E P I C T H I N K I N G
Issue 21: August 2003
This month:
1. New white paper: Pedagogy and e-learning
2. New white paper: Localisation of e-learning
3. White paper update: Standards and e-learning
4. Show report: Where e-HR meets e-learning
5. Book review: Kaye Thorne's Blended learning
6. News: DfES strategy for e-learning, Epic survey
***************************************
W H I T E P A P E R
1. Pedagogy: the school-run in ancient Greece The word 'pedagogy'
has Greek roots, originally meaning 'a slave who took a boy to and
from school'. It is a combination of the Greek words for boy (paidos)
and leader (agogos).
The language of learning can be confusing.
This particular term - which places more emphasis on teaching than
on learning - had almost faded into a perhaps deserved obscurity.
Now it has been resuscitated and is on everyone's lips, in both
education and training. From government ministers downwards, no
paper, conference or discussion of the future of learning can take
place without the word being uttered in reverential tones.
It is being used as if it were a newly discovered continent, full
of future promise. In fact it is an old word, full of problems.
This ground-breaking new white paper from Donald Clark, Epic, traces
the historical roots of pedagogy, weighs its scientific credibility
and examines its relevance for today's world of e-enabled, self-directed
learners.
White Paper: Pedagogy and e-learning
Mail us to get your free
copy.
Give your views on the subject
top
2. 'You b'ain't from round 'ere,
are you?'
'Nothing sucks like an Electrolux' was the unfortunate
slogan run for a US campaign by the Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer.
Pepsi's 'Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation' was famously translated
into Chinese as, 'Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave'…
These translation howlers point up how important it
can be to get localisation right.
And it's not just about language. To culturally adapt
an e-learning course you must take account of different gestures,
fashion, religion, values, history, education, law, gender, holidays,
weather, food, business behaviour and measuring systems…
Localisation isn't easy. It calls on a wide range
of skills, and demands stringent processes and quality control.
This new white paper from Epic's Donald Clark examines the challenges
of culture, translation and design, and gives useful detail on the
thorny issue of coping with global character sets.
White Paper: Localisation of e-learning
To get your free copy contact
us
Give your views
on the subject
3. Shelter from the Scorm
Standards are supposed to make life simpler. However,
the current state of standards in online learning could hardly be
less conducive to carefree existence.
Part of the problem is that the word 'standard' is
an umbrella term for a range of guidelines, specifications, certifications
and accreditations. A bewildering array of bodies, acronyms and
jargon - AICC, IMS, ADL, SCORM, IEEE - have confused buyers to the
point where they are asking for conformance to standards without
realising, often, that what they are referring to is actually a
specification. Or appreciating that 'conformance' to this supposed
standard might be a matter of interpretation. Or understanding why
they should want conformance to it in the first place.
Originally issued in 2001, this white paper by Donald
Clark and Andrew Hooley has been fully revised and updated to reflect
the current state of play on standards in e-learning.
It will help you understand what is going on, what
the standards (or specifications) you need to worry about are, who
is working on them and how one should react to what they produce.
White Paper: Standards in e-learning
To get your free copy contact
us
Give
your views on the subject
top
S H O W R E P O R T
4. Where e-HR meets E-learning London, July 2003
'…Attitudinally, culturally, and in several other
ways besides, IT and HR are about as far divorced as it is possible
for two business areas to be… Tech expos are all about bullet-headed
men with laptops and glamour models in bacofoil miniskirts: the
stands are vast, flashy and deliberately intimidating. Your average
HR exhibition floor, by contrast, looks more like a garden centre:
rocks, trees, chameleons, kumquats …'
'You'd be forgiven for concluding that this merger
between HR tree-huggers and IT headbangers is going to have a bit
of a hard time…'
John Helmer, Editor of Epic Thinking, reports from
this stimulating conference, given by the E-learning Network.
Read the whole
report:
Selected presentations:
Hopkins and
Markham: e-HR and change
Mark Doughty plays buzzword
bingo
Case study: On the bus with
the Co-op
SAP: What is the return
on training investment?
Conclusion
top
R E V I E W
5. Blended learning: how to integrate online and traditional
learning Kogan Page, March 2003
Author: Kay Thorne
Review by Dr. Matthew Fox, Director of Design, Epic
'This book,' writes Kay Thorne in her introduction,
'is about using blended learning as an opportunity to recognise
talent, harness potential, push the boundaries of personal development,
and providing learning that transcends any individual or organisation
and puts it in world class.'
Phew.
We asked Matt Fox, Epic's learning design guru, to
see how well it lived up to this promise. He found it full of tastebud-tickling
case studies, but light on the real beef…
Read
the review
Give your views
on the subject
top
N E W S
6a. DfES strategy for e-learning
In July, the Department for Education & Skills launched
its consultation paper on e-learning: Towards a Unified e-learning
Strategy, which proposes a strategy to take us to a 21st century
education system.
We welcome this consultation document and very much
hope that it will generate debate and involvement about the potential
role of e-learning. Epic will be making an official response in
due course, so it would not be appropriate to comment here, except
to say that it's a broad vision, embracing everything from early
years to lifelong learning - a cradle-to-the grave e-learning strategy.
Issues raised by the paper will no doubt feature in
our September Think Tank debate on lifelong learning - so watch
out for the report of that event in October's Epic Thinking.
6b. Epic Survey 2003 - Last chance to secure your
free research report!
Final deadline for entry: 15 August.
We have had an overwhelming response to our survey
on the future of e-learning, which is shaping up to be a highly
significant piece of research into UK opinion, across both private
and public sectors.
Remember, the only way to get access to the full analysis
report is to complete the survey form yourself, before the deadline
date of 15 August.
top
Other Epic news this month:
Epic
- Preliminary results for the year ended 31st May 2003 Financial
Times: Online learning demand lifts Epic
Daily Telegraph:
Epic posts record results
Growth Company
Investor: Buy Epic
Shares: Gold stars
for Epic
E P I C E V E N T S N E W S
Don't miss 'Strategy & Practice in Blended Learning - Design, Delivery,
Management & Support', at The Berners Hotel, London in September.
Epic's Donald Clark is delivering a pre-conference
workshop at the event on 9 September, entitled, 'Design & Implementation
of Blended Learning Solutions'.
Organiser: WCBF Limited
Dates: 10 & 11September, 2003
Cost: £1,199
Contact: Vijay Bajaj - Event Director
Tel: 0800 1958 601 or +44(0) 20 7872 5891
Email: info@wcbf.com
http://www.wcbf.com/HR/7000
Donald will also be delivering a presentation at Online Educa, Berlin
in the theme 'Learning in Enterprises': Blended Learning in Practice:
Creating Optimal Blends
Friday 5 December, 14.30 - 16.00
http://www.online-educa.com/en/
F O R E T H O U G H T
In next month's edition of Epic Thinking:
New white paper release
White paper update: Induction and E-learning
Reviews
News
If you have any questions that you would like to see our delegates
address at future Epic Think Tanks, or suggestions for further sessions,
mail them now to:
thinktank@epic.co.uk
Catch up on past think tanks…
The learner's
experience: moving from push to pull
Blended learning
and knowledge management
Leading Change
and e-learning
Blended - or Blanded?
Leadership and e-learning
Health and e-learning
Collaboration
and e-learning
Corporate universities
and e-learning
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
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