These are exciting times for Netex, we’re about to see the culmination of months of hard work by our developers and product team with the release of a new range of solutions. To celebrate these efforts and to have a night out at a swanky London venue, we held a launch event at the uber cool IceTank venue in the heart of London’s Covent Garden on Wednesday 7th October.
We invited clients, partners and industry experts to our first official event in the UK and were really pleased to have nearly 40 people in attendance. This article is intended to give a brief overview for those that could not make the event and recap on some of the discussions had. The event was split into three sections, so let’s review each of these now.
EdTech & Interoperability
First off, Ricardo Álvarez (International Commercial Director) provided a welcome introduction to Netex and talked about the growth of the company internationally. He then went on to talk about the unique perspective Netex has gained from being a learning technology solutions provider to both the corporate learning space and also what is now more commonly being known as “EdTech”, or the use of digital solutions in the classroom. He drew upon the experiences of the synergies we have gained from these two areas and introduced the concept of interoperability, which was one of the key themes within the new range of solutions we were launching at the event.
I was then bestowed the honour to introduce Netex learningCloud, our new learning platform, designed to provide learners with a solution more akin to Smart TV.
A single platform where learners can access all of the applications associated to learning that they need. A solution which can be customised, much like a consumer TV package, to add applications based on required learning outcomes.
Coming back to the theme of interoperability we looked at a standard that is becoming more prevalent in the EdTech space, Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI). So in the near future you will be able to integrate external learning applications such as TED Talks within your learningCloud instance and provide learners with a seamless journey through these applications.
Fátima Rodríguez, learningCloud Product Manager, then was able to give the audience a first look at the new solution which will be available from January 2016. Focusing on the design and user experience she showcased the product for an iPad device.
Next up we looked at one of the new applications available, either as standalone solution now, or an application within learningCloud in January – Netex learningPlay. Gamification is a hot topic right now, not just in L&D but across many business streams. learningPlay has been developed as a solution for organisations that either have pre-existing content or platforms (LMS and Social) and would like to add gamified components such as Leader Boards, Badges, Points etc to engage and motivate learners. I showcased the tool and examples of gamfied content and as in our partner event in Madrid the previous week, there was much interest in this new tool.
Experts, L&D and industry news.
We then moved into the third phase of the evening where we invited three industry experts (I won’t use the word veterans) to share some of their thoughts on hot topics within the L&D sector right now.
First up was Martin Belton (Owner, Ascot Communications), who reviewed Gamification and discussed whether Gamification really meant adding games within content, or if was all about providing the tools to motivate learners to learn in the first place. This sparked some interesting debates and showed why it was one of the hottest topics in L&D right now – if you’re interested in reading more about Martin’s thoughts, take a look at his previous article on i-lovelearning.com.
Ricardo Álvarez then introduced Peter Carlin, Director of innovative Irish learning services company, Logicearth. Peter looked at the concept of modern agile learning development. He introduced the concept of L&D as service providers, talking about how we have moved away from single screen, click next training to an age where we need to be developing content using modern techniques to really captivate our learners.
Finally, Martin Addison CEO of Video Arts, talked about the growth and resurgence of video in learning. Martin spoke about the democratisation of content and how tools like smartphones mean we can all become content producers. But at the same time to consider the importance of storyboarding and humour to really capture the learner’s attention.
Learning Analitycs and Smart Content.
As the debate started and we opened the floor for more questions, we moved on to the use of analytics in training and at this point we introduced Smart Content, our new technology which transforms eLearning content into intelligent, collaborative content that aims to transform digital classroom strategies. We’ve held an official launch at Frankfurt Book Fair from October 14th, so watch this space for more news.
Last and by no means least we were able to network over a selection of Spanish Tapas and Wines and Beers, a great opportunity to meet and share experiences with fellow L&D professionals!
