Nelson Croom's Blog

Styling our programmes

by Hamish Long

We aim to be as flexible as possible in terms of styling the look and feel of our programmes. Not only does this increase the aesthetic value but enables us to meet our clients’ design brief requirements. 

To aid this, we have been gradually increasing the amount of elements within a programme that can be altered using stylesheet overrides. What this means is that we can change the appearance of say, all the page titles, in one fell swoop by applying the change in the stylesheet.

We have always been able to change the font and main look and feel colours in the stylesheet, along with other basic elements such as list items and horizontal rulers but as more elements are assigned their own classes, we can amend elements that were previously fixed.

The images show "before" at the top, and "after" below. You'll notice that the course colours have been applied to the left navigation buttons, the page heading and the activity heading panel.

These are just a few examples of elements that can be changed in the stylesheet overrides, and we continue to develop more for even greater customisation!

The power of web 2.0: Part 2

by Alan Nelson

I recently blogged about the impact of micro-blogging site Twitter on the box office performance of Sacha Baron Cohen’s film, Bruno. It got me thinking about whether the e-learning industry is as ready for Web 2.0 as it likes to think. I wonder whether we are being complacent.

It’s pretty clear that e-learning professionals are excited about Web 2.0. Whether through press releases and white papers on their websites or presentations at conferences and seminars, everyone is keen to promote themselves as the master of new collaborative technologies and their application to learning.

But do they really know what a Pandora’s box they are opening? Certainly few seem to see the irony of using Web 1.0 one-to-many vehicles, such as articles and presentations, to talk about many-to-many Web 2.0 technologies. Aren’t these the same people who have created the mind-numbing linear learning we have had forced on us by the tyranny of SCORM?

Having spent the last ten years being cast as left field because I had the temerity to suggest that it isn’t about “teaching” people but more about facilitating their learning, I find it incredible that these organisations, who for so long have insisted on their next buttons and “screen 1 of 48” navigation, should become the apostles of anarchy.

The topic of whether Web 2.0 is just a new set of tools for us to use or a whole new world with different rules and different attitudes, has been the subject of several blogs on this site (see here and here for examples). I for one am increasingly coming to the view that we underestimate both the scale of the challenge and how exciting it is. This is a revolution. The learners are taking over and they may not want the old teachers to stay in charge!

The power of web 2.0: Part 1

by Alan Nelson

The power of Web 2.0 was brought home to me by the interesting box office performance of Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest creation, Bruno. The film had received massive pre-release coverage, not least because Cohen is so good at making stories through his own personal appearances. His antics not only created column inches but, just as significantly, stimulated an unprecedented number of Tweets on the micro-blogging site, Twitter.

This was great news - until the Tweets turned sour. So just as remarkable as the first night success of the film was the comparative drop off in audience numbers for the second night. Traditionally films that receive a big pre-release hype, but turn out to be disappointing, see a drop off in audience numbers come the second weekend. This is the first time that the effect has been so immediate.

This has parallels in the world of online learning, although you will be relieved to hear that I am not intending to walk around in a brightly coloured posing pouch to promote our courses. People attending a face-to-face event tend not to leave until the first coffee break even if it is terrible! Online they will go elsewhere if they aren’t seriously engaged within the first few minutes.

Our approach to non-linear, learner centred resources has always meant that we have had to focus on how to ensure that diverse groups of people each find something useful as soon as possible after logging in. As we move towards wider acceptance of web 2.0 technologies for creating collaborative learning environments, we will have to take this a big step further. Personally I am excited by this, but we shouldn’t underestimate the challenge inherent in passing control to the users.

ps This blog was prompted by a newspaper article. I couldn't remember where I read it. I thought perhaps the Guardian. I knew it wasn't the Observer because I was on the train and it was a weekday. So I googled to see if I could find it and was presented with the sad truth that the paper I habitually read is in fact not any of these fine liberal braodsheets, but the London Paper. What have I become?

When elearning just isn't enough!

by Jacqui Nelson

When we first started working with the Association of Dental Implantologists (ADI) there was a moment when even I thought ‘Please tell me they will have some practical training to supplement the elearning BEFORE they are let loose on a real live patient’.

I’m pleased to say that the answer was positive, and those signing up to the ADI’s implantology course do also have access to an experienced mentor who will take them through their first practical experiences of implantology.

That’s why I was interested to find out recently, that now there is a new way for dentists to practice. Professor Naotake Shibui at the Nippon Dental University Hospital in Tokyo has created a robot which simulates a patient. It’s called Simroid and it has sensors in its teeth and body to feedback on how the trainee dentist is doing.

So if a student drills too far into a tooth a red light lights up. At this point it begins to sound like the children’s game Operation – I never could master removing the Charlie Horse - probably means I’d be a very bad dentist!

