Das Technology

When I use the word Das, it is in homage to the german neutral gender :

The biggest difference between night school in college today and night school when I was 25 years old is the technology.   The courses I choose such as my recent completion of a Financial Accounting Level 2 course were transformed by the technology component.  In the case of the accounting course it was the Connect system from McGraw Hill.   Once I saw the actual interactive design features of that system, it was a completely new way of engaging the course.

Toastmasters is on an e-learning journey at present which should have rolled out in 2014 but there is great trepidation and hesitation about how the community side of Toastmasters will react to what is a massive 360 degree change.   The new learning format is designed with millennials in mind but surprisingly the beta is not focused on colleges, the very place I would have thought should be the source for early adopters.   In terms of technology the adoption cycle is an interesting framework.

Edward Wedler produced a video for Toastmaster members to introduce the purpose behind the Revitalized Education Program, and there is a system of learning masters that are trying to manage this as a change initiative.  It is not just that people do not like change but this program is a paradigm shift for Toastmasters education - and with an organization where for nearly 80 years life has been about a certain way of doing things.  This change is quite extensive for the typical community club - but that would  not have been the case in a college club, because students would have accepted this world or way, not being used to any other paradigm.

The message from the head quarters of Toastmasters in California is that this change will happen when Toastmasters are ready for it.  That they are not ready nearly 3 years after it was first announced speaks much more to people who are suspicious about technology rather than people who simply immerse themselves in a technology, because this immersion is the best way to learn how best to use it.  When we were all immersed in the Internet, the transformation in terms of what it is we do today is absolute, compared to pre-internet life.  All of this education did not happen in a phased roll out - it happened in an Always-On environment and speaks to the way human beings can adapt to new circumstances, unless fear takes over.

There are many changes beyond Toastmasters clubs and learning technologies that I am interested in.  In particular the Internet of Things where computers learn from computers, this is revolutionizing the world of work.  Then there is deep learning and tracing the pathways of neural networks and then there is the application of virtual reality worlds both as art and education - never mind holograms and other technological developments including augmented reality that absolutely blow my mind away.   In a healthy universe, with healthy approaches towards technology, this is a part of my own learning journey - whether it is a part of someone else's learning journey is their individual life choice - in terms of where I am with technology, all I can say is "Das Technology".