EDITOR’S COMMENT
Puzzling out productivity
e.learning age magazine ISSN 1474 – 5127 Published by CloserStill Media
Commercial Clive Snell
clives@elearningawards.co.uk
Kate Vose
katev@elearningawards.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)118 380 0350
Editorial Peter Williams
peterw@darkhillmedia.co.uk Melanie Williams
melaniew@darkhillmedia.co.uk
Designer Jane Denton
janedenton3@gmail.com Contents News Published by:
CloserStill E-Learning Awards Ltd, George House, Coventry Business Park, Herald Avenue, Coventry CV5 6UB
Tel: +44 (0)118 380 0350
www.elearningawards.co.uk www.elearningage.co.uk
02 News 06 Award News 08 Learning Technologies Summer Forum
Columns
10 Clive Shepherd; community engagement 11 Vaughan Waller; organisation 12 David Perring ; the analyst’s corner 14 Fiona Leteney: standards 21 Ask Genie: agony aunt column 29 Martin Belton: why generic e-learning 42 Chalkface
Features, Case Studies
16 M&A: tying the knot 22 Learning species: digital Darwinism 24 Awards case study; social and collaborative technologies
JUNE 2015
26 Blended learning case story 30 Off-the-shelf: buying models 32 Thoughts into words: note making
Cover story 18 Social learning engagement
34 Pre-induction: the right foot 36 3D; the art of simulation 38 Conquering the many: multi-device
Career
40 Elearner Megan McIver 41 Gill Chesters Job Like Mine
O
ne of the biggest economic and business issues facing the UK is productivity. It looks like being a hot topic over the next few years but for a while economists and regulators have been worrying over what they call ‘the productivity puzzle’. The facts as presented by the Bank of England are that since the onset of the 2007-08
fi nancial crisis labour productivity in the UK has been exceptionally weak. Despite some modest improvement in 2013, whole economy output per hour remains around 16% below the pre-crisis trend. Why this is so is a mystery: migrant workers, low skilled jobs, low skilled workers, even the volume of emails
that we send each other, have all been offered as possible explanations (some more in dispute than others). The Bank of England concludes that there are a range of factors but there is a large degree of uncertainty. Waiting around for the defi nitive answer won’t do. Productivity matters to regions, nations, organisations and
individuals. Better, smarter output is the only sustainable way to increase living standards. Technology is meant to make life better and more effi cient, yes more productive. So e.learning age has a challenge for the e-learning sector: prove your worth by focussing on improving productivity. Whether in-house or a supplier, put improving productivity as one of your goals. Find out the productivity concerns of the business, and then work out how learning technologies can be applied diligently to improve the situation. And ensure you record, measure and communicate. This will be tough and many in e-learning shy away from hard measures. They should do so no longer. E-learning should work with other areas of the business to try to solve one of the biggest challenges facing the world of work. Don’t miss the opportunity.
Peter Williams Editor
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