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What is the Scope of our Responsibility as Learning Professionals?

• Do educational institutions and corporate learning & development departments have responsibility for supporting Long Tail Learning? Do they have responsibility for learning beyond what can be delivered through instruction? If so, what is their responsibility? Where is the edge of responsibility?

My answer: Yes.  As learning professionals, we are responsible for providing instruction that better improves the overall performance of an organization, group, role, person, ect.  Because of this, we should provide adequate performance analysis to help determine the appropriate intervention based on needs.  The solution may not be learning!  If this is the case we should educate why it isn’t and recommend next steps.  Our “edge” of responsibility is only limited by our knowledge.

• Similarly, does the instructor have a responsibility to help students make sense of or deal with content he or she did not teach the students? In other words, if a student finds information on the Internet or some other place, how much time and attention should the instructor allow for the discussion of such content? Should it be discussed at all if it is non-conventional or generally thought of as not credible or contradicts the instructor? Who determines credible research? Is all non-referred research questionable?

My answer: Yes.  The keyword here is “help”.  An instructor can aid a student in further provoking or assisting in additional research to answer a question - sort of a pointing in the right direction.  Instruction should have built in time periods to allow participants to ask “off track” questions whether it be formally in class or later in the day at dinner.  Does it matter if it’s credible research?  I think it is good to do ANY type of research and define your own conclusions based on it. 

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