Change - Again!

I am in the middle of a technology orgy where the norm is to be on the edge of the edge, where change is not just accepted but expected, where being static is considered equivalent to full-speed in reverse. I am overwhelmed, exhilarated, and exactly where I want to be. This is the world I want to live in, and, as I said last year, this is the herd I want to run with. I am currently at Autodesk University (AU), my annual pilgrimage to my Mecca. The only constant here year to year is Change.

My first year attending AU was 2001, and the push that year was solid modeling (building 3D models of the object being designed.) Surface modeling had been around for years, but solid modeling took 3D from a graphic to a virtual part. The part could be assigned a material--steel, wood , or plastic, for instance--and the computer would calculate properties such as center of gravity. I came back from the convention that year convinced the future of CAD would include 3D solid modeling. I even designed a model plane using the technique and was able to plan the all-important center of gravity virtually before entering the shop. Today, the question is whether or not there is any value in teaching 2D drawing at all.Every industry has examples of technological changes that radically altered the workplace. In my short time at Olds College, I can think of a few with which I have personally been involved, like using pneumatic tools for wood framed construction. The dealing and scheming it took to get a framing nailer incorporated into our carpentry class was unbelievable. Now, however, you would be a fool to try and make a living hand-nailing a wood framed structure.

I don’t want to argue the merits of specific changes, but of change itself. It has never ceased to amaze me the number of people in learning institutions who are afraid of learning. I am talking about administrators, service workers, and everyone in between. We say we are too busy or don’t have the resources or haven’t been able to sign up for the seminar yet, but the real reason we don't change is that change is scary. I don't understand this mentality myself but recognize that it is very real for many people. I hasten to add that there are many staff who do an amazing job of changing. Murray T. is the classic example of a self-learner who embraced change. He didn't make a lot of noise about it; he just quietly went into his office and did it. Murray was learning new things on his last day of work at Olds College. Goes to show that we are all capable of moving past our fear and into some real learning and changing, we just don’t. Why don’t we? What is the consequence of not learning and changing?

Often, it is as simply because we just don’t know were to start. For me this conference is not about how to use the new tools. I can learn that on a webinar or YouTube video. Rather, this conference is about connecting with the people who will help you get started. I can think of few weeks when I have not been in contact with someone from this conference getting help with a problem, asking about the industry application of a product, or even helping with a problem. We get the relationship going here because once it has been established, it will grow in a virtual arena. Another reason we don’t change is because it is a lot of work. I can always find someone in industry to agree with what I am teaching, anyway, so why bother changing? I believe that it is important to give the student skills that industry is using but that it is equally as important to give the student skills that industry will be using. Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk, gave a great presentation on change from industry's perspective. In a nutshell, he Identified 5 stages of change:

1. 
   
   Impossible


2. 
   
   Impractical


3. 
   
   Possible


4. 
   
   Expected


5. 
   
   Required

The sweet spot for the competitive advantage is to be in the are of the possible. Adopt a technology too soon and it costs you money, too late and your competitors are ahead of you. In education, we need to be reviewing the impractical options on the radar. It is impossible to teach everything a student needs to know to be successful and even if we could, the knowledge would stale date in a few years, so...

The most important thing we must teach our students is how to learn. If, as a college community, we cannot implement an effective and timely change strategy, if we ourselves cannot learn to change, how will we ever give our students the skills to handle change effectively in the workplace?

What if we don’t change? Simple. In time, Olds College will go out of business. But, we are changing. We change every day of every year. The troubling part is the rate of change. If you are in a river and you wish to stay in the same place relative the shore, you need to swim upstream. Swim at the same rate as the current and you hold your position. Continue to swim at the same rate when the river flows faster and you slowly lose ground. We must change at the same rate as industry changes or we lose ground. To better your position relative to the shore, you must swim faster than the current.

If this conference has shown me anything year after year it is that the rate of change is not constant, it is exponential. If a new piece of software once took 5 years to adopt and 7 or 8 years to become industry standard, it now takes 2 years to adopt and 4 to become the norm. Even the phrase “the norm” is losing its place in the work vocabulary.

There are two types of people at this conference: those who complain they can’t keep up and those who tell you what they are going to try as soon as they get home. Who has time to keep up with change? Who can possibly stay on top of all of this? The answer is simple--NO ONE, but the professionals are the people who find a solution for the unique problem confronting them. They don’t stay on top of everything, they learn what they need to learn when they need to learn it. They investigate what is new, then they pick a solution and learn it.

Here is the rub: our students are changing. I know you have heard that a thousand times and have seen little evidence of it in the classroom. But why would student behavior change if the environment and expectations we put them in don’t change? Ask yourself this: who in your family figures out how to use the new cell phone? Who figured out how to get Star Wars to play on that cell phone? Who got the TiVO working?

Our children deal with a rate of change unparalleled in history. There is a new gaming system out every 2 years and a new version of their favorite game annually. I took Typing 10 at school; my kids learned to text under the table without breaking eye contact or conversation with me. Our kids learned to use Facebook without ever taking a training session.

We have gotten wrapped up in conversations about the best Learning Management System or what training courses we should offer our staff, but the change that really needs to take place is a shift in andragogy. If the learner changes, so must the teaching method. Don’t get me wrong, we still need time to learn, help getting started, and resources to get us through. But we, as the institution, need to see the learning environment through the eyes of our clients, our students. I will continue to have students do poorly in my class if I teach with methods they don’t understand and can‘t relate to. Their life experience prior to coming to college, the way they solve their everyday problems are different than what we had as youth. We need to change how we do business or it is only a matter of time before we go out of business.

The successful business professionals presenting here this week have all adopted a philosophy of continuous change to become the leaders in their industries,. Why would we be granted the luxury of remaining static or changing slowly and still expect to be in the business of education in the future?