As this wonderful year comes to a close, we wish to take a look back at our little journey, which presented us with some great learnings about ‘learning’. We want to stop here for a moment and thank you for all the amazing support and encouragement that you had showered upon us along the way. We are also excited to give you a quick peek into what we have for you in our journey in this New Year.
So, here we go…
Looking Back at 2013
The goal that we had set for ourselves in 2013 was to be focussed on our commitment to promote ‘good learning’. Some of the questions that we wanted to explore through this initiative were the following:
- What does future learning look like?
- How would people learn in future?
- Where is our industry headed?
We set out on a quest for answers…
Crystal Balling with Learnnovators
On 15th November 2013, we launched ‘Crystal Balling with Learnnovators’ – a thought-provoking interview series that attempts to gaze into the future of learning. This comprises stimulating discussions with industry experts and product evangelists on the emerging trends in the learning landscape.
Here is a quick glance at this wonderful journey so far.
Mike Rustici
“My hope is that Tin Can will position the learning department as leaders in analytic thinking that will spread to broader parts of the enterprise, with Tin Can becoming just one piece of that larger puzzle.”We were greatly honoured to kick start our interview series with Mike Rustici. This interview, we’re sure, will help the learning community understand the thought process that made Tin Can API – the learning specification that the whole world is discussing today – possible.
In this exclusive interview with Learnnovators, Mike Rustici talks about the Tin Can API specification, and how it is spreading throughout the world, getting people excited, spurring innovation, changing an entire industry, and might actually end up affecting how children are educated. He spoke straight from his heart about his vision for his company.
Here are a few excerpts from this interview:
“We’re only just scratching the surface of what’s possible (with Tin Can API)!”
“Tin Can has unlocked so many possibilities that will take us many years to fully realize.”
“ADL is considering how to provide soldiers on the battlefield with the information they need at the precise moment of need.”
“Tin Can will position the learning department as leaders in analytic thinking that will spread to broader parts of the enterprise.”
“The community is often both a standard’s greatest asset and greatest obstacle.”
“I think the biggest challenge for Tin Can API is the Statement Freedom.”
“Right now, Tin Can is only for innovative organizations that want to be on the leading edge.”
“We see the concept of an Organizational LRS as a potentially transformative and disruptive technology to enterprise learning architectures.”
“Tin Can API is an accomplished I will be proud of for the rest of my life.”
Read the full interview HERE.
Janhavi Padture
“One of the criticisms that eLearning platforms face is that their Experience API implementation is nothing but SCORM in disguise, and these tools are not really leveraging the power of the Experience API. So I think we will see the next evolution in that area.”It was great to have Janhavi as our second guest in the interview series. This interview will help the learning community benefit from her valuable insights on the real-world challenges related to e-learning development.
In this exclusive interview with Learnnovators, Janhavi shared her thoughts on how Raptivity is all set to align with emerging trends and technologies. She also talked about how Rapid Interactivity Building (RIB) tools will evolve further to satisfy the growing expectations of the learning & development community.
Here are a few excerpts from this interview:
“We will notice a subtle shift from ‘information gathering’ to ‘knowledge sharing’.”
“We hope to see more and more HTML5 content becoming accessible.”
“Rapid Interactivity Building tools have to adapt quickly to the changing technology and the changing demands of the learning community.”
“The Rapid Interactivity Building tools in this space will focus on games for m-Learning in the near future.”
“Balancing accessibility and interactivity is always a tricky thing.”
Read the full interview HERE.
Tom Kuhlmann
“Articulate makes software, but it’s the users who come up with best practices and techniques that help make efficient production.”We are greatly honoured to have Tom as our guest in one of our interviews. This interview will help the learning community benefit from his valuable insights on e-learning development.
In this exclusive interview with Learnnovators, Tom Kuhlmann offered us a peek into the future of e-learning and helped us understand how Articulate products are all set to align with the emerging trends and technologies related to e-learning. He also talked about some of the challenges faced by present day learning designers, organizations and tools.
Here are a few excerpts from this interview:
“Software (by itself) doesn’t create great instruction.”
“Most of those (gamification features in rapid e-learning tools) are either simple tracking systems with badges or lame games.”
“The linear nature of responsive courses is not necessarily the best mode for creating a learning experience.”
“In many organizations, the courses are locked behind firewalls or LMSs and the learner has limited access to them.”
“Articulate makes software, but it’s the users who come up with best practices and techniques that help make efficient production.”
“In the past, I would have called a locksmith (to reset door locks in my house). But today, I went to YouTube, found the exact lock I had and watched the videos.”
