Like many of you, I love to travel and I’m intrigued by the possibilities of social learning. So when I came across an article titled How Social Learning Through Implied Networks Will Change the Travel Experience, I was really pumped.
The gist of the article is that through the use of mobile applications (like Wikitude World Browser), travel is becoming much easier and whole lot more fun. Gone are the days of old, inaccurate maps, bulky travel books, and expensive tour guides. Welcome to the new world of augmented reality. Simply point your phone’s camera at the landmark you would like to learn more about and get detailed information instantly with links to more content via Wikipedia and YouTube.
The most interesting feature to me, because of its possible applications in the IT User Adoption world, is the ability to connect people using the application in real-time. Travelers can inform other travelers of traffic, construction, landmark closings, etc. and can share their own content created during their trip.
Let’s pretend for a minute that taking a role-based eLearning course at work is like traveling to a popular destination. Experts have created content for you to learn about some new features within your corporate ERP system, just like tour guides and writers do within guide books. But what if another end-user finds a bug in the system or a quicker way to complete a process? What if the training leaves out an important element that every learner is having difficulty with?
Imagine if we allowed interactivity among users within formal training curricula. Wouldn’t that solve a lot of the issues that arise from creating training in a single shot? I know that training developers can go through and update their courses or performance support systems, but what if we added a microblog or wiki feature to each course, allowing users to comment on the training and give advice to other learners? Maybe learners could actually give advice to the trainers!
Some will argue that these features will lead to inappropriate comments from users, but this all-too-common shot at social media is getting old. It really comes down to trust. If you trust your employees enough to hire them, why can’t you trust them to behave appropriately in public (online or otherwise)? Give your learners an avenue to add to their training. You won’t regret it!
