The Enormity of Change in Learning, as Seen at Learning 2016
Regular readers of my blog will know I love the work of Elliott Masie. He held the annual Learning 2016 conference a few weeks back. The conference aims to focus on the changing, evolving and increasingly disruptive shifts in the world of workplace learning. The curated content is being posted here. Stay tuned as video and written notes are due to be published on there soon, alongside a conference summary report.
I receive Elliott’s Learning Trends newsletter and enjoyed a quick summary of the main conversation focus points at Learning 2016. In bullet point form these can be captured as:
- The expansion of the learning “panorama”
- The desire for learning recommendations
- The rise of video content
- Learning from experiences
- Brain science
I thought it was interesting to consider the expansion of the learning panorama. By this he means the extensive options people now have to different learning options at their fingertips. Learning is moving from a single workshop or learning class to open content, peer connections and much more.
I wish I could have been at Learning 2016 to hear Elliott’s take on this. From what Donald Clark from Plan B Learning shared at the AITD National Conference earlier this year the rise in social media and explosion of open source material has drastically changed the face of learning as we know it. Donald talked about how we have seen more pedagogic change in learning in the last 10 years than in the last 1000 years.
Donald’s TEDxGlasgow talk illustrates the enormity of these changes. The rise of the internet has changed the learning landscape forever; with the accessibility of learning content reaching unprecedented heights (think Wikipedia). We are in an age of digital abundance.
The balance has shifted from teaching at learners as a passive crowd. Think chalk and talk, post group facilitation, with programs organised for learners. These days we are treating learners as individuals, in control of their learning.
As a recent report from Bersin by Deliotte highlights, effective learners these days are self-starters, becoming autonomous whilst optimizing their LMS portals by watching and reading the content at their fingertips.
What interesting learning times we live in! Keep an eye on Elliott’s musings as he is sure to have something interesting to say. Hope to be at Learning 2017 for sure.