Does elearning have a future?
What’s the future of elearning?
I’m not sure it has a future. In fact I argued against the use of the term “elearning” seven years ago and I still hold to that argument now.
But is there a future for technology supported learning? Of course there is.
This difference between traditional “elearning” and the future of the Learning Organisation (supported by technology) is something I’ll be talking about at 11am (UK) on Wednesday 27th August in a Google Hangout run by DreamTek, the experts behind the Learning and Skills Group’s webinar series.
The idea that “elearning” is a dead term is more than just semantic. I firmly believe that most learning at work is supported by technology in some form, but then so is most of finance, operations and sales and we don’t stick an e- in front of the names of those departments or what they do.
By calling what we do “elearning” we unnecessarily differentiate draw attention towards the technology element. We focus on the process, and we also somehow dress it up as something different, apart from the organisation, which is the very opposite of the truth of modern workplace learning.
As I’ll describe in the hangout (register here), almost all learning is now touched by technology at some point; and just as technology is now thoroughly integrated into learning, so the learning function should be totally integrated into workplace operations. Slapping the “elearning” label on it makes it appear as if it’s the complete opposite.
I’ll take a look at what Organisational Learning will look like over the next 12 months and in 5 years’ time. Previously, I’ve really believed in massive change in learning because my entire working life the pace of change has been glacial.
Not any more.
I reckon that in 5 years the face of organisational learning will be very different, and never mind not being called “elearning”, it may not even be called “learning”.
The more I think about it, the more I’m looking forward to the event. I hope you can join me there. It’s the DreamTek Google Hangout on The Future of Elearning. It takes place at 11am (UK) on Wednesday 27th August and you can register here.
UPDATE —————————-
The Hangout went well – click to see the recording.
I look forward to continuing this conversation in the future.
