Distance, Open and Lifelong Learning

“We feature hundreds of degree programs across numerous accredited online and traditional schools. Best of all, most of our degrees are designed for working professionals so you can continue in your current career while you attend school”.

Added: 09 February 2007
Reviewer’s Note:
US Based company with links to well known e-learning programmes.

Lifelong Learning

“Your independent voice for lifelong learning”

Updated: 20 September 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
Government-supported website for the encouragement, promotion and development of lifelong learning

Distance Learning

“Providing resources and guidance on Online degree education and distance learning, learning and training, schools college and university”

Added: 28 April 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
A new but growing site about distance learning

Web-based distance education: pedagogy, epistemology and instructional design

“Web-based learning and teaching is a rapidly growing area in education. Traditional forms of distance education are being transformed as the Internet becomes the new medium for communication. Web-based course delivery can offer a vibrant learning environment created through different teaching strategies, activities, and technologies. This paper briefly outlines some of the literature relevant to this new educational milieu providing insight into constructivist epistemology, situated learning, cognitive apprenticeship, and instructional design of web-based learning.” Jeff Boulton, Graduate Student, Educational Communications and Technology, University of Saskatchewan, February 2002

Added: 4 September 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
Summary - “This paper has attempted to address the theoretical underpinnings of virtual learning, as well as strategies for designing online instruction and issues surrounding this form of education. Understanding this new educational milieu will help instructional designers, and educators in the struggle to create and deliver successful inclusive online courses.

What’s wrong with distance learning?

“The fundamental issue here-what’s really wrong with distance learning-is a flaw inherent to many design situations: well-intentioned managers and designers so totally fall in love with designing and building that they get disconnected from those who are stuck trying to use their stuff.” Reinhard Ziegler, e-Learning Magazine, 1 December 2002

Added: 11 January 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
“Learning design must focus on the experience, not just the content. The point isn’t simply what’s being cooked up, or how it’s delivered, but how it tastes.

Open and Distance Learning: Trends, policy and strategy considerations

“The present paper aims to review open and distance learning in the context of present challenges and opportunities, decribe relevant concepts and contributions, outline some significant current global and regional trends, suggest policy and strategy considerations and identify UNESCO’s initiatives in this area …” UNESCO, 2002

Added: 3 January 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
A thorough analysis of 96 pages

The Learning Citizen

“Learning today is no longer confined to institutions such as schools, colleges, companies and training centres. New technologies and tools offer all members of society greater flexibility, easier access to information and the opportunity to match learning to their specific needs and circumstances.”

Added: 18 May 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
The Learning Citizen is an initiative sponsored by the European Commission with the specific objective of facilitating and enhancing lifelong learning for all members of society

Knowledge management: from lifelong employment to lifelong learning

“Lifelong learning is a direct response to the decline in lifelong employment. The age of lifelong employment was reflected by gradual change and a formal education for a fixed period that, by and large, lasted you through your career.” Gerry McGovern, 6 May 2002

Added: 10 May 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
“The organization can offer a new set of promises to the knowledge worker”

Distance-Educator.com

Covering the field of distance education since 1995.

Updated: 27 April 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
New design of their site launched

Distance Education

“Can we debunk some of the myths?” Robert Aucoin, Distance Education Coordinator, ATL, University of Alberta, Canada

Added: 16 January 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
The beginning and end slides of this PowerPoint presentation are particularly useful

Avoiding the quality/quantity trade-off in distance education

“The promises of distance education to provide high-quality educational pro-grams that can be undertaken anywhere and at any time are not new. Similar promises were made early in the 20th century by correspondence study programs. These programs failed to realize their promises because they were confronted by a fundamental trade-off between quality - personalized education - and quantity - the widespread communication of the message to large numbers of students. When higher education confronted this trade-off, they opted to choose the quantity model. That choice eventually led to a widespread dissatisfaction with the quality of correspondence education.” THE Journal, December 2001

Added: 7 December 2001
Reviewer’s Note:

Perspectives on lifelong learning: the view from a distance

“This study explores the factors related to using distance learning to meet the continuing education needs of professionals in knowledge related fields. College programs and accreditation are discussed, as well as the needs for individual credentials, increasing knowledge, and personal development” Judith L Forbes, first Monday, November 2000

Added: 21 August 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Distance education facilitates lifelong learning

An introduction to open and distance learning

The concept of open and distance learning, Open and distance learning systems, Glossary of open and distance learning terms” The Commonwealth of Learning

Added: 30 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Also available as a pdf file

An Identikit picture of a lifelong learner

“I am often asked to describe the characteristics of a lifelong learner. After one of my off-the-cuff answers, I invariably realise that I have omitted something that I should have included. So, I thought it would be useful to write down my description so that I can produce it on demand, as if by magic, from my inside pocket.” Peter Honey, May 2001

Added: 16 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Peter Honey describes a lifelong learner

Individual learning accounts

“Individual Learning Accounts are a new way to help you pay for your learning. Backed by the Government, and supported by learning providers, trade unions and employers, Individual Learning Accounts offer a package of discounts that make it easier for you to get into learning.” my-ila.com

Added: 27 June 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Find out about the government initiative to help learners pay for their learning

Lifelong Learning

“the leading web site for the encouragement, promotion and development of lifelong learning. Lifelong Learning is supported by the Access to Learning for Adults Division of the Department for Education and Skills.”

Added: 23 June 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
The government’s site on lifelong learning with links to lots of different types of lifelong learning resources

Developing countries turn to distance learning

“It is hard enough for developing nations to build new brick-and-mortar universities to keep up with population growth, let alone with expanding enrollment. So in Beijing, Jakarta, and elsewhere, governments are ordering their large state-run distance-learning institutions to take up part of the slack by increasing enrollments fast.” Burton Bollag, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 2001

Added: June 2001
Reviewer’s Note:

About distance learning

Distance learning resources from about.com

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

Degree.net

“The web’s number one resource for information on distance learning”.

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

Distance Education at a Glance

A series of Guides produced by Engineering Outreach at the University of Idaho

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

Distance Education Clearinghouse

from University of Wisconsin

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

Distance Learning on the Net

“celebrates 5 years of bringing descriptions of distance education web sites, along with links to lead you to further Distance Learning and education resources.”

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

Making open and distance learning work

An overview essay with a Hypertext Appendix Success factors in materials-based learning. (1999) Professor Derek Rowntree, Open University.

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

e-Learning Quotations

“It’s what we think we know that keeps us from learning”

Claude Bernard

“Tell me, and I’ll forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I’ll understand”

Chinese Proverb

“A single conversation with a wise man is better than 10 years of study.”

Chinese Proverb

Learning quotes screensaver

“Famous quotes from historical educators”  from etraffic solutions

“Learning is not compulsory … neither is survival.”

W Edwards Derning

“Technological change is the only constant in our work today”

Unattrib

“Someday, in the distant future, our grandchildren’s grandchildren will develop a new equivalent of our classrooms. They will spend many hours in front of boxes with fires glowing within. May they have the wisdom to know the difference between light and knowledge.”

Plato

“People love to learn but hate to be taught”

Michael Yacobian, internationally renowned trainer

“You have to stop worrying about all the training metrics of how many people you trained and what your completion rate is. Only training people care about those numbers. You wouldn’t walk into the boardroom and have that discussion. They’d fall asleep or throw you out. The best thing you could do is to imagine the CEO and the senior staff - what do they talk about? They don’t talk about training. They talk about sales. They talk about customer satisfaction. They talk about inventory. Those are the problems training people have to solve in order to move from the classroom to the boardroom.”

Tom Kelly, VP, Cisco Systems.  In Online Learning Magazine, Feb 2002

“Learning is more than just content or delivery software. It needs to be integrated into a broader learning process involving instructional support and collaboration, and designed with emphasis on the learning objectives. It also needs to be seen in the context of the broader strategy for training and skills development within a company and in many cases this means that it needs to be integrated into existing training delivery, creating a blended solution.”

Sheila McGovern, senior research analyst for IDC

“The best learning happens in real life with real problems and real people and not in classrooms.”

Charles Handy

“The biggest obstacle to innovation is thinking it can be done the old way.”

Jim Wetherbe, Texas Tech, 1990.

“All of my fellow eLearning gurus will tell you that learning is the important part of eLearning, not the “e”.  I say, “Balderdash!” (not an exact quote.) What’s really important is doing. If an organisation’s people perform proficiently, it matters not whether they learned how in a course, on a prior job, or by meditating in a cave.”

Jay Cross, Internet Time Group. In Time Matters and Profit Returns (pdf)

“Moving from the one-room schoolhouse to the one-world schoolhouse is now a reality.”

Cisco Systems

“Learning is not taught”

Nicholas Negroponte, Digital Visionary In interview in
Converge Magazine, October 2001

Believe it or not!

“The folks on the Internet Time Group Website take a fun (and feisty poke) at some e-learning rhetoric”

“If we don’t focus on the experience dimension of learning, we run the risk of mistaking the publishing of information for learning and training”

Elliott Masie

“You can’t teach people everything they need to know. The best you can do is position them where they can find what they need to know when they need to know it.” 

Seymour Papert

“X-Generations demand X-cellent training in an X-celerated speed.”

Angel Rampy

“If you are not being educated in your job today, you may be out of a job tomorrow… Employee education is not growing 100 percent faster than academia, but 100 times - or 10,000 percent - faster… Over the next few decades the private sector will eclipse the public sector and become the major institution responsible for learning.”

Jim Botkin and Stan Davis, The Monster Under the Bed

“It’s what we think we know already that keeps us from learning.”

Claude Bernard

“An organization’s ability to learn and translate that learning into action is the ultimate competitive advantage.”

Jack Welch, ex-CEO, GE

“Companies will never have a truly sustainable advantage that’s based on products or prices. You need to focus on the rate at which people learn. It’s the learning speed of the slowest many, not the learning speed of the brightest few, that will set the pace for your company.”

Jim Haudan

“E-learning is becoming a commodity. “Companies are looking at E-learning programs like a stapler or reams of paper– it’s just one item in their inventory.” 

Clark Aldrich, Gartner Group 

“In your career, knowledge is like milk. It has a shelf life stamped right on the carton. The shelf life of a degree in engineering is about 3 years. If you’re not replacing everything you know by then, your career is going to turn sour fast.”

Louis Ross, CTO, Ford Motor Co

“Online you get to know your students’ minds not just their faces.”

