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It's time for another edition of the Learning and Development Roundup! (See also previous editions at the archive page.)
Elliott Masie on Facetime for Learning
Elliott Masie recently posted an interesting video on the "Facetime" feature of the new iPhone 4 device. As many others have done, he provides a simple demonstration of the two-way video feature. But he does so in the context of learning and development, giving examples such as leadership programs that are blended programs including traditional e-Learning and then a conversation with a mentor or coach. Masie notes the current limitations of Facetime, but predicts that those limitations will be short-lived. For instance, he suggests that the future will bring a combination of high-quality telepresence suites combined with Facetime-like two-way video conversations. He also notes that in learning and development contexts, you could record the conversations and then use them as on-demand support content. There clearly is a lot of potential with this kind of technology!
How Long Does it Take to Create Content?
Bryan Chapman, in association with Brandon Hall, has long provided some data about "How long does it take to create content?" This has included ILT content, PowerPoint-to-eLearning conversions, standard e-Learning, and robust simulations. He is now (from Aug. 4 - Aug. 31) updating his data with a new industry survey. You can participate in this survey, which he indicates should only take 5-10 minutes.
On the Potential Value of Avatars
The eLearning Guild's Learning Solutions Magazine recently included "Animated Characters in E-Learning: The Benefits and Social Roles," by Audrey Dalton and Brian Friedlander. Read this short but excellent article to learn more about how animated characters (such as so-called "avatars"), when used properly, can enhance e-Learning by "providing a social context that motivates learners, thereby improving cognition and recall."
Tips on Getting Management Support for Training
As Jane Bozarth puts it, "A thousand things stand between a learner and performance; among the biggest of these is the learner's manager." In one of her recent “Nuts and Bolts” columns at Learning Solutions Magazine provides lots of tips on this common challenge for L&D professionals: How can you get better management support for training? After all, you are working to improve their most important asset -- their people. So involving them in a team effort is natural and will produce the best results.
On 10 Lenses in Learning and Development
Clark Aldrich wrote a very useful blog posting titled “The 10 Lenses to Overcome Blind Spots and See Opportunities in Organizational Learning.” He summarizes ten perspectives on learning and development needs and programs that any learning leader should consider when planning a new initiative or responding to a request for a new training solution.
On Evaluating Non-formal Learning Programs
As I noted in my previous L&D Roundup, Michael Hanley of the E-Learning Curve Blog has been writing on the thorny issue of how to evaluate non-formal learning programs. He concludes this amazing series of 19 postings with a helpful table of contents with links to each.
The Latest on Social Learning
There continues to be a great flow of good articles, blog postings, and resources on this important subject, so I will again list a few from recent weeks here.
- “Facilitating Learning with Social Media” -- From ASTD's Learning Circuits, by Michele B. Medved and Terrence Wing. Includes a helpful list of ten key considerations.
- “Looking Ahead at Social Learning: 10 Predictions” -- From the July issue of T+D magazine, by Jeanne Meister and Karie Willyerd, authors of the new book The 2020 Workplace. An interesting list of 10 predictions, although not all are focused on what is usually meant by "social learning."
- “Collaboration and Social Networking in Today's Enterprises" - An article from Elearning!, and Government Elearning! magazines, summarizing the results of their Enterprise Social Collaboration Research conducted in May 2010. There are some interesting numbers, but this summary seems to mix the critical distinction between consumer tools and internal tools.
- “Is There a Better Way to Social Learning?” -- By Dawn Poulos of Xyleme. An excellent post that in some ways continues the industry discussion I referred to in my June posting on "The Great LMS Debate."
- “The Human Factor: Creating Opportunities to Participate in Social Learning” -- by Mary Arnold, at Learning Solutions Magazine. A short but helpful article that gives warnings on why some organizations struggle or fail when implementing technology-enabled social learning, with insights on what you can do to be successful.
- “Why Focus on Informal and Social Learning” -- Insights from Charles Jennings at the Internet Time Alliance blog, providing eight key reasons to focus on informal and social learning in your organization.
Updates from Element K
As usual, I'll end this roundup posting with links to our newsletter service that we launched last year. 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: May, June, July, and August.
— Thomas Stone (Tom_Stone@elementk.com and on Twitter @ThomasStone)
It's time for another edition of the Learning and Development Roundup! (See also previous editions at the archive page.)
