Knowledge Factor developing systems to make e-learning more effective for students

LAFAYETTE ? What is knowledge?

?We don’t know what it is, but we know where it is ? in the heads of people,? said Patrick Engstrom, president and chief executive officer of Knowledge Factor Inc.

Engstrom and three others started the Lafayette-based company last year with $75,000 in personal funds from family, friends and themselves – to investigate better ways of developing and delivering e-learning information via the Internet.

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The company projects $1 million in revenues for 2001-2002 and is looking for outside investors. Engstrom declined to give the company’s 2000-2001 revenues.

?We like to extend beyond the e-learning box people get into and really talk about how we really improve the knowledge of information,? Engstrom said.

Knowledge Factor focuses on ways to make learning over the Internet more effective for people with different learning styles by using a variety of interactive methods, Engstrom said. These interactive tools include text, audio, graphics, video and testing and assessment.

The company works with subject matter experts in ways to help them convert information into an e-learning, interactive form. Knowledge Factor, for example, can transform training videos into an e-learning application on the Internet.

The drive is for quality learning at lower costs, said Pramod Goel, vice president of business development. Clients include businesses, career colleges and proprietary schools, as well as trainers and consultants.

The cost is based on two services – content engineering and conversion, and content delivery to learners, Engstrom said. Content engineering and conversion generally ranges from $30,000 to $150,000. Cost of content delivery to learners is on a revenue share, individual user or subscription basis. The cost by revenue share or subscription ranges based on negotiations. The cost on an individual user basis is generally $10 to $50 a person.

Knowledge Factor is helping California-based Aviation and Electronics School of America (AESA) to develop Internet training courses for people who need to take exams, Engstrom said. AESA trains people to take tests like the Federal Communications Commission radio telephone operators exam each year.

People often have to fly to specific cities to take tests and get their certification, Engstrom said. But e-learning allows a person to learn information for a test in an effective, interactive manner and take the test virtually anywhere in the world.

The company allows anyone to become ?engaged? with their learning material, said Timothy Adams, vice president and chief learning officer. Retention level of learning material is low in the ?shovel-work? approach of throwing the educational information on the Internet without much thought of the end-user, the learner, in mind.

Knowledge Factor helps people, managers and trainers pinpoint what a particular person needs to learn in an effective manner, according to Adams. The company focuses on the process of retention through repetition, and the tests build assessment prior to taking the exam. Traditionally, these tests give answers and direct feedback.

Knowledge Factor helped set up three mock exams, and one final exam for AESA, explained Neal Hardesty, vice president and chief technology officer. The final exam stresses the questions the learner missed. In theory a person takes an exam and misses certain sections. This gives the auditor of the test the ability to assess the test.

Through a process called story-boarding, Knowledge Factor breaks the content into learning objectives and activities. Then the course translates into topic and then into lesson. ?We dig very deep into it,? Adams said.

According to Engstrom, some learn best by reading and others by listening. ?We work really hard to make it (learning) engaging for different learning styles,? Engstrom said. ?We’re reaching people where they are.?

People don’t obsess enough about learning issues, said Chris Beall, an adviser for Requisite Technology and Knowledge Factor. They often don’t put themselves in the shoes of people who are using these services. ?It’s not about getting a bunch of bits in a bucket, its about an end-user experience,? Beall said.

Knowledge Factor’s focus is to extend the whole idea of how to get better knowledge usage through application and acquisition. ?That’s the leverage inside of corporations,? Engstrom said. ?There’s no doubt about it.

?We’re developing online training programs for the money-transfer industry,? Engstrom said. Because of law changes as a result of the Sept. 11 attacks, there are new regulations for transferring money, and there are training changes in how people do that.

Knowledge Factor also is partnered with G2 Playbook, a human capital management firm, to help middle-managers learn better ways to do their job and increase employee retention. According to Engstrom, middle-managers are often the least well-prepared and have the most impact on an organization.

Knowledge Factor also contracted to set up an e-learning application for the Institute for Change Research, a training and consulting firm in Boulder. Knowledge Factor developed the online version of ICR’s Life Perspective Inventory test, which enables behavioral and personality assessment using a product called 3-Filters.

Knowledge Factor provides their e-learning applications through their own data center ? five racks of computer equipment ? where e-learning information is recorded and analyzed by the company’s first software application, Learning Content Management System, Hardesty said. ?We run completely our own services,? Hardesty said. ?We’re completely self-sufficient.?

Dot-com companies going out of business, the recession and the Sept. 11 attacks have hindered the progress of Knowledge Factor as well, Hardesty said. But Sept. 11, which forced many businesses to cut back on travel, also ?added interest to distance learning.?