I'm in London this week...LOVE this city! I was in Italy earlier this year and in preparation for the two week trip I looked to podcasts (History of Rome by Mike Duncan - free) as a way of boosting my historical knowledge, especially about Ceasar, and to Radio Lingua (http://radiolingua.com/) to boost my Italian. These podcasts combined with a few maps (GPS in the rental car) and comments on tripadvisor.com which is essentially a blog, were all I needed. The combination of the stories, the language and the other traveller's insights helped me plan a great trip. The abundance of online options to help you learn, get up to speed is so valuable and now can be done from my phone. The just-in-time learning is so invaluable these days. My last job was running corporate training and we based classes on general needs seen through the business, but they were all face-to-face with some reference sheets you could pull down as needed. There was a need for more just in time training that wasn't being met.
As I plan for my final project which is designed to be corporate training, I'm trying to combine an interactive online form of training with just-in-time tools. It's a challenge to get the balance right. This class has really opened my eyes to new possibilities, but I now realize how much more there is to learn and explore.
Laura, It sounds like you are interested in mobile learning. This seems like a fascinating area that has not been fully explored. But imagine getting that update of a new policy or procedure on your iPhone and complete a lesson in 10 mins? It also has huge implications for job aids. Alas, the problem with this right now is that there are too many platforms in smartphones. It seems like the industry is consolidating itself into 2 or 3 main ones. The iPhone platform, Google Android, and RIM's blackberry.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see how this develops.
-Ben