Little's Britain: Learning 'World' falls apart
London (UK), July 2009 - (by Bob Little) At around the same time as the Training Journal (TJ) Awards took place in London at the end of June - attracting a healthy number of both entries and attendees at the awards ceremony - the organisers of the World of Learning Awards announced that there would be no awards this year and that the dates of the next event will be on 28th September 2010.
The TJ's eLearning award went to the BBC for its Upfront Online induction programme. The judges were particularly impressed with the programme's exceptional creativity, both aesthetically and as applied to eLearning. The BBC also demonstrated a clear basis and direction for the content.
This year, the entries in this category demonstrated genuinely creative eLearning programmes. The judges were impressed with the way that all the candidates had demonstrated how their eLearning content was able to meet a clear organisational need and provide successful outcomes. However, the judges rated two entries as exceptional. Apart from the winner - the BBC - McDonalds' Online Orientation Programme was both well thought out and designed.
However, the World of Learning's Senior Project Manager, Andrew Gee, said: "We have been consulting with our supporters and industry contacts, and have been advised that this year, in light of the current economic situation, time and staff resources are more limited than ever. In order to maintain the high standards that the industry has come to expect from the event, we have taken the decision to postpone the Awards, to allow participants to focus their efforts and resources on the World of Learning Conference and Exhibition (which takes place at the NEC, Birmingham on 30th September and 1st October this year). We are looking forward to hosting the event again in 2010."
Of course, it's a nice try - to put as positive a spin as possible on a rather sad situation. However, it looks as though the World of Learning Awards have not fired the industry's imagination as much as, say, the highly successful ELearning Awards (organised by BizMedia, publishers of ELearning Age magazine, with the support of the industry's professional association, the eLN) - due in November - and the recent Training Journal Awards.
The question is, how will the World of Learning Conference and Exhibition fare? Those in the corporate learning industry will be watching with interest.
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.
You can contact Bob.
