InsightNG

Social learning is a way of creating a meaning that is anchored in the formal training, but develops a vocabulary that is centred in our real worlds.

Sensemaking in the extreme happens when you encounter an event such as a battered child with injuries to the head, arms, legs and parents who are trying to pretend it was a fault or an accident. You find yourself asking why this happened, what’s wrong with these parents, how could such behavior be tolerated? In short, you’re trying to make sense of that event.

2.    Reflect.

3.    Teach. 

In cognitive systems, performance improvements will derive from scaling in: moving key components, such as storage, memory, networking and processing onto a single chassis, closer to the data.

The volume of data produced today isn't just increasing—it's getting faster, taking more forms and is increasingly uncertain in nature.

Uncertainty arises from such sources as social media, imprecise data from sensors and imperfect object recognition in video streams. IBM experts believe that by 2015, 80 percent of the world's data will be uncertain.

Notice, I don’t use the term “thinking machines.” That’s because I don’t want to suggest that cognitive systems will think like humans do. Rather, they will help us think and make better decisions.

The fading ranks of middle management have lost their edge, thanks to revolutions in both technology and globalization. Indeed, the latest wave of technology advances—cloud computing, advanced mobile applications and devices, and rapidly expanding social networks to name a few—have greatly eased access to knowledge work. Nowhere is this change seen more dramatically than with the rapidly ascending workforce in high-growth markets outside the United States. Business writer Seth Godin remarks ominously, “If you're the average person out there doing average work, there's going to be someone else out there doing the exact same thing as you, but cheaper.” The game has shifted to a far more competitive, globally-connected field of play, requiring individuals to differentiate themselves in authentic, compelling ways like never before. Godin concludes, “If you're different somehow and have made yourself unique, people will find you and pay you more.”

How We Will Learn: Technology-Enabled Informal LearningWhen we talk about fostering agility, curiosity and continuous learning, we’re fortunate because today we have a host of Web-based technologies (including social, mobile, video, games, and personalized portals) that can serve as perfect tools to support the self-directed learner.By utilizing technology-enabled informal learning resources, collaborative learners can easily share and exchange knowledge, and self-directed learners can continuously teach themselves. These tools allow us to gain and share knowledge when, where and how we want it.Technology-enabled informal learning (that is, technology-based learning that takes place outside a formal classroom environment) also makes sense for organizations because we know that people learn in a variety of ways, and they usually like to learn on their own terms. This insight is derived from Howard Gardner, the influential educational thinker, who has argued that all of us have multiple intelligences. Adjusting and adapting to this cognitive norm, Gardner explains, will generally result in greater skill development and sharper problem solving.

According to ASTD’s Learning Executive’s Confidence Index for the fourth quarter of 2011, almost 55% of learning executives expect an increase in the use of informal learning and Web 2.0 tools in their organizations over the next 6 months.