7 things to look out for at Learning Technologies 2014

We’ll be attending the Learning Technologies show again this year (stand 158), we know from past experience that deciding which events and stands to visit can be daunting, particularly for a first time visitor.  We’ve drawn together this guide to take you through a few highlights of this years show, to give you some inspiration for when you attend.

Conference sessions

These sessions are part of the paid for conference sessions, if you’re subscribed to these this would be our top three (outside of the keynotes). If you’re a general delegate rather than a conference one we’ve highlighted some free seminars in the second half of this guide. The main conference is divided into “tracks” and “sessions” and the codes for these have been given below.

1. Mobile Learning

There are two talks running one after another connected with Mobile Learning, a key trend in business e-learning. The first hosted by Terence Eden focusses on the practices and pitfalls of deploying mobile learning to your organisation. The second is by Helen Bingham and Alison Potter, focussing on “putting mobile learning to work”, seeing tangible benefits from your investment in mobile learning. These sessions will take place on Wednesday the 29th from 1130 to 1230 as part of stream T2S1.

2. Van Gogh – lessons on learning

The next conference session we’d like to highlight focusses on Van Gogh and the lessons we can learn from his life. Van Gogh was noted for not being formally trained and using his own motivation to improve his skills. This session is titled “Lessons from Van Gogh on learning and performance” and will be hosted by Ger Driesen, CEO, Challenge Stretching Talent. It will take place on Wednesday the 29th from 1400 to 1500 as part of stream T5S2.

3. Games and learning

The third of the conference sessions we’d like to highlight is connected to Gamification, this can be a great way of getting otherwise reluctant staff to engage with your e-learning content. This is titled “Addicted to the game of learning” and will be hosted by Julie Wedgewood. This will be taking place on Thursday the 30th from 1130 to 1230 as a part of stream T2S4. If you are interested in Gamification we recently conducted a webinar which you can view here: https://bit.ly/wa-games

Free seminars

These seminars are free to all delegates to attend and take place in a selection of theatres around the conference. Each theatre is named underneath so you can find them on the floorplan.

4. Mobile learning case studies

There is another mobile learning talk happening as part of the seminars, this is just before the conference session on mobile learning (we’ve highlighted it as number 1 above) so you could have a good morning of mobile learning focus. This seminar is titled “Mobile and Tablet learning case studies from around the world” and will be happening on Wednesday the 29th from 1100 to 1130 in Theatre 3.

5. Onboarding with e-learning

The next session is hosted by our very own Kristine Clough one of our top e-learning consultants. Kristine will be conducting a case study of a large NHS trust and how they’ve deployed e-learning to develop their staff and conduct efficient onboarding with new starters. The seminar is titled “Successful onboarding with e-Learning” and will be taking place on Wednesday the 29th from 1100 to 1130 in Theatre 6.

6. Gamification produces results

We’re happy to highlight another session on gamification, which is a good alternative to the conference session above if you aren’t signed up for that. Deeph Chana, a senior research fellow at Imperial College London will be comparing results from game based learning compared to traditional e-learning and presenting the findings. This session is titled “Gamification produces better results than e-learning…” and will take place on Thursday the 30th from 1145 to 1215 in Theatre 6.

7. NHS learning for change

The fine session we’d like to highlight is also related to the healthcare sector, and will be hosted by Andrew Joly, the design director at LINE Communications. Andrew will be taking the seminar through a recent deployment to the NHS focussed on leadership and change in the NHS to ensure a high quality of care is maintained. This session is titled “Delivering a (massive) learning architecture for change in the NHS” and will take place on Thursday the 30th from 1315 to 1345 in Theatre 2.

Top tips for attending Learning Tech:

Plan your days – make sure you have an idea of seminars you’d like to attend or stands you don’t want to miss, then you won’t end up disappointed

Wear comfortable shoes – you will do a lot of walking at learning tech! Make sure you’re in something comfy so you can keep going

Take water with you – there are cafes on site, but it’s a good idea to keep a bottle of water with you to keep you hydrated

Keep some free time – it’s awful to have to leave a stand early because your next event is starting, build in some “free time” to your day, to let you have those conversations and get to know people

Travel with a buddy – it’s a much more enjoyable experience if you have someone to share it with, it could be someone else from your company, or a contact you have from elsewhere. It can also help you see more stands, as you could grab an extra brochure if your buddy isn’t going to get to that one