Looking Forward to Fundamentals
A couple years ago, I came across an article that quoted Jonathan Levy as saying "what we need is spot learning." I couldn't get that phrase out of my head.
With the latest generation of workflow-optimizing tools, rapid e-learning has reached a new level of maturity; the adoption rate is at saturation levels, rather than innovation levels.
It's time to focus again on fundamentals, and for rapid e-learning, that means "spot learning" and "social collaboration."
For many years now, we've seen the learning and development roles within corporations getting increased visibility and funding. We have shared in the benefits of renewed interest in professional standards and accredidation for learning professionals. For some, this resulted in a kind of arrogance about the learning professions as the "keepers of training." Not all in our profession are among those ranks though.
Take, for example, Tom Kuhlman of the Rapid e-Learning Blog. Tom has been focused for years on helping people in all professions develop better e-learning. In fact, the reason the company the employs Tom (Articulate) is successful is because not everyone who needs to develop e-Learning is already skilled in the tools of the trade.
Articulate took a simple concept and built a business around it: give people an easy way to create basic e-learning without having to learn programming; then support their success. More than anything, it is the support of Articulate tool users that has resulted in the success of the company. But their rise to center stage in the e-learning industry is more indicative of a broader trend: the resurgence of content experts as designers.
Remember when information was flat: just words? Me neither. Dynamic media is part of our cultural DNA. Just not everyone can do it.
With the emergence of effective social media platforms, though, we all contribute to a sort of grand opera of learning through our blogs and links, Twitter and links, videos and links, podcasts and references (audio links), etc. We build in low-level interaction just by adding links. And some of us go much farther by building in other types of interaction.
We believe the people who will be building tomorrow's e-learning aren't learning professionals, but rather, experts who understand learning fundamentals. Part of our focus going forward will be on helping to arm rapid e-learning tool users with better knowledge of learning fundamentals through application.
Watch for more in this space on "spot learning."
