Back to the Future: what could a decade of learning technology tell us about the next ten?
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What can 10 years of learning technology help us understand about the future of learning and development? What trends have shaped the industry and what's round the corner. Matt Johnson, Managing Director at City & Guilds Kineo, talked at LearnX Sydney on 9 September 2015. He shared his thoughts and those of key figures in the global L&D space. Will it all be about wearable tech or hoverboards? Or will we discover that, no matter what the technology we have, L&D challenges remain the same?
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Back to the Future: what could a decade of learning technology tell us about the next ten?
- 1. What a decade of learning tech could tell us about the next 10 years Matt Johnson Global Managing Director, City & Guilds Kineo
- 2. About me MATT JOHNSON @kineoMD Global Managing Director at City & Guilds Kineo Ex racing cyclist, now an open-water swimmer Passionate about learning Frustrated choral singer!
- 3. Why Back To The Future?
- 4. What have been the major trends in learning technology? What could that tell us about the next 10 years? What stays the same? We’re thinking fourth-dimensionally
- 5. CON SOTIDIS Learning and Performance Consultant CAMMY BEAN ex-Vice President of Learning Design at Kineo US CLIVE SHEPHERD Founding Director, The More Than Blended Learning Company ANDY SMYTH Development Manager, Vocational Learning at TUI Group DONALD CLARK Director and Speaker, PlanB Learning Our panel of experts
- 6. Learning and Performance Consultant @LearnKotch Hosted LearnX: The Main Event 2014 What did they say? Con Sotidis Founder and convenor of #Ozlearn
- 7. “Learning technology is now inching back towards acceptance and adoption” “Tech must support the learning journey” “Delivery methods change, but the business challenges stay the same” What did they say? Cammy Bean Vice President of Learning Design at Kineo US Author of The Accidental Instructional Designer ‘Been in the elearning biz since before we even called it that’ @CammyBean
- 8. “People don’t hesitate to use learning tech outside work and it’s changing their lives” “Blended learning has been a big trend” “We should stop calling it elearning now” What did they say? Clive Shepherd Founding Director of The More Than Blended Learning Company Author of The Blended Learning Cookbook “Learning technology is empowering people” @CliveShepherd
- 9. “Blended learning has been the biggest trend” “Tech is catching up with what we have been aspiring to do” “Learners will always think of more than we can as deliverers” What did they say? Andy Smyth Development Manager, Vocational Learning at TUI Group “Mankind tends to dream” Chairman of City & Guilds UK’s Industry Skills Board
- 10. “Pedagogy has changed more in last 10 years than the previous 1000” “The internet brings a world of digital abundance for learning content” “AI is my pick, not just for 2015 but for the next 50 years” What did they say? Donald Clark Director and speaker at Plan B Learning @DonaldClark Regular – and controversial - blogger on learning technology
- 11. 1. The rise of blended learning 2. Technology ‘catching up’ with our aspirations 3. Gamification, interactivity and user-generated content 4. Bitesize learning - part of everyday life outside work 5. Power to the learner! What trends have we seen in 10 years?
- 12. 1. Blended learning will be the norm 2. Learners will be in the driving seat 3. Elements of gaming – badges and reward 4. Making the most of new tech 5. Focus on learning and business outcomes - return on expectation What’s on the way in the next 10?
- 13. What’s just around the corner? Social media Open badges Mobile devices Wearable technology
- 14. Keep moving and be agile
- 15. 1. Be agile and keep an eye on changes in the ‘real’ world 2. Keep on being guided by the learner 3. Work out the best ways to measure return on investment 4. Think big … and small 5. Make sure the learning aims drive the tech ‘IF YOU PUT YOUR MIND TO IT, YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING’ Doc Brown, Back To The Future Five tips for future-proofing
- 16. What trends could be round the corner for L&D? How will my business prepare? And how can I personally be ready for them? ‘YOU CAN MAKE YOUR FUTURE WHATEVER YOU WANT – SO MAKE IT A GOOD ONE’ Doc Brown, Back To The Future Writing your own future
Editor's Notes
- Thank you Rob. I’m the MD at City & Guilds Kineo. As Rob said, I’m based in the UK so it’s great to get the chance to visit you all here. Thanks for the warm welcome – come to our stand, etc. Some facts about me – I’m passionate about lifelong learning and I’m an ex-teacher. Nervous about presenting in front of a large crowd? Try teaching in front of a class of 14 year olds! Singing and music is a passion of mine – and you might even spot some song references as I go through this presentation (no prizes, sadly). I’m a cyclist and, following a bet with my brother-in-law, have tried to turn myself into an open-water swimmer. As you can see, even when I’m swimming or cycling I’m a Kineo man Story of the picture – selfie in UK on a dry day…Statue of Liberty….no-one batted an eye!
- So, who knows what Star Wars day is? Well, something I didn’t know until recently is that it’s Back to the Future Day in just 42 days! Oct 21 2015 is the date the characters visit in Back to the Future 2. So naturally there’s been lots of discussion about how closely their vision of the future matches reality. It turns out the film didn’t do too badly … wearable tech, biometrics, self-tying shoelaces – even hoverboards – are now a reality. Sadly flying cars haven’t really ‘taken off’ and we’re still waiting for time travel, of course…..so let’s do this – if in our lifetime someone invents time travel and you come back to this very moment to announce it……nope, didn’t think so! Kineo was founded 10 years ago, so we thought it would be a good chance to do a similar thing – what was the world of learning like then, and what did we expect it to be like now? For instance, hands up who has a mobile device? Keep hands up if more than one … etc. And that has a big effect on how we design learning technology. Bear in mind that iPhones hadn’t yet been released 10 years ago.
