Focus Magazine - Winter 2015 - (Page 11)

GUEST EDITOR William Magagna Mastering Connections of the Construct Start with this question: How do our learners connect to answer, solve, create and grow? I n my article in the Spring 2014 issue of Focus, I proposed that medical & diagnostics devices (MD&D) learning organizations build a vision around constructs not curriculums. As a prerequisite to this challenge, for me the key consideration is to grasp the vast potential of the smart distributed system we all know as the Internet. Certainly a study of the technology, as well as its potential to store, trace, distribute, synthesize, etc., are all essential. However, it is the ability of this construct to connect, and the changing human behavior in that paradigm, that I believe triggers the entire vision. e Internet as a learning construct continues to evolve. As a result, the way our customers and employees access information, create new knowledge and improve performance happens in ways, and at a speed, not possible just a few years ago. e traditional knowledge transfer model of curriculums, from my observations, was not well-positioned to leverage this virtual evolution and, as a result, has been le behind. Instead, human behavior, within the evolving paradigm, has formulated its own solution without premeditation, and it all starts with how we create the connections. Performance growth is uniquely inseparable from the technology with which it is integrated, and for me, is the epitome of informal learning. Start with this question: How do our learners connect to answer, solve, create and grow? More specifically, how does the connection begin? Learners today have in their constant possession the tools to connect to more information, media and people, than can ever be used over a lifetime. How do you position your construct to be there ready to leverage that behavior and create the smartest connection possible? Answer this, and you have a road map for creating your virtual construct that can integrate into your overall learning strategy. e scenario across MD&D is very similar: A healthcare practitioner is tasked with the operation, optimization, maintenance or troubleshooting of a device. How will you create a three-to-five second connection? e most obvious would be virtual search, more specifically, text, voice, optical and social. However, much more powerful, covert and far less leveraged or understood is meta data. Clients may stumble into your formalized virtual curriculum, perhaps they may not, or worse yet, may not want to. ese tools have become so powerfully integrated into the construct, while at the same time leveraging and changing human behavior, that combined they blanket the virtual construct and everything that happens within. I always stress with my team, "If we are unable to be there to create that connection, someone else certainly will." We don't completely control how our customers behave to answer, solve, create and grow. As a result we must innovate our solutions, starting with understanding the connection of people to technology, content and each other. If not, we risk being le behind. Looking ahead, perhaps the challenge for the future of creative and innovative instructional design is linking your connections to the informal, back to the "new formal," and in doing so we may come full circle and redefine what a curriculum of the future could be. ■ William Magagna is the head of global product education for Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics. Email Bill at william.magagna@siemens.com. FOCUS | WINTER 2015 | www.L-TEN.org 11 http://www.L-TEN.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus Magazine - Winter 2015

Focus Magazine
From the President: Put a Bow on It!
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Guest Editor: Mastering Connections of the Construct
Directions: New Year, New Opportunities
Front of the Room: 'Where Is This Going?'
Neuroscience: The Neuroscience of Messaging
Carol Wells: Training's Shining STAR
LTEN Events: Connecting Members
The ACO Opportunity: Defining the Value
Cloud-Based Collaborative Platforms: Raising Productivity
Transformational Leaders: From Fear to Followership
Field Development: 4 Steps to Success
Delivering Messages that Drive Business
Virtual How: The Learning Technology Landscape
Ad Index
Focus Contacts
5 Questions with Thuy and Milo Sindell

Focus Magazine - Winter 2015