There are, however, some barriers to the adoption of these emerging technologies. While learners may embrace them, it may take longer for institutions and corporations to adopt and implement them. Administrative policies as well as an organization’s culture can slow down or halt their adoption. Some policy makers may misunderstand the usefulness of these technologies in teaching and learning. As learners adopt new technologies, they will take more control over their own learning, which may challenge the status quo. This may gradually influence corporations and institutions to accept this new paradigm of learning. The consequences of not serving the needs of learners to keep up-to-date with these new ways of learning challenge the relevance of formal training and learning in our organizations.
Perceptions about the quality of certain technology-mediated instructional activities or environments provide additional challenges. As a prime example, the US-based College Board questions “whether Internet-based laboratories are an acceptable substitute for the hands-on culturing of gels and peering through microscopes that have long been essential ingredients of American laboratory science” (Dillon, 2006, para. 3). While emerging technologies allow us to extend nearly unlimited possibilities to those who previously did not have access to them, there may always be a group of people who feel online instruction cannot replace direct experience. Who would not want to see lions and zebras in their natural habitat in Africa instead of going to a zoo or watching a video clip online? Similarly, if it were possible to set up expensive chemistry labs in every school or college, then the virtual environments would not be necessary. They would only serve as a way to refresh knowledge, rather than to obtain it. An alternate solution may be to allow students to learn virtually, but to require them to demonstrate proficiencies in person as appropriate (e.g., before moving to a certain level of difficulty).
Intellectual property (IP) rights and digital rights management will be major challenges. Short-sighted, large corporations who expect to profit from sales (particularly in the entertainment sector) will fight widespread distribution of their product. Solutions like Creative Commons licensing will become the new way of doing business. See Chapter 15, Understanding Copyright.
