2008 Predictions for Learning

The Learning Circuit’s blog Big Question of the month is “What are your Predictions for Learning in 2008“. I note it doesn’t say eLearning. So, my predictions for Learning in 2008 are that we will continue to learn, despite the obstacles :).

Ok, enough being flip. Looking back over last year’s predictions, I thought mobile would cross the chasm. Um, er, I’m an optimist, can’t really say it’s happened yet, but I did see a lot more interest. I think it will this year for sure.

I also saw interest in looking at eLearning more strategically, and I predict this will continue to increase. Organizations are increasingly realizing that they need to move beyond courses, and even beyond content, and start looking at solutions.

Obviously, we’ll continue to sort out the new web 2.0 applications, and it’s clear there’ll be heaps more coming to be evaluated for learning opportunities. And I hope we’ll be more proactive about sorting through the hype to find the real learning affordances.

Now all this isn’t too interesting, but as I said in my reflection on last year much is incremental. My wishes for next year are that we’ll start digging a little deeper into good design, into measurement (as Will Thalheimer’s been talking about), about learning to learn, and thinking broader about our role. That’s different than my predictions, so I suppose I should go out on a limb for what will be revolutionary this year. Hmm.

Well, it’s maybe wishful thinking, but I’m predicting that we’re going to see more people taking a bigger, longer term, dare I say ‘wiser‘ approach to elearning this coming year. There’ll be a bit of a backlash against 2.0 and virtual worlds, even podcasting, and people will start getting back to “what am I trying to accomplish?” From there, enthusiasm will again run to Web 2.0, to mobile, and more, but tempered by a recognition of the real opportunities. See a theme here? Please make it so!