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Breakthrough Briefing - 07/27/07
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Can You
e-Learn at Your Desk?
By Rick Nigol
 Elliott Masie is constantly polling
readers of his Learning Trends online newsletter on interesting
questions related to workplace learning. His latest asked "Can
workers really e-Learn at their desks?" In other words, can they fit
eLearning into their daily tasks at their workstations without
having to do it at home, or before or after the workday, or in some
quiet designated eLearning space in the workplace? Masie got some
interesting responses,
with opinion divided, and many responding with a "depends," and then
listing those conditions in which it generally will or will not
work. The "pro" side arguments tended to be centred
around the following points:
- We all multitask all day, every day, why
couldn't eLearning fit into this mix?
- We tend to learn best in small chunks anyway,
and can fit this into our working day while at our desks
- Finding time to squeeze eLearning into your
schedule is simply a matter of making an appointment with yourself
and putting everything else aside while you do it
The "anti" side arguments tended to be centred
around the following points:
- There are far too many distractions (e.g.
email, phone, instant messages, pagers, bosses, co-workers, etc.)
in most workplaces to be able to concentrate on deep learning
while at your desk
- There is no such thing as "do not disturb" in
the modern workplace, you are "always available," so forget about
the "schedule time for yourself" argument
- You need quiet time away from all the noise,
distractions, and interruptions of your workstation to make real
progress with eLearning
Myself....I tend to side with the "depends" crowd
(leave it...it's too easy). Some eLearning is clearly meant to be
accessed on-demand, as needed, at the desk. Things like just-in-time embedded
electronic performance support systems (e.g. mini tutorials on
how to use certain software, or how to conduct certain business
processes) are clearly designed for at-your-desk learning. However, I really do not think that learning that
requires a great deal of thinking, reflection, discussion, and
competency development works while you are trying to squeeze it in
among phone calls, reading and responding to emails, and having
chats with whomever happens to come by your desk. Any learning
wherein the objective is to change attitudes or behaviours or
develop complex competencies, really works best when there is a
chunk of time dedicated to it, and when it is done away from the
chaos of one's workstation. We work in a culture of hyper
communication and hyper activity that is not conducive to deep
learning, self reflection and practice. I have seen many great eLearning initiatives come
a cropper because someone in charge thought that the targeted
learners could squeeze it in while juggling a dozen other projects
during the workday. We think nothing of giving people a number of
days away from their desks to attend conferences where they are merely
talked at for three days straight, yet find it strange to carve
out a few hours of quiet time for them to complete some interactive
and self-reflective eLearning. 
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Feedback or questions? Email jon@elearncampus.com or
call us at (877) 238-3297.
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