Over twenty years ago when I was a young Engineering student, Dr. John Mantle told me that in this age of rapidly changing technology, to be really professional in a technological environment it was necessary to invest a day a month on personal growth in your field. If you didn't do that you would become an engineer dinosaur. In first year Engineering we were taught to expect that half of what we know would become obsolete in 7 years. What a quaint, laid-back world that was.
Today it is estimated that the half life of technical knowledge in the computer engineering field is about 18 months. General knowledge is 3 to 4 years. Companies competing in a competitive market place have less than 100 days (approximately 3 months) slippage in integrated marketing/delivery plans. This is a dog eat dog world.
I think the argument can now be made that is important to be involved in a lifelong learning environment. So how do we establish a lifelong learning environment and how do we know that it is effectively giving us the information we need to know? To give us a loose informal framework to think about this lifelong learning, I propose three different environments; namely, the experience, training and education environments.
The experience environment is perhaps the one that gives us the best information about the technology.
The 'schools of hard knocks' tends to be very strict and effective in teaching its lessons. The big problem with experience is it takes so long to obtain it, perfect it and be recognized for it. In this day of fast changing technology, the sure methods of experiential training are too slow to keep up. That is why specific job classes such as operational training officers were created over the last twenty years. Training is that type of industrial learning experience where certain behavior are shown and perhaps practiced into your technological bag of tricks. Training courses vary from one to two hours to several months and are generally technology specific. In the training marketplace, the educational credentials of the teacher are often sparse. A good training course delivered at the right time can start a project quickly by showing how it has been done before.
Education is a continuation of Kindergarten to Grade 12 which works on our manner of thinking so that we know not only how to perform technology but why we perform it. Practitioners of the education industry are usually holders on appropriate credentials and in many areas industrial accreditation checks are run against the curriculum that is being offered. Like experience, education is slow. Therefore, in these times of rapid technological change, education should be anticipated in order to be absorbed by time of application and need.
When should we bee be engaged in this lifelong learning and who should be paying for all of these learning experience? In my mind, the answer to these questions are implicitly cut and dried although I am not sure that this aligns to either the union or company policy. If the experience is directly related to immediate work for the company, I believe that it is only reasonable that the company dedicate time and resources so that the learning be available to the worker. On the other hand, if the subject of learning is totally irrelevant to the company and will not be used by the worker for the company's gain, then the experience should be done on the workers time and at their expenses.
If the learning is done in anticipation of future needs of the company for the advancement of the worker in the company or industry, then it is quite reasonable that the company foot the expense while the worker invests the time. Classic examples of this would be the taking of a Humanities class for the completion of a University degree done on the worker's time at the company's expense.
Why should I invest my personal time in learning things that would benefit the company? I can only ponder that within reason why wouldn't anyone. First of all, as a worker, you have an intent to stay employed in the vastly changing, high tech, it is imperative that your technological skills be honed to meet the company's need.
Secondly, in most cases, if you have met the company's needs then you have also met your own needs for career advancement within or outside the organization.
How can I judge the quality of life learning experience? There are two criteria to look at when judging a learning experience. First of all, the reputation of the course or instructor and, secondly, the evaluation that the instructor puts on you. Sometimes it is simply enough just to go and hear a great person to speak. Personally, Alvin Toffler, Grace Hopper, James Martin and Allan King influenced me. This can be very enlightening and influence your thinking for years. Finally there are the advanced methods of evaluating your performance and understanding of the curriculum through various testing means. This last form of learning experience leads to an accreditation. The accreditation is usually quite portable, being the cornerstone of a profession which can be built upon and elaborated on with further industrial training. Just ask yourself, "Who got graded here, the instructor or me?"
In conclusion, I would like to point out that success without lifelong learning is going to become more and more exceptional as the information age is upon us. Union and management should get together in a joint policy of insuring that all staff embrace lifelong learning. Finally, the learning in which we partake should be measurable and credible, so that it is of use not only to the individual but to the company in general on its own merits aside from the phenomenal power that it lends to the staff.
Reprinted from the new Unionist, Volume 2 Issue 2. Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 911.
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