Yesterday the e2train team attended the third annual Learning and Skills Group Member's Conference.  As a sponsor of the Learning and Skills Group since its inception, we're always pleased to have the opportunity to catch up with the members, what the experts have to say and what the latest learning trends are. 

As a provider of Learning Management Systems (LMS's) it was an interesting day to say the least!  In the keynote session, 'Working smarter through workscaping - informal learning at work' from Jay Cross and some of the other breakout sessions there was a lot of discussion around the emerging trend of social learning and how organisations harnessing the potential of informal learning is very much the future.  And as a result, many of the speakers seemed to feel that this brave new world of learning leaves formal training and the LMS very much in the past. 

However, they seem to have missed the fact that LMS providers like e2train have been keeping our fingers on the pulse and the development team have been working for over 18 months to embrace and embed social and informal learning into systems such as Kallidus!

Listening to the the Learning and Skills Group members after the sessions, the ovewhelming sentiment was that whilst they are keen to explore using social learning tools and technologies, the 'bread and butter' training remains critical, particularly in heavily regulated industries including finance, pharmaceuticals and policing.  It seems that on the frontline of learning, the LMS is far from dead.  In fact, with 45% of L&D professionals saying they would provide more comprehensive or more frequent reports to the board, if they had the necessary tools to do so* the reporting functionality of the LMS begins more crucial, not less so.  And there is no reason at all why both social and formal learning can't sit side by side.  Does the birth and growth of one have to mean the death of the other? 

There was balance to the debate though and David Wilson, Managing Director of E-learnity, presented a look at 'Rethinking access to learning - how learning systems are changing' which examined just how learning systems are evolving to incorporate new ways of working and have an increasing focus on the areas of social learning and performance management. 

The importance of continuing to align informal learning with more traditional training programmes was further underlined by Steve Wheeler, Professor at the University of Plymouth, in his session 'Collaborative and co-operative learning - the why and the how'.  He discussed the impending impact of the 'digital natives' and Generation Y on training when they enter the workplace.  The next generation of employees will have grown up with technology and will fully expect to use a range of sources, tools and technologies during their working lives.  Wheeler explained that the Web 2.0 revolution has been all about the 'fluidity' of information and how we share it.  With sources such as Google, social networking tools like Twitter and YouTube, and sharing information via wikis and forums now such an embedded way of doing things for these new learners, that traditional classroom training and formal e-learning courses alone simply won't cut it. 

It's certainly an exciting time to be in learning, especially as 'we don't know what the future looks like and we need to work out how as learning professionals we prepare for that' - Steve Wheeler.  Events like this provide great inspiration and food for thought for all concerned. 

In order to help find out exactly where L&D is at the moment though, the event also saw the launch of the annual Towards Maturity Benchmark survey.  This year, many organisations are under even more pressure to deliver more learning with less resources and need their learning technologies to work even harder. By taking part you will be able to benchmark your own progress and receive free personalised feedback and practical advice to help you accelerate the benefits of learning technologies in your organisation.  You can click here to complete the survey now. 

We are also running a learning and performance survey that takes only a few short moments to complete and all completed submissions will be entered into a prize draw to win a Dell Inspiron Mini Notepad!  Plus you'll receive a copy of the final research report.  Just click here for more details. 

* Learning and Skills Group Survey, 2009.