The PGC is a practical course, which complements an existing knowledge base through a variety of comprehensive e-learning modules. It is highly recognised in the e-learning industry, providing practising e-learning designers with the necessary skills and accreditation they deserve in becoming a qualified e-learning designer.

"The course presented lots of opportunities to learn new skills and test ideas in a safe environment. I'm very grateful to Epic for enabling me to be part of such an exciting initiative.” Designer, Epic.

Tracy Capaldi-Drewett, Deputy Managing Director at Epic, comments: "The course is of a very high standard and we actively encourage our designers to enrol on the PGC and have done for several years. The programme is key in our commitment not only to the development of our team but also in raising the bar in learning design for our customers. Additionally, it has also been very encouraging that many new recruits within the Epic team have also undertaken the course."

For more information on the Postgraduate Certificate in e-learning design, please visit: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/1-2-2-5.html.

For general information, please contact marketing@epic.co.uk.

The suite of 10 learning objects that make up the e-learning programme are designed to support social care training and education. The programme will be fully accessible and made freely available for any organisation or individual to use from the SCIE website.

The whole programme will be highly engaging, dynamic and interactive experience for learners and will encourage the adoption of e-learning within the social care sector. The project delivery date is Summer 2008.

Reflecting on the selection of Epic’s tender from 33 other submissions, Steve Mackenzie, Business Development Manager for Epic commented: “This is a very important project for Epic and we were extremely pleased to be recognised for our knowledge of the social care sector and our experience of developing highly engaging and relevant e-learning. We are very much looking forward to working with SCIE in this key e-learning initiative.”

Colin Paton, SCIE's e-learning manager added: “Successful inter-professional and inter-agency collaboration is key to enhancing social care services. Policies, structures and systems are important in creating the right climate for this, but ultimately the experience of the service user will depend, to a significant extent, on the skills of the worker. The Department of Health (DH) allocates resources to the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) to develop e-learning resources to help meet the training needs of the social care workforce. In this latest project SCIE will work with EPIC to develop a series of 10 e-learning resources on inter-professional and inter-agency collaboration, which will fully exploit multimedia and interactivity, to deliver key messages and showcase best practices in as engaging a manner as possible.”

For further information, please contact:

Tracy Capaldi-Drewett
Deputy Managing Director - Commercial
Epic
52 Old Steine
Brighton BN1 1NH
Tel: 01273 728686
Fax: 01273 821567
E-mail: marketing@epic.co.uk
web: http://www.epic.co.uk
http://www.epicentre.co.uk
Blog: www.blog.epic.co.uk

Since its launch in May it has proved to be a runaway success with local authorities looking for a cost-effective way of training councillors by using e-learning as part of a blended programme of learning. With Modern Councillor they can learn anything from the basics of local government and community leadership to licensing and regulations, IT and mobile technology, data protection, media skills, equality and diversity awareness.

New content is added each month, with advice from a steering group of representatives from 20 local authorities and a range of organisations, including the IDeA. Within three months of launch, over 70 per cent of English Councils had signed-up, giving 16,000 councillors password-protected access to the site.

Those who have used the system have been enthusiastic.

James Hunt joined South Gloucestershire Council in May and is also a parish councillor. After experiencing Modern Councillor he was so impressed that he contacted all his fellow Council Members to encourage them to look for themselves.

“I’d definitely recommend it. You can never be trained enough. There is always something more to know. I was so impressed I sent an email to all my fellow members telling them what a great resource it is. Several then logged on and sent me replies of agreement. It’s even encouraged me to take a fast-track development course.”

Alan Dean – in his 21st year as a councillor and with four years under his belt as leader of Uttlesford District Council – is just as impressed with the online courses.

“I’ve used the module; it was very interesting to go through a 45 minute unit of the key techniques. There were some very good messages in there. The reputation of the local government needs to be raised and dealing with the media professionally is an important part of that.

Additional modules are being added to the site all the time. It’s a good idea for Member Development Officers to send out regular reminders so councillors can put the relevant dates in the diary and they don’t forget it’s right there online.

