Thursday, May 7, 2009

Questions from a Publisher

I was recently contacted by someone working on a book project that will "represent the vanguard in thinking about corporate learning", including positions on how it should/needs to evolve to remain a viable component of an organization.

Some initial thoughts I provided to the publisher are listed below. What do you think? What are the big movements/issues currently in corporate learning and how do you think it will evolve in the next 5-10 years?

Current State/Issues:
There is an ever growing spectrum of options for learning solutions, but adoption seems to be linear (stepped) along the spectrum as a learning function grows in an organization versus learning and performance driven. And, the transition between elements of the spectrum is phased.

Instructional design is loosely defined across the industry and skill sets don't always match with performance expectations as a result or performance expectations are lowered as a result.

As new information about the brain is obtained through brain research, the impact of that research is not necessarily considered in the learning field

Time available is ever shrinking yet experience-based learning (often considered the most valuable training for performance) takes strategy, thought, and time to create.

Potential future:
Organizational certifications that don't already do so will be tied to the quality of training resources/solutions and subsequent performance-based results.

Evaluation, measurement and assessment will be relationally tied to learning activities - both proactive and reactive.

Soft-skills electronic performance support will develop

Defined roles and competencies for instructional designers . . . similar to CPA

Learning solutions will exist as a research & development or innovation function, instead of strictly a function of Human Resources

Continue to move from passive to active learning

Training and development activities that enable "learning how to learn"