Evolution vs. Revolution?

Are we in the middle of a revolution in learning, as many would describe it, or an evolution? Revolutions happen fairly quickly and often have a great, immediate impact on all. Evolution happens slowly and often without impact to surroundings or in isolation of other related entities. Yeah, it’s definitely a learning evolution.

Fundamentally changing the American education system and learning and development in corporate culture has been an effort in the making for over 50 years. There have been changes, but education and learning and development are fundamentally the same as they were decades ago. The winds of change have begun to blow harder in recent years however. These changes are mainly fueled by technological advances, but advances in brain/human behavior research and environmental variables have also impacted the evolution.

Even though I feel I've driven the evolution more often than not in my first decade as an instructional technologist, I'm living proof that it's an evolution not a revolution. This is my first blog post. Even as someone who's been pushing for social learning as a component of corporate learning programs, I never found the relevance or the time for blogging myself. I've been an active participant in discussion forums and commented on other people's blogs, but have never taken the dive head first into social learning/networking.

I start the better part of my second decade in instructional technology as Director of Learning Technologies and Assistant Professor of Learning Technologies at Harrisburg University. In this new role I hope to drive the evolution, more often than not, through curriculum development, teaching, speaking, writing, research and product development. I’ll write in this blog to share and reflect on my thoughts, experiences, findings and design and development efforts in the hope that what I learn and share can advance the evolution – an evolution whose apex is efficiently and effectively designed learning, learning that is optimized through technology and media, and learning that engages and inspires learners to improve their skills, change their attitudes and share their knowledge.