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 E-SKILLS
INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP BOARD
A group of key industry players has announced the formation of an e-Skills Industry
Leadership Board, with a mission to lead the IT sector’s contribution to
the development and implementation of a long term e-skills and digital literacy
agenda in Europe. The launch follows successful lobbying which has raised awareness
among EU policymakers about the need to ensure adequate availability of e-skills
and digital literacy to meet the needs of the European economy in the future.
Senior executives from leading IT companies and providers of e-skills education,
training and certification, committed their respective organisations to the initiative
at the launch meeting in Brussels. David Grinham, VP EMEA for Prometric, said: “We
believe it is not only important but imperative that every member of the European
workforce be literate in technology-related requirements and trained – even
at a basic level – in order to boost employability and enhance the productivity
and competitiveness of the member states”. Other organisations involved
in the e-Skills ILB include Global Knowledge, Microsoft and Pearson VUE. Jun
2007
PRIVATE
EQUITY BUYS INTO QA-IQ
QA-IQ has announced that it is to partner with private equity firm
Englefield Capital. The agreement will provide QA-IQ with significant
financial resources and commercial expertise to continue developing
its growth strategy. The company intends to invest in new curriculum
areas and learning services by both organic development and acquisition.
Sums involved were not disclosed. Jun 2007
THIRDFORCE
ACQUIRES MINDLEADERS
 ThirdForce
plc has acquired Mindleaders Inc, a leading US e-learning company,
in a deal worth $18 million. Based in Ohio, Mindleaders has a 25-year
track record and claims to offer 2000 courses to around 850 organisations.
ThirdForce already has a substantial market presence in the UK, Ireland,
the Middle East and Australia. Mindleaders is its fourth acquisition
in four years: it bought Electric Paper and AV Edge in 2003, and Creative
Learning Media in 2006. Jun 2007
ILX
GROUP: SENIOR APPOINTMENT AND CONTRACT WINS
ILX Group has appointed Tony Glass as Managing Director of its
Best Practice Division. Glass was previously EMEA Sales Director
of SkillSoft. ILX has also announced that its Best Practice Division
has won a number of large-scale contracts to deliver a range of
services including e-learning, instructor led training and implementation
consultancy. It says these contract wins will contribute approximately £1m
to revenue for the current financial year and include The Home
Office, a major High Street Bank and the Environment Agency. Jun
2007
70%
OF GOVERNMENT IT PROJECTS FAIL
Seven in every 10 government IT projects have failed, according
to the Chief Information Officer of the Department for Work and
Pensions. Joe Harley, speaking at the Government IT Summit, said: "Today,
only 30% of government IT projects and programmes are successful.
We want 90% by 2010/11. We want to achieve a 20% overall reduction
on IT spend in government... The government spends £14bn
a year on IT... it’s not sustainable to continue to spend
at these levels. We need to up the quality while reducing the spend”. Jun
2007
E-LEARNING
GROUP REPOSITIONED
 The
former eLearning Industry Group (eLIG) has become the European Learning
Industry Group (ELIG). “This is more than a cosmetic change”,
says the group, “it reflects a major shift in the marketplace”.
