Keeping it simple

One of my favorite quotes from the American comic, Mitch Hedberg, came up on my personalized Google homepage as quote of the day a week or so ago.

Mitch said, “I don’t own a cell phone or a pager. I just hang around everyone I know, all the time. If someone wants to get a hold of me, they just say ‘Mitch,’ and I say ‘what?’ and turn my head slightly.” Mitch was keeping it simple.

I’ve had a couple of similar exchanges recently.

Deja vu moment #1

I was at a local ASTD event and had a conversation at a break that in Mitch-speak would’ve went something like this:

I don’t put any training content online. I just train everyone in the classroom. If someone wants to refer to information later or has a question, they just call me and I answer their question. That or I go to the copy machine and make a copy of the material they want. The trainer is keeping it simple (?)

Deja  vu moment #2-

While working on a laptop at the cafe I sometimes go to work at, two older men asked me,

Am I in there? “In there” meaning “on” the Internet) I Google one of them and get a hit  with name, address, and phone number. One man says, “why would I need a $1000 laptop to tell me where I live?” I reminded him that he would have had to pay $1500 to find out where he lived using my laptop. : ) Two old friends, keeping it simple.

I could’ve launched into an explanation of the benefits of progress: foot travel vs. motor vehicles, snail mail vs. email, ILT vs. e-learning, etc. But I didn’t. Instead, I thought about people choosing not to embrace new technology tools or not being reading to embrace new technology tools. Not everyone is ready either by choice or need or I guess even fear.

I  think getting beyond ‘simple’ is necessary in our industry – to shape change. In E-Learning in the 21st century authors Garrison and Anderson, recognized pioneers in distance learning said:

The future is for those who are ready to assume control and responsibility for their learning; those who have acquired the critical thinking and learning abilities needed to cope with the ‘too much information’ age. Those who have learned to manage learning and create; those who are will to act upon their learning and who are ready to shape change and not be the victims of it.

If you’re reading a blog, you’ve probably already acted on your learning. What can you (or do you) do to get your learners to act?

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Tagged as: Culture, E-learning, Training