With the advent of each new technology phase, people become more in contact with each other, informed, and knowledgeable. It is no coincidence that communications are the first thing to be stopped or censored during an uprising.
We are in the middle of a technology movement that is having a huge impact in the learning industry, but it entails the same unfortunate censorship. (I'll get to that thought in a moment.)
Case in point
Remember when pagers first came out? Wow! Predictably, the momentum swung from amazement of the new tool to feeling burdened by the technology. This is great! We can be connected! Cue pendulum swing: This is terrible, I can't escape!
In spite of the fact that when the pager buzzed, most of us still had to search out a payphone (remember those?) to find out what all the buzzing was about, it was still a cool little piece of technology. As expected, for the most part, the populous was divided on the progression of technology being able to find and connect us.
Technology evolves in learning
This leads me to learning as it evolves today. At any given conference or ASTD chapter meeting, there is a confluence of generations, leadership styles, and learning philosophies. In the past, the L&D person of a newer generation would accept the wisdom of the tribal knowledge in the group. However, technology has become the great equalizer.
No longer does the new generation of thinkers need to accept the norm as standard practice. They have Google at their instantaneous touch. They have twitter to reach a network that is wider than ever before. They have WordPress, tumblr, and blogger to connect themselves with other thought leaders who share the same philosophical mindset. In what would take years of certifications, courses, and book readings for the Baby Boomer generation to gain information, now only takes half the time—and the information is equally rich.
Suddenly, technology in the learning field has made us intellectual equals. No more "sage on the stage." No more "because I said so." No more having to accept research conducted back in 1965 as gospel. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't want to receive a bazillion emails taking me to task about those veterans in the industry who deserve our respect or have credibility. There are many of us who have been around the learning block a time or two, and I'll be the first to raise my hand to say that experience doesn't equate to useful knowledge or most importantly up to date knowledge. Those of Digital Age have much thanks for veterans, like myself, and I'm happy to have them do so.
But technology has put us on the same playing field of striving to reach the goal of making learning a business that organizations respect and take seriously. Technology is teaching us that while classroom has its place, that place can be anywhere and anytime. Those new in the learning industry have much to teach me about engagement, learning stimulation, and bringing excitement to learners. Their use of technology plays a huge role in achieving this goal.
In the beginning of this post, I mentioned censorship as a control mechanism. I'm sure we have all sat in the same room with the "experienced" L&D person who, while despite voluntarily attending a session on new technologies in learning, was the first to shout out about control: "Facebook isn't secure. Skype isn't stable. Twitter is just for announcing your lunch menu. Vine (video) takes bandwidth, and we can't trust people to say the right things at the right time." And BYOD? Don't be ridiculous, how do you control the information? As a result, they believe that these tools must be stripped from our lexicon. Up goes the firewall. Down comes the offending site.
This sounds a lot like a scared dictatorship to me. Indeed, scared that people will give critical feedback where none is asked for nor appreciated. As is standard operating procedure for dictatorships across the world, one must control the technology of the day.
Moving forward
Well, I'm here to break the bad news to you: Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, Facetime, Twitter, WordPress, and so on are out of the bag. No putting those cats back. Technology is the great equalizer of people—and the equalizer of our industry.
The question now is not how do we contain or control the forward momentum. The question is how to leverage, how to explore, how to learn, and how to become real knowledge leaders for the 21st century as opposed to trainers of the 19th century. Let's not look back.