ELIG says it will “provide industry thought leadership and policy
input to the European Commission and national governments and, at the
same time, function as a networking and partnering platform for its
members”. [This is reminiscent of the rebranding of WOLCE, which
went from the World Open Learning Conference & Exhibition to the
World Of Learning Conference
& Exhibition a couple of years ago.] Jun
2007
iCONNECT
ON-LINE BOOKING FROM GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE
Global Knowledge has launched an on-line booking and training administration
system that makes it simple for customers to book delegates onto
IT training courses and administer their IT skills development
plans. The web-based iConnect system enables customers to register
personnel for IT training courses, administer IT training activity,
report on the progress of individuals and the overall IT training
programme, and keep track of spending. Delegates can book themselves
onto courses and send a request for approval and sign-off by the
authorising manager. The system also sends joining instructions
automatically to individual delegates. Jun 2007
NEW
ITIL V3 COURSES FROM QA-IQ
 QA-IQ
has introduced new courses, available from the first week in June,
leading to the IT Service Management Foundation qualification based
on the new version 3 of the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). QA-IQ
says the scope of the library has been widened to cover more aspects
of Service Management and for the first time adopts a unified lifecycle
approach to the subject. ITIL v3 will also have a greater focus on
understanding business drivers and how IT can assist with meeting business
objectives. Jun 2007
IITT
LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE
The Institute of IT Training has launched its new website which
has undergone a complete redesign and modernisation, making it
easier for visitors and members to access information about products
and services from the Institute. The site is Phase One of a complete
redevelopment, and some facilities are not yet live. These sections – including
Submit A Tender, Find A Freelance Trainer, and the members' CPD
records – are planned for Phase Two. Jun
2007
MORE
SUCCESSES FOR ATLANTIC LINK
Atlantic Link has added two more customers to its list of successes
in 2007. The Fire Service College and The National Air Traffic
Services (NATS) are the latest organisations to choose the company's
rapid authoring software. Atlantic Link has also been named as
one of three finalists in the Nottingham Evening Post Business
Innovation Awards. Jun 2007
ELN
ANNOUNCES 2007 SHOWCASE
The eLearning Network (eLN) has announced details of this year's
Showcase - a key event in its calendar. It will be held on 6 July
in London. The theme this year is Profiling Excellence, and the
eLN is inviting sign-ups from companies who would like to exhibit. Jun
2007
GLOBAL
KNOWLEDGE ITIL V3 TRAINING
 Global
Knowledge has launched a series of ITIL version 3 training courses,
giving enterprise customers the ability to benefit from the latest
edition of the popular IT service management methodology without delay.
Global Knowledge says ITIL v3 moves away from a process model to a
five-stage interlinked model that covers the complete lifecycle of
service management. ITIL v3 courses will be available from June and
demand is expected to be strong.
Global Knowledge has also announced details for a new ITIL version
2 to version 3 conversion course. The one-day course provides an
introduction to ITIL version 3 best practice and explains how ITIL
V3 differs from ITIL V2 guidelines. It examines in detail the new
service lifecycle approach to implementing new and changed services,
and outlines all changes to existing processes as well as covering
the new additional processes. Jun 2007
XPERTISE
EXPANDS IN LEEDS
Xpertise says growth in its IT training and managed training services
has led to an investment of £500,000 in a refit of its training
centre in Leeds – doubling capacity in order to cope with
local demand. Xpertise can now deliver 1,500 additional training
courses a year, and claims to be the only company in the North
of England which is authorised to deliver official Oracle and Red
Hat training through its Leeds training centre. Xpertise has also
doubled the size of its managed services team at the Leeds office
to handle additional major training contracts it has won in 2007.
To celebrate the reopening of the centre, Xpertise is inviting
local customers to an open day on 8 June. Jun
2007
SECURITY
DEADLINE PRODUCES SURGE IN TRAINING
In response to increasing demand, UK Information Security company
7Safe has developed a course on the Payment Card Industry Data
Security Standard (PCI DSS). All organisations that store, process
or transmit credit card payments are required to demonstrate compliance
with the standard by 30 June. 7Safe, which is one of only a handful
of UK companies to have been awarded Qualified Security Assessor
status by the PCI Security Standards Council, conducts its PCI
DSS courses at its training facility in Cambridge. Jun
2007
WHITE
PAPER EXPLORES LEARNING MEASUREMENT
A new research-to-practice white paper by Dr. Will Thalheimer of
Work-Learning Research examines the factors that impact the effectiveness
of assessments in measuring a learner's ability to retrieve and
use information in future, real-world situations. The paper provides
practical advice – distilled from fundamental learning research – designed
to help learning and testing professionals design fairer, more
reliable assessments. The paper is licensed by Questionmark, and
can be downloaded from their website Jun
2007
BRIGHTWAVE
E-LEARNING FOR OPENREACH
 Openreach,
a BT Group business, has selected e-learning specialist Brightwave
to design a series of “video-rich interactive learning experiences”
that ensure its employees meet rigorous training and regulatory
requirements. The programmes were commissioned by Openreach to
meet new legislative requirements over multiple areas of business.
