online learning

I know it was quite some time ago now (November 12 and 13, 2009 to be precise) but Edayz09 was a huge part of my year and provided me with masses of learning opportunities that will help me and my business well into the future. This week I have been doubting the effort I put in over that time and wondering if I would ever see any real return on investment for the time and money I put into the event. Of course it was just a pessimistic moment of self doubt but I thought it might be a good idea to take stock of the what I did for the event and what I gained and give back a little something to the community as penance for my self doubt. (more on that later)

Edayz, for those of you who do not know, is THE e-learning conference for South Australia. Like many of these events it is the product of the hard work of a few dedicated people led by the amazing and talented Marlene Manto. I was lucky enough to be on the working committee in ’09 and this gave me a first hand look into the inner workings of the event. As a participant at a conference you never get a picture of the scale of these things. The planning (as far as the working committee is concerned) for Edayz09 started in February last year and lasted all the way through to our final Edayz wrap up meeting in December. Each of the members of the working committee took on different jobs throughout the year and all their efforts culminated in what was reported to be a thoroughly successful event. The working committee was not your typical sit around a talk type committee. We were active in the entire decision making process and were given quite a long leash in completing our tasks. For this reason my experience was invaluable.

So if everything was so valuable and successful what was my gripe? Well, We-Learn was a sponsor for the event and I was getting a little despondent that I was getting no solid returns on my investment of time and money. I had flyers in the conference bags, I presented two sessions, I networked, I sweated (it was bloody hot in Adelaide across those two days) and I have received not one call from “company xyz” to say “we saw you at edayz and we want you to be part of our 2 million dollar project”.  Yes I know, a very short sighted and narrow minded feeling given the other things I have gained both professionally and personally out of the experience. I must confess I did do a small amount of paid work on the Edayz09 website and for this I am grateful. But really my gains have been far greater than can be calculated or attributed to tangible ROI. The biggest gains have been the alliances and friendships formed with the members of the committee, the learning I achieved, and overall increase in visibility of my personal brand (which at this point in time is intrinsically linked with my business brand).

The experience of contributing to such a huge undertaking as edayz will be something I will have forever. The lessons I learned will continue to benefit me and my clients for the rest of my working life and perhaps beyond. So, much like e-learning itself, trying to put a ROI on my time and efforts for edayz is so intangible that the energy expended in such a calculation would be, and in fact was, a complete waste. I have read many articles about ROI for e-learning and learning in general but I am yet to be convinced it is possible to acheive a figure that is meaningful in any way (I will probably get shot for that statement).  ROI for learning is all about intangibles. Sure you can put dollar figures on this and that but attempting to calculate a figure that actually means something is in my opinion futile.

So having said that, to make amends for wasting my own time in attempting to validate what was obviously a hugely beneficial experience, I am making available the Moodle theme I designed for the Edayz site, based on the Central Blue theme. I make no promises or assurances that it will work for you and if you download it and use it and it breaks your Moodle I hold no responsibility for the consequences. Having said that you can see a working version of it at the Edayz09 site and a screen pic of it below.

edayz moodle theme

click above to download the edayz09 moodle theme

By the way, kudos to Kerry J for her nomination for an Edublog award for the awesome work she did for Edayz creating the podcasts and videos. If you havn’t done so already you should listen to Professor Martin Westwell’s Friday Keynote as well a host of others by going here.

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