As part of the Edstartup 101 course I need to set out the edstartup idea I am working on at the moment. So here goes:
- The Idea: We will offer an opportunity to implement digital work-based training enabling effective learning through social learning, informal learning and personalized learning paths. It is targeted at organisations that have already taken tentative steps but wish to achieve more and at organizations that would like to take face to face training and make it digital. Our learning platform will be based on a well-established open source technology, MOODLE, that can be customized to offer the above benefits. Finally we will offer course developers the opportunity to sell their courses even if these are offered in different languages.
- The problem being solved: Work-based training is changing. As budgets are squeezed and we know more about effective learning, the traditional training department is being phased out or shrunk, in favour of continuous, informal learning and Knowledge Management procedures which ensure that employees are trained just in time through a mix of learning objects, job aids, social networks and access to information. We will be able to offer help to organisations needing to make that transition. We will also be able to offer them an opportunity to sell their expertise.
- How we will help: We will be able to help by using a platform which has been tried and tested over ten years but which is flexible enough to include tools enabling individual learning paths and social and informal learning. We are starting simultaneously in several European countries and eventually hope to go global. Therefore we will be able to provide an international customer base for training which is of wider interest. We will also provide the language support needed to cross international boundaries with good training material. In order to ensure quality training materials we will offer all course developers a free course in how to prepare their own training.
- Why are we doing this? Because we have many years of experience using MOODLE and know what works as well as the pitfalls. We have experienced the exhilaration when training is not just a chore but actually engages trainees and we would like to help spread that expertise.