E P I C T H I N K I N G
Issue 46: October 2005
This month:
1. Introduction: New owners, new opportunities,
new people
2. Feature: Consultant's Corner
3. Events: CIPD and WOLCE
4. Feature:
UNIAID
5a. Book review: Learning by Doing
5b. Book review: e-learning Games
6. E-learning
interview: Laura Overton
7. Conference report:
Harnessing Technology
8a. Article: The Labour Party in
Brighton
8b. Article: Standards - heaven or hell
9. Hall of fame: Instructionalists
10. Report: Thames Valley Police conference
11. Jobs: See the latest Epic positions
12. Blended Learning workshops: book now for the
last date of 2005
NEW OWNERS, NEW OPPORTUNITIES, NEW PEOPLE
1. New Owners
On August 22 2005 Epic was acquired by the London-based learning
and publishing organisation, Huveaux plc. Huveaux was formed in
2001 by its chairman John van Kuffeler with the objective of building
a substantial media organisation by acquisition and organic growth.
Epic now joins a stable of well-established and highly-respected
brands whose expertise in their own specialist fields offer us a
wide range of opportunities to increase both the breadth and depth
of our e-learning solutions across the public and private sectors.
Huveaux is organised into three Divisions - Learning, UK Political
and EU Political
Epic is the largest unit within the Learning Division and its new
stable mates are:
- Fenman Limited, specialist publishers of materials and information
concerned with employee Training and related personnel matters,
including The Training Journal.
- Lonsdale SRG, publishers of revision guides and workbooks for
school pupils in England and Wales
Epic clients might be interested to know that Training
Journal has undergone a relaunch. To take advantage of a discount
of up to 30% call 01353 654877.
Read the rest of this announcement
CONSULTANT'S CORNER
2. A word from our newest consultant Consultant's Corner is a new
regular Newsletter slot to provide insight into topical issues around
improving performance and business impact in the world of learning.
Steve Barden recently joined Epic to develop the range of our ‘Full-Service
Consulting’ offering. He brings deep experience of important
issues from pre- to post-implementation of e-learning across private
and public sector environments. In the coming months, he will announce
several new initiatives to complement the existing range of thought-leadership
and consulting services to support our clients.
Most of Steve’s career has been spent in adult learning and
development, working extensively with the spectrum of learning technologies
and fashions and their effect in a range of corporate and public
environments. Having previously worked on the supplier side, where
he developed innovative solutions to support the range of needs
from the shop floor to the boardroom, he most recently worked for
six years in the core global e-learning team at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
His role was providing consultancy and defining strategy for key
stakeholders around the practical implications of delivering and
integrating their standard e-learning platform to all parts of the
world.
Recent CIPD Survey points to the benefits and future of E-learning
The CIPD’s Training and Development Survey, April 2005, pointed
to the continuing rise in the use of e-Learning. The survey provides
some interesting indicators to what may govern progress in the future.
Read the rest of the article
EVENTS
3. Epic's conference and exhibition season kicks off once again
with the CIPD
show, which takes place in Harrogate from October 26th to 28th.
Epic will be on stand A66 and this year we are looking forward to
launching a new product. On the evening of the 26th October, Epic
and Nottingham Business School will jointly launch iLead,
an online leadership development portal, which, if taken in conjunction
with face to face experiential workshops delivered by Nottingham
Business School, can lead to a degree in Leadership, the first of
its kind in the United Kingdom. If you would like to attend the
product launch or the exhibition itself please contact
us.
Epic will also exhibit at the World
of Learning conference and exhibition at the NEC, Birmingham
on the 15th and 16th November. Epic will appear on stand C140 and
if you don't get the chance to visit us at CIPD this year, then
why not drop in to the stand in Birmingham and find out more about
our latest products.
FEATURE
4. UNIAID’s ALL ABOUT U: So good he launched it twice!
John Harris, Director of Education, Epic
It’s been a busy month for UNIAID, the charity who commissioned
Epic to develop the award-winning student finance game All About
U. UNIAID has been running a series of workshops across the country
where it has been introducing students to the tool. With ALL ABOUT
U, potential students have the opportunity to experience the financial
challenges of going to university before they get there. They get
to decide what their priorities are – saving money, having
a great social life, getting a good degree, punishing their liver,
or balancing all four.
Read the rest of this feature
BOOK REVIEW
5a. Learning by Doing
Author: Clark Aldrich
Publisher: Pfeiffer (2005)
Review by Donald Clark, Epic
"It is good to see that experts such as Schank and Aldrich,
who have been pushing for the "learn by doing" model for years,
are now in the ascendancy over the likes of Masie and Brandon-Hall,
who regurgitate whatever's being sold this year; LMSs, LCMSs, Reusable
Learning Objects and so on" says Donald Clark who reviews this timely
text by Clark Aldrich.
Read the rest of
the review
BOOK REVIEW
5b. E-learning Games
Author: Kathleen M. Iverson
Publisher: Pearson (2005)
Review by Donald Clark, Epic
This excellent title on online
collaborative activities is reviewed by Donald Clark. The title
is misleading as there are no 'games' in this book- it's really
a set of well-designed tasks, an excellent resource for online collaborative
learning taking e-tutoring way beyond dull open ended questioning
and administrative duties.
