Friday, April 15, 2005
Impact of self-serve technology on e-learning direction and future
I wrote about 3 kinds of learning in corporation not long ago. However, I already start to see the disappearing of the first type of training, i.e. Task related support training will be gone soon.
Why I say that? Look at the trend today in the adoption of self-serve technology. Bank automatic teller machines are now common place. Supermarkets are installing self serve check out. There are 85 self-serve counters installed in 48 McDonald restaurants in USA.
[ The Toll of a New Machine from Fast Company]
Repetitive tasks are going to disappear and replaced by machine. These machines do not need training. Gone are the people who used to do these jobs. Hence no need to provide any training to them. The corporate become smaller (in number of employees - not necessary in asset). Compliance training requirement drops. Whoop... a collapse of corporate eLearning!!!!
No, not quite there yet - until we have self-repairing machines! So, we need training to the maintenance crew, right? Wrong! These are outsourced!
OK, these maintenance companies would need training, right? Wrong! They are in developing or under-developed countries and their training/compliance requirement is not as high as us (those in the developed world).
So, Albert, you are saying that the corporate e-learning industry is doomed?
No, but yes as it is today.
It is the third type, you see?
What's that again? Corporate or Personal Development OK, also known as Organisational Developers. ¶ 1:48 pm
I wrote about 3 kinds of learning in corporation not long ago. However, I already start to see the disappearing of the first type of training, i.e. Task related support training will be gone soon.
Why I say that? Look at the trend today in the adoption of self-serve technology. Bank automatic teller machines are now common place. Supermarkets are installing self serve check out. There are 85 self-serve counters installed in 48 McDonald restaurants in USA.
Besides checking ourselves in for flights at the airport, we may soon be checking out rental cars at our destinations without talking to anyone, and then checking into hotels at a lobby kiosk that, first, displays a diagram of all the rooms available and then, after we choose one, pops out a room key.
[ The Toll of a New Machine from Fast Company]
Repetitive tasks are going to disappear and replaced by machine. These machines do not need training. Gone are the people who used to do these jobs. Hence no need to provide any training to them. The corporate become smaller (in number of employees - not necessary in asset). Compliance training requirement drops. Whoop... a collapse of corporate eLearning!!!!
No, not quite there yet - until we have self-repairing machines! So, we need training to the maintenance crew, right? Wrong! These are outsourced!
OK, these maintenance companies would need training, right? Wrong! They are in developing or under-developed countries and their training/compliance requirement is not as high as us (those in the developed world).
So, Albert, you are saying that the corporate e-learning industry is doomed?
No, but yes as it is today.
It is the third type, you see?
What's that again? Corporate or Personal Development OK, also known as Organisational Developers. ¶ 1:48 pm
