Lessons learned with regard to using learning technologies
Learner readiness
NEC has been careful to pace its use of learning technologies with that of their customer base and recently conducted a survey of their learners to ascertain their 'state of readiness' for courses with integrated learning technology. NEC is cautious about moving too far ahead of the expectations, needs and preferences of their customers. In January 2004, they collected feedback from users about their responses to e-learning. According to Tim Burton, Head of Product Development, 'private sector training providers seem to be driven by assumptions about students expectations? without necessarily backing them up by solid evidence. We are checking out our new model of blended print and e-learning with a variety of customers/stakeholders, particularly colleges, NEC?s own tutors, and NEC?s learners.'
They began rolling the model out in Spring 2004, for fuller implementation in Autumn 2004. Feedback from users suggests that there is no single standard way in which learners, especially younger learners, use their materials. In other words, expectations about the pathways learners will take through learning resources have been challenged by evidence of actual use. Using the metaphor of the supermarket, Tim Burton comments that 'Our earlier expectations were that learners would proceed in an orderly fashion up and down the aisles. Feedback suggests that the use of materials is a more random, and creative, organic process, and there is a huge multiplicity of approaches used by users when exploring resources in their learning'. He also notes that they have also become more sceptical about the designation of learner styles, a view which is supported by a recent study undertaken in the UK.
Their 2003 Learning Online course is a response to the widespread need to improve self-efficacy; a subject treated increasingly in the research literature as a critical factor of importance in take-up.
...continue to lessons learned (p2)
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