Take-it-with-you training

Technology gives employees latitude in determining what, how, when, and from whom they learn. Online and mobile learning programs allow users to increase their choices and degree of control over learning and professional development. The availability of online courses greatly expands the array of learning opportunities that any given employee may tap into. The Department of Commerce's Chief Learning Officer Fred Lang was a member of the internal team that helped develop an e-course on why and how to safeguard personal identifying information. Lang influenced the decision to use vivid graphics, 3D technology personal avatars, and a points-accumulation scenario. The department's learning management system enables them to manage their own training, accessing thousands of online courses as well as registering for classroom training and other learning sessions. A new experimental executive education program draws on this cafeteria approach and adds a mobile learning dimension to allow executives to learn on the run.