No one wants to watch a movie in which the director yells "Lights, Camera…Multiple Choice Question" We are more excited with movies directed with the words "Lights, Camera, Action."  Multiple choice questions don’t reflect reality. In real-life we are seldom confronted with a multiple choice question, we are confronted with problems, decisions, and the need to be innovative. Not the need to choose the best answer out of four choices. Action is what we want, it is what motivates humans. Kids can’t sit still, they need to move. We want to watch sports with activity and movement. Our jobs demand active thinking, complex decision making, and activity. Why should our learning design be inactive? Why should our online courses start with something as boring and pedantic as a learning objective?  Why do we commonly create instruction with the page-of-text, page-of-text, page-of-text, multiple-choice-question format? For the month of January as the New Year kicks off, I want learning and development professionals to think about action, activity, and innovation. I want us to make a conscious effort to force learners to do something. ..anything to get them mentally or even physically moving. Challenge your learners to interact with the e-learning and classroom instruction that you create. Here are three tips to help you get started; some are borrowed from the field of video games which is an awesome place to look for inspiration for learning and development professionals.  A term I like to use (while some others don’t) is gamification. We need to add gamification to our learning—more about that in a subsequent post. So here is the list:FirstStart your learning with a challenge instead of a list of objectives or a lecture.  Rather than state, "there are three things you should know about fraudulent claims"—start the training with, the statement "A potentially fraudulent claim has just been filed, you have 20 screens and 30 minutes to learn what to do. Proceed with caution." As the challenge unfolds and you provide information to the learner, you should be providing more and more learning opportunities, introduce the fraud detection worksheet.  Incorporate policy points into the feedback you provide the learner, add in exceptions. Too many courses are too easy. Yes, I said it…too easy. Humans don’t like or respect tasks that are too easy. Yet too many learning courses are built to the lowest common denominator. Create courses that challenger learners, they’ll learn more, remember more and, as a result, be able to do more.SecondCreate training where more than one answer is possible, feasible, and acceptable. Rarely in life are answers cut and dried. There are typically shades of gray that must be dealt with and reconciled.  In most e-learning, there are absolutely right and absolutely wrong answers.  How does that prepare a learner for what she will encounter on the job? Present a situation where the customer is half-right and half-wrong…what do you do? Or an ethical situation which is filled with gray. Training needs to be more nuanced than its current form. Provide alternative endings, provide different levels of "correct" …don’t keep giving one right answer.  Thir   ThirdForce the learners to perform the activity they are learning about. Make them enter a customer order, make them calm down an irate customer, make them close out an account. Make them operate the machinery. If you want someone to learn to do something, they must practice doing it! We can’t tell them about being a good leader and then hope they’ll be a good leader, they have to practice being a good leader, or sales person or accountant. Practice is needed to improve performance. Athletes don’t just read about competition, they practice, work on fundamentals, play scrimmages, and then perform. In training situations, the learner reads about negotiation skills, takes a multiple choice test about negotiation skills, and then is asked to go negotiate with a customer.  That’s it--no practice, no scrimmage. Immediately they go to the real thing. This is not good.So, as the New Year starts, think about what you, as a learning and development professional, can do to engage the people for whom you are building instruction. Don’t passively hand them content, instead make them do something in 2012.  Your action item from this post is to create at least one challenge or action oriented activities for your learners in the next 3 months.

In addition to discussing Gamification, I also wanted to take one of my January blog postings and talk about ARG.The term ARG is batted around from time to time as a method of conducting training programs but there is a lot of confusion around the term.Let's look at the terms, to help define the terms, I asked Koreen Olbrish who is a self-described--opinionated and snarky entrepreneur, instructional designer, learner and mom who has experience developing ARGs and who blogs at Learning in Tandem for her expert input.She contributed an entire chapter to my upcoming book explaining the two terms and has created ARGs and implement them successfully. Here is what Koreen wrote in the chapter:Alternate reality games (ARGs), also sometimes called pervasive games or transmedia storytelling, are designed to combine real life and digital game play elements. So that you are playing the game in the real world but doing behaviors that are linked to the game. (my addition.)Typically, Alternate Reality Gamess are "tracked" online but the actual game play consists of real life activities. There are many entertainment-based examples such as the games, I love bees, The Lost Experience,Numb3rs Chain Factor and examples of ARGs for social issues such as Urgent Evoke, World without Oil. Here is a video explaining "I Love Bees"There continues to be a lot of confusion in the term ARG--some people use "alternate reality games" and "augmented reality games" interchangeably. For a point of clarification, alternate reality games refer to game play that integrates real life and online game play through a storyline that seeks to engage learners in an experience that seems real. While augmented reality enhances reality or adds something to it. For example the yellow first down line superimposed on the football field is augmented reality. Often smartphones are used with Augmented Reality Games. Here is an example of an augmented reality game.The really confusing part comes in when augmented reality is used as part of an alternate reality game. To keep them straight, think about the meaning of the words; "alternate reality" seeks to create a different reality for game play purposes. "Augmented reality" adds additional information to real life environments and objects. Here is a great video from BMW that shows the potential of augmented reality in the realm of training:Here is one done for the military. Notice all the heavy and bulky equipment...remember, cell phones used to be heavy and bulky as well. The technology is shrinking and will soon be in a training center near you. So yes, you should begin to care about ARG, they have the potential to be powerful instructional tools that can allow a true performance support system. I think the BMW example clearly shows how to mix training with on the job actions. The military example could be used for teaching such skills as negotiations in a highly sophisticated branching simulation or for teaching people how to insert artificial hips or even how to deal with upset customers. Technology is driving a number of interesting advances in learning environments. The important thing for learning and development professionals to realize is that the basic understanding of how people learn and what it means to motivate learners does not change with technology. Now more than ever we need to know and put into practice evidence-based guidelines for developing instruction.

Well, my time blogging here at The Learning Circuits Blog is quickly coming to an end. It’s been a great time with some awesome discussions. So, I hope to meet a number of readers, commentors and lurkers in person at TechKnolwedge 2012 at the end of this week. If you are going to TechKnowledge 2012, stop by and say hello, I will be doing a number of different events and I love meeting new people as well as past, present, or future students. TechKnowledge 2012 Twitter GameFor the first part of the conference, I have co-created a game that is designed to increase conference learning and give attendees the opportunity to network with peers or play solo.In the game, you’ll hunt for answers to questions supplied by speakers by attending sessions and viewing session slides online and on the mobile app. The game card of questions can be found online www.tk12.astd.org/materials and on the mobile app under session number Game 1. Answers to the questions will be found in the session slides identified by a special icon. If you’d like to partner with others, use Twitter hashtag #TKgame at the conference.A debrief of the game as a learning experience will be held in the Tech Kafé on Thursday from 5:15-6:00 p.m.My TechKnowledge 2012 PresentationHere is a description of my session. It will be held on Wednesday, 1/25 11:00a.m.-12:15 p.m., Room Miranda 7/8. Please stop by and say "hello."What Research Tells Us About 3D Avatars, Storytelling and Serious Games for Learning and Behavior ChangeThis decidedly unacademic presentation provides a broad, scientific overview of what we know from research about the effectiveness of today’s technology for changing learner behaviors. We will discuss the use of 3D avatars to change learner behaviors; we will consider how playing a video game changes a person’s behavior and how storytelling helps learners memorize facts. We’ll answer questions like: Are two avatars better in an e-learning module than one? Does the appearance of an avatar impact the person when they’ve finished working with the avatar? Do serious games have to be entertaining to be educational? This exciting session shows you how to use the existing research literature in your own design and delivery of online learning. You will be provided with tips and techniques for matching research findings to your own e-learning design. We’ll move the concepts from research to practice. The presentation ends with a practical case study outlining how the research tips, techniques, and practices can be applied in a real-life online learning situation. Discover how research-based practices really fit in with today's fast-paced need for quick, effective online instruction.TechKnowledge 2012 Chats I am participation two TK Chats. One is about Gamification on Wednesday, 1/25 from 2:00-2:45 p.m. It will be a lively discussion with Rick Raymer, Koreen Olbrish,Kris Rockwell, and myself facilitated by Judy Unrein. This will be a fun and thought-provoking discussion. Join us for the controversy.The second might not be as controversial (or will it)? The topic is Instructional Design, which is as critical to what we do as professionals as you can get! With thought leaders like Ellen Wagner, Allison Rossett, and Steve Villachica and faciliated by Cammy Bean, it’s bound to be an engaging and thought-provoking review of the field and where it needs to go.

