Tony O'Driscoll

Happy New Year!A big thanks to Judy Unrein for blogging last month. If you didn't get a chance to read it, you should go back and catch up on her thoughts on HTML5 and our fortcoming TechKnowledge Conference.I'm really pleased to have Karl Kapp take the blogging reins for the month of January.I first saw Karl Kapp speak at last year's Innovations in E-Learning event. Karl often speaks at ASTD's TechKnowledge conference and other similar events, but I'd never had a chance to hear him. I'm glad I was able to catch up with him last year. Karl's session was on 3D, games, and simulations and why they matter for learning. The session was enthralling. Never before had I seen someone approach the topic with the amount of research and case examples that Karl did. It was a great session.If you're not familiar with Karl's background, he is a leading consultant, scholar, and expert on the convergence of learning, technology, and business operations. He is a professor of instructional technology in Bloomsburg University's Instructional Technology Department, and is the assistant director of the Institute for Interactive Technologies (IIT). Two of his more recent books are Learning in 3D, which he wrote with Tony O'Driscoll, and Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning. His forthcoming book is titled The Gamification of Learning and Instruction: Game-Base Methods and Strategies for Training and Education.Karl already has a very active blog in Kapp Notes, but he was nice enough to take on blogging duties here for the month of January. He'll be talking about games, simulations, and ARGs--and ranting a bit about how to better engage learners.

January Blogger: Karl Kapp

The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) 2010 International Conference & Exposition being held May 16-19 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois will feature thought leaders and innovators in the workplace learning and development field.Voices of Innovation include: David Allen, author of Getting Things Done; Marcia Conner, Fast Company columnist and co-author of the forthcoming book with ASTD President and CEO Tony Bingham titled The New Social Learning; Marshall Goldsmith, named by Forbes to be one of the Top 15 Most Influential Business Thinkers in the World in 2009; Alexandra Levit, syndicated Wall Street Journal columnist and author of the bestselling book They Don't Teach Corporate in College; Karl M. Kapp, scholar, consultant, and expert on the convergence of learning, technology, and business operations; and Tony O'Driscoll, professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business whose current research focuses on how emerging technologies can rapidly disrupt existing business models and industry structure.Leaders of the Profession include Michael Allen, Geoff Bellman, Ken Blanchard, Rob Brinkerhoff, Ruth Clark, Beverly Kaye, Don Kirkpatrick, Jack Phillips, Bob Pike, Dana Robinson, Thiagi, and Jack Zenger.Voices of the Next Generation include the sons and daughters of industry titans who bring their own knowledge and expertise to the profession: Scott Blanchard, Ann Herrmann-Nehdi, Jim Kirkpatrick, and Becky Pike Pluth.A comprehensive list of featured speakers for the conference is available at www.astdconference.org.New for 2010, all session speakers will be using "paperless handouts" in an effort to conserve resources and reduce waste. Handouts will be available as a password-protected download in multiple formats for a wide array of devices, including handheld mobile devices. Many industry-leading and socially responsible organizations have adopted similar policies for their conferences. ASTD introduced paperless handouts at its TechKnowledge conference in January with positive feedback from both speakers and attendees.For more information on the ASTD 2010 International Conference & Exposition, visitwww.astdconference.org.

ASTD 2010 International Conference to Feature Experts in Learning and Development

Per Mindy B's request, here's my version of our future.I can elaborate a little now. As to a longer focus on workflow learning, we have several members of the LCB Blog Squad who are very involved in such efforts. I'll encourage them to post some of their thoughts. Jay Cross and Tony O'Driscoll laid out a more detailed vision of workflow learning in the February Training.From a very high overview, I think we'll see changes in what learning interventions are and changes in what the Learning and Development function does.Supervisors at all levels will be held responsible for the development of their employees. My growth strategy (versus developmental plan) will be focused on building my strengths and will be a matter of public knowledge so my colleagues will be able to help me meet my personal goals while we work together. Employees will be given opportunities to learn whenever, however they need.Let's say I'm a marketing director with budget responsibility for my department. A week from today there's a meeting to launch the budgeting process for next year's budget. When I logged onto my work portal this morning my tablet PC reminded me of the meeting with to do's from my supervisor's memo. It also has organized last year's budget, my budgeting notes, a guide from finance on corporate budget strategy for this year - with my bosses reactions and directions included.My system also gives a list of requested initiatives from my notes for meetings with my business partners, industry benchmarking numbers for similar initiatives and a reminder that I never took the training for the forecasting component of our new financial software - with a link to the online training. Outlook has even identified that my staff can meet with me at 3PM on Monday and is holding the time on everyone's calendars waiting for my approval. Finally, I have my comments regarding budget processes for each of my direct reports culled from our reviews over the past year, L&D's suggestions for materials to share with each, and coaching tips for me.To guide the development of interventions that anticipate employee needs, we learning professionals will have to become proficient in systems thinking, business processes, change management and strategic planning. We'll get so close to our business partner that we'll become one of them. Needs analysis will truly be about what is needed and what the best solution(s) is - not the best training solution. Assessment will become focused on helping employees develop self-awareness of what they need to know to execute on their business objectives and pave the way for where they want their careers headed.You asked who the vendors will be. Some will be the vendors you know today - SumTotal, GeoLearning, SAS, Oracle, etc. But don't be surprised if you're learning business process tools from Hyperion or Verity, synchronous meeting tools from Interwise or Skype, team/community enablement tools from UberGroups or Google and data mining and content management tools from Documentum or Fatwire.So what do you think Mindy? Are you prepared for the change?

Tony O'Driscoll

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