After sitting in on a training professional competencies focus group at TechKnowledge 2012, I became more inspired than ever to think about the role that learning and development professionals can look forward to in the future. One thing seems nearly certain—as time passes, the role of the training professional and instructional designer will be transformed. This is why various titles for our new role are being suggested, such as "Learning Experience Designer" and "Learning Architect" (see review of Clive Shepherd's book, The New Learning Architect ). MORE >>

The last time I looked at roles in education I was inspired by Anil Mammen to create a table based on his definitions. think some of the descriptions can be used in a prescriptive way of getting out of our industrial, hierarchical mindset and moving to an enterprise 2.0 or wirearchical culture. In networks, learning is the work, so a critical part of this culture shift is viewing learning as quite different from traditional training. Getting There. Wirearchical. Training – Learning & Development – Organizational Development – HR. Representative of the establishment. MORE >>

A 3D Virtual World role play provides a realistic environment in which two or more people act out a scenario. Role playing is valuable for immersing a trainee in a job she would actually be doing. No matter what direction a learner takes, the experienced person playing the other role can provide the right feedback and act appropriately for the role. In a virtual immersive environment, some of the traditional obstacles and barriers of conducting face-to-face role plays are eliminated. Retail sales role play in a virtual world. MORE >>

How does this tie in with the role of a community manager, you may ask! What role can an enterprise community manager play? In this case, the community manager's role would be akin to that of a museum curator. Faced with the tsunami of information, we are all floundering to find our way to content that actually matters. From setting up filters--both of the automated and human variety--to trying to make sense of what we find, we are in a fix, so to speak. The scene within an enterprise is not much different. The lifespan of enterprises are declining rapidly. MORE >>

The role of an instructional designer is essentially driven by a need to find appropriate solutions by applying instructional design strategies and models to transfer information to users who use a particular product or service to perform their jobs. Changed Learning Methods As time progressed and technologies evolved, the role of the instructional designer as we understood it several years back, underwent a paradigm shift. Design content solutions that are specific to an audience and the tasks the role is expected to perform. MORE >>