Speaker: Jane Bozarth, Ph.D., eLearning Director of the State of North CarolinaSession Description:"Social learning" and "informal learning" are among the training industry's hottest phrases these days. But there's so much confusion over what they mean, and what they mean to those of us in the business. A few truths:Social learning isn't new. Social learning isn't necessarily ‘managed', ‘launched', ‘controlled', or ‘measured'.People in the workplace are learning all the time - without us. Those people likely don't think of what they're doing as "learning". Check it out:  http://www.trainingmagnetwork.com/welcome/janebozarth_sept14

eduCBA IT Academy offers a range of high quality technology training content using studio quality narrated videos backed-up with industry oriented hands-on examples. With an amazing team of developers, Industry Professionals and IT experts, our main focus is to teach … Continue reading →

A desire to customise and personalise learning experiences, combined with the rise of a number of new tool integration technologies has led to a move away from monolithic Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs, also known as Learning Management Systems ‘LMSs’) towards more open and Distributed Learning Environments (DLEs). The various DLE architectures can have very different... Read More ›

detail from Le Foyer de la Danse a l'Opera de la Rue Le Peletier - DegasDuring part of my professional development appraisal this year, I was urged to incorporate student learning into my goals. I resisted this, defecting to goals where accountability clearly lies with my vigilance in identifying learner needs and in giving the learner appropriate and timely access to required, available learning resources and quality teaching.My CEO, who I have a lot of respect for, mentioned in one of his addresses to staff last year that, as a school, we were responsible for student learning. The emphasis seems to be on the teacher taking responsibility for the learning. I challenge this point of view in this post.courtesy Make Beliefs ComixIt’s all about learningIn discussing the differences between teaching and learning in a previous post, I used the throwaway line,"it’s all about learning - you don’t talk about teaching anymore".There is more to this idea than one might think.Everywhere I look in education, I see the teacher being charged with the responsibility for learning that occurs in the student. It is seldom that teaching is discussed. Even raising the matter of pedagogy (which incidentally is to do with teaching rather than learning) causes some concern among educators and sparks discussion that is more to do with learning than teaching.Learner centredThere’s no doubt that the learner is where it is at, but the learner centeredness of today’s education suggests, perhaps erroneously, that teaching is not as important as learning. While I believe that teacher centred education is not what’s needed, the focus on the learner, brought about through a learner centred mind-set, has moved the teacher so far out of the spotlight that the learner is beginning to suffer.I’ve been told on good authority that it’s not like this in some cultures. In Spain, for instance, even the idea that teachers take on leadership roles in working with groups of learners, rather than the more prominent function and traditional role of a teacher, is thought to be culturally strained. But in New Zealand, Australia, Britain and America the role of the teacher seems to be morphing into the background - a resource rather than a force.Assessing the playersPart of the change in the limelight is to do with the idea behind the sage-on-the-stage. Even the guide-on-the-side has been slid behind the curtain. It is as if the teacher has become more a stagehand than a player, leaving the learner to extemporise in full view of everyone else.I wonder that assessment has perhaps been a contributor to this shift. It certainly takes the emphasis off teaching, while forcing an undue importance onto what is assessable by a teacher. However, the subsequent effect only appears to put the spotlight on the learner.Summative assessment is rightly seen as being to do with what’s been learnt, but it is not really learner centred. Formative assessment is to do with what’s yet to be learnt while giving positive feedback and encouragement to the learner on what’s been learnt. It is truly learner centred, yet it is often upstaged by summative assessment.Learner engagementThe essential aspect of learner engagement comes into its own when considering what’s important for it to happen. This is where learner centeredness is appropriate and necessary.A learner has to be interested in what’s being taught for engagement to be sustained. But the content of that teaching has to be relevant to the learner for interest to be initiated in the first place. When these conditions for engagement are met, the learning becomes entirely the responsibility of the learner.It takes good teaching to identify what interests a learner and what content will be relevant to that interest, as well as appropriate to required learning.This is the supreme skill that is part of good teaching. It is being overlooked while acting out a script that is supposedly learner centred.

McKinsey Research Boosting the Productivity of Knowledge Workers (tags: mckinsey learning research knowledge_worker; enterprise2.0 Knowledge Taleo_Research) McKinsey Research Survey on Business Benefits from Web 2.0 Feb 2011 (tags: Taleo_Research, knowledge_work, web2.0 enterprise2.0) McKinsey Study on Knowledge Work (tags: Taleo_Research, Knowledge knowledge_work, enterprise2.0)

There's a website designed for kids that you should explore for interactiveexercises for corporate training.The mission of the USA-SOS Internet Challenge is to promote cybercitizenship among students by engaging them in a fun, age-appropriate,competitive online program where they learn how to safely and responsibly usethe internet.One of the activities is a scavenger hunt. Use the Scavenger Hunt Documentto help you find important tips. Click an icon to open a new web page withinformation. Then take the Post-Quiz.Note: You could create fake web pages with the information so you cancontrol the content.Check it out: http://usa-sos.org/index.cfm?Page=3rd_Grade

At the request of teachers of RANEPA, we have provided the Pro version of the platform to the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. The RANEPA, specialised mostly on business and government administration, has started using Eliademy. We … Continue reading →

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Internet analyst Mary Meeker has just released her latest report on the past year’s Internet trends. The latest edition of the annual Internet Trends report includes: 1. Key Internet trends showing slowing Internet user growth but strong smartphone, tablet and mobile data traffic growth as well as rapid growth in mobile... Read More ›

Productivity & Costs Q1 2010 Revised | The Economic Populist US Productivity — highest levels since 2001/2002 — as high as developing countries like China and India (tags: research_source productivity engagement) http://www.conference-board.org/pdf_free/economics/TED.pdf Productivity data for the world from Conference Board (tags: research_source productivity global emerging US) #E2sday: Motivating Employees in the Workplace - It’s Not Just About the Money | The Future of Work Motivation, engagement — great summary of multiple data sources (tags: research_source engagement motivation productivity)

This month’s theme from Paul Cornies’ Green Pen Society is:Website Gold: to recommend an enriching web site.I deliberated long over this topic. Choosing a favourite blog site might be seen to be verging on nepotism. Selecting a series of them could suggest there is a hierarchy to the list.To risk offending any of my many blogging friends and colleagues by collating such a list would be daft and show a lack of sensitivity.I will post only once this month about Gold Rush blog sites. I've chosen not one but two, however, both of which have the same author.I’m a Google Blogger. Edublogs.org and Blogger.com are rival providers. Both sites I write about here are Edublogs.org sites, so my choice is not about blog provider preference.Two gold nuggetsThe Edublogger and Sue Waters Blog are two sites I recommend to anyone who is a blogger - especially to those new to blogging.When I consider what Sue Waters offers on her sites, there is no easy way to isolate one from the other. For as much as Sue has often joked about her split personality over her commitment to her sites, they are a complementary pair, much like right and left.The EdubloggerThe Edublogger is undoubtedly a professional blog - matchless, well authored, that shares a rich cornucopia of "tips, tricks, ideas that help the educational blogging community" - yet is has a captivating appeal to the ‘occasional blogger’. Sue hosts this site as part of her work with Edublogs.org.My special interest in elearning is often stimulated by the content in The Edublogger. There are always fresh ideas, new technology innovations appropriate to a wide range of topics on elearning, community networking and blogging.While much of the posts are specifically aimed at bloggers who use an edublogs.org site, there abounds useful material that has universal application to blogging. Just check out this post on Top Five Mistakes made by new bloggers.The Edublogger has a friendly quality to it. It is written in a way that makes it appealing to most age-groups, with instructive, easy-to-follow diagrams and flow-charts that are interesting and attractive without being ornate. Sue puts a lot of thought into the layout of the site, planning that she shares openly with readers, a touch that contributes hugely to The Edublogger’s engaging appeal.Sue Waters BlogThis site is a personal blog that compliments the professionalism of The Edubogger. Though Sue’s approach has a different slant, and that’s to be expected, there is a light-hearted wink to it that is comfortable and welcoming in Sue Waters Blog.Who but a curmudgeon would not be entertained by homespun topics like The Great USA Coca Cola and Chocolate Scandal! or share a laugh at witty blog titles like Have your Blogs.mu cake - and eat it too! Sue carries her fondness of technology throughout this site in a way that whets the appetite for more Coke and Cadbury’s milk chocolate.What I adore most about both of Sue’s blogs are the communities attracted to them. There’s always an opportunity to meet new bloggers and commenters, and comments are never ignored nor short-changed.So if you are looking for nuggets of gold in a blog site, just visit either of Sue’s blogs. The Edublogger and Sue Waters Blog are each a blog prospector’s dream. But then, what would you expect from a scientist?A Green Pen Society contribution