E P I C T H I N K I N G
Issue 14: December 2002
This month:
- New 'White Christmas' paper: Customer e-learning
- Epic Think Tank: Leading change and e-learning
- Reviews: Bielawski and Metcalfe's 'Blended
eLearning'
- Case study: e-collaboration for senior
public servants
- News: New Year news
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PLUS: Santa's Sack - special seasonal bonus items:
* Epic Christmas Quiz!
* Diary of 2003 events
* GM food for thought
* It's a cracker - your Christmas cracker joke
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W H I T E P A P E R
1. White Christmas, White Paper…
The festive season has a disturbing tendency to spotlight strengths
- and more often weaknesses - in one very particular area of the
human skillset…
We're talking about shopping, an activity which - in this globalised,
online age - can involve mastering formidable bodies of product
knowledge, complicated financial concepts, and making tough mental
calculations across different currency rates, time zones and measurement
systems.
When we think of the word 'e-learning' we usually think of web-based
learning in formal education and training. Yet arguably, there is
more e-learning taking place among consumers. A huge amount of learning
is taking place on the web as ordinary members of the purchasing
public hunt for information on cars, financial services, holiday
destinations, flights, hotels, help with health problems, recruitment…
IOften this new, educated consumer has the edge on the humans he
or she encounters in retail outlets - being the more motivated learner!
Doctors see patients who know as much about their condition, investigative
techniques and treatment options as the experts. Consumer and supplier
are in competition for knowledge. Customer e-learning is already
big business. Surely the e-learning industry has a lot to learn
here about how e-learning could be branded, communicated, marketed
and delivered? So before you dive once more into the pre-Christmas
retail maelstrom, demonstrate your own wisdom as a consumer by ordering
this new white paper from Donald Clark.
White Paper: Customer e-learning
Mail us to get your free
copy.
What subject(s) would you like to see covered by an Epic white
paper?
mailto:feedback@epic.co.uk
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E P I C T H I N K
T A N K
2. Epic Think Tank: Leading change and e-learning
'I don't believe leadership can be taught, period.
You can't put the fire in their belly if they don't have it there
already. Throwing a box of matches at them won't work…'
Edinburgh, once feted as 'the Athens of the North'
and now part of a thriving digital cluster along with Glasgow, was
a fitting venue for Epic Think Tank number six, which explored themes
of leadership and change management.
This session picked up on themes raised by our first
ever Think Tank, on leadership and e-learning - and in particular
on the vital link that was uncovered during that debate between
leadership and change. Leaders, it emerged, are agents for change
within organisations - thriving during the 'white water' periods
where change is at its most intense - and provoking change, in order
that their organisations may thrive.
ISo how best can the skills of these 'change agents'
be enabled and developed within organisations - and what is the
role of e-learning in helping to do so?
Read a FREE
full report of this exclusive, high level discussion
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R E V I E W S
3. Blended eLearning: Integrating Knowledge, Performance
Support and Online learning
Human Resource Development, October 2002 (355pp)
Authors: Larry Bielawski and David Metcalfe
Review by Donald Clark
Blended learning has variously been described as a saviour, what
we've been doing all along, turning back the clock - even as an
empty vessel. But in practice, little serious thought has gone into
the theory of blended learning. There is a tendency to go with gut
feel and take face-to-face training, e-learning and other delivery
mechanisms, then stick them together with Velcro.
The good news is that a slew of books on 'blended' have appeared
that attempt to put some shape into the concept. Blended eLearning
by Bielawski and Metcalfe takes a very specific line. In short,
their recommended blend is:
- e-learning
- knowledge managment
- performance support
The good news is that this is sound theory and practice. The training
world is in danger of limiting the implementation of blends to the
traditional delivery mechanisms of the classroom, online learning,
workbooks and coaching. Many of the current implementations of blended
learning turn out to be crude 'oil and water' mixtures of e-learning
and the classroom. It is heartening to see the authors of this book
looking beyond the boundaries of training departments and HR into
knowledge management and performance support.
