The Web for learning – from stock to flow

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Will Richardson talks about the changing needs of learners in a networked world:

For instance, now that we have access to people and knowledge, learning is “network creation” and that we can learn through “collaborative meaning making.” And the idea the we no longer need to learn everything in “advance of need” resonates strongly with Brown and Hagel’s idea of push vs. pull learning, that we can pull information from a source when we need it, not have it pushed upon us in case we need it.

I have always felt that the Web was an environment more suited to just-in-time learning (e.g. performance support) than for the more pervasive course model. Learning on the web is moving from stock to flow. It also seems that in true McLuhanesque fashion the medium of the Web is having measurable effects on those who use the technology, specifically  – obsolescing, enhancing, retrieving and reversing. For instance:

  • Courses are being obsolesced on the connected Web.
  • Access to knowledge is enhanced.
  • Storytelling is being retrieved, especially through podcasting.
  • Learning on the Web may also reverse into mere grazing, instead of in-depth learning.

Now that the Web is becoming ubiquitous, we are moving away from a horseless carriage type of metaphor and using the medium for what it can really do. I see a rapid decline in online course development as better models of collaboration and just-in-time knowledge are developed. We also will need more metaphors, models & technologies to facilitate 24/7/365 learning in a connected world.

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