I recently attended the Learning Technologies Summer Forum Conference 2019, update.
It always impresses me the rate and speed technology advances, especially in the Learning and Technology field.
What was the future 6 months ago is now the yesteryear’ and if you’re not careful, new trends in technology will simply pass you by!
The day began with an introduction speech by Donald H Taylor (Chair, Learning Technologies) and a short introduction into the day’s proceedings.
Once all formalities had been taken care of, it was onto the first talk of the day:
The Now and Next of learning and technology overview.
Speaker: David Kelly (https://davidkelly.me/2017/06/whats-next-learning-technology)
David’s in-depth and passionate talk about thinking outside of the box approach to e-learning whilst always remaining energised and helpful to questions was a great insight into an important discussion.
We now live in a “I’ll Google it myself” culture for our learning needs, in both our professional lives as well as our personal ones. It was a great way to get us to think as to why this is, what technology we currently use, the future tech inbound and how ultimately, what our learners gain from it.
David also investigated current future trends and how the past e-learning revolution and advancements in e-learning have been disruptive.
Overview of topics raised:
• The Now and Next of L&TD
• Language matters: The now & next of learning and technology versus the now & next of learning technology – the difference!
• How technology is changing how people live
• The e-learning revolution and advancement of e-learning and who it’s disruptive to, including a breakdown of 3 main groups:
o (1) Learners/students
o (2) Trainers/teachers
o (3) Organisations/companies
| Now | Next |
| Multi-device learning – learning on the go – tablets, mobiles and more | Interactive video algorithms – audio and video media as a standard data module |
| Importance of data analytics – pro’s and con’s to data capture and what your analysis says | VR – virtual reality – an immersive experience through a computer in an environment which doesn’t exist |
| Experience API – experience online and off | AR – augmented reality – combination of tech and real-world settings to provide an immersive experience |
| Use of scorm packages – how content might be packaged into a transferable ZIP file called “Package Interchange Format” | AI – artificial intelligence – cognitive technology is designed to enhance human intelligence rather than replace it |
| Game based learning – learning content is woven into the game. When learners gain knowledge through play, transfer is more effective | Wearable technology – wearable technology (also called wearable gadgets) is a category of technology devices that can be worn by a consumer and often include tracking information |
| Gamification – the application of game elements and digital game design techniques to non-game problems, such as business and social impact challenges | Learning and performance eco systems – individual and organisational effectiveness by connecting people and supporting them with a broad range of content, processes, and technologies to drive performance |
| Workflow – internet-based e-Learning workflow Process | Play/experience yourself – play to learn, learn to play |
| Curation learning – means gathering relevant information and collating it in a learner-friendly manner | Digital learning – learning is no longer subject to 4 walls of a classroom |
After a short coffee break (no rest for the busy!), it was onto the next talk.
Learning Innovation
Speaker: James Bannerman (Creative Services)
James spoke about combining creativity with Psychology to help businesses innovate.
James uses innovation and creativity coupled with his understanding of human psychology to help find ways to make our working life easier and more productive.
Overview of key / workshop:
• Introduction to creativity with a Psychological approach – A blend of workshop activities and an innovating guest speaker
• Innovation – strategic innovation in business
• Complacency, conceit and challenge – how becoming stagnate can hinder creation and psychological growth
• Outside via inside understanding – learning to understand your learners point of view to gain understanding of your internal processes
• Creativity and logical pattern recognition and the coloration between the two
• Numeracy workshop and group exercise – a group exercise; fun to work in small groups and see everyone’s different ideas to what the answer should be
• Literature and grammar workshop and group exercise – a group exercise; fun to work in small groups and see everyone’s different ideas to what the answer should be
• “But” is it really the worst word to use in L&D? and why? – when we use the terminology “but” we stop creative ideas
• Change management – how we can support and help individuals, teams, and organisations and ourselves in making the right organisational change
• Logical thinking – logical thinking business models
• Fusion technology – transformation of core technologies through a combination process facilitated by technological advances
• C_A_N_D_O and changing the sequence
Lunch.
Similar to last time, we broke for lunch and left to use the time between as we saw fit. So before to long I was joining the 1000+ on the showroom floor.
There were a vast number of stands and exhibitors on hand to show the newest tech and advancements as well as a good chance to market to a new number of popular and useful LMS platforms.
One such – Virtual College
For 22 years, Virtual College have been developing and supplying collaborative, customer-focused e-learning technology for organisations world-wide. With a dedicated team combined with an agile way of working, they look to improve the level and quality of service for new customers.
Key strands to their services include:
• Bespoke content development services
• Ready to go course-ware portfolios
• Enable Learning Management System
• Learning and Development consultancy
For more information check out: www.virtual-college.co.uk
Powering performance with AI
Speaker: Josh Squires (Docebo, Enterprise Solutions)
The final speaker of the day was Josh Squires.
Although there were plenty of conferences and talks on offer and the day spent was a great way to gather and learn all about L&D. I decided I would end the day by sitting in on one of the smaller seminar talks on the future of AI in the industry.
A rather amusing talk by Josh, you could clearly see an expert in his own right, fuelling questions as they came in and really engaging with the audience to make the topic at hand an enjoyable and interesting one, Josh looked at the psychology behind personalised learning content and how technology is evolving, it was a lot to go away and think about.
Overview of topics raised:
• Powering performance with AI and personalised learning
• Why AI is crucial to L&D
• AI development and 3 years on
• Gamificiation – how AI can use stats and data to assist in development
• Automation – automatic invoices systems in place, capturing correct and wrong data
• Automation of tasks and work place duties – will it replace the human touch
• Generation 1 – LMS format
• Generation 2 – Social
• Generation 3 – AI automation
• Transcribing video text and format
• Machine learning and deep learning
Close of day
And with that, another Learning Technologies 2019 Summer Forum Conference came to a close.
Thank you again to everyone involved, the press pass, the people I met and all the hard-work that goes into such a great day. A most enjoyable and interesting one, with lots to see and do, I look forward to my next L&D encounter!
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If you are anything like me and have an interest in the future tech of tomorrow or like to keep yourself up to date in all the current trends. Do check out the following list of further free independent e-learning courses available here.
We also have a range of A-Z online products available ourselves, designed from the ground up by experienced professionals in their field. For further information, head over to the online course page at our online A-Z catalogue here.
Written by Alan Williams (Digital Development Manager), Friday 26th July 2019
Follow me at: https://twitter.com/ECGDigital
