Plenary Session

Nancy DeViney, IBM General Manager of Learning.
presenting the future of learning story.



Learning is becoming strategic. CEO survey found that top agenda is top-line growth and customer satisfaction. 75% of CEOs think employee education is the most critical success factor relative to other people issues.

Future of Learning.

Market Forces –

1. Environment of organizations. volatile markets (security, disclosure), global competition, knowledge economy, growth through innovation, and new business models.
2. Evolving lifestyle changes. Skills gap, time pressure, seamless blending of work with life, mobility and self-employment, multigenerational workforce.
3. Enabling technology. Connections – “always on” infrastructure. Info in waves. Chips in everything. Interfaces – engaging more senses.

Learner experiences

Learner-centric model
Organizations continue to have a critical role
Pervasive learning environment

Collaborative learning
Fosters innovation
Expertise location
Social computing
People proxy

Embedded learning
In real-time workflow
Dynamic learning environment
Entrenched within work

Enhances relationships across the enterprise and its value chain
Trust and awareness build ties with suppliers, partners, clients

Future learning

• Relevant
• Compelling
• Collaborative
• Continuous
• Outcome-based

Jane Massy
Online Educa is a great crossroads, the best place for networking with a huge range of people. Multiple perspectives.

There are no simple answers.

Robert Caillau
CERN
One of the founders of the Web



The Big Bang (“I come from a physics lab…”). After only 300,000 years, atoms evolve. Then, after 15 billion years, you come to a state of great complexity.

Similarly, the web began as one thing and then fractured into many pieces With the web in the early days, the webmaster handled all. The came designers, programmers. Finally, companies are providing services The web is now spolit into many independent entities.

Our brains evolved for hunting in packs. Empires appeared less than 6000 years ago. Empires sprang up independent of one another (Egypt, China, Rome, Mexico). Do we need better brains to create a new pattern?

Gerald Edelman: “Brains are not at all like computers.” “Let me show you the model on the computer.”

Spectrum. Soft edges. Math has evolved from simple proofs to complex software.

The Internet Credo: We don’t believe in kings, president and voting; we believe in rough consensus and working code. Are we in control? No. Can we change our brains? No. Is the web just using us to get built and will it take over? Yes. Semantic web, grid technology… God help us.

Complexity. Are we reaching the limits of complexity that we can understand? Maybe. Are there limits to the degree of complexity that can be conveyed by education?

Nicolas Balacheff

nicolas.balacheff@noe-kaleidoscope.org

Knowledge is a variable. It can't be reduced to a text. Learners construct meaning.

**Significant effors are not mistakes, they are symptoms of knowledge.

Knowing is a capacity of achieving tasks. It's about the interaction between the learner and the environment.