Modern Councillor isn’t an alternative to other forms of training; instead it complements them and prompts people to ask for more. Members are short of time and going on a two-day or evening course might be out of the question – but dipping into Modern Councillor will tell you whether you need more training on top.”

The courses have been produced in conjunction with Epic and cover topics such as Community Leadership, Working with the Media, Data Protection and Freedom of Information, Using Mobile Technology and Licensing and Regulation, among others. Released monthly, the courses will remain permanently available so that Members can revisit the material as often as they wish.

Tracy Capaldi-Drewett, Epic’s Commercial MD, said “We were delighted to have been selected by Learning Pool for this project as we recognise how important the role of the elected Member in today’s environment is, and the initial and ongoing support that is being delivered by Learning Pool."

As e-learning rapidly moves into the mainstream so the age profile of some newly elected Members has lowered. These younger, more technology-savvy Councillors bring a readiness and demand for more flexible learning resources. At the same time, more experienced Councillors are looking to new technology to help them manage their many responsibilities.

About Epic

Epic has over 20 years experience, and an award-winning track record, in bespoke e-learning, blended learning and knowledge solutions – our position as the UK market leader in this field is testimony to our proven ability.

Epic’s devotion to creating enjoyable and effective learning is built into everything we do. The lasting relationships we have established with our clients (which include high profile companies from almost every sector, professional services organisations and public sector services) demonstrate that we are continuing to engage and connect with them, and their people. A wealth of free resources are available on the website at www.epic.co.uk, including the Epic Blog and Epic White Papers.

Jonathan has a distinguished history in the UK e-learning industry having been the CEO and owner of EBC from 1997 to 2006. He sold EBC to Futuremedia in 2006 and has now agreed to advise and lead Epic on the next stage of its strategic development.

“I am looking forward to the challenge of leading Epic in the next stage of its development. It’s a great company with a fantastic brand and strong ethos to deliver excellent learning experiences." says Jonathan.

“We are delighted to have someone of Jonathan's calibre on board. He is an accomplished business leader, is entrepreneurial in attitude and will bring great strength and experience to compliment the existing management team at Epic.” says Gerry Murray – Group CEO, Huveaux Plc.

About Epic

Epic have over 20 years experience, and an award-winning track record in bespoke e-learning, blended learning and knowledge solutions – our position as the UK market leader in this field is testimony to our proven ability.

Epic’s brand reputation is built into everything we do. The lasting relationships we have established with our clients (including blue-chip companies, public sector bodies and professional organisations) demonstrate that we are continuing to engage and connect with them, and their people. A wealth of free resources are available on the website at www.epic.co.uk, including the Epic Blog and Epic White Papers.

For further information, please contact:

Jade Taylor
Epic
52 Old Steine
Brighton BN1 1NH
Tel: 01273 728686
Fax: 01273 821567
Mail: marketing@epic.co.uk
Web: www.epic.co.uk
Blog: www.blog.epic.co.uk
Epicentre: www.epicentre.co.uk

UNIAID, Epic and partners developed UNIAID’s online tools which help students prepare for and cope with the financial side of higher education; ‘All About U’, ‘Student Survivor’ and the ‘UNIAID Student Calculator’.

‘Student Survivor’, the online game that provides key information about student finances, has been accessed by more than two million people since its launch in April 2005. Now it has earned the companies behind it three coveted prizes:

• a Regional National Training Award;
• a ‘Special Mention’ prize in the category for ‘The best e-learning programme securing widespread adoption' from the e-learning age judges; and
• runners-up in the World of Learning Awards ‘Learning Innovation of the Year 2007’

The game, which explains bursaries, loans, grants and repayment thresholds, is aimed at encouraging more students from low-income backgrounds, who might otherwise be put off by fees and loans, to sign up for higher education.

