Trends: Out with the Old, In with the New?
By Amy Finn

Here’s a prescription for assessing and integrating new learning technologies.

When I was a Girl Scout, we sang a song that went something like, "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold." It’s sort of like that with learning technologies.

There are tried and true learning methods, methodologies, and technologies. There are also new technologies that once evaluated make sense to incorporate into existing education and training programs. More important, new technologies may offer opportunities for learning we would not have otherwise. However, before jumping on any bandwagon, here are some guidelines for integrating new technology into your programs.

• Keep the old; learn from the past. The education and training industry has a long and rich history. The physical classroom is not going to disappear anytime soon—no matter what anyone tells you. Keep the old.

• Make new friends; research new technologies. There is a myriad of new technologies emerging all the time. Learn about them. Take the time to find out about them and experiment with them. Make new friends.

• Continuously improve. Change is inevitable and pervasive. If you keep an open mind, you can blend what you have today that works, together with new learning technologies, to create an even more vibrant environment for your learners. One is silver and the other gold.

Learn from the past

Archeological discoveries bring to light proof that training in the physical classroom has been around for thousands of years. According to Samuel Noah Kramer’s work The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character, there is evidence that the ancient Sumerian civilization (circa 3000 -2500 B.C.) developed the first system of writing to create, capture, and preserve information, and delivered training to students in a physical classroom setting.

In addition to the physical classroom, educators and trainers have had access to a varied list of technological advances over the years. We have used technology to assist us with our mission to develop and deliver high quality, useful education and training to our various audiences. We have used the physical classroom where knowledge morphs into learning and students take information garnered in lessons back to their daily workplace. In addition, we have implemented other delivery modalities when they were required, based on business and learning needs.

Now we must do even more. We need to reexamine the purpose of the physical classroom. The classroom isn’t going away, so how can we use it to best advantage? How can we make it an exciting place for all types of learning? How can we use it to teach learners of all ages and all learning styles? How can we augment it so that learning is continuous rather than event-based?

One answer is to make the classroom the experiential learning place it should be. Didactic learning must be mixed with problem-based learning, and both must embrace the means to self-enable learners. The classroom must become a place where we teach learners how to solve problems, find information, become confident about working independently, yet know when to seek subject matter expertise—either physically or virtually.

The use of new learning technologies can help us hold on to the positives of traditional learning while embracing and implementing new ideas. But, we need to incorporate new technologies for learning purposes when and where it makes sense to do so—not just because some new tool has come into vogue.

Make new friends

It seems as though every day we hear about the development of some new technology. Pick up any magazine, newspaper, journal, or go online and look around—new technologies are emerging faster than we can assimilate them into the existing mix of technologies. Blogs, Moblogs, Pod Casting, Wikis, VLogs, RSS…the list goes on. This is the new language of collaboration and communication, and all of these technologies will affect training and learning.

Dealing with new technologies—an industry perspective

I recently attended three major training industry conferences. Each offered a very different perspective on education, training, learning, and knowledge sharing, and each offered a different perspective on the use of technology in learning.

At one conference, there was very little focus on the use of technology in learning. The emphasis was more on existing learning methods and methodologies. At another conference, there was a moderate focus, with some emphasis on uses for new learning technologies but few discussions about implementation. At the third conference, there was heavy emphasis on new technologies and the ability to play with some of them, but there was just a hint of exactly how practitioners should incorporate these technologies into education and training offerings.

Indeed, the learning industry is sorting out how to deal with technological breakthroughs and what they will mean for learning. The bottom line is that there is a lot to be learned about technology and how it will affect learning. Practitioners need to stay ahead of the curve. We need to read about, experiment with, and put into production some of these new technological options. We need to take a proactive approach in investigating how technology will affect existing learning offerings and what additional value they add to comprehension, retention, completion, and the increased productivity of our learners.

The changing framework for learning

A major component of learning takes place informally. A recent IDC report, Customer Needs and Strategies, Future-Proofing Learning Infrastructure, finds that "only about one-third of learning occurs in a formal setting. The other two-thirds of all learning is ‘informal’ in nature and occurs spontaneously as a result of incidental experiences or as part of an intentional search for a specific piece of information." As learning professionals, we need to understand this trend. We need to determine how we can augment formal training by embracing and supporting informal learning.

Formal training can be synchronous, asynchronous, or blended. Typically, formal learning is subject matter expert or instructor-driven, scheduled, resides in a specific location, and is prepared or developed prior to delivery. Formal learning can be delivered in a variety of ways, including physical classroom, virtual online classroom, video conferencing, web conferencing, and so forth.

Informal learning offers people a variety of options to access information. Learners can search for information on their own, or information can be pushed to the learner. Informally, learning is delivered through water cooler discussions, peer-to-peer networks, chat rooms, via the Internet, journals, and so on.

