Latest Leadership Thinking – Let 'Me' Be Your Leader

Steve Barden – Head of Consulting

Technology is not the answer

… it’s just the enabler. Consider the last decade: Internet, mobile phones, search engines, mp3 players et al - all of them have given us new angles on learning. Examples include e-learning, m-learning, podcasting, and any other mix evolving into the latest concept model called Learning 2.0. Really, is the way I learn, the way I comprehend, reflect and act going to be changed by the latest silicon gizmo or technology fashion? I think not. The reality is that technology is always going to advance whether we need it to or not, but, and I think it’s a BIG BUT, does it fundamentally change the way I learn? It does affect the when and the how and often the why I have to accommodate new information, procedures or behaviours but, in short, does it affect me cognitively? I think human cognitive evolution is not in the same fast lane as the commercial cycle of Apple, Nokia or Google. Leave the technology and think first of the learning process.

Focus on the ‘me’

Blended learning arose as a term in response to e-learning industry hype and at its simplest was merely trying to accommodate the two camps of traditional face-2-face and self-study online modes. Epic’s approach to blended learning has always been about blending more than two modes and continues to evolve as new technologies extend the options. However, blending is fundamentally about having the most impact on shortening the learning time, accommodating the most flexible multi-mode delivery and, importantly, recognising that learning is not an event but a process. In addition it is not a single process any more than there is a single learner. We all have different starting points, different learning styles and potentially different reasons why we need to apply some new knowledge or behaviour. Personalised learning is the objective - again, technology may be a key enabler but it doesn’t just happen without some design, some structure, some cognitive impact.

All roads go to the same place

Or they do if you know your destination. In previous articles over the past year :

Titanic
Informally yours

I have espoused the value of accommodating the 80% of learning that is informal into the mix, but it is now clearer to me that most of our learning across most of our lives is informal and we must focus on the learners’ experience, not on the latest technology just because it is there. Unless you are an out-and-out petrol head, taking the car for a test drive has to have a reason.

This is not as difficult as it seems. Rather than completely ignoring informal learning, we must embrace it as an integral and dominant part of our future. Put simply, all formal learning interventions MUST include informal techniques as part of the blended solution.

However, informal learning does NOT just equate to knowledge sharing. We constantly receive incoming knowledge through email, and our mailboxes have become repositories of knowledge that is stored chronologically but has to be resorted and searched whenever you want to find some information. So, when you want to learn something new, how often do you search your mailbox first? Rarely, I suggest. Alternatively, if you want to recall some facts from a colleague’s presentation then maybe you’ll trawl the archives - or will you contact them to recount it? Once you seek the interaction, rather than just the data (knowledge), you have an informal opportunity.

Here is where I think the solution lies: accepting a learning culture that exploits the possibilities of the technologies - whilst not being a slave to them - can add real power to our personalised learning experience.

To a great extent I think the learning culture in many organisations has moved faster than the culture of training. Learners have taken to doing it for themselves through Google and a whole range of new online collaborative resources and tools. Informal learning has eaten into training territory on the back of this online expansion and significantly affected the learning culture.

From ‘me’ to ‘we’

Next month, we will be ‘road-testing’ a new concept model that may better accommodate my cognitive sensibilities: the phenomenal rise of social software, what it is, where it fits into blending and what that could mean for organisational and personal learning cultures.

Epic Consulting is focused on building the performance of our clients by providing practical advice on all aspects of learning strategy, interactive design, blending, implementation and evaluation.
For an initial discussion on how our consulting service could help your organisation, please contact: consulting@epic.co.uk