The e-learning age judges reported that:

“This project achieved an outstanding penetration using a successful strategy of viral marketing. It makes a difference to the opinions of those who use it. This project addresses an issue of national importance and strategic links have been made at a political level as well as some impressive commercial partnerships. The judges strongly believe that this project deserves and needs more attention from parents, teachers and Local Education Authorities.”

Alistair Lomax, chief executive of UNIAID, explains:
“Despite significant Government investment, there has been no noticeable shift in the social classification within higher education (HE) for 30 years.
There is a whole generation affected by the fear, confusion and misunderstanding of a burden of cost which, for the first time in England, would be upon their shoulders.”

HSBC focuses on helping young people to understand how to manage money responsibly and effectively.
“The partnership with UNIAID and the innovative approach that they took to this challenge has enabled HSBC to support financial learning to an audience which both strongly needs this information and is notoriously hard to engage.” said Judith Austin, sponsorship manager of HSBC Holdings Plc.

Recent research revealed that 84 per cent of school leavers believe student debt deters entry into HE, with concern greatest among those from low income or single parent families.

“An online, interactive role play and scenario-based approach to learning was chosen as this would give students an engaging experience of the realities and challenges of university life. The fact that the learning materials were competing for 16-19 year olds’ free time was taken into account across the board in the design, i.e. concept, language, interface, look and feel, use of rewards, etc.”. says Alistair.

Tracy Capaldi-Drewett from Epic says“The biggest obstacle for Epic in this project was around the learner engagement of this challenging audience. We are delighted this effort has paid off and that the programme has been so successful.”

The game enables young people with little or no idea about the challenges of independent living to rehearse and prepare in a safe environment.
Since launch, more than two million young people have played Student Survivor – many using it for up to an hour.

Alistair added: “Although surveying a captive audience within a school will never be an exact representation of the sort of online audience you get through viral marketing, this approach to evaluation did show that 97 per cent of those asked would be more likely to go to university as a result of the training.”

A special thanks to all the partners who were involved in the development, in particular the developers; Rubbaglove and Kerb and our sponsors HSBC, Red Bull, Aimhigher and UNITE.

About Epic

Epic is a leader in the innovative use of digital media for learning and communications. Their e-learning solutions are tailored to the needs of their clients and end-users and help organisations improve performance. Epic’s many, loyal clients cover a broad spread of industries across both public and private sectors, with particular strengths in Government, Defence, Education, Finance, Retail and Telecommunications.

The company has won numerous awards over its two decades of existence, including a 2007 National Training Award, and is highly respected for its work in fostering understanding of the emerging field of e-learning. A wealth of free resources are available on the website at www.epic.co.uk, including the Epic Blog and Epic White Papers.

Jade Taylor
Epic
52 Old Steine
Brighton BN1 1NH
Tel: 01273 728686
Fax: 01273 821567
Mail: marketing@epic.co.uk
Web: www.epic.co.uk
Blog: www.blog.epic.co.uk
Epicentre: www.epicentre.co.uk

The web-based programme has been developed for the DWP by the UK e-learning company, Epic.

The focus of the e-learning is about changing attitudes. It encourages local authority staff to make sure that customers know what changes in circumstance they must report. It will also help benefit staff to understand when mistakes are most likely to happen, and recognise opportunities to prompt claimants to report changes in their circumstances.

The training package is aimed at benefit assessors, visiting officers, receptionists – anyone who comes into contact with Housing Benefit customers. It takes around 3 hours to complete, but staff can work through the tutorials and interactive scenarios individually if they prefer.

The e-learning has been available since 5 November 2007 and DWP has sent access details to benefit managers in all local authorities. Further information is available on the DWP web-site.

Work & Pensions Minister James Plaskitt said:
"I’m pleased this package is now available to local authority Housing Benefit staff, and urge everyone to do the training. This will help us all to make sure we take every opportunity to reduce error, and ensure every customer gets the right amount of benefit every time they are paid."

Tracy Capaldi-Drewett, Commercial Director for Epic said:
"We are fully aware of how busy the target audience is and are confident that the approach taken in this programme will help in achieving greater levels of accuracy".

