Spotlight Access to learning
Flora Neighbour caught up with the founder of Learn Appeal, Jonathan Satchell, to speak about the charity’s biggest achievements and the ever-changing industry…
The charity distributes learning materials to communities who find it difficult or impossible to access digital learning
What makes Learn Appeal different? All of the people involved are professionals in learning and technology, while the charity unites competitors behind a common cause.
What is the charity’s biggest achievement so far?
Can you give us a brief background on Learn Appeal?
Back in 2012, Epic (which later merged with LINE to form LEO) had returned to its market- leading position and I wanted it to be doing something profound in the industry. I’d also seen a great example in the events industry, where a group of competitor companies, that would normally be trying to eat each other for breakfast, had got together behind a common purpose to do something worthwhile. I wanted to do the same.
Did you have any difficulties along the way?
I found it really difficult at first, and the charity wasn’t getting the traction it needed, partly because of a misconception that it was closely associated with Epic/LEO, which it isn’t. We hadn’t really come up with a set of causes that we felt people would get behind and support, so it got off to a slow start. This changed when Lesley Price got involved and
became a senior consultant for Learn Appeal. With over 30 years’ experience in the learning industry, Lesley transformed the process. She is one of the reasons that Learn Appeal is succeeding now.
What are the charity’s main aims? To provide developing countries with easy access to eLearning on their wi-fi devices. The charity distributes learning materials to communities who find it difficult or impossible to access digital learning due to lack of access to the internet. I have an active role in assisting and directing these strategies alongside my fellow trustees who are all highly experienced leaders from the industry. We came up with the Learning Capsule, which is a self-contained unit with a powerful wi-fi router inside. The device stores the learning materials on a flash drive, is battery- operated, and it can be charged overnight – making it perfect in challenging or inhospitable environments.
The biggest achievement for Learn Appeal has to be the creation of the Learning Capsule. We’ve piloted them in communities across Africa and even sent one on an Antarctic expedition. Another achievement is uniting the sector behind us and joining forces with a number of major players in the industry.
If you could start again, would you do anything differently? I would cut the original process in half. We formed the charity in 2012, but we took too long to settle on the right cause. It wasn’t until 2014 that things really started moving forward.
What are your hopes for the future? We have a number of pilot projects dotted around the world, and, once we’ve completed these, we will raise the funding to really expand the programme. n
Make-a-thon
Learn Appeal is appealing to you at the World of Learning. For more information, visit
learnevents.com
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