New technologies for training: exciting tools and possibilities

By William Seidman

This is an exciting time for the development of new technology for training.  During the ISPI conference that I recently attended, some of the most interesting work was on that and an analysis of the future of technology for training versus traditional classroom training. Educators and learning specialists Julia Bulkowski and Erika Grouell from Google gave a presentation on Web 2.0 , highlighting a variety of exciting tools and apps. We learned more about wikis, blogging, Google Moderator, Google Forms and the use of online videos for training.

One participant asked if this was interfering with “work,” at least as we currently define it. The response was that this is a different notion of work, where group collaboration drives the process. All of this was very cool, and it demonstrated that the way in which people work is evolving and will be different in the future.

Dr. Allison Rossett from San Diego State University gave a great presentation on technology, comparing the use of new technologies to classroom training. Her conclusion was that classroom training is going to be largely replaced by other media, including the media described in the Web 2.0 presentation. These media are more able to give users exactly what they need, exactly when they need it. I was encouraged to see that Cerebyte’s persuasive technology  is absolutely consistent with these trends.