Simroid goes beyond pain and red lights though, because Professor Shibui thinks it’s important to understand a patient’s whole experience. For example, if the student touches or brushes Simroid’s nipple, Simroid will indicate that she feels uncomfortable (do you think she lifts her right arm and whacks him round the head?)

When the trainee asks a question of Simroid, it (well, she) replies in a series of grunts as we all do when we are stuck in a dentists chair with our mouths wide open!

On a serious note though, the success of this sort of thing depends on how well it is executed and how well Simroid actually works. We’ll watch this space, and see whether it really will change the face of dental training.

You can read all about it here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8137007.stm

Ethical Issues for Accountants

by Rachel Bruce

I'm excited about a new course that has just gone into development. We've just started working on the content for Ethical Issues for Accountants. Based on the book written by David Molyneaux (published by ICAS), it is now being converted by our learning developers into an online course that will form part of our new suite of peer-enriched learning courses.

The content is centred around a series of accessible and engaging case studies covering ethical issues faced by accountants. Learners will be able to access the case studies and then respond to questions about how they might react in certain situations. As part of the peer-enriched learning approach, the author provides a response to the learner and the learner is then able to share their own reactions with other learners.

The course is structured into five modules, namely:

• Professional Firm/General Practice
• Family Business
• Audit
• Tax Practice, and
• Professional Relationships.

Each module contains subject-specific case studies covering principal ethical issues such as: conflicts of interest, differential recovery rates for billing, client relationships, false accounting, personal and collective integrity, objectivity, confidentiality and whistle-blowing.

This course makes a great addition to our new peer-enriched learning suite of courses, and the course is planned to be published and available via our partners in September.

Online fundraising training at the British Council

by Jacqui Nelson

On Monday this week, I was invited to speak at the Institute of Fundraising’s National Convention. They’d asked me along to talk about Fundraising Learning Online, or FLO for short, which is the new learning resource we have recently developed for the Institute of Fundraising.

The programme was well received with several representatives of larger charities coming over at the end of the session to talk about the possibilities of buying in bulk for their organisation.

As part of the presentation I’d asked Louise Cowcher from the British Council to come along. Louise is putting 40 people from her organisation through the programme as a trial and agreed to come and talk about her experiences. I’m glad to say she was very positive. And I decided that if ever an organisation should use elearning, it’s the British Council. They have offices in 109 countries in the world, and cover, quite literally, A (Afghanistan) to Z (Zimbabwe). So no prizes for guessing the first reason Louise cited for her love of the online programme.

She also complimented how the programme supports different learning styles, because when you are operating in so many different cultures it is impossible to find a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

Finally she talked about how important Fundraising training was to the British Council. For them, it is imperative that their fundraising is second to none. They compete with the big boys, and by Louise’s own admission, they are not normally a donor’s first choice because cultural relations and the arts, just isn’t as obviously heart-rending as animals, or children.

She’s really commited to her cause, to make the British Council’s Fundraising the best, and I’m pleased she’s using FLO to help her in her quest.

Ethics and the professions

by Alan Nelson

I recently found myself in a meeting discussing what professional associations are all about. We came up with three things:

Capability: A body of knowledge and a set of skills that you can expect a particular type of professional to come equipped with.
Currency: A process by which the members stay up to date and abreast of new developments in their field.
Conduct: An ethical code that defines acceptable behaviour as a professional

When the third of these is taken for granted - which it too often has been in the past – the fallout can be significant. High profile cases such as Harold Shipman or Enron are tragic in themselves and have dramatic consequences for the reputations of the professions involved, with many excellent doctors and accountants taking an undeserved battering. Indeed, without a strongly communicated and enforced code of conduct, it is impossible for any profession to rebuff George Bernard Shaw’s well known accusation that the professions are a “conspiracy against the laity”.

It is therefore noticeable that while we have worked over the years on many projects connected both with capability (a wide range of online distance learning resources) and currency (online CPD materials), we have until recently very rarely been asked to focus on ethics.

But now a flurry of new projects has changed that. If this reflects a new focus on conduct then it is only to be applauded. We are learning quickly about this new area and as is the case with so many other areas of our work, a different approach has been appropriate in each case.

In our own publishing programme we work with most of the accounting bodies and ethics is a key issue for every one. They each have to comply with the ethical guidelines laid down by the international coordinating body IFAC. The problem for us in producing something useful is that they have each interpreted those guidelines differently, using different terminology to describe the same things. Most have also integrated ethics pretty significantly into their qualification curriculum and so although there is a need to encourage members to keep ethics at the forefront of their minds, there is less of a need to teach them the basics. So we have instead opted for a case study approach. Members are presented with series of scenarios and asked how they would handle the difficult situations described. They learn in three stages: by thinking it through for themselves; by reading a model answer form the expert; and by reading the answers given by other members of their professional body. This approach highlights the need to think of ethics not as something you learn and finish with but as an ongoing and evolving issue.

