In association with The Virtual College, Learning Light, a company which provides advice and help to organisations using e-learning and learning technologies to improve their business performance, has developed an e-learning content evaluation tool (ELCET).

David Patterson, a director of Learning Light, explained: “ELCET provides an objective assessment of any piece of e-learning.

David Patterson, of Learning Light.

“Basically, ELCET provides a quality mark for e-learning content. It’s something that the corporate learning technologies sector has needed for many years.

“The tool itself contains 18 metrics – or criteria – that can be applied to any piece of e-learning. Depending on the complexity of any piece of e-learning, it can be subjected to seven, 12 or 18 of these metrics – and this produces an objective evaluation of ‘low’, ‘middle’ and ‘top’ end e-learning materials.

“Meeting the ELCET criteria provides an ‘accreditation’ for any piece of online-delivered learning material,” he concluded.

Only ELCET accredited e-learning materials are allowed in the ‘courses’ section of the recently re-launched website, The E-Learning Centre. The E-learning Centre is an information resource about e-learning and learning technologies for business education, not-for-profit or the public sector.

In addition to the information and the many resources that are freely available on the site are a vast array of e-learning materials, gathered under the heading of ‘courses’. These learning materials are produced by acknowledged leaders in technology-delivered corporate learning, including the Virtual College, EJ4, eltalking and the language learning specialists, Altissia.

“Since all the e-learning materials in the Centre’s ‘courses’ section meet the ELCET quality criteria, anyone who’s looking for e-learning materials for themselves or their organisation can be confident of the quality of those available via the E-learning Centre website,” Patterson said.

“ELCET also makes easier our job – of assessing potential learning materials for the E-learning Centre website.

“Now that, in corporate learning circles, the Centre’s growing portfolio of e-learning materials is becoming known, so we’re being approached by producers to include their generic e-learning materials. So we need an evaluation tool, such as ELCET to streamline the selection process and provide the quality criteria which determines the outcome of each producer’s request.”

At present, the learning materials available through the E-learning Centre cover topics including business improvement; business productivity; communication; customer service; equality and diversity; food hygiene; health and safety; health and social care; HR conversations information and data protection; leadership and management; learning and development; maths/ grammar for business; recycling and waste management; selling skills, and languages. This list of topics is expected to grow as more producers submit their products to the scrutiny of ELCET.