What did Drucker have to say about eLearning (and learning in general for Knowledge Workers?)

[Paul Terlemezian]

"Drucker's ideas about innovation, leadership, effectiveness, and adapting to change still stand as elegant classics of business wisdom." (from the jacket of "The Daily Drucker")

 

From the content - these headings got my attention:

8 May - Price of Success in the Knowledge Society
9 May - The Center of the Knowledge Society
7 January - Knowledge Workers: Asset Not Cost
24 January - Feedback: Key to Continuous Learning
25 January - Reinvent Yourself
4 February - Knowledge and Technology

And the motivation for the title of this discussion:

22 March - Internet Technology and Education

It goes on:

1 May - Managing Knowledge Workers
23 May - Knowledge-Worker Productivity
25 May - Defining Results in Knowledge Work
28 May - Continuous Learning in Knowledge Work
9 June - Individual Development
12 June - Management Education

Please share with us your ideas and knowledge about what Peter Drucker had to say about learning. This community will also have a Group that features a daily topic from "The Daily Drucker."

 

I look forward to learning with you.

[Paul Terlemezian]

I've posted three discussions in "The Daily Drucker" Group - May 8. 9 and 10 and will wait until March 22 to post there on Internet Technology and Education. I will paraphrase Drucker's March 22 Comments. I am interested in your reaction.

1. ...the impact of technology to education will be greater than technology's impact to healthcare
2....attempts to put ordinary college courses on the Internet are a mistake
3....hold students' attention; enable students to go back and forth; provide context

His action point was to ask employees whether they are satisfied with Web-based learning. He also provided a hint - Bring earplugs!

I don't know enough about his humor or personality to understand what he meant:

1. Don't listen
2. You won't like what you'll hear
3. A little of both

What does your knowledge of Drucker allow you to contribute to this conversation?

[Carlos Quintero]

I believe Drucker always looked to technology as a powerful tool, but not a panacea.

[Patrick Malone]

Since Health care is a single industry and Education could encompass all industries, it make sense that technology has the potential to have a greater impact in Education. The requirements ( must be present at a certain time, must be awake, etc) of ordinary college courses are different that the Internet capabilities(24/7 availability, non-sequential, etc) it makes sense that they do not transition well. The learners have always had ultimate control of their learning and the internet provides the opportunity for all teachers to acknowledge that in a way that only a few teachers have the capability to do at the present time.

The earplugs comment probably means you will hear a lot of noise that needs to be filtered out and some of the strategies that you believe are the most effective are actually the least and vice versa. Additionally some of your strategies will be bastardized by the learner to make the strategy work for that particular learner. Other strategies will be adjusted to yield the exact opposite of what was intended.

[Paul Terlemezian]

Thanks, Pat. I recently saw some research that indicated the U.S. Education market at just under 1 Trillion - second only to Healthcare spending.

Much of healthcare spending is involuntary ( I wonder how much?) and the consequences can be dire and immediate for failing to spend. We even buy insurance so that we can be sure to have access to the money to spend on our healthcare. On the other hand much of education spedning is voluntary ( I wonder how much?) and the consequences while dire - may not be immediate for failing to spend.

We also spend a lot of time and money during the first 20 years of our life on education and not much on our healthcare (after all - we are invincible at those ages.) Comparitively we spend a lot on healthcare during the last 20 years of our life and my guess less on education. I have seen stats that say that corporations tend to spend more on educating younger employees than older employees (could this be legal?)

We also use the internet to educate ourselves about healthcare - I wonder which industry will claim those dollars!

See you soon - I hope.



Patrick Malone said:

Since Health care is a single industry and Education could encompass all industries, it make sense that technology has the potential to have a greater impact in Education. The requirements ( must be present at a certain time, must be awake, etc) of ordinary college courses are different that the Internet capabilities(24/7 availability, non-sequential, etc) it makes sense that they do not transition well. The learners have always had ultimate control of their learning and the internet provides the opportunity for all teachers to acknowledge that in a way that only a few teachers have the capability to do at the present time.

The earplugs comment probably means you will hear a lot of noise that needs to be filtered out and some of the strategies that you believe are the most effective are actually the least and vice versa. Additionally some of your strategies will be bastardized by the learner to make the strategy work for that particular learner. Other strategies will be adjusted to yield the exact opposite of what was intended.

[Paul Terlemezian]

Drucker's Five Questions:

1. WHAT IS OUR MISSION?
2. WHO IS OUR CUSTOMER?
3. WHAT DOES THE CUSTOMER VALUE?
4. WHAT ARE OUR RESULTS?
5. WHAT IS OUR PLAN?

This would be an interesting quiz for every CEO and CLO in the training industry to ask:

1. Their employees
2. Their customers
3. Themselves

and then compare the answers. I have no hidden agenda. I think in this complicated world that is getting more complicated all the time that this simple quiz could help establish alignment and then maintain it by revisiting the answers.

As you answer these questions for your organization:

1. Are your answers today different than they would have been five years ago? One year ago?
2. Will your answers be the same one year from now? Five years from now?
3. How else can we avoid being trapped by previous success?