Harasim, L., Hiltz, S.R., Teles, L., and Turoff, M. in Learning Networks: A Field Guide to Teaching and Learning Online. “The ‘e’ in e-learning stands for experience.”

Elliott Masie, Masie Center

“Knowledge generation really only occurs in teams where people engage in doing meaningful work.”

Paul Senge

Communications is human nature.  Knowledge sharing is human nurture.”

Alison Tucker, Buckman Laboratories

“Learning is a process not an event”

Elliott Masie, Masie Center

“This new economy is based more on brains and brawn - and moves more on broadband byways than concrete highways”

Ray Smith, former Chairman, Bell Atlantic

“In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.

Eric Hoffler, Vanguard Management, 1989

“Learning how to learn has become the most fundamental skill that an educated person needs to master, and the instrument that enables learning in almost every field is the computer.”

Dr Peshe Kauriloff, Adjunct Associate Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania

“Online learning is not the next big thing, it is the now big thing.”

Donna J Abernathy, Training and Development Editor, 1999

“The current learning model is insufficient to accommodate the needs and realities of companies competing in the global, knowledge-based economy.”

SRI Consulting

“There are two fundamental equalizers in life - the Internet and education.”

John Chambers, CEO, Cisco Systems

“The next big killer application on the internet is going to be education. Education over the internet is going to be so big it is going to make e-mail usage look like a rounding error.”

John Chambers, CEO, Cisco Systems

“It’s not e-learning or c-learning; it’s learning”

Chuck Ferguson, Sun Microsystems

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”

Alvin Toffler

“The ability to learn faster than your competitors may be the only sustainable competitive advantage”

Peter Senge, Fifth Discipline

“We need to bring learning to people instead of people to learning.”

Elliott Masie, Masie Center

Predictions for e-Learning

Future Directions in eLearning Research Report 2006

“This is our second annual report on the subject of future directions in e-Learning. As we did last year, the Guild Research Committee asked Guild members to take a close look at the e-Learning programs and initiatives in their organizations and report to us on what they expect to see in these activities in the next twelve months. More than 650 industry professionals responded to this survey. Once again, we found that e-Learning remains a rapidly growing practice with a bright future in the vast majority of our respondents’ organizations - indeed, 75 believe the term “e-Learning” serves a useful purpose and is here to stay for the foreseeable future.”  eLearning Guild

Added: 21 April 2006
Reviewer’s Note:
Although this report shows levels of increased activity in key practice areas consistent with the results of last year’s survey, we are seeing even greater focus on both content quality and rapid development, as well as development of the resources that make better, faster e-Learning possible.

2006 Horizon Report

“The 2006 Horizon Report highlights six technologies that the underlying research suggests will become very important to higher education over the next one to five years.” NMC, 2006

Added: 24 August 2006
Reviewer’s Note:
Predictions for 2006

Predictions for 2006

“As eLearn Magazine nears its fifth anniversary, we have seen the world of online learning change in many significant ways. Who, in 2002, envisioned the popularity of podcasts, wikis, and blogs? Yet for all the emphasis on how content can be created and disseminated, there has been too little focus on the quality of the learning experience. That’s why my prediction for 2006 is that people will realize that technology, no matter how innovative, is just an enabler. New technologies only succeed if they help people learn.” Lisa Neal, eLearn Magazine, January 2006

Added: 21 January 2006
Reviewer’s Note:
Read the full article for more predictions from some of the most thoughtful and opinionated people in the e-learning field.

The state of the e-learning marketplace

“As a fragmented e-learning market continues to mature, vendors must merge or partner with each other to compete. And customers are reaping the benefits.” Sarah Boehle,  Training Magazine, January 2006

Added: 18 January 2006
Reviewer’s Note:
New Media Predictions 2006: What Will The Web Future Bring?

New Media Predictions 2006: What Will The Web Future Bring?

“If you stop looking for a second at the hundreds of interesting new tools and events happening online, what are the key trends you see?  Where among the new emerging online media, should you be looking next when trying to understand where to invest your future energies and money?” Robin Good, 12 December 2005

Added: 12 December 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
Here some of his personal predictions for what is happening next and his preferred key areas where you should keep your sight focused

2005 Horizon Report

“The 2005 Horizon Report highlights six technologies that the underlying research suggests will become very important to higher education over the next one to five years. A central focus of the discussion of each technology is its relevance for teaching, learning, and creative expression. Live weblinks to example applications are provided in each section, as well as to additional readings.” NMC, August 2005

Added: 24 August 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
Directions from 2004, Trends for 2005

Directions from 2004, Trends for 2005

“Every year at about this time, pundits, experts and others with strong opinions share their views on what they expect to be major IT themes during the course of the year to come.” Graeme Daniel, wwwtools, 11 January 2005

Added: 11 January 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
“In this edition of WWWTools for Education, we present some of these prognoses for comparison and contrast, with particular emphasis on trends in educational technology, and a selection of references to those elements which should figure large in 2005.”

Predictions for 2005

“Where will e-learning take us in 2005? How will learning be impacted by the use of portable devices, blogs, and search engines? Will we better understand and have metrics for quality e-learning? Read on for predictions from some of the most thoughtful and opinionated people in the e-learning field.” elearn magazine, January 2005

Added: 6 January 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
Learning and training: the year ahead

Learning and training: the year ahead

By Ron Zamir, L & T Innovations, 5 January 2004

Added: 6 January 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
Here are three trends that have evolved over the past few year for our Allen Communication, and the industry as a whole

2005: The year of the digital campus

“Thanks to some innovative technology trends, the educational landscape is transforming into a “digital campus” - an information-rich and seamlessly connected environment that brings the world to a student’s fingertips and lets the student move freely about the globe. This digital campus functions through the integration of a multiplicity of technologies in a unified network environment - a seamless, secure, collaborative environment for learning, achievement and administration that is available to everyone. The following are some of the benefits institutions can expect once they decide to go digital in 2005.” Kim Jones,  THE Journal, December 2004

Added: 27 December 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
Top ten trends for 2005

Top ten trends for 2005

“we’ve delved into a wide range of nascent trends in everything from biotechnology to semiconductors that could shake up the world next year. We’ve also tried to look at this year’s trends - like Internet telephony - and find the surprising ways in which they’ll be implemented. We looked for technologies with innovative capabilities and the potential to redefine not only the way we do things, but how we think about them. For example, the ability of voice-over-IP to destroy today’s concept of distance. Of course, we like to think we’ve attacked these trends with the skepticism that’s always been part of the Red Herring tradition.” Red Herring, 13 December 2004

Added: 27 December 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
Not all e-learning related, but interesting nevertheless

Ten technologies that are going to change the way we learn

“Here are the ten key technologies I see making the major difference in how we will be learning in the future”  Robin Good, 21 November 2004

Added: 22 November 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
From classrooms to learning environments: A midrange projection of e-learning technologies

From classrooms to learning environments: A midrange projection of e-learning technologies

“The introduction of information and communications technologies is also in the process of passing through two stages. The first stage, which we have very nearly reached, is what might be thought of as the electronic classroom. The physical environment in which teaching and learning occurs has been replaced with an electronic classroom, but the process of teaching is very much the same. In the second phase, however, we will begin to use technology in new ways, to advance beyond what was possible in the classroom.”  Stephen Downes, Stephen’s Web, 10 June 2004

Added: 12 June 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
As Stephen points out: “If there is an over-riding theme in this discussion, both in the discussion of the changes in technology that will occur over the next decade, and the challenges that arise from such changes, it is this: that the world of learning will become more integrated with the other parts of our lives than ever before.”

Predictions for 2004

“E-Learning visionaries look to the future” Lisa Neal, eLearn Magazine

Added: 31 January 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
NMC Horizon Project

NMC Horizon Project

“The Horizon Project, the centerpiece of the NMC’s Emerging Technology Initiative, is an ongoing effort of the NMC intended to bring a focus emerging technologies with potential to advance teaching, learning, and creative expression in higher education.”  nmc

Added: 30 January 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
Checkout Technologies in use today (2002), Technologies most likely 1-2 years out and Technologies most likely 3-5 years out

The next big thing?

“IT IS increasingly painful to watch Carly Fiorina, the boss of Hewlett-Packard (HP, as she tries to explain to yet another conference audience what her new grand vision of “adaptive” information technology is about. It has something to do with “Darwinian reference architectures”, she suggests, and also with “modularising” and “integrating”, as well as with lots of “enabling” and “processes”. IBM, HP’s arch rival, is trying even harder, with a marketing splurge for what it calls “on-demand computing”. Microsoft’s Bill Gates talks of “seamless computing”. Other vendors prefer “ubiquitous”, “autonomous” or “utility” computing. Forrester Research, a consultancy, likes “organic”. Gartner, a rival, opts for “real-time”.”  Economist Magazine, January 2004

Added: 19 January 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
Themes and trends for 2004

Themes and trends for 2004

“Every January,  gurus and pundits offer their best guesses on likely themes, trends, developments and scenarios in the realm of ICTs and Education for the coming year. As well as providing interesting opportunities for comparison and contrast, a review of these also allows the rest of us to offer a few personal hints on directions for 2004.”  Graeme Daniel, wwwtools for education, 12 January 2004

Added: 11 January 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
A comprehensive list of predictions for 2004

What will 2004 bring

“No self-respecting columnist could pass up the opportunity to use a January issue to pontificate about the year ahead, and I’m no different. But as I gaze into my crystal ball, I see a lot of the same themes now that I did a year ago. That’s probably a good thing given the weak market, lack of vendor R&D spending and continued state of buyer confusion. But none-the-less here is a briefing that will get you ready for the year ahead, or at the very least, will make you popular around the water cooler conversation.” Kevin Kruse, e-learningguru.com, January 2004

Added: 7 January 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
Predictions: E-Learning: Think customizable simulations that can be available on demand

Predictions: E-Learning: Think customizable simulations that can be available on demand

“IT’S THAT TIME of year again. IT wish lists are penned, resolutions are made and predictions for what’s ahead in 2004 are asserted. The past year has brought many changes and innovations to IT - some completely remarkable and others quickly forgettable. So, it is always with a bit of skepticism that we read about what the experts reportedly see in their crystal balls for the upcoming year. However, when it comes to the e-learning industry, no one can deny the important strides that were made in 2003. Advancements standards specifications and subsequent adoption have led to major increases in the extensibility, interoperability and scalability of e-learning technologies. Tools are easier to use, learning management systems (LMSs) are in place and catalog vendors have consolidated to just a few players” darwin Magazine

Added: 5 January 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
Top 5 e-learning predictions for 2004

2004: The turning point

“In what follows I base my projections not on stock prices, sales trends or focus group analysis. I base it on what I think - on what I feel, in the classic sense of the Idoru - is driving the hearts of those who will make the final decisions on the future of the internet, those who use it.” Stephen Downes, 30 December 2003

Added: 31 December 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
What’s in store for 2004

What’s in store for 2004

“Today, organizations face far greater challenges than ever before: a tough, rapidly changing labor market; a dearth of talent as well as obstacles to keeping existing employees productive; challenges in adequately training and developing workers; soaring health-care costs and the ongoing task of making human resources smarter, more relevant and more meaningful. The issues for the new year include a changing labor market, dwindling talent, knowledge drains and heightened demand for workforce-management metrics.” Samuel Greengard, Workforce Management, December 2003

Added: 20 December 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
“Any organization that isn’t worried about the state of the workplace should be,” one expert says” 

What to look for in ‘04

“The most striking thing about the current trends in technology, as this issue will catalog in detail, is that the ‘next big thing’ doesn’t leap from the pages, at least not as a product. That’s not to say that there aren’t some really cool developments in technology gadgets, some of which might well enhance teaching and learning. But the biggest trend isn’t in gadget-land. It’s in the thinking behind software and hardware development that the developers are adopting.”  Syllabus Magazine, December 2003

Added: 18 December 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
Hot stuff - want to know what’s hot for 2004

Hot stuff - want to know what’s hot for 2004

“While much about the future will always be uncertain, one thing is crystal clear: There’s still plenty of money to be made by smart entrepreneurs with a knack for predicting what’s next. And even if you don’t have a nose for what’s new, our annual predictions for the hottest business ideas can help. We’ve done the research to help give you a clearer picture of what’s in store for 2004…and beyond.”  Entrepreneur Magazine, December 2003

Added: 18 December 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
Online Learning appears as one of the hot hits for 2004

E-Learning trends 2003

“In October 2001, Learning Circuits published its first ever e-learning survey. This year we asked readers the same questions to gage the impact that technology developments, supplier consolidations, and economy have had on e-learning efforts. The 2003 Survey was sent to subscribers of LC Express in October 2003, and received 272 responses. Here’s a breakdown of responses.”  Learning Circuits, November 2003

Added: 21 November 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
Web Essay

Web Essay

“What is the next great training movement? What top training trends will have staying power? Where is the industry headed and what workforce development initiatives and methods will get it there? There are lots of ideas and even a fair amount of novelty about such broad trends as knowledge management, powered performance learning, and human capital management, but thinking about what’s “great” changes the terms significantly.”  Ron Dickson, Training Magazine, June 2003

Added: 2 June 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
Some thoughts by a training professional about how our industry will change.

E-Learning Trends Today and Beyond

“New developments are occurring in e-learning training at a breakneck pace. What trends are hottest, and which will impact your business most? Find out what three leading experts have to say as they turn on their high beams and look into the future 18 to 24 months out.”  Mark W Brodsky, Learning & Training Innovations Magazine, 7 May 2003

Added: 10 May 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
The longer term future for e-learning

The longer term future for e-learning

“About fifty of us participated in the April meeting of eLearning Forum this morning … Our host, Tom Hill, is Program Manager, Advanced Learning Technologies, Hewlett Packard Education & Training Center, NonStop Enterprise Division … Tom explained that our topic is the future of eLearning, but not the close-in future one can predict through extropolation so much as the future five years from now when things will be really different.”

Added: 26 April 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
These are notes from a recent eLearning Forum meeting where a number of long time e-learning practitioners and analysts discussed the future of e-learning 

From Demo: 10 technologies to watch

“Out here amid the cliffs and crags not far from Phoenix, a few dozen companies gather each year to show off the most promising new technology.  Of the 60 companies invited, I picked 10 I think are poised to change the way we interact with technology in the next three years or so — either because their product itself was so impressive, or because their idea is sure to inspire others in the industry to pursue similar goals.” Jon Fortt, The Mercury News, 20 February 2003

Added: 27 February 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
Centra outlines ten trends in e-learning for 2003

Centra outlines ten trends in e-learning for 2003

“Centra predicts a number of key trends for e-Learning in 2003″  

Added: 30 January 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
Although some of these points might be obviously, they quite clearly need to reiterated

Back to basics - e-learning in 2003

“Observers may be forgiven for thinking that the e-learning industry is in turmoil, with too many of its leading firms failing to make a profit, while their smaller colleagues struggle to stay alive at all. There have even been some cheeky comments about the quality of the e-learning that has been delivered to date. Should we be surprised? Clive Shepherd says no, given the economic climate, ridiculously over-hyped expectations and a general lack of skills in the design and delivery of e-learning. In this article, Clive argues that we have only just started to see the true potential for information and communication technology in education and training but that, by getting back to basics and doing the simple things well, we can still expect to see powerful results in the short term.”  Tactix, December 2002

Added: 16 December 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
E-Learning - Predictions for 2003

E-Learning - Predictions for 2003

“We asked your for your expectations, hopes and fears for training in 2003. Sue Harley, Managing Director of IQdos, offers her predictions.”  TrainingZone, 12 December 2002

Added: 13 December 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
As we move towards the end of 2002, we are starting to see the predictions for 2003

New technologies in education

“More powerful computing devices, fast networks, and new digital imaging devices are in your future.” John Fleischman, Converge Magazine,  September 2002

Added: 3 October 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Gaze into the crystal ball

Gaze into the crystal ball

“Looking into the future of e-learning is not easy. In such a quickly evolving industry, where can we find clues? In information technology, standards bodies frequently act as predictors of future trends. If we gaze into the crystal ball of the international e-learning standards community, what do we see.” Robby Robson, e-learning Magazine, June 2002

Added: 7 June 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
A brief look at the future in terms of standards

Another look at leading edge e-learning technologies

“Almost a year ago, BEEP #7examined some of what were then intriguing new technologies of potential interest to e-learning planners. This month’s issue takes another look at this fast-changing subject, with special attention to wireless technologies (which in one year has gone from just a few links to an entire category), ongoing sources of relevant information, and upcoming meetings and conferences.”

Added: 16 April 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Transforming the way we learn: A vision for the future of ICT in schools

Transforming the way we learn: A vision for the future of ICT in schools

“Schools have come far in recent years but are still at different stages of integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) into everyday practice. Many are well down this road, others less so but still advancing. Meanwhile the educational potential -and the accessibility -of new technologies in schools and homes continues to grow. This paper presents a practical vision of how these developments could help to transform the delivery of school age learning over the next few years. New and exciting opportunities are outlined for pupils and parents, teachers, school leaders and governors before conclusions are drawn about the practical implications for schools in the future.”

Added: 17 January 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Although aimed at ICT in schools, it is interesting reading for anyone in education - and indeed in industry.  The executive summary is available to read online.  The full document is available as a PDF (32 pages)

Classrooms of the future

“A vision of a UK school of the future making extensive use of computer technology and classroom assistants has been unveiled by the Education Secretary, Estelle Morris.” BBC News, 9 January 2002

Added: 10 January 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Analysis: 20 factors that will change PCs in 2002

Analysis: 20 factors that will change PCs in 2002

“We’ve picked 20 trends and technologies that will have the greatest impact on personal computing for business and home use. We polled trend watchers, technologists, industry experts, and our own editors to uncover the products that will change how you work — and possibly even how you live.” Daniel Tynan, CNN, 25 December 2001

Added: 28 December 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
What your PC and software look like in 2002

The internet’s way forward

“The era of the destination website is over. The time of the participation site is about to arrive. Pity those companies unlucky enough to have successful, narrowband, destination websites that provide news and information - their owners are being presented with an increasingly painful dilemma.” Charles Leadbetter, ft.com, 2 December 2001

Added: 7 December 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Talking turkey - new directions for e-learning in 2002

Talking turkey - new directions for e-learning in 2002

“This time last year we made some predictions for e-learning, We said that learning portals would be in a panic; that learning objects would be ubiquitous; that e-learners would require human support and that the demand for bespoke content would leave you struggling to find a developer with capacity. As you would expect, these suggestions were made without foreknowledge of economic downturns or terrorist attacks - otherwise they would surely have been right on target! Nevertheless, Clive Shepherd sticks his neck out again, with his review of the e-learning world in the closing months of 2001 and his fashion statements for 2002.”

Added: 3 December 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
An excellent view of what e-learning will look like next year.

Where is e-learning headed?

“As e-learning technology and practices mature, expect more interactivity, greater topic coverage, and a wider range of uses.” Advisor Zone, July 2001

Added: 3 August 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Technology: hardware advances coming

Technology: hardware advances coming

“John Moynahan foresees the day, just five years away, when mobile learning and other wireless applications will be standard fare. “Everything will be smaller, lighter, faster and cheaper,” says Moynahan, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Xybernaut, a provider of wearable computing hardware, software, and services. “We’ll see mobile learning applications make the classroom partially obsolete.” He says wearable technology will tie people together remotely for learning applications.” Paul Harris, Learning Circuits, July 2001

Added: 19 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
some thoughts on mobile and “wearable” technologies

The future of telecourses

“What changes are ahead for telecourses? Does the rise of online education threaten the future of telecourses or open up new opportunities for them? Read the transcript of a live chat with George P. Connick, the chief architect of the University of Maine System’s interactive telecourse network.” Chronicle of Higher Education, July 2001

Added: 18 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
High-definition television could change telecourses and online learning

High-definition television could change telecourses and online learning

“Within a few years, specialized telecourses that make use of high-definition television, or HDTV, will be delivered over high-speed networks like Internet2. But some institutions whose students could benefit from advanced television technology may not have the network capacity to receive the courses.” Florence Olsen, Chronicle of Higher Education, 5 July 2001

Added: 7 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:

5 Technologies you need to know

“They aren’t just out of the lab. They’re not untested. These emerging technologies are already paying for themselves by helping companies work smarter and more efficiently.” Business 2.0, June 2001

Added: June 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Emerging technology trends in e-learning

Emerging technology trends in e-learning

“eLearning has become a key adjunct to the business world. Organizations use it as a powerful strategy to better leverage their intellectual capital. Trends in several distinct arenas influence and shape elearning’s growth.” Ellen Wagner, LineZine, Fall 2000.

Added: June 2001
Reviewer’s Note:

The future of online learning

“Today, and for the last century, education has been practised in segregated buildings by carefully regimented and standardized classes of students led and instructed by teachers working essentially alone. In ten years, this model will be seen in many quarters to be obsolete”  Stephen Downes, July 1998

Added: pre-2000
Reviewer’s Note:

State of the e-Learning Marketplace

 The state of the e-learning marketplace

“As a fragmented e-learning market continues to mature, vendors must merge or partner with each other to compete. And customers are reaping the benefits.” Sarah Boehle,  Training Magazine, January 2006

Added: 18 January 2006
Reviewer’s Note:
Whatever direction the industry takes, not everything will be decided by what customers need and what vendors can come up with to offer.

The economy of e-learning

“Economic opportunities will exist, not in the production of new goods that will not be purchased, but rather in the support and servicing of increasingly self-managed educational activity.”  Stephen Downes, Stephen’s Web, 10 July 2005

Added: 12 July 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
Stephen continues: “This does not mean educational ruin for the educational industry; quite the contrary. As the sector shifts as described, the per-person cost of learning decreases dramatically. This greatly expands the market.”

Global e-Learning Rankings

“The Economist Intelligence Unit’s e-learning readiness rankings purport to be the first to present a global assessment of how various regions are prepared to use, produce and expand Internet-based learning. The accompanying white paper, “The 2003 e-Learning Readiness Rankings” evaluates the world’s 60 largest markets to provide benchmarks for governments seeking to make their economies compatible to Internet and high-tech learning — at work, school, government, and throughout society.” Learning & Training Innovations, January 2004

Added: 30 January 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
A summary of the rankings and white paper

Bryan Chapman’s E-Learning Stock Tracker

While we recognize there are many e-Learning organizations to watch, this represents only the publicly traded e-Learning stocks.”  BrandonHall.com

Added: 6 January 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
Started anew for 2004

The state of the e-learning market

“The e-learning market doldrums mean some providers are gone-merged, acquired or shuttered. You might yet learn to love the shakeout. If nothing else, picking an e-learning vendor is easier because you have fewer choices. More to the point, survivors are “getting back to fundamentals” and addressing customer business problems, says Sanjay Dalal, director of training-center business at San Jose, Calif.-based WebEx Communications, a provider of infrastructure for Web-based business meetings. “The tone,” says Dalal, “is more about, ‘Let us help you solve your problem.’” Having fewer players, he argues, is good for the industry.” Marc Hequet, Training magazine, September 2003

Added: 12 September 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
A series of thoughts on what’s happening in the marketplace

E-Learning Brain Trust

“Each year, ASTD brings together e-learning experts to find out what’s old, what’s new, and what’s next.”  Learning Circuits, September 2003

Added: 6 September 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
This year’s panel members included Lee Maxey, Five Star Development; Marc Rosenberg, independent consultant; Diane Hessan, Communispace; Trace Urdan, ThinqEquity; Rick Crowley, Cisco; Jon Levy, Harvard Business School Publishing; Clark Aldrich, SimuLearn; Sam Adkins, industry analyst; Pat Galagan, ASTD; and John Coné, former CLO of Dell.

Workflow based e-learning

“In the last year, a new next-generation learning technology has emerged in the enterprise market: workflow-based e-learning. Enterprise application integration (EAI), primarily Web Services, is the foundation technology that underpins this latest innovation in learning technology. Web Services is the infrastructure that has created a new concept, technology, and enterprise performance experience known as workflow. A fundamentally new type of learning technology has emerged simultaneously with that workflow.” Sam Adkins, Learning Circuits, August 2003

Added: 3 August 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
More articles from Sam on this subject below

e-Learning gains momentum

“According to eMarketer’s new E-Learning report, comparative estimates for corporate e-learning revenues show some cohesiveness at around $6 billion to $7 billion in 2002.”  BizReport, 17 July 2003

Added: 25 July 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
An overview of an encouraging report about the health of e-learning

Enterprise vendors are good for the LMS market: Both Kevins are right

“Perhaps you’ve been following the continuing saga, which started with Kevin Oakes’s article, “Supplier Savvy: Will Enterprise Software Companies Take Over E-Learning?” and continued with an open letter, “Enterprise Software Redux,” from eLearningGuru.com’s Kevin Kruse. [for both articles, see below] Well, a non-Kevin, Sam Adkins, is adding his two cents. Adkins’s perspective: The integration of elearning technology into the enterprise application suites of the large enterprise vendors such as Sun, Oracle, IBM, Siebel, Microsoft, PeopleSoft and SAP is good for the elearning industry. Their global reach is a catalyst that will accelerate the wide adoption of learning technology in the enterprise. Their products are not threats to the current best-of-breed LMS vendors. The integration of learning technology into enterprise applications is not a “nice to have”, but rather a primary prerequisite to achieving next-generation products.”  Sam S Adkins, Learning Circuits, May 2003

Added: 11 May 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
Both Kevins are right - in other words - it is not an either/or but both situation

David vs Goliath

“We have arrived at what may soon come to be viewed as a watershed in e-learning’s development. Many predict market dynamics, increasing enterprise adoption and maturing e-learning technology will cause significant changes in how organizations implement training and in how vendors approach the market.” Joel Shettler, Training Magazine

Added: 10 May 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
You can also read David’s response to Goliath, where executives at many e-learning vendors to share their thoughts regarding e-learning as they relate to enterprise-wide computing and the future of the industry (http://www.trainingmag.com/msg/publications/training.jsp?vnu_content_id=1877536)

Will enterprise software companies take over e-learning?

Kevin, how do you assess the competitive threat of companies such as Oracle or PeopleSoft? Do you think Microsoft will pursue the e-learning market? Are these companies getting traction in the market?”  Kevin Oakes, Learning Circuits, March 2003

Added: 17 March 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
Kevin Oakes of click2learn believes there are a number of reasons why not

An Open Letter to Click2Learn Kevin Oakes

 Added: 7 April 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
Kevin Kruse, e-learning guru replies to Kevin Oakes

e-Learning Value Chain and Market Map

New Media BC e-Learning

Added: 23 December 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Click on each element of the map for further explanation

Changing e-learning market is par for the course

“The U.S. market for e-learning will shrink 10 percent for both 2002 and 2003 and level off at $1.7 billion in 2004, according to E. Yegin Chen, principal at Cardinal Advisors of Boston.” Will Thalheimer, Mass High Tech, 2 December 2002

Added: 8 December 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
A review of the marketplace and a look to the future

E-Learning fails to make the grade

According to a new report from market research company Screen Digest, previous estimates about the size of the corporate e-learning market were greatly exaggerated. Nevertheless, the USD5 billion-a-year industry will still grow to be massive as Europe’s knowledge-based corporations jump in on the trend.” electricnews.net, 25 November 2002

Added: 27 November 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
This article summarises some of the findings of the report

Corporate training and e-learning markets decline

“A study by Outsell, a research and advisory firm focusing on the information content industry, shows that the 499 companies identified in the corporate training and e-learning industries are experiencing a wide range of growth, decline, and collapse. The 2001 market was measured at $6.3 billion, down 9.8 percent from 2000. The volatility can be blamed on recent economic pressures as well as changes to technology and its use.”  e-learning Magazine, 22 October 2002

Added: 16 November 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
This short article comments on the recent Outsell report

Scale the e-learning curve/Getting savvy

“Jack Battersby recently experienced an e-learning contract bidding process unlike any other. The State Department put his company, mGen Inc., and several others through three days of onsite product demonstrations, essentially allowing the agency’s user community to test drive the software before making a buying decision.”

Added: 6 November 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Some reflections on current e-learning purchasing behaviour

The e-learning industry: retrospect and prospect

“The e-learning industry is changing-slowly, deliberately-the way a caterpillar morphs. Looking at the cocoon, industry leaders are hoping for a butterfly. In the meantime, Learning Circuits spoke with a sampling of individuals in the thick of the business to hear their take on trends, the health of the industry during the past year, changes in the marketplace and buyers, and their predictions for the next big thing.” Barbara K Beach, Learning Circuits, September 2002

Added: 21 September 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Some very interesting viewpoints from different parts of the industry about how the industry is performing. I especially like this part: “… co-founder and vice president of Simulearn, Clark Aldrich, sees a serious disjunct between e-learning buyers and users. Buyers are looking at packaged courses and enterprise-wide systems and solutions, but users “love PCs, palm pilots, instant messaging, and Internet connections. These are the ‘killer apps’ of e-learning.” I agree entirely!

The state of e-learning: looking at history with the technology hype cycle

“Falling stock prices, failed LMS implementations, poor course completion rates, slashed corporate budgets. In the face of all that, will e-learning be remembered as nothing more than a late salvo in the dot-bomb campaign?” Kevin Kruse, e-Learning Guru

Added: 19 September 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Also follow the link to see what other e-learning gurus think!

Evolving business models in elearning

“This free white paper provides an overview of issues examined in the Learning-on-Demand (LoD) reports, Evolving Business Models in eLearning, Volumes 1, 2, and 3.” Tom Barron, SRI, March 2002

Added: 31 May 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
A very useful summary of the state of the e-learning market.  Available in PDF format.

E-learning: a strategic imperative for succeeding in business

“The data about return on investment (ROI) is clear: E-learning saves 30 to 60 percent in costs over traditional classroom instruction, according to Brandon Hall, who has advised scores of FORTUNE 500® companies about implementing e-learning programs and is lead researcher and CEO of brandon-hall.com. Because of this compelling data, e-learning is projected to grow at a brisk clip over the next few years, assuming a larger and larger share of corporate training expenditures.” Fortune Education Special Section, May 2001

Added: 28 December 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Looks at the marketplace, the major trends in the industry, as well as some e-learning companies

Why e-learning is failing to convince the market

“I’m not surprised to see that the take-up of e-learning in Europe has been slow, according to recent research from both the IT Skills Research Programme and analyst and consulting firm OvumHolway” Colin Steed, IT Training Magazine, November 2001

Added: 28 November 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Some thoughts about why the take up of e-learning is slower in Europe

e-Learning Stock Ticker

“While we recognize there are many e-Learning organizations to watch, this represents only the publicly traded e-Learning stocks.” Bryan Chapman, e-Learning analyst, at Brandon Hall.com

Added: 22 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Use this stock tracker to keep track of your e-learning stock

Market statistics

“Looking for the perfect statistic to add to your presentation? We often look for these statistics (that often contradict one another) and thought you’d like to see a few. As we are compiling them behind the scenes we thought you’ll like to see some places where you can find statistics about learning and knowledge. Use any of these statistics with the understanding that even statistics usually come with a bias.” Learnativity

Added: 22 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
This is Learnativity’s collection of resources that provide statistics about e-learning usage and uptake

An e-learning industry update

“The numbers from market leaders show strength amid a sea of technology weakness. That’s because e-learning is able to demonstrate its value even in a cost-cutting climate. But the downturn is hastening a consolidation that’s inevitable as the industry matures.” Tom Barron, Learning Circuits, July 2001

Added: 2 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
This article looks at the effect of e-learning marketplace on purchasing trends

Rough landing?

