Skip to main content

2019, Year in Learning

A short summary of my learning from learning this year...and some questions...

Digital learning does not happen by itself.  It has to be enabled. In an age of digital abundance and overdose, digital is likely to be shunned. Tell me, the learner, why should I. Give me a strong reason...

Learning competes with Tik-Tok and Whatsapp on a bad day. With Netflix on a good day. Are you making me curious enough?

A lot of elearning content is B grade as compared to what is available outside. I mean, very little has changed in elearning. How to make it meaningful (not entertaining) in a short span of time?

Time is a real constraint. But time can be moved, shifted and even bent given the right motivation. But are you giving me reason enough to do so?

Non-digital actually scores over digital. The unique things one can do using non-digital are really cool. Non-digital actually gives a better overall sensory experience. Why is that so? My view is that it is partly because digital has not been fully exploited yet...

Digital looks repetitive - it looks like it has been stagnant for years now. Whats new? Not Donkey Kong replaced by Star Wars replaced by Angry birds. VR/AR are still more of curiosity building tools - hasn't been thought through enough to add value. Where is the next version of Digital learning? Or is it something else?

Mostly, people, when shown skill gaps,  will gladly work at getting better. The best do. This is an underrated use case for training. We assume sometimes that people wont try. Very often it is because we don't enable them to see the gaps well. In general, people want to get better. My learning - intent is good in general.

Podcasts? Well, does anyone ever use them in a corporate setting - yes, during commutes, but not otherwise.

We ran a few experiments and continue to run more experiments...Example, we created a board game (well, part game, part activity) for induction - by repurposing something that already existed. Cost us approximately 5000 INR and a few hours off a graphic designer. And 6 months on, it is going strong. And we are looking at a version 2.  Learning - there are low cost experiments and avenues to try them..

Here is to a 2020 with

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Be Civil. Make nice!

Popular posts from this blog

The man who saved Pumpelsdrop

This was a story we had in college if I am not mistaken. Perhaps it was in school, but a delightful story it was. The story goes somewhat like this ( reproduced from here ), but the college version we had was slightly different from this.  I t was a dull, gloomy and a depressing morning in a town named Pumpelsdrop in northern England. The Great Depression had brought all the businesses to a standstill. The bored automobile dealer was spending time alone, as usual. But, this seems to be an unusual morning as an odd entity (customer) appeared on the horizon. A man in a bright suit walks up to the dealer and says, "I need to buy a Rolls Royce Phantom II. We have a business conference coming up and I need to impress my customers". Then proceeds to pay 10% of the deal with a single check for 2000 pounds. The rest he says will pay when he takes the delivery.   The auto dealer was stunned. He was delighted to hear that someone is holding a business conference of some kind and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

And the unconference happened

 Most conferences have an agenda. No, not the stated agenda, but an agenda of marketing, airtime to sponsors, ensuring the past and future customers are invited, of ensuring that the "stars" of the industry are invited and attention showered of them. All in all it is a your scratch my back, I scratch your back syndrome. Some of these become cliques and claques and therefore the real point behind a conference is lost. And then there is the unconference - organised and run by the alumni of the ISABS ODCP program. And as the name suggests, this is truly an un-conference organised by the alumni, for the alumni. No funders - except the alumni themselves. No sponsors. Just the team.  I havent seen a more tastefully organised conference (yes, its an unconference).  To begin with - the location - not a typical star hotel, but an outdoorsy place. The food - simple. The welcome - personal. It was like a homecoming. The setting was warm and welcoming. It was a smaller conference. Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why does elearning exist?

 Elearning is one of those niches that does not deserve to exist. Yes, it was a novelty 20 years ago, but not now. It cannot exist. But somehow it does. Disclaimer: I used to head a content team once upon a time. And I used to ask those whom I hired - tell me the last thing you learnt from an e-learning. The answer is - pretty much nothing (and this is a good decade ago).  Why?  If you want to learn a recipe, you go to Youtube, or Reels or something like that. If you are terribly old fashioned - as in, you read - then you go to a website and read the recipe and make it.  Most other things you learn by doing or learning on the job or asking an expert.  If you have to learn something in depth, then there are other ways.  So, where does e-learning fit in all this? E-learning is one of those products that the customer hates, but has no choice, because someone has decided it is the best way. For instance, you have to learn a new CRM or some other product - you w...
Post a Comment
Read more