We have launched a new section on www.ossidian.com called 'NGN Insider'.
This is designed to carry up-to-date news items on All-IP, IMS, SIP, SIGTRAN, VoIP, MPLS and all the technologies that will go into networks of the future. The emphasis is on technology and standards advances.
Please let us know (info@ossidian.com) if you spot any items that should be linked on here.
Wednesday 13 December 2006
Sunday 10 December 2006
Tool time
Having tried out all the eLearning authoring tools we could find, both open source and commercial, we have come to the conclusion that most of them miss the point.
Adding layers of complexity and features seems to be the end-goal. Do these guys not understand that's what went wrong with word-processing software years ago. "Feature creep" we called it. Even the so-called learning standards people have headed down the tracks of complexity - just try understanding wher Scorm is headed.
Challenge - Take a blank piece of paper and write down on it the basic functions you need in an authoring tool. I guarantee you don't need to turn it over and keep on writing. Unless you have some pretty weird requirements.
All the efforat the tool side goes into making things look engaging (so far as the tool believes !) - very little goes into forming the content. Well maybe that's not the business of authoring tool makers - but we think it should be. There's too much really poor content out there. Even such content which should be great - like some of the freely available content from MIT - can look pretty mundane when you print it out.
Here at Ossidian we think differently. We think the content should be great, not the tools we use to make it.
Adding layers of complexity and features seems to be the end-goal. Do these guys not understand that's what went wrong with word-processing software years ago. "Feature creep" we called it. Even the so-called learning standards people have headed down the tracks of complexity - just try understanding wher Scorm is headed.
Challenge - Take a blank piece of paper and write down on it the basic functions you need in an authoring tool. I guarantee you don't need to turn it over and keep on writing. Unless you have some pretty weird requirements.
All the efforat the tool side goes into making things look engaging (so far as the tool believes !) - very little goes into forming the content. Well maybe that's not the business of authoring tool makers - but we think it should be. There's too much really poor content out there. Even such content which should be great - like some of the freely available content from MIT - can look pretty mundane when you print it out.
Here at Ossidian we think differently. We think the content should be great, not the tools we use to make it.
Friday 8 December 2006
Off-line learning !
Our 'Introduction to Datacommunications' eLearning module has been one of our best sellers for over a year now.In fact many of our customers have asked for additional study materials to supplement the eLearning. So we have written this 160-page book that can be downloaded as an eBook (and printed) - or even ordered as a good old-fashioned book.
The benefit of the eLearning is that it is structured to provide just the right amount of content to ensure the topic is covered. The on-line experience also allows us to test the student's progress after every tutorial - and to provide a certification test at the end.
With the (e)book as a supplementary product, the student can re-visit and revise - even when no computer is available.
Thursday 7 December 2006
Aggregating content
Here at Ossidian we often have to justify our eLearning products against the tons of free stuff that's out there on the Web.
Well it's certainly possible for everyone in an organization to go around with Google - check out all the possible Wikipedia entries, freebie tutorials and whitepapers. But does every corporation want its employees wasting time searching for their own answers ?
Our justification for eLearning is that it structures content properly for learning. We never pretend that we are the only source. We never promise that you won't find the information elsewhere. But we certainly do promise that we sift and sort the relevant facts and present them in a manner that makes it easy to learn.
That is not something that everyone is good at. And we don't think every employee should be burdened with doing her/her own academic-level research to get job-related training.
Well it's certainly possible for everyone in an organization to go around with Google - check out all the possible Wikipedia entries, freebie tutorials and whitepapers. But does every corporation want its employees wasting time searching for their own answers ?
Our justification for eLearning is that it structures content properly for learning. We never pretend that we are the only source. We never promise that you won't find the information elsewhere. But we certainly do promise that we sift and sort the relevant facts and present them in a manner that makes it easy to learn.
That is not something that everyone is good at. And we don't think every employee should be burdened with doing her/her own academic-level research to get job-related training.
Friday 1 December 2006
Corporate training - lazy minds
Do you recognize this corporation ?
"Delivering training (and specifically eLearning) in our telecommunications environment is difficult - not least because annual budgets obscure reality. Employee development programs should not be one-time projects - they should be long-term processes that engage people at all levels. The laziest minds are at the top of our busines - there is no meaningful engagement with anything other than stock price and options valuations. Since no-one at the top has any real knowledge of the business, it is impossible to entice them to devote time and effort to personal development issues".
Rather than pay for meaningful, quality content, most telecom corporates (and I mean the biggest of them) appear to have downgraded training (and eLearning) to the fringes of the training function on the edge of the HR department ! Who (I mean) is serious in these operations about employee development ? Lipservice to whatever is the buzzword flavor-of-the-month-idea. No commitment or budget process to drive real technical training down through the organization.
So you, the poor eLearning Manager, have probably inherited a Skillsoft or Netg license - thousands of 'courses' for thousands of employees. 2 cents per course. Easier to do nothing, of course, than to make a business case for change ?
"Delivering training (and specifically eLearning) in our telecommunications environment is difficult - not least because annual budgets obscure reality. Employee development programs should not be one-time projects - they should be long-term processes that engage people at all levels. The laziest minds are at the top of our busines - there is no meaningful engagement with anything other than stock price and options valuations. Since no-one at the top has any real knowledge of the business, it is impossible to entice them to devote time and effort to personal development issues".
Rather than pay for meaningful, quality content, most telecom corporates (and I mean the biggest of them) appear to have downgraded training (and eLearning) to the fringes of the training function on the edge of the HR department ! Who (I mean) is serious in these operations about employee development ? Lipservice to whatever is the buzzword flavor-of-the-month-idea. No commitment or budget process to drive real technical training down through the organization.
So you, the poor eLearning Manager, have probably inherited a Skillsoft or Netg license - thousands of 'courses' for thousands of employees. 2 cents per course. Easier to do nothing, of course, than to make a business case for change ?
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