Learning Futures

Learning Futures at Learning Technology France Conference 2020.

Learning Futures At #LTFrance 2020

On February 5th and 6th, I spent a few hours at the Learning Technologies France conference for the first time. As an attendee, I went to some conferences: one on workplace learning design, one on the impact of emerging trends on workplace learning, and one on the French learning market.

Over this post, I want to reflect on the event through this retrospective and the learning profession’s futures.

Learning Futures – Taking Notes

As usual, I brought my Moleskine and pen. I took some personal notes and tried to mindmap the keynotes and workshops. I guess it is how I hear better what the speakers say and how I process the ideas that caught my attention.

Then I use the mobile app Camscanner to scan my paper notes to review them when time allows. The drawing is good, but my notes need to be readable, too. That’s why I often end up using Google Drawing, Genial.ly or Canva to draw my network diagrams digitally.

Here is the mindmap from the keynote of David Kelly, Executive Director of @eLearningGuild, about emerging global trends in digital learning. This talk was more about the impact of emerging technologies and workplace learning behaviours than digital learning or training technologies.

“Spent yesterday afternoon walking around Paris. Can we just take a moment to acknowledge how amazing Google Translate is? It’s not just how easy it made navigating the city, reading museum narratives, and talking to people… it’s about how normal it made it all feel.” — @LnDDave

David Kelly also shared his keynote links to his oldie and pressie over here if you want to go deeper.

Learning Futures – Learner Experience Design

Another interesting session was on learning experience design with Thinkovery. The animation of the workshop was pretty fun and well-done by the two women learning designers. It was also wise to give the attendees a handy print to take notes on their approach to the learning experience while they were doing the workshop.

One of my neighbours in the room gave me kindly a print from the vendor as she told me she already knew their way of doing it.

See below my messy handwritten notes on the five key steps/concepts/activities that they suggest to support performance and trigger workers’ engagement to learn.

I received a follow-up mail from the vendor after the conference with a more detailed similar infographic in French.

I find it interesting to keep in mind to have four to seven key activities when we design learning experiences when we are in the workers’ shoes to propel their engagement and performance while working and learning and not to be overloaded cognitively.

Learning Futures – About #LTFrance 2020

It was an exciting event as they were multiple talks and workshops simultaneously on different spaces in the salon, as Kate Graham, Head of content @fosway and Social chair @LT20UK, noted on her vlog post.

It was easy to flock from one room to another one to hear and see what the speakers were talking about and experimenting, even if sometimes the rooms were so crowded.

I also noted from Kate Graham that there are differences between French learning and the UK learning market. I am not interested in vendors, their specialities and suites, LMS, you know. My focus is on learnability, work and innovation practices.

“As it is well known globally, French employment context is very unique. A combination of a rigid legal framework with a traditional academic approach to education which could initially lead to think there is a more passive approach from the learners.

But it would be too simplistic.. the bubbling numbers of creative start ups demonstrate that innovation and technology is far from behind … Could it an other French exception …” — Gaelle Watson

Yep. I have noticed the emergence of a few innovative learning solutions on learning agility or learnability like this one in the French learning market. #LTFrance is also connected to #LT20UK, which happened in London one week after the Paris fair. I have not dug the backchannel on Twitter and Youtube yet. I will do so.

Learning Futures – Learning Profession: Still Relevant?

As I was diving into the remote workshop ‘Personal Knowledge Mastery‘ lately, I also read 2006 thoughts from Harold Jarche. He includes them in an activity that is related to ‘Ideas and Curiosity’.

“On the ‘learning profession’: As a learning professional, it’s time to take a stance. Enabling learning is no longer about disseminating good content.

Enabling learning is about being a learner yourself, sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm and then taking a back seat. In a flattened learning system there are no more experts, only fellow learners on paths that may cross.“

Which skillset and disciplines do learning professionals need to develop and hone to stay relevant? Personal Knowledge Mastery? Futures Thinking? Community Management? Coaching? Mentoring? Learning Design? Well, Harold says more in this Twitter thread I had with him and Helen Blunden and in this blog post from 2019:

“Learning in communities of trusted human relationships will be the main way professionals will keep up.

If I were a young instructional designer today, I would start developing community management and support skills.”

Update: I have attended the 2021 edition of the Learning Technologies conference in the UK and France, which occurred fully online due to the pandemic.

Stay tuned for the share in an upcoming post of my notes and observation from a few sessions I joined and from the backchannel on Twitter with a few learning professionals in my network.

Learning Futures & Rethinking Your Community & Learning Engagement

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