Online Educa 2014 - been there, enjoyed that

A few weeks ago I attended the 20th edition of Online Educa Berlin. I've been mainly attending the sessions of the Business Educa track (which I'm glad to see gains more and more interest each year), and was also asked to backchannel a few sessions via Twitter - so I brushed off my account. I've chaired a very interesting sessions where all/both case studies of MOOCs in an enterprise environment were presented (Deutsche Telekom's MagentaMOOC and the OpenSAP MOOC).  A new and great format this year was the 'spotlight' podium, and I had the privilege to close the spotlight stage with fellow bloggers giving our impressions on the past conference. Below is my OEB14 impression. For a more thorough one you can for example have a peek at the stylish OEB post-conference report.

There were numbers

I made a habit of attending the excellent SPEEX Exchange pre-conference as it gives an excellent line of speakers and a fast update to what you might have been missing over the year. For example, Laura Overton from TowardsMaturity always presents the fresh results of their yearly Learning Benchmark study. This yearly study gives a great insights in the expectations, achievements and challenges of L&D from a variety of angles (including the learner!) and a benchmark with the top 10 learning companies. The good news is that resources and budgets are going somewhat up, and we have never touched more learners. Good practices include aligning with the business, thinking beyond courses and proactively connect people. The challenge remains to be as agile as the business. One of her quotes this year: "We are busy being busy, but what have we got to show for impact?". That resonated with me as I too feel I've been busy being busy this year...

There were memorable quotes

The most funny and memorable quote during the opening plenary went something like this: "There are three kinds of technology. The first kind is technology from before you were born and you don't really consider it as technology because it ... well... it is just there. The second kind of technology is the technology from when you are born till you are 35 and that technology is just really cool. Then there is all the technology after you turned 35 and that is just annoying and useless." That quote makes especially sense in the year I turned 40. For example, I'm a bit skeptic on the renewed energy around learning in virtual environments. I still remember my initial enthusiasm for Second Life - but it didn't happen. Are we now trying it all again with the Oculus Rift? On the other hand, I'm having high hopes for the further adoption of the Experience API (Thin Can) as there were a few vendors offering LRS products (Learning Record Stores). There were also more OpenBadges solutions available, and for some reason at least 5 booths showed online examination systems.

There was a happy reunion with the S-curve

Oh S curve, how I had almost forgotten about you! Usually conferences with themes like 'learning changes' are a celebration of the exponential. But seeing an exponential rise in a trend is only seeing it halfway as technology mostly follows an S-curve. Eventually the performance gains of a technology become flat and it is time for a new technology (at the beginning of its S-curve) to take over. The screen was literally just over my head in the big opening plenary room, so here is a picture from my seat:

In the corners of the conference you could hear talks about a techno-pauze. There seem less and less often new disruptive technologies around... At the beginning years of this conference there was a big new shiny thing every year. And now...  well MOOCs are already 3 years old so that doesn't count. We were already talking about big data and we still are ...  Is this the sign that learning technology has entered the flat part of the S-curve? It was the point of one of the speakers, and she went on the pinpoint to a few technologies that can lift us on a new S-curve such as neuroscience, data analytics, AI etc.

There was debate

And no debate is quite like the yearly OEB Debate in the form of a UK parliament session. This year's proposition was defeated: "This house believes data is corrupting education." Interestingly, the bloggers I asked in the final Spotlight session all had voted for the motion as they all had concerns on how data will be used and by whom. I'm also sharing their scepcis. If we forget for a moment the nascent big data and data analytics boom - we are already screwing up education and training by misusing data today. Yes, I'm ranting again about our obsession with satisfaction data in the corporate world, and with throughput data in the education world.  Both have perverse effects. Big Data has enormous potential, but I'm not clear what way it will go ... I think the first ones to come up with workable examples of using data to improve the learning process (away from all the conceptual babble) will actually start dominating the practice and then we'll see which way we are going...  For now I stand by my two twitter quotes:

There was chocolate

Before the speaker's reception I went for it... my bucket list had since ever the wish to go eat dinner at Fassbender & Rausch - the world's first chocolate restaurant. Oh boy... I had meatballs with chocolate, ravioli with chocolate and coq au vin with chocolate. You should try it one time...

But there is no monopoly

I think the big insight from this conference is what we already know for a long time but might need to state more clearly and more often: there is no monopoly for learning (anymore - if there ever was). The university lost its monopoly to grant accreditation. Corporate L&D is not the only source of learning in an enterprise. Learners take their own learning in their own hands. (Good for them!) Just stating it clearly as this also acknowledges that learning is a complex process with multiple stakeholders and with a shared accountability.

There will be next year

There will always be next year. I'm hoping next year we'll see some concrete examples of how data analytics has helped steer an individual learning process. I'm curious to see more self-directed learning. I'd also welcome a more profound session on why we are doing the things we do and what we are proud of - it is easy to get a depression as a L&D professional hearing all the expectations, all the complexity and all the restraints we need to deal with. But instead of having an identity crisis, in times of change it is important to revisit the meaning behind the activity and get energy from it. (As Simon Sinek puts it: start with why.)

For now, let's celebrate new year and don't ask either profound or dumb questions!