E P I C T H I N K I N G
Issue 44: July 2005
This month:
1. Book review: The Shape
of Things to Come
2. E-learning interview: Seb Schmoller
3a. Article: Skills for Life
3b. Article:
e-Skills
4. Hall of Fame: Constructivists
5. Conference Report: Manchester Health Seminar
6. Jobs: See the latest Epic positions
7. Blended Learning workshops: Book now for the
last 2 dates of 2005
BOOK REVIEW
1. The Shape of Things to Come:
personalised learning through collaboration
Author: Charles Leadbeater
Published by Department of Education and Skills Innovation
Unit and National College of School Leadership
Reviewed by John Harris, Education Director, Epic.
Personalisation has been a buzzword in education
for quite a while now. When Epic held a dinner discussion on the
subject last year, we challenged a representative of the DfES Innovation
Unit to come up with a definition. He was unable to oblige but said
he would put the question to the Minister. A year later, we have
this paper written by left-leaning Demos think tank consultant Charles
Leadbetter. This paper makes a case for personalisation as an all-embracing
approach to the future of school-age education in UK. As such, it
will be of interest to any one with an interest in the future of
our schools.
Read
the rest of the review
E-LEARNING INTERVIEW
2. Seb Schmoller
At Epic, we love to hear the
opinions and experiences of influential figures within the learning
industry. This month Seb Schmoller, of the Association for Learning
Technology, has generously answered our questions. The questionnaire
aims to get personal views, rather than general thoughts on the
state of the market and the questions have been designed accordingly.
Seb combines half-time employment as the Executive
Secretary of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) –
http://www.alt.ac.uk/ with
freelance consulting – http://www.schmoller.net/.
Q What's your INTEREST in learning/online learning?
I spent 25 years working in Further Education, teaching
and developing TUC courses for trade union representatives. Through
the TUC I got involved in pre-internet online distance learning
courses, using a Swedish conferencing system called PortaCOM.
I applied what I’d learned in the creation of LeTTOL, a
web-based online course for teachers wanting to learn how to teach
on-line – http://www.lettol.ac.uk/,
which, several thousand learners later, won a National Training
Award in 2003. My interests now centre, through ALT, on establishing
learning technology as a discipline, and learning technologist
as a profession, and in the other half of the week mainly on helping
organisations implement sustainable e-learning.
Q What interactive technology do you use and
have at HOME?
Several radios and a telly. All four people in my
household have networked computers, one of which is a Mac, and
one of which is used for making music. My sons use iPODs. No Digital
TV. No games machines. No self-filling fridge. I have and use
a lot of books, which you could class as an interactive technology.
Q What stands out as your MOST EFFECTIVE learning
experience?
A week training to be a trade union studies tutor.
Extremely challenging. Plenty of feedback. Combining learning
about a curriculum with learning how to tutor it.
Reading “Inside the Black Box – Raising
Standards through Classroom Assessment” by Paul Black and
Dylan William. An in-a-nutshell summary of why giving learners
timely and motivating formative feedback is the most important
determinant of how fast and well they learn. http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/education/publications/blackbox.html
Read the
rest of the interview
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ARTICLE
3a. Skills for Life
Training Course review by Nick Timspon, Business
Development Executive, Epic.
I recently visited a ‘Skills for Life’
Training course at Crawley College to better understand the
challenges businesses and individuals can face when employer
and employee need to work together to address some of the
potential issues that can arise when some of these core skills
are not fully developed.
As with many people who attend training courses
I was not expecting to benefit specifically from this day
and thought I knew most of the potential issues that would
be covered (i.e. “what does that word mean?” and
“how do I add these numbers together?”)
However, I am pleased to say that I was pleasantly
surprised by the content of the day – especially when
asked to carry out certain exercises to “put myself
in the shoes of someone who may have difficulties with day-to-day
tasks that most of us take for granted”. These included
being asked to write a sentence using my left hand, which
was dictated to me by one of the trainers (I am right handed).
I found this exercise fun for about 30 seconds
but quickly became frustrated at the apparent speed the trainer
was reading out the sentence (she actually repeated everything
twice and read aloud at a very slow pace). Within 2 minutes
I was ready to throw down my pen in anger! There was an important
message in this as, like many individuals who find writing
and spelling difficult, I was concentrating on the mechanics
of the procedure, quickly fell behind and struggled to keep
up. In addition to this, I was then asked if I could read
what I had just written – hardly!
