Question
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Imagine your organisation deprived of all of today’s financial resources – how could learning and training be supported ?
image by B. Heine
The L&T blog is a practical technological tool to develop digital literacy and to raise critical awareness on new learning methodologies and technologies among ITC-ILO staff and interested constituents.
In times of scares resources one needs to be smart. As no one will take the computers and internetconnections from us, it is a splendid opportunity to set up communities of learning using forms of Technology Enhanced Learning, This in combination with learning in the workplace whith moderators but no formal teachers one can still acomplish the training and learning needs from both the organizational perspective as well as the individual perspective.
Shortsighted organizations that are tight in money will probably argue to just close the training department and use the free online services and resources instead.
I do believe that most information you need can be found online by reading blogs, using Twitter and Youtube, and keeping up with your RSS feed. Though, this informal and highly unstructured learning looks not that efficient to me because there is a lack of synthesis and integration in order to obtain overall learning objectives. A learning package has to be put together and tailor-made by professionals.
I like the post of Mr. de Vries launching the idea of ‘moderated’ collaborative learning in which trainers could rather act as facilitators of group learning events. Often, there is an unexplored wealth of information within the organization. In wonder whether Mr. de Vries sees this as a something that will replace ‘top down’ instructionally designed courses or as something to complement them?
By the way, to avoid budget to be cut from training, it is extremely important to show the importance of learning and training to the core values of the organization. Here is a nice article on “training your way out of the recession »: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/career_and_jobs/article5062390.ece
Thanks Fred, indeed. Scarcity of resources opens pathways to innovation and creativity. A hybrid set of:
– smart workplace learning / workflow learning
– informal learning
– just-in-time learning
– brown bag sessions
– open spaces
– network learning
– blended learning
all enhanced by technology (eventually shaped as a CoP) and considering KM part of our daily professional practice. This does not have to be expensive at all.
Combine Jay Cross ‘learnscapes’ with the connectivism thoughts of George Siemens and you have some useful ingredients.