Big Question - In the Year 2019

The March Big Question from Learning Circuits is What will workplace learning look like in 10 years?

Here are some of the things I see in 10 years:

• We will see much more informal learning and knowledge management. There will be a need for trainers and/or knowledge managers who will guide, coach, be a catalyst for, and monitor social media and informal learning.


• Participants will have much more control of learning events. And with the use of technology, courses will be far more reactive to their audiences' learning needs. We are already seeing this with the use of m-learning and Twitter in the classroom. Thus, a better ability of measuring your audience and formative evaluation.


• Soft skills training (e.g. sales, customer service, leadership, etc.), which is challenging to teach online, will find its niche online. A much improved 2nd life or similar online environs will allow quality role-playing, coaching, immediate feedback, etc. Far better multi-point, video conferencing will help too.


• There will be NO more page turners. They will be extinct by 2019. Asynchronous courses will still exist, but they will be engaging, interactive (in the truest sense of the term), and provide opportunities for people to apply learned skills in a safe online environment. Participants will not loath taking an online course, but see them as an enjoyable, positive, learning experience.


• With WiFi everywhere and universal platforms on all smartphones (all phones will be smartphones), m-learning will be commonplace. Smartphones will also be the common medium for social learning, which we already are seeing via Twitter, Yammer and social media apps.

There it is, my crack at being a futurist.