Saffron to denounce the ‘dinosaur LMS’ at LTSF

In a free seminar at tomorrow’s Learning Technologies Summer Forum, Saffron (Stand 20) will ask why we put up with LMS products and content repositories which are ten years behind the sites learners actually use. In their place, the seminar will introduce a radical new model for online learning environments, the Learning Experience Network (LEN), which leverages behavioural principles such as framing, peer comparison and the endowment effect.

‘Most LMS’s have a really a pitiful user experience and emphasise regulatory compliance over real engagement,’ says Noorie Sazen, CEO at Saffron. ‘Whilst buzzwords like ‘social learning’ and ‘gamification’ are entering the LMS field as well as elearning field, there is still little understanding of how these approaches can be applied to make learners want to learn.’

‘Our seminar starts from the understanding that learning technology cannot play a transformational role of any kind if your learners only log in – under sufferance – three or four times a year. That is the sad truth which organisations face.’

Toby Harris, who is creative lead at Saffron, will use tangible examples to explain how an ‘LMS’ can be transformed into a Learning Experience Network.

’Our work is directly shaped by the needs of our clients,’ he says. ‘We are hearing that knowledge management is a key challenge. Getting more out of large and expensively maintained content libraries which sit dormant and largely untouched is a must for any organisation. Others are seeing the same problem solved in the same way by dozens of people without anyone ever sharing the solution. By understanding the behavioural science that sits behind a modern user experience, we are now discovering ways to address these serious challenges.’

The seminar will explain:

  • Why the ‘enterprise LMS’ is a decade (or more) behind the sites which learners actually use
  • How dynamic dashboards press the neurological triggers that put learning into action
  • Why leveraging learner production (user-generated content) is the key to emotional investment
  • How Learning Experience Networks mean we can design the complete experience
  • How social network analysis enables us to identify leaders and launch viral behaviour-change campaigns

The seminar will take place at 10:30am in Theatre 3.

Online registration