The two key people at ELS are its Directors:-

Judith Christian-Carter and Sandra Burnell

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Judith Christian-Carter (BEd, MPhil, FBILD, Chartered FCIPD)

Judith has worked in the fields of education, training, and development, for over thirty years. During that time Judith has worked for: Barclays Bank plc; another external supplier of training and development; the National Council for Educational Technology; and, two local education authorities.

In recent years Judith has been involved in a number of technology-based learning projects, undertaking project management, instructional design, and evaluation roles. She is the author of 'Mastering Instructional Design in Technology-Based Training' published by the CIPD, as well as having written and published a number of research papers, spoken at numerous UK and international conferences, plus writing and editing several education and training books.

In her spare time, Judith is also a Director of the British Institute for Learning and Development and in 2003 Judith was awarded the WOLCE 'Outstanding Contribution to the Training Industry' Award.

Sandra Burnell (BSc Hons, MBILD)

Sandra has over fifteen years research experience in needs analysis and evaluation, designing and utilising appropriate quantitative and qualitative data collection tools and methods, and analysis techniques, prior to preparing reports.

In recent years Sandra has also been involved with both high level and detailed analysis in order to guide and inform the design of training programmes, in particular those requiring a technology based or e-Learning solution.

She has a degree in Statistics and Social and Educational Research.

ELS works out of virtual offices. We believe that in this age of information technology we can keep our overheads down to a minimum by eschewing the temptation to have a prestigious head office which our clients will have to pay for.

Through IT we are always available and easy to contact. Our virtual offices are situated in the South East and the Midlands which means that we are within easy reach of our clients.

To put it simply, no. When we work for other training and development providers we treat them in exactly the same way as we treat any other clients.

In practice this means that we conduct our work in strict confidence and as if we were part and parcel of the company in question.

By 'ring-fencing' our activities in this way means that a number of providers have asked us to work for them in order to use our specialist research, analysis, and instructional design skills.

Yes, we do. ELS prides itself on being able to offer cost-effective training and development solutions to its clients. Because we believe that only the very best quality will do, we shun style in favour of substance.

Our main objectives are to meet your training and development needs and to ensure that, in so doing, we do a good job for you by getting it right.

One of the main criticisms of e-Learning is that style all too often gets in the way of substance, particularly when the content of programmes is under the spotlight. Because we always undertake a detailed analysis before designing and developing any e-Learning we ensure that the resulting provision is fit for its purpose.

In addition, we are able to provide our clients with high quality instructional design skills.

Currently there is a marked shortage of such skills in the UK which means that more and more providers are using our skills and experience in this area.

In 2004 Logicom Training Solutions (of which ELS was a strategic partner) was awarded the WOLCE 'Bespoke Solution of the Year' Award for its 'Real World Environments CBT for British Gas Service Engineers', for which ELS provided the instructional design.

Rather than telling you what we think about ourselves, we would prefer to tell you what has been said about us.

"I have worked with Judith (Christian-Carter) and Sandra (Burnell) many times over the last 6 years. Our association has encompassed every aspect of learning and development, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. The reason for such a long association is simple - they combine a thorough understanding of the learning theory with pragmatic, cost-efficient and time-sensitive approaches. This, coupled with a dynamic, positive, 'can do' attitude, has made them important players on many project teams."

Nick Kemp, Change and Development Consultant, Retail Financial Services organisation