Gadgets, games and gizmos for learning
I've enjoyed reading Karl Kapp's Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning (Pfeiffer, 2007). It's been out a few months now, but I just got round to it. Karl's basic premise is that there's a wide cultural gulf between the boomers (that's me) and the gamers (those brought up with technology), and that this gets in the way of the transfer of knowledge and expertise from one to the other. With the boomers all set to retire (don't count me out yet, I'm sticking with it a little longer), the urgency for knowledge transfer is exacerbated.
Karl believes that boomers are wasting their time trying to train the gamers in the same way that they were trained way back when: gamers are self-directed and ignore any hint of formal instruction; they like trial and error and approaching a problem from different angles; they rely heavily on learning from peers and distrust information from authorities. Karl quotes Bill Gates: "America's high schools are obsolete ... Training the workforce of tomorrow with the high schools of today is like trying to teach kids about today's computers on a 50-year old mainframe. It's the wrong tool for the times."
The solution, says Kapp is to communicate with gamers using the tools and methods with which they are most comfortable, i.e. gadgets, games and gizmos (by the way, from what I can see by checking some definitions online, a gizmo is the same as a gadget; presumably Karl couldn't resist the alliteration-fest). This obviously makes sense, assuming you can persuade the boomers in power to lighten up (not so easy, although Karl makes some great suggestions).
My only problem with this idea is that we could be pandering to the gamers, if not patronising them. They will come to no harm by absorbing a little of boomer culture, and they're probably expecting that this is going to be necessary. I liken it to the situation when I entered the workforce in the early 70s - I didn't expect my new employers to lace my initial training with sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll and they didn't oblige. More's the pity.
Labels: reviews
posted by Clive Shepherd @ 6:02 PM #
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My only problem with this idea is that we could be pandering to the gamers, if not patronising them. They will come to no harm by absorbing a little of boomer culture, and they're probably expecting that this is going to be necessary.
Maybe this is a generational difference in perspective, but I could not disagree more. I really feel that knowledge workers 35 and younger have had to workaround the wonkiness and beureaucratic nonsense that boomer's have created and/or maintained in the workplace for so long, that it's to a point beyond toleration. At the age of 35, I've been in nine different positions post-college and in each one, I've had to deal with reverse age-ism because I was too young on the job and thus, had no utility and no opinion worth considering.
Now I lead learning strategy for a Fortune 500 company. With a majority of boomers retiring within the next five years, I welcome their input as knowledge experts across many domains -- but when it comes to strategic planning, it's my belief that boomers will, and must enthusiastically adapt to the realities brought with an increased competition for talent -- a population which favors recognition for talent and a penchant for lateral thinking and collaborative work.
Clive,
Thanks for taking time to blog about the book. I find the discussion and reactions you and Aaron are having to be typical. I have met many boomer who think that while some modifications need to be made a radical rethinking is not needed because eventually, they have to enter the workforce and buckle down like the rest of us.
Then, I run into people (often at the same presentation) who can't wait for boomers to leave because they see them as blocking change.
Who is right, I think compromise and intelligent discussion on each side is needed, thus the book. But what I find most interesting is the strong emotional responses to the quesiton. It seems at a very visceral level that the idea of who is "right" and who is wrong about sharing and transfering knowledge impacts people.
A better reaction, I think, is for people to consider how to work collaboratively and take the good from each rather than impose one way or the other.
Clive,
have you read Stephen Johnson's 'Everything Bad is Good for You'? Fantastic read - in a similar vein. He argues that contrary to the popular myth that TV, movies and games are making dumber, they are, in fact, making us smarter. Brilliant book. Can't recommend it enough.
By the by, I enjoyed your talk at the conference yesterday - I'm now making my entire ID team take the 60 minute masters. Hehe.
If the Bill Gate's quote is accurate (which I think it is in general), the gamers are already getting the boomer way of education crammed down their throats from the day they enter kindergarten. The gamers already know all about boomer training.
It kills me to talk to managers of training for large organizations and hear that their development timelines extend over years. A timeline that extends over months is too long. Business and information are moving too fast for the old ways now. The gamers will work out their own systems for learning no matter what the man presents to them. So instead, why don't we put a systematic and strategic solution out there for them to make their way of learning more effecient?
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