Nelson Croom's Blog

Imago 3.0 is born: what's in a name?

by Tony Short

Roughly coinciding with Nelson Croom’s tenth birthday, we recently sent Imago 3.0 out into the world. Depending on how you look at it, Imago 3.0 could be considered as either a major leap forward, or as a further tiny step in a programme of ongoing improvement.
 
We usually release upgrades to Imago every few weeks – in stark contrast to software giants (like Microsoft), who tend to release new functionality once every year or two.
We can do this because the code for Imago is held on our server, and not on hundreds of thousands of PCs scattered throughout the world.

Imago is hosted centrally, using an ASP (Application Service Provider) model – now often called a SaaS model (Software-as-a-Service). This means that none of our users have to worry about rolling out upgrades on their PCs or servers. We make a change in one place and it becomes available to everyone!

That leaves us with a dilemma: at what point do we change the version name from “version 1.X” to “version 2.0” – or, in this case, from “version 2.X” to “version 3.0”?
Development of the Imago system continually moves forward by small steps - week in, week out. Each step may not, on its own, be much to write home about, but after a few months, we find we’ve come a long way since the last review.
The  new features added to Imago since we launched “version 2.0.0” runs into hundreds. So after releasing Imago “version 2.9.14”, we decided that the next release should be version 3.0.0.
The rationale for this was that we’d moved to the point where every aspect of course building could be done online. In reality, we were 98% of the way towards this goal a year or two back.

Since releasing version 3.0.0, we’ve moved on to version 3.0.3, At some point during the coming year, we’ll get to the point where we move to version 3.1.0.
The three-part version number system we use comprises:

• Major version (currently 3)
• Point version (current 0)
• Build version (currently 3)

Internally, we have a more detailed version identification system, because – in reality – we make minor changes to Imago on an almost nightly basis (we also separately identify the version numbering for the Imago Learning Environment module, and the Imago Gateway/Manager module).

In case you’re wondering what changes we take into consideration when we change Imago’s version number, here’s a rundown of a few:

• New modules or optional features added to Imago;
• Enhancements added to any of the Imago modules;
• New reports added to Imago Manager
• Changes made to support new browsers, or new browser versions (including browser security updates);
• Improvements made which utilise new browser features, or to take advantage of new release of CSS or HTML);
• Fixes to glitches or bugs;
• Improvements made to the look-and-feel and user interface;
• Improvements made to allow greater customisation of Imago programmes/courses and gateways;
• Enhancements made to improve system security (e.g. improved anti-hacker defences or tracking);
• Enhancements made to improve performance, so that pages load more quickly, or reports compile more swiftly;
• Significant changes made to the online documentation;
• Consolidation work (platform changes to support future plans, which don’t initially add functionality)

Even very minor upgrades usually include enhancements to a dozen or more different parts of the Imago system, so every time we roll out a new version of Imago, there’s always an opportunity to thrash out the case for making the new release either a point version increment or a build version increment. If we ever find ourselves devoting any significant mental energy to such questions, I’ll know it’s time to remind myself to “get a life”!
 
Tony (Technical director version 3.0)

10 years on: Design

by Hamish Long

You can have any colour you like as long as it's #000000*

How has the design of our courses changed over the last 10 years? It hasn't! Well, when I say that, I mean the core elements behind the design haven't changed - they are sometimes referred to as the three pillars of good web design: HTML, javascript, and CSS (cascading style sheets). This latter pillar has become more prominent in my workflow over the last three years or so, as developments in our Imago system have enabled us to really utilise the power of CSS, providing flexible tailoring without the need to hand code.

In terms of graphics, the volume of designed objects within a course has dramatically increased over the years. Seven or eight years ago you would only see graphics in the knowledge pages. Interactive graphics might appear in every two or three knowledge pages. Today we have interactive graphics in almost every knowledge and activity page. Experience and increased efficiency are probably the two main reasons behind these improvements. But not only that, we now create customised gateways and splashpages - these splashpages are often developed further into fully functioning websites with guest areas, and members' areas providing access to the courses.

