A special thanks to all who attended my presentation: Imagineering Design at Training Solutions 2006. I especially enjoyed the post-presentation discussion! Great thoughts around moving teams toward more meaningful designs and who to help them (“scaffolding IDs”) get there. Check out my book - under permanent revision - at www.lulu.com. It has the contents of the presentation, and more. Based on our chat, I will also add a section about team development in the near future. Great discussion with Darryl Sink and his charming partner (and wife) Jane, around the basics of ISD, and then some.

Here is a post by Dennis Coxe

But what really struck me is that from what I have read is that the real rebellion against formal training versus what is called "informal training" is the slavish devotion to learning management systems. A learning management system is probably the apex of top-down training. It places toll booths inbetween the learner and the knowledge he or she needs to perform their duties. Informal learning proponents are saying "Tear down that wall." Make learning accessible.

My thought: The LMS is dead. Long live the LMS.

In reality, what I believe needs to happen is a change in our perception of the LMS and its role. Rather than place it at the center of all learning, position it beside the learner. A dynamic and open source LMS (of the future?) will be able to gather wide-ranging information and deliver it to the audience much more efficiently than if they spend hours Googling and web browsing.

Let's begin the discussion way up high... about three feet above your LMS or computer or any other eLearning tool you happen to be using.

The point of this post is to focus on people and the resources and behaviors we can give them to enhance their performance. That means ANY resource - not just eLearning - but any tool, intervention, content, device, person, technique, or family pet that we can use to create more powerful and more meaningful learning moments for our audience.

If you are like me, then you see discussions focused solely on eLearning as useful and salient, but somewhat limited. We are, after all, human. And anything we endeavor is essentially for or about our lives as humans.

So let's take a step back from the computer, and open the conversation up just a bit. Where do we begin in our effort to create more meaningful learning programs? What kind of lives do our students want to lead? How can we create more powerful learning moments - and hopefully performances - as practitioners in employee development? Is "eLearning 2.0" really just another way to say "Learning 2000+"?

I will be posting and wrestling with these and other questions, and I look forward to your participation and contributions to the subject of learning, human performance, and how we can create more meaningful learning moments.