Unlearning
In our current [to use a buzz phrase] new media landscape, industries are overlapping. I increasingly see overlaps between marketing and learning. I find myself doing more than just dipping a toe in the marketing pool anymore, as use of social media tends to encourage a full dunk.
So I was happy to see it works both ways. I was reading Digital Next, an Ad Age blog, when I came across a post on "Unlearning" that I think is something we should consider in the Learning field.
The writer was watching his 4 year seamlessly adapt to using a Wii controller. When his mother tried it, however, she was unable to adapt.
And then it dawned on me. The technology itself isn’t difficult to
understand. In fact, Nintendo makes it painfully obvious that they
intend to casualize the console. There is very little to retain when
using a Wii. What is difficult, is the "unlearning" process. In fact
I’d argue that "unlearning" is far more cumbersome than "learning."
Through the eyes of my mom, I’ve handed her a remote control — one
that looks very similar to the same remote she may have at her house
that she uses to change the channels on her television. Her use of a TV
remote is a learned, patterned behavior, unbreakable and obviously
indistinguishable from a product of similar form factor.
The Learning industry is facing something similar. What happens when the digital natives outnumber others in our companies? Many people will need to unlearn a lot of how we do things – how we approach things.
Right now, it’s all still new enough that we sort of let it go when our attempt at integrating new media fails. For instance, I am part of a small charity committee. After our first benefit was over, I lost patience with the amazing amount of email and attachments flying back and forth. No one ever knew if they had the latest version of a document and keeping up with the changes in emails was next to impossible. So I created a wiki.
For over a month, I’ve been pushing the wiki. Posting on the wiki. Adding attachments to the wiki. Then at a meeting last night, one girl says, "I don’t like the wiki." Why? "I’m just not happy with it. It’s easier to use email."
Translation: I know how to use email and see no reason to add a new behaviour or admit there might be a better, newer solution.
Sigh. She’s only 30. But it proved to me that age is not a defining factor in adapting technology. This particular girl is highly intelligent and highly organized. But she relies on paper, binders, and email. This works for her the way a chalkboard works for an older college professor. Why put the notes on Blackboard LMS when the chalkboard works just fine? Why change what works?
We all have habits we hang onto. I just really believe that in the next few years we will all need to adapt or be left behind. We’ll need to unlearn if we want to participate. We can’t be afraid to unlearn. So the question becomes, how do we cope with those who don’t want to participate? The girl who refuses to use the wiki?
kamekish
April 24th, 2008 at 7:35 am #
Hi,
I am found of unlearning. It is important and I feel we have to find ways and means to know more about unlearning.
Thanks for your article.