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John Lamb's Week: Caught in the learning curve
In his latest column to preview the upcoming week's key events, respected industry watcher John Lamb looks at high-tech training and the MacWorld conference.

By John Lamb

Published: Monday 08 January 2001

January is a time to pull on the hair shirt and determine to do better over the year ahead. It is also traditionally a time for gatherings of people involved in training and education. There must be a connection there somewhere.

On Friday, the British Education and Training Technology conference and exhibition gets under way at London Olympia. The event runs over the weekend, proving, if nothing else, that educators and academics are a hard working lot. Despite the extracurricular timing of the event, over 20,000 people are expected to attend.

In contrast, the e-learning conference at the fleshpots of Claridges Hotel, London, on Wednesday and Thursday provides a more corporate view of training with case studies from BP, Ericsson, Shell and Xerox. The conference will also include a video presentation from the US of a training application by Lutheran church members.

Despite the fact that IT is both a major consumer of training courses and a source of learning aids, training and education still exist in a high technology twilight zone.

Skills shortages have bedevilled the business, slowing projects and driving up the cost of IT. However, employers have been reluctant to invest in training because of an uncertain return, while individuals looking to pay their own way struggle to find the hefty fees charged for courses. Suppliers have learned the lesson that they cannot sell products unless there is a critical mass of skilled people to deploy them.

The introduction of certified engineering courses by major suppliers has gone a long way to providing the manpower needed to roll out applications based on packages such as Windows 2000, Oracle and SQL. Course materials are prepared at the same time new packages are developed and are an integral part of the launch of the software.

On the other side of the fence computer-based instruction is still regarded with some suspicion by professional educators. Schools recognise the educational value of the internet, for example, but then get bogged down in how to protect children from adult areas of the net. Similarly, there is still a strong feeling that face-to-face teaching is more effective in most cases than screen-based alternatives.

However, computer-based training has proved its worth in passing on well defined skills such as those needed by maintenance engineers or software users. In companies, web-based desktop learning is being touted as a cost-effective alternative to classroom instruction.

Trainees do not have to troop to an off-site centre for days on end leaving their managers with an empty office. Students can go at their own pace with software that adjusts itself to their individual progress. With the right communications facilities they can take part in teleconference sessions and view video on demand.

This week, Mac enthusiasts will be hoping to learn where their favourite platform is heading. Steve Jobs will be addressing them at the MacWorld Exhibition in San Francisco on Tuesday. Delegates booed the high priest of alternative computing when he sold part of Apple to Microsoft. Although he is unlikely to face such a hostile reception this year, he will have some explaining to do.

Delegates will want to know when they can expect faster processors for the G3 and G4 machines and confirmation that the latest version of the Mac operating system - Mac OS X - will be released at the end of February (it was due out last summer).

After an impressive recovery from the doldrums of the eighties, Apple has shown signs of slowing again. It's an impression reinforced by the company's decision to slash the price of some of its models in what was widely regarded as a move to tart up sales figures.

After all the tears let's hope that Steve has learned the lessons of the past. One thing is for sure though - he may have once sold PCs barefoot, but he is no man for a hair shirt.