Amazing, Informal and a Lesson unto itself

Via my mentor.......

The following was sent to me and I have to admit I was blown away by the sheer simplicity and yet the power of this situation. It was both a powerful learning experience for me and has forced me to concentrate yet again on what I call "contextual, small world learning".

Doctor performs amputation via mobile phone: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/04/2437289.htm

What a fantastic example of just-in-time; just-enough performance support! Talk about informal learning!

The thing that strikes me about this is that much I am sure was learned from this situation:

1. The context forced the doctor to make a decision that ensured that recall of prior learning was used but also that he needed the support to ensure the task was completed.
2. In the doctor's small world, the constraints of his learning environment were laid out before him, but they did not become a barrier.
3. Learning the procedure did not become critical. Learning and knowing how to use the support he had available became critical and so on.....

I could analyse all day but I think my rumination on this, is that so much of what we strive for in a corporate learning sense is available in personal learning environments we use outsie of our work context and just maybe organisations spend their time on education that might not be needed!

Time for me to think and ponder.....