“As the economy wavers, some e-learning companies are thriving, while others are merging, changing course or cutting staff just to stay alive.”

Added: 2 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
a summary of some of the past difficulties in the e-learning marketplace

Facts, figures and forces behind e-learning: Part II How big is the e-learning market

“This document is an abridgement of several documents from various investment groups that are investigating e-Learning and expecting it to be one of the next big things to be revolutionized by the Internet.” Learnframe, August 2000

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

Learning and the Future of Learning

E-Learning & the Power of Images

“This is an article about our companies research findings in the use of imagery in e-learning for corporate/leaedrship/management training and coaching ”

Added: 1st August 2007
Reviewer’s Note:
Keith Bound explains his research journey into using imagery and technology to accelerate learning.

Connectivism: Learning as network creation

“The domain of learning is significantly hampered by progressive revisions of what it means to learn, to know, and to understand. A subset of connectivism, network forming, is presented as an accurate model for addressing how people learn. The test of any theory is the degree to which it solves problems and incongruities within a domain.” George Siemens, Learning Circuits, November 2005

Added: 19 November 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
“The shortcomings of behaviorist, cognitivist, and constructivist ideologies of learning are answered in light of learning as a connection-forming (network-creation) process.”

The future of the profession formerly known as training

“There is no topic that inflames more passion at the moment than what to call the profession formerly known as training. Medieval theologians debating the number of angels that could dance on the head of a pin could not marshal more arguments than the defenders of competing nomenclatures. Is it performance? Is it intellectual capital development? Is it knowledge management? Is it learning facilitation? Is it human process engineering? Is it workforce development? Is it organizational stewardship and transformation?” Pat Galagan, December 2003

Added: 10 December 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
At the e-Learning Centre, we think the profession should be known as Learning Engineering

What is Learning Engineering?

“In conclusion, then a technology-driven, ad hoc approach to developing and building learning solutions is not the way forward. There needs to be some order and discipline in this area of work. In fact it is time to recognise that there is a need for a new breed of professionals called LEARNING ENGINEERS who have a clear set of knowledge and skills.” Jane Knight, e-Learning Centre

Added: 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
Jane’s thoughts on the new breed of professionals

Learning strategies

“The model presented in “A Model for Self-Paced Technology-Based Training” specifies that adult learning begins with and is sustained by self-assessment and self-correction (metacognition). The model also indicates that in addition to metacognition, adults consistently use the following learning strategies: reflection, prior experiences, conversations, and authentic experiences. Here are specific techniques adults use when they apply these five learning strategies.” Jackie Dobrovolny, Learning Circuits, 27 October 2003

Added: 7 November 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
Also contains recommendations for Instructional designers on how they can support these learning strategies

Another look at elearning

“Our era could well be called The Age of Networks. Humanity is awakening to the realization that everything’s connected. If something’s not a node, it’s a connection. Each of us is enmeshed in social, communications, information, and neural networks.” Jay Cross, Internet Time Group, 29 June 2003

Added: 30 June 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
A clear and succinct summary of learning

Knowledge management in education

“…is a monograph that makes eminent sense - a wonderful combination of good intuition, practical know-how, and a feel for what might be best described as a set of emerging theories focusing on the effective management of knowledge in educational institutions.” Lisa A Petrides and Thad R Nodine

Added: 10 May 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
“describes the opportunities and challenges faced by those working to improve the use and sharing of information in education through practices that have come to be known as knowledge management”

New technologies, new ways to learn

“Is the availability of modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) changing the ways in which people acquire knowledge and skills? To what extent are our mental processes able to adapt to technological change?” Web Tools Newsletter, 28 April 2003

Added: 3 May 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
This newsletter “looks at changing perceptions of the nature of learning processes and how they may best be served by contemporary technologies”

Educational psychology and the nature of e-learning

“Charles Low explains the influence of cognitive psychology on training and education in order to highlight how we can improve the process of e-learning.” Charles Low, Training Journal, January 2003

Added: 10 January 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
“The article begins with a whirlwind tour of the history of cognitive psychology and its influence on training and education. It then looks at how we can use this information to improve e-learning. The author outlines six key points that arise from research undertaken in the last ten years on what makes ‘good’ e-learning. He then examines how to create and sustain motivation in learners for the full length of any courses they are taking. Finally, he tells us that the power of the human mind to process information is phenomenal and persuades us that we can harness this power to great effect.”

Learning to Unlearn and Relearn

“In 1970 Alvin Toffler’s ‘Future Shock’ presented a new theory of social adaptation, along with strategies for coping with rapid change; inevitably many of his insights involve the roles of education in the adaptive process. One of his most quoted projections redefines literacy in an increasingly pertinent way - he says: ‘The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.’” Graeme Daniel and Kevin Cox, Web Tools Newsletter, 10 September

Added: 10 September 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
A collection of thoughts and links about “unlearning”

How people learn: brain, mind, experience and school

“How People Learn is the product of a 2-year project during which 16 individuals, as a committee, evaluated new developments in the science of learning.” John D Bransford, Ann L Brown and Rodney R Cocking Editors

Added: 17 August 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
This book is referred to by Jay Cross in his thoughts in the item immediately below.

How people learn

Updated: 27 May 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Jay Cross’ thoughts on learning

Serving the Total Learner: The time has finally come!

“If we’ve learned anything in the past 18 years at Element K, we’ve learned that adult learners are VERY complex “beasts.” Years of adult learning theory also has taught us the same.” Bob Mosher, Element K

Added: 7 May 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Identifies 5 types of learning: Initial, Continued, Remedial, Upgrade and Transferred

Lippman on Learning: Fundamental changes

“Syllabus interviews Andrew Lippman, founding associate director of MIT’s renowned Media Laboratory, to explore how technology will transform our notions of teaching and learning.” Syllabus Magazine, February 2002

Added: 15 February 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Summary: “Syllabus interviews Andrew Lippman, founding associate director of MIT’s renowned Media Laboratory, to explore how technology will transform our notions of teaching and learning.”

The Future of Learning Program

“The Future of Learning Program has been created in response to this situation with a three-part mission: critical, conceptual and activist. The critical mission is to recognize and break the mindsets that limit systemic, global thinking about the latent learning potential of the planet; The conceptual mission is to elaborate the conceptual framework and the language to support thinking on a more holistic, systemic level about what being digital can mean for learning; The activist mission has two parts based on a distinction between micro-mathetics (actions directed at affecting learning on a level of individuals or small groups) and macro-mathetics (actions directed at affecting the way a country or, indeed, the entire planet, deals with learning.)

Added: 3 February 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
A very inspiring program run by a group from the MIT Media Lab

Linking their thinking

“Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab work to link burgeoning technologies to education.” Andrew Trotter, Education Week on the Web, 30 January 2002

Added: 3 February 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Some of the work into learning taking place at MIT Media Lab

In practice …

“What does it mean to talk about learner centered learning? I think that at least a part of it means something very different from the traditional system of classes and courses.” Stephen Downes, 28 January 2002

Added: 3 February 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
“The prediction is this: as online learning takes hold, fewer and fewer people will opt for traditional courses and classes, opting instead for less formal learner driven forms of learning.”

The next society

“Tomorrow is closer than you think. Peter Drucker explains how it will differ from today, and what needs to be done to prepare for it”

Added: 10 November 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
As always Peter Drucker is worth listening to. One of the sidebars shows “Knowledge technologists are likely to become the dominant social-and perhaps also political-force over the next decades

A Time Capsule of Training and Learning

Written by Don Clark at Big Dog’s Bowl of Biscuits

Added: 11 October 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
The past as well as the future of learning. Available in two ways: “global” to allow easy “bouncing back and forth” and linear version. Fascinating

Guilds and the future of learning

“Learning can be a charged term for today’s workers. In an information economy, the ability to master new skills throughout one’s career is crucial. But when this learning requirement is added to ever more demanding job performance standards, and the need to fit in family responsibilities and personal life, it can all feel like too much. Between long hours on the job and the home front, who can find time to bone up on those new skills?” LineZine, Summer 2001

Added: 21 August 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
One approach for addressing this problem lies in new kinds of organizations - “guilds”

Four fictional views on the future of learnng

“We are at a critical moment in the history of human learning, and in the history of humans. Learning is very important in our future. With six billion people on earth, going to nine billion by the middle of the century, current educational systems everywhere at all levels have major problems, probably not solvable with present approaches. In many areas little education is available. We need new learning modes and structures, and we need them quickly and globally.” Alfred Bork, Educational Technology Center, Information and Computer Science,University of California

Added: 21 August 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
“This editorial is based on four accounts, three from science fiction and one from fictional chapters in a nonfiction book”

How people learn

“Learning about learning is occupying my thoughts these days (mid 2001) and I expect to spew lots of ideas on the topic in the next few months.” Jay Cross, Internet Time Group

Added: 17 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Some interesting thoughts on e-learning

The changing face of learning

“During the last ten years or so, two things have brought about a transformational change to learning from which there is no going back. The first is that perceptions about the importance of learning for society, organisations and for individuals, have changed. At long last learning has become ‘respectable’ and is enjoying centre stage as the undisputed key to sustainable performance and competitiveness. The emphasis has moved from training (an input still with a part to play), to learning (both a process and an output). This paradigm shift has many welcome implications. … The second big change is, of course, technology that has suddenly enabled learning to become more convenient and more readily accessible than ever before. E-learning (learning note, not training) is the latest addition to what was already a long list of learning opportunities.” Peter Honey, June 2001

Added: 16 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Peter Honey describes how two things have brought about a transformational change to learning

e-Learning for adults: who has the goods

“The advent of the Internet as a means of delivering and facilitating learning is blurring the line between traditional academic education, held away from the job and focused more on ideas than on the application of ideas, and traditional job training, held at work and focused more on applied skills than on the mastery of a body of knowledge. This change in the very definition of education is reflected in current terminology: the term “learning” has come to mean improving one’s skills through training as well as deepening one’s understanding in a particular field of knowledge, an evolution of phraseology to which I adhere in this article.” Robert M Burnside, the technology source, July/August 2001

Added: 5 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
this article explores the relationship between academic and corporate learning

Learning 101

“Learn how learning is changing, how you can promote learning, and how you can become a better learner.” By Lucy McCauley Fast Company, October 2000

Updated: July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
a collection of thoughts from eminent educationalists on learning

e-Learning Resource Websites

Ageless Learner

“This website focuses on how learning and curiosity influence everything you do in life, no matter your age, education, or occupation. We offer terrific resources and the best information to help you get more from life even if you’re four or ninety-four.”

