I have just read a really interesting post on the Frog Design site! The article by Tim Leberecht is titled "The future of news: Hyper-distribution or Hyper-branding?" The focus of the article is on possible future business models for news media. As I was reading the article, I was struck by what I felt were parallels with learning and the distribution of knowledge. This article along with yesterday's post by Seth Godin, "Flipping abundance and scarcity" have really got me thinking. In many ways, traditional media is really just a source of 'popular' learning. With Tim's article as the basis for my thinking I'd like to take you through my ideas as I read the article, I think it has relevance for how we see learning today and into the future.
Traditional learning establishments such as universities and colleges have generally struggled to successfully harness the benefits of the internet. In the first instance, learning institutions have 'strapped' e-courses onto existing courses often with little emphasis on learning effectiveness. There has been a 'need' to be seen as up-to-date, it has been more about 'branding' than learning - if everybody else is doing it, we must as well or we'll be seen as out-of-date.
(I have used universities and colleges as examples of traditional learning organisations, however it is equally true that corporate L&D departments have behaved in the same manner, e-learning equates to up-to-date)
This is all about (belatedly) catching up. Traditional learning organisations "cling to the idea that the world needs traditional learning establishments...... What if it doesn't?" (borrowing from the Frog article!) It's a good point I think, what if learners just don't need traditional learning environments, what if they don't need formal learning, what happens then?
What if learners thought......'if the knowledge and skills are so important, they will find me!' What if qualifications themselves don't really matter any more?
With the availability of knowledge and resources available freely on the internet individual learners can aggregate sources to create their own hyperpersonalised learning stream. Is there a need for the traditional learning model?
To me this is where we are at today. Businesses, colleges and universities have added elearning onto their traditional learning approaches - it is seen as an 'extra' source of learning.
Let's stop and think.
The way forward from here? I see greater and greater emphasis on informal sources of learning, moving forward to the point that 'if the knowledge IS so important it WILL find the learner!'
Perhaps there is still a niche available for the traditional, formal learning model. Leberecht speaks of the importance of branding for traditional media, I think the same is true for traditional learning organisations. "Distinction saves you from extinction" Leberecht says. He is right, for traditional learning organisations they could create 'artificial scarcity in a sea of abundance', they could aim to reach FEWER learners, not more! Instead of trying to be everything, they could focus on reinforcing their traditional brand emphasis.
When I write articles on my blog, it's because I've started thinking on something and find that writing a blog post helps to clarify my thoughts! Today that is true, however today writing has also made me think even more. I'd love to sneak a peak 50 years ahead and see how learning has evolved!