Well, finally getting back into the swing of things after a great conference in Las Vegas. The TechKnowledge 2012 was fun, educational and a great time.It started with me being on the same plane as Stevie Rocco who, among other things presented a creation station called Yippee! It's Free! Low- and No-Cost Tools for Training and Development. We had a great chat and discussion waiting for a cab...then she got in one cab, I got into another with a couple of other conference attendees and I never saw Stevie again at the conference, the irony is that we only live about an hour from each other and we had to travel clear to Las Vegas to see each other...ah the nature of conferences.Then I had some conference calls and went down to eat dinner by myself and ran into an alum of the program, Andy Shean who works at Success Factors. We had a great dinner and caught up with Bloomsburg happenings. The next day I caught up with all the great ASTD folks who run such an effective conference. Always a pleasure speaking at a conference where they take such good care of you!!!Then I did a presentation, you can obtain all the links at my TechKnowledge 2012 Presentation Resources post.Next, I had my book signing, THANKS CURT for stopping by...very much appreciated. Then off to my TK Chat on Gamification. Here I am on the panel with Kris Rockwell, Koreen Olbrish, Rick Raymer and myself. Then I was on a panel with some great ID professors, we didn't have many attendees but we had a lively and fun discussion. We had talked about holding the session in the bar, maybe next time.Here are Steve Villachica, Allison Rossett, me and Ellen Wagner acting a little stir crazy with all visions of ID dancing in our heads. Later I joined a couple of folks from Adobe including fellow professor Allen Partridge and Connie Malamed of The eLearning Coach and elearning Brother Andrew of eLearning Brothers, plus Beverly Roberts from Virginia Commonwealth University and author and owner of Artisan E-Learning Diane Elkins, Marcia Mendonca Lima Wright join us as well as Charles Welsh.Well this also concludes my blogging at Learning Circuits Blog, I had a great time and really enjoyed blogging here. Take care and keep on learning and designing great instruction with just the right amount of "gamification":)

Much thanks to Karl for guest blogging in January. He not only offered some insightful posts about how "gamification" is affecting the world of learning, he kept us abreast of happenings at ASTD TechKnowledge 2012.In February, the LC Blog invites Connie Malamed to take the helm. Connie is a frequent contributor to Learning Circuits, and has spoken at several ASTD events about the fields of online learning, information design, and visual communication. She is also the author of Visual Language for Designers, which presents visual design principles that are based on cognitive science. In other words, it explains how to design for the human mind—something that’s very important in e-learning.However, Connie is probably most well-known for The eLearning Coach (http://theelearningcoach.com), which is her own blog where she shares actionable strategies, practical content, product reviews, and resources to help practitioners design, develop, and understand online learning. Indeed, with degrees in Instructional Design and Art Education, she energetically pursues ways to improve instructional and information graphics.Following Karl’s lead, Connie promises to pass along to readers what she learned at ASTD TechKnowledge, as well as lend her thoughts on visual design and discuss current trends in our field.

When it comes to conferences, a better slogan would be, "What happens in Vegas should NOT stay in Vegas." If you're one of the fortunate people from your organization to attend a professional conference, how can you bring it back to the workplace so everyone can benefit?During sessions, keynotes, hallway conversations and after-hours discussions, many great ideas are tossed around. Don't let them stay in Vegas! Share them when you get back.Sharing what you've learned will not only benefit others in your workplace, it may help you take better notes and stay more organized during the conference. The pressure of knowing that you'll need to convey the best of the conference tends to help a person plan ahead.If you're ready to hone your leadership skills, here are ten ideas for how you can bring the conference back to work to share the knowledge gained with others.1. BLOG LIVE FROM THE CONFERENCEDo you enjoy being hunched over your keyboard and typing furiously? Then this approach is for you. Every so often, you'll see a session participant madly taking notes to capture the essence of a session. Often, this person is Cammy Bean, the Queen of Live Blogging. Check out her live blogging notes from TechKnowledge 2012 (scroll down to see all of her notes).2. GIVE BROWN BAG SEMINARSIf you work in a small organization, throw a series of brown bag seminars over the lunch hour to present and discuss some of your favorite sessions. Break down the silos and invite people from outside your department who might have an interest in a particular topic.3. OFFER A WEBINARIf your organization is large and geographically dispersed, consider presenting key teachings from the conference during one or more live webinars. Allow for questions and answers as well as discussion. If you don't currently own or subscribe to a webinar platform, this is the perfect time to try one out. There are usually 30-day free trials.4. SHARE THE BACKCHANNELThe backchannel typically refers to audience members using Twitter to share session points and to comment in real time. Backchannel curation refers to researching and gathering all the documentation regarding an event. It provides a way for people to attend a conference virtually, to catch up on missed sessions and to continue to learn after the event ends.You can curate the conference backchannel for interested people in your organization. Or you can rely on the King of Backchannel Curation, David Kelly, to do an excellent job. Here is his curated backchannel of TechKnowledge 2012.5. TRY POST-EVENT BLOGGINGNot interested in live blogging? Take judicious notes and then blog about what you've learned after the conference is over. If your organization doesn't have an internal blogging platform, consider a light blogging platform like Tumblr. It's very easy to get started. Then be sure to share posts with your peers.6. START SMALL GROUP CHATS Gather employees with common interests together and chat about issues and trends discussed at the conference. Let the conference topics be a starting point or stimulus for taking things further. Are employees spread around the world? Use Google+ Hangouts, which allows for free video chats of up to 10 people.7. SLIDESHARE ITUse SlideShare, Prezi or another online presentation tool to create a self-paced review of the best of the conference. This is a good way to reach out to employees around the world and to allow busy people to learn on their own schedule.8. SCHEDULE VENDOR DEMOSDid you connect with vendors who have products that could meet the needs of your organization? Most vendors provide in-person or virtual demonstrations. Schedule a few product demonstrations and invite experienced designers and developers to evaluate the products.9. ARRANGE Q&A WITH PRESENTERSMost presenters I know are passionate about their topics. That's one of the reasons they enjoy presenting. You might be able to arrange a webinar or teleseminar question and answer session with a presenter to go more deeply into their areas of expertise.Although an unscripted question and answer session is exciting, it's probably wise to gather some questions from your community ahead of time. Pass these on to the speaker so he or she can be well-prepared. This will allow the speaker to better understand the audience's main areas of interest. Then allow some time for impromptu questions and comments as well.10. START A BOOK CLUBMany speakers have written books or often suggest books for further reading during their presentations. They will also be able to recommend books in their area of expertise if asked to do so.A great way to bring a conference back to work and to continue learning is to gather a group of peers with similar goals and interests to read and discuss one book a month related to a presentation topic. Discussions can be face-to-face or online. Imagine how much you would learn in one year!Any other ideas?How do you bring the essence of a conference back to your workplace? Or if you're unable to attend a conference, how would you like others to share what they've learned?Connie Malamed (@elearningcoach) publishes The eLearning Coach, a website with articles, resources, reviews and tips for learning professionals. She is the author of Visual Language for Designers and the Instructional Design Guru iPhone app.

