The US market for Self-paced eLearning products and services reached $18.2 billion in 2010. The demand is growing by a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.9% and revenues will reach $24.2 billion by 2015.
Although we learn every day, in everything we do, whether it is in what we read, watch or listen to, or in the conversations and discussions we have with other people, at some time people started believing that the only important learning happens in a formal setting, e.g. in a school classroom or a university lecture hall.
There are two key areas where this is happening and where it is having an impact on organisational learning.
This article first appeared in TrainingZone on 7 September 2011, but is reproduced here for those who don’t have a TZ account.
During social learning month, Jane Hart will be providing some weekly articles curating some key resources about social learning.
1. Social learning has become the latest trending concept in the learning world. Although there have been, and there will be, many articles providing a definition of what social learning is all about, I think this article by Dennis Callahan sums it up, and makes it quite clear – social learning is like gravity – it’s just there all the time.
“Social Business” is not about technology, or about “corporate culture.” It is a socio-political historical shift that is bigger, broader and much more fascinating.
A new perspective is changing how we think about society, politics, interpersonal relationships, science, government and business. New approaches are emerging. Learning and self-expression are exploding. Values are changing. Leadership is changing. The economy is changing. Change itself is changing — it is accelerating and becoming the norm.”
“Social Business” is not about technology, or about “corporate culture.” It is a socio-political historical shift that is bigger, broader and much more fascinating.
A new perspective is changing how we think about society, politics, interpersonal relationships, science, government and business. New approaches are emerging. Learning and self-expression are exploding. Values are changing. Leadership is changing. The economy is changing. Change itself is changing — it is accelerating and becoming the norm.”
The Net, especially working and learning in networks, subverts many of the hierarchies we have developed over hundreds of years. Formal education is one example, as shown in this excellent article by Cathy Davidson:
There is a growing demand for the ability to connect to others. It is with each other that we can make sense, and this is social. Organizations, in order to function, need to encourage social exchanges and social learning due to faster rates of business and technological changes. Social experience is adaptive by nature and a social learning mindset enables better feedback on environmental changes back to the organization.
Yesterday, the E-Learning Guild announced the release of this report, in which Jane Bozarth analyzes eLearning Guild research on the latest trends in adoption and usage of social media for learning.
Grockit has raised $7 million in Series D funding led by Atlas Venture and including the education-focused NewSchools Venture Fund. The company, which charges $30 per month for its materials and group study sessions, recently integrated with Facebook to help users create virtual study rooms with friends, a la the music service Turntable.fm.
A great deal has changed since the term eLearning first entered the vocabulary in 1999 and since web-based courses and modules started appearing in volume in the early 2000s. We need to rethink eLearning in light of these changes and other changes (like Social Learning) that are only now starting to impact the world of work. I'm sure most of us are aware that the major challenge for learning is no longer about 'content' or 'knowledge' (if it ever were).
Social methods and technologies mesh much better with independent learning, where the student is at the center of the learning experience (learning on their own as opposed to be being taught). They leverage a ring of social, academic, and motivational influences on their way to the goal of knowledge acquisition.
From cancer to cosmology, researchers could race ahead by working together—online and in the open
A nice selection of posts about social learning and social media for learning this week.