So today I was reading from the American Society of Training Developers (ASTD) Handbook for Workplace Professionals, and I had a few thoughts about the first chapter...

For time's sake it was certainly condensed and only touched briefly on training/teaching progression.  It was like watching a stone skip across the surface of a pond...little, light touches till it got toward the end.  Then the information was noticably deeper, and that just goes to show that with perspective (i.e. distance) comes more objectivity or less knowledge/interest.

The closer the topics touched on modern methods of education and training (post-WWII), the more information was presented.  The focus was on the post-industrial revolution switch to classroom education to exploit economies of scale etc.  This is probably due to the fact that these are still methods much in common practice today.

Yet I see more and more that educators/trainers are trying to make use ofsmaller groups and more interaction between student and educator.  This emphasis even goes as far as trainers pushing one-on-one training more and more (not across all industries).  It is almost reminiscent of apprenticeship programs currently in use in Europe and common during much of the Middle Ages.

I think that there is probably a happy medium to be struck between group and individual learning which seem to be the two extremes.  There must be an easily definable method of "fused" methodologies.  This method should be flexible and adaptable, yet solid enough to track and document.

Technology has allowed many breakthroughs in mapping and charting these processes which have been an invaluable aid in metacognition (thinking about how we think) in the training and education realm.  Common technology tools in use like computers, Internet, wikis, mobile devices (iPods, PDAs, etc.), and other information storing/sharing technologies have revolutionized delivery adn presentation.  They have redefined the classroom, small group, and individual learning.

So, technology may be the most desirable medium for creating this type of "fused methodology."  I know that educators are already exploring combining methods using distance learning courses as a type of proving ground.  But I still have yet to see a common or comprehensive definition of said method...

But then again, who cares right now as long workers get trained...right?