David Patterson

Learning Technologies 2015 Review

Learning Technologies is always a busy event and 2015 was no exception. With an expanded Learning Technologies (LTs) presence leading off to the Learning and Skills section you could even say that it was very very busy indeed!
There were several firsts at this event: the debut of Leo, the undoubted new market leader in content forged from Epic and Line; Filtered, a content provider with an interesting angle; and kokm, a new Drupal- based next generation LMS. KPMG appeared in strength this year, while Deloitte did not.

BETT 2015 a review

Another BETT and another review from Learning Light of one of the world’s largest exhibitions for educators.
BETT 2015 was as big and as busy at Dockland Excel centre as ever, but in our view slightly less ostentatious. Stands were if anything a little smaller amongst the big players in the industry, with fewer ‘castles in the sky’.

Reflections on Elliot Masie’s Learning Trends video call 2014

Let me begin by saying I am an Elliot Masie fan, I love going to Learning in Orlando in the Autumn, Masie’s Learning still the best produced event on the learning circuit, it’s just a shame I don’t get to go every year.
As part of the pre-publicity Elliot usually does a call to gently promote the event but also to share his and his colleagues take on the latest learning trends and the 1 hour recording is well worth watching.

Skills policy announcement means a major boost to UK e-learning

It seemed like a revelation to someone who works in the e-learning sector to see the government’s response to the recommendations from the Further Education Learning Technology Action Group (FELTAG), published in June 2014, and I hope it will prove to be a hugely significant development for the e-learning industry.
It has been apparent for many years that there are certain inhibitors to the UK’s FE system that are now proving detrimental to the digital future of learners.

What now for e-learning and on-line learning after the blockbuster purchase of Skillsoft by Charterhouse Capital.

The purchase of Skillsoft for over $2.3bn by Charterhouse Capital has attracted considerable attention across both the worlds of finance and learning and development.
For those of us who attended the IBIS Capital Edtech Europe event last year and listened closely or read the accompanying report e-learning lessons for the future , it was very obvious the edtech and e-learning industry was attracting very real interest from investors.

BETT 2014….all about the teacher

The BETT event held in January 2014 was one of the busiest BETT events we have attended and one of the most interesting. Like the smaller corporate e-learning event Learning Technologies BETT gave off the aura of fast growing excitement and interest in how technology...

Learning Technologies 2014

Learning Technologies 2014 in 3 words……busy busy busy! Learning Technologies 2014 was a busy and bustling event, from a busy entrance and long queues for the cloakrooms to very well attended speaking seminar slots and exhibition stands this was one busy show. There...

Hong Kong Learning and Teaching expo 2014

This is or reflections on the second part of our BESA led trade mission to the ASEAN market. In our previous Blog we wrote of the BES Asia event in Kula Lumpur, and unlike that event Hong Kong’s Learning and Teaching expo was not a UK company exclusive event and was...

BES Asia

BES Asia 2013 was held in December in Kuala Lumpur’s impressive convention centre close to the world famous Petronas Towers. It is very ably and competently organised and coordinated by BESA and exceptionally well supported by UKTI. UKTI have a new focus on delivering...

ALT 2013 – MOOCs and More.

Taking the temperature at ALT 2013 was an interesting day out, and an enjoyable one as well. ALT is both very friendly and very informative even in just 1 day. The event was very well organised and the ALT ethos of sharing best practise was very enjoyable. However the...

e-learning: a major NHS Success story

A HSJ (Health Service Journal) supplement published recently looking at the Electronic Staff Records (ESR) roll out provided some stunningly encouraging information as how the NHS is using e-learning. The NHS’s ESR project is the world’s biggest programme of its kind,...

Who are in the European edtech top 20

The eagerly anticipated European edtech top 20 was published yesterday, and it makes interesting reading to see who is on the list in the UK, and from the rest of Europe. There are some very familiar names from UK e-learning companies we know well, Brightwave, Epic...

Opportunities in India for European and US edtech businesses

There is likely to be an explosion of demand for learning and e-learning in India, (and the other BRIC and CIVET economies), but India is unusual for having such an evolved e-learning industry. Indeed we would argue the Indian e-learning industry supports a...

How Can You Use Game Based Learning?

A guest blog piece from Scott Hewitt of Real Projects, a true exponent of Game Based learning. Are you using Game Based Learning in your elearning projects? Have you thought about how you could use it in your organisation? Are you an instructional designer who is...

e-learning: India, Europe and the USA

This post on e-learning in India, Europe and the USA was prompted by the publication of interesting research by WizIQ. It was titled e-learning trends in India, Facts, Figures and the Future **, which is well worth reading. India is a powerful player in the global...

