Nice list of tools, with links to places you can find them.

Excellent ideas on the specialized features of Twitter's website. Great features.

Excellent website to determine reading level of websites. Just enter the url

Several Great Articles this month on Social Learning. See p30-32 7C's of social learning

Flow chart creator. Online, and free!

practical discussions on using social media in the real world. From eLearning Guild, Marc Rosenberg

Great article on implementing Social Media in an organization. You need to create eGuild membership (free level) to read article.

Nifty tool that converts cluttered web pages into text only and pictures like a magazine article. It's free and a toolbar button add on.

Malcolm Gladwell makes great points about the connections in social media vs the real world.

User stats for blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

Search engine that pulls up social media info as well as general web: Flickr, YouTube, Twitter sorted by type. Lots of info all at once.

Good examples of what should be included in a blog. Video and text.

Graphs of how Fortune 100 businesses are using Social Media

Great questions to ask when prepping informal learning

Great collection of how to functions in SharePoint

5 stages of Workplace learning. Formal/informal, ILT, elearning, informal. Nice arrangement. by Jay Cross

Great History newsreels. You can download for $1.97

Might be able to illustrate some classic points with footage from here.

I'll take these one at a time.
1. How do we convince senior management to engage in SoMe for training?
Senior Management needs to understand the WIIFM, but from a company perspective. They need the ROI to understand. In RI, we can look to giants in the industry who are using Social Media successfully. Take a look at David Wilkin's excellent presentation on this: http://www.slideshare.net/dwilkinsnh/social-learning-success-stories-models-and-roles. Note this is from two years ago. There are many more stories, but this just adds clout to our message. The "big boys" have been using SoMe for a long time.

2. What challenges have organizations run into using SoMe for training?
For some, it's the patience to get past the watercooler discussions. Those are part of SoMe, just as they are part of the community in an office. As people begin to realize the power of these items, they begin to share relevant information.
For others, it's firewall and confidentiality issues. With those issues, you need to get your IT department involved. You can password protect just about anything. You can also use tools on SharePoint for wikis and blogs, and Yammer for a Twitter-like experience inside the firewall.

3. How to initiate the older participant into using the newer tools?
It is no surprise that some of the older participants are reticent to use the newer tools. Many resist change of any type. If you consider all the changes they have had to deal with in their lifetime, it is staggering. However, at least 23% of them are regular users of social media, according to a study by the AARP. Their favorite app is http://www.socialemailmarketing.eu/2010/06/aarp-social-senior-citizens-prefer-facebook.html . According to this survey, 73% of those that use social media are connected to relatives other than their own offspring, 68% are connected to their children and 38% to grandchildren. Many use SKYPE. Why? To stay connected with family and friends. AARP Magazine ran a how-to article on Social Media in the 5-19-2010 issue and has a social media section on their website. (http://www.aarp.org/technology/social-media/)

They want it, and want to stay connected with people they know. Many feel left out as commercials and TV shows reference URLs, Twitter and Facebook. Many are skeptical, but want to be connected. We can help them do that. That's a big WIIFM for them, but not necessarily business.

How can we use these models for training?
Consider hosting a Facebook discussion after a training. If you have proprietary issues at stake, then consider a threaded discussion on SharePoint or one of the other similar password protected apps that users can be authenticated on and are inside of the firewall. You can sell the concept to your users by helping them see that they are learning a skill that will easily transfer to Facebook connections with their loved ones. Ning allows a variety of interactions, and is quick and easy to set up.

Change to SoMe tools and informal learning (which BTW accounts for 87% of most learning in companies) may be challenging, but what change isn't? How many of you have taught Change Management? Don't leave those principles and concepts out of the mix.

Jean Marrapodi
6-22-2010

Links about Twitter use for teachers. Good collection.

Great ideas and links to three different Twitter apps to follow hashtags and save info

Resources on the Kirkpatrick model of evaluation. Need to register for the site to access, but includes diagrams, white papers and articles.