22/01/2008

Dear Members of the ALISON Free Learning Community,

2008 witnesses the 60^th anniversary of the adoption and proclamation of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Of particular relevance to us here at ALISON is Article 26: “Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free…” In 1948, these were indeed bold words from men and woman of vision who could have scarcely understood the notion of a universally-connected electronic world such as we have today. Yet the vision and hope expressed by those leaders at that time weighs heavily on us today, we who are a part of this new world and who realize its potential to answer their call and to make universally free-to-access education a fact of life.

At ALISON, we believe we have a sustainable and highly-scalable way of making high-quality education on any subject available to anyone, anywhere, at any time, through interactive multimedia online. Quite simply, the economics comes down to two factors. First, the cost of delivering one page of high-quality interactive content online is now less than the revenue that can be made from displaying advertising with that same page of content. This is the result of the declining costs of broadband and international Web hosting, and the development of online advertising systems such as Google Adsense which allow for the monetization of each page of content, whatever it might be. Second, the cost of developing high-quality interactive content has been greatly reduced with the introduction and development of new content authoring tools. Subject-Matter-Experts on every subject are now learning how to create high-quality interactive lessons. As a result, interactive content is soon to be very widely available, and we are going to see high-quality learning material on a vast number of subjects freely accessible online. At ALISON, our responsibility and opportunity is to organize this learning content and its publishers, and make sure the potential of these developments sees itself through to making the vision of Article 26 a reality.

Of course, the world of education is not going to change overnight, and it will take many years before the potential we see today manifests itself. However, every one of you can help promote the mission of Article 26, and you can do this by assisting ALISON to grow and to provide more free learning to people everywhere. Besides studying on ALISON and enjoying our free offerings, it is important to us that you tell your friends, contacts and professional colleagues about the service. Please encourage your school, college, local government or private organization to use our services, both free and paid premium services. If you are aware of high-quality interactive content that could be hosted on ALISON, please let us know, or if you are aware of organizations who have a mandate to provide free information and learning, perhaps ALISON can be of assistance to them. For a full list of ways in which you can assist us, please click on http://alison.com/free-training/How-You-Can-Help-ALISON

Since our launch in April of last year, ALISON has attracted new learners from 213 countries and territories around the world. This coming year, our goal is to reach one million learners. We need your help to achieve this aim. Should we reach this target, we will be able to greatly increase the number of free courses available. We already have exciting new courses in production to be released throughout the year. If you have ideas on priority courses or course ideas, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Finally, back in 1948, those responsible for drafting the Declaration had little idea how their goals could be achieved, but knew that declaring their aims was not only honourable but the right thing to do. Today, we are much more certain. At ALISON we know that free education can be made available worldwide more quickly than anyone had thought possible heretofore. If you are in a position of authority with regard to training and education in your organization, in your region, or at a national level, please let us know who you are and about your willingness to help. Feel free to e-mail me directly at the address below. We cannot achieve our bold aim without your advice and your ability to make things happen on the front-line of learning.

From all of the ALISON team, we wish you a happy, prosperous, and a learned 2008.

Mike

Mike Feerick
CEO, ALISON
www.alison.com
ceo@alison.com