Learn to Learn September 6 , 2001 Umesh Vyas- Head e-Learning, QAI Ltd. His email: umeshv@softwaredioxide.Com THERE is no doubt that organisational learning is a necessary investment. There is also no doubt that technology can be a great enabler for organisational learning. Yet, the terrain of technology investments for building a Learning Organisation has few proven tracks to follow. And the terrain keeps changing. Protecting investments thus requires a conscious pursuit of guidelines that adjust to a changing terrain, rather than a predetermined map. Protecting investments need attention to both learning and its technologies. Let us first examine learning. In the current world, routines and static principles are no longer very useful. The need is for investing in creation of new assets. The need is to build skills for creating new learning and skill-sets. Indian industry has seen this starkly in the last decade. Marketing, financial engineering, alliances and globalisation have emerged as new areas where skill shortage is severe. At a micro level too, career plateau has transformed into a precipice. There is little security provided by past learning and experience. There is no escape from learning to learn. Learning to learn is not only about understanding facts, concepts and principles. It is about critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills. It is no longer enough to identify key information and sequence it. An organisation needs to provide an environment rich in learning experience and resources. Investment in learning can be protected by helping people create — learning to learn — and measuring its impact on business goals. Compounding the problem is the escalation in costs, particularly indirect costs. A large sum from training budgets flows to the travel and hospitality industries. Besides, for training content and delivery, the wheel keeps getting reinvented many times over. Technology based distance learning, particularly web-based implementation, provides a way out. Technology provides the promise for reduced costs, scalable access and just in time delivery. Reduced costs result from eliminating travel, saving time and reuse of content. Access can be provided to anyone, anywhere. Key promises of web technology are interactivity, dynamic updating and personalisation. The key is to use these strengths of technology to deliver the new needs of training. For people to learn to learn, they must learn by doing, learn by sharing and learn by analysis. Interactivity of web-based training must provide the environment for doing through simulations and case studies. Use of collaborative tools should enable and encourage sharing. Interactive problem solving should stimulate analysis. Above all, self-assessments must provide constant measurement. These assessments should be linked to organisation goals. Cisco and Dell provide interesting insights into applying these principles to their organisational learning. The issue is not substituting classroom training. The issue is to use technology for providing value not available in classroom. Reuse of learning is being implemented through modularisation of learning, by creation of learning objects. Learning objects are self-contained, reusable, can be aggregated into learning paths and tagged. Conceptual foundations and case studies for creating learning objects are available at www.reusability.org Although the creation and freezing of standards is far from complete, following these standards is absolutely critical for protecting investments in learning content. A major value that will be derived by standards-based web learning is increase in cost-effective outsourcing of learning. A comparison with the mega-changes in software delivery will help understand what is in store in the learning market. In the good old days, customized software was developed in-house. This changed to outsourcing customised development. Finally, software became a mass product. Learning is undergoing a similar transformation providing an opportunity for accessing mass produced learning objects at an affordable price. This will reduce dependence on in-house and locally available trainers. It will be as revolutionary as the Web has been for communication, information dissemination and interaction. Back