The e-learning fieldbook

My postman was only too pleased to offload Nick van Dam's The e-Learning Fieldbook (McGraw-Hill, 2004) from his bag, because in hardback format and at 330 pages, it weighs a ton. This book is far too heavy to take with me on my travels, so I skimmed through it sitting on the sofa, looking only occasionally to check the score in the England v India cricket match.

This is an excellent effort from Nick and some 30 of his colleagues at Deloitte Consulting and I can't understand why I haven't come across it before. You have to wonder where they got the time from to put this together and just what was in it for the firm, because the royalties from this book all go to e-Learning for Kids.

What about the book? Well, the focus is essentially on making e-learning work in large corporations. The first half is the theory, no longer leading edge but still solid and reliable. The second half is devoted to 25 case studies, describing how each project was aligned to the business, how it was designed and the impact it had. The case studies are organised according to the type of training involved, which makes them easy to reference.

As books on e-learning implementation go, this looks as good as any, and should prove a useful resource to anyone charged with initiating an e-learning strategy in a corporate setting.