Catching Up With The US

I have just watched a great video by Hans Rosling who uses his Gapminder software to show how wealth and health have evolved around the world since the mid 1800s.  Take a look: The World Converging on the US

It is amazing to see how Europe and the US took off with the industrial revolution and how the Far East is now accelerating to catch up.  What is even more interesting is Hans' assumption that we can all comfortably coexist in the "top right hand corner", with the same level of wealth and health.  However, if we all aspire to that level of consumption, then we need another 4 planets!  There just aren't the resources.

All of these trends are converging, resources are running short and yet we are still relentlessly pursuing growth.  Watch Al Bartlett to find out what 2% growth actually means.  2% means we double our consumption every 35 years (divide 70 by the percentage - simples!).  In the next 20 years we will consume the same volume of natural resources as humankind has consumed in its entire history!

This problem is also compounded by population growth, currently standing at: just under 1.2%  Fortunately this rate is declining, but at this rate the population will still double in approximately 58 years.  So, as David Attenborough says, we need to get the population growth rate to 0.  How do we do that?  Education . . . . . . but that is another story.

Collaborative Learning

Instead of sitting and listening to some grey haired old guy reading out Powerpoint slides, how would you like to attend a course where you create your own technical manual, using collaborative technology.

In the 21st century, technology and the knowledge are changing so fast that it is very difficult to keep up.  Bulky technical manuals are no longer the way to deliver technical content for courses, because almost as soon as they are handed out, they are out of date!  It makes much more sense to use a digital, preferably online resource, and what better way to learn than to create the resource yourself.

The scenario I envisage is a classroom in which we start with a learning agenda but no content.  The first thing we do is create a structured wiki, using something like Google Sites.  Then we set about researching the technical content on the web, discussing it, understanding it, experimenting with it and linking to it.

The key is to find good, reliable sources of online information, and this is where the experience of the grey haired old guy comes in (if he knows how to use a computer).  The Trainer then becomes a facilitator to help trainees filter out the good sources of technical information, understand and discuss the subject, capture the essence of the technical information and make the links to the source.  Let the expert editors of the source maintain the details and keep up to date with the latest developments in their particular field.  Maybe there is some relevant technical information on Wikipedia, but it needs improving.  Now is the time to improve it and in doing so make life easier for everybody else.  Hopefully then we should reap the benefits of other people's shared contributions.

A further benefit is that instead of working as individuals, colleagues could also work together in teams compiling the course wiki, and thereby create a single resource which far exceeds the sum of the parts, and has a life after the course.  We could even start the wiki up before the course and start to capture the key areas which trainees struggle with, so that the discussions can be focussed on those key areas.  Colleagues who are not on the course could also contribute from their desks.

The possibilities are only limited by our imagination and willingness to try something new.