Learning Technologies in the Workplace

Failed Promises

The record players, radio and television have something in common with the Internet and the World Wide Web: in each case, the public expected that a new communications technology should quickly transform education. Yet in more than a century of profound technological innovation and discovery, no technology has fundamentally changed learning.

The recent emergence of e-learning and MOOCs (massive open online courses) only illuminates a recurring misjudgment. As in the past, designers have focused too heavily on technology at the expense of content and delivery. The notion persists despite more than 100 years of disappointment that information disseminated in the newest way – whichever technology that’s hot at the moment – should somehow miraculously cause people to learn more effectively.

End the Suffering

Today’s e-learning reduces training costs, which partially explains its tremendous growth since 2000. Unfortunately, repackaging content and eliminating instructors have led to the all-too-common “click-next” experience. Screen after screen of flat, sleep-inducing material bores and frustrates learners...