Report 2: Achieving successful learning in a web 2.0 world

Continuing my reports on the Learning Technologies 2009 Exhibition (I know, I’ve been very slack with the writing) I wanted to say something about the Seminar given by Naomi Norman from Epic: “Achieving successful learning in a web 2.0 world“.

I’m glad I waited, as now she’s been kind enough to put her slide presentation on YouTube:

The ‘one-to-many’ or ‘push-pull’ Internet that many of us have learned to use is being replaced by the collaborative ‘many-to-many’ or ‘pull-pull’ Internet of Web 2.0. This is not news to many of us.

Naomi’s clear and directed approach to the implications of each of these ‘things’ was very welcome, in that it shows that successful eLearning will depend on the Instructor having knowledge and awareness of all delivery methods available to them:

• ‘Push’ delivery: content, induction, research, etc,
• ‘Pull’ delivery:  engaging, collaboration, customisable .. no trainer, no curriculum?

The change is coming, whether you’re ready or not, and it is no longer necessarily thought of as push or pull, but ‘formal’ and informal’:

• ‘Formal’ delivery: Curriculum-based, sequenced / structured, minimum interactions, etc,
• ‘Informal’ delivery: no curriculum, voluntary, peer inspired, shared, not organised, etc.

This figure (below, from the Transforming Your Operating Model for High Performance in the Digital World report from Strategy in Action) gives a good example of how we can view ‘current trends’ and how the Web 2.0 world is going to change the thinking behind teaching and learning.

Modern learners can be thought of as “ready to learn, but don’t want to be taught” (Winston Churchill).]