The bad news is that they don't go far enough.
Bleeding e-learning into corporate communications, workplace learning,
marketing, customer learning, searches on the web and the real world,
offers lots of scope for exciting new approaches to blended learning.
Learners blend anyway. They'll learn through lots of different encounters
in the classroom, on the web, in the workplace, watching TV, reading
a book etc. Playing to these natural behaviours was always going
to be successful. The danger was in being too 'single channel' in
focus. Note that the main culprit here is classroom delivery, still
by far the most unblended solution in training. E-learning practitioners
are also guilty. However, I'm not sure that anyone ever believed
that the classroom or e-learning was a single solution to any learning
problem.
The first chapter sets the scene with an overview of the e-learning
industry. Here we see the usual IDC data, but you get the feeling
that this is already out of date. However, the general points are
sound. Chapters two and three then lay out the basics on performance
support and knowledge management in a credible fashion.
Having set out the theory in these opening chapters, chapters four,
five, six and seven move into integrated solutions, systems design,
case studies, best practice, analysis, profiling and change. I wasn't
wholly convinced by the case studies, which are largely from huge
companies such as IBM, BAE, Northrop Grumman and others. Their approaches,
at times, seemed far from innovative.
It was in chapter eight that things got strange. There is still
an uncritical loyalty to the LMS found in much of this book, which
in chapter eight shifts to the LCMS. This is a little odd, as much
of the theory points away from these restricted solutions. Luckily,
chapter 10 opens up into a broad canvas on blends. There is a good
essay on 'Achieving Success in Blended Learning' that has been taken
from another source.
Chapters one, 12 and 13 are the weakest in the book, dealing with
authoring, e-books, wireless and mobile applications. Here the personal
obsessions of the authors come to the fore. I found myself speed-reading
through these chapters, although the final chapter, on resources,
contains some useful sources.
If the book has one over-riding fault it is in being at times a
little simplistic. There is also has a tendency to throw in topics
(such as twenty pages on e-books) without much justification from
the core argument. Indeed, the best material in the book is the
content that the authors have cut and pasted in from other sources.
There are some excellent (acknowledged) articles that suddenly appear
in the middle of chapters, on the implementation of e-learning and
other thoughts on blended learning. I found myself bookmarking almost
all of these.
At 350 pages, this book would have benefited from some editing.
However, it is the first and credible attempt to move the blended
learning debate beyond the training bubble into other spheres of
influence. Well worth buying, well worth reading, but skip the bits
you find irrelevant - another type of blended learning!
Give your views on the subject: mailto:feedback@epic.co.uk
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N E W S
4. Epic news stories this month…
Epic's
'virtually fantabulous' e-learning for the NLN
Ufi/learndirect
extends a tried and tested relationship
Epic
continues to strengthen trading position
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S A N T A ' S E - L E A R N I N G S A
C K
Special seasonal bonus items:
1 . Diary of 2003 events
2 . GM food for thought
3 . It's a cracker - your Christmas cracker joke
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1. Diary of 2003 events
Ring out the old, ring in the new...
