Putting objects to work

Learning objects in themselves are just components, rather like books in a library. They are aggregated into personalised learning paths (you can call these courses if you like) in a number of ways. First of all, a mediator, such as a trainer, could select the objects that they feel best meet the needs of a particular target audience, such as a department in their organisation. Peter McClintock is e-Learning Director at Global Knowledge. He describes how these options work in practice. “With the aid of a learning content management system (LCMS), it’s the simplest thing for a trainer to select learning objects from a repository to create a customised offering. This would have been completely impractical in the past.”

With the aid of an LCMS, it’s also possible for the learner to determine their own learning path, working with a search engine or a series of menus. McClintock: “When all of the content is online, rather than on a CD-ROM, the learner can dip into any of the material in the library according to their own needs. In this situation, the concept of ‘course completion’ becomes irrelevant. To make the learner’s job easier, it’s vital that each learning object is properly described in terms of what it is designed to achieve and what it covers.”

Personalisation is also possible without an LCMS. McClintock describes: “All Global Knowledge courses have pre-assessment modules. Depending on how the learner performs in the pre-assessment, they are prescribed a personal path through the material, making sure they only cover what they really need. It’s also possible to relate the pre-assessment to organisational needs, because trainers can determine what an acceptable pass mark may be for any given topic. If, for example, TCP/IP is a vital area for a particular job function, then the required score could be as high as 100%, whereas for, say, XML, the issue may be of less importance and a score of 60% may be adequate.”

The object-orientated approach may be easiest to implement in the digital environment, but we know that what many learners really want is blended solutions, combining the best of online and face-to-face delivery. Thomson Learning has responded to this fact by bringing together three disparate divisions to provide one coherent offering to the market: NETg brings e-learning, Wave stand-up training and mentoring, Course Technology books and materials. Jon Buttress is Director of Product Management at NETg: “Our aim is to make it possible for clients to seamlessly mix and match classroom, e-learning and mentoring approaches. Everything we create will be produced at an object level, even if it is eventually packaged up as a classroom event or a book. Our customers will be able to select the right combination for their needs, perhaps even using different methods in different countries.”