Back to Class

Ronnie Reese - 12/19/11

New learning methods have their place, but classroom learning is still king, with a twist. Companies are combining the best technology with a physical presence to breathe new life into traditional learning.

According to the hype, technology has overtaken more traditional learning delivery methods. Social media, apps, virtual classrooms and telepresence are replacing classroom learning or at least relegating it to specific and rare programs. But don’t believe the hype.

According to new data from the Human Capital Media Advisory Group, the research arm of Chief Learning Officer magazine, classroom instruction is still going strong. In fact, many companies are using new technology to give their classroom learning activities a shot in the arm by enhancing the learner’s experience, promoting engagement and collaboration and preparing leaders for the modern business environment.

Instead of replacing the classroom, technology is most often used to enhance the benefits found in a live learning environment. In the past simulations — a great way to give learners an opportunity to practice new skills and safely fail while learning to apply them correctly — were dominated by computer-based applications. They too have evolved their own face-to-face components. With gaming at their heart, today’s learning simulations emphasize not only knowledge gathering, but comprehension, application, analysis, discovery and growth, and much of it happens in the classroom.

The Digital Divide
In a 1995 Harvard Business Review article, Harvard business professor Clayton Christensen introduced the idea of sustaining vs. disruptive technologies. Sustaining technologies, Christensen said, were innovations that gave customers a product “more or better” than what they were already using.

Disruptive technologies, on the other hand, introduced product attributes different from the ones customers historically valued, Christensen said. Improving undervalued dimensions creates new markets and displaces older technologies.

Corporate learning in 2011 is a combination of sustaining and disruptive technologies. While classroom-based, instructor-led training (ILT) remains the leading method of learning delivery, emergent technologies — such as self-paced e-learning and informal learning through social media, blogs, wikis and discussion groups — offer cost and time savings. But these methods often lack the personal, human element many companies value.