- So we’ve been thinking fourth-dimensionally, and of course the fourth dimension is time. And we have framed our thoughts in three questions. What have been the major trends in learning technology? What could that tell us about the next 10 years? And what stays the same? And we’ll discover that trend-spotting tells us quite a lot about what’s truly important in our business. We’ll find that, whatever the tech we use, some things don’t change. And some of the predictions – even the aspirations - we had 10 years ago were pretty accurate.
- To help us, we asked some of our friends in the world of learning to reflect, and then to gaze into their crystal balls. [Don’t have to talk through who they are on this slide – just leave the screen up for a moment]
- Here’s someone you will recognise. Con Sotidis was the host here at this event last year. We had a chat with him about our three questions and he has sent us a video with his thoughts – so I’ll let him speak for himself … [click to play video] To sum up, Con felt that blended learning has been, and will continue to be important. He also talked about emphasis on the ‘so what?’ of learning – how we show what a difference it has made to business outcomes? And finally he urged us to keep investigating how we can use new tech, like wearables and virtual reality. We also talked about the cricket, and whenhe said England’s chances of retaining the Ashes are “this big”, I’m not sure I trust his crystal ball gazing….
- We also chatted to our very own Cammy Bean – the accidental instructional designer! In her own words, Cammy has been in eLearning since before we called it that. She talked about the Gartner Hype Cycle and how learning technology is now being widely adopted, following the initial hype. She also felt that tech supports and enables the leaner journey Importantly Cammy felt that, no matter how technology trends change, the underlying challenges for learning will stay the same
- Clive literally wrote the book on blended learning! So, not surprisingly, he also talked about how important blended has been over the past decade. He talked about learners using technology in their everyday lives – on phones or tablets – and how empowering that can be. So if we can get the tech right, encouraging our learners will be like pushing an open door. Controversially, perhaps, he suggested we should stop using the term ‘eLearning’ now and just refer to learning!
- Andy is an in-house learning and development developer for TUI, the global travel company. He’s also the chairman for City & Guilds UK’s industry skills board. Again he mentioned the importance of blends. And he talked about how technology has now evolved and developed so that it can support what we have been aspiring to do in terms of learning delivery. He urges us to dream and be innovative, to keep up with the demands of learners.
- Donald Clark, our last ‘luminary’, is a blogger, speaker and has over 30 years’ experience in eLearning – he’s truly been around since the industry got started. He has far more of a focus on technology than the other people we spoke to and talked about the importance of artificial intelligence – for personalisation, etc. He also said that he feels pedagogy has moved on more in the last 10 years than the previous 1000 – do we agree with that? Has pedagogy moved on, or just how we deliver learning? [Blank screen – what do I think?]
- To sum up, here’s what we have seen happening over the last decade: All of our panellists agreed that blended learning has been the biggest trend over the past 10 years. Back in 2005 we started talking about how the ideal blend could work – now we’re designing and delivering it. And part of that is down to development in the tech world – we’re now able to deliver the elearning we want. Responsive design, multiple devices, personalisation, interactivity – all tech advances that allow us to dream bigger in how, when and where we deliver learning. The use of gaming and simulation is one we should all be watching carefully – as a parent and a former teacher, young people respond more to learning by playing than learning by studying
- No surprise then that the top tips are a combination of what we have seen, and what our experts think is coming But predictions so far in the future really are hard to give, so what’s about the very near future?
- Tech-wise, we can start to think about what’s likely to be the next big trend. We’d expect to see the likes of open badges becoming important as learners seek to demonstrate what they’ve learnt and demand more tangible rewards. And wearable tech – as Con said, it’s useful in our everyday lives and still a bit of a novelty, but how can it be used for learning?
- What can we do about it? Swimming analogy – it’s not like swimming in lanes. The future is uneven – timelines are not fixed are certain – it’s all a bit wibbly wobbly Like Open water, need to keep looking up, keep sighting, and need to adapt to changing circumstances, adjusting your path Rushing for a gate, coming to a pinch point. If you don’t get through, stuck behind a bottleneck. But above all, you, me, everybody…..we need to be agile enough to make changes whatever tech developments come our way. We’re all aiming for the finish line, etc. But expect a bit of chaos along the way
- Be agile – your future depends on it Guided by the learner – not just what they need to learn, but how do they want to learn it? Measuring ROI – being connected to the business objectives Big – culture shift, changing the way the business thinks about L&D. But to do this, make use of the small opportunities – create bitesize learning, Keep looking at the world outside L&D – where is innovation coming from? How can we stay ahead of the curve?
- So when you’re experiencing the conference today, why not use these questions as your conversation opener? What’s likely to happen in the next 10 years? What does my business need to do to be prepared? And how can I personally be ready for it? Opportunity meets preparation. And in the words of Doc Brown… ‘You can make your future whatever you want – so make it a good one’.
- Thank you everyone – great to have this opportunity to talk to you – let’s keep up the conversation! Will put slides on Slideshare and tweet the address later today