I was reading today this post by Jay Cross, in which he says Auf Wiedersehen! to ADDIE. Then later, while I was eating, I remembered something Ulf-Daniel Ehlers said last week in our international seminar, about how Google (and most Web applications, both 1.0 and 2.0) are perpetual betas.

Now, this means clearly that there is not a "delivery version" of these applications. Instead, they are being upgraded and delivered in a continuous way. Um, I won't talk here about the impact this has (and will have) on the software development industry, because of the huge financial resources this kind of approach needs. Clearly, it is a different business model.

Anyway, what came to my mind was the idea that ADDIE is exactly a "version oriented" methodology. The basic diagram (in which are based several of the instructional design approaches) suggests that you analyze, design, develop, implement, evaluate and then go back to the drawing board.

But, as Jay suggests, what if we think of learning (and education and instructional design, now that we are at it) as "Perpetual beta" things? It makes sense to think in a flexible, informal, just in time way about learning, right?

That has a lot to do with some of the things Stephen said in his video (reviewed before) about keeping a registry of the learning we acquire/develop/build. Only when this kind of registry exists, we will be able to upgrade it and to discover the way our mind evolves as we learn...

So, from now on maybe it would make sense to introduce myself as "Diego Leal, Learner*". May God deliver us from becoming learners that end up with a "production version for release" (Uh, formal education degrees, anyone?) Now that would be a funny idea for a post...

*Beta!!