New term for e-learning?

With the term edtech growing in usage and currency to describe much of the education technology and the new innovations hitting the learning and education market, (MOOCs and more), and with mobile learning or Mlearning well understood – (having seen off “handheld...

Don’t forget video in the rush to mobile learning and BYOD.

Mobile learning is still proving a challenge to many organisations, with a series of complex and costly solutions emerging on the market, when in our view mobile learning is really about additionality of learning opportunities, flexibility of learning opportunities,...

MOOCs and the Corporate e-learning market

How much attention should the corporate e-learning world be paying to the latest developments in the world of Education and e-learning – the rapidly arriving MOOC revolution! There is no doubt that education technologies have had a considerable impact on corporate...

BETT 2013: What we saw and what was missing….

As we have written to in our previous Blogs comparing BETT with its rival (?) exhibition Learning Technologies, BETT was an exhibition of size and significance, indicating that the market in education for e-learning and technology is hugely important for UK PLC, and...

Learning Technologies 2013

A review and our 5 picks of the show……. Busy busy busy was the common consensus of those exhibiting in the Learning Technologies area, a slightly less busy area in our view was the Learning and Skills area, as it was in its new located area adjacent to LTs. I missed...

BETT or Learning Technologies Show

With Learning Technologies (LTs) and BETT overlapping for the first time in 2013, we took the opportunity to visit both in quick succession and offer some very real time comparisons. Location, location and organisation Why the  overlap, well LTs and its sister show...

What we will see at Learning Technologies 2013

As my inbox fills up with invites to visit stands at Learning Technologies, and Training Press releases gets busier and busier with announcements of launches and seminars, we know Learning Technologies is fully upon us. As well as our usual review based on visiting...

How to evaluate e-learning content

Or how do you know if a piece of e-learning content is any good?....... The “bad rap” that e-learning gets from many learners and organisational leaders is often around the poor nature of the e-learning content that is offered. The memories of the dark days of CBT –...

When will the tipping point come for mobile learning?

There is an ever growing conviction, and no shortage of investment in mobile learning technologies by the e-learning industry at present, indicating a firm belief that this is the "now" or "next" big thing! In an industry given over to a little too much hype and...

Next Learning Unwrapped – Nick van Dam

I have always been a fan of Nick van Dams e-learning Fieldbook, and often refer enquirers to answer the questions posed by Nick to understand what e-learning works best for. I have now completed Nick’s 2011 book, Next Learning Unwrapped, that comes with an...

Has e-learning progressed in the last 6 years?

It is very informative to read the excellent publication from UfI Charitable trust:  Scaling Up – Achieving a Breakthrough in Adult Learning with Technology where a team of researchers have interviewed a great number of influential individuals in this world of...

FLATMAGS the new world of learning

The FLATMAGS: that’s Facebook, Linked-in, Apple, Twitter, Microsoft, Amazon (and) Google, who are changing the way the world learns. Does this term work for you….it does for us as a shorthand for the companies that are in some way coming to dominate how and where we...

So…You want to set up your own e-learning business.

With a difficult economic background and many individuals looking at working for themselves by setting up their own businesses, is it wise to consider setting up an e-learning business? With students leaving university finding it difficult to get work, but full of...

How big a problem is piracy and copying to e-learning?

How significant is the danger of piracy and illegal copying of e-learning software? I had a very interesting conversation with a company based in Russia the other day that has developed protection solutions to combat this problem. They provided me with statistics of...

Is e-learning becoming more popular in the UK?

The e-learning market has long been predicted to grow, indeed it is over a decade since Andy Grove of  Intel fame predicted that  e-learning will be the next big thing….and somehow the promise, in the eyes of many, has never quite materialised. Yet quietly and perhaps...

Learning Technologies 2012 – review

Another busy, well attended show with lots of delegates provided with a wide range of exhibitors all combining to offer a real buzz. The 2012 Learning Technologies show was interesting for a variety of reasons, and one particularly interesting reason was that this...

Learning Technologies – wisdom of the crowds downloads

….what presentations are being viewed from Learning Technologies Conference in January 2012? We thought we would do some totally unscientific download crowd analysis. If you visit http://dpcloud.co/v3/enterprise/learningtech/ you can see the many excellent...