But how has the actual design of the web graphics changed? When I started in web design twelve years ago it was all about rounded corners and bevelled edges, and the general graphical look and feel tended to err on the illustrative side. Later there was say a five year period when graphics became flatter and squarer, and photographs were increasingly used. Although some of our clients have specific requirements, generally, over the past few years, we've been combining both illustrative and photographic elements along with subtely bevelled buttons and drop shadow icons.

 

I suppose that's how progress is made in many industries - you keep the best bits from the past, develop, and move forward. Take fashion for example - imagine if people today were wearing clothes that were only really acceptable in the Eighties...

* #000000 is the web (hexadecimal) colour for black.

Nelson Croom is 10 years old

by Alan Nelson

If you need us this afternoon, we’ll be in a private room at Bertorelli’s, the restaurant on Charlotte Street where David Croom and I first met to explore the mad idea of leaving the corporate whirl to set up a new online learning publishing business. The whole team is attending a celebratory lunch to mark the company’s tenth anniversary.

Nelson Croom Ltd was officially established on Valentine’s Day 2000. The event was marked by the arrival of a package from Companies House. Inside were a certificate of incorporation and a company stamp. I remember being highly amused with this anachronistic irrelevance for a company that would operate online. It’ll be no surprise if I tell you that ten years later I still have not had the need to stamp anything, although at the time I remember amusing myself for an innocent ten minutes making bumps and hollows in the shape of the company name on a variety of bits of paper.

Back then, I had little idea what the future held. If you had asked me at the time, I would not have been able to tell you what we would be doing ten years later, where we’d being doing it or how many of us there would be. I’d have been pretty pleased if you had told me that we would be awarded the Silver Award for Elearning Development Company of the Year. And I would be pretty amazed if I had been given a sneak preview of the impressive client list we have now.

But what have we really achieved in the last ten years?

On the client side, we have become the UK’s leading provider of online learning to professional and membership bodies. We are uniquely competent in helping them to meet the needs of their diverse and challenging groups of adult professional learners. This competence has been recognised by other types of organisation also wanting to extend the reach of the professional development services they offer to their clients. Major professional services firms, large health bodies, and governmental organisations such as the British Library, all choose Nelson Croom as partner and trust us to create, host and manage their offerings.

On the technology side the tenth anniversary of the company coincides with the release of Imago3, a milestone we have been working towards for several years. Imago will now be a completely online system, with all the functionality used by our development team available to clients. To my knowledge it is the only online learning environment designed to put the learner in charge of their own learning. Right from the start, we set out to create places where people could go to learn rather than trying to teach them over the web. It is the single guiding philosophy that has informed our progress throughout the ten years.

Our belief in creating communities of practice was seen as distinctly left field in 2000, but the advent of Web 2.0 social networking technologies have seen our approach move to centre stage.

Finally I am really proud of the team we have assembled. They are talented and committed but don’t take themselves too seriously. They manage to balance productivity and creativity, hitting client deadlines and delivering creative solutions.

What will the next ten years bring? In some areas the answer is clearer than others. The possibilities are if anything more exciting than ever.

Our 10th birthday has caused us to think about different aspects of what we do and we’ll all be blogging about them over the next few weeks in our series ’10 years on…’. I hope you enjoy them and we’d be interested to hear if our experiences reflect yours.

Talking about the real benefits of online learning

by Victoria Clarke

I don’t know about you, but I regularly wonder how I got by in the days before the internet became so widespread and accessible. Everything is just so quick and easy. Gone are the days of rooting around for the yellow pages to look up a phone number (though admittedly I still do that) or going to the library and leafing through some dusty encyclopedias to find information (although I still do that too!) or, shock, horror, actually physically going to the supermarket to do your weekly shop (I’m happy to avoid this one if I can!).

