In helping many instructors make the transition to online learning over the years, I usually hear similar comments in the debrief after their first experience facilitating such a course. A common theme that emerges is that they found that they could have a deeper and more meaningful interchange of ideas, perspectives and arguments with and…
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I was at a university recently facilitating a workshop with a group of very keen and dedicated faculty members and online course developers. We were brainstorming big-picture concepts about the things that contribute to an excellent online learning experience. And we were also grappling with identifying some of the nitty-gritty strategies and approaches that can…
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Mark Smithers, writing from Australia, has created quite a stir in the blogosphere with his recent posting titled “eLearning at Universities: A Quality Assurance Free Zone?” The gist of his argument is that most universities pay little more than lip service to the quality of their online course and programming offerings. Course content is often…
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I have been involved in one way or the other with helping faculty members in higher education make the transition to online learning environments for many years. And I have always been fascinated by the intricate dance that ensues as professors and instructional designers feel each other out, get used to their new “dance partners,”…
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“Change is so fast and furious that work and learning blur into one activity.” Jay Cross, et. al. Jay Cross and his colleagues at Internet Time Group published an interesting article on the evolution of work. Noting the major shifts in human history, from the Agricultural Age, to the Industrial Age, to the Information Age,…
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A little while ago I was interested in a rapid eLearning authoring tool, and a sales rep did a web presentation for me, showing how it worked. He then encouraged me to download this software for a trial period. His demo was 20 – 30 minutes long, and only provided a very quick overview. I…
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I have worked in the eLearning field for many years in both corporate and academic settings, and have seen it all: the good, the bad and the ugly. Whenever I come across people or organizations that are struggling with realizing value from their eLearning, it usually comes down to the fact that they haven’t made…
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There has been a lot of hype lately about “rapid eLearning.” It’s difficult to read an eLearning journal, or go to an eLearning conference lately, without someone talking about rapid eLearning. Well, there is a very good reason for this and, although it sounds trite, it is as true as ever…TIME = MONEY. The drivers…
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I miss Rodney Dangerfield. He was a genuinely funny guy. You have to admire the one-man comic industry he built around the phrase “I get no respect!” I hear this same phrase, and am reminded of Rodney, every time I am in a room of training managers. They are often lamenting the fact that their…
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This is the time of year that people may be faced with drafting budgets for their eLearning initiatives. A key challenge is that they may have not completed any significant eLearning to date, and therefore are a bit in the dark on how to go about budgeting. eLearning differs from face-to-face learning in that it…
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