'Quick and dirty' works. Complex, sophisticated, interactive, instructional, multimedia e-learning costs money, takes a long time to build, and may well be out of date by the time it reaches the desktop. In many cases, a simpler solution is more useful since it allows you to respond more quickly and appropriately to a learning need. Consider the provision of just-in-time, bite-sized learning solutions, like an online presentation or job aid instead of an all-singing, all-dancing online course."

Jane Knight, Founder, e-Learning Centre
From Top ten tips for implementing e-learning

Meeting Announcement

November 2006: A Game-Changing, User-Centric Corporate Knowledge Strategy

The platform will change our definition of “content” from course-like structures to a much more user-centric definition: “the resource(s) that I need.” The distinction between learning and work is dissolving, as is the distinction between information, data, and knowledge. The employee is becoming the subject matter expert (SME), and the subject-matter is “what I need now.” We need to think differently to use existing technology in new ways to accommodate that evolving reality.
Jonathon Levy, Senior Learning Strategist for Monitor Group will present and demonstrate the concepts behind a new kind of “content” as well as solutions that capture, codify and blend the inherent wisdom of the enterprise with existing knowledge that resides in legacy systems into a user-defined real-time performance support solution with a single, simple, dynamic, and very user-friendly interface.
 
We start by rejecting the academic trappings of the university world (courses, classes, etc) that anchor companies to a static, supplier-driven model. We replace the “electronic classroom” with a user-driven third-generation system that is much more agile, providing a personalized interface that captures and integrates all knowledge resources—human and digital—through a core taxonomy, and makes the smallest coherent chunk available as required at the time of need.
 
The platform demo was developed in cooperation with Harvard and Stanford. It is an electronic mediator of knowledge and needs, a technological match-maker of experience and timely requirement, an intelligent parser of the collective knowledge and informational resources of the enterprise. By capturing and deploying tacit knowledge through a core taxonomy and blending it with existing knowledge resources in a single interface, it empowers “virtual collaboration,” the ability to collaborate with colleagues without the active participation of the collaborators.
 
The content example (WCMS) was developed last year in cooperation with CISCO Systems and is already in use at several other global corporations. It provides pathways favoring left-brain or right-brain learning that are blended by the user as desired. Existing knowledge and preferred learning styles are highly leveraged, creating significant efficiency and shorter time to task. It provides a seamless blend of performance tools and learning experiences as required by the user. Simulation, games, storytelling, interactive scenarios, case-based learning, tools and templates, and live and embedded
experts are easily blended by the user as required.
 
The first program of its kind, WCMS is agile enough to serve several purposes, including orientation, training, corporate alignment, performance support and decision support. The presentation will demonstrate many of the innovative design elements, including recursive simulations in place of branching cases; multiple uses (stand-alone, blended, and collaborative); and several personalized approaches to learning that are all built in to a single online product.
 
Jonathon Levy is Senior Learning Strategist at Monitor Group, a global consulting organization. Prior to joining Monitor he was Vice-President of Online Learning at Harvard Business School Publishing. He maintains a website at www.JonathonLevy.com.  About Jonathon Levy: bio is at http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/jl63/contact.html
 
Agenda:  Wednesday, November 15, 2006
  • 8:30 am: Registration, Coffee, and Introductions – Del Langdon
  • 9:00 am: User-centric Content and Platform Solutions Presentation/Discussion – Jonathan Levy and David Egan
  • 10:45 am: Break
  • 11:00 am: Living Lab Experimentation and Discussion (Bring your Laptop if you wish, further details will be posted on our website and in our reminder notice)
  • 11:30: Discussion and wrap-up
  • Noon – 1 pm: Box Lunch and Networking

Reading

The following papers are also available for downloading prior to or after the meeting:
Knowledge Warriors, Cracking the Code, and A Strange Footprint .

Meeting Location

SRI International 333 Ravenswood Avenue, Menlo Park, CA, Umera Room.  (SRI is on Ravenswood Drive between Middlefield and El Camino Real)   Please use the parking lot at the corner of Ravenswood and Middlefield (next to the church) and walk the half block to the meeting. SRI has very limited parking in front of Building A; those spaces are reserved for SRI's use.

Remote Participation

People not able to attend the meeting in person can join in using GoToMeeting, using the following URL: https://www.gotomeeting.com/join/694454356

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Registration

Please click here to register online for the in-person meeting and remote participation.   Fee, for in-person participation, including morning refreshments and lunch, is $35.  Advance registration and payment is highly preferred--thanks!

Further Information

Eilif Trondsen, Founder and Chairman, eLearning Forum
etrondsen@sric-bi.com. 650-859-2665



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