Read the full interview HERE.
Karl Kapp
“Six years ago, game was a four letter word in most organizations. It was not to be taken seriously. We added the “ification” to it and suddenly people see the potential for learning. I think that is a wonderfully positive move forward. Yet, we are still in the early stages of gamification for learning.”We are greatly excited to be selected as one of the ‘tour stops’ for Karl Kapp’s blog book tour (for his new book titled “The Gamification of Learning and Instruction Fieldbook: Theory into Practice”)! We consider this a great privilege, and were excited to have him as our guest in the interview series. This interview will help the learning community benefit from the valuable insights and foresights that Karl shares about the past, present and the future of gamification and game-based learning. He talked in detail about the trends, techniques, possibilities, and challenges related to these learning methodologies.
In this exclusive interview with Learnnovators, Karl shared his insights and foresights on the challenges of building an education system that aligns with the dynamically changing demands of this knowledge age. He also spoke about how gamification is going to influence this learning revolution, with advice for today’s instructional technologists and companies who aspire to incorporate gamification in learning.
Here are a few excerpts from this brilliant interview:
“Just because I attended a class, that doesn’t mean I learned anything.”
“We have to get rid of the notion that if learning isn’t tracked it’s not formal or not valuable.”
“Learning should be constantly interwoven into a person’s daily activities.”
“MOOCs and other online instruction is still the old “broadcast model” where everyone gets the same content whether they need it or not.”
“Well, six years ago, game was a four letter word in most organizations. It was not to be taken seriously. We added the “ification” to it and suddenly people see the potential for learning.”
“By no means are the concepts of game and gamification universally accepted as valid learning strategies.”
“We need to admit that games aren’t the only answer in terms of the changing educational landscape; they are a tool in a very large tool box.”
“At some point, all types of Learning Management Systems and even modern computer systems will have gamification elements as part of their interfaces.”
“My first piece of advice (to today’s instructional technologists who aspire to incorporate gamification in learning) is to play games.”
“To think like a game-designer when creating instruction, we want to think about what we want the learner to “do” not just what we want the learner to know.”
“This (thinking about what we want the learner to “do” not just what we want the learner to know) seems like a little shift but, it is actually a large change in thinking for the field of instructional design.”
“Let’s not drive learning by technology. In fact, that is completely backward.”
“I am very excited about my newest book, the Fieldbook, which is about application (of gamification) and is filled with case studies, worksheets and examples.”
Read the full interview HERE.
Looking Forward to 2014
As we came to the end of our quest, we had many great learnings as ‘take-aways’ from our journey. It makes us more humbled and responsible when we recall the kind of support and co-operation that we received from all these ‘masters’ of learning. We also thank you for all the amazing support and encouragement that you showered upon us along the way. It was a most memorable journey indeed.
And, we are proud to say that some of these interactions have greatly influenced us in framing our New Year resolutions below:
- Sustain our commitment for promoting ‘good’ learning.
- Focus on innovation in learning design and development
- Upskill to prepare ourselves and our partners for facing the new challenges of this ubiquitous learning age.
- Keep ourselves and our partners abreast of new tools and technologies that support/augment learning and development.
- Engage in constant research on the latest trends in learning and development.
- Embrace and practice Social Learning within the organization.
- Enable partners to achieve results.
- Strive to become and remain a trusted ‘Thought Partner’ for our clients.
Looking ahead, we have the world’s most inspiring and magnificent people joining us on this journey:
- Eric Schuermann (Director of Global Sales, Trivantis Corporation Inc.)
- Dr. Pooja Jaisingh (E-Learning Evangelist, Adobe Systems)
- Geoff Stead (Senior Director, Mobile Learning at Qualcomm, Cambridge, United Kingdom)
- Charles Jennings (Founder, The 70:20:10 Forum)
…the list goes on!
Stay tuned to Crystal Balling with Learnnovators for updates.
We also invite you to join us in our LinkedIn group, if you haven’t done so already. The group is meant for learning professionals like you who are passionate about bringing innovation to learning, and its objective is to help members engage in stimulating discussions around this topic. Activities of the group include exchanging of thoughts, ideas, experiences, news, tools, tips, trends, case studies, strategies, processes, best practices, etc. that would help the learning community create amazing learning experiences.
Click HERE to join the Learnnovators LinkedIn group.
Before signing off, we have this exclusive video message for you from Karl Kapp.
We wish you all a Happy New Year and a Successful 2014! Hope this year helps bring more innovations in your learning design activities.
Written by Santhosh Kumar
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Published on 15th Feb 2014
