A lesson on how to do something is inherently more engaging than a lesson on what something is. For an instructor, it is “easier” — to use the term loosely — to teach “how to” than to explain “this is what it’s all about.”
Knowledge workers deal with larger amounts of information every year, and avenues of knowledge dissemination increase at a similar rate. The knowledge manager needs to ask more and more often: Is my training programme working? And, further: Are my training costs justified? Do I need to adopt a new training paradigm? I can’t retain all my employees, but can I retain their working knowledge?
More and more people are talking on the Web about the basic, yet the most important stuff: Is managing e-mail is worth your time? What should you use the Web for? What’s really important in life? Along those lines, here are notes about how to learn—as I’ve seen it.