Lots of buzz but tell me what is actually happening

I called in at the Learning Technologies conference and for those of us in the e-learning/e-assessment industry it was an encouraging experience. There appeared to lots of companies many of which had bigger stands. I particularly enjoyed the fact that the EPIC and KINEO were positioned directly opposite each other, which was ironic since many of the original KINEO team were formerly employed by EPIC. If you are interested my impression was that both stands were the same size and were attracting a similar number of people.


If I were a buyer and apparently there were plenty I wonder what you would make of it all. It was hard to distinguish between the different offers because there was much of a muchness.

I have just read Steve Rayson’s from Kineo’s entry in the e-Professionals linked in discussion forum after I have written the above and he makes exactly the same point.

‘A few years ago suppliers might position themselves as mobile experts or rapid development experts. Now everyone appears to offer everything. Need a tool, we have got one. Need content, we have some nice shiny content. Need a learning platform, we have an award winning platform. Suppliers that previously only did content now offer platforms and vice versa. Increasingly many suppliers are aiming to be one stop learning technology companies. This makes it very difficult for visitors to differentiate and to know where to start when faced with literally hundreds of company stands.’

I too noticed that of direct interest to us, many of these companies also claimed to supply an e-portfolio as part of their offer but not one as we would know it. I stopped and picked up the leaflet that described one and it is at best a crude tracking system that has limited interactivity.

There were also lots of sales representatives making bold speeches about the future of e-learning. They were often full of brash claims about the way social media will transform the way people engage in learning. I am not sold on this not least because there is little evidence. Does the statement made by one presenter that more people use social media then e-mail, imply that we should radically transform the way we should think about how learning is delivered. I have had the discussion with a number of young people about Facebook and learning and it is the last place they would think about using to develop their learning, primarily because it is too open.

I heard another statement that Learners want control of their learning journey. In one sense it would be difficult to argue with that one but do learners really want to be totally self-directing and moreover do those that employ/regulate them really want them to do what they want. It reminds me of the ‘old days’ of CPD where all learning activities could be counted. I can see where social media would bring real benefits for example alerting people to relevant courses and linking them to peers interested in their subject. However does it provide a total solution? I think not.

I therefore remain really pleased that we are now developing e-portfolios that really meet a clearly defined purpose rather than ones that are like the learning platforms at the event, try to be all things to all people.