NETg, one of the leading providers of technology-based training, is today launching a new tool to be known as NLO+.
The company is primarily a provider of IT training, although it is partnering with several other suppliers to extend the range of TBT courses into some business and soft skills titles. A key feature of the system has been the introduction of a 'learning object' architecture. Learning objects comprise the lowest unit of a course, be it text, audio or a graphic, which can be licenced as individual objects.
The new NLO+ tool allows customers to aggregate these individual learning objects in uniquely tailored ways, adding their own content and disabling other aspects which are not required. Pam Burton, NETg's Director of Global Marketing says: "Organisations are now able to produce IT training that is company or task specific, in minutes, without the need for using complex authoring or development software."
The tool is another example of a rapidly growing trend to deliver learning in bite-sized chunks. The concept is similar to the 'just-in-time' approach adopted by many manufacturing and assembling plants: learning is made available to the employee at the time and place that he or she requires it; and the 'quantity' of learning is sufficient to meet their immediate needs.
Another aspect of this approach is that staff want intelligent tools which can sense the issue or problem they are currently working with and provide them with context-specific learning from an intelligent online e-manual. This is the model adopted by the on-disk Help for major software programmes, and is being extended to other areas of the learning environment.
NETg have partnered with KnowledgePool to provide 24 hour coaching support to their customers and users through the use of email - a system which operates as a 'virtual call centre' using email as the communications medium.
The company sees NLO+ as giving client companies far greater flexibility in the way technology-based training is delivered, and that consequently it will attract greater numbers of people to this form of learning.
