Epic - blended learning and knowledge solutions

A journalist friend of mine (40 years in the business) once said, “There’s only one thing in a newspaper or magazine that everybody will read – a Top 10 list. It can be the Top 10 of anything, they’ll read it.”

BOOK REVIEW

2. Blended Learning – An On-going Process for Internet Integration, Trafford and e-Linkages, (2003 )

I have to admit to being a bit apprehensive about this book when I first opened it. It is aimed primarily at a US academic audience and focuses on three areas namely:

SURVEY

Want an insight into where training is going? Coaching (51% increase) and e-learning (42% increase) are the two dominant trends in training, along with a need for shorter and more flexible approach to delivery. ‘E-learning seems to be making some significant headway’ says the report.

Overall, however, it’s a flat year for training budgets with increasing pressure on budgets in the public sector. The perceived benefits have more of a focus on ‘training means business’ through the direct improvement of skills related to job demands.

ARTICLES

4a. Nielsen research; internet slashes TV figures

E-learning relies on familiarity with, and heavy use of, the internet. “Used to be that TV was the answer. The only problem is that it stopped working around 1997” said the President for Proctor and Gamble in the US. His point, repeated by other business luminaries in Coca Cola and General Motors, is that the key audiences for advertising are fleeing TV for the net.

Read the rest of the article

4b. Ofcom research

E-learning will ultimately rely on internet access and broadband penetration. Ofcom’s first annual report has some fascinating facts on the growth of the internet and digital media. The bottom line is that the UK has now officially turned digital. In almost every area from the home to business, we are increasingly using digital services.

On the internet and broadband:

broadband is now potentially available to 88.7% of households
50,000 new broadband subscribers per week
more than one third of internet households have broadband
time spent online increased eight-fold 2 hours a week up in 1999 to 16 hours a week in broadband households in mid 2004)
5 million broadband subscriber milestone will be passed in mid-September 2004

These shifts are fundamental changing the financial landscape:

TV subscription revenues have overtaken advertising on TV
Mobile phone revenue has overtaken fixed line revenue

Ed Richards of Ofcom reports, “There are more people with internet access than without and more people with digital television than without...digital Britain is certainly on its way."

NEWS

5. e-learning IPO is top of class

Blackboard’s IPO was the second most successful tech float this year, rising 43% on the float price. Blackboard supplies educational software (Academic Suite) to create and manage learning as well as its administrative software (Commercial Suite) which administers college and university purchasing.

E-learning has now become an essential component in further, non-compulsory education as the pressure to deal with more students at a lower cost becomes the primary economic driver. Gone are the days of three lectures a week, easy government funding and no competition. Students have to pay and competition is fierce. No institution can afford to ignore the role of technology in learning, whether it be in the administration of students, content and services or the creation and delivery of content. (see Epic White paper on Higher education and e-learning).

An interesting point is whether any Open Source rivals may steal their thunder. Several are now available although there are questions about their reliability and sustainability (see Epic White paper on Open Source and e-learning).

This float may give Blackboard the edge over its rival WebCT, the privately owned competitor of the same size. Going to market allows you to raise cash to expand faster than your competitors.

BLENDED LEARNING COURSE - BOOK NOW

Develop an Effective Blended Learning Programme. This unique course from Epic, centred around a practical, hands-on workshop, gives a step-by step methodology for designing effective blended programmes, and tools to help with the decision-making process.

Click here for full course content and booking

top

RETURN OF POST

If you have:
* a question to put to the Epic Thinking user base
* a response to any of the points raised here
* a suggestion for a topic you'd like to see covered

mail us right now

HOUSEKEEPING

Fed up with your colleagues reading this newsletter over your shoulder? Tell them to get their own...

To subscribe click here putting 'subscribe' in the subject field

To unsubscribe click here putting 'unsubscribe' in the subject field

Epic provides a full range of services and facilities from consultancy to delivery of e-learning and e-government solutions. EpiCentre, part of Epic provides a dedicated testing and localisation service.

To order our 12-page corporate brochure email click here
and put 'brochure' in the subject line

CONFIDENTIALITY

This email and any attachments are private and confidential and may also be subject to legal privilege. If you are not the named recipient, please notify the sender immediately and do not disclose the contents to another person, use it for any purpose, or store or copy the information in any medium. Internet communications are not secure and Epic is not responsible for their misuse by third parties, or for any possible alteration or data corruption in transmission. You should not rely solely on the contents that should be checked against hard copy.

top

E P I C T H I N K I N G

Issue 33: August 2004

TOP 10 LISTS