For further information, please contact:

Tracy Capaldi-Drewett
Epic
52 Old Steine
Brighton BN1 1NH
Tel: 01273 728686
Fax: 01273 821567
Email: marketing@epic.co.uk
Web: www.epic.co.uk
Blog: www.blog.epic.co.uk
Epicentre: www.epicentre.co.uk

The judges reported that:
This project achieved an outstanding penetration using a successful strategy of viral marketing. It makes a difference to the opinions of those who use it. This project addresses an issue of national importance and strategic links have been made at a political level as well as some impressive commercial partnerships. The judges strongly believe that this project deserves and needs more attention from parents, teachers and Local Education Authorities.

There were 14 entries and 6 were shortlisted, including organisations such as Abbey and ABN AMRO! It is clear this achievement is down to innovation, creativity and strong partnership working. If you would like to know more about how you could support this work or get involved, please contact the UNIAID team.

A special thanks to all the partners who were involved in the development, in particular the developers; Rubbaglove and Kerb and our sponsors HSBC, Red Bull, Aimhigher and UNITE.

The reach of a paper-based pilot version of the course was constrained due to the cost of providing traditional training to a geographically dispersed audience who work unsocial hours. E-learning is an ideal platform to cope with such restrictions.

Epic proposed a learn-practice-apply e-learning model where the initial skills and information were first presented through PowerPoint and interactive tutorials, and then practised in a realistic but safe environment including case studies, and linear and branching scenarios where support workers could make realistic decisions and see the outcome of their choices.

The overall blended learning experience – including online learning and practice, off-line work-based activities and discussion with mentors, online revision and assessment – provides 170 hours of study time and meets the accreditation standards for the Advanced Certificate. A further e-learning component at a higher level is planned for senior and more experienced staff.

Epic worked with the Special Projects Team of the Trust's Learning Disabilities Directorate in Cardiff to develop a 27-hour online component, with downloadable pdfs for use with offline activities, to be delivered via Moodle.

The course was trialled with support workers and their supervisors at prototype stage and shortly before final delivery. The potential end-users were unanimous in their positive approach to every aspect of the material. They felt they would benefit from its clarity, realism and flexibility of use within their busy lives.

‘I felt that all the screens were very good. They were giving very clear instructions, step by step, which were easily understood. The pictures were very useful to support the written information. I felt it was a good way of teaching staff.’ (Feedback from user trials)

For further information and/or images contact:

John Helmer
Marketing Director
Epic
52 Old Steine
Brighton BN1 1NH
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1273 728686
Fax: +44 (0)1273 821567

Mail: marketing@epic.co.uk
Web: www.epic.co.uk
Blog: www.blog.epic.co.uk
Epicentre: www.epicentre.co.uk

The training, led by Epic’s photographic expert Casper Hoskins, was a great success. Wendy Stubbs, e-learning and programme manager for British Airways said: ‘The team had a really fun day and lots of time to practise using the other half of our team to be models. Lots of really useful tips on how to get the most out of your model, who may be a bit camera shy (give them a pencil to hold!!) A very enjoyable day and lots of professional pictures of our team to boot.’

With an expert and well-established media production capability, Epic is uniquely placed to offer capability building services in many areas of media production for client teams.

Notes to editors

Epic is a leader in the innovative use of digital media for learning and communications. It creates tailored solutions specific to the needs of clients and end-users that help organisations improve their performance. Epic’s many, loyal clients cover a broad spread of industries across both public and private sectors, with particular strengths in Government, Defence, Education, Finance, Retail and Telecommunications.

The company has won numerous awards over its two decades of existence, and is highly respected for its work in fostering understanding of this emerging area of practice. A wealth of free resources is available on its website at www.epic.co.uk, including the new Epic Blog.

