Why we have to change our understanding of learning - and why it is so hard?

Part of building a global risk training platform that shall change the metrics for (corporate) learning from forced to fun is to do a lot of research around digital business, cybersecurity and lifelong learning, talk to experts, read tons of articles and extract some thoughts. In my new bi-weekly blog series, I will take you with me on this journey.

In our daily changing, complex and challenging world, a solid formal as well as regular further education for everyone should be the number one goal!

Not just because 1bn people have to re-skill and find a new job due to structural changes and digital transformation in many sectors until 2030.* Also because as a basic understanding and critical questioning of content provided helps democracy survive.

But at the same time, teaching might be the only product on this planet that has not been designed with the user in mind and is not even regularly quality tested. Instead, a system of force and pressure keeps "the market" going and learning success is more reliant on a learner's social background, parent's purse and later own income than on the actual quality of education provided.

While the internet offers all technical options and could even help to invent and test new teaching approaches, we still discus: illiteracy.**

For many people, their formal learning journey is or has been a more or less short yet well-structured career. A one-way street that leads to a degree someone can get a job with - or not - and never think of (further) education again.?It's also quite common that the young learn from the old and that learning patterns and content are passed on over generations, while nobody really set goals or standards for the outcome from a learner's perspective.?

And yes, also complaining about the allegedly lazy yet demanding Gen Z without trying to understand a young people's world from their perspective, falls under this pattern.

The OECD definition for literacy covers:?the ability to understand and employ printed information in daily activities, at home, at work and in the community – to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential.

That's like the basic definition for a minimum proper learning outcome of a person who made contact with an education system.?Looking at the speedy way the digital world changes and requires new skills, planting a seed of curiosity for further education and lifelong learning should be another important goal.

Or let's say: providing an education experience that somehow doesn't keep people away from signing up for another one.

However, the way in which many types of schools and learning institutions are set up contrasts with the last. Even for "good learners".

This also means more and more challenges for companies as employers. Not only do they have to teach employees how specific work processes are setup and provide regular training, but they also have to make up for any shortcomings from previous training and studies.

Power and pressure keep the system going.

Not the power of knowledge, yet the power of teachers, institutions and the society putting pressure on kids and young adults to go to school, do their homework and get a degree. While many degrees don't even make sense, because the skills taught and the skills needed for future jobs do not necessarily match anymore.

Every day, humans are channeled through education systems who, after completing an initial educational career, never want to have anything to do with it again.?And that leads to damage not only on a personal level, but also from an economic perspective.

Educational micro-management might make sense in the first years,?when small children have to learn the basics of learning and the simplest things - but only if this micro-management also brings the desired results.?For teenagers, it often becomes cringe-worthy when they realize that the content and technology they deal with in their free time hardly takes place in class - while they are still forced to pay full attention.?

When required skills are changing fast, why do we still shy away from radically changing the way we think of lifelong education?

Learners of all ages need learning content according to their level of remaining expertise and only up to the point they want to reach to solve the problem they have to deal with.?A lot of school classes, studies and further education courses are not granular and structured enough to be helpful on the spot. It's often not possible to only pick what a learner is searching for and leave out the rest.

If we change that, learning becomes highly effective and highly individual - and we already have the technology to provide what's needed and also make learning far more attractive.

But the most important and most complicated part might be to give up the system of power and pressure so many people make a good living of.

How do you think about this?

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Want to try an unconventional learning experience and bring your #ITsecurity game on a new level - or create an online course yourself? Have a look at my Cyttraction & emoticomms courses! All links on my profile.?

My next text will be about attraction factors and the (future) role of teachers. Stay tuned!

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*World Economic Forum:?https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/reskilling-revolution-jobs-future-skills/

**OECD report:?https://www.oecd.org/education/skills-beyond-school/41529765.pdf