Close encounters of the learning kind - by Dr Naomi Norman
The UK’s Labour ministers and more than 12,000 delegates descended on Brighton this week for the Labour Party Conference. Meanwhile, I struggled to manoeuvre along the seafront to make it to Epic’s offices, dodging the numerous attendees, along with the security and media vehicles. And I wondered... why, in this age of technology, are we still staging such costly large-scale multiple-day face-to-face events?
Of course, there are good reasons to get together in a room. Among them is the speed with which we build trust and respect when speaking live at a conference or meeting people in the flesh. In fact, recently there has been neuroscience research conducted by New York University and Harvard University, based on evidence that people make relatively accurate and persistent evaluations in less than half a minute! (See http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v12/n4/abs/nn.2278.html) I wonder how long it takes to build a similar ‘first impression’ online?
Secondly, a face-to-face conference or training session can be liberating: the escape from interruptions of colleagues’ demands and workplace meetings encourages immersion in the learning experience (assuming one switches off their mobile phone, of course!). Certainly, this was true for me when I attended the International Conference of E-learning in the Workplace earlier this year in New York (see http://www.epic.co.uk/blog/big-elearning-ideas-from-the-big-apple.html), although, there is the drawback of the timeliness of the learning that happens at such an event.
Perhaps, then, the answer in many cases lies in cutting down the face-to-face to the bare essentials and offering ‘the rest’ online. This allows for maximising the benefits of the personal encounter with an opportunity to engage afterwards, as and when required, via technology. It also means that those who cannot attend a face-to-face session still have the chance to meet and collaborate with others, albeit online only.
This is exactly what many of our clients at Epic are seeking to do in their training, and it is exactly what we sought to achieve through the E-learning Debate 2009, which happened this week at the Oxford Union. On Wednesday learning experts from across industry and academia came together at the Oxford Union for an afternoon to debate whether the e-learning of today is essential for the important skills of tomorrow. And now the debate continues online, enabling conversations to carry on and new ones to begin. You too can join the debate at www.elearningdebate.com
Perhaps the party conferences could learn something from this for next year?
Write a comment
Posts: 1
Reply #2 on : Sun November 15, 2009, 21:27:47
Posts: 1
Reply #1 on : Fri November 13, 2009, 16:39:08