The Future of Professional Development
2002; American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers; Volume: 78; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0010-0889
Autores Tópico(s)Online and Blended Learning
ResumoI'm taking a break from schoolwork to write this article. Seems strange. Time was, one moved from being in school to being in the real world and never looked back. For most of us, there was a clear transition from the classroom to the world of work. Maybe we would go on to earn higher-level degrees at some point, but once it was over, by golly, it was over. The period of preparation for life and work, commonly referred to as the school years, eventually comes to be regarded in the past tense, often accompanied by a sense of nostalgia for those good old, relatively carefree college days, or perhaps-as in my case-by a feeling of great relief that the struggle to earn grades and complete degree requirements is finally over. So what's a guy like me, in the sixth decade of his life, doing back in school after an absence of more than 30 years? He's earning a professional Master's degree to prepare for his next career, that's what. Three years ago I joined the growing legion of life-long learners who want or need to keep on learning for whatever reasons and who are able to do so on the Web. It's a great experience this time around. I can go to and interact with some terrific classmates and teachers from all over the world and I can do it in my bathrobe if I want to. Also I have the luxury of attending class whenever it's convenient for me, as long as I get the assigned work done by the deadline. Oh, and despite my advancing years, I'm learning more now than I ever did back when I used to show up regularly (well, pretty regularly) to the old lecture hall, dressed in regulation student garb. Such are the advantages of being an online learner in a more enlightened and technologically enabled age. If you haven't been involved in online learning yet, you undoubtedly will someday-probably sooner than later-and most likely, in connection with the workplace. In fact, if you were to work either in the corporate sector or the government, rather than in higher education, it is highly likely you would have already experienced some computer-mediated training or professional development. Just about every major business that understands the value of developing its workforce has invested in computer-based learning. Even the U.S. government is gearing up to train nearly two million employees through Web-based learning (Thibodeau 2002). Think of it! Large corporations and the government are investing heavily (we're talking billions of dollars in the aggregate here) in hardware, software, and technical support to launch their own customized, Web-based training and performance support programs to supplement traditional forms of face-to-face training. Some smaller operations are taking a more economical route by contracting with vendors for licenses that give their employees access to an online library of self-contained generic courses that cover the basic operation of spreadsheets, electronic publishing, and the like. These courses can be hosted on the vendor's Web site and employees can take any skill course anytime they need it by logging on from any Internet-connected computer. Despite the recent economic downturn, investment in what has come to be known as e-learning continues to rise steadily, fueled principally by three drivers: the pressures created by the arrival of the post-industrial knowledge economy; the now ubiquitous presence of the World Wide Web, with its unprecedented capability to store and communicate vast amounts of information on demand in many useful forms; and a recognition by employers everywhere that investing in the development and retention of knowledgeable employees is crucial to the organization's long-term viability. Following the tsunami of massive downsizing that took place in the early 1990s, employers discovered too late how much priceless knowledge they had sacrificed when, in their zeal to economize, they let their more experienced employees go. Finally realizing that what they had done was perhaps the epitome of false economy, enlightened employers became eager to find ways to capitalize on the tacit knowledge built up over many years of experience by their more successful senior staff. …
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