The courses also provide clear, auditable training, and course
completion and understanding are monitored through assessments
integrated with Openreach’s own LMS, enabling tracking and
reporting. Jun 2007
GLOBAL
KNOWLEDGE AIMS TO LEAD MICROSOFT EDUCATION MARKET
Global Knowledge is now a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for
Learning Solutions (CPLS) in North America. It says this is an
important step in its strategic plan to broaden its Microsoft education
business and provide an enterprise-class portfolio of learning
solutions to customers and Microsoft channel partners in all geographies.
The company already holds Gold CPLS status in its EMEA operations,
including the UK, and says its recognition in North America is
a principal component in its drive to become the world's largest
Microsoft training provider. Jun 2007
RWD
TECHNOLOGIES RELEASES uPERFORM
RWD Technologies has announced the release of RWD uPerform in the
UK and mainland Europe. RWD uPerform is a comprehensive human performance
support tool kit for businesses seeking to improve business results
and ROI from their enterprise solutions, including ERP, CRM and
sales force training programmes. RWD says “In the ERP space
alone, companies will invest upwards of $39 billion per year by
2009 [according to IDC]. Yet despite such massive investments,
many organisations are ill equipped to educate their employees
on these solutions. RWD uPerform is an enterprise-level solution
to help them succeed in today's marketplace.” SAP sells RWD
uPerform under the name SAP Productivity Pak powered by RWD. Jun
2007
CAPABILITY
MATRIX FROM MKM
 UK
learning management specialist MyKnowledgeMap (MKM) has developed an
online talent management system called Capability Matrix. This will
allow employees to assess their skills and skills gaps, and enable
employers to pinpoint support to people and departments in most need.
Available for customer corporate intranet use, or as a secure hosted
service on the web, Capability Matrix can be custom developed with
competencies specific to user organisation/industry needs. Alternatively,
it is available 'off-the-shelf' and pre-loaded with a range of skills
sets including sales, ICT, marketing and communications. Jun
2007
REDTRAY’S
ANNIVERSARY BOOST FOR ALTO
RedTray’s ALTO enables customers to create, deploy and manage
enterprise blended learning solutions. It was introduced as a web-based
system in early 2006, providing an integrated suite of tools to
cover e-learning, online presentations, instructor-led administration
and document management. Now RedTray is marking ALTO's first year
of success with a range of new enhancements: it is adding an improved
course builder tool, and has enhanced its rapid e-learning capabilities
so clients can develop e-learning content from PowerPoint presentations "in
a matter of hours". Jun 2007
BOURNE
HELPS SMEs WIN PUBLIC SECTOR DEALS
 Bourne
Training has completed the development of an e-learning course aimed
at helping SMEs to win public sector contracts. The course, entitled
'Winning the Contract - Bidding for Public Sector Business' is part
of learndirect's portfolio and provides practical guidance on how SMEs
can effectively tap into the estimated £150 billion pot of annual
public sector expenditure. . As well as identifying best practice for
effectively responding to public sector tenders and giving them the
best chance of success, it also explains how SMEs can find the opportunities
in the first place. Jun 2007
ONLINE
EDUCA TO LAUNCH FIRST RUSSIAN EVENT
The first Russian event in the series of Online Educa international
conferences will be launched in 2007. The Online Educa Moscow conference
will take place from 30 September to 3 October in Moscow. Organisers
say that conference attendees will include experts from the business
sector and the academic community, as well as education decision
makers and innovators. They say more than 500 delegates are expected,
and Online Educa Moscow is set to establish itself as an international
event in ICT-supported learning and training in the Russian Federation. Jun
2007
TATA
INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS LAUNCHES TOPSIM
 An
invited audience of senior managers from the UK's top companies have
been given a preview of Tata Interactive's suite of business simulations
- TOPSIM - which is now available to the UK market for the first time.
