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Final
thoughts on the e-Learning Hype Cycle
Just a quick note before I take off for Rome, where I'll
be speaking later this week at Ambrosetti's HR Management
and Development conference (I know, I know, a tough
gig but somebody's got to do it).
My last
piece on the e-Learning Hype Cycle stirred up quite a bit
of debate and some really interesting mail. I also want
to add that many other publications provided some "big
picture" industry coverage at the same time which was
interesting.
Below I
link to the other related pieces along with excerpts from
some of the more insightful comments I received from subscribers.
(Click
here to read my original article in Chief Learning Officer.)
Read
the responses to my hype cycle and other readers' feedback.
Is
This Industry For Real? by Click2Learn's CEO, Kevin
Oakes..
Comments
on the state of e-learning from Dave Egan, Marc Rosenberg,
Lee Maxey and Clark Aldrich (from LearningCircuits)
The
Hype Cycle represents the product of Investor/Buyer Confusion
multiplied by Spending...There is not difference here from
what happened with Sales Force Automation, Customer Relationship
Management, Enterprise Resource Planning and other IT Bricks
disguised as Life Saving Rings...If the Skillsoft-SmartFocre
merger ends up as a 1 + 1 = 1/2 like AOL-TimeWarner and
so many others, there won't be any investor money.
--
James
F. Dowling, Results-Based Leadership
One
must look back much further than 1996. Since the advent
of the telegraph, people have been "learning"
through electronic means. If you stretch your line back
to the 1840's, therefore, you'd probably see a very slow
and steady rise in e-Learning penetration, with periodic
blips triggered by the advent of film/slide projectors,
radio, television.
--
Jim Howe, CTO UserTech/Canterbury
Corp
We
have to differentiate between the financial performance
of the major players (nearly all of them technology vendors)
and the educational performance of the medium. E-learning
is no longer regarded with excitement by corporate or academic
educators. Nor is it not regarded with skepticism or fear.
The number of learners engaged in e-learning continues to
soar...I would expect the e-learning technology vendors
curve to just keep on crashing while the more relevant curve
(acceptance, utility, and effectiveness of e-learning) soars.
--
Godfrey Parkin, President, Mindrise
-- Kevin
Kevin Kruse is the e-learning columnist for CLO,
Chief Learning Officer magazine, author of Technology-based
Training (Jossey-Bass), and Principal with Kenexa. He
can be reached at kkruse@e-learningguru.com.
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