Monday, June 25, 2007

The learning community mourns the loss of Claude Ostyn 

The elearning community and especially the specification and standards world mourns the loss of Claude Ostyn (http://www.ostyn.com/) who recently passed away after a battle with terminal illness. From his long-tenure at Asymetrix and Click2learn to his more recent independent consulting, Claude has been an advocate at the vanguard of learning frontiers.

Claude Ostyn made great contributions to elearning, always showing diligence, dedication and great passion in learning technology, as well as all of his other interests. He was a vigorous and active participant in the work of AICC, ADL SCORM, IEEE LTSC and IMS-- you'll find his name as a contributor and reviewer on countless documents & whitepapers, throughout the support forums, and on delightfully precise ballot comments. The Reusable Competencies Definition group is currently working on dedicating a specification to his memory.

Will elearning standards and specifications be the same without Claude Ostyn?

Basically, in effect, No.

posted by Tom King : 1:44 PM
Comments:
Claude's comments on the ADL forums were invaluable and I've used his utilities for years. What always struck me about his posts were how patient and unassuming he was. For someone who knew so much, he could have been a cocky, unforgiving poster, but he never was.
# posted by Blogger erich0 : 8:19 AM
 
A personal story about Claude. Back in 1996, I was thinking of leaving the field of technology-based learning because the industry was plodding along so slowly. Claude worked for Asymetrix and I worked for Allen Communication (direct competitor). I was offered a very high level job at then WordPerfect.

I mentioned this to Claude, who pulled me aside at a conference and said, "don't leave just know, things in this industry are starting to get interesting."

He was right. This was just shortly before the .com boom, fall, and all the events since.

I appreciate Claude sharing his wisdom with a young, impatient kid. His word of advice kept me in the industry and it has been a great ride (not to mention the subsequent fading away of WordPerfect).

Thanks Claude. We are going to miss you.

--Bryan Chapman
# posted by Blogger ChapmanAlliance : 4:04 PM
 
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