The Future of Learning is NOW

I've been preparing for a key note speaking engagement in a couple weeks at the National CPA Educator's Association.  My topic is on the Future of Learning.  There are some key areas I will focus on that if we as learning professionals don't get right and on board with will make us irrelevant to our businesses we support.  They are:

• Agile learning development - Agile Learning Design (ADL), an approach used by instructional designers and content developers that prioritizes speed, flexibility and collaboration.  One of the fastest growing trends in the training field is the increased need by organizations for rapidly developed learning content. In today’s highly competitive global marketplace, concepts such as “time-to-proficiency” have become high priorities for businesses everywhere. In the training field, this dynamic is referred to as “the need for speed.”
• Flipped Classroom -The flipped classroom is a pedagogical model in which the typical lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed
• Content Curation -  Is adding context to learning. In the digital age, we are content rich but context poor. Content is no longer king. Welcome to the age of context. Your superpower as a learning professional in the age of context is to seek out content, to make sense of it, and to share your understanding with others. Your ability to perform this task will dictate your success. Making sense of content for your particular context is your unique skill, and this makes you a curator. 
• Social Learning - The most important thing to keep in mind with regard to social learning is that there are three elements required for success: a technology platform, a vibrant community, and great content.
• Micro-Learning  - defined as learning in short, digestible, bite-sized units—is next-gen training for a workforce ready to consume it the way it does everything else: fast, small, and “our way.” 

None of these are strangers to those of us that are learning professionals.  We've been hearing about them for quite a while.  The problem is that while many of have been thinking and wondering how to implement, the world around us has changed forever!  It's time that learning professional catch up both from an investment in dollars for people development and the technology to support the new world we live in.

How are your organizations doing in this space?