Podcast Discussing Learning and Networking with a Blog

It was interesting to listen to beginning portion of the podcast Straight Talk with Bob Phillips where they discuss my article in T&D Learning and Networking with a Blog. From their post:

In the opening segment, Aaron and I talk about Tony Karrer’s article in T&D magazine, Learning and Networking with a blog. Here is a post on Tony’s site that gives some resources that were cut from the final article. We also talked about how his blog has some interesting posts on personal learning environments (PLE’s). The other person I mention is Michele Martin at The Bamboo Project. Her posts about PLE’s have transformed how I use and think about the web for my own professional development.

Free Online Conference - Corporate Learning: Trends and Innovations

I'm helping George Siemens to organize a free, online conference - Corporate Learning: Trends and Innovations, Nov. 15 - 20, 2007. The conference will be held fully online (with live presentations and asynchronous discussions). There's an exceptional group of speakers/discussion leaders including:

• David Snowden
• Jay Cross
• Rebecca Stromeyer
• Richard Straub
• Clark Quinn
• Donald H. Taylor
• Janet Clarey
• David Wilson
• Bill Bruck
• George Siemens, and
  
• Tony Karrer :)

Conference details are still coming together. Stay tuned to the Wiki for details and go to the registration page to register and sign up for the newsletter to get updates.

In fact, part of the fun of the conference is that it will be a blend of a traditional conference with notable speakers, an unconference with discussion sessions based purely on the interests and questions of attendees, online discussion, etc. We've tried to take into account some of the main ideas from better conferences. What's interesting is that many of the ideas are easier to implement for an online conference.

The conference is free, registration is required.

Duke Corporate Education and TechEmpower (my company) are sponsoring and assisting in organizing the event.

It's an exciting opportunity to discuss current trends and innovations in corporate training environments around the world...

If you have thoughts or ideas on what would make this a great event, please provide ideas.

Thomas Davenport and Blogging - He is Wrong!

I've been slowly making my way through Thomas Davenport's book Thinking for a Living - How to Get Better Performance and Results from Knowledge Workers. It's quite a good book, and I really like how Davenport structures his positions and structures the topic as a whole. But, wow, there was one part that just ... arg ... well here it is ...

Partisans of blogging argue that there are many potential business applications of the technology (and they discuss these applications in their blogs!). But I believe that blogging falls into the unproven category ... at the moment it's a tool for individuals to express their somewhat random musings. I know of no organization in which the benefits of blogging have been measured. Perhaps the biggest problem for blogging is the time it takes to read and write blogs. If anything this tool has detracted from productivity, not increased it. ... Bill Ives argues that his own blog is really a vehicle for managing his own personal knowledge. If this particular use of blogs caught on broadly, it could represent a new approach to organizational knowledge management.

Yikes! This tool has "detracted from productivity." It's interesting that earlier in the book Davenport was careful to say that he really wasn't talking productivity as much as he was talking about performance and results.

It's somewhat shocking for me to see him miss the value proposition of Blogging as a Learning and Networking tool. I agree with Bill Ives that a blog, properly used, can become an integral part of your personal work and learning environment.

Also there's some irony here. Later in the book, Davenport discusses the importance of the use of networks as part of problem solving. He even discusses the use of social software. But somehow he doesn't get that blogging is a fantastic networking tool. And ironically:

The person he uses as his example, Bill Ives, I've met through blogging!!!

Yes, it's a weak tie. But certainly is good enough that I'd invite him to have a beer anytime I was in the neighborhood and absolutely if I have a question that falls in Bill's areas of expertise, I would ask him his thoughts. Better yet, I might ask in my blog, and there's a fair chance he might respond.

Finally, as people begin to blog and it captures their ideas, thoughts, what they've read, done, etc. it becomes a wonderful resource for any organization to leverage as part of larger knowledge management solutions. If anyone should recognize this, you would think that Davenport would.

Overall, it was disappointing to see this paragraph. This also tells me that it's going to be hard to convince people of the value of blogging if Thomas Davenport sees it as a detractor.

eLearning Defined

Richard Nantel was nice enough to point us to a set of glossaries for eLearning related terms:

• E-Learning Glossary (Brandon Hall Research)
• E-Learning Essentials | E-Learning Glossary (World Wide Learn)
• E-Learning Mega Glossary (e-Learning Guru)
• Learning Circuits Glossary (Learning Circuits)
• Distance Learning Glossary (eLearners.com)

Since I recently was discussing the meaning of eLearning (or is it e-Learning?), so I decided to look at the different definitions of eLearning in the various glossaries:

eLearning / E-Learning - learning that is accomplished over the Internet, a computer network, via CD-ROM, interactive TV, or satellite broadcast.

eLearning / E-Learning - Broad definition of the field of using technology to deliver learning and training programs. Typically used to describe media such as CD-ROM, Internet, Intranet, wireless and mobile learning. Some include Knowledge Management as a form of e-learning. Took awhile for the right term to come about, circa 1995 it was all called "Internet based Training", then "Web-based Training" (to clarify that delivery could be on the Inter- or Intra-net), then "Online Learning" and finally e-learning, adopting the in vogue use of "e-" during the dot com boom. The "e-" breakthrough enabled the industry to reaise hundreds of millions from venture capitalists who would invest in any industry that started with this magic letter.

