Evolution of Modern Learning Theory & “The New World of Learning”

Who am I

• Stand up IT trainer for 10 years.

• Built one of Europe’s first and largest elearning companies - FUEL

• My companies have created the strategy and developed learning solutions for 50% of the FTSE 100

• Started Fusion Universal in 2008 as a social enterprise focused on designing and delivering a digital literacy elearning program across Africa.

Focus of the presentation

• Share my lessons and apply them to the challenges of Universal Quality Education:

• - How have the world’s biggest brands evolved their recent learning theory to be more competitive and how will they evolve further?

• - For my team who are designing learning for the biggest brands - how do they Learn?

• - As a person who has been at the forefront of learning - how I do I learn in 2010

• - How would I want my children to learn in a classroom and beyond?

Traditional learning theory is dying as technology creates new ways to learn

Technology - The biggest impact on learning theory since the tablet

Time where currentlearning theory was developed and is

still being taught

Adult learning - Starts Again

The best thing that ever happened to the corporate learning industry & Universities/Colleges

During the recession - Businesses started analysing why errors were so often repeated - Answers were obvious ..

Courses didn’t deliver what they were designed for..

Reality was - the normal way to teach was with the expectation that everything taught was remembered ..

Learning Directors knew for a long time that 100% formal learning interventions were designed for failure

Organisations equated ineffective learning directly with business errors for the 1st time

Little choice

But we used to have little choice but to treat everyone with the idea that they had Elephant type memories..

Reality was that the most common way to learn was from mistakes or ask the person next to you

Little choice, until recently ..

The rise of informal learning technology for vocational & role based skills -

New learning solutions are being re-defined as..

- 80% informal

- 20% through formal brain friendly courses

80%reduce errors by…

Which organisation has more learners enrolled than Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge & the next 10 Universities combined ?

Before we explore - Informal learning & brain friendly learning ..

Lynda - A model for informal learning

Knowledge on IT skills with focus on web design

It is the most used method by my designers (amongst 20 million others) but.... WHY -

Why choose Lynda & not a college & what can you learn from their success ?

Lynda.com20 million users a month

A bit about Lynda

• Offers choice of 450 courses or as my staff use it, the 5 minute video they want there and then (this is the simple but revolutionary bit and this is the Informal bit) ....

• $25 a month subscription for all courses

• Instructors paid on Royalties for usage.

• Freedom to learn my way (informal)

Why are 20 million people choosing Lynda instead of University or college courses ?

Easy to access

Effective - My needle in a haystack

Affordable

Duration

Who is Lynda ?

Lynda

• Once technology is pervasive and the learning is available in digestible chunks then the key skill becomes finding the right answer rather than knowing the right answer

• Most Universities and Colleges do not create ready competent workers read but they could with a different approach..

• Company really wants to accelerate learning of inductees to become closer to experienced staff faster

• This is why the freedom of the Lynda and other informal learning tools are such a revelation to my staff and others

Vocational learning & the Lynda approach

• Once technology is pervasive and the learning is available in digestible chunks then the key skill becomes finding the right answer rather than knowing the right answer

• Most Universities and Colleges do not create ready competent workers read but they could with a different approach..

• Company really wants is to accelerate learning of inductees with role specific/vocational skills

• This is why the freedom of the Lynda approach and other informal learning tools are such a revelation to my staff and others

Informal learning by Apple ...

• Want to become Mac, iPhone or Mac Application literate? then ...

• 90 seconds of motivation and engagement then ....

• Simple, engaging, concise 2 minute simulations

• A menu to choose what I want to learn next...

