How do you, as a learning professional, prepare for what you dont know is coming? How do you judge what is important and what is just a fad?In Shock of the New: The Challenge and Promise of Emerging Technology, Chad Udell and Gary Woodill create a new framework for anticipating emerging learning technologies, outlining six key perspectives you should consider with any new technology.

Walmart Academy training centers have plans to incorporate virtual reality (VR) learning solutions by the end of 2017. Specifically, by using an Oculus Rift headset, about 140,000 Walmart employees are expected to be trained on simple, real-world customer service scenarios—such as dealing with spills or preparing for Black Friday. This may be the push that VR training needs to finally go mainstream.

Google the term disruption and you will find many results. Lets start with a few definitions so were all speaking the same language Futurist Eric Haseltine says any one of four conditions can usher in a disruptive innovation: In the early 1600s, a spectacle maker, Hans Lippershey, invented the telescope (at least in the Western world).