E P I C T H I N K I N G
Issue 13: November 2002
This month:
- Show report: Techlearn 2002
- White papers: The year's 5 most requested
- Epic Think Tank: Blended - or
blanded?
- Review: Cross & Dublin's 'Implementing
E-Learning'
- Case study: Taking the lead with
Barclays University
- News: Epic CEO speaks out on Foundation
degrees
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S H O W R E P O R T
1. TechLearn 2002
Are you ready for the second wave?
'With over half of this year's 1,700 attendees being here
for the first time, this year's TechLearn conference seemed
to mark the emergence of a sober, second wave in e-learning.
"Overhyped in the short-term, underhyped in the long-term"
might best describe the overall feeling of the conference...'
Just in case you weren't able to get over to Orlando earlier this
month for the latest of the highly successful Techlearn conferences,
Donald Clark, Epic, brings you the essential highlights. Over the
next three weeks he will be distilling key points from the seven
main themes of the conference, including detailed case studies.
This week: pick of the keynotes
Key learning points:
- Blended learning is currently too crude and needs more
sophistication
- The E-learning industry has too many acronyms
- Knowledge management and e-learning are too close to separate
- Practice, little and often, improves retention (a principle
first discovered in 1885 - so why do we keep forgetting
it?)
Read the whole report
Elliott Masie on blended
learning and Velcro
Peter Senge on encouraging
the passion to learn
Steve Kerr on why Kirkpatrick
is 'a waste of time'
Dave Hopla shoots 110 out
of 111 hoops
Donald himself was
interviewed at the conference by Elliot Maisie.
Our next two TechLearn reports will cover:
- Knowledge Management and E-Learning
- Blended Learning
- Collaboration
- Simulations
- Customer E-Learning
And case studies on:
McDonald's, Home Depot, Saudi Aramco, Merck, Bristol-Myers
Squibb, Grant Thornton, Ericsson, Nokia, Cable & Wireless,
US Navy, Inland Revenue, Gillette, Pepsi, Wells Fargo, Canon,
Verizon, Ford, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America,
World Bank
Give your views on the subject: mailto:feedback@epic.co.uk
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2. The TOP 5 Epic white papers!
As regular subscribers will know, Epic publishes a wide range
of free white papers on all aspects of e-learning. Of the
eighteen titles we currently offer, these are the titles which
have been most hotly demanded in 2002 - in order of popularity:
1. Markets for e-learning
2. Organisational benefits
of e-learning
3. E-learning: return on investment
4. Blended learning
5. Psychology of e-learning
If you missed any of these first time around, now's your
chance to catch up on some of the brightest thinking in e-learning.
To order any or all of the top 5 Epic white papers or to let
us know what subject(s) you would like to see covered by an
Epic white paper please contact
us.
For summaries of the full range check out our features
page.
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E P I C T H I N K T A N K
3. Blended learning: blended or blanded?
There has been no Year Zero in organisational learning. The
training departments have not been closed down. E-learning,
the new kid on the block, has to learn to rub along with the
more established members of the gang.
At the heart of the issues surrounding 'blended learning'
is the very practical question of integrating new learning
technologies into the HRD function - traditionally the most
'touchy-feely', 'people person' area of the organisation -
without completely blanding it out.
For this our fifth Think Tank, held at the CIPD Annual Conference
and Exhibition at Harrogate, we brought together leading decision
makers from public and private sectors (including delegates
from three major government departments) to answer the following
questions:
- Is blended learning just a fancy name for something that
everybody has been doing for donkey's years? Or a real step
forward?
- What works and what doesn't?
- What is the future for blended learning?
Read a FREE full report
of this exclusive, high level discussion.
Contact us to give
your views on the subject.
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R E V I E W
4. Implementing e-learning
AT&D, October 2002
Authors: Jay Cross and Lance Dublin
Review by Donald Clark
One would expect a book on implementation to be written by
experienced implementers of e-learning, and this is indeed
the case with Cross and Dublin. This book is a welcome change
from the general texts on e-learning, now that the industry
is in its second wave, where practical rather than theoretical
issues have come to the fore.
The ten chapters cover those things beyond the technology
and content - the human factors and cultural resistance that
implementers face and the tools and techniques one can employ
to overcome these obstacles. The aim is to guide the reader
into producing an implementation strategy, with the first
half of the book covering planning and definition; the second,
the actual plan.
After a thorough grounding in change management theory, pulling
out summaries from the usual suspects such as Kotter, Jaffe,
Scott, Conner and Rogers, the book then gives advice on the
readiness of your organisation for e-learning. This includes
cultural readiness, technology readiness, organisational readiness
and leadership readiness.
