eLN Announces First Ever Member from the United States
Margaret Kelsey, from Kelsey and Company has become the eLN’s first ever member from the United States.
Based in Portland, Maine, a fishing village on the East Coast of the USA, Margaret, has run independent eLearning consultancy, Kelsey and Company, for the last four years.
She initially came upon the eLN earlier in 2007 when doing an online search.
Margaret said:
“At my first Learning Technologies conference in January 07, I was incredibly impressed by the structure of the conference, the content of the professional tracks, the breadth and depth of the presenters, the quality and variety of the exhibits, and the opportunities to network and engage in rich conversations about shared interests. In the US, conferences tend to focus on the application of new technologies; whereas I found this particular conference focused on the impact of learning technologies on performance.
“In particular, Phil Green led a session called the “Great Balloon Debate”, which struck me as one of the most well-designed and engaging conference sessions I’d ever had the privilege to attend. Rich with didactic involvement from the audience, it went beyond the typical conference session of bullet points, graphs, anecdotes, and small break-out groups. I returned to the states renewed and inspired; the true test and ROI of attending a conference. After that, the opportunity to become a member of the eLN was a natural extension.
Margaret continued:
Since becoming a member I’ve developed professional relationships and opportunities with different companies in the UK as a result, making that body of water between our shores feel much less like an ocean and more like a pond.”
Kelsey and Company provides instructional design services and consultation to emerging Fortune 2000 companies. Clients span all sectors, including civic, corporate and non-profit. The company specialises in examining the impact of an organization’s strategic goals on human capital; recognizing where and how such strategic goals necessitate adaptive and technical changes, which in turn determine and influence the need for timely and appropriately designed, developed and deployed blended learning solutions.
A recent project was the design of a comprehensive sales training program, distributed to more than 400 employees and contractors for PowerPay, a nationwide company which provides payment processing services to 30,000 merchants across the country.
Margaret, who is currently working on a book, called You Think You Need Training: Do You Really? Examining the factors that influence performance improvement, continued:
“As a consultant offering instructional design services on performance improvement, I believe it’s critical to stay abreast of developments in emerging learning technologies, adult learning theory and practices, evolutions in thought on organizational development and how to inspire leadership at all levels. The eLN fulfills all these needs on every level.”
The eLearning Network (eLN) is the UK’s foremost professional association of users and developers of all forms of eLearning.