COMPUTER-ASSISTED COLLABORATIVE LEARNING AS A TALENT DEVELOPMENT METHOD IN THE UNITED STATES INDUSTRY

The purpose of this article is to review the current practices of adult learning and talent development in the United States industry. Currently, we are witnessing the industry re-evaluating its employee development practices. The traditional approach to employee development relies on a professional educator to develop and deliver training content to an employee. In this paradigm, the business is referred to as a customer, client, and a consumer of education, and a Corporate Training Department is traditionally viewed as a provider, supplier of instructors, training methods, materials, and tools. This business model assumes that the training professionals play a more active role in the training process than their business clients. This model, however, is no longer aligned with the latest social changes. On a one hand, a significant employee population is now more used to developing both social and learning content than a few years ago. The new generation of employees is more comfortable with creating training content and communications than passively consuming them. On the other hand, lessons learned from the latest economy crisis are causing the industry to actively seek cost-cutting solutions. The industry has picked up on both of these trends and is now aligning itself with a new business model change as a way to improve quality and cut cost of talent development. In the updated business model, the roles of the talent development participants are changing. Employees are now more actively involved in developing both learning content and communications. Through a variety of change networks, company associates are encouraged to serve as the agents of change. They are involved in developing training courses, creating and making presentations to the company management and their co-workers, and delivering training to other employees. In contrast, Corporate Universities are also reshaping to rather provide their learner with training support than training content. This support includes continuous tracking of the industry best practices in search of more efficient learning delivery tools, learning management systems, and communications media. This article explores the innovative learning methods, such as Computer-Assisted Collaborative Learning, as well as the implications of using these methods on corporate training practices. The audience will learn about the use of Change Networks, videoconferencing tools, Learning Management Systems, «cloud» labs, and the changing roles of Corporate Universities and Subject Matter Experts.

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