Archive for the 'e-learning' Category
I might not have been able to make it to DevLearn this year, but that doesn’t stop me keeping my finger on the pulse of e-learning! One of the sponsors of this year’s event contacted me a few days ago about attending a launch and demo of a new e-learning marketplace, and as I think that it’s quite innovative, I thought I’d share it with you.
Now read on…
One of the sponsors of this year’s event is Portland-based OpenSesame, an organization with a timely business model. The company is an open marketplace connecting purchasers of 
e-learning content (e.g. corporate learning officers) with an extensive library of courses provided by a wide range of content creators. Whether companies choose to commission custom courses or purchase off-the-shelf content, shopping for e-learning courses is costly and time-consuming.
The OpenSesame marketplace will dramatically simplify this process by enabling companies to find, research and purchase off-the-shelf courses in a single place.
According to OpenSesame co-founder and general manager Josh Blank,
OpenSesame allows anyone to buy or sell elearning courses without the headache of complicated pricing and implementation. This community allows content developers and business professionals to connect in a secure environment, with no strings attached.
The founders of OpenSesame developed the concept after many years in the LMS industry listening to customers discuss the hassles involved in obtaining quality content for their training programs.
Don Spear, co-founder and CEO of OpenSesame continues,
Over the past decade, we have developed significant insight into the e-learning industry. We understand the major pain-points experienced by content developers and purchasers from first-hand experience. Whether you’re a developer looking to publish courses or a training director in need of content for your LMS, OpenSesame makes buying and selling e-learning as easy as downloading a song from iTunes.
The OpenSesame marketplace connects content developers with potential purchasers of e-learning courseware. Developers can sell previously-built or newly-created content to multiple buyers while maintaining security, control and centralized management of their intellectual property. The OpenSesame marketplace enables content developers to connect with new customers, no matter where the buyers are located or what LMS they use. Additionally, OpenSesame’s proprietary technology ensures that courses cannot be downloaded or re-sold without the developer’s permission.
Buyers can quickly browse courses on a variety of subjects, from workplace safety to specific product training. Pricing for each course is stated up-front and, in most cases, buyers can preview entire courses before making a purchase. Buyers can effectively create a complete curriculum by purchasing courses from multiple developers while managing everything from a central dashboard. Finally, buyers can distribute purchased courses to employees on any LMS.
“Purchasing one 15-minute course could help an employee,” explains Blank. ”We are excited about ultimately expanding the range of available e-learning content by launching this marketplace.”
OpenSesame will soon feature additional online community elements, including message boards, forums and product reviews. No information about when they’re launching in Europe yet, but I’ll let you know when they are ready to announce something.
For more information, visit www.opensesame.com. Follow @opensesamoenow on Twitter for additional news and insight.
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November 04 2010 | e-learning | 3 Comments »
As you’ll know if you’re a regular reader of the E-Learning Curve Blog I’m always pleased to highlight e-learning initiatives and innovations from Ireland particularly now, when Ireland is viewed as the “sick man of Europe” because of our financial woes.
However, government incompetence in the management of the economy aside, Ireland has a vibrant technology and knowledge-based industrial economy. We excel in e-learning – I guess most people in the industry have heard of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), SmartForce and Electric Paper, for example. These large companies notwithstanding, there are over fifty ‘other’ e-learning development houses in the country. Not bad for a country with a population of under 5 million people.
One of those ‘other’ organisations is called ALISON, a for-profit social enterprise based in Galway on the west coast of the country. According to their website, ALISON are a
resourceful and determined multi-national team of socially-aware technologists, educationalists and marketers who understand that today, we have the opportunity to make universal education free to access via the Web.
ALISON consider that they have a “sustainable and scalable business model to make education free online” with a focus on basic workplace skills. Since their launch in April 2007, they have developed relationships with some of the largest and most prestigious institutions involved in promoting education and learning. Covering topics as diverse as:
- Improving Your English Writing Skills
- Microsoft Digital Literacy – Productivity Programs
- Touch Typing Skills – Learn to Type
- Web Page Development with HTML, CSS and Dreamweaver
ALISON provide a range of courses high-quality courses that are free (to use) for individual 
learners. One recently-launched course is a curriculum on Health and Safety Education in Ireland.