Top Tools for Learning 2010
I'll start by again noting that Jane Hart's annual "Top Tools for Learning" survey is well underway. For this survey, Hart asks industry experts and practitioners to list their top 10 tools for learning (broadly defined). Back in December, I wrote about her final survey results for 2009. I've participated in this survey since 2007, and have already updated my personal list in her index for this year. Read her recent blog entry on the subject and then join in the survey yourself!
On Cognitive Overload and Finding Your 20%
Jane Bozarth's latest column at Learning Solutions Magazine is titled "Find Your 20%" and it hits on a critical subject for any instructional designer or learning professional: cognitive overload and the need to, as Bozarth puts it, "cull the must-know from the nice-to-know." After noting all of the common stakeholders and people who typically have input on a learning program, she advises "Before you begin designing, identify the two or three points most critical to successful performance on the job. What must the learner know? I call this 'finding your 20%'… Design starts here. Rather than take everything there is to know and try to capture it all in the course, start in the center – with the critical content – and work your way out. Once you have found the critical content, add on only what truly supports understanding of it." Read the rest of the column for Bozarth's specific pieces of advice on how to tackle this common challenge.
How Many Ways Can You Effectively Use Tables in E-Learning Courses?
Tom Kuhlmann of the Rapid E-Learning blog wrote another wonderful, examples-filled blog posting, this time providing "10 tips on using tables in your e-learning courses." Any of us could think of several approaches to the use of tables, but 10? Given the amount of e-Learning that Element K has produced over the years -- both as catalog courses and as custom development -- I suspect our army of instructional designers and media developers have collectively used all 10 of Kuhlmann's techniques (and then some!) But I've never seen someone describe so many techniques in one place before, and do so as well as Kuhlmann has here. A great read!
When Mobile Learning is the Entire Show
Determining when we'll see an inflection point in the uptick of mobile learning solutions by L&D departments continues to be hard to predict: where are we on the industry-wide adoption curve exactly? That said, there continues to be significant -- and clearly increasing -- interest in the possibilities for mobile learning. The eLearning Guild recognized this and so decided to hold a conference dedicated solely to mobile learning: mLearnCon, held June 15-17 in San Diego. If you missed the event, and didn't follow tweets that emerged from it either, you can still get a sense for the goings-on by reading the following excellent blog postings from the industry leaders who were heavily involved:
More on Mobile Learning
The eLearning Guild didn't only hold a conference dedicated to mobile learning, their online Learning Solutions Magazine also ran a series of excellent articles on mobile learning as well. These have included:
The Latest Social Learning
There continues to be a great flow of good articles, blog postings, and resources on this important subject, so I will again list a few from recent weeks here. The first two are from Talent Management magazine's June issue:
- Just Read the Wiki - by Elaine Lees and Elissa Gavette. Includes two sidebars on the use of Web 2.0 tools at Swiss Re and Intel.
- Taking Talent Inventory - by Grant Ricketts and Rob Pannoni. Considers both the benefits and range of use of social media tools in an organization, and also the role that metadata -- through social networking analytics -- can play in talent management.
- Transforming the Learning Organization (PDF) - in the June issue of ASTD's LX Briefing newsletter, there is an interview with ASTD President Tony Bingham and social media expert Marcia Conner, specifically in regard to their upcoming book The New Social Learning: A Guide to Transforming Organizations Through Social Media.
- Try Yammer, Maybe You'll Learn Something - Mike Petersell briefly explains how Pitney Bowes uses the micro-blogging/micro-messaging tool Yammer for learning purposes.
- Michael Hanley on Evaluating Non-Formal Learning - a series of blog postings on this timely topic:
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Updates from Element K
As usual, I'll end this roundup posting with links to our newsletter service that we launched last year. 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: April, May, June, and July.
— Thomas Stone (Tom_Stone@elementk.com and on Twitter @ThomasStone)
It's time for another edition of the Learning and Development Roundup! (See also previous editions at the archive page.)
Jane Bozarth Introduces TrainingBookReview.com
Industry veteran and expert author Jane Bozarth has started a new website called TrainingBookReview.com. This is a new blog, sponsored by HRDQ. Bozarth was for some 10 years a book review writer for Training magazine, and describes that at this new blog she will be reviewing "a few new books," but also have a focus, at least to start, "on some classics in the L&D literature." She has kicked things off with a review of Figuring Things Out: A Trainer’s Guide to Needs and Task Analysis (Zemke & Kramlinger, 1982). For fans of Jane's book reviews, know that she continues to also review books focused on e-Learning at her new column with Learning Solutions magazine, the latest of which is a review of Clark Aldrich's new book The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games. Keep up the great work Jane!
Ten Myths About Video in E-Learning
And speaking of the online Learning Solutions magazine, it recently had a two-part article by Stephen Haskin titled "Ten Myths About Video in E-Learning." In part 1, he takes on what he considers to be myths such as the issue of Mac versus PC for creating videos, the software available, whether you need a streaming server to play your videos, and the issue of mobile devices. In part 2, he covers topics including HD, internal networks, frame rates, and importantly, the cost and skills required for video production. Although the topics covered are broader than the use of video in e-Learning contexts alone, Haskin has done e-Learning developers a service by sharing insights on so many issues of video production in one place.
What Will Workplace Learning Technology Look Like in 2015?
That was the "big" question posed for the month of May at ASTD's Learning Circuits blog. Responses to this provocative question came pouring in, and by now include postings from Tony Karrer, Clark Quinn, Clive Shepherd, and many others. Note to self: check back in five years to see who was correct!
Better Design Doesn't Take Longer
And speaking of Clark Quinn, in a recent article at eLearn magazine, "Better Design Doesn't Take Longer!", he argues in favor of better design in the development of learning content. He makes his case on the grounds that it really doesn't take any longer to produce well-designed content and learning experiences, and obviously (almost by definition) good designs will yield better outcomes. He admits the one caveat to his position about it not taking any longer: "after an initial transition period." That is, he is arguing for a long-range perspective, by noting that an investment in some time up front can be more than justified by the benefits you will reap in the future.
An Interesting Take on the iPad from a Usability Guru
And speaking of design, Jakob Nielsen is a very well-known usability expert. So when he publishes a 93-page report on the usability of the latest technology wonder device, it is worth your time to pause and at least hear what he has to say. You can download this report for free, or if time is short at the moment, start by simply reading this article from the Guardian, "Jakob Nielsen critiques the iPad's usability failings." Lots of food for thought, as the Learning and Development industry begins to consider the use cases for the iPad, and future competing tablet devices too.
On the Forgetting Curve and Ways to Improve Retention
Although I recently wrote a post that linked to these two items, I wanted to again draw attention to them. On May 28, both Charles Jennings and Donald Clark wrote about a similar topic, both invoking what is known as "the Forgetting Curve." These postings are both worth reading, so here again are the links:
On Mobile Learning
Are you up to speed on the current state, and the possibilities for the future, of mobile learning? If not, then I encourage you to read Ellen Wagner's article "When Mobility Meets Learning" from the April/May issue of Elearning! magazine. After setting the stage with a typical run down of the explosive growth of mobile devices, Wagner provides several reasons why mobile learning hasn't taken off equally as quickly. She then describes several attributes that a rich mobile learning experience will involve: ubiquity, access, richness, efficiency, flexibility, security, reliability, and interactivity. She then shares nine critical questions to ask when you are planning a mobile learning initiative -- a good list!
The Latest on Social Learning
As I noted in my reflections on the recent ASTD ICE 2010 conference, social learning is one of the hottest topics in the L&D industry today. There continues to be a great flow of good articles, postings, and resources on this important subject, so I will again list a few from recent weeks here. See also the many links in my blog posting "The Great LMS Debate," in which social learning plays a central role.
Updates from Element K
As usual, I'll end this roundup posting with links to our newsletter service that we launched last year. 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: March, April, May, and June.
— Thomas Stone (Tom_Stone@elementk.com and on Twitter @ThomasStone)
For the past few months, a multi-faceted debate has been growing in the L&D industry, particularly amongst proponents of the hottest topic in our industry: social learning. Some of the debate concerns the definition of what a Learning Management System (LMS) is today, what it could be, what it should be, and where LMSes can and should fit into the broader architecture of enterprise systems. First there were some provocative blog postings, including but not limited to:
Then the topic of “LMS – Lessons Learned” was the subject of one of the weekly 90-minute "chats" on Twitter (these go by the name #lrnchat, pronounced "learn-chat.”) This involved a healthy but at times frustrating discussion, with many people sharing their negative experiences with current or past LMSes, but also including David Wilkins of Learn.com, myself, and a few others who provided some balance to the discussion.
