What is destinationism?
Destinationism - probably not a real word so lets explain what I'm getting at! I have a 4 year old boy who is really beginning to love playing with Lego, alot like his Dad used to do! Looking at the Lego that's on sale these days however, I've noticed one key difference between Lego when I was a boy and today, let me explain.
Nearly all the Lego sold today is designed so that the builder has a particular item to build, for example my son has Lego to build the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars, a helicopter, a semi-trailer and so on. When the object is built it looks great, exactly as it does on the box and very much like the real thing. This is all good, but ...... When I was a boy my Lego was mainly red and white blocks in only 4-5 different sizes, from these blocks I designed and built whatever I wanted to. The results were never as 'beautiful' looking as today's purpose designed sets but the outcome was the result of my imagination and problem solving abilities. I could and did build pretty much anything I wanted, it made me creative in how I used the blocks.
Does today's Lego stifle creativity?
Well I think it does! My son, Tom, still builds things other than the exact project described in the instructions, however there is less 'free' play. Today, more often than not with Lego, you get what you (and everyone else) expects - a great looking, realistic model. But can you be as creative and adaptive? I'm not so sure.
Why is this a problem?
Well to me it reflects a similar philosophy running through much of our business culture today (probably started by Henry Ford and his production lines!) - there seems to be a template that describes how nearly everything 'is meant' be. It's like the old square peg and round hole problem, except today there is an expectation that we all fit into the round hole, if we happen to be square, we need a quick nip/tuck to 'fix' things up! Now I am talking about learning here as well (that is what this blog is generally about!)
Destinationism and Learning
Well no surprise here really, formal learning is all about completing a set course to agreed standards - fair enough for many purposes. A business does need to be sure that workers can work safely, or meet manufacturing standards consistently. The design of learning reflects this with an emphasis on 'training' discrete sets of skills, often in isolation from each other - almost as if they bear no relationship to the real and complex world in which they are used.
I'm probably waffling a bit here! What I'm getting at is that so much learning is very specific, with a particular 'destination' to be reached. The world has changed however and destinationism could be holding business back!
Solutions?
Well (fairly) simple really. We should design learning so that learners can perform the tasks required, BUT design the learning so that the learner isn't only able to build a Millennium Falcon! Learning should be designed so that learners can adapt their skills to new problems. Businesses today should pay heed to this, for no longer can you expect to 'train' a person so they can execute a skill then expect that same person to continue using that exact skill for many years to come - unchanged. The world changes at speeds undreamt of even ten years ago, destinationism might have been sensible once but today it would be better to have an innovative flexibly skilled workforce that a workforce whose skills are no longer relevant.
