E P I C T H I N K I N G
Issue 20: July 2003
This month:
1. New white paper: Blended learning in practice
2. White paper update: Learning management systems
3. Epic Think Tank: Leadership for the top team
4. Show report: E-learning and financial services
5. Book reviews: Piskurich, Preparing E-learners
6. News: Exclusive offer - new e-learning survey
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W H I T E P A P E R
1. Optimal blends: they're back - and this time it's personal!
Donald Clark's white paper 'Blended Learning', released in February
of this year, brought some much-needed rigour to the business of
designing 'optimal blends', and was greeted with an enthusiastic
response.
Now we go one further, extending this thinking into the dimension
of practice. This month's new white paper release, written by Mark
Harrison, Head of Consulting at Epic, draws on Epic's considerable
experience of creating blended programmes with clients.
Describing the process you would go through in defining a blend
to meet any possible set of organisational circumstances and needs,
it gives practical steps for designing an optimal blend.
Two extended cases studies are also provided,
showing how a Government Department converted a 5-day face-to-face
programme of management and supervisory skills training to a blended
solution, and how a major retail bank devised, from scratch, a blended
programme to promote leadership throughout the organisation.
White Paper: Blended Learning II - Blended Learning in Practice
Mail us to get your free
copy.
Give your views on the subject
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2. LMS: A false god?
'Content may be king, but infrastructure is God.'
Tom Kelly, Cisco
Between 1999 and 2001, a feeding frenzy was underway
in the market for learning management systems. This was when the
buy-an-LMS-and-a-catalogue-of-generic-content model took root, as
heavily promoted by Brandon Hall, Masie et al. Even today, Brandon
Hall's lists of 'features that every LMS should have' are distributed
to the vendors of LMS systems, who duly build them into their systems.
This has led to a spiralling of over-specification, difficulties
in integration and rising costs.
Many companies purchased in haste, only to repent
at leisure - discovering that more effort should have been put into
strategy, change management, relevant content and people issues.
In many instances, only a fraction of the functionality they had
bought at such cost ended up being used. LMSs lay unloved and unused,
and in some cases were discreetly moved (under cover of darkness)
to the scrapheap.
Nowadays it is increasingly recognised that there
are other paths to perfection: LMS (lite), open source LMS, simple
web portal, blended learning portal or no LMS at all are all viable
options - it depends entirely on the needs and circumstances of
the organisation in question.
Which is not to say that LMS (large) is
no longer a viable way to go - just that it is by no means an absolute
and necessary condition for success in e-learning, and should only
be taken after some careful consideration of objectives.
This white paper by Donald Clark, Epic, extensively
revised and updated, helps you through this difficult buying decision,
surveying the market and offering nine options for LMS implementation.
White Paper: Learning Management Systems
To get your free copy contact
us
Give your views
on the subject
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E P I C T H I N K T A N K
3. Leadership for the top team
The great leadership debate continues. 'Leaders are
born not made' say some - while others continue to insist they can
be grown from seed.
This Think Tank injects some much needed reality into
the debate by focusing on leaders at three levels of the organisation,
and on those at the very top in particular, in determining the distinctive
learning needs of this group.
It turns out that leaders really ARE different from
other groups of learners:
- Motivation is not an issue
- They're more discriminating
about provenance
- Personal development issues
are potentially of an entirely different order…
Intro:
Leadership and learning
Cometh
the hour, cometh the… MBA?
Learning
from the post-boy
Tough love
for top leaders
Conclusion
S H O W R E P O R T
3. Advancing E-learning Implementation in Financial
Services London, June 2003
'…Having spotted a potential flaw in his argument,
your intrepid reporter cast aside her natural reticence and asked
how (the Financial Sector Skills Council) was going to motivate
companies to share knowledge with their direct competitors, given
that e-learning was delivering competitive advantage to some in
the sector?'
'His answer was, ''well that's a tough question…
I'll get back to you...''
Andrea Miles, Epic's Director of Private Sector Services,
reports from this stimulating conference, which gave a valuable
snapshot of the state of e-learning in financial services across
Europe.
Read
the whole report:
Selected presentations:
- Royal
& Sun Alliance (UK) '…e-learning has led to a change
in the roles of trainers. They now perform more like coaches,
helping learners apply what they have learned in their day to
day working…
- Nordea
HRD (Finland) '…A virtual learning programme where teams
worked on a product investment portfolio wholly online, creating
imaginary funds and brainstorming ideas at a distance...'
- Fortis
Bank (Belgium) '…Providing home access led to the toughest
challenges this project faced - the issue of technical support
for completely unknown client machines…'
- FSA/FSSC
'…His vision is a single exam framework on an international
basis, competence based… a portal for all learners in the
sector… regulatory testing and regular "MOTs"…
to be in the interest of consumers and the industry as a whole…'
- The
World Bank '…E-learning should be challenging the role
of the teacher: the teacher, in the new economy, is just one source
of learning, not the sole source...'
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R E V I E W
4a. Preparing Learners for E-Learning
Jossey Bass Wiley, March 2003
Author: various, Ed. George M Piskurich
Review by Bob Hampson, Epic.
This eclectic mix of educational research and practical
case history material tackles the issue of learner preparation,
which, it argues, can make a decisive difference to the chances
of success in an e-learning programme.
It comprises 11 comprehensive contributions from academics,
practitioners and industry experts, as well as a fascinating last
chapter of comments by learners themselves. Its main purpose is
to present a number of ways by which businesses and educational
institutions can prepare learners to succeed at e-learning.
