LH #35 A Brief History of Learning Systems with Donald Clark

The Learning Hack podcast

'People imagine that technology's a recent thing in learning, [but] it's always been there.' From its earliest beginnings in cave paintings to today's AI-driven learning systems with interfaces influenced by consumer technology, Donald Clark tells the colourful story of learning technologies in conversation with John Helmer. Donald has been an important part of that history himself. Growing up in the housing schemes of Livingston, Scotland, Donald studied Philosophy at Edinburgh University and Dartmouth College USA, where he first encountered artificial intelligence. Co-founder and CEO of Epic Group plc, which established itself as the leading elearning company in the UK, sold in 2005, he is now CEO of Wildfire, visiting professor to the University of Derby and sits on numerous boards including those of the University for Industry, City & Guilds, Cogbooks Ltd and, LearningPool. 03:36 What were the roots of his fascination with learntech 06:21 The prehistory of learning technologies 09:21 The computer age 14:10 How did tech and theory affect design in the 90s? 17:23 Dawn of the internet era 23:06 The LMS arrives 25:59 Learning goes mobile 29:07 Consumer technology drives learner technology 31:34 Designing for the learner (not the administrator!) 37:43 Important drivers for the future of learning tech 43:46 Is the future of learning tech convergent or divergent? Mentioned in the discussion: Electronic Performance Systems [book] by Gloria Gery Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things [book] by Don Norman Contact Donald Twitter: @DonaldClark LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-clark-04553022/ Blog: http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/ Contact John Helmer Twitter: @johnhelmer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnhelmer/ Website: http://johnhelmerconsulting.com/ Download the new white paper from Learning Pool written by John Helmer & Ben Betts – 'Data & learning: A new common-sense approach' https://learningpool.com/data-learning-a-new-common-sense-approach/