There was a time, not all that long ago when I used to love being asked that question.

I used to believe my role was to tell people what they wanted to know and loved nothing more than swanning round the front of a training room, proudly displaying my knowledge like a peacock’s fan.  I saw a great phrase the other day for it; edutainment.

My eldest son asked me the question last night.  We were talking about the VLE at his college and how cumbersome it was to use.  I showed him how easy it is to clip content to Evernote, upload his sound files (he’s studying music technology), and create notebook stacks that mirror his course topics.

Then he asked the fatal question…and to be honest, I don’t really know the answer.  I do think it has a little to do with a lot of things; I’ve listed just three of them below:

Curation
I don’t like the concept of learning management being responsible curating content.  It infers a level of control of the process that I’m uncomfortable with.  I do think, however, that if you give learners the opportunity, impetus and support to curate their own content there is more likelihood of them:
a) owning it
b) being successful.

Collaboration
I don’t have the time, energy, or resources to create brand spanking new every time.  I’m asked regularly to come up with something creative.  This is where I use my network of incredibly informed and talented people to help me reimagine and adapt.  Do we encourage learners to collaborate enough outside of syndicate exercises in training rooms?

Question
It’s could be as simple as asking how do I do this:
More cheaply?
At a faster/slower pace?
To a higher standard?
More professionally?

How far do we ask our learners to curate, collaborate, and question?  How do we stretch learners and change their mindset to one where they move from passive receivers to active participants?

As always, comments welcome.