This year I didn’t speak at ATD ICE. My takeaways come from the EXPO and hallway conversations with industry leaders. Hence the title of the blog: Learning EXPOsed. Also, Game of Thrones is over.
Five takeaways in no ranking order:
- Game of Thrones: who wins the LXP (Learning Experience Platform) war?
If you were around in the early 2000’s, you recall the buzz around three letters: LMS. That king ruled for a long time. Today, there’s an emerging market for a new one: LXP. I’ve been playing with HT2 Lab’s Curatr LXP, experienced (no pun) Degreed, EdCast… At the EXPO Gomo Learning announced their Instilled platform with some champagne to instill. Josh Bersin has more on this billion dollar business here. Craig Weiss also has some thoughts on them here.
Just like in Game of Thrones, there’s plenty of contestants to the iron throne. None of them has dragons (yet) but the point is to shift the focus from the administration perspective (LMS) to the individual user’s perspective. They promise you a place that knows you well (powered by AI), serves you well (what you need, when you need, where you need), curates content just for you. While an LMS might stay in the background as a compliance engine or evolve into an LXP. That’s the promise. The season just started but keep an eye on these as AI is getting more integrated into their platform.
- Oprah says…
I was not at the keynote speech but I followed Oprah’s address on Twitter on the way to the conference. One of her key points was taking care of yourself, both mentally and spiritually. Many people expressed their concerns about what a celebrity who’s not part of the learning tribe has to do with the biggest conference of the year. Shannon Tipton has some thoughts on what inspirations means here.
For me, the takeaway here is failure. We all hear about failures that led to success. Most people talk about or write about their failures after the fact, once they reached success. But there’s life after success! There are failures after success. It’s a cycle you keep going through as a life-long learner, and designer of conditions for better learning. And no, nobody got a car this time from Oprah. - eLearning is still here
Authoring tools, eLearning companies showcased their products as usual. My takeaways is the hope. The hope that finally we enter a phase where we don’t need to create eLearning courses filled with slides and content. There’s plenty of real-time performance tools that can help you support workplace learning better. If we remove the ineffective slide stuffing from a delivery method that has a bad name, we can finally create interactivity that is more mental than clicky clicky. Where feedback grows out of the shadow of an “good job” afterthought. Feedback is one of the most important and powerful elements of learning. Here’s more on how you can harness this power. Also recommend Patti Shank’s books on memory, feedback, and basically anything. Using xAPI or other services eLearning should feel like a two-way conversation rather than a download of stale info. Let’s hope!
- Speaking of xAPI and Data: Learning Engineers
I have an engineering/computer science degree. Also a teaching degree. The first time I heard “learning engineering,” honestly, I laughed. It’s almost like someone tried to capture my life in a new role… 🙂 Fast-forward 2019.
Data is the new plastics. If you’re just catching up with recent spotlight on data analytics and data literacy you’re not alone. It’s all over. Data conversations, measurement was part of the Expo convos, hallway conversations, sessions about “getting a seat at the table.” Coincidentally, there was another conference at the same time nearby focusing on just that. If you don’t know what ICICLE is, again, you’re probably not alone. I’d recommend to get familiar with what’s coming out of the community whether you’re a learning engineer or not.
There’s a debate on the scale of change this is coming (or even here and now). But one thing is sure. Just like winter, it is something you’d better prepare for. - Finally: IRL
IRL = In real life. Meeting up people you interact with online all the time, share thoughts, exchange ideas, re-purpose tools is always a pleasure. I talked to many attendees while walking the floor of the EXPO for five hours. In many organizations they take turns who can go to a conference. My last takeaway is this: just like visiting the dentist once a year does not constitute oral health, going to a conference once a year will not help you grow professionally. In the world of constant change today, you need to connect with people the other 360something days. Find a local chapter, online communities, chats, podcasts, whatever works for you. Reach out to people on LinkedIn or Twitter. Build your network both virtually and in real life. See you next time!