Digital Learning and the Future of Work
We’re in a time of rapid change, one that has the potential to radically alter the ways people work and the ways people learn. Knowledge work, once performed in an office, has evolved over the years, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have seen even more strongly how productive virtual workers can be. Virtual work seems assured to play a larger role in the future.
As work changes, I suggest that the uses of technology to improve performance must change as well. Societal and workplace changes, along with advances in technology, provide an opportunity for us to reimagine and reinvent workplace learning, moving permanently away from traditional read/watch-and-test methods and replacing them with the widespread use of progressive, creative approaches to learning, development, and performance.
These approaches build on research and on new technologies. Key concepts underlying these approaches include:
New technologies have the potential to provide us with ways to make use of the above concepts even better than in the past, and to make such learning experiences available on a large scale. Key technologies and their potential uses include:
David Guralnick
Over the past 30 years, Dr. David Guralnick has led the design of innovative e-learning scenarios, courses, and simulations; performance-support systems; and authoring tools. His approach to his work synthesizes concepts from the fields of computer science, instructional design, and cognitive psychology. Dr. Guralnick is an e-learning consultant to a variety of organizations, ranging from multinational and Fortune 500 companies to non-profits; president of the International E-Learning Association; a keynote speaker at international conferences; founder of the International Conference on E-Learning in the Workplace; Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal on Advanced Corporate Learning; Chair of the International E-Learning Awards; and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University. His work has been featured in Wired magazine, Training magazine (as an Editor’s Choice), and the Wall Street Journal, and he is the recipient of numerous e-learning design awards.
