There is an increasing disconnect between learners - students or workers - and their technology expectations.
Most people expect (and some - Gen Ys - often demand) to be able to use the same applications they have access to at home, in their workplace or educational institution.
Janet Clarey - from Brandon Hall research - sums it up rather neatly in this slide show:
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating opening up the flood gates, but there are many ways we can integrate social software applications behind the firewalls that don't compromise the organisational security.
As educators, we need to responsibly address this disconnect - are our learning strategies meeting the learners expectations?
I heard someone reply to this the other day (they shall remain nameless for their own security): "It doesn't matter what the learners want - they wouldn't know what was good learning anyway!"
This type of response is a frightening position to be taking, in an economic climate that is seeing learning and development budgets being slashed, training being put on hold, and learners experiencing a disconnect... I fear for the future of relevance of learning in organisations and institutions if we continue to ignore the changes in society.
I've created a discussion forum about this issue over at the Learning Technologies 2008 conference Ning - drop by if you'd like to join the conversations - you don't have to be attending the conference to join in!
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