EDITOR'S COMMENT: More haste...

E.learning Age, Sep 2009 by Williams, Peter

Expect this autumn to see a race for rapid. As the economy starts to emerge from recession and summer torpor, it is clear that many e-learning companies believe that the hot topic this autumn will be rapid e-learning. Although rapid has been a term for a year or so, leading suppliers are pushing hard the products they already have and those who in the past looked askance at the rush to rapid have now decided that if you can't beat 'em then you may as well join them.

Rapid e-learning has its critics. It may be necessary to broadcast information now out to a diverse and large user group but guality and meaning can be lost if the process is too quick. And that's a particular problem if we want to indulge ourselves in the old debate of what exactly we mean by learning. We are all currently in thrall to Web 2.0 and the power of social media, and we can push stuff out in an instant, but where is the measure of the intrinsic value?

As with all technology, only time will tell. But e-learning has done well to establish itself as an industry where quality counts and where pedagogy is taken seriously, and that must not be lost.

It is clear that rapid is a highly attractive proposition. In many cases buyers and users of rapid e-learning like what they are getting. So who is going to argue with the market, especially in these difficult times? But care should be taken not to sully the brand by a flight to speed just for speed's sake.

Peter Williams

Editor