Name of your website?ALISON
Your name?
Sean Griffin
Your Location (city, etc)
Galway
Please give us a short summary of your website?
ALISON is the world's leading FREE Learning Resource for Basic and Essential Workplace Skills online. ALISON provides high quality and engaging, interactive multimedia courseware for certification and standards-based learning. All courses on ALISON are accessible for FREE to Individual learners.~
The Mission of ALISON is to enable anyone, anywhere, to educate themselves for FREE via interactive self-paced multimedia. It is our belief that through ALISON, the greatest barrier to universally free education, the cost of access to high quality education can be removed.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
We believe that ALL certifiable or standards-based learning for EVERY SUBJECT can be made available for FREE online. We also believe that Article 26 of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states "Everyone has a right to education, Education shall be free" will through ALISON become a reality.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
We launched in April 2007 as the world first free to access global learning platform of interactive learning materials like ICDL and e-Citizen.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
ALISON stands for Advance Learning Interactive Systems Online and was developed by a company called Advance Learning in Galway.
What makes it different from other, similar offerings?
ALISON is free to access for all learning materials and since our launch in April 2007 we have registered learning from 203 countries totaling over 100,000 currently.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Build ALISON into the number one site for education and training globally. Become the google for online training and education.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Very well considering the speed that information can pass from user to learner on the internet thus expanding different markets everyday.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
Invest more heavily in marketing and course development.
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Yes because we have plans in place for increased scale and usage of ALISON.
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
None so far.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Our biggest challenge has been to adapt ALISON from our initial setup to a more user friendly and information website where all is explained and supported fully for all learners all over the world. This is ongoing.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Email campaigns and posting to site like this which can inform their users of the benefit of ALISON.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
ALISON has truly thought us of the global nature of the internet and world today where individuals all over the world can exchange information with each other, to benefit people in their area and in countries where they have contacts.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
ALISON is online since April, 2007, for 7 months and shall continue as long as their is a market for education and training.
How can people help ALISON becoming what it hopes to be?
(i) Learn about ALISON and its Mission - It is important to ALISON that you understand our mission, the breadth of learning we provide, and the potential impact of ALISON and free online learning for all. ( http://alison.com/pages/About-ALISON )
See our ALISON Features page to review all services and opportunities provided by ALISON.
(ii) Study on ALISON - The best way for you to appreciate our quality free learning is to take a course! If you have not already done so, might we suggest basic desktop skills to start with? How well do your really know how to manage your PC/desktop, touch-type or sit in front of and use your PC safely? Try our ICT Courses (ECDL syllabus 4.5/4.0, e-Citizen), Touch Typing and Desktop Ergonomics courses.
(iii) Refer a Friend - ell your friends, contacts and work or study colleagues about ALISON. It is extremely important to us that our existing members recommend ALISON to their friends who will hopefully then become new members. Quite simply: the more learners we have, the more free learning we can provide. Help us to help you by spreading the word about ALISON. Click here to go to our "Refer a Friend" feature.
(iv) Start an Online Group - Learners from over 5,000 organisations worldwide including schools, local governments, colleges, non-profits and private corporations are using ALISON to train staff and students in basic skills. If you have a group of learners, then why not monitor their progress online? It is very simple to organise. Click here to learn more about setting up Learner Groups. To see some of the organisations who have adopted ALISON for their internal training, click here.
(v) Spread the Word - In libraries, Internet cafés and computer labs across the world, you will find ALISON posters advertising the free learning available on ALISON. To encourage those you know to learn basic skills online, download an ALISON poster and display it/them in your local school, place of work, community centre or wherever you deem appropriate. If you would be happy to link to ALISON from your site, please click here which will take you to our "Linking to ALISON" page. We provide ALISON posters in over 200 languages so let us know what you need (see item (viii) below). Click here to review or to download our posters.
(vi) Identify a Course - If you would like to study a course that is not yet available on ALISON please let us know. We have a lot of new courses on the way, but by telling us what you would like to study, you will help us to prioritise our work. Why not ensure that the learning needs of your local students, employees, region or country are being addressed on ALISON? http://alison.com/contact?subject=addition
(vii) Identify a Publisher - ALISON shares revenues earned with established publishers of high-quality content so that those publishers can provide their high-quality interactive learning to individuals for free. If you are an established interactive multimedia publisher and you are interested in globalising your marketing channels, then we have opportunities to present to you. For more information, click here.
(viii) Translate into your Language - With registered learners in over 200 countries worldwide, ALISON is used by people of many different native tongues. In countries where English is not the spoken language or among immigrant groups in English-speaking countries, ALISON is widely used to improve English comprehension skills. The interactive "SEE, HEAR, DO" learning on ALISON has proven to improve English dramatically. To encourage study on ALISON by learners who have some knowledge of English, we provide our introduction posters, presentations and brochures in multiple languages. If you are willing to translate our introductory marketing materials so that speakers of your native language can engage with ALISON more easily, you can start translating right away! Please click here. We are interested in accommodating every language.
(ix) Become a Referral Partner - If you are in the position to refer multiple training groups to train on ALISON, then we would be happy to share the income we generate from the provision of these groups with you. Please see information on our "Referral Partner Programme".
(x) Advise Us - The ALISON Learning Outreach Team is very keen to know how we might publicise ALISON and free learning in your country. Perhaps you can tell us who we should talk to in order to make ALISON better known? How can we integrate ALISON into your regional or national workforce training programmes to help your local workforce compete in an increasingly competitive world? http://alison/contact
(xi) Add a Testimonial - Your endorsement of the ALISON service is very important. We have many hundreds of testimonials online but yours is equally important to us. If you would like to compliment the ALISON service, it will encourage others to investigate and to adopt ALISON for learning across the world. http://alison.com/mod/contact
(xii) Send us Feedback - ALISON is a new service and we are still learning from our learning community as to how best to deliver and grow our free learning service worldwide. Our aims are bold and ambitious, but we need your help to achieve them, and every bit of support helps. Please let us know what you think. Tell us what we are getting wrong and what we are getting right. We are ready to listen and to act.
What is your website address?
ALISON
