Consider the difference between a community of well-educated, fully employed adults, and one that has few employment or learning opportunities. The former will have lower unemployment, higher standards of living and higher property values. Employers will flock to these areas because the workforce is well skilled. They are also likely to be continuous learners because they are well educated and are employed by organizations that offer training and other learning opportunities. These “pockets of prosperity” are marked with rich, diverse cultures because people flock to these areas from many different places. Since the members of these communities are self-directed learners, they continually re-skill themselves and contribute to an ever-increasing growth of the society in which they live.
The need for reskilling and continuous learning is becoming a necessity in today’s rapidly-changing world. Skills learned several years go can become obsolete in many professions. The need for continuous learning has become essential for individuals who need to remain fully employed throughout their lives. And if organizations are to compete in a complex and rapidly changing global marketplace, it will be necessary to hire and train employees who are self-directed and life long learners.
How shall we, as a society achieve a level of competence in learning management so that we have the ability to foster adult learners who continuously renew themselves throughout their lives?
The answer is in teaching adults to learn. Learning is a skill like any other. The better you are at it, the more you enjoy it and use it. Like many other skills such as cooking, gardening, reading and writing, learning is a skill that, once learned will propel and individual to ever-increasing knowledge. And since individuals constitute the society in which they live, the total benefit will be a workforce that is competitive in today’s ever-changing environment.
Valerie Whitcomb
PhD AMDS Learning Management
Stafford, VA