TIS says there are currently 15 generic TOPSIM simulation titles and
these are being used by more than 1,600 organisations around the world. “TOPSIM
is not e-learning, but blended learning with the emphasis on the classroom
and where the learning is collaborative” said Alan Samuel, TIS's
head of operations in the UK. Jun 2007
MKM
DEVELOPS TESCO RETAIL DEGREE
MyKnowledgeMap (MKM) has been awarded a contract to develop a Foundation
Degree in Retail to be piloted by Tesco Stores. MKM is being partnered
on the project by the Retail Academy, Manchester Metropolitan University
and The University of the Arts. MKM says the course will use a
combination of e-learning materials, residential delivery and online
support. It will integrate work based learning and academic study
through work based projects, assignments, and a reflective log
[?] and portfolio. Jun 2007
E-LEARNING
AWARDS: CLOSING SOON
Entries close on 29 June for this year's e-Learning Awards, organised
by e.learning age in association with The eLearning Network. There
are eleven award categories, and it costs £99 to enter. The
presentation ceremony will be held in November in central London. Details. Jun
2007
NEW
€7 BILLION EUROPEAN FUNDING PROGRAMME
The launch of the Lifelong Learning Programme, the flagship EU funding programme
for education and training, has taken place in Berlin. This is the successor
to the earlier Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and eLearning programmes. It has a
budget of €6,970 million for the 7-year period 2007-2013. In the official
language of the EU, "the Lifelong Learning Programme is a framework programme
built on four thematic sub-programmes and two supporting cross-cutting programmes.
Grants and subsidies will be awarded to individuals and to projects under each
of these to support the trans-national mobility of individuals, to promote bilateral
and multilateral partnerships, or to improve quality in education and training
institutions and systems".
One of the four sub-programmes is the new Leonardo da Vinci programme, which
will receive at least 25% of the budget, or €1,743 million. This will address
the teaching and learning needs of those in vocational education and training,
as well as the institutions and organisations providing or facilitating such
education and training. Jun 2007
40,000
DIPLOMA PLACES FROM SEPTEMBER 2008
Up to 40,000 places will be available on the first of the new 14-19
Diplomas which will be delivered from September 2008. Diplomas will
be available in five subjects, one of which is IT. Currently, 145
consortia of schools, colleges and training providers in 97 local
authority areas in England, have been given the approval to deliver
the Diplomas from September 2008. 45 of the consortia will be introducing
the Diploma in IT, which has been developed by a partnership comprising
employers, schools, colleges, higher education, Awarding Bodies and
other organisations, led by e-skills UK. Leading employers involved
in the development included BT, Cisco, EDS, IBM, LogicaCMG, Microsoft
and Oracle. A further 197 consortia have been granted provisional
approval to begin delivery in September 2009. Jun
2007
ANTICIPATING
EUROPE'S SKILL NEEDS
Work is progressing on the development of a Pan-European skills needs
forecasting capability, in a project sponsored by the Learning and
Skills Council. In November 2006 a workshop was hosted by the Warwick
Institute for Employment Research (IER), in partnership with Cedefop
and others. There have subsequently been follow-up workshops, and
it is planned that the final results of the project on medium-term
forecasts of occupational skills needs in Europe will be presented
in the autumn of 2007. The participants have also agreed on further
collaboration which will lead to the development of more sophisticated
forecasting methods in the future. Jun 2007
TRAINING
FOR THE NHS WORKFORCE
The Department of Health and the Department for Education and Skills
have announced arrangements for the management of NHS training budgets
by Strategic Health Authorities in England in 2007/8. Funding of £4.3
billion has been allocated for the training and development of the
NHS workforce. This represents an increase of 3.6% over 2006/7. A
new service level agreement and accountability framework has been
issued by the Department of Health. This sets out national priorities
for workforce development, and key performance indicators and outputs
to be delivered by SHAs in return for the funding provided. Jun
2007
SURVEY
CONFIRMS FEARS FOR ADULT LEARNING
An annual survey on adult participation in learning, commissioned
by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE),
reports half a million adults lost to learning in the last year.
The proportion of adults currently learning or having done so in
the last three years has fallen to 41%. There is a marked reduction
in participation by people in employment and, in particular, by part-time
workers – there is a loss of 8% of part-time workers learning
in a single year (from 55% to 47%).
Alan Tuckett, Director of NIACE and co-author of the survey, said: “The
most worrying finding of this survey is the number of part-time workers
engaged in learning, an eight per cent drop in one year… So
something isn’t going right with public policy… The Government’s
sharply rebalanced public funding for adult learning is at the expense
of many people participating. It’s offering more to smaller
numbers. Is that the right balance to have achieved? We’re
convinced of the necessity for more public investment in adult learning.
What we need is more learning opportunities and not the loss of half
a million learners in just one year” Jun
2007
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