After TechKnowledge 2012, I was inspired to think again about the role that learning and development professionals can look forward to in the future. For those who remain flexible and partake in continuous learning, I think the 21st century will be filled with exciting opportunities.With cultural shifts slipping into the workplace, technologies changing at rapid speed, and an improved understanding of how adults learn, it's not surprising that many in our field are wondering what their training-related job might look like in the future.One thing seems nearly certain—as time passes, the role of the training professional and instructional designer will be transformed. This is why various titles for our new role are being suggested, such as "Learning Experience Designer" and "Learning Architect" (see review of Clive Shepherd's book, The New Learning Architect).There are many ways to imagine what will happen based on what is occurring today. One way to organize our thoughts about the future of the training and development professional is to think in terms of four roles that are based on how people learn, create, network, and collaborate. It seems feasible that all future roles could be based on this type of understanding, as represented in the diagram below.Possible future roles of the Learning and Development professional.Start with the core and work outward.Each role defined here moves progressively further away from the traditional course design role. Perhaps the individual Learning and Development (L & D) professional will fulfill several of these roles simultaneously.Design and Create Courses: This is currently the most well-used role in the L&D repertoire. It involves using a systematic process to design and develop (and sometimes teach) courses and supplementary materials, such as performance support tools, for a specific workforce. The range of methodologies for doing should continue to expand. Using anything from the ADDIE model and it's many adaptations, to Thiagi's Four Door Model to Rapid eLearning development, there are many organizations who will continue to require courses for compliance, new hire and other types of structured training.Enable Learning: In this role, the L&D professional provides opportunities for a motivated workforce to learn and grow. These opportunities may be structured or unstructured, but they need not be tracked and have a certain informality and free flow to them. For example, setting up communities of practice, putting on special events with experts and teaching interested employees about enterprise collaboration tools are all ways to enable learning.Support Learning: In this more learner-centric approach, employees choose how and when they need to learn, dependent on their job tasks and interests. They may use the L&D professional as a resource for getting the on-demand information and training to meet their personal needs. For example, an L&D professional could moderate an online community, work with IT to design a social network or ensure there are no obstacles in the way of employee's creating their own Personal Learning Environments.Be a Change Agent for Development: In this role, the L&D professional envisions and champions critical transformations that are necessary for an organization to move forward. Savvy L&D professionals will be able to see where obstacles exist and provide insight and leadership for implementing innovative solutions, particularly as they affect professional development.What do you think the future role of the training professional will be?Connie Malamed (@elearningcoach) publishes The eLearning Coach, a website with articles, resources, reviews and tips for learning professionals. She is the author of Visual Language for Designers and the Instructional Design Guru iPhone app.

eLearning and slide presentations are highly visual mediums. The visual clarity of screens and slides can have a big impact on learning. If you're unsure what to do and how to go about designing the visuals for a training environment, here are some quick tips that might help.1. Visual Design is Problem SolvingYou solve problems all day long and you're probably pretty good at it. Coming up with a visual design is no different than other problems you must solve. First, define the visual problem (identify the goal and constraints); get ideas by brainstorming, sketching and researching what others have done; make decisions (ideally with input from others); and find a way to execute your solution.2. The Screen or Slide is a CanvasYou're the painter. Think of the screen as a blank canvas. Don't let it be defined by an existing template. Start fresh by throwing away the standard approach with the title at the top and the content below. You might need it at times, but it will limit your potential solutions if you hang on to that approach at first.3. Try One Typeface with Varied StylesWithout studying typography, it's difficult to know what typeface to use for an eLearning course or a slide deck. You can simplify this decision by using only ONE typeface in a course. A typeface that has several styles. Certainly bold and italic are necessities, but also heavy and condensed styles add more options. Then consistently vary this one typeface, as appropriate, using different sizes, weights and colors for different purposes. Some of my favorites: Myriad Pro, Helvetica, Franklin Gothic, Garamond, Gill Sans, Futura and Times. 4. Use Proximity to Indicate RelationshipsWe organize our perceptions according to certain brain rules. One of these is the Law of Proximity. When elements are placed close together, we assume there is a relationship between the elements. Use proximity to indicate which elements are related to each other so learners will know they are part of a group. Avoid using proximity when elements are not related, so you don't give learners the wrong idea. 5. Personalize Your Design One way to give a design personality is to use a paper background for text or images. Don't overdo it, of course. For example, if you want to add a touch of informality, you might display text on a little note with masking tape or a paper with fold lines, as shown below. If you're going formal, perhaps a finely textured linen paper would work. Stock photo sites sell paper backgrounds or you can digitize one yourself. 6. Space is an Object TooThink of visual space as an element of design, similar to image and text. Space and form are the yin and yang of visual design; without one, you can't have the other. White space or negative space refers to the area between and around elements and between elements and the edge of the screen. Use white space to provide balance and clarity to your design. This makes it easier for learners to process the visual information.7. Let Characters Speak for YoueLearning courses tend to drone on. When it makes sense, switch it up and let characters (photos or avatar-types) do the talking.  You can use speech bubbles or just a connecting line to the text. When  characters speak, it transforms the content into a micro-story. Dialogue between two people, first-person statements or internal thoughts are usually better approaches to presenting information than didactic bullet points. (See Alternatives to Bullet Points for more on this.)8. Crop Photographs for FocusYour photographs will have more impact if you crop them to show only what's important. Most photos have extraneous visual information that may detract from your purpose. Examine each photo you use and identify where you want the viewer to focus. Then crop the photo so the focal point becomes predominant.9. Simplify Your Color PaletteThere's almost never a reason to go crazy with colors (I can't think of one, but I'm sure somebody will). Generally, using too many colors will confuse your learners, making it harder for them to focus on what's important. Simplify your palette to a few subdued and compatible colors. Then add one or two contrasting colors for accent and emphasis. 10. Repeat Elements to Unify a DesignA sense of unity will make your visual design feel like one integrated composition. One way to create this sense of integration is to repeat certain design elements. If you use some of the techniques in this article, repeat them in a consistent way. This creates a connection between the elements. The trick is to use visual repetition without getting boring.Keep practicing!Connie Malamed (@elearningcoach) publishes The eLearning Coach, a website with articles, resources, reviews and tips for learning professionals. She is the author of Visual Language for Designers and the Instructional Design Guru iPhone app.

David Kelly is a training director and internal learning and performance consultant. I first met David through Twitter. I was unable to attend last year’s mLearnCon, so I took to following the hashtag on Twitter. I quickly noticed that one person (@LnDDave) was compiling a lot of the information coming out of the conference. David was pulling so much information together that I thought he was at the event. Only later did I realize he was monitoring everything from afar, grabbing information from Twitter, the conference website, and blogs.That’s how I came to know David Kelly and his love of backchannel learning. If you don’t know David or are unfamiliar with backchannel learning, I suggest you check out his curated backchannels page, right now. David is doing something unique—for conferences he compiles all of the available content from a conference, including slides, presentations materials, relevant tweets, blog posts, pictures, and more and puts it all in one place. David is not only able to accurately live tweet the session he is in but also able to quickly scan and retweet other relevant tweets. If you’ve ever tried to do this, you know it’s a unique talent. If you’re unable to attend an event, combing through his backchannel material is the next best thing. I share his belief that this type of content curation is only going to become more and more important for learning professionals to understand and participate in.Over the next few weeks, David will be talking about Twitter and content curation—so please jump into the discussion.You can learn more about David over on his new, slick-looking website or by following him on Twitter @LnDDave.

