It’s sunday morning, it’s very early, I’m sitting in my garden. It’s very quit, the only thing I hear are birds. Three weeks of holiday lay before me, a moment of contemplation. What is it all about?
The question in the title of this blog comes from a conference on Management and organisation I attended two weeks ago. And it is a very good question. Unfortunately the conference focussed more on how we learn and not on the why. So I didn’t get a clear answer.
A day before the conference I attended a meeting of the BVLT (the Dutch industry organization for e-learning companies). Since Ed Botterweg left Stoas I represent Stoas in this body. There was a very interesting discussion. The BVLT stands for ‘Industry organisation for Learning Technology and the question was, does Learning technology describe what we do? Are we not just e-learning companies, should it be E-learning technology or is it about the learning solution we deliver. Why do we work in the field of learning, what is our added value, what binds us together? More or less the same question as at the conference: “When learning is the answer, then what is our role in it?”
Now a week later and sitting in my garden at half past eight in the morning it all seems very clear. It is not about technology, that is a means to enable learning and not a goal. Learning is also a means, I don’t learn to learn. I learn in order to change, to develop. There you have it, it is simple as that. We learn to develop and we as a company are facilitating a process of development of people. So it’s not about the content, not about the technology not about the solutions but about people, the process and about development.
Therefore I propose that we change the name of our industry organisation to BVLD, which stands for Industry Organisation for Learning Development. Maybe I have to change the title of this blog in ‘Change to develop’.
The Learning 2019 conference
I have been to a ton of learning conferences but this will be my first time at #learning2019. I’m looking forward to it and I’m planning to report on all interesting sessions via this blog.
