News story

Big Sponge Hangout connects global learning community

Plymouth, UK22 Jul 2016Learning NewsSponge

A four-day online event on how to use learning technologies to innovate, integrate and inspire in the workplace has brought together over 250 delegates and 25 learning experts.

The Big Sponge Hangout, hosted by award-winning elearning company, Sponge UK, took place from July 18 to 21, 2016. 

Learning professionals from across the world joined industry experts to share their experiences and tips on achieving success. 

The free event included a mix of live chats and video discussions on a wide range of topics including gamification, corporate social responsibility in learning, onboarding, video-based elearning, mobile strategy, next generation LMS technology, social learning, user-centric design and marketing. 

Louise Pasterfield, Managing Director, Sponge UK said: 

“The Big Sponge Hangout covered a lot of ground in just four days! I hope the delegates have been inspired to use new ideas and techniques in their own organisations. It was fascinating to hear how people are using elearning in a host of imaginative ways to improve performance and develop their people. I was struck by the global nature of our industry, and how digital learning can bring benefit to international audiences.”    

The launch event of the Big Sponge Hangout saw some of the biggest names in L&D come together to explore the current state of elearning around the world and future international trends. 

The panel included David Kelly, Senior Vice President and Executive Director at the Elearning Guild, Donald H. Taylor, Chairman of the Learning & Performance Institute and the Learning & Skills Group, Nicola Appel, International Community Manager at Articulate and Con Sotidis, Australian learning expert from LearnKotch Consulting. 

The impact of Brexit on the elearning sector was one of the topics tackled by the panel along with the value of Microlearning, the development of augmented reality and the changing role of L&D.   

Delegates had access to more than 5 hours of online content across three main themes of inspire, integrate and innovate. 

A full schedule of the Big Sponge Hangout sessions is available via http://spongeuk.com/the-big-sponge-hangout/. 

Sponge UK is the current gold winner of Outstanding Learning Organisation of the Year and a previous gold winner of Elearning Development Company of the Year (Elearning Awards).  

The company is an Ambassador for Towards Maturity, the independent research body that helps learning professionals to improve the impact of learning technologies at work.