The Learned Man: Hello Dr. Clark. This website had reported sometime back about the shortage of Instructional Designers in India. The offshore eLearning Industry in India is booming but one of the major pain points is the lack of qualified ID's. These companies, due to lack of choice recruit everybody from journalists, copy writers, teachers and try to teach them the basics of ID. You are an extremely popular figure and widely read author among the ID community in India. The Learned Man has put together a few questions that I am sure a lot of us have on our minds, for you:
The Learned Man: 1)Have you worked
with any Indian eLearning companies? What has the
experience been like?
Dr Clark: I had
extensive discussions with Maximize Learning to deliver
a week of seminars in India for them this past Spring.
Because Maximize Learning was bought out by another
company, we never carried out the plan. The experience
overall was frustrating. This I am sure was a unique
situation and does not characterize the Indian
e-Learning market in general.
The Learned Man: 2)Have you
considered a partnership with Indian Universities to
help address this problem (shortage of ID's) given the
wide use of your materials in India?
Dr
Clark: I had discussed this possibility with Maximize
Learning and they were planning to set up meetings with
the local university. Again, this did not materialize.
Given opportunities for distance learning via webcasts
etc. I would think this would be a viable option.
Perhaps if I can get some referrals to some
universities, I could initiate some
contacts.
The Learned Man: 3)Would you consider
revising the prices of your online courses to make them
more accessible to Indian students desirous of gaining a
certification from you?
Dr Clark: I believe
something could be worked out. For example, we could
increase class size and in that way reduce per person
cost. As everyone is aware, travel costs to India are
high (compared to within U.S. travel) and the time
commitment would preempt other US seminars I can teach.
Thus work in India is expensive for me. We can discuss
options.
The Learned Man: 4) Are you planning
a visit to India anytime? I know that there are lots of
people here who would be eager to meet with you and
benefit from a lecture or talk
Dr Clark:
After the previous problems working with Maximize
Learning, I have not pursued any further trips. My
schedule tends to book out about 3 months. If you are
interested in coordinating some kind of event let me
know and we can discuss specifics. We could organize two
seminars plus a speaking engagement in a 1 week time
frame. Our busy time period here in the U.S. is Q4 - so
I would be available March of 06.
The Learned Man hopes that eLearning vendors, universities and colleges across India will take note of this and hopefully we will get to see Dr. Clark in India sooner than later!