23-24 Jan
eLearn Expo Paris 2003
Palais des Congres, Paris
http://www.elearnexpo.com
29-30 Jan
Learning Technologies 2003
London Olympia *be sure to visit Epic on stand 62!* http://www.learningtechnologies.co.uk
9-12 Feb
eLearnInternational
Edinburgh International Conference Centre
EICC, Morrison Street, Edinburgh
*Donald Clark of Epic speaking*
http://www.elearninternational.co.uk
24-26 Feb
Training 2003 Conference and Expo
World Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia http://www.trainingconference.com/
26-27 Feb
hrm4hrm midlands
Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham
http://www.mybgroup.co.uk/hrm/
5-6 March
Online Learning 2003 Europe
ExCel, London
http://www.vnulearning.com
7-10 Apr
NAB 2003
Las Vegas, Nevada
http://www.nab.org/conventions/nab2003/
8-10 Apr
HRD 2003
London Olympia
http://www.cipd.co.uk/HRD/
May-03 14-16 May
E3 2003
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.tradefair.co.uk/
4-5 Jun
eLearning
Business Design Centre, London
http://www.e-learningevent.com
22-24 Sep
Online Learning 2003
Los Angeles, CA
http://www.vnulearning.com
22-24 Oct
CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition
Harrogate Conference Centre
http://www.cipd.co.uk/annualconf-ex/
29-30 April
BAOL Conference 2003
Scarman House, University of Warwick
http://www.baol.co.uk/home.htm
[Date tbc]
TechLearn
International Burlington Hotel,
Dublin Advanstar Communications (UK) Ltd.
020-8987 0900
2-5 November
TechLearn 2003
Orlando, Florida
http://www.techlearn.com
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2. GM food for thought?
At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly
compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated
that: 'If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry
has, we would all be driving twenty-five dollar cars that got 1000
miles to the gallon.'
In response to Gates' comments, General Motors issued
a press release stating:
If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we
would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:
1. For no reason whatsoever your car would crash twice
a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road
you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway
for no reason, and you would just accept this, restart and drive
on.
4. Occasionally, executing a manoeuvre such as a left
turn, would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in
which case you would have to reinstall the engine.
5. Only one person at a time could use the car, unless
you bought "Car95" or "CarNT". But then you would have to buy more
seats.
6. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by
the sun, reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive,
but would only work on five percent of the roads.
7. The oil, water temperature and alternator warning
lights would be replaced by a single 'general car default' warning
light.
8. New seats would force everyone to have the same
size butt.
9. The airbag system would say "Are you sure?" before
going off.
10. Occasionally for no reason whatsoever, your car
would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously
lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grab hold of the radio
antenna.
11. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase
a deluxe set of Rand McNally road maps (now a GM subsidiary), even
though they neither need them nor want them. Attempting to delete
this option would immediately cause the car's performance to diminish
by 50% or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for investigation
by the Justice Department.
12. Every time GM introduced a new model car buyers
would have to learn to drive all over again because none of the
controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
13. You'd press the "start" button to shut off the
engine
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And finally…
3. It's a cracker - your Christmas cracker joke
How many software engineers does it take to change
a light bulb?
None. We'll document it in the manual.
None. It's a hardware problem.
One. But if he changes it, the whole building will
probably fall down.
Two. One always leaves in the middle of the project.
Four. One to design the change, one to implement it,
one to document it, and one to maintain it afterwards.
Four. Plus one senior analyst to manage the project,
one technical writer to correct the spelling and grammar of the
one who documented it, one light bulb librarian, a sales-force of
at least five to drum up enough users who want to turn the light
on, 274 users to burn out the new bulb, at which point we go to
tender for another light bulb change...
Five. Two to write the specification program, one
to screw it in, and two to explain why the project was late.
Wait! Maybe the bulb isn't broken. Let's try it again.
It's hard to say. Each time we separate the bulb into
its modules to do unit testing, it stops working.
We looked at the light fixture and decided there's
no point trying to maintain it.
We're going to rewrite it from scratch. Could you
wait two months?
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Epic Group plc would like to wish all its clients,
partners, suppliers, shareholders, employees, ex-employees, friends
and okay then, competitors… A very happy Christmas and an even happier
New Year!
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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.
Epic's first Think Tank event of 2003 takes place
in London in On 29th January, and will deal with the merging of
e-learning and knowledge management. Guests confirmed so far 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
mailto:thinktank@epic.co.uk.
Attendance is free,but numbers are strictly limited, so don't delay.
Catch up on past think tanks…
Leadership
and e-learning
Health and e-learning
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 at: newsletter@epic.co.uk
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