CERTPOINT - eLearning Experts Clark Aldrich and Bryan Chapman to Host LCMS Session Sponsored by LCMS Vendor Council During OnLine Learning 2001 Conference & Expo

... LCMS Vendor Council welcomes three new members: Online Courseware Factory, Vitalect and Vuepoint Corp. ...

LOS ANGELES, C.A., Sept. 25, 2001 – Clark Aldrich, eLearning researcher and executive vice president of SimuLearn and formerly with Gartner Group, and Bryan Chapman, senior researcher and eLearning analyst at brandon-hall.com, will discuss the benefits of Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) for the enterprise during a roundtable session at the OnLine Learning 2001 conference and exposition to be held Sept. 29-Oct. 4 in Los Angeles.

Mr. Aldrich and Mr. Chapman will discuss best practices, processes, actual business issues and results during “eLearning for the Enterprise: Why Learning Content Management Matters Most,” scheduled for 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2, in Room 409A of the Los Angeles Convention Center. Following Mr. Aldrich's and Mr. Chapman's presentations, experts from companies comprising the LCMS Vendor Council will discuss the growing market demand for standards-compliant, reusable learning objects that enable companies to maximize their return on investment from eLearning infrastructure software technology.

LCMS solutions allow companies to create small units of instructional content called learning objects, reducing the time and cost of content creation as well as facilitating personalized learning for students.  IDC defines an LCMS as a system that is used to create, store and deliver personalized eLearning content in the form of learning objects.  Furthermore, IDC states that not all Learning Content Management Systems are the same and providers differentiate their offerings with unique features and functions, the ease with which they integrate with other enterprise systems, and the degree to which they customize their offerings for an enterprise’s needs.

“Probably the most exciting aspect of LCMS implementations is the control that they give back to organizations.  Training organizations focused on eLearning can move away from being just a procurement organization and back into delivering great content,” said Mr. Aldrich.  “In this session we will cover questions that companies need to think about when getting started, such as how to identify the need, what are the vendor selection criteria, best implementation practices, and what kinds of metrics should be used.”

Mr. Aldrich, who built Gartner’s eLearning practice and this year was identified by the American Society of Training and Development as one of nine members of Training’s New Guard, is currently researching the role of content in the eLearning marketplace.  Through a yearlong privately funded project, he is working with subject matter experts from leading universities and eLearning vendors as well as game manufacturers to resolve the outstanding issues around content and process.

Mr. Chapman, who has more than 18 years of experience in interactive training and writes a regular technology column for Online Learning Magazine, was the primary researcher for the recently published report “Learning Content Management Systems: Comparative Analysis of Systems Used to Construct, Organize and Reuse ‘Learning Objects’,” which compares 29 LCMS products.  Further information on this brandon-hall.com report is available at www.brandon-hall.com.

“Everyone has been talking about how learning objects will revolutionize the eLearning industry, but most of that talk has been theoretical or part of elaborate in-house projects up until now,” said Mr. Chapman. “Commercial LCMS product offerings now make learning object technology available to everyone. In reviewing the systems, we saw examples of great innovation. It’s an exciting time to be involved in eLearning as multiple team members can now work together to produce large volumes of eLearning content using a true publishing model, rather than creating individual courses one at a time.”

Council Welcomes Three New Members

The LCMS Vendor Council, which works to increase industry awareness of the value of Learning Content Management Systems, welcomes three new members: Online Courseware Factory, developers of iPerformance, giving organizations the ‘power to perform’, Vitalect, a leading provider of custom content development solutions for highly specialized learners, and Vuepoint Corp., an e-learning software and services company that matches speed to knowledge with speed to market.

About the LCMS Vendor Council

Founded in November of 2000, the LCMS Vendor Council’s mission is to increase industry awareness and understanding of Learning Content Management Systems, and to promote the value that LCMS infrastructure software solutions deliver to enterprises and the individual learner.  Current members of the LCMS Vendor Council are Global Knowledge, Knowledge Mechanics, LeadingWay Knowledge Systems, Online Courseware Factory, Vitalect, Vuepoint and WBT Systems.

LCMS Vendor Council Contacts:

Global Knowledge, Inc., http://kp.globalknowledge.com/

Guillermo Leija, Guillermo.leija@globalknowledge.com

 

Knowledge Mechanics, www.knowledgemechanics.com

Robert Koolen, rkoolen@knowledgemechanics.com

 

LeadingWay Knowledge Systems, www.leadingway.com

Paul Krueger, PaulK@leadingway.com

 

Online Courseware Factory, www.courseware-factory.com

Debbie Carlton, Debbie.Carlton@courseware-factory.com

 

Vitalect, www.vitalect.com

Stephen Hatch, shatch@vitalect.com

 

Vuepoint, www.vuepoint.com

Kiersten Elia, kelia@vuepoint.com

 

WBT Systems, www.wbtsystems.com

Michael Thomas, mthomas@wbtsystems.com