Training Industry Magazine - January/February 2020 - 47

STELLA LEE, PH.D.

WHAT'S NEXT
IN TECH

HOW TO LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY
IN BUILDING LEARNING AGILITY

As we experience continued and
accelerated change in the workplace
due to robotics, automation and artificial
intelligence (AI), how can we equip
ourselves to upskill and retrain with an
increased sense of urgency? How can
organizations prepare us today for the
workplace of tomorrow?
In "The Fifth Discipline," Peter Senge
stated that the only sustainable source
of competitive edge is an organization's
ability to learn faster and better than
its competitors. Similarly, individuals
need to be responsive to the coming
changes and find their place in the AI
economy. We must develop learning
agility. Learning agility is the ability to
continually and rapidly learn, adapt and
apply knowledge in new and changing
situations. As learning and development
(L&D) professionals, we embody learning
and change, and I believe that, while
technology is not the focus, it does
aid us in magnifying opportunities and
enriching experiences.
Here are some suggestions for leveraging
technology to become self-directed
agile learners:
Be open to new learning experiences:
Openness to learning is one of the
core characteristics of an agile learner.
Openness means having the curiosity and
the willingness to learn in new ways and
to unlearn old ways. While technology is
often the culprit in putting us in our own
echo chambers with adaptive content
catering to our personal preferences and
insulating us from opposing views, we
can also leverage technology to source

LEARNING AGILITY
BETTER EQUIPS
INDIVIDUALS TO FACE
THE UNCERTAINTY
OF WORK.
a variety of materials across disciplines
and perspectives. Look for platforms
and content providers that give learners
control over the algorithm that powers
the content feeds. Increasingly, learning
systems with adaptive learning functions
are designed for user feedback and the
ability to diversify content.
Seek timely and constructive feedback:
Agile learners take time to reflect on
their own experiences. Seek feedback
to support your reflections, and view it as
an opportunity to learn something about
yourself. There are many technologies
that assist the process of self-reflection.
Chatbots (in the form of a virtual coach
or tutor) can ask probing questions to
help you deepen your thinking process.
There is even a chatbot designed to
support professional reflection processes
called Beau - the confessional bot.
According to their project study, people
gain new insights from the chatbot and
are able to approach situations differently
in the future.
Create a knowledge co-creation and
sharing environment: To learn in new
ways requires one to learn from others, to
brainstorm and bounce ideas, to get help
and support from one's peer groups, and
to build on each other's concepts. Online
communities and information sharing
platforms, such as Slack, foster collaborative

knowledge co-creation and content
sharing. One research study suggests that
co-creation and knowledge sharing leads
to increased learner satisfaction, trust and
loyalty. Co-creation encourages the crossfertilization of knowledge and is one of the
hallmarks of innovation in organizations.
Cultivate an experimental mindset: An
agile mindset is about creative problem
solving. What better way to work creatively
and learn from your peers than coming
together to work on issues in hackathons?
Hackathons are events in which people
with diverse skill sets collaboratively come
up with solutions based on specific, realworld challenges - all under a tight time
frame. Hackathons originated from the
software development community but
is much more widespread these days.
There are hackathons with goals to solve
problems from mitigating climate change
to reimagining formal education. These
events cultivate the mindset of being
able to think outside the box, work with
ambiguity and to iterate solutions fast.
Learning agility should be part of L&D's
repertoire because it equips individuals
to face the uncertainty of work. We must
continue to experiment, incorporate new
technologies and platforms, and find ways
to scale up.
Dr. Stella Lee has over 20 years of
experience in consulting, planning,
designing, implementing, and measuring
learning initiatives. Today, her focus is on
large-scale learning projects including
LMS evaluation and implementation,
learning analytics, and artificial intelligent
applications in learning. Email Stella.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MAGAZ INE -AGILE LEARNING 2020 I WWW. T RAININGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

| 47

https://www.trainingindustry.com/magazine

Training Industry Magazine - January/February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - January/February 2020