It then moves into the theory behind communications, marketing
and branding. This is where it gets interesting. The short
chapter on communications is excellent. Less convincing is
the chapter on market research, where some idiosyncratic tools
are presented. Chapter seven moves up a gear with some excellent
tips, tools and techniques on launching your e-learning. The
book continues in this practical vein. Chapter eight covers
practical advice on copy writing and other marketing techniques
and chapter nine the sustaining of the marketing.
One of the problems with the book is a lack of clarity on
a single approach. Several theories are put forward on change
management, rather than a single, unified approach. Kotex's
8-step approach to change management gets most billing, but
it is not clear that it is being endorsed or recommended by
the authors. Indeed, the rest of the book doesn't then follow
the eight steps. There's lots of signposting but no clear
single route. As the authors have culled lists and other pieces
of advice from many different sources on marketing, branding,
communications, leadership and change management, it makes
the text seem a little piecemeal. On the other hand, it leaves
the reader free to pick the stuff that most appeals to them,
rather than being coerced into a single, recommended solution.
The book is also padded out with worksheets, some of which
are no more than a series of woolly questions. However, there
are several exceptions to this, including the very useful
action plan template at the back of the book.
An expensive buy at $33 for 130 pages, but well worth the
money if it leads to successful implementation of even the
smallest of e-learning initiatives. I would highly recommend
it - but don't expect a single, executable approach to implementation,
so much as an assemblage of hints and tips. Its practical
advice is sure to produce a good return on investment.
Contact us to give
your views on the subject.
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C A S E S T U D Y
5. Barclays University: bu …take the lead
Barclays University Business School (bu) needed a programme
to provide an integrated and consistent leadership proposition
across the organisation.
Epic worked with them to create a unique blended learning
leadership programme that integrates offline and online means,
with a key component being the 'take the lead …' website,
which forms a single gateway for leader development within
Barclays.
Read more.
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E P I C N E W S
6. Epic CEO on the move
As well as covering the Techlearn conference in Orlando this month,
Donald Clark, Epic, also found the time to speak alongside Margaret
Hodge MP on Foundation Degrees, and put in an appearance at the
Liberal Democrat conference...
*DC on Foundation Degrees
At a national conference held on Tuesday 22 October at the
University of East London Docklands Campus, Margaret Hodge
MP, Minister of State for Lifelong Learning and Higher Education,
called on universities, FE colleges and employers to work
together to develop the Foundation Degree programme. Foundation
Degrees are new work- based degree qualifications backed by
industry to provide the specialist skills that modern workplaces
demand.
Speaking from the platform as a representative of 'industry',
Donald Clark lent his support to the new qualification: 'There
is a clear need to widen, and not just increase, participation.
There simply has to be more focus on the needs of students
(flexibility) and the needs of employers (employability)…
'The future is clearly globalisation with a focus on attainment
not attendance. If we are to free learning from the tyranny
of the timetable, we must have customer focus. Foundation
degrees give us this focus.'
Read
more.
* DC warns Lib Dems not to 'play around' with the internet
Earlier in the month, at the Liberal Democrat conference
in Brighton, Donald Clark told delegates that a recent Lib
Dem technology consultation paper lacked strong proposals:
"The internet is at the heart and soul of the Liberal Party's
principles but not at the heart of its policies".
Clark said he had emailed the Liberal Democrat leader Charles
Kennedy through the party's
All political parties were guilty of vague generalisations
around technology policy to some extent, he said. "Parties
need to respond with ideas of their own, not just generalities
around 'access for all' and the 'broadband revolution'."
But he said Labour was currently leading the way in the development
of technology policies, using it to reform education, health
and the civil service with "real ideas, measurable timescales
and political will.
"Using the internet fruitfully inside government and increasing
access is crucial. It's important to recognise that it puts
people in touch - it ain't just about e-commerce."
(Thanks to Voxpolitics)
Further Epic news stories this month…
Business
AM profiles 'Britain's biggest e-learning company by some margin'
Donald
Clark writes on Induction in Business AM
The
Business: Epic keeps its leading edge
Epic
makes the Heartbeat faster
Epic
expands services division
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F O R E T H O U G H T
Next month's edition of Epic Thinking carries the second
part of our report from *Techlearn 2002* in Orlando, Florida,
USA.
We will also be featuring the report of our sixth Think Tank,
on Leading Change and e-learning, which took place north of
the border in Edinburgh this month.
Epic's final Think Tank event of 2002 takes place in London
on 4 December, and will pick up themes from the discussion
on blended learning published in this edition.
Guests confirmed so far for 'Blended London' include top-level
decision-makers from both public and private sectors, and
we are still open to offers to attend from subscribers who
have an informed contribution to make. If you are vitally
involved in this area and would like to contribute to the
debate, please email
us. Attendance is free, but numbers are strictly limited,
so don't delay.
Alternatively, if you have any questions that you would like
to see our delegates address, or suggestions for further sessions,
mail us now.
Catch up on past think tanks…
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
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