For further information, please contact:

Ericka Newton
Epic
52 Old Steine
Brighton BN1 1NH
Tel: 01273 728686
Fax: 01273 821567
Mail: marketing@epic.co.uk
Web: www.epic.co.uk
Blog: www.blog.epic.co.uk
Epicentre: www.epicentre.co.uk

A study by Ipsos Reid found that Blackberry users produce an extra 56 minutes of effective work a day, that work teams with mobile communications found themselves to be 29% more effective, and that, shockingly, the same teams processed just less than 3,000 emails and more than 1400 calls per year, per person.

Firstly, this means that organisations must be aware of the nature and working patterns of the mobilised workforce in order to maximise the clear operational advantages. In an example with a negative impact, one organisation amended a daily report with over 50 line items into individual emails. The resulting individual communications produced a timely, but ultimately fractured, picture of what was going on ‘back at the office’. On a more positive note, synching a disparate team’s ongoing appointments centrally meant one organisation could double the number of intra-team communications – everyone was able to know what everyone was doing and thus informally converse and support each other.

Secondly, organisations need to effectively mobilise their messages and materials to better enable their staff. However, let’s take a moment and make sure no-one is seeing mobile as a ‘simple step’. Screen size and usability of data are just two of the many considerations with regard to mobile devices. Some ground rules can help you avoid simplistic assumptions:

1. Don’t assume technical uniformity. Higher management tiers of the organisation may well have different devices than other areas and just because a ‘fleet’ of devices all look the same, they may not be the same.
   
2. Stick to your goals. Don’t start changing your tactics simply because mobilisation has promise.
   
3. You can’t precis everything. Can you get complex, sensitive information like a company report into an SMS message? Clearly not, so why try?
   
4. Don’t forget audio. Our new, amazing mobile devices may be able to play golf games, take camera quality photos and video conference, but they can also allow people to listen to local or remote audio sources. Audio is a very powerful form of communication.

Finally, let’s take a moment to consider the human factor. It’s great that people have their Blackberry so they can stay in touch, but do they have time to think do they have time to create effective work, and do they have quality time with their clients, family and friends? Just because we live in an ‘always connected’ environment doesn’t mean that humans are necessarily effective when they are always expected to be available. Encouraging a ‘twitch culture’ where everyone responds to everything immediately, way into the evening, is no fun and your workforce should feel you encourage a culture that knows there’s an ‘off’ button on mobile devices too.

Dominic Mason, Consultant

Wikis adapt to suit all cultures. Some organisations benefit from several wikis, giving each sub-culture a portal for its individual activity. Businesses with a more diverse infrastructure benefit from a closely marshalled wiki system with increased trackability.

As an example of how wikis can work within an organisation, let’s look at Epic’s internal wiki, set up in Spring 2005.

Case study: the Epic internal wiki

The Epic wiki was set up as a way of sharing knowledge between programmers. It has since grown to encompass sections for Design, Graphic, Web and Project Management.

At Epic, the wiki is a tool to refine philosophies, discuss industry developments and to post articles on trends. It provides an immediate solution for sharing lessons learned and best practice. The Epic wiki homepage displays daily news feeds from across the e-learning industry, helping us stay one step ahead of the competition.

However, it’s the wiki’s latest hot topic that’s creating the most attention. Once a year, a number of Epic’s junior designers study for Sussex University’s PG Cert in e-learning. For these students, the wiki is now evolving into a knowledge portal, providing a place for them to exchange ideas at their own pace and openly discuss their findings. The wiki is becoming a powerful, freestyle learning system.

Inspired by the success of its internal wiki as an educational tool, Epic is now investigating using a similar model to launch an external version for the use of clients, partners, researchers and all involved in championing e-learning in their organisations.

So can wikis make a difference to your business?

In Epic’s opinion, people are at the heart of the Wiki's success and there's a two-way correlation between this success and the enthusiasm and passion of the contributors. Whatever the shape of your organisation, Wikis will definitely help you, creating opportunities for informed discussion, creating a 'buzz' and improving communication generally.

