Picky, picky

George Siemens echoes my feelings exactly in his post today on elearnspace titled Modernizing corporate training

I generally resist linking to organizations that monitor and use the ideas generated in the social/learning/tech space, and then produce reports that fail to acknowledge sources of inspiration. However, this post on modernizing corporate training is worth a read, even if only for the irony. It explores the history of corporate learning from 1980’s to today. Today, according to the report (and roughly every other consultant) is the age of collaboration. And then they freely sprinkle half a dozen “registered trademark” signs.

I must quibble with the assertion that “In 1998 the term ‘e-learning’ caught on.” The first citation I can find for e-Learning dates back to 1997. However, the term didn’t really catch on until October 1999 when CBT Systems was reborn as Smartforce, the e-Learning Company.

“In the mid 1990s we entered what I call the ‘blended and informal learning’ era” may be typo. Josh should know; he wrote the book. In 2004. The first time I recall hearing talk about blended learning was in 2000 or 2001.

And as to “…we are going through one of the most important transitions to corporate training in the last 10 years,” I’d probably make it the last 100, perhaps 200, years.

The important transitions are in how people interact with one another, networked business structures, instantaneous communication, collaborative intelligence, and the demise of the industrial era. This is earth-shattering stuff, and it doesn’t do it justice to frame it as a mere transition in corporate training.