| With the amount of times I have seen the name | | | | development schemes that really propelled his |
| Charles Jennings pop up in recent news regarding | | | | interest, he states: "Employees who work for |
| e-Learning and business online, I was surprised to | | | | managers who are effective at developing people |
| discover that there was not a comprehensive and | | | | show a 25% performance increase over people |
| up-to-date profile that was easy to find (yet, | | | | who work for a manager who is ineffective at |
| rather confusingly, there was a Wikipedia for | | | | developing people, and a 39% increased likelihood |
| another Charles Jennings - journalist and | | | | of staying with their employers." |
| vice-president of CBC). Consequently, I was | | | | Since his time at Reuters, Jennings has established |
| spurred on to do some research and to write this | | | | himself as a learning and development consultant, |
| - in order to try and understand why Charles | | | | and a spokesperson for the integration of |
| Jennings has so much to say about e-Learning. | | | | e-Learning in the workplace. In a commentary on |
| In a profile at trainingzone.co.uk, it is stated that | | | | the publication of a CIPD survey at |
| his 'wide background', including a professorship at | | | | peoplemanagement.co.uk, he expressed dismay at |
| Southampton University and being head of the | | | | the findings that there had been a 6 percent |
| research centre, led to Jennings's interest in the | | | | decrease in the amount of businesses that were |
| relationship between learning and business. "Every | | | | introducing and extending their e-Learning in |
| organisation is engaged in learning and | | | | comparison to last year. |
| development...That can be summed up in one | | | | "Many may have tried e-learning once," he |
| word: performance." After a somewhat | | | | reasoned, "but had a poor experience and decided |
| small-scale start with the running of the profitable | | | | it doesn't work." With the development and |
| research centre at Southampton University, | | | | continually increasing efficiency, he urged anyone |
| Jennings soon found a position in a bigger pond as | | | | in charge of HR to reconsider investment in such |
| a strategic technology director at Dow Jones | | | | learning methods for the benefits of their |
| However, it was Jennings's role as global head of | | | | businesses and staff. Whether it's the use of Web |
| learning at Thomson Reuters that has earned him | | | | 2.0 technologies or saving money from visiting |
| his reputation as an expert in education | | | | training centres, Jennings promotes the idea that |
| development in business - a role that saw him | | | | innovation is the key to get the most from online |
| responsible for 18,000 people worldwide. Yet, it | | | | learning in the workplace. |
| was the statistics he saw from successful staff | | | | |