Learning and Development Roundup (vol. 10)

It's time for another edition of the Learning and Development Roundup! (See also previous editions at the archive page.)

More Predictions for 2010
In roundup vol. 9 I linked to several industry leaders providing predictions for 2010. I have found many more such articles and blog postings since then, and they are almost always a fascinating read. Here are some of the best that I didn't link to last time around:

• eLearn Magazine has again gathered predictions from a few dozen industry experts, including Stephen Downes, Jay Cross, Clark Quinn, Roger Schank, Jane Hart, Elliott Masie, Allison Rossett, Saul Carliner, Janet Clarey, Karl Kapp, Bryan Chapman, Mark Oehlert, Charles Jennings, and more. In addition, see the bottom right of this posting, where they provide links to their annual predictions from 2002-2009 -- it is fascinating to see how many were hits and misses from years past
• "Predictions and Plans for 2010" The January Big Question at ASTD's The Learning Circuits Blog is on the subject of predictions for the new year. There are over 20 response postings from folks like Jeanne Meister, Jay Cross, Clark Quinn, Bill Brandon, Clive Shepherd, and many more.
• TrainingIndustry.com provides their list of "10 Predictions for 2010."
• Tony Karrer, creator of eLearningLearning.com, and author of the eLearning Technology blog, has also posted his predictions for 2010. He writes this as a top-10 list, but with the tenth spot left undecided with a request for readers to chime in.

Mobile Learning in 2010
And speaking of predictions for 2010, with the exception of one of the experts from eLearn Magazine's gallery, many are predicting that mobile device use for learning will continue to grow in 2010, and possibly even (finally) burst out a bit. Mobile Learning guru Judy Brown does a good job bringing together the various mobile learning predictions in her post "2010 Forecasts." And Robert Gadd chimed in the first week of January at his new blog, mLearning Trends, with his mLearning predictions for 2010.

How Has the Internet Changed Your Learning?
The latest blog posting from Elliott Masie at LearningTown (login required) is titled "How Has the Internet Changed Your Learning?" Over 30 LearningTown members have chimed in with perspectives so far. If you aren't a member of LearningTown yet, now is a great time to sign up and join this discussion!

Learning in 3D
It doesn't get much more cutting edge than considering the various ways learning can occur in immersive 3D virtual worlds. And few if any are more expert in this subject than the duo of Karl Kapp and Tony O'Driscoll, authors of the new book Learning in 3D (Amazon link). They have also been quite innovative in how they are promoting their book, such as launching on a "blog tour" composed of interviews at various L&D experts' blogs. Further, they have created a useful website, www.learningin3d.info to both promote their book and provide visitors with helpful resources on the topic of "learning in 3D." Bookmark this one!

The Latest Insights on Social Learning
I continue to find the flow of good articles, postings, and resources on social learning to be almost overwhelming. So as I did in the last roundup, I'll provide some of the latest "gems" for you here:

• "Social Learning Strategies Checklist" - Partially as preparation for a great presentation they gave at the Training 2010 conference last week in San Diego, David Wilkins and Kevin Jones have created and made freely available a list of dozens of questions organizations should ask when implementing social learning.
• "The Web 2.0 Police," by David Wentworth, in the December issue of T+D Magazine.
• "Gartner Reveals Five Social Software Predictions for 2010 and Beyond"

Updates from Element K
As usual, I'll end this roundup posting with links to our newsletter service that we launched in 2009. Each newsletter includes several articles of relevance to the Learning and Development field, as well as updates about Element K events and our latest product releases. You can see the latest newsletters here: November, December, January, and February.

—  Thomas Stone (Tom_Stone@elementk.com  and on Twitter @ThomasStone)

Ribbon Hero: An Embedded Game for Microsoft Office

Microsoft's Office Labs group has recently released an early version of a new learning game for three of the applications in the popular Microsoft Office suite. The game is available for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint – versions 2007 and the upcoming 2010 only. You simply download the game from the Office Labs website and it gets installed as a new button (see image at right) in the "ribbon" interface – the innovative interface that was introduced in the 2007 editions of each application. Indeed, as the name of the game implies, a primary learning objective of the game is to better familiarize users with finding features in the new ribbon interface.

Ribbon Hero is a game designed to help you boost your Office skills and knowledge. You get points by just working in the app, using different functions along the way. Or you can ask for specific challenges, with built-in exercises that give you points. You can also play connected with Facebook and thereby (loosely speaking) compete against your friends. All the while you are improving your productivity with these core Microsoft Office applications.

The Ribbon Hero dialog box categorizes and reports to you where your points are coming from, so you’ll get a sense over time of what aspects of the application you are most familiar with, and what areas you have room for growth. It even suggests challenges for you to try – that is, new features of the application to learn.

To learn more about how this game works, see the videos provided at the Ribbon Hero homepage, or you can view the overview at YouTube. See also Chris Pratley's blog posting "Ribbon Hero: Gaming is Everywhere", where he notes:

Although I learn quite a bit about Office as I play Ribbon Hero, to describe Ribbon Hero merely as "training" does it a disservice in my view. It is best described as a game, albeit one that as a side effect increases your awareness of Office capabilities. I found that I could play a couple of challenges in a few minutes of downtime, and then once I started, I had a hard time stopping. I wanted to maximize my score. When I learned something new about Office that only made me want to play more - what other hidden gems were in there? When the team added sound effects the desire to score more points intensified: I wanted to hear that cha-ching of points being added - so satisfying. When the team enabled score sharing I suddenly found I wanted to beat some people who were ahead of me. Some were barely ahead and I felt I could pass them quickly so I always felt I was making progress. Definitely a game.

…

Early indications reveal that people are pleasantly surprised that Ribbon Hero is entertaining, and they are even happier that they are discovering truly useful capabilities of Office they didn't know about.

Some sample tweets about Ribbon Hero (these reflect my own feelings):

• I'm finding Microsoft Office 2010 funner to use with Ribbon Hero installed. Makes me get creative w/what I'm working on.
• But i wanna play Ribbon Hero all day!! Memo to self, play ribbon hero all weekend.
• Really enjoying Ribbon Hero - surprisingly addictive (and pretty useful too)

I have tried Ribbon Hero, and I have to admit it is both a simple and easy-to-use "game" and a compelling learning tool. Perhaps it is the latter in part because it is the former?

—  Thomas Stone (Tom_Stone@elementk.com  and on Twitter @ThomasStone)

Highly Recommended on Enterprise 2.0: Meeting Jessica

When I speak at L&D industry events, one example I give of an organization that is effectively using Web 2.0 technologies -- what is more recently being called "Enterprise 2.0" -- is the large biomedical and pharmaceutical company Pfizer.  One of the key things about Pfizer's use of these tools, and one reason that I always use it as such an important example of success, is that Pfizer is, of course, a heavily regulated company -- and the appropriate use of tools in such a context is a valid concern and always a question I am asked when speaking on this subject.

From what I've read and from talking with Pfizer employees, the company has incorporated into the daily workflow a range of Web 2.0 or more "social" tools, including:

• A large wiki, called Pfizerpedia.
• Social networking profiles.
• Various blogs.
• Many RSS feeds.
• Discussion forums.
• Social bookmarking (tags).
• Shared Microsoft OneNote notebooks.
• Microsoft SharePoint.
• … and more.

Pfizer's use of these kinds of tools has been discussed elsewhere online of course, including this post by Karl Kapp and this write-up at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
 
But perhaps the most effective description of Enterprise 2.0 at Pfizer comes from a SlideShare presentation called "Meet Jessica." This set of slides walks you through the daily life of a typical Pfizer employee ("Jessica"), focusing on how she uses the various Web 2.0/social learning tools. (See also the earlier "Meet Charlie" presentation as well.)

This "Meet Jessica" presentation has been available for a few years at this point, but if you've not seen it yet, I strongly encourage you to do so -- you'll likely get some great ideas for how "Enterprise 2.0" communications, knowledge management, and social learning tools could help your organization.
 
—  Thomas Stone (Tom_Stone@elementk.com, and on Twitter @ThomasStone)