E P I C T H I N K I N G
Issue 39: February 2005
This month:
1. New white paper: Change
Management and e-learning - updated
2. Book review: Pour Your Heart into It -
Howard Shultz
2b. Book review: The Connecticon - learning
for the connected generation - Frank Rennie & Robin Mason
3. Article: JISC - “Effective Practice
with e-Learning – a good practice guide in designing for e-learning”
3b. Article:
The Graze Craze
4. Research:
MORI uncovers major new web trends in the UK
5. Hall of Fame: Two more educational visionaries
- John Locke and Rousseau
6. News: Epic to exhibit at MCRS
7. Jobs: Check out the latest Epic positions
vacant
8. Blended Learning workshops: New dates announced
WHITE PAPER
Change Management - updated
1. Introduction
Change management is now a common topic within e-learning
circles. Many have learnt that cultural resistance is the
biggest obstacle to the implementation of e-learning. This
updated paper provides an academically verified method for
change management relating it to the implementation of
blended and e-learning. It gives practical advice and
checklists for a full implementation cycle.
Read more about this
recently updated white paper by Donald Clark, Epic.
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BOOK REVIEW
2. Pour Your Heart into It - Howard Schultz
Review by Steve Rayson, Sales & Marketing Director, Epic.
As Epic will be exhibiting at the Multi
Channel Retail Show for the first time this year, on March 15th
and 16th, at the ExCel
Conference and Events Centre we have taken a look at issues
in retail staffing. It is little known that Starbucks were the first
company in America to provide healthcare for part-time workers and
this review by Steve Rayson, of Howard Shultz's Starbucks story
discusses Shultz's corporate attitude to staff retention.
As someone who loves coffee and coffee shops I have always been
wary of Starbucks. Maybe I have been influenced by that episode
of the Simpsons where Starbucks takes over the world. It can sometimes
seem like that with new stores opening in most cities in the UK,
so I wasn’t sure about Howard Schultz when I sat down to read
his book. However, it didn’t take long before he had my attention.
The book reads like a novel and I read most of the book at one sitting.
It is a story of dreams and a passion for coffee. At the end I had
far more respect for Howard Schultz and Starbucks.
Read the rest of the review
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BOOK REVIEW
2b. The Connecticon - Learning for the Connected
Generation
Review by John Harris, Director of Education, Epic.
Do we need new words to capture the changing world resulting from
ubiquitous high speed internet connectivity? Possibly, yes. Is “connecticon”
one such word. I doubt it. The Connecticon is a word coined to describe
the physical infrastructure, the people and the emergent potential
for education and innovation afforded by the interaction between
people and between technological devices. This book provides a perspective
on learning in connected communities containing some good description
and analysis of ideas around pedagogy, virtual communities and learning
objects. It also provides case studies of community-based online
learning experiences that exemplify the author’s ideas.
Read the rest of the
review
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ARTICLE
3. JISC - “Effective
Practice with e-Learning – a good practice guide in designing
for e-learning”
Review By James England, Business Development Director,
Epic.
The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has
recently published “Effective Practice with e-Learning –
a good practice guide in designing for e-learning”.
The guide is aimed at practitioners in post-16 education
(HE, FE and adult and community learning), specifically how this
group can use e-learning effectively in enhancing the quality
of teaching and learning. The booklet differs from many publications
of this kind, as it is also accompanied by a CD.
Effective practice with e-learning, focuses not
on developing and managing an e-learning project though there
is a chapter on designing for e-learning which provides a pedagogical
approach to learning activities in “a technology rich context”.
The main focus is on “the e-learning advantage”, ten
case studies that illustrate effective practice in e-learning
across the post-16 sectors.
Read the rest of the article
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ARTICLE
3b. The Graze Craze
Grazing; a new way of learning
Article by Donald Clark, Epic.
Can you watch TV without hopping at least once
or whenever the ads appear? Are you an inveterate channel hopper?
Do you now shuffle through a CD rather than listen all the way
through? If you have an iPod, do you use shuffle, and even shuffle
forward in shuffle? Do you skim through the newspaper in a way
you never used to? Do you start more books than you finish?
Find yourself preferring lots of little dishes rather than one
huge main course? If the answer is yes to even some of these
questions, you’re a grazer.
Read the rest of the article
RESEARCH
4. MORI survey uncovers major
new trends in web use in the UK
A new MORI survey published on February 3rd is the
first to take a wide-ranging look at the issues of reliability
of information found on the Internet, and the extent to which
users feel they can trust the information they find there. The
reputation of an organisation and the trustworthiness of the content
of websites are important factors in peoples attitudes, the survey
found. Information provided via the websites of more established
organisations such as museums, libraries and archives are most
likely to gain a great deal or fair amount of trust from people.
This is particularly the case in comparison to more commercial
websites such as utility companies, travel agencies and Internet-only
retail companies.
Read the rest of this article
HALL
OF FAME
5. Historical figures in the
world of learning - John Locke and Rousseau
The second part in our Hall of Fame series of leaders
in learning looks at John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, education
pioneers in the 17th and 18th centuries respectively. Locke and
later Rousseau were to change the history of human thought, not
always, some would claim, for the better. Locke was the practical,
British empiricist who wrote a highly influential manual on education,
which still contains much good sense. Rousseau was the wild French
romantic, who expressed his thoughts on education in the form
of a novel. However, both shared a concern for the learner as
an individual who needs to be motivated to learn.
In the next instalment we’ll be looking at
the pragmatists William James and John Dewey.
Read more about John Locke
Read more about Jean-Jacques
Rousseau
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NEWS
6. Visit Epic at the
Multi Channel
Retail Show and at HRD.
Epic will be exhibiting at the Multi Channel
Retail Show on March 15th and 16th at the ExCel Conference
Centre, East London. It is the first time we have done
this show and it coincides with the first time that the
show has offered the delegates access to an e-learning
village, reflecting the growing need for e-learning within
the retail sector. Epic will be on stand D40, within the
village, and if you would like to visit us there please
contact us for
free tickets to the exhibition. Epic's Donald Clark will
be speaking during the show about the training issues
facing retail organisations. "These shows are very
important to us as an organisation", said Therese
Coyne, Retail Account Manager at Epic, "We get to
speak directly to people within the sector about their
concerns and have the chance to learn from them. This
means that we are getting closer to solving the everyday
issues that face training personnel."
In April, Epic will make its annual journey
to Olympia to exhibit at the CIPD show, HRD. We will be
on the same stand as last year, 122, so again, if you
would like to visit us please contact
us for free tickets.
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JOBS!
7. Job vacancies
Epic is looking for interactive designers and
senior designers. Have you got what it takes?
Check
out the latest vacancies
BLENDED
LEARNING COURSE - BOOK NOW
8. NEW DATES
Epic has announced further dates for the unique
Blended Learning workshops. Learn how to 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
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