eLearning / E-learning (electronic learning): Term covering a wide set of applications and processes, such as Web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual classrooms, and digital collaboration. It includes the delivery of content via Internet, intranet/extranet (LAN/WAN), audio- and videotape, satellite broadcast, interactive TV, CD-ROM, and more.

eLearning / e-Learning - Any learning that utilizes a network (LAN, WAN or Internet) for delivery, interaction, or facilitation. This would include distributed learning , distance learning (other than pure correspondence ), CBT delivered over a network, and WBT . Can be synchronous , asynchronous , instructor-led or computer-based or a combination.

Hmmm ... this wasn't very satisfying since they mostly focus us on traditional forms of training, interaction or facilitation delivered in an electronic form. In my discussion, we were talking about tools that support understanding what actions are needed, coming up with action plans, tracking those plans, working with others on them, follow-up. This only makes sense in an eLearning world. But, it's not really content delivery. To me, this is certainly part of eLearning.

However, I'm not sure what the dividing line becomes? How do you separate knowledge management from eLearning? What about using search to find information? That can be part of learning. Is that eLearning?

Making Learning with an LMS Fun? Help Needed!

Got a question from a reader - (and I love questions) - but this time I think I need help with suggestions. Here's the question:

I am the Manager of Education and Training in a non-profit that serves homeless youth and whose mission is to get the kids off the streets by offering services which include getting their GED. Grants demand accountability on success rate and outcomes of our GED teaching process. As a non-profit, buying an LMS program that would track our GED students in math, writing, reading, social sciences and science would be extraordinary. Our need is also to make the learning process fun! How can we both have a system which engages the student and tracks their academic progress?

Any recommendations?

Introduction to Wikis, Blogs, Social Bookmarking, Social Networking and RSS

As background for an upcoming presentation, I wanted to create a page that provides background resources that explain various eLearning 2.0 tools. I immediately thought of the Common Craft videos. I've embedded them below.

Are there other good introductory resources? How about for blogs?

Social Bookmarking



Social Networking



Wikis



RSS

Social Networking

I've run across a couple of interesting posts recently that seem to have spawned from a Business Week article - Scaling the Social Web. The article tells us that various players are adding social networking features to their sites:

A broad array of online players, from major media companies like Viacom to e-commerce providers such as eBay, are adding networking features to their online destinations, letting users create detailed Web identities, connect with people over common interests, share content, and, above all, socialize.

Hmmm ... how is this new? Hasn't eBay had social networking features for a long time? Granted they are being enhanced, but still. And doesn't Flickr (images), del.icio.us (bookmarks), etc. all have a social networking aspect to them?

The point is that its probably natural for lots of sites to have social networking type features and functions for visitors. This is something we are commonly doing on sites today. You certainly need to ask the question, but again, I'm not sure this is new. It's more that sites are recognizing the value proposition.

The article does point out that as many more sites add social networking features, the issue of everyone dealing with many different split social networks is going to be problematic. Unless I'm really passionate about the content or site, I'm personally not going to bother with the social networking aspects. But, if your content or your audience is particularly passionate, you really need to consider providing the capability.

But I've found myself a bit unsure about some of the responses this article has generated. For example, in Social Networking is a feature, not a destination, Chris Anderson tells us:

I'm sure huge and generic social networking destinations will continue to do well, but I'm placing my bet on the biggest impact coming when social networking becomes a standard feature on all good sites, bringing community to the granular level where it always works best.

I sort of agree. Certainly, niches offer an opportunity to leverage social networking capabilities, but I think that there are really big risks right now for any site because you need critical mass and passion to be successful. I actually think that Facebook and Ning are heading in the right direction by becoming platforms for social networking solutions. I'm not sure if these are going to win or if something a bit lower level will win, but someone has to provide a means for us to share our profile and social network activity across our niche sites so that we can lower the barrier of participation. Thus, the platforms are going to be the big winners. The rest of us will build off of it. This avoids the The joys of re-entering data!

George Siemens agrees with my assessment about the need for platforms or aggregation, but tells us in Scaling the Social Web that as for the large social networking sites, he's:

tried them all (facebook, myspace, bebo, orkut, linkedin, twitter, etc.) and then resume the more ad hoc mixture of blogs I've been using for many years. Quite simply, social networking sites require a high level of commitment.

Again, I'm not so sure I agree. Facebook maybe represents a new way to stay in touch with folks, but it doesn't take much time and it really becomes a different way to email. LinkedIn requires even less ongoing work and is a FANTASTIC resource when you are looking for expertise. It's somewhat a fire and forget. Sure you can get sucked in and waste a bunch of time, but these tools mostly provide value for very little time invested.

I agree with George around blogs being a great learning and networking tool. But, its quite a different thing from social networking tools.