E-learning Curve Blog at Edublogs

Despite the fact that Ireland is home to more commercial e-learning organisations per capita than anywhere else on the planet, there are very few blogs representing the views of the Irish e-learning community being maintained. More about that directly, but first…

Here’s a quick look back at the the contribution of Irish-owned e-learning companies to the industry:

Back in the 1980’s “Computer-Based Training” was the coming thing, and Irish-based CBT Group (CBT Systems in North America) were one of the originators of the industry. They specialised in self-study courses that users could take at their own PCs. CBT developed a library of more than 600 titles for client/server, Internet, intranet, and mainframe platform deployment.

By the mid-to-late 1990’s, there was an explosion of Irish entrepreneurs exploiting gaps in the on-line learning market:

• Prometheus developed the “CompuTutor” range of products for the MOUS and MSCE audience.
• Transware PLC founded to meet the localisation needs of e-learning organisations.
• KnowledgeWell and Riverdeep begain making inroads into the K-12 sectors.
• Electric Paper began development of the first courseware for the ECDL qualification.
• EMG developed the skoool.ie initiative in association with The Irish Times and Intel (Ireland) Ltd.

By 1999, the CBT Group had transformed itself into SmartForce, “the e-learning company.” Following convergence in the marketplace after the dot-com crash, a new raft of e-learning organisations emerged:

• EP, Creative Learning Media, A-V Edge and MindLeaders have all merged into the ever-expanding ThirdForce.
• In 2002, SmartForce merged with another virtual classroom leader, Ireland-based SkillSoft Corporation.
• Also in 2002, Barry O’Callaghan led an MBO of Riverdeep. Since going private, the organisation has acquired the assets of The Learning Company, Broderbund, Edmark, and most recently (2007) merged with Houghton Mifflin, to become the fastest-growing e-learning consultant in the US.

In 2008, for Ireland to hold on to it’s hard-earned status as a global e-learning leader, it must maintain the momentum that’s been built up over the past 20 years.

Certainly some signs are good: companies like Intuition, InnerWorkings and CompuPharma continue to innovate in the fields of finance, adaptive learning environments for programmers , and pharmaceutical training respectively. The National College of Ireland and the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland in particular are leading some very interesting initiatives in adult learning and post-graduate skills development. Specialities in adaptive learning and other third-generation e-learning solutions are being investigated in Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Limerick.

However, unlike our neighbours in the UK (who’s government-backed education policy has the mantra “Education, education, education”), we in Ireland have a government who’s lack of vision concerning this sector is downright embarrassing, if not ignorant.

A salutary lesson might illustrate my point at this stage of the post.

We are all agreed that e-learning is about channelling digitally-mediated content via networks like the internet. Yes? Therefore, without an effective high-speed network in place the development and delivery of high-quality learning products will be hindered.

In Ireland, our broadband is a mess. It’s been said that we are a first-world country with third-world comms infrastructure. In fact it’s worse than that; the Eamon Ryan, the minister whose responsibility it is to develop the comms infrastructure doesn’t know the difference between high-speed internet availability and quality of service – as an example, here’s an excerpt from a recent Sunday Times article:

John McElligott, the managing director of eBay in Ireland, has called on the minister to take a “quantum leap” by investing in NGNs, bringing Irish broadband speeds closer to the 100 megabits per second (Mbits/s) enjoyed in some countries. Irish download speeds for residential broadband users are a maximum of 12 Mbit/s. Most of the country operates on speeds of 1-2 Mbit/s. Ryan said McElligott was “right to be ambitious”, but questioned his thinking. “John runs eBay. When he starts running a construction company, he can advise me on digging holes to every home in the country,” Ryan said.

I would guess that if you’re outside of Ireland, dear reader, your jaw is dropping at the supreme irony of a leading digital development hub and world-leading economy, and the steam-powered infrastructure we have to negotiate on a daily basis.

But that’s not why we’re here today. We’re here today to welcome a new, Irish, e-learning blog to the blogosphere: welcome Brian Mulligan and the E-learning Ireland blog!

Click on the link under the E-learning Blogs panel to the right of this post to check out what his blog is about.

–