Perspectives on
Learning Technologies by Bob Little (e-book; ASIN: B00A9K1VVS; £6.28
/ £6.48 + VAT - available from The Endless Bookcase or from Amazon)
contains over 200 pages of observations on issues in learning
technologies, principally for learning & development professionals.
Buy a book about learning technologies - especially 'e-learning'
or 'online learning' - and it'll be out of date almost before you
get to chapter two. That's because there's a real temptation for
authors (and, to be fair, for readers) to concentrate on the
'technology' and the 'learning delivery' rather than the 'learning'
itself.
With the possible
exception of the 'Systems' section, this book hopes to redress the
balance somewhat - while still being about learning technologies as
well as learning.
This book distils the wisdom - along with a touch of wit - gathered
from some 20 years of discussion and discovery within the learning
technologies industry, particularly as it relates to the corporate
learning world.
The aim of this book is to set out - as concisely as possible - a
wealth of well-thought-out views, often corroborated by rigorous
research.
These can be taken at
face value and used as shortcuts to help you in the planning,
practice and politics of 'learning and development' (L&D) in your
organisation.
Or they can be used as
seeds and short cuts for your own thoughts and theories - so you'll
be able to achieve more with less in a shorter time and all the
other things that L&D professionals are supposed to do.
The key to the book is that times change; technologies change, and
learning technologies change. On the other hand, people remain
human.
This means that those whose job involves identifying the need for;
designing; developing; introducing, and popularising 'learning'
within their organisations face the same issues that they've always
faced - even if the advent of 'learning technologies' since the
1960s and continuing advances in technology now mean that there are
more learning delivery mechanisms to choose from than there used to
be.
Every generation needs to learn the lessons that previous
generations had to learn. That applies not only to the 'learners' in
a corporate learning sense but also to L&D professionals. This is
especially true in terms of understanding the key issues relating to
'learning technologies'.
From everyone's perspective, the pace of life may change; the
technology we use will change, but the basic people-related issues
remain the same because, essentially, human beings haven't changed.
We all continue to have the same basic needs, as Maslow outlined,
regardless of the age in which we live or the technology we employ
to meet those needs.
In particular, L&D professionals who're trying to meet their
organisation's objectives by using various materials to develop the
skills in these organisations' workforces, face the same challenges
that L&D professionals have always faced. It's just that, these
days, they have so many more options and (technology-based) tools in
their armoury that these challenges can seem harder and the dangers
of making a mistake appear to be greater than they used to be.
Fear not!
This book contains some insights into these challenges.
Click here to order this e-book
The e-book is also
available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perspectives-On-Learning-echnologiesebook/dp/B00A9K1VVS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353416335&sr=1-1
The price on Amazon is
£6.48 + VAT and the price on The Endless Bookcase is £6.28 + VAT.
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