Reflections on Learning Technologies 2010 - by Dr Naomi Norman
Part of the fun of Learning Technologies (other than seeing existing clients, meeting new ones, and having a peek at what the competition are up to!) is looking at the themes across exhibition seminars and conference sessions.
Firstly – the learning. Collaboration and informal learning once again formed a common thread. However, while there is evidence that these types of learning make a significant contribution to people’s development, we have yet to see big advances in corporates investing time and budget in support and promotion of such activities. Of course, we can all wheel out a few examples – the BTs of this world – or in Epic’s case, the large multi-national for whom we seamlessly integrated the collaborative and the cognitive; the formal and the informal. But at least for the moment, clients seeking such solutions still remain in the minority.
Secondly – the organisation. One of the more interesting talks given in this year’s exhibition seminar series was that of Laura Overton from Towards Maturity. Yet again she came up with a robust piece of research, this time investigating the impact of learning technologies in the workplace. She revealed how rarely the impact (both in terms of volume of learning delivered and cost-savings) is effectively measured and communicated up to stakeholders. Surely, those working at every level of an organisation need to understand the effectiveness of their learning, be it delivered solely by technology or as part of a blend. Otherwise, how can informed decisions be taken about where and how to spend in future? A full copy of Laura’s report can be found at: http://www.towardsmaturity.org/indicator/
Finally – some technology. Smartphones are everywhere – in ads, in the news, and more and more in our pockets and hands too. Learning Technologies was no exception. On the exhibition floor, Epic welcomed world-renowned leaders in mobile learning to its E-Learning Debate on smartphone learning (see elearningdebate.com) and launched a smartphone app as part of its research and development program (see epic.co.uk/mobile). Meanwhile, at the conference, Steve Wheeler of Plymouth University, spoke about the smartphone and touch technology and augmented reality. Steve challenged those in learning and development to ‘either adopt and understand now, or play catch up later’.
Predictions for next year? I suspect that all of these themes will crop up again. The interesting thing will not be whether they do or not, but how far we have moved on to address each of them to improve learning. Have a good year. And see you back there in 2011!
Dr Naomi Norman, Director of Learning, Epic
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Reply #1 on : Wed April 28, 2010, 16:09:40