The ELearning Fieldbook [Electronic resources] : Implementation Lessons and Case Studies from Companies that are Making eLearning Work

Acknowledgements

The e-Learning Fieldbook is the result of a passionate collaboration from a dedicated team of learning professionals, whose individual and collective knowledge, ideas, contributions, and outstanding work in the field of learning, I would like to acknowledge.

The path to create this book was long and arduous, as those of you who have traveled this journey before already know. Many aspects must come together, including: concept development, crafting the research structure and questions, identifying case organizations, scheduling interviews, conducting literature reviews, writing cases and chapters, style, lay-out and design of visuals and cover, review, editing, and finally creating a camera-ready version to send to the printer. In addition, over all of this is the project management that drives the deadlines and the final accomplishment.

All these tasks mentioned have been accomplished primarily during the personal time of learning professionals, who became known in our virtual collaboration as The e-Learning Fieldbook Team. Without the effort of this team, this book would not have existed. My sincere thanks and enormous appreciation goes to all of the members of this team including: Teresa Calkins, Katie Coates, Karen Dominick, David Dun, Gregg Fair, Mary Faris, Chrissie Gale, Tamara Ganc, Leslie Gibson, Catlyn Gregory, Alicia Hanna, Candy Haynes, Steve Hendrick, Jennifer Holenstein, Bill Knapp, Doug Liberati, Nancy Nonne, Michelle Ratcliffe, Bernadine Reynolds, Jordan Reynolds, Eileen Rogers, Sunil Sapre, Kathleen Scholz, Susan Schultz, Tammy Sharpless, Gary Siebert, Michael Warner, and Amy Wisely.

Several friends from The e-Learning Fieldbook Team made such significant contributions to this book that I want to acknowledge them personally. In alphabetical order, very special thanks to:

Katie Coates, the Deloitte Consulting Learning Director of Learning Design. It was Katie who volunteered to become the overall project manager for this book. She took care that we met the extremely challenging deadlines, and pulled us through this entire project. I want to thank Katie for giving generously of her free time, but more for her outstanding contributions to this book, particularly in the great thinking on designing blended e-learning. Your passion for learning shines through, in all the work that you've done. Thanks also to Marshall for letting you work so many weekends on this project.

David Dun, the Deloitte Consulting Learning Director in Europe. Having served on four continents, David's insights on global cultures and motivation of people’s acceptance of e-learning were highly valuable to the development of the concepts in this book. You are my best example of a Digital Immigrant, who has lost his ‘analog’ accent completely. e-Learning must have been invented for people like you!

Gregg Fair, the master behind the ‘look and feel’. Gregg made a significant contribution to the design of a number of great visuals for the book and also ensured that the entire book was delivered camera-ready. Your patience as new changes surfaced, even after final deadlines, was enormously appreciated. Thanks for making it possible to attain the ‘pre-flight’ tests in time.

Tamara Ganc, the lead visual designer for this book. Tamara has an amazing ability to visualize the ideas from the left side of my brain, and to make my drawings on the whiteboard come alive in dynamic and creative ways that I had only imagined. I can only question what this book would have looked like without your creative genius and design ideas.

Alicia Hanna, who did an amazing job in scheduling all the interviews. Within a very short time frame, so many case organizations were engaged in interviews due to her friendly and persistent manner in getting on everybody’s calendar. Your charming Southern accent made a huge difference in getting people on-board.

Candy Haynes, the Deloitte Consulting Learning Associate Chief Learning Officer. Candy was a great help in thinking through the original concept of this book. With her son sitting patiently on her lap, she contributed knowledge on e-learning technology, working with vendors, and gaining stakeholder support. Special thanks for helping me to keep pushing for innovation in learning, and for the strong support in the execution of our learning vision. Your special humor and camaraderie at moments of work-overload have encouraged me tremendously.

Nancy Nonne, for editing the entire manuscript. You have done such a fantastic job in a thorough review of each case and chapter, catching all errors and inconsistencies, and ensuring that the flow was right. Your eye for detail and final touch has made the book so much better.

Michelle Ratcliffe, for contributing to the research questions and generating the first example case. You helped everybody tremendously by asking good and tough questions. Thanks for all your work on the case studies; this has helped so much to develop a high quality book. It was fantastic having you on the team. Forgive my impatience and the constant push for getting things done faster.

Eileen Rogers, special thanks for your enthusiasm for learning, your untiring writing and research, and for making all the content edits to this entire Fieldbook. Significantly valuable was also your knowledge of global business and insights on the cultural differences in the adoption of e-learning. Your contribution to the book has been enormous. I have such a great time with you in exploring new ideas and solutions. Thanks for the passion we share for people development and learning.

Kathy Scholz, the Deloitte Consulting Learning Director of Learning Technology Infrastructure. I have deep appreciation for your extremely valuable work and experience in the measurement of e-learning shared in this book. This is such a great significance for learning professionals, as it is one of the most difficult tasks to accomplish effectively. You are the best in getting agreed-to deliverables in on time. I have learned so much from you.

The e-Learning Fieldbook would not exist without all the pioneering and innovative e-learning fieldwork that has been done by all the organizations featured in this book. I want to thank all of the professionals from the case organizations for taking the time for the interviews, providing their insights, and sharing their successes, challenges, and lessons learned.

Special thanks also are due to the people who have reviewed and critiqued the book including:

Daphne Batka, Global Head Learning Infrastructure, Deutsche Bank

Sushant Buttan, Chief Executive Officer, Maximize Learning

Tony Gleeson, Global Director e-Learning, Deloitte Touche Tomatsu

Andy Hill, Chief Executive Officer, Smartfirm Inc.

Jeff Schwartz, Partner, Global Human Capital Practice, Deloitte Consulting

Thanks also to:

Cushing Anderson, Program Director for IDC’s Learning Services Research, for sharing important data and research with me and for our intriguing discussions on the future of e-learning.

Sushant Buttan, and the excellent professionals at Maximize Learning for developing The e-Learning Fieldbook Web site—at no cost, to support the e-Learning for Kids Foundation.

Jeanne Meister, for sharing your industry experience and providing names from your learning network, and special thanks for writing the forward to this book.

Richard Narramore, Senior Editor, McGraw-Hill for his trust in the concept and development of this Fieldbook, and his unshakable confidence that the deadline would be met. Thanks also for your valuable advice on the manuscript, and the support in making this unique book very special in content and style.

Finally, my family deserves the most appreciation. My six-year old son Yannick is a source of constant inspiration, watching him play and discover while engaging in e-learning. But he deserves special thanks for sharing his bedroom as a study with me. It was a source of comfort in long nights of work to see him sleeping next to my desk as I was reading, writing, thinking, and drawing new visuals for the Fieldbook.

Most important to my life and work is my wife Judith, who is the real leader and driving force behind all of my achievements. She has my deepest love and gratitude for firing my imagination, sharpening my thinking on concepts, and inspiring my thinking with art, photography, piano music, and delicious dinners.

Developing this book was a fantastic and fun learning experience. I feel very privileged to know and to have received the on-going support of all the people mentioned in the creation of The e-Learning Fieldbook. Thank you.

Nick van Dam

Chadds Ford/Philadelphia, May, 2003