According to Elliot Masie from The Learning CONSORTIUM, here are the 10 key learning trends and challenges facing our field in 2007. 

1. Fingertip Knowledge: The rising use of Google, Yahoo and Corporate Search Engines by learners. This challenges our assumptions about memorization and curriculum scope, and evolves the possibilities for Performance Support.
   
   
   
2. Podcasting and Informal Learning: Our learners want short, focused, media-based “chunks” of content. They also want to leverage social networking and other forms of informal learning. Our challenge will include the application of sound instructional design to environments that are significantly less “command and control” in nature.
   
   
   
3. Human Capital Management: Learning functions must operate increasingly in conjunction and be strategically aligned with Human Capital Management areas, including Competency Management, Selection/Recruitment, Performance Review, Career Pathing, Retention Efforts and Succession Planning.
   
   
   
4. Compliance: In 2006, this is the number one driver of additional training and learning delivery and spending. Compliance ranges from government regulation, legal department advice, continuing education requirements and certification programs. The challenge is to handle increased compliance driven learning while keeping learners interested and resources available for performance and development-driven learning.
   
   
   
5. Retention and Leadership Issues: We are facing significant retention issues in organizations worldwide. Many organizations are confronting a 40% retirement peak in the next five years. And, CEO's are staying awake at night looking at smaller and weaker "bench strength” for leader succession.
   
   
   
6. NextGen and Silver Workers: Next Generation workers are those folks in the 18 to 26 generation. They want to learn and work differently. Our Silver Workers are 55 and older and they want to learn and work differently. How will we learn from these two generations and adapt to their requirements? Hmmmm!
   
   
   
7. Wisdom of the Crowds - Wikis, Blogs & Communities of Practice: Organizations are seeking ways of harnessing content, context and stories from the ranks of the workforce (and often customer base). Learning organizations are experimenting with various approaches to leveraging wikis (collaboratively edited documents), blogs (interactive on-line journals) and communities of practice (online special clusters of colleagues focused on support and learning). The learning function will need to experiment with these formats and find ways of blending them into our instructional designs and delivery models. Legal will have a field day with it!
   
   
   
8. Globalizing and Localizing Learning: We live in a “flatter” world. How do we deliver learning on a global basis, rapidly?! Learning organizations must find ways of sharing content throughout the globe in a consistent fashion while staying sensitive to the need to localize and translate content quickly.
   
   
   
9. Content Management (Rapid & Discoverable): The learning system conversation is shifting from tracking and managing learning transactions to managing growing amounts of content. We are seeing more interest in some organizations in a new LCMS (Learning Content Management System) than in their current LMS. We are also seeing a growing interest in how we will manage an expanding set of content models, including PodCasts, PDF's and informal content. Finally, the content must be discoverable by our search and other fingertip knowledge engines.
   
   
   
10. Metrics, Assessment, Impact and Beyond ROI: Ah, the ole ROI conversation. Not! Actually, we are seeing a shift from ROI to Impact in the evaluation process. While it might be nice to express the effectiveness of training in a single number, life is actually much more complicated and complex.
    
    Organizations are shifting to Impact Approaches, to using sampling and shared data to find ways of seeing what the independent or contributing effects learning has on business operations. Metrics, Assessment and Impact will be key focuses of learning in the coming years. We must find ways to get to authentic and trustable metric models.
    

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To learn more about The Learning CONSORTIUM or Elliot Masie, please visit:  http://www.masie.com/consortium/