It has taken over a decade from the early migration of interactive learning content from DVD to the web to the current 'every day' practice of creating e-learning of all types - modules, programmes, courses, qualifications and so on that are as commonplace to business as the annual audit - is e-learning bread and butter to business like accounting and legal advice, or is it the jam (or Marmite) that complements?
The 'learning advantages' Conole spoke of in 2007 are the business advantages of 2012 - everyday induction (or 'on boarding' as it is called in North America), talent management, product knowledge, skills development, management training, health and safety - you name it. What two decades ago was a linear video, or an not so linear though perfectly valid leaflet, or workbook, with or without a facilitator, is now largely self-regulated e-learning, carefully monitored, with a blended component (a tutorial in tertiary education is a workshop in business)
Littlejohn et al (2008) gave names to some of the emerging tools that are six years on, common place APPS, or software plug-ins that are easily built into a course:
- Digital assets: a single item, image, video or podcast.
- Information objects: a structured aggregation of digital assets designed purely to present information.
- Learning activities: tasks involving interactions with information to attain a specific learning outcome.
- Learning design: structured sequences of information and learning activities to promote learning.
For the rest of the week I am going to be looking out for everyday examples of the above in business applications. If you can offer some examples please do.
REFERENCE
Conole, G. (2007) 'Describing learning activities and tools and resources to guide practice'. In H Beetham and R Sharpe (eds) Rethinking pedagogy for a digital age: Designing and delivering e–Learning (2007)
Littlejohn, A., Falconer,I., Mcgill,L. (2008) Characterising effective eLearning resources