Economic storms and the age of cloud learning - by Ishmael Burdeau
Spend some time in a city centre shortly after the shops close, and you may be lucky enough to spot a special breed of urban guerilla. So-called "freegans" seek to live off the products that our society throws away. Contrary to our preconceptions about these revolutionaries who forage from skips, freegans are typically young, well-educated and employed. They see their way of life as a logical response to the extravagant and wasteful culture around them. It's a sensible way of helping the environment and saving money at the same time.
So now you are probably wondering what all of this has to do with e-learning. Who of us does not feel threatened by the twin spectres of financial meltdown and environmental catastrophe? We all feel our budgets being squeezed, yet we are also aware that the quest for unrelenting growth cannot solve our grave environmental predicament. For anyone working in learning technology, these themes have also been repeated. We have all witnessed the demise of technologies which promised much but delivered little. We are often led to believe that the introduction of a new gadget will lead to improved learning, only to be let down with a bump months or perhaps years later, after having spent many thousands on expensive hardware and software.
Recent changes in my family circumstances have meant that I have had to spend a lot more time working from home. At first, to-ing and fro-ing between between home and office meant juggling a complicated and cumbersome combination of USB sticks and VPN connections. Sharing data between two or three different machines is a painful and awkward struggle, even for a seasoned web professional, and led to a few lost files and dropped connections. It did not take me long to see the benefits of cloud computing, so much so that nearly all of my data is "out there", almost a complete reversal of where I was five short years ago. I have collected a great suite of tools, and these days Google Docs, Prezi and ZumoDrive have replaced Word, PowerPoint and file servers.
Jolicloud, a small company started by Tariq Krim and based in Paris, takes cloud computing to the next level, as its small but beautifully formed OS relies almost entirely on cloud-based applications such as Google Docs, Evernote, DropBox and Spotify to create, store and deliver information. Specifically designed for low-end netbooks, Jolicloud takes a freegan-like approach to technology, assembling a cohesive set of free tools brought together from various cloud-based sources. Readers of the Jane Hart's Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies blog will no doubt be aware that the index of Top 100 Tools for Learning, which is compiled yearly by readers of the site, is increasingly being dominated by web apps.
In fact the 2009 top 10 was dominated by cloud-based tools such as Google Docs, Google Reader, Delicious and SlideShare as well as very strong performances by up-and-coming web apps such as Prezi, Evernote, Screenr, Animoto, DimDim, Yammer and Udutu. For the "traditional" desktop players, things don't look so healthy. The past two years have seen Outlook plummet from 17th to 67th, Word sliding from 10th to 36th and PowerPoint dropping from 5th to 13th. It seems very likely that in 2010 Prezi will overtake PowerPoint and catapault its way into the top 10.
As our new "age of austerity" begins to bite for real, learning technologists seem even more likely to adopt a DIY, freegan approach to delivery of course material and collaboration. The recent launch of Google's CloudCourse is an interesting development in this area. Along with its cloud-based rival, HootCourse, CloudCourse marks a significant shift in the LMS space, using a learning-as-a-service model rather than the more typical download-and-install LMS that we are more used to. As we all get more comfortable with the idea of both our data and applications moving to the cloud, we will no doubt soon see this type of learning becoming the norm. Now that so many fantastic cloud-based tools are available, it certainly makes sense to invest time and effort in exploring the enormous potential of learning in the cloud. The biggest challenge for learning technologists will be about what to keep and what to throw away.
CIPD 2010 Learning and Talent Development survey - by Alec Keith
The CIPD 2010 survey involved responses from over 700 learning practitioners relating to 'current and future learning and talent development issues and trends' with the key aim of tracking changes in workplace learning, as well as identifying anticipated trends for the next five years.
Despite current economic conditions the report is largely upbeat, even though 65% of organisations say their economic situation has declined in the past 12 months, with learning and development budgets decreasing for 52%. This contradicts a more recent survey by Thales of 200 L&D professionals which concluded that in larger organisations L&D spend was now on the rise, with current budgets up by 6.2%.
The survey reveals that e-learning is the fastest growing learning approach, with 62% of organisations saying they use it more now than in 2009 - great news for the industry! Towards Maturity also delved a little deeper and uncovered that 85% of all organizations now use e-learning, up from 74% last year. These figures suggest e-learning has been truly embraced and will continue to go from strength to strength.
But it’s not all good news for e-learning. In response to the question ‘Which of the following learning and talent development practices do you believe are the most effective?’ only 12% of respondents felt e-learning was the most effective form of delivery. Whilst this is an increase on last year’s figure, it’s still disappointing. In fact, some case studies imply e-learning is a poor cousin to other L&D activities: ‘We had tried to use e-learning as a precondition to attending training but many staff commented that they did not have time to complete or properly consider the package due to pressures of work and so rushed the package at the last minute.’ This raises the issue of the quality of e-learning solutions and how they are marketed internally.
One limitation of this year’s report is that social learning wasn’t covered, something which will certainly change in the next few years as networking and internal knowledge sharing become widespread.
But evaluation has risen up the training agenda, with 30% of respondents citing this as their key challenge over the next five years.
To download a copy of the full survey, please go to: www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/lrnanddev/general/_Learning_and_development_summary.htm
Adult Learners' Week - by Naomi Norman
Did you know that this week is Volunteer’s Week? Next week is Hearing Dog Week and also British Heart Week. And, on Saturday it is World Environment Day. All in a good cause, but rather difficult to keep up isn’t it?
One date that we never miss at Epic is the third week in May: Adult Learners’ Week – not just because we exist as a business to support the learning needs of others, but also because as individuals and as a company we are passionate about learning. Never before have I worked for an organisation where in the nooks and crannies between work, there has been such varied learning activity: from learning the ukulele to learning sign language!
Therefore, each year for Adult Learners Week, when we put out an invitation for staff to ‘share a skill’, we are never sure just what might be proposed!
This year, Owen O’Donnell, one of our lead testers, shared his passion for the prehistoric history of Brighton and Hove, and there was astonishment at the ancient surprises hidden among the streets of Epic’s home City. None of us knew about the Cannibals of Whitehawk and the somewhat less famous Hovehenge!
Another day, one of our project managers, Iain White, gave a crash course on climbing, and more specifically how to ‘Tie in’ and ‘Belay’ – all demonstrated in the safety of the office as opposed to the outside walls of the building, I hasten to add!
On a more practical day-to-day note, one of our senior web developers, Ishameal Burdeau, shared a new kind of presentation tool to a packed-out boardroom of Epic staff. And we also teamed up with another company, Locomatrix, for a mobile GPS treasure hunt, raising to the fore many of the issues around mobile learning design.
Compare this to last year, when we learnt about organic gardening, photography, podcasting and debated the following question in a joint seminar with Oxford University MSc E-learning students: ‘Is technology transforming learning and if so, then what does it mean for us?’ You can see what I mean about varied!
Happy Volunteer’s Week, and roll on Adult Learners’ Week 2011 – who knows what skills we may have the opportunity to pick up?!
