Learning, Technology & Change

As part of our user conference we're having a discussion of what we can learn from the world of social media when implementing a knowledge management initiative. I think there's a huge opportunity to learn from Social Media, not just with regards to knowledge management. Usability, collaboration, flattening hierarchies, wisdom of the crowds, openness. Some of the basic ideas of social media. So what better way to explore the idea than to use social media? Sort of social media On Social Media. Not a unique concept - just go on del.icio.us and see how many people tag pages with " del.icio.us. " So we'll start with this post. This will probably turn into a series of posts to help clarify some ideas. I'll post some questions in some other areas and see what comes up.

Most of what's discussed on instructional design is toward the ideal scenario. What Should we be producing. In the ideal world we're talking about an immersive unique experiential environment. This becomes half-systematic and half-creative exercise. I'm looking for ways to work this into our current design methodology, creativity comes at a very tangible price. The implementation becomes considerably longer when we don't use a cookie cutter approach software rollouts don't always allow for such timelines. Clients are generally pleased with the end result. True ROI on learning, and testing of retention is not done as often as we'd like - why? again, because it's not in the budget. It's refreshing to hear Cammy represent this same train of thought http://learningvisions.blogspot.com/2008/03/e-learning-project-reality-guerrilla.html

You can do a good thing but just ordering a glass of water. Cara foods is involved in a great project with Unicef. The Tapproject.ca is about having customers donate 1$ for each glass of tap water in order to help unicef provide access to safe drinking water and sanitation for over 90 countries. From the website: It's our single most bountiful resource. Yet, water is a daily privilege millions take for granted. The little known truth is that lack of clean and accessible drinking water is the second largest worldwide killer of children under five. Cara restaurants are Swiss Chalet, Harvey's, Milestones, Montana's & Caseys. So do some good, go have a drink! A great way to promote awareness raise some money. Besides drinking bottled water is for chumps .

Last week, Gerald Green of the Houston Rockets was cut from the team. Amidst their amazing win streak they needed to get bigger in Yao's absence. In his place they got Mike Harris, the antithesis of Green. Hardworking, hustler, takes nothing for granted. Some were quick to point to Green's Prep to Pros path as the cause. "If he only went to college" perhaps he could've refined his game, upped his basketball IQ and become something really special. He never fulfilled all the hype. He made a massive slide in the draft itself, because of questions surrounding his work-ethic. So do you fault him and his agent, family etc for not going to college first? What about the millions he made on his rookie contract. He might have gone to college, and been revealed, and Never drafted. Should he have turned it down and gone to college? Why shouldn't he cash in when given the chance? If the NBA continues to devalue skill over potential then that's their fault. If it wer...

Back in January and February there was a great little campaign that most people in the GTA noticed. It was a parody on a new drug that would make child conform to their parent's will. Odd, no one was quite sure what it was about. In the end it was Ontario Colleges, an advocacy group encouraging... college. The idea that many students are being herded into college so their parents can live through them is one many people have experienced. Looking back, I don't recall entertaining the idea of going to college. All through highschool it was all about going to university. Calling college a distant second doesn't do it justice. I don't think it was even an option. Realizing the opportunities my parents never had wasn't too big of an agenda, or so I think. I see in my family now that my younger cousins are being strongly encouraged. I think it's a very valid debate. Colleges have gotten a bad rap. Universities have received a false title. College is for kids that cou...

It's neither concise or well-defined, very similar to Knowledge Management itself. Ray Sims provides a great starting point for defining KM. Forty-three different definitions from various sources. Personally, I could only whittle down my favorite to a half-dozen. I think one of the main distinctions I'd like to see is Information Management versus Knowledge Management. I honestly don't think that is too clear either. Ray is going to further elaborate through a cloud map and classifications. I'm looking forward to it.

As it does almost every month, this month's ASTD question is something I'm currently grappling with: What is the Scope of our Responsibility as Learning Professionals? Let's start by clarifying the question, by asking more questions. Do instructors need to adapt to Long Tail Learning ? What's an instructor's traditional scope of learning? Is an instructor's ultimate role to help students or teach certain content? I think Long Tail learning is a fact of life that cannot be ignored. We could choose to not acknowledge it but that would only serve to marginalize ourselves. The long tail is the way things work, and we must embrace it. A learners attention is split in so many different ways. Our tools now embrace this through RSS, and other cross-linking capabilities. Now our methods and approach must also embrace it. When classroom discussions go off on a tangent it might be impractical to enable it. There is material to cover in a fixed amount of time. A skilled i...