"User-generated content will become more acceptable, and we will therefore see more use of blogs and wikis in the workplace."
Jane Hart, the Jane Hart Consultancy

We are all acutely aware of the focus on the world’s use of energy, creation of greenhouse gases and the contribution to the global warming effect, although many in power still cynically dispute this. (Sorry, it’s the time of year for puns.) Energy consumption is rising astronomically on the back of world industrialisation, but do you realise how much those of us who are creating and consuming e-learning are also contributing to the situation? I doubt it, I certainly didn’t.

Take your average, everyday desk-based worker. How many computers, how many monitors? At least one each, I bet. All of them consuming power. Every person who uses online information – whether that’s stored inside or outside their organisation – probably connects to massive servers (they farm them, you know, but they are not at all organic), all consuming their share of power, generating heat and demanding powerful air conditioning to keep them arctically inclined. More power consumption than you should reasonably need to keep an Inuit family warm for a year.

In today’s connected, virtually socialising world, 24x7 operation is the game. Increasingly powerful computer chips create greater, not lesser, demands for power. Even though modern chips use less power there are more of them, they generate more heat and they run constantly, demanding electricity that needs to be generated –largely by consuming fossil fuels and adding to the pollution. It’s astronomical what the cost of generating that power is. If you’ve ever driven down Route 101 in Silicon Valley you may have seen the display billboard that counts the cost of electricity wasted by companies using power-hungry computers to power their search engines, their web servers, and their video streaming networks. It runs to billions of dollars.

I am pleased to read, however, that the likes of Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are relocating their data centres away from California to the Pacific west coast, where cheaper hydroelectric power is available. As ever, the bottom line is what will drive the change.

To put this into some sort of perspective, an energy analyst in the Digital Power Group, Washington DC, estimates that the creation, packaging, storage and movement of just ten megabytes of data (that’s making the hardware and running the systems to deliver it to you) requires the equivalent of the energy produced by burning 900 grams of coal. Phew! Typical e-learning programmes can be twice that size.

So you see, although we passionately believe in the power of the web and the phenomena of informal learning, it all has a cost. So, in the true spirit of the season, be safe, be happy and BE GREEN - switch off those power-hungry monsters – at least until January 2nd.

Next month, we will be back to Earth with a more serious review of the recently published Leitch Report on the future for skills in the UK and the global economy. But that can wait until 2007. Here’s to it being a prosperous one for us all.

Last month, we offered you the top 10 tips for ‘Rapid e-learning’. We warned that e-learning developed using a ‘Rapid’ approach might require you to compromise on quality. With these words of warning ringing in our ears, let’s take a frank look at Epic’s in-house e-learning development environment, Flash Create.

Since the launch of Flash Create within Epic in October, everyone in the e-learning division has been eagerly waiting to see how our new technical approach is fairing on recent projects for a range of clients. Flash Create, designed with a focus on accessibility, rapid and robust development and informed by Epic’s good practice in instructional design, is already at the heart of our client offering. Out of the numerous projects won in the past several weeks, we’ve now hit our 10th project where our client’s had a solution developed using Flash Create.

So with Christmas coming we decided to ask Epicentre, Epic’s independent QA division, in traditional pantomime style: “what do you think so far?” And thankfully their reply wasn’t the traditional answer!

In November, alpha releases of e-learning for British Airways and Prudential, both created with Flash Create, went through Epicentre’s strict testing processes before release to clients. The reports from these tests show, with no shadow of a doubt, that Flash Create projects are already punching above their weight in terms of quality. Epicentre reported a virtual absence of functional issues in current Prudential and British Airways programmes, even at the very first ‘cut’.

Owen O'Donnell, Epicenter Technical Tester, commented to a number of Epic’s team: “a growing category of e-learning projects that have been through testing in the last month are of superb quality for Alpha releases.”

The result of this improved quality has an immediate positive impact on clients, with developers correcting issues fast, and learning designers more than ever focused on enhancing the learning experience.

Where Epic’s Flash Create is concerned, we strongly advise you: believe the hype!

Epic are pleased to announce their speakers for this years Online Educa in Berlin. The online Educa conference is the key networking venue for strategists and practitioners from all over the world.