Then, a few days later, and after some side email exchanges by some of the lrnchat participants, Wilkins wrote a lengthy blog posting titled, "A Defense of the LMS (and a Case for the Future of Social Learning)." In this posting, Wilkins not only displays his deep understanding of the LMS market, but provides a compelling list of features that "current versions of industry-leading LMS solutions" provide -- including varied Web 2.0 / social learning features. Mentioned as examples in his short list of such LMSes were Learn.com, Saba, Cornerstone OnDemand, and Element K’s KnowledgeHub. His posting is a fun read, and should be very educational even for industry veterans.
Wilkins' blog post generated many great comments, both pro and con his viewpoint, and I chimed in a few times with some thoughts of my own. But the debate didn't end there, as the weeks that have followed have seen numerous responses to Wilkins and additional posts on this topic, including but not limited to:
And then David Mallon from Bersin & Associates further chimed in, linking as I am here to many of the posts in this ongoing debate, and providing some of his own perspectives along the way.
At Element K, our KnowledgeHub LMS has for nearly two years now provided customers with a set of Web 2.0 tools -- such as blogs, forums, and wikis -- integrated into the rest of the platform in some deep and compelling ways (e.g., search results span across both traditional formal learning content and the social learning components that the learner has access to.) For more on these features of our learning solution offerings, see our Collaboration information site. And see also the whitepaper I wrote on Blending Web 2.0 Technologies with Traditional Formal Learning.
In an industry as diverse and complicated as the L&D industry is, no one can predict with certainty what will happen in the future. Nor would anyone in this debate argue that one single solution is best for all organizations or all circumstances. What I can say with certainty is that I find the very fact that we, as an industry, are having this debate at all demonstrates the passion we all feel for providing the best learning and development solutions we can. I strongly encourage all learning leaders to read the above blog postings (fun beach reading this summer?), to stay current on this important topic. At the very least, I suggest that you read Wilkins' excellent posting and the comments and responses to it.
— Thomas Stone (Tom_Stone@elementk.com and on Twitter @ThomasStone)
It's time for another edition of the Learning and Development Roundup! (See also previous editions at the archive page.)
ASTD ICE Program Guide Now Available!
The 2010 American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) International Conference and Exposition is almost here! This event is the largest U.S. event in the training, learning, and development industry, and this year it is being held in Chicago, IL from May 16-19. In recent weeks ASTD released the online Program Guide, which includes both the schedule of conference sessions and a map and details regarding the massive expo hall. Element K will be in Booth 233, which is near the cyber center, in the second row on the left as you enter the expo hall. If you will be attending this conference, be sure to stop by our booth and say hello!
Jane Bozarth's New Column: Nuts and Bolts
My friend Jane Bozarth has a new column at Learning Solutions Magazine, called "Nuts and Bolts." In her first two columns, she takes on ADDIE in "When Training Works" and "Principles of Multimedia Learning". Jane writes clearly, sometimes provocatively, but always on topics of great interest to those in the L&D industry. So keep up the good work Jane, I look forward to your next columns!
On Virtual Worlds for One or Many
Clark Aldrich, an industry expert on simulations and the use of games for learning, wrote a brief but helpful blog posting titled "How should virtual worlds that are designed for one person differ than those designed for one thousand?" In this posting he makes clear some key design distinctions for several virtual world scenarios: to be used by one person, one person with a coach, a small group of people (say 3-8 people), or a large or very large group.
The New iPhone OS and Mobile Learning
Bill Brandon of Learning Solutions Magazine wrote an excellent article that considers the impacts for mobile learning scenarios of Apple's recently announced upcoming 4.0 operating system for its popular iPhone and iPod Touch mobile devices. The mobile learning landscape continues to evolve, and even if your organization isn't doing much in this space at present, you are wise to stay on top of the latest developments.
On Micro-Messaging, Micro-Blogging, Social-Messaging, Micro-Sharing
It goes by various names, but so-called "micro-messaging," "micro-blogging," and "social-messaging" is an increasingly popular topic for organizations looking for the latest way to increase internal communications and workforce productivity. Led by Yammer and similar providers, many enterprise organizations are moving beyond the "testing" stage, having found significant value from these "internal Twitter-like" tools. A couple of good articles on this subject recently include:
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 several round-ups, I'll provide some of the latest "gems" for you here.
- “5 Tips for Knowledge Gardeners: How to Grow a Collaborative Learning Community," by Josh Little at Learning Solutions Magazine, provides valuable tips for those embarking on social learning and the use of Web 2.0 tools in their organization. See also what I wrote on this subject a few days earlier in “On the Garden Metaphor."
- ”Plato's Cave 2.0 A New Myth for Adoption," by Rob Paterson, tells a story as a powerful analogy to an organization "going 2.0."
- “Rethinking e-Learning," by Clark Quinn, which makes important points about social learning and more.
- “Difference Between Personal and Professional Uses of Social Media: It's All in Your Head," by Kevin Jones, which provides a brief but excellent description of a problem that I know both he and I face often when presenting on social media, social learning, and Web 2.0 technologies. Simply stated, this is the confusion between personal use of public social media tools and how that differs from business uses of the same types of technology (wikis, blogs, forums, social networking profiles, micro-messaging, etc.) but in an internal-to-the-enterprise context.
- “Enterprise 2.0: Questions Answered, Part 1," again by Kevin Jones, where he launches a new series of blog postings, starting for now with his thoughts on the questions: “What is the big picture for social media in organizations (for E2.0 purposes)?” and “Is social media replacing something we have, or adding a new thing?”
- “Social Learning = New Toolset + New Mindset + New Skillset," by Jane Hart, where she briefly breaks down her previously outlined five types of social learning that occur in organizations by mapping these to what she calls the new toolset, new mindset, and new skillset that each involve. See also her regularly updated webpage on this topic.
- “Agility and Autonomy," by Harold Jarche, which follows Jane's thoughts with comments on one specific new mindset (agility) and one specific new skillset (autonomy) that are critical for social learning to flourish.
- “Social Learning Unleashed," by Jeanne Meister and Karie Willyerd, who share numerous examples of social learning in organizations, and provide 10 guidelines to consider in "creating, organizing and planning the rollout of an enterprise 2.0 initiative." See also the sidebar article "The Launch of Planet Blue," where Meister interviews Allison Anderson, manager of learning and development at Intel.
Updates from Element K
As usual, I'll end this roundup posting with links to our newsletter service that we launched last year. 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: February, March, April, and May.
— Thomas Stone (Tom_Stone@elementk.com and on Twitter @ThomasStone)
It's time for another edition of the Learning and Development Roundup! (See also previous editions at the archive page.)
The iPad Is Here!
The biggest tech-related news in recent weeks is of course the launch of Apple's latest device, the iPad tablet. Some prominent reviews include those from David Pogue of the The New York Times, Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal, and the popular website Engadget. For a convenient table comparing some aspects of these and other popular product reviewers, see the table at this posting to O’Reilly Answers. And although clearly created for marketing purposes, the Guided Tour videos from Apple are quite powerful and give you a glimpse of what is possible with this new device (and therefore worth watching even if you do not intend to use an iPad anytime soon).
Amongst the many L&D leaders diving right in, Elliott Masie has created an "iPad Learning Lab initiative" at the MASIE Center. As Masie describes: "We'll be doing immediate testing on the 'affordances' for learning that may be created by this new device. Jonathan Kayes (our CLO), Lauren Boughton (our Producer), Tom King (MASIE Fellow for ePubs), Erin Anderson (our recent college graduate editor) and Elliott Masie, will do a series of immediate experiments on the iPad." There are already many good postings at their iPad Learning Lab blog, so be sure to check it out soon and add it to your RSS feed reader.
David Mallon on 2010's Top Training Technology Trends
In previous editions of the L&D Roundup (see vol. 9 and vol. 10), I linked to many industry experts who were providing their new year's predictions, top-10 lists, and so on. One that I haven't yet included is quite worthy, and that is David Mallon's 2010 Top Training Technology Trends in the electronic magazine Training Industry Quarterly. Mallon directs research in enterprise learning for Bersin & Associates, and is a keen interpreter of industry trends.
New Blog: Instructional Design By Example
With her typical wit, Brandon Hall research associate Janet Clarey started her new blog with a posting titled "Corporate e-Learning needs another blog. Oh yes. It does." While it is true we are blessed with numerous expert blogs already, Clarey is quite focused with her new blog Instructional Design By Example. As she describes, in this new blog "you'll find examples of e-learning courses and details about the instructional design process used in creating them. You'll also find specifics about the logistics of the courses." She is already off and running with several interesting postings, so check it out and add it to your RSS feed reader.
Twitter Resources Galore!
Two prominent industry experts have recently put together some outstanding resources to help L&D professionals who are new to Twitter—or even those who use Twitter but want to know more about it.
- Twitter for Learning -- 55 Great Articles - Tony Karrer has done us all a service by bringing together links to 55 articles, and then categorizing them for us: Twitter and Teaching; Tips on Twitter Use; Twitter and Conferences, Webinars and Backchannel; Twitter and eLearning; People to Follow on Twitter; Using Twitter as a Learning Tool especially for Learning Professionals; Twitter Guides; Twitter Tools; Yammer; and More on Twitter for Learning.
- How to Use Twitter for Social Learning - Jane Hart also has done us all a service, by gradually creating a great set of resources on Twitter. Included are introductory pages, reading lists, and information on Twitter use in contexts such as presentations, events, classes, and training.
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 several round-ups, I'll provide some of the latest "gems" for you here. Since the March 2010 issue of Chief Learning Officer magazine focused on this subject, I'll include only those great articles this time around:
- Formalizing Informal Learning, by Lance Dublin, includes good examples from Toshiba, Genentech, and Google.
- Verifying Virtual Value, by Eric Davidove and Craig Mindrum, takes on the common but challenging question of how to measure the value of social learning.
- The Social LMS, by Bill Sherman, provides many insights on changes in the corporate LMS to support social learning. See also the sidebar Sales Training Gets Social at ASM, which provides a good example from Advantage Sales and Marketing, LLC.
- Taming the Network Beast, by James Sharpe Sr., includes a good example from Hilton Garden Inn.
Updates from Element K
As usual, I'll end this roundup posting with links to our newsletter service that we launched earlier this year. 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: January, February, March, and April (coming soon).
— Thomas Stone (Tom_Stone@elementk.com and on Twitter @ThomasStone)
I've been meaning to once again update readers on some of the latest work from industry expert and fountainhead Jane Hart. I'll start by noting that she has quietly kicked off her annual Learning Tools Survey, wherein she asks industry experts and practitioners to list their top ten tools for learning (broadly defined). I've participated in this survey since 2007, and have already updated my personal list in her index. You can join in as well by visiting the 2010 page. And back in early December I commented on the results of her 2009 survey—see my posting The 2009 Edition of the Top 100 Tools for Learning.
Her tools survey is interesting on its own, and it has generated a massive tools directory that Jane dutifully maintains for all of our benefit. But her focus on learning tools only scratches the surface of her productive output. For the rest of this email I want to focus on a part of her website that has had a few names, but she is now calling the "Social Learning Academy". It is a collection of very well-written web pages and resources for those in Learning and Development positions (whether in workplace organizations or higher education) who need to get up to speed on social media in the context of learning, that is, what is often called "Social Learning."
If I were to suggest an order to read her introductory pages, I'd go with the following:
Jane also provides a very detailed comparison of four popular, public social networking tools: Facebook, Twitter, Ning, and Elgg. This is a great place to start and for some use cases in the workplace, these tools themselves will be directly useful (marketing, customer service, and even various learning contexts). Most organizations will of course also want to consider a range of other platforms that provide Web 2.0 / social media technologies, including but not limited to:
- Your current or future LMS. Which Web 2.0 / social media tools does it provide your organization? Which are on their roadmap and when do you expect them to be available to you? For instance, in September 2008 Element K's software-as-a-service LMS, KnowledgeHub, added wikis, blogs, and forums, and we have additional collaborative Web 2.0 tools on our roadmap.
- Enterprise applications from Microsoft or IBM. SharePoint 2007 added wikis and blogs, and IBM's suite of tools includes social components (notably their Quickr and Connections products).
- Additional suites and platforms. Depending on your needs, you might want to consider suites such as Jive, SocialText, or an open-source toolset such as Liferay, each of which provide a range of Web 2.0 / social media tools.
My advice: if you are investigating social media tools for your organization, use Jane's comparison chart not only for its details about the four tools she focuses on, but also as a starting point for the kinds of features you might want from your LMS vendor or other enterprise tool providers!
And finally, if you are looking for a wide variety of examples of the use of Web 2.0 / social media tools in organizations—well, Jane has you covered there too! See her page listing Social Learning Examples in the Workplace.
Keep up the great work Jane, and know that it is much appreciated by everyone taking on the challenge of realizing the benefits of social learning in their own organization!
— Thomas Stone (Tom_Stone@elementk.com and on Twitter @ThomasStone)
Are you familiar with the garden metaphor? This is a metaphor for a set of better practices for the use of various Web 2.0 / social media tools (wikis, blogs, forums, social profiles, etc.) in organizations and other contexts as well. I'm not sure who first came up with this metaphor, but I for one will be forever grateful as I've used it often in my conference and other industry presentation. Analogies and metaphors are great for cementing in people's minds new or difficult abstract concepts, because they relate the concepts to more concrete, everyday things they are familiar with. The "garden metaphor" for Web 2.0 / social media certainly does this, so hopefully this post will be helpful for anyone struggling with various aspects of using the latest tools in L&D or other workplace contexts.
A good garden starts with robust, nutrient-rich soil. In my view, the connection here is to the enterprise use of Web 2.0 / social media tools themselves. Your set of tools are the platform on which you will better enable social learning—a form of informal learning in your organization—and support other goals as well (improved internal communications, knowledge management, or perhaps external-facing customer support even). One could alternately consider your overall organizational environment to be the "garden's soil," with the Web 2.0 tools being like the garden tools you use (shovel, rake, clippers, etc.) But I prefer to consider the tools as the overall platform in which you will grow social interactions, social learning, collaborative experiences, idea generation, and all the other benefits that will arise from adopting such tools (growing your garden).
 Once you've got a good plot of soil, a successful garden is very much dependent on good seeding practices. So too, in many Web 2.0 / social media uses in organizations, an important practice is to seed the platform with existing content to kick-start interactions between your users. A few examples will be helpful here I think. In the case of a wiki, adopting an "if you build it they will come" attitude will almost never work in workplace contexts. We have had great internal success at Element K with wikis, and I attribute some of that success to the initial seeding of our largest wiki with over a hundred existing documents that people needed to do their jobs. Some were attachments, but many were converted into editable pages in the wiki—and importantly, deleted from their previous portal or database locations. This drove usage of the wiki from day one! Another example would be discussion forums, where sometimes discussions get going right away, but often some "seeding" with some provocative questions can help get people talking. You can even seed questions and answers to demonstrate the kind of exchange that the forum is intended for. In both cases—seed pages in wikis and seed questions in forums—you are teaching people by example, and we know that people often learn best from good examples.
Similar to seeding, a garden of course needs frequent watering. A lagging discussion forum or micro-messaging platform can benefit from provocative questions being asked periodically to help spur conversation. Targeted brainstorm pages can wake up a wiki resource as well, by encouraging visits to the platform and reminding users of the wealth of information it provides.
 A good garden has people tending to it—the gardeners. So too, an organization will get the most benefit from Web 2.0 / social media tools if they have one or more individuals actively tending to the community and tools in various ways. In a real garden you need to get rid of any weeds that grow, and in social media communities you will want to do the same. The "weeds" here can include undesirable pages created in a wiki, questions in a forum that are inappropriate (e.g., beyond the scope of the forum), or comments to a blog posting that require moderation. Further, in a real garden you will need to prune often, to take care of overgrowth of your plants and nurture the overall health of the garden. Pruning in this context will mean looking for duplicate or overlapping pages in a wiki, duplicate questions in a forum, and so on. The role of "gardener" in your organization need not be time consuming, and the duties can be split up amongst many individuals based on areas of expertise and interest. For very large communities (with tens of thousands of users) perhaps one or more full-time employees will be needed in this role, but for smaller uses of Web 2.0 / social media tools, the gardening role can be a minor time commitment. That said, it should be made an official part of the gardeners' job responsibilities, so that it is given the respect it requires to be done well and not slip through the cracks of everyday work.
