Unicorn Training MD Neill McWilliams says that 2011 Learning Technologies reaffirmed his belief that subject matter expertise and exceptional instructional design will drive eLearning development in financial services in 2011 and beyond.
The Unicorn team joined thousands of delegates from across the learning and development industry for the two-day exhibition at Olympia 2 in January where the big technology trends and topics in learning and development came under the spotlight.
Neill believes the number and range of learning management systems showcased at the event demonstrates that in financial services in particular, where compliance, professionalism and job-related CPD are increasingly core, the ongoing need for user-friendly, customisable content management dictates solution developments.
And he asserts that while technologies such as mobile learning and social networking are inevitably set to play an increasingly significant role in financial services eLearning delivery it will be as part as part of a wider challenge within financial services to respond to the industry’s constantly evolving training demands.
Reviewing the show Neill said: “It is not the technology that is changing the financial services eLearning market; it is the changes in the financial services marketplace that requires eLearning providers such as ourselves to use the developing technologies in a different, and the most appropriate and innovative, way.
“For example there is a definite shift in compliance to competence. It is no longer enough to buy an off-the-shelf course and simply tick another box, there is now a real requirement for employees to understand where that compliance fits in to their particular business and company. Regulatory and in-house training go hand-in-hand.
“This means a continuing shift towards an arena where managing content, subject matter expertise, exceptional instructional design and LMS functionality are the most critical factors. These systems are also unrivalled in their capacity to evolve and integrate new technologies to enhance the learning experience.
“Ensuring that the huge, and ever-increasing, amount of content that is out there is made sense of and managed accordingly remains our biggest challenge.”
TAKE A LOOK AT OUR 2011 LEARNING TECHNOLOGIES PRESENTATIONS ...