As people get used to learning online they begin to realise that online learning is more than just modules and modules are more than automated PowerPoints. Whilst historically our customers have stuck to the security of converting their familiar classroom based training into an online format more and more we are now completing projects that can really exploit the power of e-learning. This means getting away from “one hour chunks” and screen after screen of detailed information. Online learning really comes alive when the student can take control of both the pace and the direction of their learning. Bespoke learning design allows us to blend structured learning with what we call “Learning Bytes” (small 5 to 10 minute pieces) so the learner creates their own route through the learning. This approach has come out of observations of how people use the internet especially search engines such as Google. If the Learning Environment can be used as a base from which learning is launched rather than just as a tracking tool for management then we can really get into the domain of learning as opposed to module completion. An American consultant by the name of Clark Quinn uses the term “Performance Eco-System” (see Clark Quinn) and whilst I struggle with the title I am totally in tune with what he is saying, see what you think. The ability of users to customise their own learning experience is central to the growth of learning in the months and years to come.

Whenever I hear someone say “Oh yes, e-learning we used to do that...” my stomach turns and my dismay meter goes off the scale! How is it that people can write off a whole new way of learning without really understanding how it works and the benefits it can bring?

That said, the world of learning is changing and the corporate learning zone has to change with it. Organisations are becoming more dispersed; people are being encouraged to work from home or from outlying offices, both to reduce the organisational carbon footprint and to lower costs.

As a Baby Boomer ⁽¹⁾ I have seen a series of technological changes in the workplace over the past forty years, the telephone, the telex, the dry photocopier, the mobile phone, email, the internet and so on. Almost without exception they progress through a cycle of suspicion, limited use, wide use, wide abuse, condemnation and finally obsolescence. eMail is a good, current illustration of an innovation in the “wide abuse” phase – a good technology that is abused because better technologies are not yet in the “Value Driven” part of the cycle.

Figure 1. The Technology Life Cycle 

Consider the number of one line and two line emails that you receive, or indeed the number of emails where you are copied for information only! And that’s just legitimate email, don’t get me on to the subject of Spam!

The current generation have been brought up with Instant Messaging, indeed some generation Y’ers ⁽²⁾ even prefer messaging (text or IM) to a “real conversation”! Many times an instant message is better than either a phone call or an email (especially when communication is asynchronous) but how many corporate firewalls will permit instant messaging? I still encounter organisations that ban internet access to staff on the basis that it will reduce productivity as staff idly surf the net!

Consider these startling statistics from a survey done of 7700 university students in the US  (3)

• 97% own a computer
• 94% own a cell phone
• 76% use Instant Messaging.
• 15% of IM users are logged on 24 hours a day/7 days a week
• 34% use websites as their primary source of news
• 28% own a blog and 44% read blogs
• 49% download music using peer-to-peer file sharing
• 75% of students have a Facebook account ^[12]
• 60% own some type of expensive portable music and/or video device such as an iPod.

If this is the generation that we now need to attract and retain, then surely we are going to have to change the way we learn in the workplace, as communication, collaboration and referencing become integrated into the way we function.