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Thinking outside the Box:

Innovation in e-Learning &

Development in the UK

Learning & Teaching Expo 2012

Jack Wills

Managing Director

Wills Consultants

jack@willsconsult.com

@jackwills1

Why is there an insatiable demand for

technology led learning?

Challenges from changing learning

styles

Students today

The changing ‘generation’ mix of

learners

• Traditionalists (born before 1946)

• Baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964)

• Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980)

• Generation Y (born between 1981 and 1999)

• Generation Z (born after 2000)The Generation Gap

Traditionalist

s

Baby

boomers

Generation

X

Generations

Y and Z

Attire Formal Business-casual

(high end)

Business-casual

(low end)

Whatever feels

comfortable

Work

Environment

Office based Long hours

Office based

Office, home,

flexibility

Wherever,

flexibility

Motivators Self-worth Salary Security Maintain

personal life

Mentoring Not necessary Negative

feedback not

handled well

Don’t need to

receive feedback

Need constant

feedback

Retention Loyalty Salary Security and

salary

Personal

relationship

Communicati

on

Personal contact Telephone Email Email/text/

social

networking

Technology Occasional web

and email use

Email and web in

the office

Email, web,

mobile

Email, web,

mobile, social

networking

Career goals Life-time career Build a perfect

career and excel

Build a

transferable

career

Build several

parallel careers

The pace of change

1 million in 74 days

Technology will solve everything

won’t it?

Learning Trends 2012

• Spend for training services remains conservative in 2012

• Job market remains static

• Evolution of learning portals

• Formalising informal learning

• Growth of gamification

• Social badging, the new tool of recognition

• Growing focus on knowledge retention

• Consolidation of buyers and suppliers

• Outsourcing continues to grow

• Social learning is still a facilitated processSource:http://www.trainingindustry.com/media/4081622/2012%20trends.pdf

Major technologies and methods in

use in the UK • Augmented reality

• Gamification

• Informal learning

• Mobile learning

• Personal Learning environments

• Social media

• Virtual worlds

Augmented reality

Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct

or indirect, view of a physical, real-world

environment whose elements are

augmented by computer-generated

sensory input such as sound, video,

graphics or GPS data.Wikipedia

Augmented reality

Future of Augmented Reality

Gamification

Gamification is the use of game design elements, game thinking and game mechanics to enhance non-game contexts.

Wikipedia

Gamification

Game to Learn

Informal learning

Informal learning

occurs in a variety of

places, such as at

home, work, and

through daily

interactions and shared

relationships among

members of society.

Wikipedia

Formal learning v informal learning

Informal learning

British Telecom

Mobile learning

M-learning focuses on the mobility of the learner, interacting

with portable technologies, and learning that reflects a focus on

how society and its institutions can accommodate and support an

increasingly mobile population.

Wikipedia

Mobile learning

Royal Navy Engineering – Sony PSPs

• 230 devices

• 8 – 12 Minute chunks of learning

• The gaming chip has been left in!

Personal Learning Environments

A Personal Learning Environment is a facility for

an individual to access, aggregate, configure and

manipulate digital artefacts of their on-going

learning experience

The ROLE Project

What is a PLE?

© www.role-project.eu

A Personal Learning Environment is not:• A specific software application

• A system for creating or delivering e-learning content

• A learning management system

• A content management system

• A virtual learning environment (in its strictest sense)

A Personal Learning Environment is:

• A concept, based on Web 2.0 technology

• A collection of tools and systems

• An environment where learners access information from a variety of

sources

• Personal to the user – learner-centric

• Distributed and social

18 October 2011 Learning World South Africa

PLE – iGoogle

“Google is the most-used e-learning application.”Graham Attwell, Pontydysgu

Responsive

Open

Learning

Environments“an adaptive, predictive learning tool”

www.role-project.eu

ROLE Project

From PLE to ROLE

© www.role-project.eu

18 October 2011 Learning World South Africa

Social media

• Collaborative calendaring

• Podcasting

• RSS readers

• Collaborative mind mapping

• Micro-blogging/micro-

sharing

• Photo sharing

• Screencast sharing

• Presentation sharing

IBM early view

• Video sharing

• Social bookmarking

• Collaborative editing

• Collaborative working

• Collaborative presentations

• Social networking

• Personalised start pages

• Integrated

social/collaboration

environment

Social media

Virtual worldsA virtual world is an online community that

takes the form of a computer-based simulated

environment through which users can interact

with one another and use and create objects.

Wikipedia

Virtual worlds

English for Oil and Gas at Languagelab

Potential issues?

• Learning styles need to be addressed

• Conformance to international standards is

important

• Pedagogy needs to addressed

• Learning design is crucial

• Evaluation is more than being happy

• Quality matters and must be demonstrable

The Future?

It’s really

bright!

The Future?

The only constant is change

Isaac Asimov

The future’s already here…it’s just not

evenly distributed. William Gibson, SF Writer

The Future

With technology the only constant is

change

Jack Wills

Thinking outside the Box:

Innovation in e-Learning &

Development in the UK

Learning & Teaching Expo 2012

Jack Wills

Managing Director

Wills Consultants

jack@willsconsult.com

@jackwills1