Future Trends in Training

I recently attended an ASTD webcast titled "Future Trends in Training & Development". The speakers, Marc Rosenberg and Pat McLagan, had the following main points to make:

Learning will become less course-centric and more knowledge-centric. Instead of asking what courses they can take on a particular subject, learners will ask what knowledge is available on a particular subject. Learners will continue to become more independent and "self-taught" as it becomes increasingly easy and convenient for them to find information and knowledge at their fingertips - and right in their workplace. The web (specifically Web 2.0) is changing the internet experience from static information and transactions to dynamic collaborations, offering more interactive and personable experiences. As a result, learning will be revolutionized.

In today's workplaces, people need to think, analyze, and solve problems - not just do routine work and tasks. Therefore, it is becoming paramount that employees know where to look for validated knowledge, instead of trying to remember everything. As job responsibilities continue to require more cognitive and relational thinking and the work itself becomes a continuous and accelerated learning process, the development of personal learning skills becomes critical for both employee and company success.

What we can expect in the future, then, is more learners managing their own learning, and learning professionals supporting learners' efforts. This is referred to as professional and competent self-managed learning.

Learners must learn to:

• Draw insight from information and extract learning from experience
• Evaluate information quality (validate the information)
• Become competent with a variety of learning resources
• Use analytical, systemic, and creative thinking
• Consciously manage their own learning
• Help others learn

As learning professionals, we must learn to:

• Help link organizational needs and learner priorities
• Help accelerate the learning that organizations and individuals need
• Ensure that individuals and managers have the learning capabilities and mental models they need
• Make accelerated learning resources accessible; create knowledge management systems
• Become a guide and facilitator of the new learning process