestricted, even free. As a result of this changing mind set there are a host of services that are springing up that are offering businesses new ways to collaborate, learn and evolve.

Mark introduced the audience to Moomis - a Modular Object Oriented Management Information System. Moomis has a suite of new business tools, developed to encourage corporate uptake, that take elearning and push it to the individual user. Mark concluded by saying that although nothing can ever be completely free, what open source tools like Moomis and Moodle offer, is freedom.

Read Clive Shepherd's blog posting on this session here.

Expanding your market reach – the role of elearning as a differentiator
Nick Timpson, Epic

Nick Timpson from Epic discussed how providing elearning as part of your service offering can add value to your business proposition and provide a highly essential differentiator in today’s competitive market place.  “As long as your elearning service is well aligned with your product offering and fits with your clients’ needs then it can effectively extend your market reach.”

Nick took the delegates through the benefits and risks and provided guidance on what to do to get it right. Claire Little, Vice President Training from SHL People Performance, joined Nick to talk about how her company has used elearning to provide a consistent level of service internationally and at the same time improve the success rates of the courses they offer. “Getting it right can positively impact your growth plans beyond all expectations,” Nick concluded.

Read Clive Shepherd's blog posting on this session here.

Really managing elearning
Rob Arntsen, MyKnowledgeMap

CEO of My Knowledge Map, Rob Arntsen, used the next session to examine how companies really need to manage their elearning. He highlighted that businesses today face many challenges but the one that is most universal is that of constant change. In elearning change comes through adaptations, enhancements, special versions, rebrands, changing images, new text and so on. “The world is moving like an express train,” he said, “and everyone is trying to predict where it will go next.” 

Citing a number of fascinating case studies, including Tesco’s Retail Store Management degree and the Chartered Management Institute, Rob demonstrated Compendle, a product that offers clients the opportunity to build extraordinary courses without detailed technical knowledge. Although not an authoring tool, Compendle means that clients can assemble all the content they require, including videos, PDFs, existing courseware and so on into new elearning courses.

Rapid elearning - or agile elearning?
Nicola Foster, Information Transfer

No other subject seems to raise as much contention today as that of rapid elearning. Taking the debate one step further, Nicola discussed the challenges and opportunities presented by rapid elearning and whether it brings value to the development process.

Using examples from Information Transfer’s award-winning elearning projects, some using rapid authoring tools and others more traditional bespoke processes, Nicola argued that rapid elearning development offers advantages for certain learning methods that more traditional methods cannot match.

“We have moved one stage further,” says Nicola “and call our approach ‘agile elearning' to reflect not only the speed of production but also other benefits such as co-ordination, increased flexibility and responsiveness.” The debate continues ...

Read Clive Shepherd's blog posting on this session here.

Download Nicola's presentation

The Business of Learning
Alan Samuel, TATA Interactive Systems

In a very impactful session, Alan asked delegates how often they design training for training’s sake? Are we just ticking the boxes, he asked?  Does your elearning actually impact upon the business?

For too many years, he said, training specialists have focused too much on the learning and teaching part and very little on its applications. For learning to be taken more seriously we need to treat it as a business and expect it to have measurable outcomes that are aligned with the overall organisational goals.

“Too often there is no joined up thinking across the business,” he said “and no linkage between the business and the training advocated.” He urged providers to be seen to contribute to the business performance, make a strong case for training and develop training plans that run alongside the Business Plan.

Download Alan's presentation

How to create fully accessible elearning - rapidly, collaboratively and automatically
Mike Alcock, Atlantic Link

The growth of legislation covering disability in the workplace means it is a subject that no business can ignore. Traditionally, organisations committed to developing elearning for disabled employees would have to deploy two versions which would mean twice the cost and length of time involved.

Using a powerful example of how BT adapted to a growing number of disabled workers, Mike demonstrated that Atlantic Link has now made it possible for companies to create fully accessible learning using rapid content development.

“Previously a rather slow and laborious process, creating accessible learning now takes only minutes, automatically,” he said.  Using templates and a server-based wizard for immediate availability, subject matter experts can now develop their own elearning in one version to suit everyone, without any technical skills.
“We are committed to developing software that makes a difference,” Mike added.

Download Mike's presentation
 
Using elearning effectively in the 'new' business world that has evolved post Northern Rock
Neil Lasher – Trainer1

Continuing one of the day’s prevailing themes of applying elearning to address the real needs of the business, Neil examined how things have changed post Northern Rock - what can we learn from the experience and what elearning needs to do to adapt? Always one for advocating rapid change, Neil advocated that post Northern Rock, elearners need to adopt a new business model called UVID – Understand, Visualise, Idealise and Deliver.

