This week is Work Out Loud or #WOLweek and the purpose is to be more open and share what you’re working on. So, in the spirit of the week I went to my notebook where I write down ideas and thoughts about what I see and read from the world around me. They’re raw, not fully formed and some not fully thought through (sometimes I was just venting) but they are things that at some stage I thought were important enough to write down. The idea is that they might become posts of their own eventually.
Here they are in no particular order:
- Too much time and effort is spent hypothesising about the future. No-one knows what’s its going to be like but geez, there’s a lot of people making money from painting a picture of the ‘ideal’ learning and development future.
- There’s also way too much pontificating about what learning and development folks should be doing and not enough practical advice from the more experienced that will actually help others to get to this ‘ideal’ future. Models are fine but give me something that will help me right now. Give me something that I can use to start bringing about change.
- Is working out loud really for everyone or is it just for people who work in offices and have access to a computer? When I look around me I see the person who collects my rubbish and the checkout person at the supermarket and the person working in a coal mine. Is WOL for them?
- I know that debate is healthy but dividing a profession isn’t. I wonder if other professions have the same problem.
- People need to take control of their own learning and the majority don’t. Too many rely on courses or someone doing it for them. How about figuring something out for yourself.
- I love using social media tools to connect and learn from others but the reality is the majority of people working in the learning field aren’t connected, don’t use them and therefore won’t introduce them into their workplaces. This doesn’t mean we should give up on using them and spreading the word but the reality is that for many organisations this is a long, long way off.
- I’m thinking about adding a ‘Downloads’ page for my blog site and creating some interactions the people can look at but also use in their own projects or learn more about how to use Storyline 2. I’ll need to get a few together first.
- Poor quality eLearning is not due to authoring tools themselves but due to the users of them not constantly wanting to improve, try new ideas and experiment. However, the fact that anyone can get their hands on one does mean that people think they can use them.
Well, that’s it. This is the first time I’ve written a post in one sitting and haven’t put it aside to work on later and it’s uncomfortable but it’s done now 🙂
Comments
6 responses to “Half-baked Ideas”
Matt, I guess I’m one those people providing models and pointing to the future (and not making buckets of money, but you’re welcome to change that ;). I believe models are the best guide, best practices don’t decontextualize well but best principles are designed to be recontextualized. As to advice ‘right now’? Two things. 1. Experiment. Start working out loud (ok, you just did). See how it goes. Talk about it with your colleagues. 2. Measure. Next time someone asks for a course, ask how they’ll know if it’s effective. And final note: reckon the division reflects growing pains, and debates/schisms are the nature of change. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Thanks for stopping by Clark, your cheque is in the mail 😉 Appreciate the tips and I do agree, models are a great guide but sometimes it’s then left to individuals to work it out and apply it to their situation – which isn’t a totally bad thing. I guess I get frustrated with the HR and L&D speak and when some folks say a lot of words but don’t really say anything useful. I need to chew this one over a bit more but it’s good to get that process going.
I hadn’t thought of the division as growing pains, I took it as civil war so thank you for giving me that perspective!
Thanks for your raw reflections Matt. Bake all of these ideas into posts I reckon!
I’d find a downloads section on your blog useful so I look forward to seeing this develop.
I remember reading Senge’s theory about developing learning organisations in the 90s and being so excited by it … and then being frustrated with the realisation that it seemed too ahead of its time for most organisations and/or too challenging for people to grasp easily and/or it didn’t motivate people the way it motivated me!
The sustained effort required to undertake the deeper learning that leads to change may not be a priority for many people which can be related to a complex range of issues. Intrinsically motivating learners can make a difference however this requires sustained effort (and time) from learning professionals to care enough about learners to listen and understand what matters to them. Organisational norms and routines can make this challenging.
Happy baking Matt!
Cheers, Kate
Thanks for your comments Kate, much appreciated! You’re right, deeper learning does require sustained effort over a longer timeframe and there’s two things that I see: 1. Many organisations don’t provide this and 2. Most people only rely on learning opportunities provided by their organisation. I still need to ‘bake’ this one a little more.
Also, the downloads section is now live. I’ve put a few demos there with more to come 🙂
Thanks for your follow up Matt.
My perspective is that learning is happening all the time … it’s fundamental to being human … however for most people its an unconscious process of ‘learning to confirm’ what they already know. ‘Learning to change’ may not be something many people would be proactive about as in simple terms, it’s painful/stressful (the human brain has an aversion to change etc ). I’m writing a post about this right now and will send to you once it’s baked …
A percentage of people have an intrinsic drive to learn more deeply about how things work/how to improve things (I’m in this group!) and for these people, learning becomes a conscious activity that the self directs.
While I can see that it may seem like people are relying on organisations to provide learning, and in many cases this may be true, other possibilities include 1) people don’t know how to direct their learning experiences and/or 2) it’s too difficult/stressful for them and/or 3) they may not feel empowered to direct these experiences as the organisation exerts so much control over the process.
I’ll check out the downloads page … thanks 🙂
Thanks Kate and I look forward to reading your post!