Added: 13 November 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
The website from Marcia Conner (of Learnativity and LiNZine

Brandon.Hall.com

For research and reports on e-learning

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

Centra’s Learning Resource Center

“Here you will find a catalog of books, articles, Web sites, ideas and other related resources to help you get started with eLearning and to enhance your education programs, instructional design, and teaching techniques.”

Added: 6 September 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Just launched!

Comunidad eLearning Workshops

“eLearning virtual community in Spanish. News, articles, forums, resources and more.”

Added: 17 October 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
Site is in Spanish

College-Cram.com

“College-Cram.com is a library providing study sheets, interactive FlashT modules, and other educational materials that help college students learn. Register for free and get better grades in less time..”

Added: 26 June 2007
Reviewer’s Note:

CourseShare.com

“We offer opportunities to help people generate, find, and share knowledge related to teaching and learning. In an age of increasing budgetary constraints and accountability, it is important to find ways to electronically share information and experiences over the Web. Through CourseShare.com, higher education institutions, corporations, instructors, and students can find support for the global sharing of course information and online evaluation, access to 21st century teaching and learning techniques, and tools for assessing how well they are performing in this online marketplace..”

Added: 2 March 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Consists of a number of “sharing” divisions

Educational Technology Web Ring

“This ring contains educational technology resource links for higher education professionals. Only professional sites related to academia will be linked (after a review of educational content). All educational resources and fields are invited to apply.”

Updated: 26 January 2005

eLearn

“This site provides easy access to information, services, and organisations relevant to tertiary e-learning in New Zealand.”

Added 1 February 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
For students and staff in HE in NZ

e-Learning Guru

“Hi, I’m Kevin Kruse and I’m the founder of e-LearningGuru.com. I started this site as a way to offer the e-learning community practical information in a plain-language format. You can see from the tabs above that this site is jam packed with “how to” articles, templates and calculators in the tool box, dozens of white papers, time saving book summaries and links to the best sites on the net.”

Added: 27 April 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
“Have fun, learn, and have fun helping others learn.”

elearning in art and design

“The reason for this site is to share and diseminate my research in elearning in art and design. It grew out of my doctoral studies in educational research at Lancaster University, and my own interests in interactive multimedia.”

Added: 15 July 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
From Nicos Souleles

Elearning India

“Elearning India is about various aspects of distance learning programs based in India. The site is beneficial for elearning students, teachers, corporate houses and elearning solutions providers”.

Added: 13 February 2007
Reviewer’s Note:
Based in New Delhi, India

Elearning List

The e-learning list of courses serves the needs of generic content buyers by providing an independent database of courseware publishers. Visitors can leave comments of their experiences with the listed companies, for the benefit of future customers.

Added: 15 February 2008
Reviewer’s Note:

e-Learning: Research and Resources

“These pages provide research and resources that relate to e-learning for post-16 education and training. the pages include a glossary of terms, an anthology of teaching and learning models and a list of useful e-learning links. In addition to providing up-to-date information about new research that is being conducted into blended learning.”

Added: 27 February 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
The research programme (at Birkbeck College, London University) aims to explore the future of ICTs and education in relation to pedagogy, policy and teaching and learning practice for post 16 education and training

elearning-reviews

“provides those interested in research on elearning with concise and thoughtful reviews of relevant publications. The most important goal is a well-balanced selection of seminal publications as well as interesting up-to-date publications from the various disciplinary perspectives.”

Added: 11 October 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
Launched 21 September 2004 by the Swiss Centre for Innovations in Learning (SCIL), St.Gallen.

elearning Scotland

“A new portal which serves the eLearning community in Scotland. The portal aims to facilitate the development of the community by providing quick and easy routes to existing networks, and giving users access to the information they need.”

Added: 16 March 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
A portal for the e-learning community in Scotland

e-Learning.start4all.com

A growing list of e-learning resources including e-learning news.

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

Elearnity Research Knowledge Centre

“Elearnity’s public research site containing market intelligence and analysis for corporate learning and e-learning leaders and practitioners, including a structured archive of market news, together with analysis, articles, presentations, and reports from Elearnity on key learning and e-learning issues and trends.”

Added: 14 November 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
These are high-level summaries of Elearnity’s analysis and research.

elearnopaedia

Added: 1 February 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
A categorised list of links with an RSS newsfeed

elearnspace

“everything elearning … This site is intended for users, managers, developers, and facilitators of elearning. While this site will begin as a collection of elearning resources, my goal is for elearnspace.org to evolve into a community of practitioners - a place for debating and disseminating the role and practice of elearning.”

Added: 28 July 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Site produced by George Siemens, an instructor at Red River College in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

European Training Village: E-Learning

Technology, case studies, research, surveys, products and services

Added: June 2001
Reviewer’s Note:

IDutch e-learning Wiki

LeerWiki is a new opensource resource for collaborative learning.

Added: December 2007
Reviewer’s Note:

Intel’s Education Website

“A resource to help you find ideas to inspire your students in science, math, engineering and technology education.”

Added: March 2001
Reviewer’s Note:

KeyDegree Online Schools

Key Degree helping you meet your career goals by finding the right programme in order to earn your degree online or at local campus. Earn your Associates, Bachelors or Masters Degree.

Added: 14 November 2007
Reviewer’s Note:

Learning and Skills Web

“The choice of information and tools available to Learning and Skills practitioners has increased significantly over the past decade. With one single point of access, Learning and Skills Web will find everything you need and, as the site develops and the search engine becomes more refined, you can be assured of speedy access to the best and most relevant information, resources and news”

Added: 27 May 2006
Reviewer’s Note:
Learning and Skills Web is for practitioners working at all levels in the Learning and Skills Sector.

Links4Learning

“Links4Learning is intended to be a collection of links to sites related to all aspects of e-Learning. It will be updated on a regular basis as new sites are discovered.”

Added: 5 August 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Links mainly to e-learning vendors, but also some other resources

Links to learning technology resources

Added: 27 December 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
A collection of links by Stephen Bostock, Keele University, suitable for HE

MASIE Center (Technology and Learning Thinktank)

“The MASIE Center is an international thinktank located in Saratoga Springs, NY. The Center is dedicated to exploring the intersection of learning and technology.They are focusd on these key areas: How do people learn to use technology; How can technology be used to help people learn; New models for providing learning across distance and time; New roles for training and learning professionals.”

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

Microsoft’s in Education

“Working closely with worldwide education communities, Microsoft has developed technology, tools, programs, and solutions to help address education challenges while improving teaching and learning opportunities.”

Updated: 25 September 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
See Microsoft in Education RSS feed

New Horizons for Learning

“Since 1980, New Horizons for Learning has served as a leading-edge resource for educational change.”

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

Online Learning Guide

“Comprehensive resource for information about the extensive educational opportunities available online.”

Added: 19 February 2007
Reviewer’s Note:
Mostly US based e-learning institutions.

Open-Of-Course

“Multilingual portal for free and open content courses and tutorials”.

Added: 2 February 2007
Reviewer’s Note:
The subject matter is quite varied from languages to technical topics. You can even add your own content.

Pink Flamingo’s Resource Lists

“URLs for Educators, Students, Writers, Webpage Designers”

Added: 2 February 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
A collection of interesting and intriguing resources

Stephen’s Web

Knowledge ~ Learning ~ Community

Added: June 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Stephen Downes has been in this business a long time and always has an interesting view of what is current and what will be happening in the future

Technology’s impact on learning

“Resource to aid in the understanding of how e-learning was developed and simple guides on how e-learning can be used and developed for online deployment.”

Added: 25 July 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
A nascent website on e-learning

techLearning

“The resource for education technology leaders”

Added: 19 August 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
A resource aimed at the use of technology in schools.

The elearning jump page

e-Learning resources listed at internettime.com, created by Jay Cross, a leading e-learning guru

Updated: 24 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
An updated version of this very informative website

The Learning Place

“The Learning Place is for Education Queensland staff, students and community to learn online, participate in online communication and online communities.”

Added: 7 May 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
“Queensland’s gateway to a range of innovative online learning, communication and community resources”

TerenceOnline

“A resource center and blog to help people stay informed with what’s going on in web 2.0, technology, education, and eLearning pedagogy”

Added: 19 December 2006
Reviewer’s Note:
You can interact by video with the author

WBT Information Centre

WBTIC is a non-profit resource for those interested in developing and delivering web-based training, online learning, or distance education. Here you will find a WBT primer, surveys, discussion forums, and resource links.

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:
Another long standing resource for web-based training

e-Learning Glossaries

Clark Aldrich’s Glossary of SimulationConcepts

“This is a beta of Clark Aldrich’s third book on simulations, with a couple of differences. It is non-linear, evolving in real-time, with links to interactive examples, open to comment, and free. Start anywhere and click around. It is a whole new take on content”.

Added: 26 March 2007
Reviewer’s Note:
Clark is a well known author and consultant in e-learning, simulations and related topics, based in the US. This site is a novel combination of a glossary, a blog and an online book on simulations.

CNET Glossary

“Do all your Net-savvy friends laugh at you every time you open your mouth? Netify your vocabulary here.”

Added: 18 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
a comprehensive glossary of networking technology

Dictionary of Terms

“To help you get a grasp on the latest e-learning terminology, KnowledgeNet has developed a collection of the most commonly used terms as they relate to e-learning — including KnowledgeNet-specific terms.”

