In this issue
	What's New? Learning Organization Research Web Gems Print Gems LearningEdge News

Learning Organization Research

Calliope Learning conducted an online survey in December, 2002 to gather views on how organizations were implementing learning organization theory. We were pleased with our response of over 100 people from across the world. While we are still analyzing all of the results (we are hoping to have this complete report finished in March), our initial analysis confirmed that respondents are still very keen about using learning organization principles in their work, but have some challenges implementing and measuring these concepts. If you would like to view the initial results of this research, please click here or click on the link at the end of this article for a powerpoint presentation. We were also very interested to find out that over 70% of respondents indicated they used some form of e-learning. We'd like to further investigate that survey result by asking you to indicate your use of e-learning. We'll report back on the results next issue. N.B. Submission of this survey is only available with emailed newsletters. 1) Have you participated in any form of e-learning in the last 12 months? Yes   No   2) If yes, how effective was it? Extremely Effective   Very Effective   Effective   Somewhat Effective   Not Very Effective   Not Effective At All     Click here for initial results »

Web Gems

Each month we will feature a website about learning that has inspired or wowed us. We're interested in your gems as well ... so if you have a great website you'd like to share, email it to Tammy with a short description (50 - 100 words is great). The Home of Informal Education is a not-for-profit organization whose aim is to provide a space for people to explore the theory and practice of informal education. In particular, they want to encourage educators to develop ways of working and being that foster association, conversation and relationship. Click on the encyclopedia link and you will find provocative, well-researched and written summaries of topics ranging from reflection to communities of practice to evaluation of learning to seeking out the gift of authenticity. The entire encyclopedia is an amazing resource of linked ideas and authors. If you are wanting any sort of background theory on anything having to do with learning, this is the place to go! Click here for Home of Informal Education »

Print Gems

Another one of our regular features will be a book review and, again, we invite your contributions (100 to 200 words is great) and/or your suggestions for books we should be reviewing. E-tivities: The Key to Online Teaching, Training and Learning is Gilly Salmon's second book looking at the practice of facilitating online learning. It was published late last year and is available from Amazon. In the preface Gilly explains, "the book is based on the premise that teaching techniques are more important than 'content' delivery". As such, this book is a great antidote to the widely held, content centric view of e-learning that is being pushed by LMS and content vendors. The book is divided into two parts. Part I introduces that concept of e-tivities, online activities that engage learners, are easy to set up, and are, in the main, content independent. This first part also reviews some of the content of Gilly's first book and discusses the important role of e-moderators; these are the tutors, teachers, facilitators (whatever they may be called in your context) who work with learners online. In part two Gilly presents a range of resources to help practitioners develop and deploy their own e-tivities. Many of the ideas in part two are ready to use, and would be a great help to anyone who wants to develop engaging learning experiences online. Although this is a very practical book, it is based on solid research and is well referenced. Anyone who is enthusiastic about the quality of facilitated online learning will enjoy this book and find it useful. More on Salmon's book »

LearningEdge News

Support for products like LearningEdge A February, 2003 article in Training and Development about CLO's (Chief Learning Officers) spoke to the changing roles of these newly created positions in organizations, "For CLO's to prove their worth, they must begin focusing resources on projects and processes that will help their companies meet business objectives. That's done by understanding the strategic goals and how learning contributes to attaining those goals." We were pleased to see such a recent strong statement in North America about what the LearningEdge suite of products is intended to do! LearningEdge Case Studies We're continuing to work with LearningEdge and exploring how it can be used in Canadian organizations. We've interviewed people in the UK who've used the tools and worked with a Canadian consulting couple who found the process helpful as well. We will be writing more about these case studies of LearningEdge in future editions of the newsletter. Information Sessions We held LearningEdge information sessions in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria this past January and February, providing updates since our initial information sessions in September, 2002. We spent some time discussing LearningEdge case studies with advice on how to use the tools in your own context. Watch this space for more information sessions in May and June, 2003. New: Online Presentation Based on feedback from those of you who couldn't make it to our last set of information sessions, we've now made the presentation available online as a powerpoint show. We've got plans for a full multi-media version of our presentation so stay tuned! If you'd like to explore these online presentations, simply click on the link below. (NOTE: It takes about 45 seconds to 1 minute to download. This presentation is provided for information purposes only and should not be reproduced in any form.) LearningEdge Online Presentation »