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ASTD's T+D magaine explores new developments in technology and learning

How do cognitive learning, psychomotor learning, and affective learning connect? According to Sam S. Adkins, author of "Beneath the Tip of the Iceberg: Technology Plumbs the Affective Learning Domain" in a recent issue of ASTD's T+D magazine, "They represent the knowledge, skills, and beliefs, respectively, of a human performer."

Adkins says that although the integrated framework of three domains - known together as Bloom's Taxonomy - "are tightly integrated aspects of human learning…only the skills and knowledge domains have been part of the corporate training focus. Training professionals have shied away from the affective domain because of its complexity."

Adkins notes that new learning technologies have emerged to automate learning designed for the affective domain. The best known personality assessment taxonomy, according to Adkins, is the "Big Five," which identifies five subcategories of the affective domain: Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience. "A person's score on these assessments is used to determine his or her appropriateness for particular jobs," he says. Fitability, an organisation that provides these assessments online, indicates, "extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability are highly predictive of leaders' performance," Adkins notes in his article.

Beyond candidate screening, Adkins notes that simulation technology is being used for ethics training. "Innovative companies such as SimuLearn, WILL Interactive, Kaplan, and Insight Experience are bringing affective learning products to market that imbue ethical behavior via simulation. Simulation is the current method of choice for learning products dealing with particular subjects in the learning affective learning domains, such as ethics, teamwork, innovation, leadership, conflict management, and motivation," he says.

In the same issue of T+D magazine, author Jonathon Levy says, "Busy professionals - call them ‘knowledge warriors'- have no time for courses, no need for grades. They learn in new ways, through new technologies, on the go." Levy's article, "The Knowledge Warriors," is based on a model of a futuristic advanced learning system developed by Harvard Business School and Stanford University. They researched the desirability of several visionary concepts with chief learning officers and top HR executives. "The picture that emerged," says Levy, "was one of a sustainable model of knowledge transfer with new metrics, performance-based ROI, and a capacity to embed not just knowledge, but also corporate vision and strategy in a next generation system."

Levy indicates that a new approach to presenting knowledge "relies on a powerful partnership that links robust search engines, personal profile filters, knowledge map or taxonomy, indices to databases, and inference and collaborative techniques together with a constantly changing profile of the existing knowledge of the worker." So, what does this mean for the traditional methods for learning? Levy says, "Instead of assembling disparate learners in the same room at a common time and force-feeding information…this new system of learning starts with the premise that everyone has different prior knowledge, different learning needs, and a different context for knowledge." And, Levy says, "Optimal learning - highperformance learning -flows from a personalised solution in a customised environment."

Levy recognises workers' need for a way to filter data so the information they receive is exactly what they require, when they need it. He asserts, "This shift marks the beginning of a new age in learning and knowledge management - an age that can attain an increase in learning productivity that could parallel the productivity increase of the industrial revolution over cottage industries."

Related link

More information on both articles may be found in the February 2004 issue of T+D magazine. The PDF files of the articles are free for ASTD members at www.store.astd.org. Non-members may purchase them for US$4 each.

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