Added: 3 December 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
A number of Knowledge-Net terms included but also some generally used e-learning terms too

E-Learning Glossary

“E-learning is hot. And everyone has something to say about it, but are we communicating in the same language?”Learning Circuits

Added: 8 January 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Glossary now has more than 200 terms and is updated monthly

e-Learning Glossary

click2learn’s glossary from “animation” to “XML”

Added: June 2001
Reviewer’s Note:

Encyclopaedia of Educational Technology

“The Encyclopedia of Educational Technology (EET) is a collection of short multimedia articles on a variety of topics related to the fields of instructional design and education and training.” Bob Hoffman, Dept of Educational Technology, San Diego State University

Added: 9 March 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
Engaging and educational

Glossary

“World’s biggest, or at least most irreverent, e-Learning glossary!” e-LearningGuru.com

Added: 28 January 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
Kevin Kruse’s useful glossary has been around for some time.

Glossary of open and distance learning terms

From “Access Centres” to “World Wide Web” The Commonwealth of Learning

Added: 30 July 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

Guide to Cyberspace: Glossary

Added: June 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
This is a very “old” document - dating back to 1994! - but it provides a glossary of key Internet terms, if you need to catch up on them

Learning Theories Knowledge Base

“A knowledgebase and webliography of learning theories, instructional design models, and other relevant theories of education. A useful reference to educational practitioners and researchers for how people learn.

Includes summaries, key people, additional resources, etc.”
Reviewer’s Note:
Added: 27 March 2007

NetLingo

“NetLingo is an online dictionary about the Internet. It contains hundreds of words and definitions that describe the technology and community world of the Web”

Added: June 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
a very comprehensive glossary of terms

Wireless Glossary

From ComputerWorld

Added: 30 May 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
Exaplanation of the main wireless terms

What is e-Learning?

Web 2.0: A new wave of innovation for teaching and learning?

“The term is audacious: Web 2.0. It assumes a certain interpretation of Web history, including enough progress in certain directions to trigger a succession … Many people-including, or perhaps especially, supporters-critique the “Web 2.0″ moniker for definitional reasons. Few can agree on even the general outlines of Web 2.0. It is about no single new development. Moreover, the term is often applied to a heterogeneous mix of relatively familiar and also very emergent technologies … Ultimately, the label “Web 2.0″ is far less important than the concepts, projects, and practices included in its scope.”  Bryan Alexander, Educause Review, Vol 41, No 2 (March/April 2006)

Added: 18 March 2006
Reviewer’s Note:
Conclusion: The story of this wave of innovation, whether we call it Web 2.0 or something else, is itself emergent and uncertain … This Web 2.0 movement (or movements) may not supplant “Web 1.0,” but it has clearly transformed a significant swath of our networked information ecology.”

What lies beyond e-learning?

“Just when we thought we had e-learning all figured out, it’s changing again. After years of experimentation and the irrational exuberance that characterized the late 1990s, we find our views of e-learning more sober and realistic. This is a good sign; we can make more rational forecasts of how the field will evolve. It also presents some challenges, and the direction we are heading may not be the path we originally thought we were on.” Marc Rosenberg, Learning Circuits, March 2006

Added: 7 March 2006
Reviewer’s Note:
This article is based on Marc Rosenberg’s new book, “Beyond E-Learning: Approaches and Technologies to Enhance Organizational Knowledge, Learning and Performance”

Trends: Out with the old, in with the new

“There are tried and true learning methods, methodologies, and technologies. There are also new technologies that once evaluated make sense to incorporate into existing education and training programs. More important, new technologies may offer opportunities for learning we would not have otherwise. However, before jumping on any bandwagon, here are some guidelines for integrating new technology into your programs.” Amy Finn, Learning Circuits, December 2005

Added: 17 December 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
Here’s a prescription for assessing and integrating new learning technologies.

E-Learning 2.0

“E-learning as we know it has been around for ten years or so. During that time, it has emerged from being a radical idea-the effectiveness of which was yet to be proven-to something that is widely regarded as mainstream. It’s the core to numerous business plans and a service offered by most colleges and universities.  And now, e-learning is evolving with the World Wide Web as a whole and it’s changing to a degree significant enough to warrant a new name: E-learning 2.0.” Stephen Downes, eLearn Magazine, October 2005

Added: 18 October 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
Stephen talks about where we are now and the way ahead in e-learning

Categories of elearning

“One of the biggest challenges in discussing elearning arises from different understandings of the field. Most often, we attach our experiences and career to our conversations, presenting an image of elearning that reflects what we have encountered. For an instructional designer, elearning often means courses or learning materials directed at meeting an objective within the larger scope of program development. A corporate trainer may view elearning as a combination of courses and knowledge management. No one perspective is symbolic of the whole industry.”  George Siemens, elearnspace, 18 October 2004

Added: 19 October 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
George also draws a mindmap to show  the interrelation of categories:

What is eLearning?

“This is a short eLearning course on What is e-learning, How e-learning can be used and How and who benefits from e-learning”

Added: 30 July 2004
Reviewer’s Note:
Short course produced by Oxford eLearning and Moore eLearning

What’s in a name?

“We need to understand that names, labels and titles really do matter. They provide structure and clarity in most companies, a common language for investors and industry analysts and a mental framework for customers. I’ve seen terminology limit roles and responsibilities and carve up budgets. So despite its simplicity, a very important question is “How does your organization define e-learning?”  Kevin Kruse, Chief learning Officer Magazine, July 2003

Added: 25 July 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
A short piece on what the name “e-learning” actually means.  The conclusion: forget about the name, concentrate on making it work

If you only look under the street lamps .. or nine e-learning myths

“The e-learning industry is obsessed with finding the right answers to the question, “Why hasn’t e-learning been successful?”  Perhaps we have been looking in the obvious - but wrong - places because our mythology of e-learning is misleading.”  Lance Dublin, eLearning Developers Journal, 16 June 2003

Added: 19 June 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
You will need to register with the eLearning Guild to access this article

E-Journey on E-Learning

“This e-journey is a free guide to e-learning written by Derek Stockley. E-learning is explained, the major fields of expertise are explored, gurus and experts are listed and a comprehensive range of links is provided.  This online training course/program assumes a basic knowledge of how the internet operates, however the elearning content is suitable for both the novice and experienced user. It is an example of computer based training.” Derek Stockley

Added: 26 May 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
A good overview of e-learning

Eulogy for e-learning

Added: 6 April 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
Jay Cross of the Internet Group explains why he thinks e-learning is dead.  (This web-based presentation was created with Macromedia Breeze)

10 damaging e-learning myths

“Make no mistake about it, the e-learning industry is going through troubled times. The current economic climate isn’t conducive to providing top quality e-learning and there are mixed opinions about the success of this type of training. We can argue about the causes of this phenomenon forever. However, this article presents 10 damaging myths that we feel are contributing to the problems facing our industry. These myths seem to be spreading at an infectious pace. This list isn’t intended as a criticism of any existing e-learning company - we have tremendous admiration for anyone who works in this difficult industry. Rather, this list gives us an opportunity to look again at the assumptions and beliefs that have come to define our dealings with customers.” elearningpost, 3 March 2003

Added: 7 March 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
You can also discuss this article - already some good points here (http://www.elearningpost.com/features/archives/001749.asp?discuss=yes)

The Trainers’ Introduction to e-Learning

“We have prepared this guide to share the knowledge we have gained during our eLearning journey and hope it is of use to you.”

Added: 21 December 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
An overview of some of the aspects of e-learning

e-Learning System and Technology Concept

Added: 11 December 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
A couple of linked web pages providing an overview of e-learning.  From the Assumption University of Thailand

E-Learning: The second wave

“There’s a lot of talk in e-learning circles these days about the arrival of the “second wave.” Granted, just trying to catch a ride on the first wave proved a challenge for some would-be e-surfers. But in nearly every facet of the e-learning movement, signs are that the next wave is coming. And in spite of gloomy reports and the shaky economy, the second wave may be rolling in faster than you think.” Craig R Taylor, Learning Circuits, 21 October 2002

Added: 29 October 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
“Even if you wiped out on the first wave, a second one is coming. Catch the ride.”

Mentored learning

“There are many different types of online education courses. They range from downloadable self-paced courses to real-time, instructor-led courses. And while most people can understand each end of this spectrum, it is in the middle ground where most of the confusion lies.” Doug Talbott, tech Learning 1 September 2002, 

Added: 16 September 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
“The middle ground is loosely called ‘mentored-learning’.”

Cert Mag’s Guide to eLearning

“The intent of this article is to explore and explain the different training facets of e-learning to provide insight and clarity for Certification Magazine readers who review, buy and use various types of training to maintain and advance their careers. Since actual training comes from content presented in some form, the focus of this article will be limited to the two methods of content delivery through the Internet-self-paced (commonly referred to as asynchronous) and live (commonly referred to as synchronous) e-learning.”

Added: 6 August 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
An overview of asychronous and synchronous learning

The end of the course as we know it

“The days may well be numbered for the course as the essential ‘unit of learning’. The typical course is a shrink-wrapped offering where every learner receives the same training, regardless of the job that they do or the skills they already possess.”

Added: 3 May 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Another well reasoned argument about why we need to re-think the “course” as the standard way of approaching training

understanding e-learning

 Added: 13 April 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
A special from FT.com.  It includes sections on desktop learning, service providers, wireless training, financial  sector

Confessions of an e-learner

“Why the course paradigm is all wrong” Eve Drinis and Amy Corrigan

Added: 6 April 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
The essence of the argument is that providing courses in traditional formats suits nobody and that’s why learners drop out.  The same theme as the article below this - just presented in a different way. Excellently articulated!

Read all about it: online learning facing 80% attrition rates

Jim Flood, Director of Learning, COROUS in TOJDE April 2002

Added: 6 April 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
This article uses this attention-grabbing headline to provide an understanding of what e-learning is really all about and why it fails in many cases.  Two particular points  that appealed to me were: (1) “Many aid agencies working to improve the technology in poor countries recognise that aid needs to be appropriate; to be sustainable it needs to use local materials, draw on local skills and to be in tune with the environment. In terms of e-learning much of the technology currently used is unnecessarily specialised and tends to alienate rather than include people. Some of the complex learning management systems could be seen as the aid equivalent to the $50,000 tractor in Ethiopia.”  (2) “There are currently 169 learning management systems for sale in the UK - and none are necessary to begin e-learning.”

