What is Otter E-Learning?
We build interactive, scalable and personalized courses around your
first-rate university or corporate content. For more than 10 years we
have dedicated ourselves to creating the best collaborative learning on
the Web.
The Otter Group's e-learning model is distinguished by its emphasis on:
* Low production costs/high value
learning-management services: We have shifted our course production
model to a new set of tools that make it as inexpensive as possible to
develop new learning programs. In the past we used expensive
production techniques like video and flash movies. We are now
developing models for pushing the production costs as low as
possible. Take a look at our Podcasting for Learning paper to see
one model of a course that takes the faculty one hour per week and the
podcast producer one hour per week to create. Hosting is
$49 per year and we use iTunes for free one-click subscription and
distribution.
We manage and support interaction now with weblogs, which are
practically free to use. By pushing our production costs to as
close to zero as possible, we then charge for our services where we can
provide the most value: in designing and managing your learning
network. Service charges are variable depending upon the time and
complexity of the project. They can range from as little as $500
per month per course to $250,000 for a full learning program and
network for a year.
* Highly engaged learning networks. The best
education relies on the easy exchange of vital ideas; put another way,
learning is fundamentally social. This holds doubly true online, so
ensuring an environment that encourages communication among students
and between students and professors is a critical element in any
successful e-learning experience. Our course designs reflect that
philosophy by steering clear of static, one-way programs and actively
tapping into and building learning networks of sophisticated
professionals.
* High levels of interactivity and scalability. To
facilitate the exchange of vital ideas, e-learning programs demand
higher than average student-to-teacher ratios, yet a major benefit of
online education is that a single professor's course can be made
available to thousands of learners at once. Our solution to this
dilemma? Emphasis on peer-to-peer learning, combined with The Learning
Director.
* Learning Directors. These corporate managers,
recruited and trained by Otter, are experts in how a course's subject
matter is most relevant to a select group of students. Learning
Directors are agents and facilitators, and they ensure that students
feel connected to the professor, the material and one another. We like
to think of them as the Avon Ladies of the Knowledge Economy.
* Personalization. One of the great advantages of
the Web is that it allows information to be organized and presented for
each individual's needs. Indeed, personalization is an area where the
power of databases can rival offerings in the physical classroom.
Otter's education model is built on our ability to capture deep
profiles of students and use them to create personal, unique learning
experiences.
* A suitable technology platform. We prefer
technology platforms that support collaboration and knowledge-sharing
and place social interaction and collaboration. We have been achieving
great results with programs that employ blogs and RSS networks.
Frequently Asked Questions:
- How much does it cost to develop a course?
- How long does it take to develop a course?
- How do you make courses with large numbers of students genuinely interactive?
- What's the deal with the otter?
- What is the history of the Otter Group?
Questions and Answers:
- Q: How much does it cost to develop a course?
A: We
have shifted our course production model to a new set of tools that
make it as inexpensive as possible to develop new learning
programs. In the past we used expensive production techniques
like video and flash movies. We are now developing models for
pushing the production costs as low as possible. Take a look at
our Podcasting for Learning
paper to see one model of a course that takes the faculty one hour per
week and the podcast producer one hour per week to create.
Hosting is $49 per year and we use iTunes for free one-click
subscription and distribution. We manage and support interaction now
with weblogs, which are practically free to use.By pushing our production costs to as close to zero as possible, we
then charge for our services where we can provide the most value.
Service charges are variable depending upon the time and complexity of
the project. They can range from as little as $500 per month per
course to $250,000 for a full learning program and network for a
year.
- Q: How long does it take to develop a course?
A: With
our new production model, we are moving into the mode of “just do it.”
Rather than spend a lot of time and money designing, we think that
courses should be rapidly prototyped and piloted with small
groups. They can take as little as a couple of weeks to get
going. Once the prototyping is done, the course should be ready
to roll out of a larger group.
- Q: How do you make courses with large numbers of students genuinely interactive?
A: There can never be deep
interaction in a course without the creation of a social context for
person-to-person exchange of ideas. Many of our programs use faculty
whose time is extremely limited. To leverage scarce time we form
small cohorts of learners who can directly interact with the professor
using a synchronous platform such as Live Meeting. When we are
working with a larger group, we provide intermediaries whom we call
Learning Directors. The Learning Director stimulates interaction
among members in the group. We also use decentralized networks
where individuals and teams work independently and then their ideas are
aggregated in a central learning network hub. New technologies
like RSS can be combined with search to create automatic links between
people and ideas and opportunities for peer-to-peer interaction. -
Q: What's the deal with the otter?
A: When
we were thinking about a name for our new company (in 1996), we wanted
to find something that would not sound like every other e-learning
company out there. We threw the I-Ching, burned some incense and came
up with the idea of an otter. When we added the laptop, we knew we had
a memorable image that communicated the spirit of our business: work
from anywhere and work smart and not hard. We add the otter to all of
our course Web sites to communicate our unique and powerful
methodology. And the name also works as an acronym: Online Training,
Technical, and Education Resources.
- Q: What is the history of the Otter Group?
A: The
Otter Group was formed in 1996 to bring the best methodology for
teaching and learning online to corporations and universities. Since
its formation, the company has developed successful programs for
Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and MIT's Sloan School of
Management, Merrill Lynch, CDM, and others. Prior to the Otter Group,
Kathleen Gilroy, the company's founder and CEO, ran a distance-learning
company, which was responsible for pioneering e-learning programs,
including Harvard Business School's first e-learning program in 1992
and the first e-learning program on e-commerce in 1995. Programs
developed by Kathleen and the Otter Group have reached tens of
thousands of professional students worldwide.
