May 27, 2008
ROCK 'N' ROLL, ROLLER COASTERS, AND SECOND LIFE
The revolution every learning leader should join
From the desk of Alan Todd...
I’m a big believer 3D Simulations and Gaming is the technology that has the potential to transform how people learn, and that massive adoption is just around the corner.
When we formed Executive Councils this year to bring together industry leaders to discuss innovations in 4 areas of Learning and Development, I was excited to chair the Council on Learning Technology. As the Founder and CEO of KnowledgePlanet until 2006, I’d worked with many senior learning executives as their technology partner. As a strategic partner to Chief Learning Officers, I wanted to help each customer find the right balance between what the LMS technology would allow them to do – launch eLearning, manage competencies, assess performance – and the degree of readiness each had for adopting new technology.
In my 12-year history at KnowledgePlanet, we helped hundreds of companies deliver learning programs to millions of people in more than 150 companies each year. But it was important to make sure we didn’t roll out new systems or features just for the sake of putting more technology on employees’ desks. We wanted to make sure that we were addressing a real business need any time we expanded the capabilities of the system.
Through the CorpU Executive Council on Learning Technologies, I have a new role: facilitating discussions on technology solutions and challenges, trends and innovations. Our 12 Council members from Microsoft, John Deere, Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and other leading organizations talk about their technology strategies and how those strategies are driving important business initiatives.
In our first session I posed the question, “What are the big learning technology issues you are grappling with that we can study, share insights, and collaborate on in 2008?” Over time, we synthesized the responses down to a list of the top 5 topics:
- Performance Management
- Social Networking & Web 2.0
- 3D simulation and gaming
- Mobile Learning
- Globalization issues with LMS systems and e-learning
As our conversations have progressed over the last 6 months, we’ve made a point to carefully explore how these technologies are not only improving the learning environment, but are truly contributing to improved business performance. We want to ensure that no one is rolling out technology because it seems like a trendy or fashionable thing to do.
Our discussions are rich with stories about how these technologies are enabling and enhancing collaboration, engaging a new generation of workers, retaining corporate knowledge, preserving valuable history and experiences of retiring baby-boomers, and much more. And Council members are describing how these activities, enabled through technology, are delivering new business value.
This week, we focused our dialogue on the power of 3D Simulations and Gaming. I’m a big believer that this technology has the potential to transform how people learn and that massive adoption is just around the corner. Through the magic of simulation and games, I designed and ran an amusement park with my fifth grade daughter Sadie as we played RollerCoaster Tycoon®. With coaching from JetBlue’s CLO Mike Barger, I landed a plane safely with 200 passengers aboard. And with all four of my kids on a fun Friday night, I was booed offstage by unhappy concertgoers while playing Guns N’ Roses on Guitar Hero on the Wii.
In each experience, I saw the power of the technology to enhance learning. My daughter is developing business acumen as she decides how much to charge people to visit her amusement park and determines how many workers she needs to run the park. I learned how JetBlue provides pilots and attendants continual practice carrying out emergency procedures in the most lifelike environment. Safety is a core value at JetBlue and simulations offer the best possible way for their associates to practice risky, dangerous, and expensive maneuvers. Their training goes far beyond what’s required by regulatory agencies to certify airline professionals. And finally, my Guns N’ Roses experience taught me that I’d better keep my day job in Learning. Our Executive Council has been talking through these important questions as they explore how to best leverage technology to improve business performance: |
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- How do we implement 3D simulation and gaming in our learning environment to create richer and deeper experiences to improve the performance of our employees, especially the younger generation and those from emerging markets?
- Can we leverage mobile learning to deliver content to the billions of handset devices being sold globally?
- How should we apply Web 2.0 technologies into our learning environment?
- Can we build a Facebook-type application to foster collaboration, networking, and knowledge sharing to retain workers and institutional knowledge?
- Should we be using Second Life as a learning environment?
You may want to watch the one-hour J&J webinar on-demand session here to begin your 3D simulation learning journey.
In addition, take a brief moment to hear from Dr. David Metcalf, one of the leading 3D Simulation and Gaming researchers in the world. David and I sat down to chat about where his research practice area is heading and how organizations are applying simulation and gaming to current business problems. The CorpU Summit, the J&J webinar, and the discussion with David all offer valuable insights to help you design a technology strategy that will make a difference to your business. |
So whether you’re safely landing a plane on JetBlue’s flight simulator, or getting booed offstage by angry concertgoers via Wii, the result is clear: the power of technology is undeniable when it comes to enhancing the user-experience. Although the new tools cater to Generation Y, it’s time for retiring Baby Boomers to get in on the action and experience learning at the next level.
Alan Todd, CorpU Chairman of the Board