What executives must know about e-learning

“So you’ve heard about this electronic-learning thing. Can it work in your organization? Before you make an assessment, learn the lingo. Computer-based and Web-based training usually refer only to synchronous (when instructors and students are online at the same time, which requires less labor to develop and more to teach) and asynchronous training (when instructors and students are not online at the same time, which requires more resources to develop, but next to none to teach).” Saul Carliner, Potomac Tech Journal, 18 March 2002

Added: 20 March 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
A very quick summary of e-learning

10 mini-myths of e-learning and the data to dispel them

Added: 2 March 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
A PowerPoint presentation by Curt Bonk, President of CourseShare.com

Distance learning technology is 

“Education`s future and an important step to bridging the digital divide or A waste of time that removes from teaching the crucial human touch.”  Online poll first compiled in Fast Company in September 2000 (now 15/2 over 3600 votes)

Added: 15 February 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Cast you vote first then add your comments

Reflections on e-Learning

“There is great deal of hype, both on and off the internet, of e-learning being the next great savior of training, development, and education. This paper will look at both the hype and the validity of e-learning.” Don Clark, Big Dog’s Bowl of Biscuits

Updated: 12 October 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Quite a wide look at e-learning. The “Myths and Realities of e-Learning” is realistic.

How e-learning works

“In this edition of HowStuffWorks, we’ll visit the field of electronic learning, find out how it works and what makes it effective both from the learner’s perspective and the training producer’s perspective. We’ll also take a look at the reality of e-learning by examining the technology from a company called Trainersoft®” HowStuffWorks

Added: 7 October 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
An overview of e-learning with some interesting pages on The Psychology of E-Learning and Integrating Media and Interactivity.  However, it only discusses e-learning in the context of designing online courses and not as is now accepted in much wider terms that encompass the provision of JIT information, performance support, corporate communications, etc

re-learning e-learning

“Thomas Koulopoulos thinks e-learning can help turn staid skills-training into learning on the fly” Darwin Magazine, September 2001 Added: 13 September 2001

Reviewer’s Note: Thomas Koulopoulos, author of the X-Economy and President of The Delphi Group explains how the future of e-learning is not formal courses but JIT delivery.
Reviewer’s Note:

What is e-learning?

A collection of resources that help to identify what e-learning is.  Jay Cross, Internet Time Group

Updated: 17 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
An interesting page of thoughts and resources from Jay Cross

E-Learning’s straight shooter

“Elliott Masie says learning is a social event, and E-learning is headed for a convergence with knowledge management” Information Week, January 2001.

Added: May 2001
Reviewer’s Note:

about e-learning

“This document is an abridgement of several documents from various investment groups that are investigating e-Learning and expecting it to be one of the next big things to be revolutionized by the Internet.  … This document is broken into two parts. The first part answers the question, “What is e-Learning?” and focuses on the trends and forces behind e-Learning. The second part of the document addresses the numbers and the size of the learning market. Although the numbers mentioned in the various e-Learning reports differ, the opportunities remain extensive.” Compiled and prepared by Learnframe.

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

Facts, figures and forces behind e-learning is the  pdf version (81 pages)

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

e-Learning FAQ

“What is eLearning, Does it matter? How does it work? How well does it work?” etc.  Jay Cross, Internet Time Group.

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:
a comprehensive introduction to e-learning

e-learning is a 24 x 7 endeavor

“The potential of anytime, anywhere access to education-oriented content, programming and services is capturing the attention of entrepreneurs, who are putting ubiquitous computing, distributed networks and broadband access to good use.” By Margaret Quan, EE Times, 8 September 2000

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

E-learning vs face-to-face training: And the winner is …

“Can e-learning compete with face-to-face training?” By John Walls, Houston Business Journal, August 2000.

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

What’s e-learning?

A presentation by Jay Cross, Internet Time Group, 11 January 2000

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

e-Learning in Europe

European Unified Approach for Lifelong Learning

The aim of EU4ALL is to improve the efficiency and efficacy of implementing and developing an open service architecture for Accessible Lifelong Learning

Added: 21 December 2007
Reviewer’s Note:

Obstacles to small business usage of elearning in Europe

“Currently 80 million EU citizens are low-skilled. By 2010 it is estimated that half of all additional new jobs on the labour market will require tertiary education and almost 40% upper secondary level. Logically, the job prospects for the low skilled will decline. So we are currently confronted with the situation where half the EU workforce (some 100 people) require upskilling. This in my view cannot take place in the back to the classroom scenario, Learning and upskilling must be integrated in the workplace.” Colin McCullough, webpronews, 2 August 2005

Added: 2 August 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
Colin concludes: “I am afraid that my article raises more questions that provides answers to the issues of elearning in SME’s. But if such issues are not addressed at all levels - European, national and regional, the promise of elearning as a driver of economic growth and performance in Europe could easily turn into a myth.”

IST Results

“In July 2005 IST Results, an online news service established on behalf of the European Commission’s DG Information Society and Media, put its editorial focus on e-Learning and featured a number of successful research projects presenting cutting-edge technologies and innovations in this area. The IST Results service aims at promoting the outcomes and developments of RTD projects funded by the Information Society Technologies (IST) research initiative

Added: 22 July 2005
Reviewer’s Note:
Also includes an RSS feed

elearningeuropa.info

“the purpose of the portal is “to act as a virtual meeting place and directory of information for all aspects of e-learning. The young and the old, the expert and the novice are invited to use the portal to explore the world of e-learning and to gain access to the considerable work that is already going on throughout Europe”

Added: 10 February 2003
Reviewer’s Note:
“The portal will attempt to create a setting for discussion to support the vibrant European e-learning community

proacte

“PROACTe is a service to communicate work funded by the European Union under the Education Area of the Information Society (IS) Programme.”

Added: !7 December 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
“For the projects, PROACTe will provide online access to resources for developing promotional activities, a database of important media contacts, and other players in education technology and discussion forums.”

Ergo: European Research Gateways On-Line

“ERGO is an initiative of the European Commission working with National Research and Development (R&D) Information Providers with the aim of promoting awareness about R&D projects from European Union states and other associated countries.”

Added: 17 December 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
“Your one-stop shop for European R&D project information.”

European eLearning Market Report

“Aiming to realise what is actually happening in the EU e-learning industry rather than what we believe, the 2002 survey includes EFTA (European Free Trade Area) and future EU member countries. It covers a wide variety of organisations involved in training - users and suppliers as well as those in the public and the private sector - and is completely independent and impartial.” Authors: Jane Massey and Alphametrics

Added: 12 December 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
£250/€395. Available from elearningage.

Quality and eLearning in Europe

“This summary highlights some of the findings from the recent European survey on quality and eLearning. The full report with comprehensive results and further details on responses from different countries and from different job types in training is published by Bizmedia - full details at www.elearningage.co.uk. Jane Massey

Added: 25 September 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
The full report costs £125 or 195 euros

Online Learning Europe

“Covering topics related to e-learning, training and knowledge in Europe.”

Added: 22 August 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
A new blog that carries news about e-learning in Europe. Sponsor of the site is VNU Learning, an affiliate of VNU Business Media

eLearning: designing tomorrow’s education

“In launching the initiative ‘eLearning: Designing tomorrow’s education’, with its corresponding Action Plan for 2001-2004, the Commission has laid the foundations for concrete and sustainable action, through a set of specific measures. Measures which serve to co-ordinate the various e-learning activities of Europe and propel us towards the knowledge-based economy and the vision set in Lisbon.”

Added: 25 April 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
Also available in other European languages from Documents page

E-deficit in UK

“Spring sunshine lifts the spirits and imagination, but the plethora of e-learning conferences, reports and surveys suddenly arriving on my desk brings home a note of reality. Why is e-learning perceived to be taking root more slowly in the UK and across Europe than in the US or Canada?” Geraldine Kenney-Wallace, Guardian, 16 April 2002

Added: 20 April 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
“There is no one-size-fits-all for e-learning, and perhaps we should be looking at evolution rather than revolution in going forward.”

The European e-learning provider market in Europe

“markets, customers, service enterprises and trends in Europe and eleven regional partial markets” High Text Verlag, 5 February 2002

Added: 2 March 2002
Reviewer’s Note:
report with 185 pages, 110 charts to purchase or license for corporate use

What is the extent of elearning in Europe?

“This survey, commissioned by Cedefop, represents the first major attempt to assess the current extent of eLearning* within vocational and professional education and training in Europe. By completing this short survey you will be making a significant contribution to the understanding and measurement of the eLearning market. Once completed, all respondents may receive a summary of the survey results.”

Added: 29 December 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
Contribute to this survey

Has e-learning truly arrived in Europe?

“Is there any evidence to suggest the success and size of the e-learning market in Europe? And how does this compare with the USA?” Patrick Dunn, Training Journal, October 2001

Added: 11 October 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
The current state of play in Europe

eLearning: Designing tomorrow’s education

“The eLearning initiative of the European Commission seeks to mobilise the educational and cultural communities, as well as the economic and social players in Europe, in order to speed up changes in the education and training systems for Europe’s move to a knowledge-based society. The eLearning initiative of the European Commission seeks to mobilise the educational and cultural communities, as well as the economic and social players in Europe, in order to speed up changes in the education and training systems for Europe’s move to a knowledge-based society.

Added: 20 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
The European Commission’s approach to e-learning in Europe

CEDEFOP

European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training “The European agency that helps policy-makers and practitioners of the European Commission, the Member States and social partner organisations across Europe make informed choices about vocational training policy.”

Added: 2001
Reviewer’s Note:

Electronic Training Village

“(ETV) is an interactive website where you can participate by sending news, taking part in virtual conferences, exchanging information, registering in mailing lists, if you are involved in any aspect of vocational training”.

Added: 20 July 2001
Reviewer’s Note:
You will need to register to access this resource

Thinking outside the States

“Europe’s no lady-in-waiting for e-learning. Evidence is mounting that forces may converge to catapult it to world-leader status.” Samantha Chapnick, Learning Circuits, December 2000

Added: December 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

E-Learning’s global migration

“Overseas markets are the new frontier for U.S.-based e-learning firms, who are using a variety of means to establish roots on international soil. But homegrown competition is on the rise. Tom Barron, Learning Circuits, September 2000

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note:

How digital learning differs in Europe

“It’s a different world over in the EU–right down to the terminology. A look at Europe’s unique take on e-learning–and advice for Yankees seeking business there” Jane Massey, Learning Circuits, March 2000

Added: 2000
Reviewer’s Note: