When reading Carl Rogers “Freedom to learn” I was absolutely surprised about Rogers’ concerns and ideas about learning, especially when taking in account that this books was written in 1969!

Firstly I was surprised about Rogers’ concerns about education at that time, because it appealed to me that several speakers on last years “Surf Conference” addressed primarily the same issues. Rogers describes in Freedom to learn ways to deal with his concerns and finds that the whole educational system is at a crisis point, a point of desperately important choice. That’s what you can call a challenge for HRD! But, unfortunately, according to Veen & Jacobs and many others, current education is still facing the same issues 36 years later. You might conclude that Roger’s ideas were of no help to educators, but I doubt to believe that. Primarily because of the enormous bureaucratic character of the educational system, which stands in the way of real innovation for already a long time. Rogers addresses this issue several times in his book and even explores ways to cope with this problem. In my opinion, when you want to reach for real innovation all barriers should be open.

This innovation becomes now possibly even more urgent because of the rise of net-generation, “the first generation born with a mouse in their hands and a computer screen as their window on the world” (Lindström & Seybold, 2003).

Several publications on learning in the knowledge economy are pointing out a shift from guided learning to independent, experiential learning (Davies, Hayward, Lukman, 2005). This kind of learning is the one that Rogers describes in “Freedom to learn” (1969). It’s also the kind of learning, children from the net-generation have a natural preference for (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005; Brown, 2005). “Rather than being told, net geners would rather construct their own learning, assembling information, tools, and frameworks from a variety of sources” (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005).

An example of this preference for experiential learning is expressed in the huge popularity of playing (online) computer games. There’s a large similarity between the use of simulations which Rogers describes and some popular computer games. A good example of this is the so called Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) “World of Warcraft”. This is game is currently played world-wide by more than six million people! People who are playing a game in which you’re able to experiment with characteristics needed for team problem solving.

Due to the rising of the net-generation Prensky (2001) describes a growing gap between the net generation and the “older” generation. Prensky describes these groups as the digital natives and digital immigrants, mostly all teachers belong to this last group of digital immigrants. Prensky feels that the single biggest problem facing education today is that our Digital Immigrant teachers, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language.

In my opinion, there two ways to look at these developments from an HRD perspective. One point of view is important for HRD professionals who are working in or with educational institutes. Here rises the question how HRD can help bridging the gap between digital immigrants and digital natives in order to accomplish real innovation in education and experiential learning is facilitated.