Ashridge expands virtual learning offer

Leading international business school, Ashridge - www.ashridge.org.uk - is developing its commitment to online learning using content from Echelon Publishing.

UK-based Ashridge works with individuals and organisations in three core areas of executive education, research and consulting. The school’s activities and areas of expertise include open & tailored executive education programmes; MBA, MSc & diploma qualifications; organisation consulting; applied research and online learning.

Ashridge’s Virtual Learning Resource Centre (VLRC) was launched in 1998. It harnesses the school’s expertise in management and organisational development, using web technology to deliver learning material to learners’ desktops. This includes 60 learning guides on key topics such as leadership, mentoring, emotional intelligence, strategic awareness and coaching. Each learning guide has practical ideas for applying what has been learned, self-assessment exercises, and summaries of further resources such as books, and journal articles.

Ashridge has recently re-launched the VLRC with new content which includes a range of essays and digests published by Echelon together with links to 100 modules of generic content from its learning resource www.learningmatters.com aligned to its existing learning guides.

Participants access the VLRC to help support personal development in between modules and after the programme.

Organisations that subscribe corporately to the VLRC can also access the wealth of management development materials through their companies’ Intranet, or Internet.

At present, the VLRC has a user base of 500,000 potential learners and with the correct senior support, promotion and marketing activities usage figures can be as high as 30% for certain organisations.

Ashridge’s VLRC Product Manager, Andrew Mechelewski sees Echelon’s role as important to its development in usage commensurate with the school’s expansion in various international markets.

"We were impressed by the generic content available from Echelon to support the use of our guides," he says.

"This input has expanded to authoring important new bespoke material for our information portfolio, notably on the subject of human resources.

"We expect this contribution to be an important one in the successful development of Ashridge’s VLRC."

Ends

*********

About Ashridge

Ashridge is a leading international business school based in Hertfordshire, England. Founded in 1959, Ashridge works with individuals and organisations from around the world in its three core areas of executive education, research and consulting.
It is consistently ranked as one of the world’s leading business schools.

About Echelon Learning

Echelon Learning is a consultancy-led publishing house that integrates electronically-delivered knowledge and learning into the development of management skills and business performance.