At Resolution, the Code in Practice has always been regarded as central to their mission. Joining Resolution is a declaration that you intend to practise family law in a different, less adversarial way.  The organisation has been successful and has expanded. Good news, but with it comes new problems. As membership expands there is a risk that the things that were easy to ensure when you were a cosy club get watered down. To avoid this happening, Resolution created a short course on the Code and mandated that every new member should attend it within a year of joining. The online version of this course, that we have created, enables Resolution to enforce compliance – no more excuses that people couldn’t attend because it wasn’t convenient for them!

As for the third example, I can’t tell you much yet. We have just reached agreement with STEP – the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners – to create a short course on ethics for their members. Our first planning meeting for the project is next week, so I can’t tell you what approach we’ll take, but suffice to say that I’d lay odds on it being different to either of the others I have described above!

Questions, questions, questions

by Victoria Clarke

At our monthly management meeting yesterday, Tony, our Technical Director, was filling us in on new developments to our technology, Imago. You’ve probably heard me talk before about this continuous development process being one of the benefits of a hosted solution like ours, but don’t worry, I’m not going to start preaching about that now – what really caught my attention were further developments that have been made to our questionnaire functionality.

I’ve got a bit of a vested interest in questionnaires. I use Imago to create the online version of our annual customer survey, as well as finding new ways to facilitate feedback and do a bit of market research amongst our clients. So, unlike most monthly meetings where a lot of what Tony says goes over my head (sorry Tony!) I sat up eagerly to hear what new developments we’ll be rolling out. My sudden attention wasn’t entirely selfish … yes, the new developments will make my marketing life better but I could also immediately see the benefits for our clients.

They currently use questionnaires in a number of different ways … to capture registration information for marketing … to allocate learners to user groups … to gain agreement to terms and conditions or disclaimers … to conduct surveys on topical issues … to get feedback on a particular course … to canvas ideas for future topics and courses … to gauge opinion on further developments … I could go on and on but I think you probably get the idea.

What’s particularly good now is that the sky is the limit! Well, perhaps not quite but clients can have what seems like an almost limitless amount of different questionnaires in their courses, as well as the same questionnaire in different courses, and this functionality can be used to create online documents such as forms and records as well. For example, this new feature is being used by the ADI for their “Learning Portfolio” to create all sorts of forms and records such as Personal Development Plan, Study Days Record, Educational Sessions Attended, Reading Record and more. Learners will be able to access their records from any one of the courses that they are using in the ADI resource so they’ll be able to build up a complete picture of their learning. I think that this opens up all sorts of possibilities for enhancements to learning and I can see it sparking off some novel ideas from other clients.

We’ve also developed the technology in other ways. Administrators can now add notes to an individual learner profile – useful if you want to record alternative means of contact or an ongoing problem an individual might have – and Tutors can join in with a Tutor notes field. The Publishing Training Centre is using this to record comments on learners’ grades (e.g. Merit) which will then download onto their customised completion certificate.

And to round the new developments off nicely there are also new methods for analysis of all this lovely data that clients will be able to collect with their brand new questionnaires. Great stuff!

The Basics of Capital Acquisitions Tax

by Rachel Bruce

There's been a flurry of activity over the past few months across the publishing programme, so you'll be hearing from me about a few new courses that we are publishing over the next month or so. To start with, a recent addition to our Accounting and Finance Portfolio is a short course on Capital Acquisitions Tax that has been written by David Fitzgerald of CPA Ireland.

This is the first course of its kind that we're publishing in the Accounting and Finance Portfolio, within our new series, Financial Briefings. It is a one module course, followed by an assessment that provides those workings in finance with a quick briefing on the basics of Capital Acquisitions Tax and the recent changes to it (i.e. the provisions of FA 2008 (No 1), FA 2008 (No 2) and FA 2009).

This course is now available to the members of three of our partners: CPA Ireland, Accounting Technicians Ireland (ATI, formerly IATI) and the Association of International Accountants (AIA). We will be adding further courses of this kind as part of our Financial Briefings series in due course.

Farewell, for now

by Katy Hillary

Most people who have met me recently will be aware that I am heavily pregnant (and about the size of a small whale), so this week is my last in the Nelson Croom office for around ten months.

I know - I just got back from Belfast and was very keen on spending time in Vauxhall with my colleagues after a year and a half of home working, but then I was rudely reminded how awful commuting on London buses can be, and decided that maternity leave was the only way forward! (Quite literally actually on the 436 route via Camberwell New Road these days...)

I am confident that Crispin, our new development team member, will be great at picking up any slack caused by my departure, and so all I have left to do is source an online learning programme that will help me prepare to give birth. Err - there seems to be a gap in this market?!