Show report
Scaling up e-learning
Vision, policy and concepts
The government view was given by Professor Diana Laurilland
of the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). The DfES
is spearheading the government's approach into the standardisation
of e-learning. 'To ensure that we don't re-invent square wheels'
as Diana aptly remarked. Included in Diana's presentation
was an example of a spreadsheet approach to the issue of return
on investment versus traditional development and delivery
of training. The only positive return being realised if resources
were shared. Diana shared Commodore Fairbairn's view of same
cost - improved product.
Implementation and lessons learned - 1
Dr Jonathan Crego of NCALT (Part of CENTREX, the national
police training organisation), described his evangelistic
adventures in bringing a standardised approach to e-learning
through his two-year funded project. A real labour of love
as this continues to involve convincing 43 separately managed
local police forces and specialist organisations to use a
common resource of police-specific content. And, by the way,
they have 43 different IT environments! A highlight (for me)
of this presentation was a clever use of mind-mapping techniques
to provide clear and instant access to the contents of police
manuals.
Implementation and lessons learned - 2
Andy Robinson of the Empire Test Pilot's School presented
his experience in the justification and implementation of
e-learning for a very small and specialist audience. The key
benefit for his operation was the creation and acceptance
of pre-course work on mathematics prior to test pilots attendance
at the school. Thus maximising the daily hours available in
the air. Thus allowing more efficient use of some very
expensive training props.
Supporting the process - methods, tools, standards
Presentation from the Association of Learning Technologies
(ALT) to promote the work of this now very large community
in enabling wide debate on learning technology, CETIS on interoperability
standards and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)
on the myriad of support projects they fund.
The way ahead - challenges, controversies and convergences
An excellent presentation from John Bruce of LogicaCMG on
the success of the Defence e-Learning Centres and on the techniques
and technologies available now to assist the MOD in content
delivery and conversion.
Other presentations in brief
'Academically-centric' presentations included those from:
The Open University, UK e-Universities, Oxford University,
De Montfort University, BBC, Kings College Dept. of War Studies,
Potchefstroom University (SA), NHSU.
Commercial presentations were given by AMS on their journey
to become a 'leaning organisation', and SAP on their LMS.
Conclusion
The symposium achieved its aim of bringing together a prestigious
mix of speakers, some with e-learning 'war stories' to relate,
some with established programmes, others being experts in
their particular fields to inform the delegates of the pitfalls
and opportunities inevitable in large-scale e-learning implementations.
Introduction
Keynote: Commodore Bill Fairbairn
Back to features
|
