Publishing spearheads growth at Echelon Learning

Growing interest in its Publishing capabilities has won major UK institutional and corporate contracts for learning design specialist, Echelon Learning.

Using its bespoke content management system (CMS), the London-based company publishes learning and knowledge based materials on the web and in text for professional bodies offering students distance learning programmes, as well as repackaging data in the form of structured libraries of information for blue-chip intranets.

Via its generic resource of proven ‘off-the-peg’ learning materials (www.learningmatters.com), Echelon is meeting the needs of trainers and self-learners seeking training, personal development and job performance support.

The company hosts client sites and offers a ‘lite’ learning management system (LMS) for distributing content via the web and for tracking usage.

Central to offer
“Publishing has become increasingly central to our offer,” says director David Hill. “Organisations are increasingly recognising the importance of structuring their intranet-based knowledge and information through the content management of material – so providing learning that is easy to access, and stored and displayed in an effective structure.

“The time and cost-efficiencies being demonstrated by new capabilities in the electronic re-purposing and updating of content are also attractive to users,” he adds.

Recent work undertaken with professional bodies developing qualification-based learning and continuous professional development (CPD) includes projects for the Royal Town Planning Institute, Institute of Civil Engineers, Institute of Chartered Secretaries & Administrators, and Charted Institute of Personnel & Development.

Echelon Publishing has undertaken, additionally, work for blue-chip organisations seeking to repackage informational knowledge and learning to provide ‘real-time’ performance solutions.

Corporate clients include BUPA, Vodafone, North West Development Agency, Moat House Hotels, Qualification Curriculum Authority, Westminster Kingsway College and Coventry Building Society.

Meanwhile, an award-winning initiative to help trust status seeking NHS hospitals capture improvement ideas from staff and patients has been introduced by Echelon’s consulting arm.

Good ideas
‘One Thousand Ideas’ is a three-month long programme enabling patients, users and staff to identify up to 1,000 practical opportunities for improved service delivery.

The initiative, which can be tailored to specific Trust needs, includes an implementation toolkit for use in all staff/PPI situations including expert patient groups and Foundation Trust member groups.

The programme has been rolled out in an acute Foundation Trust and a London teaching hospital.

Chelsea & Westminster NHS Trust won the 2005 Health Service Journal Communication Award for evidenced service improvements resulting from the initiative.

Learning Technologies 06
Working applications of publishing technologies in the development and delivery of learning and information for businesses and professional bodies are a focal offer from Echelon’s Publishing Division at the Learning Technologies Show.

The event, Europe's leading learning and skills exhibition and conference, takes place 25th - 26th January 2006, Olympia 2, London. Echelon is exhibiting on Stand 49.

Echelon, founded in 1987, specialises in integrating electronically-delivered knowledge and learning into the development of management skills and business performance.

Its activities span consulting, e-learning and publishing. The latter has been a major growth area for the company over the past 12 months, says director David Hill.

“We’re using this show as a platform for demonstrating how content management can ensure organisational learning that is easy to access, and is stored and displayed in an effective structure,” he says. “We shall also be showing how the electronic re-purposing and updating of content makes this technology so time and cost-efficient.”

Case studies at LT ‘06
Echelon publishes student-based learning and continuous professional development (CPD) for professional bodies. It also provides corporates with the ability to repackage and share organisational knowledge, publish specialist content and plug knowledge gaps by offering a library of generic learning.

Details of Echelon’s work with bodies such as the Royal Town Planning Institute, Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply, Institute for Internal Auditors and organisations including Vodafone, Qualification Curriculum Authority and Westminster Kingsway College will be available for review on its stand at this year’s Learning Technologies.

Ends


Released January 2006 on behalf of Echelon Publishing by BLP&PR

Media contact: Peter Muir Tel + 44 (0)1296 715228
Email: echelon@pmpr.co.uk

Sales contact: David Hill Tel + 44 (0)20 8568 1500
Email: david@echelonl.com

About Echelon Learning

Echelon Learning is a consultancy-led publishing house that integrates electronically-delivered knowledge and learning into the development of management skills and business performance.

Echelon Consulting spearheads the company’s service with the development of new content in meeting clients’ requirements. This is usually derived from analysing employee knowledge and learning needs captured during client learning programmes.

Where appropriate, Echelon Publishing then offers this new content to a wider audience by publishing the material in generic format. This is made available in the form of easy to use ‘learning nuggets’ and is complimented with business development information licensed exclusively from one of the market’s best-known providers, Bloomsbury.

Echelon e-Learning provides the electronic systems which enable content to be published, distributed and usage tracked, and offers work-based solutions to a global audience. Now Echelon’s blended learning based on a bespoke site populated with material selected to support specific courses, builds knowledge prior to the event and refreshes application when back at the desk.