This blog is a reflection on: Training Is Not a One-Time Event by Kelly Meeker
While this blog is in reference to a corporate training environment,
it has tremendous relevance to traditional schooling. Meeker argues, and rightly so, that computer technologies facilitate and encourage perpetual learning. Students often take, "Computers" as
a course, just like a Math or Geography class. Technology advocates, however,
believe technology ought to be integrated--interwoven--into all courses and
classrooms. We don't have a course on, "Pencils and Paper." We simply
use the tools as a means to an end and not a "credit" unto itself.
More to the blog. Meeker's point is more about a journey than a destination.
The challenge to educators is to use the medium AND the message beyond a timed
event, to make the tools and the content meaningful beyond a finite learning
event. Hear, hear!
When she
says, " Training
needs to be a comprehensive approach to personal development that includes
mentorship, connection to training content, opportunities to share and discuss
the material with colleagues, and resources for self-directed learning," Meeker
gives us an intriguing list.
Mentorship
Mentoring is,
bar-none, the best way to acquire skills (driving a car, heart surgery,
plumbing , etc.). Technology can be used in countless ways as an integral part
of mentoring. When I needed to change a
water heater in my basement--something I've never done before--I turned to
YouTube for ideas. The world was my mentor, instantly accessible, exceptionally
brief and perfectly pragmatic. When I ran into a plumbing problem in my
bathroom, I took pictures with my phone and sent them, via e-mail, to my Dad
for help, who then called me on the same device to talk me through what I
needed to do. When I want to know how to use a software program, I often find
insight in grassroots online communities and Twitter feeds. Everyone can mentor
and be mentored thanks to technology. But
teachers, generally, are ineffective in "teaching" technology.
Instead, we are experiencing a paradigm shift. Teachers are no longer experts,
pouring knowledge into empty vessels. Instead, they now often act as logistical
facilitators, coordinating the tools and conversations that facilitate micro
and macro collaboration, where there is an ever-shifting flow of communication
and where all participants are constantly switching between the roles of mentor
and student.
Connection to
Training Content
Online
collaboration is the new norm. Text books are now collaborative and dynamic
wikis, tweets, e-mails, phone calls, texts, videos, pictures, etc. I used to
think the only place for static content was a novel. But even that is changing
as authors now encourage readers to write their own endings. Britannica gave up
on a printed version of their encyclopedia years ago. University students have
shifted from buying textbooks to renting them online. Content is no longer
found in a single, static source.
Opportunities
to Share
Educators
today recognize that teachers can learn from their students and students can learn from each other. They also
recognize that their classrooms are no longer bound by walls. Tools such as
Twitter, Skype, Flickr and YouTube encourage communication and collaboration.
Resources for
Learning
Woven
throughout the above comments we see the implied suggestion that resources now go far beyond books and teachers. The
challenge now is to learn how to effectively glean from and contribute to the
plethora of resources available to students and teachers. Education used to be
an island called school or a classroom. Now, it is field, extending beyond the
horizons of space or time. But it is also a constantly shifting field of sand.
The scope of knowledge and the dizzying pace of change can be overwhelming.
"Resource" is an antiquated noun in a new world of verbs.
There is a
growing disparity between school and the world for which students are being
prepared. Employers are increasingly skeptical of the static symbol of
knowledge: the transcript/report card. Instead, they turn to Facebook to
evaluate character and Linkedin to assess accomplishments. The validity of the
traditional institution of learning is being questioned. Schools have the
challenge of focusing on the need to build character and life-long skills such
as problem solving and adaptability. Knowledge can be, "looked up" in
an instant. The world is looking for passionate, creative innovators who are driven
to succeed. Employers are now skeptical and want to see direct proof in the
form of accomplishments instead of symbolic proof in the form of a transcript.
But even the concept of, "employer" is becoming antiquated. We now
see an unprecedented pace in the rise of self-employment and career-shifting. We
live in a wireless world that has disintegrated a world of walls. The institutions
of schools and work that were once walls, structure and sequential paths are now
fluid, dynamic and, seemingly anarchistic chaos. Teaching and learning are becoming
processes instead of events. Schools are becoming experiences instead of
places. Teachers and students are becoming peers. Technology is becoming a driver of
cooperation and collaboration. Educators have always known that seeing is
better than telling and that doing is better than seeing; technology is
becoming a facilitator of all three faster and more effectively than ever.
Ron Jewer