Speaking at the demonstration and launch by the Health and Safety Authority of a new suite of e-learning courses for the education sector, the Irish Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Innovation said that the initiative had “great potential for education and awareness-raising in the area of workplace safety and health.”
He also identified its attraction for learners as a cost and time-saving platform for learning and urged the HSA to consider the wider future potential of such an initiative.
Jim Lyons, Chairman of the Health and Safety Authority said at the launch,
We have recognised the need for safety and health training in the education sector and by developing a learning tool that is interactive, effective and freely available we can reach people at all levels.
Mr Lyons went on to say
It’s a first for [the HSA] and for those it is aimed at; it means that we can reach widely with our message and it recognises that learners at all levels benefit from the flexibility of a system which has twenty four / seven access and is matched to their own required pace.
Each course module has been designed so that it can be easily updated to reflect changes in legislation and practices. Learners can use the courseware to demonstrate their understanding of safety and health concepts and facts by completing end of lesson assessments in an interactive format.
The five modules can be accessed through the Authority’s website and through www.alison.com. The course covers the following topics:
- Managing Safety and Health in Schools
- Safety and Health in Science Labs
- Safety and Health in Construction
In my view, ALISON’s business model potentially represents an approach to successfully running an e-learning organisation – and to educate a broad range of people – in tough times.
PS – returning to the topic of KM soon!
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November 02 2010 | e-learning | Comments Off
Knowledge management is an area of research and practice that is still searching for a stable set of core concepts and practical applications.
(Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning. 2003, p.1)
As we have seen in a previous blog post, knowledge is generally bifurcated into tacit (or personal) knowledge and explicit (or formal) knowledge. Distinctive kinds of knowledge management practices emerge from the two perspectives. In his 2003 paper, Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning, Ron Sanchez further extends these two domains, and characterizes tacit knowledge as “personal” and equates formal knowledge with larger social and economic structures, such as organizations.
According to Sanchez, the former approach to knowledge management derives from the assumptions that knowledge is fundamentally “personal in nature” (p.3) and that knowledge is therefore very difficult to externalize. In effect, this approach to knowledge management assumes, often implicitly, that the knowledge within an organization essentially consists of “tacit” personal knowledge in the minds of individuals in an organization.
Given that knowledge is inherently tacit (and remains in the minds of individuals), the challenge organizations must overcome is to figure out how to recognize, generate, share and manage knowledge in this domain. Needless to say, identifying tacit knowledge is a major hurdle for most organizations.
The formal knowledge approach considers that knowledge is something that can be made explicit – that is, it can be described and explained by individuals who have knowledge, even though some effort and assistance may sometimes be required to help individuals disseminate what they know. According to Sanchez, this approach “fundamentally assumes” (p.6) that much, if not all, of the knowledge of individuals that is useful to an organization can be externalized and made available.
With this in mind, the organizational explicit approach generally advocates the creation and use of formal organizational processes to help individuals elicit the knowledge they possess, and by extension to generate organizational knowledge assets. Examples of such assets include:
- Documents
- Diagrams
- Processes and procedures
- Manuals
- Patents
- Trademarks
- Business plans
- Marketing research
- Customer lists
- …And so on
In fact, explicit knowledge can be said to consist of anything that can be documented, archived and codified – often with the help of information technology.
More…
Fógra:
Breithlá sona duit, a Róisín!
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References:
Sanchez, R. (2003). Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning: Fundamental Concepts for Theory and Practice. Lund Institute of Economic Research Working Paper Series. [Internet] Available from: http://www.lri.lu.se/pdf/wp/2005-3.pdf Accessed 10th October 2010
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October 20 2010 | e-learning | Comments Off
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e-learning content (e.g. corporate learning officers) with an extensive library of courses provided by a wide range of content creators. Whether companies choose to commission custom courses or purchase off-the-shelf content, shopping for e-learning courses is costly and time-consuming.
