Learning Trends: The Future is Now!
Presenter: Christina Wilton
"Organizations must develop a capacity for fast-paced innovations... learn to love change" (Peters, J. 1996)
The Internet, personal computers, electronic notebooks, mobile phones, iPods -we use them everywhere, every day. Many aspects of our lives wouldn't be the same without them. Yet when it comes to learning and training, our ubiquitous digital friends seem to suddenly disappear from our radar screen. Education and technology -not a great match? Or are we missing out on making the most of learning opportunities?
Today, information technology (e.g. computer programs/databases, Internet facilities) has provided “students with excellent opportunities to learn without requiring a teacher to transmit the available information” (Bohuijs, 1998), thereby necessitating a shift in paradigm from the highly teacher-centered to learner-centered education in which students are expected to take greater initiative and responsibility to manage more of their own learning and educational/personal development.
None of this, of course, is to say that the traditional classroom learning model is not without merit. We have all benefited from teachers and other experts who have genuine knowledge and wisdom that is best imparted in a classroom but. the question before Chief Learning Officers of today’s organizations is whether their delivery focus and approach has shifted as well or they are still trying to reach a new audience with an old model.
Christina Wilton is currently a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Calgary studying Higher Education and Leadership. Her interests are Workplace Learning, Organizational Change and Learning, Gender Learning and Leadership. She is currently employed with IBM Canada as a Senior Learning and Solutions Consultant.