E P I C   T H I N K I N G

Issue 26: January 2004

This month:

1. New white paper: Media and media mix in e-learning
2. Show report: Implementing e-learning, ELN, London
3. Book reviews: Eats, Shoots and Leaves; Money for Nothing
4. Results of the Christmas Quiz!
5. News: Life not fair shock (did Gates really say it?)

WHITE PAPERS

1. Media rich is not always mind rich

Technology is always streaking ahead of psychology. We see the use of media in e-learning driven by the ability to use the medium, rather than lessons drawn for research or the psychology of learning. A true evaluation of media and media mix needs to look at the pros and cons of each media type; text, audio, graphics, animation and video. It must then look to how media are combined and integrated.

What are the 'learning' pros and cons for text, audio, graphics, animation and video?
Should text and audio be delivered at the same time?
How should text relate to grahics on the screen?
When should video be used?

There are some surprises in store here, as research suggests that some media mixes enhance but others inhibit learning.

This new white paper from Donald Clark, Epic, argues that we have to look at the research to consider the strengths of each media type as well as its relationship to other media in the mix against the nature of the target audience and type of learning. Just as blended learning is recommended for channels of delivery, a blend of appropriate media is recommended for e-learning.

So what it the optimal media mix for a specific piece of learning? Order your free white paper today - and find out!

White Paper: Media and media mix in e-learning

To get your free copies contact us

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SHOW REPORT

Implementing E-Learning, E-Learning Network, London, November 2003

'About twenty minutes into his talk, I realised what it was that seemed familiar about Dr. Owen Rose. In his voice and presentation (though not in appearance) he is a dead ringer for Matthew Collins, who presents desperately accessible programmes about art on Channel Four.

'The style is breathless and enthusiastic; very engaging. Perhaps this was what had me hanging on his every word - or perhaps it was just that he had something interesting to say. Dispensing with the marketing guff and conceptual juju that afflict so many e-learning presentations, he detailed three implementations that varied widely in scope and scale; from the Portman Building Society's DIY approach, to an enterprise-wide roll-out by a global pharmaceutical firm…'

John Helmer finds ELN's November conference on implementing e-learning a guff-free zone.

Read full report

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BOOK REVIEWS

3a. Eats, Shoots & Leaves

Profile Books, November 2003
Author: Lynne Truss

Review by Donald Clark, Epic

From time to time Epic Thinking likes to acknowledge that books occasionally do get published about subjects other than learning. One such, which will no doubt have found its way into many a Christmas stocking this year, is 'Eats, Shoots & Leaves' by Lynne Truss. It certainly found its way into that of Donald Clark, Epic, for whom it touched on perennial concerns:

'Anyone who has been involved in the production of content in print or for the screen, as I have for many years, will know how frustrating it is to receive prose that is littered with punctuation errors. It is a particularly sensitive issue in learning materials as the content is under such scrutiny and has to be authoritative. I've had irate telephone calls from people who claim to have uncovered dozens of errors in scripts and content. On examination, these often turn out to be questions of style. Will this book solve the problem..?'

Read this review

3b. Money for Nothing: Real Wealth, Financial Fantasies and the Economy of the Future

Nicholas Brealey Publishing, September 2003
Author: Roger Bootle

Review by Steve Rayson, Director, Epic

Keeping the focus wide, we also review a book that will have turned up in the Christmas stockings only of very sad people. And economists. But bear with us, this one also turns out to be extremely relevant:

'Bootle was formerly one of the so-called 'wise men', the Bank of England's independent panel of economic advisers (writes Steve Rayson) and is probably best known for his 1996 book The Death of Inflation, which forecast an era of persistently low inflation. "Money for Nothing" is a wide ranging review of global economics and the influential factors in the future. One of the most critical factors that will influence the future health of the world economy, he argues, is the capacity for learning…'

This is actually a fascinating book, which argues for knowledge, not land or materials, as the key to wealth creation - explaining why Hong Kong has an economy almost as large as Russia's.

Read this review

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CHRISTMAS QUIZ ANSWERS

4. The Epic Christmas Quiz - answers!

No bottles of champagne were handed out this year, because nobody got the answers right (go to the back of the virtual classroom).

So for those of you who have lost sleep wondering what they were - here are the answers! These are the questions not the answers!

Q: Who clicked and did the docent thing?
A: Docent and Click2Learn

Q: Who walked down the aisle with the Network, only to baol out and form a new association (clue: the answer is NOT Kat Slater)
A: merger of the FTT and BAOL to form BLA, after merger with ELN fell through

Q: Which canucks caused maximum confusion by diving in the pool?
A: Maxim buys Knowledgepool

Q: Who fueled speculation then proved themselves wider than wide?
A: Fuel buys Wide Learning

Q: Which Indians bought a company from Roger the cowboy?
A: NIIT buys Cognitive Arts (Roger Schank's company)

Q: Which University topped 3 million hits from the UK for its free courseware?
A: MIT

Q: Name the new shadow minister for 1. Education? 2. Health?
A: Trick question - they're both the same person, namely Tim Yeo

Q: Who announced the possibility of a project named 'Creative Archive' this year?
A: Greg Dyke, director general of the BBC, speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival in August, announced plans to give the public full access to all the corporation's programme archives

Q: What does 'wiki' mean?
A: The short answer is that "wiki wiki" is Hawaiian for "quick". For a more detailed answer, visit wiki.org, where you will find 'A collection of Web pages which can be edited by anyone, at any time, from anywhere'

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NEWS

5. Life not fair shock (did Gates really say it?)

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at Mt. Whitney High School in Visalia, California detailing 11 vital rules of life not taught in schools.

1. Life is not fair - get used to it!
2. The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
3. You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping - they called it opportunity.
6. If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
7. Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
8. Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
9. Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
10. Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
11. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

…Or did he?

Because this story, which has been much discussed around the parish pump that is the internet, might not be true.

Truthorfiction.com, a site that tracks internet rumours and checks them for veracity claims: 'This is not from Bill Gates. It's an excerpt from the book "Dumbing Down our Kids" by educator Charles Sykes.'

However, so many people now believe it to be true that it has gained the status of an 'urban myth' - something which might not be true, but which a lot of people seem to want to be true (so much so that they're framing copies of it to hang in their children's bedrooms).

Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, would no doubt see this as yet another example of the fragile status of truth on the internet (see Donald Clark's book review above). Others will choose to see it as an example of the power of that medium. Epic Thinking just abhors the over-liberal use of capital letters.

Other news this month:
Top guru quotes Epic CEO
Epic helps to e-Start London businesses
IT Training: Building your own expert

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EPIC SPEAKS

22-23 January
Elearn Expo Paris
Palais des Congrès, Paris
Donald Clark, Epic, is keynote speaker at this event

28-29 January
Learning Technologies 2004
Visit Epic on stand 62
Entry to the exhibition is free

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