by Alan Nelson
The subject of flexibility seems to keep cropping up at the moment. One of the generally acknowledged benefits of online learning is its flexibility. A new project we are workingo n is a good example of this. Resolution is the professional body for family lawyers. They are committed to the constructive resolution of family disputes, with members following a Code of Prctice that promotes a non-confrontational approach to family problems. New members are all required to attend a half day course explaining the code, but with 70 new members a month joining all over the country, it is a logistical nightmare trying to organise enough courses in the right locations. By converting the course into an online format they will enable people to take the course as soon as they join. So, flexibility is a good thing.
The discussion at a recent Board Meeting touched on this. We started out discussing the subject of productivity. Are we getting better at what we do? Can we do it more quickly? It's almost nine years since Nelson Croom was established and we have never had a member of the core development team leave. So they have got pretty good at what they do. However, that is only half of the story. Our clients rightly want us to be able ot react quickly to their needs. This often means that work comes in peaks and troughs. So we also need to be flexible.
Of course, there is a direct trade-off between our ability to provide a flexible and reactive service, and our always being able to produce work of the highest standard?
How do we deal with this? The answer lies in our own publishing programme. We use the quieter periods to schedule work on our own course - short CPD courses aimed at professionals in a variety of sectors. This enables us to retain a team of experienced and creative learning designers and developers and ensure that they are never twiddling their thumbs.
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