E-learning design can be better, Donald Clark of Ufi tells Kineo

Thereís no question that what separates the good from the great in e-learning is the quality of design ñ and thereís not that much great design around. We need to ditch the 50 year-old models - so says Donald Clark, board member of Ufi in a new podcast interview with Kineo this week.

Kineo, the leading rapid e-learning company, conducts regular podcast interviews with leaders in learning and technology. Donald Clark, an industry veteran and ex-CEO of Epic well known for his direct and uncompromising views, is as insightful and controversial as ever in this monthís podcast interview, available now on the Kineo website.

Why is so much of e-learning such a disappointment? That was just one of the questions posed by Stephen Walsh, Kineo partner, to Donald Clark. At the core of his answer: poor quality design. As he put it:

ìMuch e-learning is based on staid and outdated modelsÖitís a shame that so many e-learning designers have gotten stuck in a rut. Gagne, the man who said you have to have learning objectives at the start of every course? If thatís your view, you donít deserve to be listened to. We know a lot about how the brain works: attention grabbing, cognitive overload, memoryÖbut hardly any of that is taken seriously...instead the industry slavishly follows 50 year-old models.î

Elsewhere in the interview, Clark points out the risks of just letting subject matter experts loose on e-learning with authoring tools. ìA lawyer will kill a compliance course stone dead. They may know a lot about their domain, but they know nothing about design and learningÖyou donít just give someone a word processor and out pops a novel. The same is true with authoring tools. It takes skill to design it properly.î

So how to improve design, and work better with subject matter experts? Kineo will shortly launch a major new e-learning initiative which addresses both points. Kineoís new rapid e-learning offering will provide structurally sound and engaging e-learning design models, to make it easier to produce high quality, engaging e-learning with or without subject matter experts, and make the most out of authoring tools. Look out for announcements in October.

You can hear the full podcast interview, and hear Donald rails against BBC, people who write to the Daily Telegraph and others, by visiting the Kineo website.