 A large enough garden will have many gardeners, but should ideally have just one master gardener. So too, in Web 2. 0 communities it is a good practice to designate a single, final authority—someone who can provide benevolent governance when needed, to arbitrate the rare disagreements that might arise. For instance, if two people disagree about edits to a wiki page, it is best to have one person they can go to for a final decision on the matter. Wikipedia at this point has a robust structure in place to handle this—for most organizational uses of social tools, a single ultimate authority for each will suffice. For blogs this can be the blog author, but for group blogs I recommend designating one of the authors as the blog owner. And for forums, obviously the moderator of the forum is the master gardener, the person who guides the conversations and makes decisions on proper etiquette and other matters. In some cases the master gardener might naturally be the initial champion of the particular tool or community, but they need not be one and the same individual.
Even the notion of harvesting has applicability in this metaphor. Content in a discussion forum can often become quite robust, but given their nature, it can be difficult to find such older Q&A gems (ditto for micro-messaging tools). Some platforms let you make critical posts "sticky" so that they appear at the top of the forum's homepage, but this is a limited solution to the problem. An organization using multiple tools can instead "harvest" the best content from the forums, and archive it in FAQ pages in a wiki—a tool often used as an organic, longer-lasting searchable knowledge base. To mix metaphors for a moment, think of the information harvested as being the "greatest hits" of the forum—the best content that you want to make more visible as a page in a wiki. You could also harvest the best content from a popular blog, so that such outstanding entries don't get lost in time.
The "garden metaphor" is a useful way to bring together many key better practices, and I encourage you to use it to educate your colleagues as you move forward. Just keep these words in mind the next time you are describing the benefits of Web 2.0 / social media tools for your organization: soil, seeding, watering, weeding, pruning, gardeners, master gardener, harvesting, and organic.
— Thomas Stone (Tom_Stone@elementk.com and on Twitter @ThomasStone)
It's time for another edition of the Learning and Development Roundup! (See also previous editions at the archive page.)
Training Magazine, Goodbye Old Friend
A great many print publications are struggling financially these days, with some becoming online-only publications and others closing down entirely -- so each new announcement does not come as a complete surprise. But for many veterans in the training and development field, the recent news of Training magazine folding up shop came as sad news indeed. Over several decades, many have received significant education through its pages, while others were given a platform to share their knowledge or first spread their wings as industry experts.
Karl Kapp has done a good job of bringing together the reflections of a half-dozen people who have blogged at the news of the demise of Training magazine. His blog posting also provides a solid list of alternate resources that remain as outstanding sources of learning, training, and development articles and news. If you aren't subscribed to most or all of these, definitely check them out!
Learning Circuit's February Big Question: Instruction in an Information Snacking Culture?
At the ASTD Learning Circuit's Blog, Tony Karrer noted a trend that many of us are seeing lately: "we seem to be snacking on information, not consuming it in big chunks." As the February "Big Question," he then asks us all to reflect on this phenomenon: Are people really "snacking" more? Do we therefore need to think about instruction differently, and if so, in what ways? Is this shift a problem, and if it is, how so exactly? See the blog posting links to the blog responses so far.
Two Recent Articles on Mobile Learning
ASTD's T+D magazine has recently had two good articles about the growing trend of mobile learning. In my view, both are worth your time to read:
- "Smartphones Make IBM Smarter, But Not As Expected," by Nabeel Ahmad and Peter Orton. Appropriately enough, ASTD has made this article available as an audio podcast so that you can listen to it on your favorite mobile device!
- "Can You Hear Me Now?" (PDF), by mobile learning expert Judy Brown. She asks: "Is mobile access to learning and performance support a part of your learning architecture? If not, you may want to re-evaluate."
On Learning Styles
Will Thalheimer writes a good blog called Will at Work Learning, which he describes as being "Will Thalheimer's research-based commentary on learning, performance, and the industry thereof." He recently authored a post titled "Learning Styles Reviewed by Association for Psychological Science AND FOUND WANTING". In short, Will is reporting on a recent review of the evidence (commissioned by the Association of Psychological Science) for the benefits of using "learning styles" in creating instructional content. Interestingly, the review found that "there is no adequate evidence base to justify incorporating learning-styles assessments into general educational practice." Read his posting for more on the findings -- including the scope of what can be concluded from the review and what cannot -- as well as Will's thoughts as both a researcher and consultant.
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 two round-ups, I'll provide some of the latest "gems" for you here:
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: December, January, February, and March.
— Thomas Stone (Tom_Stone@elementk.com and on Twitter @ThomasStone)
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:
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)
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