Learning, listening

I reckon I spend about an hour a day learning online. I get in early, so I have time to look at blogs, posts and tweets from the people who have something interesting to say. I have always found listening a great way to learn. 

Tools like Twitterfall enable me to listen to what people are saying about specific topics - such as elearning - and I learn something about elearning by listening to those people who use it, and those who produce it.

It seems fairly clear to me that those people who produce elearning are not listening to those who use it. When I go to elearning conferences, I find myself wondering if anyone in the industry has ever actually spoken to an elearning user. Fortunately elearning is not sold to users, it is sold to businesses - and as I pointed out in my previous post the needs of businesses and learners are very different things.

I've been collecting screencaptures of what people think of elearning for a while. I've gathered some of them above. They are not unrepresentative - though Jane Hart's research provides a more conclusive if less colourful picture. I find them as insightful as anything I have heard on the topic. They tell us how elearning makes people feel (bored, sleepy, like they want to die), they tell us why organisations procure elearning: 'it's a week's worth of school IN A SINGLE DAY'. They tell us that elearning is pretty much as bad as school. I especially like the philosophical 'E-learning can learn what?'. I couldn't have put it better myself. Notice that many of the comments are actually ReTweets - people echoing the sentiments of their peers. And kids strain at the limits of language in their effort to express their intense dislike of e-learning: "F*** you, elearning!" But we have grown deaf, believing that it is of the nature of education to be forced down people's throats. If it sounds like I'm being tough on elearning, stop to consider what harm elearning has inflicted.

I guess if the industry had listened to learners a little more, it would have figured out that there is a way to make online learning that works for learners and organisations, instead of just the latter. For those people in the industry trying to turn the corner, I can only offer encouragement. The secret is to listen to the learner.

I added the pitiful tweet at the end to make the point. Elearning has not 'brought about profound changes in the way people learn' - Google has. Elearning just sold some snake oil at the the side of the railroad.