Now kick your “learners” out of the office

Yesterday we told you to kick your trainers out of the office (not for good, but at least to the park down the street) and today we’ve decided to throw a few more people out. This time, it’s your “learners” that will be finding an eviction notice in their inbox.

I came across the idea in a recent post at the Informal Learning Blog, by Jay Cross. When it comes to learning, he suggests that we stop calling those on the receiving side of instruction “learners.”

By calling people “learners,” it suggests that they’re deficient in some way. Instead, we should all become partners in learning and turn the process it a collective group effort.

In his own words, here’s Jay’s “three-and-a-half minute rant about leveling the preacher-and-congregation model of learning in favor of recognizing we’re brothers and sisters here, not parents and children.”