E P I C   T H I N K I N G

Issue 23: October 2003

This month:

1. New White Paper: Assessment and e-learning
2. Epic Think Tank: Lifelong e-learning?
3. Show report 1: Online learning 2003, Los Angeles
4. Book reviews: Morrison on implementation,
Tooley reclaims education
5. News: Surveys and reports from the US

WHITE PAPER

1. Assess this!

Niels Bohr, father of the quantum model of the atom, once took a physics exam in which he was asked to determine the height of a skyscraper with a barometer (so the no-doubt apochryphal story goes):'Tie a long string to the barometer, ' he answered,'lower it to the ground. The height of the building is the length of the string plus the length of the barometer'.

The examiner failed him.

Bohr protested and was given a second chance. At his hearing he gave four different and equally valid answers - none of which was the answer required by the examiner.

One of the abiding anxieties we have about exams is that
they don't assess the right thing. There are also concerns
about the effect on motivation of too much testing, the
disruption it causes, the fact that too much assessment
is end-of-course (summative) rather than on-the-job (formative) and the sheer workload it adds for both examiners and examinees.

In other words, assessment itself scores pretty badly.

Find out what online technologies can do to improve the
situation in this stimulating new white paper from Donald Clark, Chief Executive of Epic.

To get your free copy contact us

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EPIC THINK TANK

2. Lifelong e-learning?

75% of people in the UK feel let down by the education system. But, hey - what do THEY know?

So runs the joke. Not so amusing is that fact that one in five in the UK might lack the basic literacy skills to use a bus timetable. The 30% productivity gap that has been identified between the UK and its major competitors - the US, Germany and France - has been convincingly linked to a workforce poor in basic skills.

Clearly, lifelong learning is not just an issue for stats wonks, but one that directly impacts the economy.

Against the background of the DfES consultation document
on e-learning strategy, this Think Tank drew its guest list
from government departments and agencies directly concerned with making lifelong learning happen on the ground, and from the education sector. Held under 'Chatham House rules', the result was a frank, informed discussion of the issues around lifelong learning, and the role of 'e' in its present and future.

Read the full report

Key learning points (for those in a hurry):

• People don't value what they learn in the course of their working lives
• Learners will overcome all sorts of obstacles if they
  have a strong enough goal to aim for
• Qualifications are not necessarily the answer
• Policy is grey over the question of whether institutions or the individual should be the focus of lifelong learning
  - current government initiatives do either or both
• The case for lifelong learning is strong, but reality lags behind
• Free branded learning content online (MIT, BBC) suggests a sustainable possible future for lifelong learning

To get your free copy contact us

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SHOW REPORT

3. US goes blended, UK stays away - Report from
Online Learning, Los Angeles

'Next year this well-established online learning conference
is being combined with the Training conference: you could
say it's going blended (writes Donald Clark). Of the 2,600
delegates heaving up at the Los Angeles Convention centre this year, only five were from the UK. Epic was one (me), two from the MOD - couldn't spot the other two..!

'Curtis Bonk was my favourite presenter of the conference.
Slightly mad, wildly enthusiastic and full of insights.
In this presentation he saw better technology coming together with changing learner demands to create new pedagogic models. Pedagogy: now there's a subject close to my heart…'

Read Donald Clark's report from this key US event

Selected presentations:
Wurman: How big is Bhopal?
Bonk: The perfect storm
Case Study: Healthcare
Case study: Delta Airlines
Case study: IBM
Some e-learning nuggets

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BOOK REVIEW

4a. E-learning strategies: how to get implementation and
delivery right first time
John Wiley, May 2003

Author: Don Morrison

Review by Mark Harrison, Epic Group plc

'Don Morrison has taken on a tough task, namely to reflect
on the many trends and directions that e-learning is taking
whilst giving useful model for practical implementation.
And by and large he is equal to the challenge...'

Mark Harrison, head of consulting at Epic, welcomes a
useful addition to the e-learning bookshelf in
'this increasingly important space'.

Read this review

4b. Reclaiming Education
Cassell, 2000

Author: James Tooley

Review by Donald Clark, Chief Executive, Epic Group plc

'There was a rash of soothsaying texts in education in
the late nineties: I found Reclaiming Education
by James Tooley the most challenging of these.

'In an uncompromising way, Tooley looks at a basic
argument that many are scared to debate. State funded
schooling, in his analysis, has become a juggernaut that
needs to be slowed down...'

Coinciding with our Think Tank debate on lifelong learning,
Donald Clark reviews a controversial critique of the
UK education system.

Read this review

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NEWS

5. Everybody's gone surfing: Learning USA

At Online Learning in Los Angeles this month
(see show report above) several credible sources provided
valuable research information about the state of the
US e-learning industry. You can read a digest of these
reports on our website at:
http://www.epic.co.uk/news_features/latest_features/
survey_US_elearning%20_industry2003.htm

Key points of the research:

• ASTD
  Companies reporting the greatest improvement in performance… 'tended to report a higher level of spend on training'. Use of technology will grow at dramatic rates, at the expense of instructor-led: 'Even though e-learning costs less than traditional "classroom" training, it has also proven more effective for most kinds of training topics - people remember more they learn, and they can apply it on the job'.
  
  
• Training magazine (US) and IDC
  Joint survey of LMS usage shows that many have not
  seen the expected payoff. Indeed, Michel Brennan at
  IDC cast doubt on the wisdom of the huge LMS purchase…
  
  
• Jennifer Vollmer, ex-META, has seen a slowing of LMS
  sales as risk-averse training departments ruthlessly select the good vendors and dump the bad: 'Starting small is OK', she says, 'with smaller, leaner LMSs that require less investment and can be deployed faster'.
  
  
• 'Customers are getting savvy and spotting the winners', says Marc Rosenberg
  
  
• Clark Aldridge sees the best implementations of e-learning by those who 'concentrate on content and results, not infrastructure'

Read more

AND FINALLY…
Well done Billy Ward from Cable & Wireless for winning a
Brandon Hall Award in LA. Last seen wearing fetching
camouflage trousers and matching top on Venice Beach!
No doubt he will keep up the sartorial standards at the
Wolce awards in Birmingham next month, where
Cable & Wireless are shortlisted for an Epic-produced
programme, Stages & Gates

Epic in the news this month:

Epic has also been shortlisted along with
Barclays University Business School for
the Take the Lead programme... read more

…In the WOLCE Awards:

…And also in the Personnel Today Awards

Epic articles in the press:

Personnel Today: Training thoughts need to be directed
outside of the box... read more

See also:
e.learning age: Inventing a new language
QL: Exploding learning objects

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EPIC SPEAKS

22-24 Oct - CIPD Annual Conference and Exhibition, Harrogate
Organiser: Touchstone
Free white papers and demos of Epic programmes on stand A53

22 October - Epic Think Tank 11 - Evaluation and ROI
Majestic Hotel, Harrogate (a fringe event of the CIPD conference)
Dinner and debate by invitation only. If you wish to attend, contact us

5 December - Online Educa, Berlin
Epic CEO Donald Clark will be delivering a presentation in the theme 'Learning in Enterprises' entitled, 'Blended Learning in Practice: Creating Optimal Blends'

RETURN OF POST

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* a response to any of the points raised here
* a suggestion for a topic you'd like to see covered

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