Get Out of the Training Mode and into the Learning Mode
Dec 21, 2007 Learning 2.0, Social Learning SIG
When I started learning about Social Learning, I tried to put it in my frame of reference - Training. It had to fit in somewhere. It took me a while to realize that it does not. I had to make a totally different mental schematic with which to interpret the information I was receiving. Now that I have created that, it is much easier to take on new information.
It is interesting to watch others, however, go through their own schematic building. For example, some might ask “What does SL have to do with training?” We might well answer, “Nothing.” That does overstate it. BUT, training is a subset of learning. We learn many different ways. Training is one way to learn. Reading is another. Asking family/friends/strangers, trial by fire, debating, and SL is another. When we try to fit SL in the context of training - well, it just doesn’t fit. We need to take ourselves out of ‘training mode’ and think differently. For me, I learned this kinesthetically. I needed to try it. I couldn’t imagine the benefits until I used them myself. Then and only then did it make sense.
Quick Thoughts - TK08, Maturity and Transparency
Dec 19, 2007 Enterprise 2.0, Learning 2.0
Deadline is this Friday. I need to have the handouts into ASTD by then for the TechKnowledge 2008 conference session I am leading. I pretty much know what it will be like and have known for a while. During the last month or so I have been working on my final project in my class. It has taken quite a bit of time that I have not been able to devote to this. Now that it is over, I have only one week for the handouts. No problem - and yet…
Social Learning, Learning 2.0, whatever is the official name, has not been around for very long. Web 2.0 has been around for only 4 years. Web 2.0 in business (called Enterprise 2.0) has only been documented and identified less than two years ago. Applying learning to that has been the same amount of time (I guess some could argue with these numbers, but I went to some of the Web2.0 experts for these). Social Learning is emerging and it is killing me that I have to create handouts for a topic that is so new and that will be different (or more understood) two months from now. I would love to put it altogether a week before, but that wouldn’t be fair. 
Alas, it will be done. But I reserve the right to add to the handouts when I get there!
So I just sat down, flipped through notes I have collected over the last year and came up with 5 pages of nuggets of gold. This is really exciting! Whenever I dive deep into this I become more thrilled with the possibilities. And with my own work it just gets better and better.
This morning I conducted another training on our new Social Learning platform we are launching. One thing that makes me inwardly laugh every time is to watch people realize how transparent this makes information (and thus us as individuals and thus the company) , and then watch them struggle with the urge to not want to be transparent because it is not a comfortable position. To get the benefits of SL they need to be transparent, yet, if they do, there is risk. But is that OK? They go back and forth and you can just watch them struggle in their questions and heads. It is the moment they let go and try it that is magical. It finally clicks and they realize it isn’t as scary as they thought. Actually, it can quickly become more comfortable than the old ways.
BTW - some good discussion is happening at SocialLearning.ning.com. Come join us.
Social Learning Webinar - Rescheduled
Dec 7, 2007 Social Learning SIG
NOTICE: The SLSIG webinar previously scheduled for December 11th has been rescheduled for January 25th. More information below. I hope this doesn’t cause any heartache! We felt we had not been able to get the word out like we wanted. For this first one we want to start off really well, not just in a mediocre way. So please go to the link below and register for this new time. Happy Holidays!
Event: Social Learning SIG - Introduction to Social LearningDescription: These questions will be answered:
- What is Social Learning?
- Why does it exist now?
- What learning problem does it solve?
- How might I take advantage of Social Learning?
- If I ignore it, will it go away?
When: Friday 25 January 2008, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Time Zone: (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time (US and Canada); Tijuana
Dial-In: 1-866-851-9754
Pass-Code: 934740
To register for this event, please go the following link:
http://trainingobjectives
What Sticks and What Does Not - Keeping a SL Community Engaged
Dec 4, 2007 Implementation, Social Learning SIG
There is some great discussion on EGO-centric and OBJECT-centric social networks. Look at posts from Fred Stutzman, Michele Martin, and Joshua Porter. Basically, ego-centric networks allow people to hook up, but there isn’t anything that will keep them there so they are susceptible to migrations to and from the network. The migration from Myspace to Facebook is a great example. People will join these type of communities, build a profile and then ask, “What’s Next?” Good question! Object-centric networks, on the other hand, contain digital objects which keep participants there. I started my online collection of pictures in Picassa and I don’t plan on changing to Flickr because I am rooted in the former. I have a vested interest. It would take a lot to change from one to the other. The answer of “What’s Next” is adding more content, going back to that which was already uploaded or created.
But Joshua, in his post, said about object-centric networks, “there is no “what’s next” moment when you can forever accumulate more digital objects.” I wonder, however, if there are two (if not more) types of digital objects.
The first object is a vested object. Pictures, as mentioned, are a perfect example. I will go back again and again, to add more and to look at the ones I have put up, share them with others, comment, etc… This has sticking power.
The second object is a singular object. For example, ratemyprofessors.com. There I can go and do exactly that - join a community of college students and give feedback on my professor’s performance and look at other’s comments about possible future professors. Here I give a digital object. But it is a singular object, one that can put put up and then ignored. I don’t have a vested interest in it. This will not keep users coming back nearly as much as a photo sharing site.
So when we look at Social Learning, what kind of digital objects can we help others to post that they will have a vested interest in? Singular objects are good, vested objects are even better. What does that look like?
