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?!