The intended audience is primarily those
who create and deliver e-learning in the business sector - and their
managers. Each chapter is written by an expert in learner preparation
either from academia or industry. While the differences in style
and format between chapters that results from this aproach gives
the book an admirable richness, it makes for a slightly lumpy read.
However the book is clearly intended to function as a reference
source, and need not be read from cover to cover. Different audiences
within the organisation will easily find their way to the chapters
of particular relevance to themselves.
The ground covered is extensive, ranging from the
theory on self-directed learning to supporting learners through
technology, taking in organisational, academic and e-learning vendor
perspectives on the subject.
Of particular interest from a business perspective
is Chapter five, 'A View from a Corporate Learning Leader".
Its author, Rich Rabideau is a Vice President of Prudential Finance
in the USA, and his chapter gives a very down-to-earth view of what
has actually happened with e-learning, good and bad, in his own
organisation. A strong champion of e-learning and the enormous organisational
benefits it can bring, he brings the twenty-twenty vision imparted
by hindsight to laying down how organisations should be preparing
for e-learning. His view of blended learning as a 'transition strategy'
from traditional training to e-learning will appear eccentric to
many readers, however this chapter gives much practical advice,
some helpful checklists and numerous useful weblinks for further
information.
There is a shortage of publications on the issue
of learner readiness, so this work should find its way onto many
training departments' bookshelves. It is strong on best practice
examples, practical strategies and sensible checklists to help organisations
better prepare their learners for e-learning... and thus to increase
the probability of their getting a good return on their e-learning
investments.
Give your views
on the subject
4b. E-tivities: The Key to Active Online Learning
Kogan Page, August 2002
Author: Gilly Salmon
Review by John Harris, Epic.
E-tivities are teaching techniques for promoting
online and interactive learning through, primarily, written message
contributions to discussion forums. The e-moderator is a facilitator
(the guide on the side) rather than content expert (the sage on
the stage), guiding the participants through a structured set of
online activities (e-tivities).
Gilly Salmon's techniques have been developed at
the Open University Business School, where she is a lecturer, and
throughout the book there are examples of real postings drawn from
her extensive experience as an e-moderator.
At the heart of the e-tivity is a tightly structured
five-stage model that defines the stages the e-moderator goes through
to complete one. The five-stage model can be summarised as follows:
- Access and motivation - Getting learners onto
the system, welcoming them and encouraging them.
- Online socialization - Prompting participants
to send and receive messages and familiarising them with the conventions
of this kind of interaction.
- Information exchange - Providing a "spark"
that initiates action (e.g. studying course content) or interaction
(e.g. online discussion).
- Knowledge construction - Promoting the process
of actively thinking and interacting with others online, using
analytical, creative and practical skills.
- Development - Learners coming up with ways of
developing and applying their skills in new contexts.
Typically, the five stages would take place over
five weeks, one stage per week, with participants spending around
five hours per week posting messages or reviewing postings.
This is a sophisticated model in that it recognises
that there are issues around motivation and engagement, the three
big issues being participation, emotions and time. A skilful e-moderator
will increase the motivation of the learners by offering encouragement
and support. They will recognise when a learner is 'lurking' and
needs to be drawn into engaging with the other learners online.
They will also prompt participants to reflect critically on how
they have learned.
The book is illustrated throughout with plenty
of examples of online interactions, drawn largely from a particular
staff development programme. Given that the subject being explored
in the examples is e-moderation, it is easy to see the applicability
of the e-tivity approach. It is also easy to see how it can be transferred
to other academic subjects where there are strong discursive and
reflective components.
This title should be essential reading for those
universities incorporating the extensive use of online collaboration
in their courses. Equally, people in more corporate contexts will
find it useful to look at the issues associated with this form of
delivery. However, it is unlikely that any non-academic corporate
development programme would adopt the five-stage model wholesale.
In suggesting that the five stages should take place over five weeks,
with five hours each week spent posting messages or adding postings,
Salmon begs some interesting questions for those involved in corporate
development programmes. How many busy employers would feel comfortable
with employees spending all this time on e-tivities? And would they
perhaps prefer that they undertook e-tivities in their own time?
Give your
views on the subject
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N E W S
6. Epic Survey 2003 - The Future of E-Learning
Exclusive offer to readers of Epic Thinking!
Epic is mounting a major UK-wide survey, across
both private and public sectors, to sound opinions about how e-learning
is going to grow and evolve over the next three years.
Covering market growth, benefits and drivers of
e-learning and issues such as learner support, collaborative learning,
where e-learning is most likely to take place (i.e. home or work)
and the role of new media such as mobile and PDAs, it will provide
a unique insight into where key players believe this this fast-moving,
emerging industry is going next.
The full analysis report will be available EXCLUSIVELY
to Epic clients and members of the Epic Thinking list - i.e. you
- so complete the survey now (it takes only three minutes) and include
you email address to ensure you get your copy. The full analysis
report will be sent to you in August.
Click on the link below to order your report http://www.epic.co.uk/news_features/latest_features/survey_2003.htm
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Other Epic news this month…
Epic
in the FT - Market in fresh mood of realism on LMS
Epic in the FT
- Taking a lead in staff training
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: E-learning standards
- Epic Portfolio: Retail
- Reviews
- More news about the Epic Survey 2003 - The Future
of E-Learning
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
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R E T U R N O F P O S T
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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