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.

Have you heard of Web 2.0 yet ?

Collaboration is the new Web paradigm - and since elearning (and CBT) is not everyone's preferred way of acquiring new skills, the Web 2.0 model needs to be taken on board quickly.

The WWW has terrabytes of useful information on just about any topic. But finding the right information and assembling it into meaningful chunks is not easy. That is why eLearning - ie structured on-line content - can be so accessible and effective.

Unfortunately, force-feeding people with information does not oftenwork. They may not need the particular topic today. Or they may be focussed on something else. People just don't want to have irrelevant information stuffed down their throat !

So anything that makes it easier to collaborate with other people must be good. Learning has to evolve under the influence of new tools. These will include better ways of linking up with other learners, better ways of structuring information feeds, and better information-sifting tools.

The purpose of this blog is to provoke some comments on how corporations can add 'unstructured' web-based sources as a new learning tool.