Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Study plans for 2010

Well, I've gone and done it, enrolled in a Masters of Learning and Development, majoring in Learning Design and picking up other units from the Online and Distributed learning streams. Why have I done this rather than complete a project to attain my Masters in Knowledge Management? I had come to the conclusion that KM was too nebulous for many Managers to understand and fully appreciate the impact it can have on an organisation, hence the layoffs and retooling of many KM departments when discretionary spending gets squeezed, or a new CEO takes over. Makes me nervous with a family to feed and career to build. Secondly, the MLAD develops my past skills and experiences. At my (middle) age, many interviewers eyed me with suspicion about why I was changing (apparently) my focus from eLearning/Multimedia.
During my studies in KM I came to a conclusion that it was only one part of a triangle of merged skills, and I always like the 'softer' side of KM, i.e. Knowledge came from Learning and Change. Well change is a prickly, poisoned chalice. I am always reminded of the joke, "How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light-bulb?" The answer is only one, but the light bulbs gotta wanna change. To many change directives are initiated top down by Leaders who have no real idea of what the people they are directing to change do or feel - bound to fail most times. It also seems too simplistic, I think a complex situation can't be unravelled so easily, especially when dealing with ICT's and humans.
So wish me luck.

No comments: