I’ve been reading Gary Woodill’s newest book The Mobile Learning Edge. This is an important book for a number of reasons. First, it provides a solid foundation for truly understanding mobile learning - it’s unique characteristics. In true Gary Woodill form, it first provides a well-researched background on mobile learning which will inform you’re thinking as you proceed through the book. This would even make it useful as a textbook (especially with the many resources listed in the book). But that doesn’t mean it’s a book for eggheads. There are numerous case studies from the likes of Merrill Lynch, Nike, and Accenture that, along with strategies for using mobile learning for employee training, will provide corporate L&D professionals with the information they need to put the mobile learning pieces together - to mobilize learners. My favorite chapter is probably Chapter 3: Methods for Effective Mobile Learning- Seven Principles for Employee Training. Although you might think some of these are common sense, it’s not always the case in how we actually approach employee training. Principle 1: Employees are adults who learn differently from children. Principle 2: Employees learn from solving problems that matter to them. Principle 3: Employees learn by collaborating as members of cohesive social groups. Principle 4: Employees learn through conversing with, and listening to, each other. Principle 5: Employees learn by integrating new information with what they already know. Principle 6: Employees learn through active experiences that involve their senses and their bodies. Principle 7: Employees learn best in concrete situations where the context matters to them. I guess my greatest takeaway is remembering that it’s the learner that’s mobile not the learning. There’s just a wealth of information in the book. I know I’ll reach for it often in my work. It’s a must have resource for anyone interested in developing employees through mobile technologies. See the table of contents for more on what’s inside the book.

I’ve been reading Gary Woodill’s newest book The Mobile Learning Edge. This is an important book for a number of reasons. First, it provides a solid foundation for truly understanding mobile learning - it’s unique characteristics. In true Gary Woodill form, it first provides a well-researched background on mobile learning which will inform you’re thinking as you proceed through the book. This would even make it useful as a textbook (especially with the many resources listed in the book). But that doesn’t mean it’s a book for eggheads. There are numerous case studies from the likes of Merrill Lynch, Nike, and Accenture that, along with strategies for using mobile learning for employee training, will provide corporate L&D professionals with the information they need to put the mobile learning pieces together - to mobilize learners. My favorite chapter is probably Chapter 3: Methods for Effective Mobile Learning- Seven Principles for Employee Training. Although you might think some of these are common sense, it’s not always the case in how we actually approach employee training. Principle 1: Employees are adults who learn differently from children. Principle 2: Employees learn from solving problems that matter to them. Principle 3: Employees learn by collaborating as members of cohesive social groups. Principle 4: Employees learn through conversing with, and listening to, each other. Principle 5: Employees learn by integrating new information with what they already know. Principle 6: Employees learn through active experiences that involve their senses and their bodies. Principle 7: Employees learn best in concrete situations where the context matters to them. I guess my greatest takeaway is remembering that it’s the learner that’s mobile not the learning. There’s just a wealth of information in the book. I know I’ll reach for it often in my work. It’s a must have resource for anyone interested in developing employees through mobile technologies. See the table of contents for more on what’s inside the book.

Ricky: We’ve got to use our brains. Lucy: Well, let’s see .. Ricky: You stay out of this. Seriously, it’s no wonder my feed reader is overwhelming right now. Over time, I’ve messed this up pretty good. Look at these categories and you’ll see how I ended up with duplicates in various folders. And "other"? Please…it’s about as lazy as the attempted new Gap logo. Here’s what I’ve got: Academic (Brainiacs) Business (People who write about *you guessed it* business. Super fun!) Corporate E-learning  (This one’s in pretty good shape.) EdTech (I mean who even says that outside of educational technology departments?) Games (Very few here…I’d like them all this simple.) Humor (Essential reading from messed up individuals) K-12 (For my children.) Other E-learning (See what I mean? Lazy. Some of these aren’t even "e.") Other Tech (Not to be confused with the folder "Tech" which does not exist or "EdTech" which shouldn’t.) Society (This is depressing reading.) Virtual Worlds (Mostly newer 3D stuff…not Second Life…which you probably thought of first.) Garden (I like looking at successful gardens.) Google (I think they - Google - made this folder themselves…because I sure the hell don’t remember making it.) Journalism (Just some good writing about writing and media.) Recommended by Others (This was supposed to be my quarantine area…i.e., I know *you* want to read but do I?) Social Web (This is a bunch of social media mavens.) and, below all those folders, a boatload of subscriptions not yet classified. Would you start over? How do you categorize your reading? How many subscriptions do you manage?

It all started with an email in February with the subject line: "Your future role." I know, right? Foreboding. Oddly (viewed now) I had just written a post called 2010: The Year of Kicking Ass. When I wrote about challenges, plans, and predictions back at the beginning of the year, I would not have thought my employment status would change so drastically just two months later. I was jobless. A paycheck every other week vanished. Suddenly, I was an independent contractor whether I wanted to  be one or not. I had to regroup and rethink everything. I reached out to my network. Many opportunities surfaced which I was grateful for. Many virtual shoulders appeared.  (Friends without quotation marks.) I went through a period of trying to figure out what to do. I went on some interviews. I did some freelance stuff. I felt unsettled. I tried not to worry my parents or kids and wondered if I would be able to afford things like hockey for my son. Would the kids be able to go to their summer camps? We canceled our annual summer vacation at the lake. A tradition of ten years. A dual-income household had become a single-income household. Of course, I wasn’t alone. Many people found themselves without a regular day job after the economy tanked. Many - including me - were ‘underemployed’  because, you know, it takes a while to get up and running. (It actually feels OK to finally write that.) Within six months I had settled into a better situation. Greener grass and all that. I walked away from the flaming bridge behind me, smoke in my eyes, and started doing challenging work again. I realized I hadn’t felt that in nearly two years. A crap economy has a way of keeping you in  "just be happy you have a job" mode. We were able to take a different kind of family vacation in August. Still, I sit here *in October* with a fair amount of anger. Still. And probably because I’ve yet to face my own faults. Oy. If you could just reach through your screen and give me a slap upside the head, it’d be appreciated. There. That’s better. Thanks. Now onward and upward.

To file under ‘haves" and "haves not"… Googlers get credits on TaskRabbit, an online service for odd jobs, as a perk. Among the odd jobs…" take shoes to the cobbler…" Cobbler? COBBLER? I guarantee you will waste five minutes browsing tasks. Much like Dobby the house elf, of Harry Potter fame, I do this type of stuff for free and have no need for cobblers and such since most of my shoes are basically plastic and therefore repairable with gorilla glue or duct tape. Via Gawker: Valleywag. (I’ll bet being a cobbler is a pretty good job right about now.)

Nick Jones writes about a supermarket mess up and says… People who produce consumer-facing technology have a responsibility to make it usable by relatively normal human beings. He suggests putting a big red button on the company’s web site that says "press me if we messed up" and includes a stream of promises that the mess up won’t happen again. Seems the same could apply to the e-learning we create if only we could figure out what a normal human being is. Relatively normal. (BTW…very nice opening line on this post…"Nightmare day. I’ve been the victim of multiple acts of malice by dumb technology, dumber processes and French unions"

Haven’t clicked all the links on this post by Olivia Mitchell but it seems like a terrific resource for people who present and train online. Note the free book on this site too "How to Present with Twitter (and other backchannels.) Thanks Olivia!

This is cool. Engagement increased by 30% across a set of web pages that were edited. Not spell check editing. EDITING damn it. Like…. "…honest-to-God, get-to-the-point, don’t-waste-my-time editing. That means establishing a focus up front, pruning verbiage, clarifying the organization, looking for meaning beneath jargon, and thinking more about the reader’s needs than the writer’s preferences. Not just for journalists but all of us who write content. Via Kathy Kehrli, a freelance writer.

Two things I got very excited about last week. The first, Saba Live (formerly Saba Social).The second, Adobe Connect 8.

I’m always cognizant of what Ellen Wagner (formerly with Adobe) said while writing about web conferencing technologies around the time Blackboard bought Wimba and Elluminate and combined them to create Blackboard Collaborate (for edu-types, I’ll insert the ‘muwhahahaha’ just for you). Ellen said, "let’s be very clear. Adobe in not an elearning company. It is a software company." This might be why you’re likely to see more reviews of Adobe Connect 8 for web conferencing/meetings than for its use as a virtual classroom. While Adobe is one of the largest software companies in the world and, while they do have a large share of the virtual classroom market, it is my experience that they’re not the first response you’ll hear when asking corporate L&D folks which virtual classroom they use. I think Cisco/WebEx has that honor. (I’ve always thought of WebEx as a borderline verb in the corporate sector, i.e. "doing a webex" or "let’s do a webex.") My point is, Adobe Connect 8 should be seen as a powerhouse virtual classroom. Adobe, of course, is no stranger to corporate e-learning. If you’re creating online learning I am willing to bet you own Captivate or perhaps Presenter and use them to create solutions we know as "rapid e-learning." Among corporations, the virtual classroom market is huge both in adoption and size. Research from Bersin & Associates indicates virtual classrooms are the most widely adopted learning technology in corporations (use increased from 45% in 2008 to 60% in 2009 Bersin notes). The giant umbrella that covers the market is huge. Frost & Sullivan forecasts the "web collaboration" (web conferencing services and software, web events, remote support) will reach $4.5 billion by 2014. And that number probably doesn’t include all uses (like the VC). Not chump change. I attended a demo with a colleague on October 26. The video conferencing integration blew me away. The interface was ‘just right, just enough’ and I didn’t feel the 5 seconds of panic I normally feel when one hands the presenter controls to you. My colleague said, ‘this seems light years ahead…’ and I couldn’t agree more. I believe it will further cut into the amount of training hours we do in the face-to-face physical classroom. When we used video conferencing to join a room in India, I was just thinking wow, no more crowding around the old TV on a cart in the conference room. I need to play with it myself (vs demo) before writing up a proper review (if you want to try it, here’s the link to a free trial). Meantime, here’s a edu review from Christopher Dawson, ZDNet, Adobe Connect 8 s the cure for wall-o’-laptop woes and distance ed and one from the Journal (also edu-focused), Adobe Connect 8 Improves Accessibility, Expands Collaborative Tools. Also interesting to note…Vidyo has a "personal telepresence" plug-in using Adobe Connect 8 Collaboration Builder SDK. Yowsa! Adobe is in the software business. We’re in the training business. We should all be happy about that. (The screen prints below are the standard ones Adobe sent at release.) Interface designCollaboration SDKVideo conferencing integrationMobile app (I receive nothing for writing this post)

Here are slides from a  presentation I did for the Australian Institute for Training and Development (AITD) a few weeks ago on facilitation and the social web. I have several people to thank for making their work available whether publicly and/or under creative commons licenses. First, Nancy White, Full Circle Associates and co-author of Digital Habitats, a thought leader in the area of community, technology, learning, and facilitation who blogs at Full Circle. Theorist George Siemens, with the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute at Athabasca University. who wrote a post "Teaching in Social and Technological Networks." Stephen Downes, National Research Council of Canada, who wrote his presentation notes for a 2007 event, Groups Vs Networks: The Class Struggle Continues." Ted Kahn, DesignWorlds and fellow of The George Lucas Educational Foundation, who wrote A New Model of Education: Designing Virtual Communities for Creativity and Learning where he lists seven new basic skills for creating effective communities. Here are the slides. I can’t stress enough is that in order to be a good facilitator, you need to be an active member of your online communities whether a public network or a private network. I feel to be successful, you need to be embedded in the community and have a high vested interest. View more presentations from Janet Clarey.

I live in an area of New York where the road signs for icy bridges are left up year round; it is not unusual to see snow anytime between October 15 and April 30 (which, coincidentally, corresponds with dates you are permitted to have studded snow tires on your vehicle). Just for that one sentence, I have located an appropriate photo from iStock photo, have looked up the proper use of a semi-colon (according to Matthew Inman), and have looked up (without intending to)  New York state snow tire laws (from Bridgestone)  by (first) searching "October 1 - April 15″, the date range that originally came to mind when I woke up to snow this morning after having snow tires put on my car just yesterday. The reason those dates came to mind is because a friend posted this status update on Facebook: Syracuse tomorrow… which led to a string of things about Syracuse, land of icy bridges. After writing that first paragraph, I answered a quick email then re-read it and wondered about the proper use of parenthesis (which I misspelled - along with the word "misspelled"). So what did I need to know to do that? What requisite skills were needed? How to open a browser How to find, and responsibly use, images How to save an image to a place where I can later locate it How to write a blog post using the WordPress platform How to use a WYSIWYG editor (so I can have bold words and bullets) How to upload media How to link to sources How to use the Web for spelling and grammar How to search and how to search to get even better results (i.e., quotation marks) And a bunch of other stuff that is so second nature I can’t even distinguish at the moment To do that I needed my: Electricity Time Warner Cable Internet service Computer WordPress installation Hosting service (because I self-host) Facebook account Browser Search engine iStock account Email account Heartbeat : ) Lest you think I’ve gone mad, I’m just reminding myself (and perhaps some of you) that this is why people’s eyes glaze over sometimes when we’re introducing new technology. As for the first sentence, it’s why my eyes glaze over this time of year but it also makes me think that we should keep the "requisite skills needed" sign up year round too…as a reminder that not everyone is used to the conditions.

Way ‘back in the day’ I had to secure recorded statements from people. The statements were transcribed, often analyzed, and sometimes used in litigation. Before pressing "record" (oh, yes an actual tape recorder) I was required to state why I wanted/needed to record the statement and also get permission to record. (I believe in NY, you need permission - at least at that time - to record a conversation on the phone.) Anyway, today it’s a bit different because we can easily and inexpensively record sans tape recorder and phone. Still, even today, if I must record, I’ll still ask for permission and explain that the recording will be used for the purpose of capturing answers to questions. I let people know that the recording won’t be shared (or will be, if that’s the intent; like an educational podcast). I have found that recording statements is a valuable way to improve my listening skills and expand on questions and answers. I’m not worried about furiously writing notes that I will later try to decipher. There’s a ton of tools out there for this type of thing, even the Smart pen. I’ve found G-Recorder works well consistently and has no learning curve. G-Recorder records Skype calls and automatically saves them to a Gmail folder as an mp3 file. Here’s a video of how it works along with "The Lions Sleep Tonight" playing in the background. (Earworm alert: Wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh, wimoweh.) While I use it for research, I think it would be a valuable tool to create free and easy podcasts with one person or as many people as Skype currently allows (100?). How to Marry Skype and Gmail

The last time I was in Las Vegas I had just graduated from college, it was the 80s, and I was with my parents and grandparents who were visiting from Scotland. My clearest memory is falling asleep near the pool on one of those pool lounge chairs with the plastic strips and having a sunburn that looked like I had fallen asleep on one of those pool lounge chairs with the plastic strips. I return to Las Vegas in January for the Virtual Edge Summit 2011 where I’ll speak for Elearning! Media Group with my good friend, and former colleague, Emma King who is now VP Learning & Development with INXPO. Our session is on virtual-enabled learning programs with a focus on how to design and deliver programs so they’re engaging. Now you wouldn’t intentionally design and deliver a program that is not engaging right? Right? But, what we  intend to do and what we actually do aren’t always the same. At least for me. Perhaps that’s because I don’t always know what I don’t know. It calls to mind a quote by Maya Angelou, "You did then what you knew how to do, and when you knew better, you did better." So Emma and I intend to "know better." As I’m sure you’re aware, it’s always good to define the terms we’re using. Nothing worse than walking out of a session saying, "I thought that was going to be about…" The first term is "virtual-enabled learning program" and the second (more than a definition) is (what constitutes) "engagement"? A too simplistic definition of "virtual-enabled learning program" is a learning program that can be accessed on the Web. A better approach is to see "virtual" as much more than simply accessing Web content. Virtual brings to mind the very essence of presence. That is the element we want to elevate. Checking Yes or No a few times or answering a polling question or two does not make a virtual program. We want to engage people to the point that they feel "present." I believe designing for virtual learning programs (and hybrid programs) require three areas of focus: deciding what methods you can use to bring about solutions to the problem you’re addressing planning for how you can support a learning environment to problem-solve and collaborate, and thoroughly understanding the virtual learning environment platform you will be using. Hybrid events go one further in that you must optimize interaction among virtual and non-virtual attendees. We’re designing our session design to model the practices we are advocating. Engaging design Engaging delivery Special considerations for hybrid events Best use of virtual learning platforms I hope to see you at the event - whether virtually or face-to-face.

Are you an aisle or window seat kind of person? Or do you like the middle seat? I can’t stand the middle seat. Can. not. stand. it. Perhaps that’s one reason why, when I was re-ticketed and placed in the middle seat on a cross-country flight because of a fog delay, my body morphed into a 75 year-old man with a bad back and prostrate problems. In all fairness, perhaps the bad back wasn’t due to the middle seat but instead was due to the "nap" I took on a bench in a booth in the food court at the San Francisco Airport at 2AM. A bench that a gazillion people have sat on. A bench that I sprawled out on with little down travel pillow, sleep mask, mobile alarm and luggage strategically placed to avoid theft. Because you know, there’s someone out there that wants exactly the same stuff I have in my suitcase. Perhaps the frequent visits to the back of the plane wasn’t because of the middle seat but was due to the delicious "Wake up Call" I drank at 7am, a nice mixture of Illy Iced Cappuccino, Absolut Vodka, and Bailey’s Irish Cream. At any rate when I finally landed in NY and passed through security for third flight in my marathon 24-hour return trip home, he actually looked at me and I felt his eyes say…you look 75 years-old.

I was at the Virtual Edge Summit (VES11) last week in Las Vegas  which was co-located with PCMA’s Convening Leaders conference.  PCMA is the acronym for the Professional Convention Management Association. As  you can imagine, it was a mixed audience,  all there due to their interest in virtual events, meetings and online communities. I co-facilitated with Emma King, VP Learning at INXPO, to a combination live and virtual audience on the topic of Virtual Enabled Learning Program: Expanding the Learning Experience and Ensuring Engagement. We were live streamed (a first for me) and used Twitter as a backchannel. Twitter helped  connect the virtual and physical attendees especially since there were several virtual platforms available. It made the most sense during sessions to aggregate everything on Twitter using the either #ves11 or #ves11c for the room. We actually had more virtual attendees than physical attendees. Here’s a couple of things I walked away with: It’s important during a live, hybrid events to use at least two people (I think three is even better). This breaks up the conversation and makes virtual attendees feel like they’re included. Waiting to answer questions until the end - or even at breaks - does little for creating engaging "live" events. LIVE is LIVE. Look into the camera as often as you look into the eyes of people at the physical session. Create opportunities for the online and offline people to work together (can the online people look up something for the people at the physical event?) Use mostly images and go light on the text so you can be more flexible and adapt to the audience. Change something up every 3 minutes or so.

e-training for dogs.com includes a course on First Aid which includes hypothermia.

The annual predictions for e-learning in 2011 are in at eLearn Magazine. Some will say this much of this is already happening - and it is for some - but corporate e-learning is still heavy into creating e-learning courses using rapid e-learning tools and web conferencing tools for live online training. The social/collaborative solution is still a line item on a planning sheet. Some bullet points based on others predictions: More content curation Grassroot changes with new technologies in the  classroom Learning in the context of real work vs. artificial course Return to "just in time" model Informal learning will rise in importance Demise of course in favor of deeper uses of of technology E-learning with substantive purposes Gamification of learning More draconian policies and procedure limiting use of social media Killer augmented reality app will be developed Shorter programs Learners as designer Learning apps Video galore Continued unhappiness with LMSs More switching to cloud computing Adapting to iPad and tablets Learning apps as extensions vs. "all-in-one" solutions Apps replace e-learning courses Uptake of service to support persistent referencing of web resources Ambitious educators venture out more. Increased  concern for accreditation of e-learning from academic institutions Increased interest in teaching and learning theory More blending live (hybrid) More sharing of open resources Science of e-learning will continue to develop Augment reality gets easier Situated learning grows thanks to mobile Educational institutions actually change I found the predictions encouraging in a "new moon rising" way. Mine… Virtual classroom tools haven’t changed much over the past several years. That will change. Personal videoconferencing, telepresence technologies, tablets, and integration with existing systems will drive innovation in this area. We’ll see a flood of enterprise-level mobile apps developed. More outsourcing, especially to niche providers, will lead to more internal vendor management. We’ll see more stand-alone and integrated collaborative platforms designed to capture expert knowledge. On the horizon: alternate reality games and other social gaming. Let’s see how I did last year… We will see more "platform as a service" (PaaS) solutions with further computing enhancements to support the "micro" movement. Aggregators, mobile support, and real-time collaboration will bring a new level of complexity to the increasingly distributed, knowledge-driven workplace. As we process more fragmented information and sources, content curators will be needed to support transfer of learning. Tight budgets and renewed fear of travel will bring more innovative blended learning solutions that include online presence support, 3-D immersive environments, and gaming solutions. "Rogue" will give way to acceptance as companies reconcile the privacy and productivity concerns associated with social media. As a result, we’ll see the formation of richer online networks and communities. On the horizon … augmented reality. Meh. Some progress… I’m of the opinion that we won’t see sustainable changes (loss of the course mentality) until 2015.

I haven’t answered a question on Quora even though I’ve had an account for about a year. I also haven’t viewed many answers. This is probably because I don’t yet have Quora running through my normal channels - Google Reader, email, Twitter, etc. Now you may be wondering, "Janet, what is this Quora you speak of?" Good question, as always. Quora is a social service where people ask questions and other people answer them. You can "upvote" good answers, bringing them closer to the top or "downvote" bad ones. You follow people and people follow you. Over 500 people follow me even though I have never answered a question. (If you want to see how Quora works, you can take a look at this question: How can e-Learning or computer-based training be more effective?) Poke around while you’re there you’ll see that it’s generally a big knowledge market. I’ll wait… OK then. I think Quora gets at our thirst for expertise. We’ve gone through the "wow, anyone can write anything" and now are at the "there’s so much stuff, I don’t know where to find a decent answer." I can see the value in having a corporate Quora. Can you? It’s all about context. After all, to do your day-to-day job you pretty much need answers to questions.

Today I joined the staff of Bersin & Associates as a senior analyst focusing on enterprise learning. If you’ve been in L&D for any length of time then I’m sure you know Josh Bersin. If not, you should and if you’re new to the industry, you’ll want to follow his work. It’s a real powerhouse research team and I’m thrilled to be joining them. I’ve always had great respect for their research and am looking forward to sharing my own experiences and background. What I really like about Bersin is their intense focus on meeting the needs of clients. That’s how it should be at any membership-based research firm and I’m glad I found that. It was a tough decision leaving both the independent practice I started to build up over the last year and my job at Elearning! Magazine (best people ever) but ultimately, I decided I really wanted to work as a full-time analyst again. I’ve been working with David Mallon, who directs the research on learning for Bersin & Associates, for the past six months on some great projects and have become even more familiar with his work (and the rest of the firm’s work). I found myself shaking my head in agreement as I read research findings and recommendations. This is a sweet thing. I recommend following Dave’s work. He’s a top analyst in the learning space. I will be writing about the work I do with them on their site (I’m not yet listed) but will still maintain this site. This makes total sense to me. I wrote about the analyst/blogging issue before when Forrester made a change in their policy. Josh Bernoff, at Forrester gets at the part of the issue: "Forrester is an intellectual property company, and the opinions of our analysts are our products. Blogging is an extension of the work…".  I’m on that train. Of course this two blog thing created an interesting sit-back-with-a-pipe-rubbing-chin-pondering episode (despite having limited chin hair). It got me thinking about writing style and blog attachment. Regarding writing style, I remember giving people advice on how to write on blogs. If it’s corporate, it should match the culture I would say. It should match the clothing one would wear to work. I expect to take my own advice and write in a "business casual" tone there. Safe for work. Here, on my own URL, I generally like to mix it up and sometimes write "business casual", other times kind of  raunchy "3-day old hoodie and jeans".   Point is, blog posts about my work with Bersin will be on their site, not this site. What you might or might not find here in the future: Social Web + life Working virtually including coworking / workshifting / cloud working Things that can be tagged WTF or FTW Interesting gadgets that are not pink Every bloggers favorite topic - blogging My own education and development Trials and tribulations of being an introvert Book reviews Other random crap The other "issue" is blog attachment. I considered just getting rid of this blog but, after four years  writing here, I feel this space has been an outlet for most everything. I’m attached to it because I’ve put so much into it. Long time readers of this blog might know that I took my blog out to dinner at Applebee’s on it’s one-year anniversary ; ) <kidding> So, to beat a dead horse, this blog is not ending; one topic area is just taking a different route. The Bersin blogs are currently organized by analyst and research area, which means that you can read entries by individual analysts and topics relevant to your interests. Get to know this group they’re top notch in their areas.

A big smooch for all those times you helped someone do their job faster, more efficiently, and correctly.

This is a guest post from Tiffany Fary, a Senior eLearning Instructional Designer in the corporate sector. When it comes to the terms "Social Learning" and "Communities of Practice", many people in the corporate learning realm are confused, myself included. We think we know what these mean one day, and then the next day a new theory or idea emerges that turns the whole idea of each upside down and inside out. Are Social Learning and Communities of Practice different? I think they are, but do you? Social Learning People in corporations are picking up Social Learning as one of the latest learning "buzzwords" without really knowing what it means. They hear it mentioned mostly through their own social networks and immediately think…"This is new and innovative! Let’s do this!". It’s up to us then to figure out what to do with it. The scramble for research begins. Here’s what I think Social Learning means: Social Learning - Learning by observing, conversing, or questioning. This can take place in an informal or formal setting and sometimes may even occur without the learner realizing that learning is taking place or without making a conscious decision to learn. It’s organic and usually unorganized. Social Learning is more focused on the needs of the individual. In social learning, a participant might ask "What do *I* need to know and who knows how to answer this quickly?" Knowledge is primarily consumed or pulled from experts. Social Learning is hard to track and it’s going to happen whether we try to implement it or not. It’s learning in the wild, via conversations, social media and the learning 2.0 technologies. Communities of Practice What corporations should really be focusing on are Communities of Practice (CoP) instead. Etienne Wenger and Jean Lave are the most well-known and respected experts when it comes to coining the phrase Communities of Practice and initially defining it more than 10 years ago. CoPs are recently gathering more traction the learning community and this is most likely due to the availability and wider acceptance of the 2.0 technologies in the corporate environment. We now have the tools, such as blogs, wikis and discussion boards, to really make this work…AND be able to track it. Here’s what I think Communities of Practice are: Communities of Practice (CoPs) - Groups of people with a common interest that are focused on collaboration and sharing of information related to that common interest. CoPs have a purpose, organization, and are usually tied to a business goal when used in corporations. A CoP is more focused on improving performance and enhancing knowledge of the group, as opposed to an individual. In CoPs, a participant might ask "What can I share with the group or how can we solve a problem together?" Knowledge is primarily shared or pushed. Wrap-up As the innovators and learning experts for our respective organizations, we need understand what our "customers" are asking for as well as be able to influence them into making the right decisions in relation to Social Learning and Communities of Practice. However, we can’t do that unless we’re able to understand these differences (if there really is any) ourselves. I’m not a learning expert, but I hope I got you thinking and perhaps I just turned your own theories upside down and inside out. Tiffany Fary is a Senior eLearning Instructional Designer with more than 11 years experience in corporate learning. She is primarily focused on improving learning and enhancing learner performance through the use of technology. In her free time, Tiffany enjoys spending time with her son and is an avid video gamer. You can follow her on Twitter via @TiffanyFary.

The recent guest post from Tiffany Fary generated some great comments. Thanks Tiffany and all who commented! I’d love to have additional guest posts, especially from practitioners. It keeps me honest : ) Interested parties, contact me…on any of the channels I list to your right.

This is a crosspost. I’m also writing here with this RSS feed. The idiom "eating your own dog food" means you are actually using your own products. In my case the "product" is research, analysis, and insight. Janet, how does one go about "eating" research, analysis and insight you’re probably asking. Excellent question, as always, and thanks for asking. Next week at our IMPACT conference (streaming, if you can’t attend this year) David Mallon and I will be presenting new research from a 2011 study on High-Impact Learning Organizations (to be published later in the year). However, we’ll be presenting it as if it’s the year 2021. We know that today, in 2011, we’re in the midst of a fundamentally changing workplace and workforce. We know there is a staggering amount of new learning technology tools, technologies, and services added to our "learning" toolkit. We know employees’ expectations with regard to learning and development are changing. And we all know that we’ve all got to step up our game to keep pace and stay relevant. Now it would be crazy to present this session as if it’s back in the day where your big worry was "are there enough ashtrays/donuts/handouts in the conference room?" (Yes, ashtrays. Some of you remember the 70s I’m sure.) It would be a better experience to use the collaborative online tools and methods we advise our members on. So…here’s what we did. First, David and I used Mindmeister to brainstorm and start putting some structure around the session. Mindmeister is a collaborative online mind mapping tool that is ridiculously easy to use. We then started building our session in Prezi. Prezi is an online tool that helps you collaboratively make insanely great web-based presentation maps that change how you navigate through content. We’ve found it a great way to present research online as a story and I can certainly see its potential as an instructional tool. Prezi helps you to think about content in a different way - how to bring things together on one screen and see how they relate. We are also using an audience response system from Turning Technologies and Twitter to engage people in the research whether attending live or virtually. But wait! That’s not all folks. We also have three thought leaders presenting by video - Ellen Wagner from Sage Road Solutions will talk about changing roles,  Jay Cross of Internet Time Alliance will talk about supporting employees’ fundamental ability to learn, and Koreen Olbrish of Tandem Learning will talk about new approaches to learning like alternate reality games. We’ve embedded those in our online story/presentation. Just like workplace L&D, the research field is evolving - the way it is reported, the way it is gathered, the way it is published. Exciting times to be in either industry! We hope you can join us. We’ll be rockin’ the Vinoy Thursday April 28th from 9:30 to 10:45 am ET. Virtually attend here. Come help us "eat our own dog food" and find out what the High-Impact Learning Organization of 2021 will look like. (This blog post is intended to be a factual statement. )