Many organisations have invested heavily in learning technologies. It’s been the common approach to try and keep up with the diverse learning needs of staff in complex distributed organisations.
What can learning technologies achieve alone?
But, just as Amazon™ hasn’t improved books, most learning technologies only really address issues of access and scale. Many learning management systems (LMS) and e‑learning platforms focus on delivery of training. They have traditionally done little to activate the learner in the process of building knowledge and they don’t apply what’s known about effective skill transfer.
We need to dig deeper and go to the heart of the skill transfer process to understand the critical interactions needed for success.
To sustainably implement a skill, research shows the following activities are critical:
- Seeing authentic examples of practice in context
- Understanding the theory behind the practice
- Practising in context and getting feedback
- Working collaboratively in context to refine skills over time
The real challenge for ed-tech is to make these interactions scalable and sustainable within complex distributed organisations.
