LEARNING & ABU DHABI

Last week, along with my colleague, Adam Kovic, we had the privilege of presenting our thoughts on E-Learning to the first “Training & Development, Middle East” conference in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. Other presenters were from the countries of Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland and England. Attendees came from many countries in the Middle East.

In addition to Adam’s and my presentation on E-Learning, subjects covered by the other presenters included Simulation, CBT and Linear Video. Only Gaming, an emerging learning technology here in the USA, was not addressed.

The conference was most stimulating with considerable back-and-forth between presenters and attendees. To my eyes and ears, the needs for more effective learning were no different than they are in this country. Skills requirements are becoming more and more sophisticated and the consequence of that awareness results in a heightened need and recognition for more sophisticated training.

Many of us are becoming focused on the need for full-motion video and “real life” animations as the best ways to address the many skills gaps we find in much of our workforce. And, it is becoming more and more clear that the traditional “Lecture/Read” classroom no longer gives the necessary paybacks demanded by employers throughout the world. It’s taken six decades since the introduction of television and, finally, our education and training leaders are beginning to grasp that the learning culture for the majority of our citizenry has changed. It is television-based!

The power of the television medium can be successfully harnessed to more effectively address the learning challenges that are apparent throughout the world. While television’s roots grew out of an entertainment opportunity, the media’s appeal now extends to the needs of both education and training.

And simply stated, that is a very good thing!