Learning management systems (LMS), learning content management systems (LCMS), and other systems of this sort are used not only to help organization deliver formal learning but also to assist learners access information informally. They serve as a repository of information about the learner, delivery of content, and record the progress of learning through learning tracks and evaluations. Human capital management systems (HCM), critical to professional development and growth of professionals within an organization, help learners and managers track employees’ professional development progress, including their learning, throughout their careers.

Embedded learning

Many practitioners in the learning Industry are currently directing a new examination of embedded learning. Embedded learning is information that is available on a self-help basis, 24/7.  It can be delivered to the workplace, or to mobile learners. Electronic performance support systems (EPSS) is a form of embedded learning.The point: Embedded learning offers learners the information they need when they need it.

New technologies help extend the concept of embedded learning further. Delivered through the Internet, such new applications as blogs, moblogs, vlogs, Wikis, and Pod Casting, enable learners to access information with greater ease than ever before.

Understanding new learning technologies

It’s important to make new friends and become acquainted with new technologies for a variety of reasons. Understanding what they are all about can help practitioners envision when, how, and where to incorporate them into our businesses. The table below provides a condensed, high-level overview of some of these newer technologies.

Technology	Definition	Application
Blog	Weblog (blog), web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles	Accessible to large audiences, diaries, communication and collaboration (blogstorming)
Moblog	Blend of words mobile and weblog (mobile weblog)	Content posted to Internet from mobile or portable devices, instant access to real time information
Wiki	Web application that allows users to add content (as on an internet forum) and edit content	Easy way to develop private and/or public knowledge bases; sharing vast amounts of information simply and cost effectively
VLog	Weblog that uses video as primary presentation format	Distribute video content, audiovisual communication via internet
Pod Cast	Technologies that enable automatic distributing  of audio and video programs over the internet; publish and subscribe models available	Enables independent producers to create and deliver self-published broadcasts
RSS	Real Simple Syndication is a way to track blogs	Updates to blogs are automatically sent to user computers; approximately 6 million people--5 percent of the U.S. online audience--use RSS

Using new technologies for learning

Because many of the technologies are easy to implement, inexpensive, and have low bandwidth requirements, their use is steadily increasing. Even so, what compelling reasons do practitioners have to use these technologies?

If the goal of learning professionals is to transfer knowledge to people, what better way to do that then by using a problem-based, experiential approach to learning. Rather than lectures and page turners, use new technology to form a learning scenario and offer people the tools they need to solve the problem.

For formal training, offer problem-based learning that has people work together physically or virtually to form learning communities. The learning network formed through this sort of experience and the ability to search for information will yield a better learning result. Direct them to create blogs, wikis, or other online sources where information may reside.

Create an internal blog or wiki for use in your training. Have people share lessons learnerd immediately during the learning experience, and keep the conversation going when formal training is complete. Create a corporate wiki or use an EPSS to capture corporate knowledge, information, policies, and procedures in a single place. Direct professionals to search the corporate database for information they need to perform their jobs. Increase employee productive by directing search needs to a few sources, rather than have employees spend time in non-directed, less productive searches.

In the spirit of making new friends, this approach will reduce the number of PowerPoint slides you present, and make the learning you deliver more interesting and vibrant. Your learners, in turn, will retain the information longer, and know where to look for answers the next time they encounter questions or problems. It’s an enabling approach that helps learners gain confidence to solve the next problem or issue that they encounter.

Continuously improve

Our industry’s long and rich history has much to be proud of. Over the years, we have delivered knowledge, information, and learning—assisting our organizations directly and indirectly. As we continue to try and measure the value of education and training, we are continuously reminded that no one in an organization can do without learning. However, change comes whether we want it to or not. The wealth of knowledge and information available to people today is almost unimaginable, and the methods by which people can access that knowledge and information is astounding. Ask yourself every day, What more can I learn? How can I better myself, my organization, and the way I provide learning experiences?

Instead, many ask, Does new technology mean that the physical classroom, web-based training, online virtual classrooms, and other learning technologies are the wave of the past? The answer is a resounding, No! It does mean, however, that learning professionals need to understand that the future is now. Work will occur in non-traditional ways by younger workers and we need to understand the power of new technologies, harness them for the purpose of learning, and begin to incorporate them in new, dynamic, and innovative ways into formal and informal learning. If we fail to understand the trends in emerging technologies and begin to integrate them into our learning programs today, we stand to lose an unprecedented opportunity. To be sure, it’s important to welcome new technologies, which can become great friends to our existing methods, methodologies, and technologies. Emerging technology will no doubt augment, expand, and cause an evolution of learning.

 Published: December 2005