Competing and Learning in a Flat World

If you need a concise definition of the “flat world,” and what the U.S. has to do to remain competitive, just read an interview with Infosys chairman Narayana Murthy. It’s an excellent interview and is a great follow-on to Friedman.
“…sourcing capital from where it is cheapest, sourcing talent from where it is best available, producing where it is most cost-effective and selling where the markets are -- without being constrained by natural boundaries.”

And if you want to see one vivid example of the “flat world” implications for learning, just read another article in today’s San Jose Mercury News: “Offshoring Education: Growing trend of using online tutors from overseas raises some concerns.”

Europe Leads in Understanding Informal Learning

A meeting of the eLearning Forum will be held on October 21, 2005 to address the subject of the “Leveraging Informal Learning for Improved Business Results” (www.elearningforum.com). Speaking at this meeting will be Bob Mosher (Learning Evangelist for Microsoft), Jay Cross (CEO, Internet Time Group), and myself. In preparing to moderate the meeting, I was lucky enough to be included on an email thread with Gunnar Brückner, CEO of coachingplatform Inc., with offices in Canada and Germany (http://coachingplatform.com). In his correspondence with Jay Cross and Eilif Trondsen (former and present CEOs of the eLearning Forum), Gunnar made us aware of the extensive work that has been going on for several years throughout Europe to better understand how to recognize, assess, and validate informal learning practices. Having not been previously aware of this excellent body of work, I am indebted to Gunnar and heartily recommend the following three articles/studies as a primer on the subject. Thanks Gunnar!

“http://www2.trainingvillage.gr/etv/publication/download/
panorama/5164_en.pdf

“http://www.kenniscentrumevc.nl/site/documenten/Bjornavold.pdf

“Non-Formal Learning: Mapping The Conceptual Terrain. A Consultation Report.” Helen Colley, Phil Hodkinson & Janice Malcolm provide a very helpful overview of different discourses around non-formal and informal learning and find that the boundaries or relationships between informal, non-formal and formal learning can only be understood within particular contexts.
http://www.infed.org/archives/e-texts/colley_informal_learning.htm

Informal Learning Hits IBM Europe

The Informal Learning bug that is finally infecting the U.S. has has been at work in Europe for some time now. This is exemplified by a presentation that will be made soon by Mia Vanstraelen. Mia is responsible for learning, education and training services at IBM Europe. In that capacity, she leads a European team of learning leaders, professionals, instructors, tutors, and coaches. Mia is also a member of the IBM Learning Team responsible for defining the Learning and Knowledge strategy for the IBM Corporation, the strategic learning plans in the business units, and driving advanced Learning Architectures and Designs into each of the Learning and Knowledge programmes and curricula. The following is an excerpt from the overview of a presetnation she will be giving in December at Online Educa--Berlin.

According to the US Dept of Commerce, “at least 80% of employee learning happens in the workplace.” A recent US Department of Labor study found that “workplace learning is widespread across many employee interactions and serves to fulfill most learning needs, perhaps as much as 70 percent.” The learning is “... ongoing, often unrecognised, and involves knowledge and skills that are attainable and immediately applicable”. Whether the number is 70% or 80% or even 50%, it’s large enough for us to rethink how best to leverage the workplace to enable employees to learn ever-changing, essential knowledge and skills.

So for learning providers, this requires a shift in emphasis, from “bringing the worker to the learning” (for example, sending employees to offsite learning centers, hotels or websites) to “bringing the learning to the work” – using the work tasks, workflow and work portals themselves as environments for learning. Tapping the workplace for learning in a purposeful, informed and guided way is the focus of IBM On Demand Learning.

In her presentation at ONLINE EDUCA BERLIN about “On Demand Learning at IBM” (GPP23, Thursday, December 1, 2005, 14:00 – 16:00 hrs), Mia Vanstraelen will explain the building blocks of IBM’s On Demand Learning model and illustrate it with practical examples, demonstrating how technology can help leverage the workplace to transform employee learning.

Related note: Mia will be speaking in parallel with my own presentation at Online Educa entitled: "Rapid eLearning--Disintermediate or Die." I'm hearing a very consistent informal learning theme these days...

Course Development Takes Too Long

Results of recent Flash Poll by Maise, entitled "Development Time & Speed Satisfaction," indicated that 65% of training directors are still dissatisfied with how long course development takes. Here are the results of 659 respondents:

What is the average time in your organization to develop an e-Learning course?

• 1 to 6 Days--31%
• 1 to 2 Weeks--4%
• 3 to 6 weeks--25%
• 7 to 12 Weeks--20%
• 13 to 18 Weeks--9%
• > 18 Weeks--11%

Satisfaction with your organization's time to develop an e-Learning course?

• Very Satisfied with Development Time--9%
• Satisfied with Development Time--26%
• It needs to be Somewhat Faster--28%
• It needs to be Much Faster--37