Find the Leading Edge in a Disrupted World. Planning our response to disruption seems impossible. Most new and emerging technologies have been in development for decades, but as soon as they land on our doorstep, they inspire “the shock of the new.” How do you, as a learning professional, prepare for what you don’t 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,...

Is virtual reality training primed to go mainstream? 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. Virtual and augmented reality training already are being used successfully in military, aviation, and medical...

Google the term “disruption” and you will find many results. It seems that everyone is trying to attach their product, service, or training to this buzz word, often inappropriately. What will be the next truly disruptive innovation for the learning profession? Let’s start with a few definitions so we’re 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.) The original purpose of...