Although this may seem extreme, it did teach
me a valuable lesson - for some people reading and writing
is not second nature and conscious parts of the brain need
to be brought into action. This can be a real distraction
from the exercise - do we all remember taking our first few
driving lessons where the location of clutch and brake were
not yet instinctual?
I also found it amazing how many stories were
shared on the day about individuals who have difficulties
with these skills who have managed to keep it a secret from
even their partners – talk about having a weight on
your shoulders!
In summary, Life Skills are more than just literacy
and innumeracy challenges within business and need to be acknowledged
and supported in a sensitive and understanding manner to help
develop individuals without embarrassment and feelings of
inadequacy ruling the day.
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ARTICLE
3b. Sector Skills Agreement
By James England, Account Manager, Epic.
e-skills,
the UK sector skills council for IT, has recently published
the “Sector Skills Agreement for IT:2005-2008”
(SSA).
e-skills brings together industry, government
and the education sector to ensure that the UK workforce
has (now and in the future) the IT skills to match employers'
requirements.
This isn’t only about sustaining the
existing IT workforce (around 1.2 million people) but also
the business managers that need to understand and realise
the potential of IT (4 million) and all the workers who
use IT (20 million). There is also the need to ensure that
the number of new entrants into IT increases to meet the
future demand of the market – the IT sector alone
produces a Gross Value Added of £30 billion to the
UK economy.
Read the rest of the
article
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HALL
OF FAME
4. Constructivists
Constructivists see the learner as an active constructer
of knowledge and skills. It is a dynamic process and instructional
strategies must be aware of the role of the instructor as helping
the learner build on their existing knowledge and to relate
to their existing state, cognitive and social.
Bruner, although an original thinker in his own
right, introduced Vygotsky, who has had a serious and ongoing
influence in educational circles. However, their focus on social
context at times distracts from the real task at hand, learning
and the learner.
Read more about Bruner
Read more about Vygotsky
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CONFERENCE REPORT
5. E-learning for Health seminar
Britannia Hotel, Manchester
13th July 2005
Report by Henrietta Palmer, Account Manager,
Health, Epic.
There are a number of unique issues that relate
to delivery of training across Health & Social Care. Staff
are busy and many work shifts, some staff are highly sophisticated
learners whilst some have had little opportunity to learn.
Many skilled staff also come from other countries meaning
that English is their second language. Add to this the fact
that the NHS is one of the largest employers in Europe with
more than a million staff and it is easy to understand why
this sector is looking at new, more efficient ways to deliver
their training.
On 13th July 2005, Epic hosted a conference
in Manchester that was attended by over 50 people from across
the NHS. The purpose of the conference was to give people
the opportunity to meet with colleagues who are considering
e-learning and blended learning as a possible way forward
and to discuss a range of issues including:
-
The development of e-learning strategies
-
How e-learning can be used effectively
-
How to design an appropriate blended learning
solution
-
The Management of e-learning development within
the NHS from inception to launch
-
The Management of e-learning development when
working with stakeholders and suppliers
Speakers at the conference included Mike Farrell
of Cumbria & Lancashire Strategic Health Authority, who
has extensive experience of managing e-learning development
within the NHS, including the management of a range of suppliers
and stakeholders and David Prescod of BECTA, who discussed
how this approach has worked successfully outside the Health
Sector. It was clear from both of their presentations how
essential partnership working is between all parties involved
with the development of a blended solution. Also highlighted
was the concept of partnering with other areas that require
a similar solution to maximise the potential of a high quality
solution.
Epic's consultants focused on developing an
effective learning strategy that included the potential of
e-learning. Key considerations to maximise the overall return
on investment for any learning solution were discussed. Four
topics currently relevant to the sector were used as a basis
for discussions, attendees considered which elements of each
topic might work well as e-learning and which elements would
be best approached using alternative learning interventions.
Feedback from the day indicates that it provided
real food for thought along with the opportunity to meet people
with similar interests who can work together to drive forward
blended learning across the Health Sector.
JOBS!
6. Job vacancies
Epic is looking for interactive designers and
senior designers. Have you got what it takes?
Check
out the latest vacancies
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BLENDED
LEARNING COURSE - BOOK NOW
7. Just 2 dates left in 2005
There are only two more
Blended Learning workshops remaining in 2005. 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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* a suggestion for a topic you'd like to see covered
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