ASTD: Training Professionals Must Embrace Social Learning to Stay Relevant

July 31. 2009 04:25

First, glad to see that ASTD heard the silent screams from many of the ICE participants and is standing up to make such a statement. Too many people, it seems, are so wrapped up trying to label these technologies as a fad, that they miss real opportunities to actually use them to help people within their own organizations.

Now, I’m not claiming that Web 2.0 is going to save the world. But we don’t seem to be doing so well with our more traditional approaches either - as an example, at the 2008 ATD ICE learning leaders, when asked, indicated that less than 20% of learners in existing programs actually improved performance. Is that the best we can do?

On their own, most technologies will simply improve efficiency - allowing you to get messages out to more people, do it more quickly, and/or do it less expensively. In order to improve learning effectiveness with a technology we must start thinking differently about its use and design solutions to leverage the strength each technology brings.

Social learning isn’t a fad; in fact, I believe that we’ve always known that learning is a social process. Tools are the fad. Who knows how long Twitter or Facebook will exist? But what will remain, and will continue to grow, is the learner’s need and ability to network, collaborate, share stories, and quickly find help to solve issues they don‘t fully understand yet (all that messy informal stuff that happens).

And, unless I missed something, in the early days there weren’t a lot of research studies that proved eLearning was any more or less effective than Instructor-led courses; that webinars were more or less effective than a classroom; or for that matter that any new technology was more or less effective than what came before it. For research to be effective there has to be something to study - something to compare and contrast. So instead of just criticizing social media as fad, how about we all test it - think about what it is and do something with it. But don’t just sit on your results, share it. Let others learn from it. And let them challenge your design decisions. (Sounds scary, doesn't it?)

If we (as a profession) don’t quickly understand what these particular technologies bring to the table, and figure out a way to use them effectively, some other part of our organization will. When that happens, don’t be surprised when all you are left with is your classroom, and the very small percentage of learning it represents within your organization.

John Schulz