The New Learning Universe – selling the vision to stakeholders

The New Learning Universe Part 2 by Sue Rennoldson, Senior Instructional Designer, WillowDNA

Not so long ago, in a galaxy not so far away, embarking on an e-learning project was a giant step for stakeholders in organisational learning. With the prospect of a lengthy, one-way development process, only the most stable subject matter was tackled. Distribution via floppy disk or CD ROM required a military-style operation.

Nowadays, however, the latest authoring tools and online platforms make relatively light work of keeping content bang up-to-date and relevant to learners. By designing a programme with bite-sized resources in a variety of media, it’s much easier to update individual items such as case studies when needed. Better still, post peer-generated case studies and promote a lively debate around them in a discussion forum, to harness the power of social, collaborative learning.

For digital natives who dip in and out of web content, watching a short video on YouTube, tweeting their opinions and networking on Facebook, all of this comes naturally. They switch between desktop and mobile devices in the office and on the move. Learners themselves are setting the pace in the new universe – just go with the flow and the sky’s the limit.