ClearLearn

Recent Trends In Learning:
Putting You In Charge of Your Own Learning Experience

by Dan Swanson, ClearLearn VP of Technology

From Trainer-Centric to User-Centric
If you were involved in Distance Learning ten years ago you were probably watching an instructor on a satellite delivered signal. You would sign up for the class at a specific date and time and then attend the session delivered by an instructor who was in a remote studio. Other users may accompany you within your facility but most of your fellow students were watching from another location. The only class interaction would occur via a phone conference call allowing two-way communication; your course materials would arrive by Federal Express or fax.

In the last five years there has been a tremendous migration to integrate training and the Internet. Many trainers, clinging to the past, believe the idea that the teacher must be in charge of the training experience and remain faithful to synchronized training. (Training where all of the students are ‘online’ at the same time.) In this situation, the Internet is utilized, but the online class is still only offered at a certain time. The class is still held at the convenience of the instructor, not at the convenience of the student, forcing the student to bend their schedule to meet that of the instructor.

In the last couple of years, many trainers are catching on with the real value of training over the Internet, which enables learning ANYTIME and ANYWHERE. Rather than making ‘training’ teacher-centric, they are creating ‘learning’ student-centric. So if a person wants a certification in financial accounting, they have the option to take a course online and earn their CEUs on Saturday night at 11:00 PM. Materials are no longer shipped by Federal Express and can be downloaded right away. With no long lines for registration and payments made through secured networks, the Internet makes training available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is the real integration of learning and the Internet. E-Learning offers content rich features including: text, graphics, simulations, animations, audio/video, downloadable documents, programmed learning, and dozens of other methods. If you have a question not clearly answered in the training, you can utilize discussion boards, email or chat functions to communicate with other students or an industry-expert regarding your issue. This increases the effectiveness of the education by putting users in charge of course schedules, progress and ultimately, their own learning experience.

We are finally seeing a migration from training to learning, from teacher-centric to user-centric and from a centralized controlled experience to enabling technologies putting the user in charge of their own experience.

Technology Trends
The first generation of web-based training (WBT) was ‘click and read.’ It was text-based training where the user would click the “next” button or be given a choice of alternative links. The next generation added graphics and began to track the users progress. Now we often see a rich integration of audio, video, animations, simulations and other interactive techniques that allow a personalized learning experience. Today’s WBT creates a learning environment that adapts to the pace of the user, enabling them to review materials and advance when they are ready. This learning method lets the user decide when to review, stop for the day or go on to the next section – enabling users to add education into their schedules and follow-through at the time and pace that is most appropriate for them.

Internet-based training provides an experience that incorporates practice, feedback and re-enforcement. So much of what a person needs to know can either be completely taught or supplemented by using the Internet. Learning-on-demand enables the user to learn at their convenience, while reducing the expenses of traveling to live training classes. Users are also liberated from the scheduling conflicts imposed by synchronized distance learning methods.

For more information visit our website at www.clearlearn.com and click on the Distance Learning link.

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