I kind of cheated. This site is not as experimental as something for a class titled “Learning With Emerging Technologies” should really be. It’s sort of an idealized version of the real Intranet and Extranet sites that I work on as part of my job. It isn’t the same as the real ones at my real company–it’s what those sites would be if I were in charge and had a big budget.

As such, I like to think I know how the target audience would react to this site, if it were actualized. They’d like it. Notice that I’ve gone out of my way not to exclude anyone. You like classroom learning? It’s available for many skills but expensive. You prefer online training? Available through the LMS. You’re an autodidact? We have lots of research materials here. You have an immediate crisis and need just-in-time support. We can do that. I plan to add links to realtime coaching as I have time.

Traditionally, managers were trained in two ways:

OJT: On-the-job training was key. It was essentially “apprenticeship for managers” (at big corporations). New supervisors would be mentored by senior ones, and as each was promoted that relationship would ideally continue.

Classroom Training: for certain items, especially more academic ones (accounting/finance) or technical (pivot tables in Excel) people would be sent to classes.

What I’m hoping to add is a wider variety of offerings. Both OJT and classroom training are indispensable and vital, but they are not sufficient and they aren’t the answer to all skill deficits. Big Business has recognized the economic efficiency of what I’ll call “second generation e-learning”, which is very largely just transferring the programmed learning of the last generation to electronic media. What will come next will be more realistic and flexible simulations including virtual environments, plus full exploitation of 21’st Century communications technology ranging from Voice Over IP (VOIP) telephone to near-free video conferencing to blogs and podcasts and IMs and whatever comes next.

The big challenge for many if not all business training initiatives like this, is the skepticism of upper management. One thing that isn’t new: we trainers tend to be perceived as a pure expense, and it’s very tempting to cut us before “operational” elements of the company whenever the stockholders need a few extra dollars.