IMO, New Year
Eves are crazily glorified. Hear me out. It’s the only time of the year when
all food and party destinations break even by having exorbitant entry charges,
overfilling to capacity, pre-booking weeks in advance, and dishing out a menu
that does little to justify your time, effort and money. And yet, people throng
in huge numbers, shelling out dollars and making merry through the stroke of
midnight.
As for my
family, we are chill. We lounge on the sofa, watching free entertainment on a
Streaming Service and filling our tummies with food ordered from a Food
Delivery App while filing our best-intended, heart-crossed resolutions into
Evernote – just for reference, of
course!
“Mumma, does everyone have to make new year
resolutions?”, asks my son as I reach out for another slice of the
gooey-cheesy-pizza, demonstrating complete disrespect to my health resolution
for 2020.
“Absolutely, this is what mature people do”,
I answer in an authoritative tone only to immediately regret it. Explaining the
meaning of ‘mature’ to a rather ‘immature’ 6-year old brain isn’t my idea of
New Year celebration.
In an effort to
counter the most probable discussion that ensues my rather lofty statement, I
continue, “Not just people, companies too make technology resolutions”.
Tech resolutions
are big in 2020. From companies to individuals (here are 6
tech resolutions to follow in your personal life), everyone has their own
bucket list for the year touted as ‘the
year of seeing clearly on AI and Machine Learning’.
This may seem
surprising to most as AI and ML have been around for quite some time, making
their presence felt in every industry, every vertical and every function. However,
if the 2020
workplace learning trends are anything to go by, it is THIS year when AI
will go mainstream – influencing business operations and taking companies to
newer heights.
AI in retail market is anticipated to register a CAGR of 42% over 2018-2024. Artificial Intelligence will also remain a top national military and economic security issue in 2020 and beyond with governments investing heavily – China with over $140 billion, the UK, France, and rest of Europe with over $25 billion and the U.S. roughly spending more than $4 billion in 2020. Heck, there are over 120 AI predictions for 2020.
Wait, weren’t we
talking about Resolutions? It’s so confusing with all these to-dos suddenly
vying for your attention at the year-end. To me, personally, it feels like a
plot against sane people to off-track you from what could have been an organic progression into the New Year. But who
am I to comment? The
ancient Babylonians are said to have been the first people to make New Year’s
resolutions, some 4,000 years ago. For early Christians, the first day of
the new year became the traditional occasion for thinking about one’s past
mistakes and resolving to do and be better in the future. Despite the
tradition’s religious roots, New Year’s resolutions today are a mostly secular
practice.
Meanwhile, 2020
has also brought in a renewed focus on ‘human safety’. A Unique
eLearning System to Expand Avalanche Safety Awareness and a Free
Training Course on Anti-Terrorism To Help Protect The UK have been in the
news for all the right reasons.
Not just safety,
the past year has also paved a deeper way for learning technology into the
education field. In Brisbane, Australia, dental
students and medical nurses have been experimenting with Augmented Reality to
build their skills and knowledge. While on the other side of the planet, in
Houston, The
Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District is tapping into collaborative
technology to expand student learning.
And while you
may think that ‘Technology’ is the key to everything, the ‘steaming’ discussion
of STEAM
vs. STEM in childhood education will reset your focus. STEAM is a concept
spearheaded by the students and academics at the Rhode Island School of Design
(RISD)—which brings the elements of STEM together with Arts to guide students’
critical thinking, inquiry, and dialogue. Proponents of STEAM education
recognize the importance of creativity and innovation in the future to solve
our problems.
But who’s got
the time to think about the future when your day’s packed with streaming series
to gouge your eyes out on, social media to snoop around, video games to kid
around and messaging apps to get unsolicited advice on!
As for
resolutions, they look good only on paper. 4000 years of habit does die hard.
Happy 2020,
y’all!
The month that was’ is a monthly column
covering the hot and the happening in the eLearning, L&D and learning
technology space presented in a light, easy-to-digest format. While the aim of
these posts is to keep the HR and the Learning & Development fraternity
abreast with the latest news and views, it is a vent out for the author,
Pranjalee Lahri, who deals with a one-and-a-half men pair – her hubby and her
6-year old son – as she moonlights as a wife and a mother.
Pranjalee Lahri