Lynda.com, Apple & Vodafone - Models for informal learning

• I don’t have to remember the knowledge, as it is easy to get back to

• Because I access it, as I need it, my practise will be in context to a real need which will help with long term retention

• Knowledge is always there

• Available anywhere I can connect

Informal learning

• Learning, step by step instructions when I need it

• When technology allows this to happen, learning design and effect is transformed

• 80% Informal (designed)

• 20% formal courses (online or classroom)

• 80% Informal

• 20% Formal

80%reduce errors by…

Modern learning theory is not being defined by the traditional academic community. It is being defined by the masses as they use technology to choose a different route

Universities & Colleges are the slowest to adopt

Corporations are faster than academics to embrace “the new world of learning”

Consumers and individuals are showing us the way through their choices

Technology companies influence on online learning & the new learning theories that are being created because of them ..

6 billion Google searches a day. Most common way to learn & research

64 million professional Linkedin users discussing latest thinking within their global communities

How Do I learn in 2010

• 50% - Google replaces my “know it all friend”

• 20% - I want a new skill, learning 2 to 5 minutes at a time (or until my attention goes) in concise visual walk-throughs

• 10% - I want opinions and latest thinking - Linkedin forum discussions/Twitter suggestions

• 10% - Books and magazines (electronic in the very near future)

• Discussion, conferences and Events

Lynda/Apple/ITunesU have shown the way

What will the future of vocational learning look like for people wanting to work in Agriculture, Banking, Health, Construction and what is the role of education ministries to be part of it?

Who is going to create it ?You, me, Lynda ?

Accelerated Learning & Brain Friendly Learning

The most powerful accelerated learning technique is storytelling

The fastest way to change a behaviour or an action is to change the story in your head

I was really scared of heights

- My story of sky-diving was ..

I changed the Story to ..

Greatest sense of beauty and freedom I can imagine

Exhilarating and exciting

No experience will ever make me feel as tranquil or as free

Changing the Story

Changes the feeling

Which changes the action

How does this story and other accelerated learning techniques relate to elearning?

2 Examples

- Secondary school

- De-mystifying technology

Accelerated learning content on a Smart board, delivered interactively with a teacher, with their parents at an Internet cafe or in a classroom self-study..

Storytelling

Motivation

Internalisation

Engagement

Audio/Visual, Interactive

Use of Mnemonics

Social Learning - Web 2.0 technologies designed for explicitly for learning. The next big thing in learning design

Addressing the issue of teach & forget..

Time and attention the enemies of learning

Click Screen Capture

Preview or pre-record

Save and Continue

Start the Recording

Automatic Transcode Available for PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad

Add some tags for easy search

Available for my global community to watch (or

publish to YouTube for all) to PC and Mobile

22,000 servers across the world

Social Learning addresses the issue of teach & forget by..

Making my best explanation available FOREVER to refresh

2 Biggest enemies of learning are time and attention - this deals with one..

How do Social Learning technologies like Jambok help?

• Extends the teacher/professor to outside the moment

• Allows students who miss a class to catchup and receive elsewhere

• Students that have to leave school but want to receive on-going education could continue through Internet Cafe’s

• Becoming easier & easier to create a digital primary & secondary school program for any subject

Conclusions & Reflections

How would I want my child to learn?

• In a manner that maintains his attention (unlikely to be through lecture)

• Through collaboration with other students and the teacher

• Continued collaboration through social learning platforms to allow on-going collaboration and discussion.

• Knowledge comes from the best source & explained using accelerated learning techniques

• Have available self-paced digital content with brain friendly learning built in so he can continue to learn when away from the classroom

What does the paradigm shift in learning theory mean for Africa

• Vocational learning is back on a level playing field as Universities globally are trying to understand the new world and are slow to move

• Who are going to be the Lynda’s of Health, Construction, Finance ..

• The cost to create this type of online learning environment for a vocational skill has massively diminished

• E-learning implemented correctly is a massive aid, to assist with the issue of the gap of quality teachers needed across Africa - true ‘education for all’

Knowledge on how to use technology as a learning tool and which sites to go to learn from is becoming the critical 21st

century learning skills...

From Tablet to Tablet

Final thought

Thank You

steve.dineen@fusion-universal.com