Sheffield's eLearning Community grows
London (UK), August 2010 - (by Bob Little) One of the UK's newest stars in the e-learning sector, The Safety Train, has re-located its operations to Sheffield, largely on the basis of Learning Light's advice and guidance. Already, according to Jonathan Blythe, The Safety Train's business development director, the move seems to be paying off. The Safety Train provides training, via eLearning materials, dealing with social care, office health and safety and personal development. These eLearning materials are delivered via streaming video over the web and/or via mobile phone apps.
Blythe and his colleagues first encountered Learning Light in 2009, when Learning Light's David Patterson outlined to them the business advantages for companies in the eLearning sector locating in Sheffield. Blythe said: "David's advice and guidance on all aspects of the eLearning market as well as on our head office location has proved to be most valuable. The early signs are that this move to Sheffield is producing all that we had hoped it would in business terms."
According to Patterson: "In recent years, Sheffield has established itself as the UK's eLearning capital - taking over from the Brighton area where the first eLearning companies were concentrated in the 1980s. Key eLearning related knowledge and skills are now well-represented among the working population in the Sheffield area - and this is helping to attract eLearning content and systems developers to set up in and around the city. So we're beginning to see a virtuous circle develop - which should continue to benefit both the industry and the area by continuing to provide more and more eLearning related jobs - and the people to do them!"
Patterson's point is well made. Traditionally, manufacturing industries tended to be concentrated in certain areas, principally to exploit an area's natural advantages, including its pool of skilled labour. It's interesting that Sheffield, having grown prosperous in the 19th century through becoming noted for making steel and steel products, should be following a similar path in the digital age to bring further prosperity through attracting eLearning and other digital industry producers.
For over 20 years, Bob Little has specialised in writing about, and commentating on, corporate learning - especially elearning - and technology-related subjects. His work has been published in the UK, Continental Europe, the USA and Australia.
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