Trends in Learning and Development

The field of learning and development

The field of learning and development has been undergoing lots of changes and challenges. The personnel needs to consider all these trends and new practices to develop the best strategy of incorporating them in their daily work environment. In this activity, the focus will be on trends which have continued to affect a majority of the organizations (Moorley et al., 2016 pg.517). These trends include the vertical development, a broader focus on more innovative learning development methods, more focus on the collective rather than individual learners and transfer of the developmental leadership to one person or individual. The emergence of such trends is due to the changing environment which has tended to become complex and challenging. The current focus is on the individual and their development, a focus on the “what” of leadership and more focus on horizontal development.

Trends in learning and development

The incorporation of online learning in most academic institutions blended with use of smartphones promotes fast learning and better experiences to learners. Learning institutions should adopt the current trends in learning and curriculum development lest the will be backward in some way. The institutions that do not have vigorous strategies to integrate the pervasive approaches today are hard to survive. The broader aims in online learning institutions such as adults learning programs should adopt growth mindset like effort matters, emotional and social like social and self-awareness, personal management, and accountable decision-making. These programs are starting to rethink user experience and user interface since they are mobile responsive and may be incorporated into virtual and augmented reality. For instance, the WalMart Company uses the user interface to train their employees on the new roles. All these trends when incorporated into academic work promotes quality learning leading to more skills and knowledge in the field hence boost productivity (Bolden & Richard, 2016 pg. 149).

The focus of horizontal development

The focus of horizontal development mostly hinges on competencies. Vertical development, on the other hand, focuses on the developmental stages. The current organizations have therefore resorted to vertical development in which the skills of an individual are identified and inculcated into everyday activities. With this, the individuals can earn this from their abilities and dispense it in the workplace. When the individuals are accorded this opportunity to develop themselves, they can drive their activities. This contradicts the current model in which the progress of individuals is regulated or determined by other individuals such as human resource personnel. With the focus on the organizational goals and individuals given time to guide their progress, they will come up with more pragmatic and easier ways of achieving the organizational goals. The other trend is a focus on more collective rather than personal leadership. Those in the top management are more willing to make their leadership more democratic. They try as much as possible to involve the subordinates in every step of the way (Bolden & Richard, 2016 pg.147). The current focus is the conditions of leadership rather than who the leaders are. The era which requires a lot of innovation is the focus of most workplaces in which the various organizations experiment with these organizations experiment various models of management.

Globalization, urbanization, and automation

Globalization, urbanization, and automation cause unprecedented changes in most sectors. In the future, waves of complexity and novelty in these sectors may occur, I believe the change will be more unexpected and rapid in the future in comparison to what we see today hence there is a need for fast learning and retention of knowledge and skills acquired to promote lasting professional and personal experience. That’s daunting since there has been no other time to learn or teach and learning is a continuous process. In automation, for instance, EdTech revolution power equalization, customization, and motivation which are new tools that boost expand access, personalization, and engagement. These advancements are incorporated into a digital curriculum that includes fixed assessments at the end of module or course. Such innovations like HigherEd when incorporating in learning, training, and development motivates adults with their needs (Moorley et al., 2016 pg.519).

Incorporating trends in practice

In the everyday practice as learners, all these trends and many more need to be incorporated in practice. The manager needs to understand all these trends so that it will be possible to apply them. Some of the skills the required are like for example influencing skills in the case of a team and be able to understand the group dynamics. As a leader one should possess the skills and knowledge on how to delegate responsibilities to the subordinates. Emerging trends in learning and development require adaptive systems to learners and platforms that provide timely feedback.

References

Bolden, R., 2016. Leadership, management and organizational development. In Gower handbook of leadership and management development (pp. 143-158). Routledge.

Moorley, C. and Chinn, T., 2016. Developing nursing leadership in social media. Journal of advanced nursing, 72(3), pp.514-520.