Read
the rest of the review
E-LEARNING INTERVIEW
6. Laura Overton
By popular demand the
e-learning interview returns this month. We are delighted
that Laura Overton has taken the time to answer our questions
and hope that you find the answers interesting and useful.
Q What's your INTEREST in learning/online
learning?
I think that those that know me know that e-learning
is more of a passion than an interest for me. I have spent
all of my career (too many years to commit to in print!) focusing
on the people side of e-learning. Currently that passion for
engaging businesses with e-learning is being worked out through
my involvement with the Government’s work based e-learning
action plan. I’m working with the sector skills councils
to help identify what employers actually need from e-learning
– quite a challenge we often don’t know ourselves.
Q What interactive technology do you use
and have at HOME?
I keep it really simple – broadband &
wireless have really opened up opportunities for me to keep
connected, informed and entertained both with work and socially.
Q What stands out as your MOST EFFECTIVE
learning experience?
I know it probably sounds corny but the learning
that had the most practical and long lasting impact on my
career and confidence was a series of programmes I did in
the early 90’s run by Dale Carnegie Training –
for me the secret of their success was meeting weekly together
and reporting back each week on how we had applied our learning
and the difference it had made in the workplace.
Read
the rest of the interview
CONFERENCE REPORT
7. Harnessing Technology
Report by John Harris, Director of Education,
Epic
FUN AND GAMES AND LEARNING:
Harnessing Technology to support learning a seminar to demonstrate
novel ways of using IT
An ESRC/EPSRC/DTI People @ the Centre of Communication
and Information Technologies Programme (PACCIT) /BT Seminar
Thursday 13 October, 2005, 9.45am – 4.30pm
BT Centre, 81 Newgate Street, London EC1A 7AJ
The government’s e-strategy for education,
“Harnessing Technology”, suggests borrowing ideas
from interactive games as a way of motivating reluctant learners
to
practice complex skills and achieve much more than they would
through traditional means. This conference sought to survey
some interesting project that look at ways in which games
technology can help transform teaching and learning.
Read the
rest of the report
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ARTICLE
8a.The Labour Party in Brighton
Donald Clark takes a look at the Labour Party's
recent conference in Brighton with particular regard to the
education and training policies discussed.
Read the rest
of the article
ARTICLE
8b. Standards - heaven or
hell
Article by Donald Clark, Epic
Learning Circuits, in conjunction with E-Learning
Network News, ran a short survey in July 2005. Donald Clark
looks at the results then looks at the views of the many dissenters
and sceptics who do not see standards as having provided value
for money.
Read the
rest of the article
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Hall of fame
9. Instructionalists
By Donald Clark, Epic
Donald Clark continues the Epic Hall of Fame
this month with portraits of the Instructionalists, who gave
us the theory on which instructional design focused for the
last few decades. Ebbinhaus taught us much about memory and
the need for reinforcement, lessons which are still studiously
ignored by many practitioners in learning. He also looks at
Gagne who provided a nine-step model for instruction that
still holds sway today. Then Mager, who put Learning objectives
at the forefront of learning design, in the opinion of some,
one of the most destructive forces in design.
The first really heavyweight psychologist to
look at how instruction is related to memory was the mighty
Ebbinghaus, the first to seriously and scientifically dissect
memory. His findings are directly relevant to instructional
design over a century later. Much later we have the massively
influential Gagne in the 1960s and Mager in the 1970s. These
two are firmly rooted in traditional taxonomies of learning
and behavioural objectives. Their recommendations, although
sensible, don’t say much about sophisticated instructional
methods for skills.
Some would argue that they have held back the
cause of good design by focusing too much on ‘objectives’.
I tend to agree with Schank when he says that, ‘Learning
objectives is a phrase that literally makes my stomach turn
when I hear it…'. Learning objectives tend to trivialise
complex issues by making them into sound bites that can be
told and then tested to see whether you were listening’.
Read more about Ebbinghaus
Read more about Gagne
Read more about Mager
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REPORT
10. Thames Valley Police conference
Report by Nick Timpson, Business Development
Executive, Epic
The Thames Valley Police recently held an e-learning
conference in the beautiful Berkshire countryside.
The event was seen as an introduction to e-learning
for all forces within the UK and was attended by 50 delegates
from 30 forces – including one from Scotland.
Epic was invited to set the scene of the event
by addressing the audience with the keynote speech. The audience
varied from those who were familiar with e-learning to those
who were there to find out what all the fuss was about!
This knowledge spread mirrors the in-roads made
into e-learning by the MOD (cautious at first, then with a
real thirst for learning and exploring the various methods
of delivery) and it was also interesting to see the positive
reaction received when the audience saw some of the latest
approaches to learning delivery, including the use of PDAs
and MP3 players.
With this in mind, I think it will be an exciting
road for the police as they adopt new and innovative learning
methods.
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JOBS
11. Job vacancies
Among other roles, Epic is looking for a sales
Director and sales Executives. Do you have what it takes?
Check
out the latest vacancies
BLENDED
LEARNING COURSE - BOOK NOW
12. Final date of
2005
Epic has announced further
dates for the 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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