 
U – Understand: “We have much we can learn from watching processes such as business coaching, 360 degree and business management techniques. We need to understand the business needs now, as it happens. We also need to understand the learner.  Learners often do not want to learn; our challenge is to make them want it, in the same way that Web 2.0 is making them want information. We need to push learning so that knowledge becomes like any other impulse buy. This means showing them what they need and showing them what to do to get it such as ‘click here’. “This is particularly useful in contextual learning,” said Neil, “where the learner can be alerted where to find learning relevent to the piece of work they are on at the time.”

V – Visualise: Visualise how the learning will change the user; how will the business look after the learning? How will the learning look to achieve this?

I – Idealise: What is the idea?  Imagine the intervention; consider the change.

D- Deliver: When the training has been delivered it will change the way people think and act and therefore will result in a new need.  This constantly developing need is central to the new UVID model. The result?  No out of date material, no wasted resources; a constant push of new learning out to the user.

Are fun and games in elearning really necessary?
Richard Middleton, Academy Internet

Richard Middleton, of Academy Internet, asked whether the current emphasis on fun and games in elearning is actually a help or a hindrance in effective learning.  Using examples from a range of industries including those in charity, retail and construction, Richard argued that the fun and games approach can sit well with the wider business objectives and enhance the serious task of creating purposeful, high-impact learning.

Advocating Knowles’ theory of andragogy, ie that the student’s needs and wants are central to the process of teaching, Richard claimed that adults prefer:

• Content that is directly relevant
• To be involved in planning
• Problem-centred learning
• To learn from experience

As adults are also self directing, Richard argued that much learning imposed by organisations goes directly against Knowles’ principles of adult learning.  
The challenge for the organisation is finding solutions which will:
Overcome lack of interest

• Make the less relevant more engaging
• Overcome lack of involvement in planning
• Make the content feel less factual
• Make the content more of an experience

Read Clive Shepherd's blog posting on this session here.

Download Richard's presentation

Next Generation Learning Communities: Technology, Content, Tools & Support
Carole Bower and Chris Mayers, Futuremedia Learning

In just a few years the web has evolved from read only, through to Web 2.0, with its wikis and widgets and mash ups, through to Web 3.0, the semantic, intelli-web.
Using insightful case studies from BUPA and the Crown Prosecution Service, Carole and Chris showed how next generation learning communities are driving the development of online learning.  BUPA’s strongly branded PLATO learning community puts the user at the centre of their own personalised learning space. It has various tools that help users find and save information resources, offers expert discussion forums and its user rating system for courses has raised the overall integrity of the site.

Read Clive Shepherd's blog posting on this session here.

eLearning is past its sell-by date
Alan Bellinger – Institute of IT Training

Alan proposed that we change the emphasis on elearning and instead view it as using technology to transfer skills. In this way, Alan argued, elearning is simply a series of tools we can use to train which include:

• Performance Support
• Performance Management
• Competence Management
• Virtual Labs
• e-Assessment
• Collaboration
• Communities of Practice
• Enterprise Content Management
• Social Networking
• ‘Googleisation’

Alan claimed that we are currently in a state of flux and presented an ELS Maturity Model.

Looking back at the event

“The showcase was a sell-out success,” said Clive Shepherd.  “We had a record number of attendees and keen interest from companies wishing to join us as sponsors.”

John Rice from Bowlands Solutions said he was impressed by the presentations: “It has been rewarding hearing people who are passionate about their subjects.  The whole conference has struck the right balance between networking and building new working relationships, with learning about current issues and all the latest product offerings.”

“We often work on our learning projects in isolation,” said new eLN member Jane Parry from Virgin Media, “so events like these are invaluable in helping us see what is going on and to stay in step with new developments in the industry.”

“The key thing for me was the networking - offering opportunities to meet new people with similar business interests and goals. All of my conversations were interesting and I exchanged a number of business cards for future contact. I will definitely become a member now and look forward to the next event!” said Andy Smith from Dimension Learning.

Companies attending the Showcase included the Environment Agency, ING Direct, Siemens, Avis Europe, Legal and General and Virgin Atlantic Airways. The showcase’s platinum sponsors were aardpress digital publishing and Atlantic Link.