Last week during a discussion about design, Jeanette Campos asked me a fairly is simple question: What are the three artifacts that have shaped you most as a designer of creative learning solutions to complex problems?Immediately one word came to mind: Twitter.  It isn't the tool itself that has been so impact full for me; it's the world to which Twitter opened up to me.I started my career as a learning and performance professional much the same way many in our field do: without any training or education on what it means to work in this field. It's a challenge for individuals and for the industry as a whole.  It leads to a "We do what we do because it's what's always been done in this organization" approach to training. It's also a big part of why much of what we commonly define as training is nothing more than information communicated by those with expertise.I recall those early years well. I read a number of books and took classes to educate myself on how "Training" was supposed to be done.  Still, I felt that there was something missing that I just couldn't put my finger on. It was like looking at a puzzle that was missing pieces, just enough so that you could not determine what the whole picture was supposed to be.Then I discovered Twitter. From that moment on, I have never looked at 'Training' the same, and each day the interactions I have on Twitter continue to shape me as a professional.To be fair, it was social media in general that enabled me to extend beyond the walls of my organization and connect with others externally in the field.  I am active on all the major social media channels, and they each have their strength and weaknesses. I find that Twitter has the audience and usage that best provides professional development support for those in our field. Connecting with the community of learning and performance professionals on Twitter exposed me to new ideas and possibilities that enabled growth that wasn't possible before, simply because I was unaware of the possibilities that existed.I connected with a few individuals at first.  Over time, that number slowly grew, and I started to become aware of a new type of network that has rapidly become one of the most important things in my life: my Personal Learning Network, or PLN.Wikipedia defines Personal Learning Networks as:A personal learning network is an informal learning network that consists of the people a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from in a personal learning environment. In a PLN, a person makes a connection with another person with the specific intent that some type of learning will occur because of that connection.An important part of this concept is the theory of connectivism developed by George Siemens and Stephen Downes. Learners create connections and develop a network that contributes to their professional development and knowledge. The learner does not have to know these people personally or ever meet them in person.Every learning and performance professional should have a PLN. These networks are, in my opinion, the single greatest source of professional development and support available. They expose us to new ideas and ways of thinking, they provide us with more targeted and qualified results than a search engine query, and they enable us to connect and share with peers and experts.  As the expression goes... None of us are as smart as all of us.  Personal learning networks powered by social media networks like Twitter allow us to tap into this collective knowledge in ways that simply wasn't possible before. A well-cultivated PLN can also be your most powerful search engine, surpassing Google or Yahoo.  When I am researching a learning and performance topic, my PLN is my primary research tool.  Instead of a Google search, I send a question out to my network, and quickly receive answers to my query that come from the minds and experience of individuals I have chosen to connect with.  In almost all cases, the resources shared by my PLN are better than those I am able to find from a standard Google search.So how does one build a personal learning network? In a word - participation.Search out people and topics that interest you and participate in discussions. Ask and answer questions.  One of my favorite ways to introduce newcomers to PLNs is to invite them to participate in one of the Twitter Chats for Learning And Performance Professionals. There are a number of other great ways to build your personal learning networks. For more suggestions, check out Nuts and Bolts: Building a Personal Learning Network (PLN) by Jane Bozarth and Build a powerful PLN by Steve Wheeler.The digital age has provided learning professionals with an amazing opportunity via personal learning networks; and as with most opportunities, this one comes with a risk. PLNs aren't just for learning professionals; it's representative of a fundamental shift in the way people learn. People all around the world are forming PLNs, most without even realizing it yet.  It's a natural evolution of our increasingly connected world. Put another way... It's the future of how the individuals whose performance we are responsible for supporting will learn.  As such, our roles will need to adapt to accommodate this shift.Over the next three weeks, I look forward to visiting this future with you, and exploring the new skills - like filtering and curating - that learning and performance professionals will need to add to their skill sets. Thanks for joining me for the ride.David Kelly is the director of training at Carver Federal Savings Bank and Member of the ASTD National Advisors for Chapters. He is also the author of the blog Misadventures in Learning, where he discusses the future of the learning field and curates the backchannel of learning conferences

In last week’s Learning Circuits, I explored how I use Twitter as a professional development tool, and explained how doing so has helped me build a personal learning network.  Personal Learning Networks (PLN) are, in many ways, both the past and the future of how people will learn.Training and formal education are important, but people have always learned more from sharing with each other informally.  Technology has finally reached a point where it is no longer a barrier to this sharing, and can actually amplify it.  The concept of a PLN is the natural evolution of this, enabling us to connect, share, and learn with others that historically were out of our reach. It enables us to reach across the globe as easily as we historically have peeked over the cubicle wall.But with the new technologies are new challenges.  I often tell people about the value of PLNs, and share tips on how to get started.  I notice a number of them taking the first steps towards building a PLN, but shortly thereafter abandoning the task. In almost all of the cases, the reasoning follows a common theme: being overwhelmed.It’s not so much that the technical mechanics of a tool like Twitter are challenging; it’s the world that Twitter opens up that can be overwhelming. The common metaphor for new Twitter users is that it’s like 'trying to take a drink from a fire hose'. There is so much information that trying to take it all in is impossible.This isn’t just a problem related to Twitter.  In today’s digital world where anyone can be a content creator, the amount of information that is available can be staggering. Various studies estimate that the amount of digital data that is stored doubles every 18 to 24 months. Which begs the question: In a world of ever-increasing data, how do people find what they are looking for? How can all of the ‘noise’ be blocked out? Returning to the Twitter example, how can I find people to connect with in an endless sea of unrelated tweets?It all comes down to a single word, a word that is a critical skill in the digital world: Filtering.Looking through random data to find the information you need is time consuming and inefficient. Individuals need to develop filtering skills to block out the noise of everything so that they only see the information they are looking for.Many applications have tools that can help with this. Let’s revisit personal learning networks and Twitter as an example.Thankfully, Twitter self-filters.  When you log into Twitter, your main feed will only show the tweets of those people you choose to follow.  However, that really isn’t enough. As the list of people you follow increases, and the reasons for following individuals varies, your main feed may quickly become disjointed.That’s where lists come in.If you access your profile from the Twitter home page, you’ll see an option for lists. Creating lists is an excellent way to filter the tweet stream. In the example below, I created a list called TwitterTips. Once the list is created, I can easily add individuals to the list via their profile. That way, if I am interested in reading tweets from people talking about Twitter tips, I can go to the list I created and the feed will filter down to just the accounts I added to that list.Another filtering option is to search for hashtags.  A hashtag is created when an individual adds a number sign before a word or series of characters. Twitter does not yet have a system where you can tag or categorize message.  When a user adds a hashtag, they are essentially adding some sort of category to a tweet.ASTD is a great example. If I search Twitter for the ‘ASTD’, I will see tweets related to employee learning. However, I will also see tweets from people using ‘ASTD’ as an abbreviation for the word ‘assorted’ (a common practice on EBay).  By placing the number sign in front (#ASTD), I am essentially searching on the category of ASTD. Many learning and performance professionals (including me) will add the #ASTD hashtag to tweets about our field because they know that people in the field are following the hashtag.Lists and hashtags used together are a great way to build your personal learning network. Following hashtags like #ASTD (or #lrnchat, another popular hashtag in the field) will get you exposed to other individuals you may want to follow and add to lists. This will filter the Twitter feed down to the information you find most valuable, and help you build a strong PLN.My first two Learning Circuits posts have focused primarily on building a personal learning network via Twitter.  However, the underlying concepts of this discussion apply to the work we do as learning professionals as well.People learn most from sharing informally with each other. Social media tools like Twitter enable us to take the informal learning that traditionally took place only face-to-face and amplify it to a global scale.  We are constantly learning from one another informally, and the pace is only increasing via social media.In a world where most learning is taking place informally, shared via social media tools that reside outside of LMS platforms, and are not tracked… what role does the learning and performance professional play?My next post focuses on that question, and introduces what I believe is the next core competency for learning and performance professionals: Curation.Thanks for reading - see you next week.David Kelly is the director of training at Carver Federal Savings Bank and Member of the ASTD National Advisors for Chapters. He is also the author of the blog Misadventures in Learning, where he discusses the future of the learning field and curates the backchannel of learning conferences 

As my recent post on reflection as a daily habit may suggest, I’ve been in a bit of a reflective mood lately, and one of the things on my mind is how I have tended to make the biggest learning "leaps" in my life. In so many cases they have had little to do with conventional education practices like sitting in a classroom or preparing for a test. So far, I have come up with six that seem to have impacted me most or that I know others who are passionate about learning have used. Here they are. One big caveat, though - all of these require you to be mindful and reflect if you really expect to get a lot out of them. 1. Leave One of the biggest barriers to learning and growing is simply staying in the same place for too long  - whether that means the same office, the same relationship, the same job, or the same country. I don’t advocate disloyalty or irresponsible quitting, but sometimes you just have to move on. For me, choosing to leave my first job and travel the world, and later to leave a high-paying job and start my first company were the beginnings of some of the most valuable learning experiences in my life. I think you see this strategy being pursued with vengeance through blogs like The Art of Nonconformity and Illuminated Mind. 2. Dare We rarely do anything to shake things up in our day-to-day life. That’s usually fine - no one wants to live in a state of constant disruption - but sometimes you have to push boundaries, go to extremes if you want to learn. You can do this in remarkably simple ways. For example, I love Tim Ferriss’ challenge in The 4-Hour Work Week to "eye gaze," or practice maintaining direct eye contact with everyone you meet. It’s amazing how uncomfortable an experience this can be, but it offers some great lessons in human nature. 3. Sit Of course, learning doesn’t have to be about radical change or disruption. As my previous post on making reflection a habit suggests, learning also comes to those who sit quietly. I have always been fascinated by the Zen practice of zazen, which involves concentration, introspection, but above all just sitting, often for very long periods of time. This can seem purposeless, and yet the practice of emptying the mind can bring great insight into the many ways we struggle and strive to fill it. 4. Switch Changing up some of your normal habits or environments can help reinvigorate your learning or create new learning experiences. And this doesn’t have to involve a great deal of effort. It might be as simple as leaving the office or classroom and getting outside. Or, try an experiment like doing everything left-handed for a day (assuming you are right-handed). Aside from it being incredibly awkward, you will also begin to notice just how biased the world is to right-handedness. At a much more involved level, my life will forever be changed by the first time I really had to use a language other than English to get by on a day-to-day basis. (Rostov-on-the-Don, Russia. Summer 1993.)  A switch that fundamental forces you to take notice of any number of things you otherwise take for granted. 5. Divest The Web is packed full of advice on how to declutter, streamline, and simplify your life. What most of this advice does not mention, though, is how much you can learn in the process. I chose the word "divest" for this one - as opposed to discard, or dispose, or cut, for example - because it is the opposite of invest. When you start to remove things from your life, you have to put thought into what you really are or are not invested in. You may be surprised by what you learn. 6. Imagine I heard Elizabeth Strout, author of the Pulitzer-prize winning Olive Kitteredge, speak recently and I was struck by her comments on a scene in the book in which the main character, Olive, ends up stealing her future daughter-in-law’s bra. Strout didn’t know ahead of time that this is how the scene would play out. She got there through imagining herself as Olive and developing an understanding of what Olive would do given the circumstances. Gifted fiction writers seem to use imagination in this way as a matter of course. So do kids up to a certain age. For the rest of us, this ability tends to weaken in adulthood or disappear altogether, but it can be a powerful tool for developing better understanding of a situation, empathizing, and problem solving. *** So, that’s what I have so far. How much do these resonate with you, and what other "under appreciated" strategies do you find helpful? Please comment and share your thoughts! Jeff P.S. - If you enjoy what you find here on Mission to Learn, I’d really appreciate it is you would subscribe by RSS feed or by e-mail. Thanks for visiting! Related posts:5 Powerful Reasons to Make Reflection a Daily Learning Habit, and How to Do It

The Twitter Tools plugin I use for generating these assorted edutweets posts has been acting kind of flaky lately. In fact, it hasn’t worked at all the past couple of weeks, so I was surprised when it suddenly generated this list. The list got auto-published before I could catch it, so I am going to go ahead an let it go. It’s a little shorter than usual, but there are some good things here. Learning in General RT @cashcat1969: What an excellent article on lifelong learning, Go Shaq! http://bit.ly/3LlvYT # RT @nytimeskristof: My latest column is up: http://tinyurl.com/r8xs7e : How to keep an open mind. (A skill every learner needs!) # Checking out World Lecture Project http://www.world-lecture-project.org # Language Learning RT @MireilleJansma: Wanted to list open ed resources for language learning … Wonderful resource! http://tinyurl.com/mkbr6u #languages # Free Online Courses Free courses at LatitudeU: http://bit.ly/10szc2 # RT @RobbDrury: Dotnet Thread: Check Out Ramp Up - a Free Online Learning Program http://bit.ly/VYyUl # Learning Games See also 36 Learning Games to Change the World: http://bit.ly/8wof1 # RT @zaidlearn: 88 FREE EduGames & The Ultimate Post-Saving Puzzle! http://bit.ly/J1v8W # rebecca’s pocket summer reading list first installment: http://bit.ly/4pOoZ # New Free Learning Monitor goes out tomorrow. Subscribe today to get the previous edition. http://www.missiontolearn.com/newsletter/ # Update to Learning Games for Change list. Now up to 36 (and counting) http://bit.ly/15nld0 #G4C # Conversations RT @siavogel: @MireilleJansma thanks for @missiontolearn. Following him now. Thanks so much, Sia! # @MireilleJansma Thanks so much for the #followfriday Mireille! in reply to MireilleJansma # Jeff Cobb Mission to Learn Powered by Twitter Tools.

Over the weekend I sent out the May edition of the Free Learning Monitor, Mission to Learn’s monthly digest of free and low-cost online learning opportunities. In my opinion, if you can’t find something in this edition that interests you, you need to check your pulse. To get the Monitor, visit the subscription page or use the form below (if you see it - it may not show up for e-mail and RSS subscribers). If you are not clear on what it’s all about, I encourage you to visit the archives. Bottom line, though, is that it is chock full of a wide range of free online learning experiences covering all sorts of topics. Please note: In order to comply with anti-spam regulations, the registration process requires two steps. After submitting this form, you will receive an e-mail confirmation. You must click the link in the e-mail to complete your subscription. Rest assured that I take your privacy very seriously. See the M2L Privacy Policy for full details, but the short of it is that I simply will not reveal your name and e-mail to anyone outside of Mission to Learn, and I myself will not use your name and e-mail for any other reason than sending this newsletter. So, please give the Free Learning Monitor a spin and let me know what you think. Many thanks! Jeff P.S. - The Monitor is a great vehicle for promoting Webinars, Webcasts, courses, learning communities, podcasts, educational blogs … you name it. If you have developed a learning experience that you feel should be mentioned in the Monitor, please contact Mission to Learn. I won’t guarantee that I will cover it in the Monitor, but then again I might (and usually do).

I’ve come across several bits of learning and leadership wisdom lately through Harvard channels, and I think they are worth sharing. These are from the world of business, but the lessons in them are highly applicable at the personal level for the lifelong learner. Check Your Ego The first is a blog post by John Baldoni, Never Let Your Ego Stop You from Learning, in which Baldoni argues that we must each understand how we best learn and use that understanding to drive our ongoing personal growth and development. Doing this requires a certain amount of courage. The courage to venture into the unknown and ask questions. As Baldoni puts it, "the best leaders are those that are never afraid to ask questions. Rather than a question being a sign of ignorance; it is admission ticket to learning as well as a good way to build rapport and trust with colleagues." (See also my recent Where Leaders Go to Learn.) Be prepared to fail - and learn In a Harvard Business IdeaCast, Use Failure to Grow Your Business, Rita McGrath discusses discovery-driven growth (from her book of the same name), an approach applicable in any environment where uncertainty is high and where assumptions about the course to take outweigh actual knowledge. Most businesses - and, I’d add, most human beings - are not wired very well to approach growth in this fashion. As McGrath puts it,  we tend to put a premium on being right and meeting goals rather than taking chances. Instead, she says, we should borrow the old Silicon Valley line and learn to fail fast, fail "cheap," and learn greatly from the experience. Again, she has organizations in mind, but the same idea applies on a personal level. Here’s the podcast. It’s about 10 minutes long. The opposite of practice makes perfect In another Harvard Business IdeaCast, Re-thinking the MBA, McGill professor Henry Mintzberg adds to his longstanding criticism of traditional MBA programs. The core of Mintzberg’s argument is simply that becoming a good manager and a good leader requires experience and an understanding of context. Most students in MBA programs arrive with relatively little experience and are taught a set of skills - primarily analytical in nature - with the idea that they will then be prepared to manage and lead in pretty much any context. That doesn’t work, says Mintzberg, and it can even be harmful because it creates a false sense of confidence. (See also my recent post on Learning in Context.) One highlight of this interview is Mintzberg’s indictment of the case study method (made famous, of course, by Harvard Business School itself).  In Mintzberg’s opinion, case studies are a highly superficial approach that often lead to decisions based on little real understanding of context.  As one glaring example, he points to well-known MBA George Bush as a practitioner of the case study approach: "Give me a twenty-page case and I’ll give you a war." I’ll leave you with the podcast to hear more about how Mintzberg feels management education should be approached, but the core idea here is that the mastery - if that is even the right word - of complex activities like management and leadership requires a great deal of practice and experience. There is not a list or curriculum of "best practices" that can substitute for actual practice. There are no short cuts. Again, while the podcast is focused on the world of business, the lessons it offers about learning are much more broadly applicable. Here is the podcast. It is about 12 minutes long. As always, I welcome comments. Jeff Cobb Mission to Learn P.S. If you enjoy what you read here on Mission to Learn, I encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feed or use the e-mail subscription form at the top right side of this page.

If you are on a Mission to Learn, chances are pretty good that you are a philosopher in the truest sense - someone who loves knowledge. But maybe you haven’t thought about yourself that way or spent much time studying Philosophy with a capital "P." If not, I recommend checking out The Philosophy Podcast from LearnOutLoud.com, and in particular, Discovering the Philosopher in You, a freebie from the Modern Scholar audio library featured in the latest episode of The Philosophy Podcast. Here’s the rundown: In this lecture, Professor Colin McGinn deciphers what we mean when we say we ‘know’ something to be true. He traces the history of philosophical skepticism, giving the listener several historical arguments for the theory of knowledge, touching on arguments made by the likes of Plato, Descartes and other important philosophers. Download File - 16.1 MB Listen To This Podcast (Streaming Audio) The The Philosophy Podcast, which has been a standard selection on my iPod for some time now, also offers audio excerpts from a range of major philosophical works. And LearnOutLoud’s free directory offers more than 2000 free audio and video titles for the lifelong learner.Check it out today. Jeff Cobb Mission to Learn

I sent out a tweet on this one, but Clark Aldrich’s brief post on Four Intellectual Traps for Understanding Learning merits a blog post as well, IMHO. In it, Clark calls out the following as not (wholly) useful for learning: 1. School 2. Books, magazines, and movies 3. Professional (or other highly structured) sports 4. Computer games I refer you to the post itself for more detail - and the promise of more to come. Jeff Cobb Mission to Learn

I watched the excellent Century of the Self series some time ago (I think at the suggestion of Maki), but recent ponderings and events have brought it back to mind (more on those at a later time). If you aren’t familiar with it, Century of the Self is a fascinating four-part documentary series that explores the influence of Sigmund Freud and his nephew, Edward Bernays, on modern life, particularly in the areas of public relations, advertising, and politics. Really, it is a must see if you want to have a better grasp of the types of influence at play in all parts of our lives. And yes, that certainly includes learning! Below is the first installment of the series. And here are the links to all four parts: Century of the Self, Part I, Happiness Machines Century of the Self, Part II, The Engineering of Consent Century of the Self, Part III, There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads: He Must Be Destroyed Century of the Self, Part IV, Eight People Sipping Wine in Kettering It’s a bit of a time commitment to watch all of these, but I think you will find it is time well spent. Trust me Jeff Cobb Mission to Learn P.S. - If you enjoy what you read here on Mission to Learn, I encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feed or use the e-mail subscription form at the top right side of this page.

Open Culture highlighted this one a couple of weeks ago, but having since spent some time on it, I wanted to make sure to point it out to Mission to Learn readers. UniversitiesandColleges.org’s Master List of Free Language Learning Resources is indeed an impressive list of courses, podcasts, and iPhone applications covering a wide range of languages. If you are out to pick up or brush up on a language, it is a great starting place. One of the things I like about the list - and a large part of the reason that I mention it here - is that the author has done a good job of organizing the resources. Too often these kinds of lists are purely about quantity in an effort to attract links. In this case, however, an initial table of contents is provided along with additional navigational tools for locating the language and resource of interest. Here’s a screen shot from the courses section to give you an idea of what I mean: If learning a language online, on you iPod, or on your iPhone is part of your summer learning plan, definitely take a look at this list. And also check out the range of language learning resources here on Mission to Learn. Jeff Cobb Mission to Learn

RT @russeltarr: SqoolTube Educational Videos (RT @dianadell): http://tinyurl.com/nhqne2 #learningmonitor # Good post by Michele Martin on info literacy and habits of mind: http://bit.ly/xxSbn # Good resources for learning philosophy from Open Culture: http://bit.ly/8hYrG # Huge visual list of educational Web apps - http://edu.allmyfaves.com/ - via Downes - http://bit.ly/e6L1b # New serious game from Gotham Gazette. Getting on the ballot in NYC: http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/issueoftheweek/20090707/200/2961 # 50 Open Courseware classes on fitness and nutrition: http://bit.ly/8n5O5 #learningmonitor # 100 Lectures from the World’s Top Scientists via @openculture http://bit.ly/vfvnJ #learningmonitor # RT @ResearchChannel: Is your food safe? Explore issues surrounding food quality and safety: http://ow.ly/gB7C #learningmonitor # Learn English with King of Pop Michael Jackson: http://bit.ly/GUg2B # Twine: free tool for authoring branching stories (viaAldrich): http://bit.ly/14lV5y # Studies suggest video games improve recall, speed: http://bit.ly/CLiwA # Properly hydrated brains seemingly work better: http://bit.ly/17NjGh # Do Brain Trainer Games and Software Work? Bulk of research "murky" http://bit.ly/FFhl3 # A visual explanation of Skype. Nice short video from Say It Visually! : http://bit.ly/tP7WM # @peggyhoffman Thanks for the tweet re: learning a language, Peggy! # A new Learning Monitor comes out at noon eastern today. Subscribe now and you will get last month’s and the new one: http://bit.ly/nBQ1c # Atlas Obscura: A Compendium of the World’s Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica http://atlasobscura.com/ #learningmonitor # Blogging for nonprofits: tips, traps, and tales ($35), July 9 http://bit.ly/ONpv2 #learningmonitor # Free Webinar from Ancestry.com, July 8 Genetic Genealogy Made Easy: http://bit.ly/x7As0 #learningmonitor # RT @rjleaman: Great slideshare presentation from @c4lpt : Twitter Workshop http://tinyurl.com/my58zk #learningmonitor # How to garden videos from http://www.bewaterwise.com: http://www.bewaterwise.com/video_01.html #learningmonitor # Introduction to Strategic Sustainable Development: http://bit.ly/WV3Tx #learningmonitor # RT with corrected hashtag: Free online writing courses: http://bit.ly/XKNky #learningmonitor # Free audio seminars from the Hadley School for the Blind: http://bit.ly/o9ZsX #learningmonitor # Free online writing courses: http://bit.ly/XKNky #learning monitor # Free couponing 101 course. Save money with coupons: http://www.choystercash.com/ecourse.html #learningmonitor # Science made simple - everything you need for winning science fair projects: http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/ #learningmonitor # Free online math courses for teachers: http://bit.ly/RBIm7 #learningmonitor # 20 Free English Language and Literature Courses from EFL Geek: http://bit.ly/2h1gw #learningmonitor # TechSoup’s Roadmap to Microsoft Training Resources recorded Webcast: http://bit.ly/OL1S5 #learningmonitor # Free online financial education program from the FDIC: http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/moneysmart/mscbi/mscbi.html # New M2L post on free, collaborative language learning sites: http://bit.ly/FhCvk # Educational game for Japanese language. Low cost, free trial: http://nihongoup.com/ # Naps, learning, and REM (not the band http://bit.ly/lktKK # Free brain fitness Webinar, July 21: http://bit.ly/1a5Key # The Power of Brain Plasticity: http://bit.ly/tkAW8 # Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/15522 # Just noticed that Evernote has introduced shared notebooks. Good stuff. http://bit.ly/CePEO # Learning via Self-Experimentation: http://bit.ly/JnJnj # 30 Days (is enough time to build a habit): http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/30-days/ # Four intellectual traps for understanding learning: http://bit.ly/eHOpr # 25 Edu Blogs Worth Reading: http://bit.ly/DX7De # 5 Ways You Can Support Self Education on the Web: http://bit.ly/2hrr3 # Brief listing of some nice resources -Digital Literacy and Information: http://bit.ly/E7ctj # From Zaid: Use Google Translator To Translate OER Into 47 Languages! http://bit.ly/E9tUD # @npmaven Thanks for the RT and for alerting me to #nonprofit in reply to npmaven # Thanks for the RT re: A Lifelong Learning Guide Post! - http://tinyurl.com/lpnxcp # New from Mission to Learn: A Lifelong Learning Guide Post - http://www.missiontolearn.com/blog/2009/06/lifelong-learning-guide-post/ # Learning by playing: http://personalmba.com/learning-play/ # @russeltarr Many thanks for the tweet on 25 Free Online Resources for Lifelong Learners: http://bit.ly/16gUHM in reply to russeltarr # 25 Free Online Resources and Web Apps for Lifelong Learners: http://bit.ly/16gUHM # 5 Ways Gaming May Transform the Future of Health and Wellness: http://bit.ly/1rfwb9 # Will Higher Education Be the Next Bubble to Burst? http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i37/37a05601.htm # 25 Free Online Resources and Web Apps for Lifelong Learners: http://bit.ly/16gUHM # As Downes suggests, understanding how persuasion/influence works is a critical skill for the 21st century learner: http://bit.ly/73lsl # Seth on textbooks, "more mail about this post than any other post ever" - and a good link for Flatworld Knowledge. http://bit.ly/SwgMg # @etalbert belated thanks for your tweet re: Revisiting Learning 2.0 ebook free http://bit.ly/13sCDs in reply to etalbert # New version of Re-Mission Game For Cancer Patients planned: http://bit.ly/FYQ0D # Meditate for a bigger brain: http://bit.ly/18JmJh # Brain Scientists Identify Links between Arts, Learning http://bit.ly/uXPXX # @nytimeskristof in today’s NYTimes, good as always, on race, genetics, IQ -evidence from three groups http://tinyurl.com/ogqnx3 # @brasst Thanks for the tweet re: 36 Learning Games for Change http://tinyurl.com/d6vorl via http://www.diigo.com/~brasst in reply to brasst # @lutzland Thanks for the tweet re: the Howard Rheingold Social Media Classroom podcast! http://bit.ly/15tiqR in reply to lutzland # @online_experts Thanks for the tweet/post on the free Leaning 2.0 for Associations eBook. http://tinyurl.com/r5lm6b in reply to online_experts # 50 Awesome Ivy League Lectures All About the Future: http://bit.ly/1jFCZ #freelearningmonitor # Surviving the World: Daily Lessons in Science, Literature, Love, and Life: http://survivingtheworld.net/ #freelearningmonitor # Wikinomics guy Don Tapscott on the demise of the university: http://bit.ly/4DnbL # New Mission to Learn post: 35+ Free Online Business Education Sites. http://bit.ly/16mVDY # Checking out Coaching Ourselves: http://www.coachingourselves.com/ # Write a Life Mission (to Learn?) Statement: http://bit.ly/58hXX # Free "Gaming in Libraries" course: http://www.gamesinlibraries.org/course/ # UN announces launch of world’s first tuition-free, online university. Via Open Education News: http://bit.ly/Esbkk # @searchhashtags Thanks for spreading the word! More where that came from in the Free Learning Monitor! http://bit.ly/15uNki in reply to searchhashtags # May edition of the Free Learning Monitor is out. Subscribe now (free) and you’ll get April as well. http://bit.ly/15uNki # Powered by Twitter Tools.

A recent posting on Brand Autopsy featured the following quote from Jeffrey Pfeffer’s What Were They Thinking?: Unconventional Wisdom About Management: Instead of sitting in meetings and spending time preparing fancy PowerPoint presentations, develop your strategy adaptively, by using your company’s best thinking at the time, learning from experience, and then trying again, using what you have learned. Under almost all circumstances, fast learners are going to outperform even the most brilliant strategists who can’t adapt. (p. 170) Aside from resonating with parts of my own work experience right now, the quote struck me as a nice intersection between the musings about social media that have been going on over on the Acronym blog and the criticisms of strategic planning consistently voiced by Jamie Notter and Jeff De Cagna. (For a potential starting point see, for instance Notter’s Strategic Planning is Killing Us and De Cagna’s follow up Three Reasons Why Strategic Planning is Killing Us.) One of the great enticements of social media is that many of the technology tools to support it are free, and it is thus quite easy to dive into with little forethought. That will happen at some organizations, while at other organizations decisions about whether to embrace social media will get bogged down in long meetings and PowerPoint. Neither approach is likely to produce success. Few management teams or boards are going to be able to figure our how social media can best benefit their organization by holing up in a meeting room and hashing out all the possibilities. On the other hand, simply diving in without tying efforts back to a clear sense of strategy and an organizational commitment to learn from the experience usually doesn’t work either. Notter and De Cagna’s approach to strategy, at least as far as I understand it, is a much more iterative approach than has been used traditionally by associations or most other organizations. For organizations that want to successfully embrace social media, an iterative approach is essential. Start with a clear set of strategic assumptions and a commitment to learn, dive in and experiment with the social media tactics that seem to make most sense strategically, and then adapt strategy, tactics, or both as needed. (I know—easy to write, much harder to do.) JTC No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Right around the time of my critique of Andrew Keen’s article in Associations Now last week I received notice from the Development Gateway of its new OER Introduction Booklet.  This seemed like good fodder for a posting that might continue the counter argument against Keen’s elitist line of thinking. Zaid Ali Alsagoff, however, has already discussed the new OER booklet in a post on Zaidlearn and followed it with another excellent post on open educational resources earlier this week. This is one of those occasions where I think it is best for me to simply point to the good work of another blogger. Related to OER, however, I will mention that I have continued (and will continue) to add to my original posting, OER - Open Educational Resources, as I’d like to try to centralize the bulk of the OER resources I collect on this site for easier access. One resource I came across recently (though it is not a new resource) is a video of Richard Baraniuk, from Rice’s Connexions project, speaking in February 2006 on open source learning. His talk is titled "Goodbye, textbooks; hello, open-source learning." It is embedded below for those reading this on the Mission to Learn site. Those reading in an RSS reader can link to it on the TED site. The slides from the Baraniuk presentation (or something close to them) are available in PDF form. Obviously, the vision that Baraniuk presents here continues not only at Connexions, but also in the many other places that Zaid has highlighted in his posts. JTC No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

A while back I briefly mentioned Yochai Benkler’s The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom and Paul Hawken’s Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming in a posting that suggested the dynamic of serendipity, and ultimately, order that seems to emerge from the blogosphere (Connections and Comparisons: The Wealth of Blogs). Both Benkler and Hawken have continued to pop up on my radar screen with some frequency, but this week they happened to pop up again at nearly the same time and again in a somewhat related way. First, I came across (via Downes, via Federman) the following video of Hawken speaking at the Bioneers 2006 conference (just click this link if you don’t see a video below). It is right around six minutes long and offers a good general overview to the premise of Blessed Unrest. Second, as I was catching up on my blog reading, I came across a posting on elearnspace that pointed to an interview with Yochai Benkler on Jason Kottke’s blog. I particularly liked the following from Benkler on the scope, quality, and ultimately, value of information on the Web: The probability that any newspaper, however well-heeled, will be able to put together the kind of legal analytic brainpower that my friend Jack Balkin has put together on his blog, Balkinization, is zero. They can’t afford it. On the other hand, even the Weekly World News is tame and mainstream by comparison to the quirkiness or plain stupidity some people can exhibit. The range is simply larger. That’s what it means to have a truly diverse public sphere. If you want to find evidence of nonsense, as of course it is important to people whose sense of self-worth depends on the special role traditional mass media play in the public sphere, you will easily find it. If you want to find the opposite, that too is simple. What’s left is to wait and see over time whether one overwhelms the other. As I wrote in the book, I do not think we are intellectual lemmings. I don’t think we jump over the abyss of drivel, but rather that in this environment of plenty we learn to develop our own sense of which is which, and where to find what. Perfect information about all the good things, we won’t have. But we don’t have it now either. Instead we have new patterns of linking, filtering, recommendation, that allow us to do reasonably well in navigating a much more diverse and interesting information environment than mass media was able to deliver. This, of course, brought to mind my recent critique of Andrew Keen’s article in Associations Now. Keen’s thinking, in my opinion, goes against the idea of "a truly diverse public sphere" and the elitist approach to information gatekeeping and expertise he favors is a force against the type of movement that Hawken describes. Fortunately, it is not enough of a force to hold the movement back—a point made clear by the continually scrolling screen of more than 130,000 organizations loosely united to created the "blessed unrest" that Hawken describes. A bit of added serendipity: Mark Federman, whose blog was on the path to the Hawken video, also features a critique of Keen that is well worth reading. As Federman puts it, Keen’s argument "is problematic twenty-five ways to Sunday." He goes on to identify four specific problems with it. I also like Harold Jarche’s comment on the posting that "the amateur can afford to lose, and is therefore open to criticism as part of his or her development." One final bit of serendipity: In my original Connections and Comparisons posting I specifically pointed to blogger David Sabol as someone whose thinking seemed to be running parallel to mine that week. In the time since then, Dave’s wife was in a very serious car accident, and he has been focused on the challenges of caring for her and their son. Naturally, this meant putting aside blogging for a while. Last week, however, the postings started back up at Associated Knowledge. Those of us who are regular readers are glad to have Dave back. JTC No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

According to a recent study out of U. Mass Dartmouth, it is clear that …charitable organizations are outpacing the business world in their use of social media. Seventy-five percent of the charitable organizations studied are using some form of social media including blogs, podcasts, message boards, social networking, video blogging and wikis. More than a third of the organizations are blogging. Forty-six percent of those studied report social media is very important to their fundraising strategy. I am a bit late to the newsroom on this one. Marketing Pilgrim mentioned it in mid-November, and I noticed it on Beth Kanter’s blog as I was catching up on my reading this weekend. Still, it seems notable enough to be worth noting again. And besides, it helps me point to a handful of other things. First, a big qualifier for this report: it focuses on the 200 largest charities in the U.S, and the business comparison group is the Inc. 500. In other words, this is what’s going on in the big leagues. Two of the Forbes 200—the American Red Cross and the Alzheimer’s Association—showed up as examples in a recent presentation on Learning 2.0 that I did. It was obvious (and not surprising) in gathering examples for that presentation, that big organizations were the easiest place to look. As Beth notes in her posting, a study earlier this year by the Overbrook Foundation  paints a less optimistic picture of Web 2.0 (meaning primarily social media) adoption by nonprofits. Here is some of the most telling language in the summary from the Overbrook report: Organizations are frantically raising money and do not feel that they have time to stop and think about how they work, how they engage their constituents, and what the most appropriate approaches to social media are for them. This leads to a culture of pushing the new tools away because the groups don’t know enough about them, don’t have the staff to explore and learn about them, and are working in environments that are often on the wrong side of the digital divide. As one participant in the group discussions said, "I think I’m missing something really big, but I don’t know what it is or how to find out what it is." Sound familiar? The Overbrook Foundation report focuses specifically on human rights organizations, and the size of the nonprofits involved cover a much wider range than is exemplified by the top 200 nonprofits. Not that large charities are immune from the type of culture described above, but certainly it is more entrenched in smaller charities—and for that matter, smaller associations that are scrapping for members, or small businesses that are obsessed with cash flow. I’ve seen the same thing happen with online learning. Taking a look through the Forbes list of the Top 200 charities, I can pick out dozens that I know have substantial e-learning initiatives underway. Not as true among smaller nonprofits, though fortunately there is evidence that the situation is changing—probably due in no small part to decreasing costs and increased usability of e-learning software, and to at least some extent, the growth of the open educational resources movement. Much of what is available in the social media world has the advantage over early (and most current) e-learning software options of being free. And certainly groups like TechSoup are doing great work supporting social media usage by smaller nonprofits. Still, I see so many small organizations struggle with social media opportunities or miss out on them entirely. I’m greatly heartened that a good model seems to be developing in the big leagues, but given that there are more than a million nonprofit organizations out there right now (see the National Center for Charitable Statistics for numbers) -most of them quite small—I’m certain there is still plenty of work to be done. JTC No related posts. Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.