Unstucking learning: change the vocabulary (DevJay)

What happened before:

• Learning got stuck in itself
• Unstucking: in search of new dominant designs
• Unstucking: the state of the model
• Unstucking technique 1: flipping
• This post: Unstucking technique 2: change the vocabulary

Today we'll try yet another technique to 'see with new eyes' and come up with new business model canvasses  for corporate learning. The idea is again simple: change the words of the game and the game changes.

Our field is full of words that have a particular pattern of expectations associated with it. Take the world 'learning' itself, or 'class', or 'e-learning'. Sometimes using new words can break the established patterns and have us come up with new eyes to look at learning and development. So the assignment is: replace one of the dominant words in the training business with a new one, and see how it affects the business model canvas. Already in our industry we refer to terminology as "learning paths" and "journeys" to break the expectation pattern of 'learning is an event'. Clever companies rebrand 'sales training' as 'sales enablement'.

One example to illustrate: let us abolish the word 'trainer' and go for the term 'DevJay'. Similar to a DJ (disk jockey) or VJ (MTV's Video Jockey's), a 'Development Jockey' doesn't create learning content, but takes existing content and remixes and samples that into a playlist. Just by thinking of a DJ for learning, we replace the word trainer by DevJay, and automatically change curriculum and course into playlist, and a classroom becomes a party. Sounds more fun on the spot, doesn't it :-). Besides better branding, it also implies a business model of taking (free) snippets of content and contextualizing that into a playlist.Now we come to think of it, YouTube has playlists, and sites such as mentormob actually use the terminology "playlist". (and dare I say my old experiment walkthe.net is similar in concept too?)



Here is a fun assignment to explore the power of the 'DevJay' concept: arrange a gathering with a handful of people and each gets 1 day to prepare a playlist on a topic they don't know much about yet and plays it for the others.

Can you introduce other vocabulary that will change the game and the business model?

Next post: Unstucking technique 3: metaphors