By and large, we’re now used to having information at our fingertips and being able to find out what we need to know, when we need to know it. We’re used to being able to be immediately in contact with colleagues, friends and family, no matter where in the world they might be, through email, skype or social media. From a marketing point of view, I’m seeing fewer articles now extolling the virtues of online media for reaching your audience, and more articles about how to use online better, faster, more effectively and efficiently.

I think it’s safe to say that online has become an integral part of professional life. But that wasn’t always the case. When I started working at Nelson Croom in 2007, our communications were more focused on explaining the benefits and advantages of online learning to the professional associations that we hoped to work with. Professional associations wanted to know why their members would want to learn online and whether online really could provide a rich professional development experience, in the way that more traditional forms of learning had done to date. We talked a lot about the flexibility of online learning, particularly for professionals working in industries where their time was chargeable, or for those who wanted to maintain a better work-life balance and still ensure their skills were up to date. We stressed the importance of being able to log on 24/7, whether you were at home or in the office, because online learning – whether for CPD or qualifications or just general training – is flexible, convenient and always accessible.

We still talk about those things, but I think they’re also things that are taken as read. We expect to be able to look things up at the click of a button or two. And we expect to have the option to do the same with our learning. Increasingly we are talking to professional associations who are implementing online learning as part of their educational provision because that’s what their members are demanding. They talk to us about providing an enhanced learning experience, and about extending the reach of their educational provision. We talk to them about how we can make the experience engaging and rewarding for learners. Gone are the days of having to sell the features of online learning, and instead more emphasis is being given to the learning experience, and that can only be a good thing.

How do you learn how to use Microsoft packages?

by Alan Nelson

The other day, Victoria sent me a link to a press release from Microsoft about a new initiative they have launched to teach people about some of the more advanced features of Word, Excel and Powerpoint. It’s called Ribbon Hero and involves people competing with others by completing a range of games or challenges based on advanced features in the packages.

I am dubious about educational games. Don’t get me wrong: I have two young children and their cupboards are packed with worthy developmental games, just as our family PC is. But I always find myself asking. “Will this be fun, or will it be educational” Because I can’t believe it will be both. Even my six year old can only be persuaded to stick at BBC Bitesize KS1 (educational games for kids) for a short time before he demands to go to the ‘proper’ games on the CBBC site.

But it got me thinking about how people learn new stuff and whether an ‘edugame’ is really the right way to do it. Will the lure of competition be enough to tempt people to play/learn?

The next day I mentioned it to Victoria. It was, after all, her that introduced me to this. “I’d hate to learn that way,” she said. “If I need to learn something I want to just look it up and then practice it. Just give me some simple instructions and a couple of examples.”

Next I asked Tony how he finds out how a new piece of software works. “I just poke around. I can normally work it out and if I can’t, I find the answer on one of the IT forums. If it’s really difficult to track down, I have a subscription to a service that will answer a certain number of questions a month.”

Finally I turned to Angela. “It depends what it is I want to find out” she said. “If it’s Powerpoint I might ask you, for Word I go to Nicola and I’d ask Matthew [her husband] about Excel. One of you will normally show me the answer”

Now you don’t have to be Kolb to notice that we have a Doer (Victoria), an Experimenter (Tony) and an Observer (Angela). However, we don’t appear to have a gamer. The jury is out on Ribbon Hero at present. I’ll be interested to see the take up over the next months.

The Institute of Sport and Recreation Management

by Rachel Bruce

We have just begun to work with a new partner on their portfolio.  The Institute of Sport and Recreation Management (ISRM) will soon be providing four courses from our Professional Development Portfolio to their members: Negotiation Skills, Health and Safety, Project Management and Employment Law for Managers. The ISRM's members are involved in providing, managing, operating and developing sport and recreation services, and its CPD programme currently exists in the typical traditional formats.  This initiative is the first step for the ISRM in providing its members with online learning as a route to CPD. They have ambitious plans going forward in expanding their online learning provision and we are excited to be a part of it.