Building a culture of continuous learning: what it means

We hear a lot about continuous learning. But what does it really mean? It doesn’t mean continuously taking courses – although studying can be part of an individual’s personal and professional continuous learning strategy. It doesn’t mean continuously training people – although training may well be part of of an organisation’s continuous L&D strategy. It […]

The 4th Annual Internet Time Alliance Jay Cross Memorial Award goes to Michelle Ockers

This post first appeared in Internet Time Alliance News. The Internet Time Alliance Award, in memory of Jay Cross, is presented to a workplace learning professional who has contributed in positive ways to the field of Informal Learning and is reflective of Jay’s lifetime of work. Recipients champion workplace and social learning practices inside their […]

What new trends and technologies can we use to design and deliver modern training experiences?

This is the question that Jo Cook recently asked me in the Training Journal TJ Talks webinar on Tuesday 25 June. Here are some of the points I made. If we just think about the technology – in particular the (so-called) learning technologies – what I find is that they are primarily used to automate […]

10 reasons why you don’t need “learning technologies” to enable learning at work

Recently Jane Bozarth tweeted We need to stop calling them “learning technologies” and start asking, “How can this technology be used to support learning?” — Jane Bozarth (@JaneBozarth) May 23, 2019 So here are 10 reasons why you don’t need dedicated learning technologies to enable and support learning at work. Can you think of any […]

How to promote daily self-learning in the workplace

There is, rightly, a lot of talk nowadays about “lifelong learning” and “continuous learning” but more often than not, articles focus on “lifelong education” or “continuous training”. In other words, they emphasise the need for continuous formal learning, and, in organisational terms, this implies providing more and more training or access to online course libraries. […]

Many individuals spend time self-learning; but most organisations don’t provide time for it

In my previous article, So how much time do you spend self-learning? I explained that many individuals now recognise the need to spend time each week on some planned learning. By that I meant not just relying on the natural learning that happens as they do their jobs, but making a conscious effort to spend […]

How much time do you spend self-learning?

Many people now recognise the need to take control of their career and spend time on their own self-development. Furthermore, organisations now recognise the need for this too. Randall Stephenson, the CEO of AT&T, for example has been reported as saying: “There is a need to retool yourself, and you should not expect to stop […]

Build the bridge to self-learning: Help individuals help themselves

In the workplace individuals learn in many different ways for, through and at work – in what might be termed the 4 D’s of Learning: DIDACTICS – ie being taught (aka education or training) DISCOVERY – ie finding out for oneself (aka informal learning) DISCOURSE – ie interacting with others (aka social learning) DOING – […]

10 Myths about Modern Workplace Learning

First published in September 2017 Here are 10 misconceptions about Modern Workplace Learning (MWL). 1 – MWL simply means modernising training. No. It is much more than modern training. It means a modern approach to learning at work – recognising and valuing all the ways that people learn at, through and for work – not […]

Creating modern training, content, events and experiences

Next public workshop runs 4 March -12 April 2019 L&D departments have traditionally focused on training people for compliance or conformance. This has  been done in the classroom training and more recently through e-learning. However, in the modern workplace we need more relevant solutions to performance problems, and where training (of some sort) is required, […]