Way back in the early days of online learning and cloud access…about 12-15 years ago…innovation in tools, concepts, and methods proceeded at a conceptually “manageable” rate. The skills, knowledge, and specific vision needed could be focused on just a few new elements. Such as “building a community online”, to name an important one. Learning professionals started out on the journey to the promised land of new potentials with cautious, but still evident, optimism. (the “sky is the limit” portion of the new tech graph).
FBOW, what seemed like a journey with just a few stops along the way to the future of online learning, became a struggle as if in a sandstorm with low visibility. Instead of clear strides ahead, innovators were constantly bumping into things we didn’t know existed, and being shocked by “the new”… with additional fields being added to the journey, again…and again.
For example, as the bandwidth of mobile devices, and the capability of CPUs, and the advancement of AI algorithms proceeded, suddenly there was “all that could be done with real time ubiquitous video” to master.
Those who might have been expert in various forms of assessment, or learning plan objectives, were required to also know all about Narrative, and the way it works to present and instill ideas through emotions and production values.
So instead of moving steadily towards the goal, the goal was becoming multitudinous…with seemingly no one clear path ahead. Rather, expertise in online learning was becoming a bundle of paths towards disparate capabilities that nonetheless formed a whole of capability supporting and enabling online learning.
PSA was caught like everyone in this “hey wait a minute here, how can we possibly deal with this” phenomena, and eventually realized that we needed to promulgate a conceptual structure to account for the disparate paths needed to proceed. After some trial and error, PSA presented a “7 Core Elements of Defined Learning Experiences” structure, that attempted to fit every new path and innovative vision into one (or more) of 7 Core Elements. (there are many posts re 7 Core Elements in the PSA archive…it’s searchable)
Today, additional fields of expertise, such as in technical, artistic, academic…and other realms…are being added to the list of “stuff to know about” or “get good at”. Does our 7 Core Elements still “bound the task” ahead?
Eliot Masie is one of those aggregators of online learning trends; his conferences and programs seem to manage to cover, or at least list, what’s the “latest buzz of innovation”, especially in online learning that supports workforce development, or appears to. Here’s his latest list of “things to know more about” (below).
Some of which clearly fall into one or more of the PSA 7 Core Elements. Such as “Brain Science Applied to Learning” which falls under the 5th Core Element: “Applying the New Science of Learning”. How many more of these from Eliot fit into one of the 7 Core Elements, and are there some that don’t?
Learners of today and tomorrow require new and evolving skills from learning professionals. It is time to ‘Retool’ into Learning Producers!
The skills of instructional design, program creation, content delivery, performance consulting, curation and learning management will continue to be important, but the Learning Producer has a wider set of competencies and capacities including:
User Experience
Design Thinking Applied to Learning
Curation: Content and Context
From Social “Learning” to Collaboration
Learning EcoSystems
Performance, Workflow and On The Job Learning Support Tools
Adding Engagement, Competition and Entertainment to Learning
Personalization
Learner Centered Content
Learning Data Analytics
Really Blending Tech and Human Learning Resources
Emerging Opportunities of ChatBots and Smart Speakers
Brain Science Applied to Learning
AI and Machine Learning – Getting Ready!
Learning Systems, xAPI, LRS and Knowledge Clouds
Beyond Courses and Classes: New Brands and Formats
Lego Designs – Preparing for Content ReUse & BlockChains
Building Learning Producers: Skills, Approaches & Careers
Global and Diverse Workers as Learners
Assessing Learning Innovations: Yes, Maybe or Hype?
And more…
The “moving goal posts” is a proven path to failure. What is required for success generally is a vision of an end-state future that spurs unrelenting effort over time that incorporates changes in the environment (including institutions and technologies) as they can be built upon each other.
Sound like Gary is suggesting a way forward; perhaps below describes a historical reference.
I’m reminded of the early days of motion pictures. After a chaotic beginning to a new and complex media product called ‘moving pictures’…a system of production was created that encompassed and organized all the extremely varied tasks into an efficient entity called the “Studio System”.
All the various skills and capabilities and trades and crafts involved were structured under one roof, so to speak, forming the “studio system” which turned out films steadily regardless of the challenges of each particular production. We now call that the “Classical Hollywood” period and value greatly many of the films created by this system.
Somehow the studio included everything from carpentry and electrical to hair/makeup, costumes to catering and more including the actors, musicians, sound engineers, directors, gaffers…to say nothing of the writers, the producers, the accountants, and all the other items in the credits. Like the Director.
The Studio System turned all those parts into a machine that worked together and was greater than the sum of its parts.
There were some big challenges to overcome, including access to big capital, as well as organizational brilliance, and a flair for both business and the arts. Perhaps fully realized learning “”products” or “tools” require something similar…some way to bring together under one umbrella/ roof all the various parts of the New Learning Experience.
It may be another chicken and egg circumstance finding the required capabilities and expertise in a rapidly innovating set of “fields of learning”, which we hope is just 7 Core Elements, and not 70.
We’ve seen big tech entities evolve from one “product” to another very different one…Amazon from book retail to grocery delivery to digital assistants to film production…to say nothing of their vast server installations and all that involves.
Apple has been involved in educational tools since the early days of the Macintosh. It has the capital to buy and structure leading learning tool innovators, and the size to partner with a film production company, as well as a learning tools real time distributor and data compiler, and it might well produce VR hardware and software itself to enable OTL.
What Apple doesn’t seem to have is the vision to take the needed great leaps forward such as we came to expect from Steve Jobs.
Or would it be some coalition of higher education entities with so called third party businesses who are currently exploring and supporting online learning? Shouldn’t the enormous US educational bureaucracy be leaders in these transformations?
As can be seen from the questions being asked, we are still in the pre-studio chaos period for OTL.