Group items tagged

"in this digital age we have sacrificed our privacy in order to access all manner of free stuff on the web. It's a movement that most of us have come to accept. Or have we? I'll borrow a quote I read on MetaFilter recently: 'If you're not paying for it; you are the product'. I'm not sure how many people are fully aware of this sentiment yet or whether they even care. But the next time you're browsing the web or enjoying a video on YouTube, remember that Google is watching your every move; because that's the price you pay."

Thanks to Kemetia Foley, we have this great article from Huff Post College that appeared today. It's written by Nathan Holic who teachers at UCF Department of Writing and Rhetoric. It's pretty funny. "I'm 33, and feel like I'm living in a generational No Man's Land between digital dependency and digital illiteracy." Closing paragraph "Still, despite how amazing it sounds to live in the cloud, the digital uncluttering has become not liberating but exhausting. When the photos are scanned and the CDs are ripped, will I then spend full weekends "uncluttering my desktop," endlessly organizing folders on my devices, trying to make the digital information ever more accessible, editing "Easter '89" to perfection, searching for the most recent digital task-list that I commended myself for having typed on my phone...but which has long since disappeared into the haze of clutter obscuring the screens of my devices?

Very interesting blog post at Meetingsnet.com on how to create a viral spread of ideas/content/connections at meetings. Written by Alison Hall, August 5, 2013. Stresses that millenials, the focus of many women's organizations recruiting efforts rely on social media and technology to get through each day. They are completely connected, which has implications for how organizations need to use content generated in f2f meetings to attract engagement by people well outside the event itself. Excerpt: 12 Tips for Share-worthiness 1. Think from your audience's POV: What will they find interesting? What will help them prove the value of their industry, or their position? 2. Entertain. Infographics, photos, and (appropriate) humor have great pass-along value. 3. Feel good. What will make the world better? Emotional content spreads because it moves people. Find a way to make your content connect on a deeper level. 4. Plan your meeting with the idea that all content (with the exception of content at proprietary meetings) will be shared. 5. Loop in your presenters. Get their key insights ahead of time so you can "lock and load" content that's ready to go in real time. 6. Remember that real-time marketing only works if your audience can connect. Work diligently with your venue to ensure Wi-Fi is accessible and bandwidth is sufficient. Consider (sponsored!) charging stations to keep attendees powered up throughout the meeting. 7. Lead the way. Sharing will be (and should be) organic, but you need to be the guide. Start promoting hashtags and social channels at your event Web site and in your online registration process. On site, brand all event signage with the hashtags and channels. 8. Talk back. Hear what your audience is saying and participate in conversations. Deliver social value back to them by retweeting or sharing their content. 9. Make it easy. All content should have a one-click sharing option. Don't rely on the audience to cut and paste. Videos and phot

Organizational Membership benefits from joining the American Library Association. Organizational Membership Benefits ALA encourages organizational members to investigate and engage with the resources and initiatives available to libraries of all types. Working to keep libraries strong. ALA works on behalf of all libraries in the areas of library funding, intellectual freedom, professional standards, and 21st-century literacy, helping create a future in which communities look to libraries and to librarians as vital, trusted resources. This includes making libraries eligible for funding to provide high-speed, affordable broadband service, and eligibility for other federal programs. Standing together in membership lets libraries, librarians, and other staff members access solutions and resources to address problems otherwise faced alone. Learn about all the ALA is doing to support libraries. Select a topic or just scroll down the page. Helping you serve your community Providing beneficial information & resources Offering Organizational Member Value Programs (MVP) NEW: ALA Web Badges to display on your website and use with your emails

I am now on the distribution of communications from the Connected Learning Alliance. This vision for ensuring that "all young people have equitable access to learning opportunities that are social, participatory, driven by personal needs and interests, and oriented through educational, civic and economic opportunity." has a lot in common with what I believe we are trying to do at WLS.

Quote that Jane Hart found from Jane Bozarth, 12/6/14, rest of Jane Hart's post is just as interesting. well worth reading. "The thing that is going to change the game is - the learners …. They are changing the concept of training, and we are increasingly moving toward an age in which the adult worker will not sit still for training that just looks like more "school". They're becoming more sophisticated in their understanding of how learning looks and how it happens. We're going to have to figure out how to provide better performance support, in smaller bites, in places easy for them to access. And we'll need to offer time and space and support so they can create the user-generated help that others need. And if we don't? They won't wait for us. They'll find the means to do it anyway.""

Stephen Downes on what learners need and want in a networked world. Although he does go on in his usual way, this is a really interesting take on current educational models vs. what students want and need, and are beginning to access themselves.

Interesting and tied to online leadership, I think. Haven't read the whole thing yet, but it is a interesting perspective.

blog post by Charles Jennings cited by Jane Hart, published August 13, 2014. "And for Organisational Learning? The Web has allowed us to totally redefine our traditional learning models. It has allowed us to reach beyond content-rich learning approaches and focus on experience-rich learning. It has allowed an evolution from 'Know What' learning to 'Know Who' and 'Know How' learning; and it has allowed the emergence from learning in the silos of our own organisations to learning with and through others across the world - easily and transparently. The Collaboration Age On a wider plane the Web has been the harbinger of the Collaboration Age. It has blown away many of the barriers to access and has reinforced the power and influence of collaboration and co-operation1 over silo mentalities. In the Collaboration Age it is those who share and work together who are the winners. Those who hide behind organisational garden walls end up deep in weeds. "

Excellent blog post by Mindy Jackson on why less is needed more than ever before in terms of content, July 7, 2014. She explains why practice is more important than content. She writes in a less is more manner, too. Found her via Jane Hart's blog. excerpt: Just-in-time knowledge resources combined with a self-service model is the answer to course content glut. Text is a resource. Practice is instruction. Focus online learning programs on practice rather than knowledge acquisition. Create a risk-free tryout environment, contextualized to performance needs. Enable learners to sip from the fountains of knowledge, rather than to drown by a fire-hose of information. Knowledge is readily accessed. But experience is earned.

Popova identified the Benjamin Franklin effect in her blog (follows excerpt below in her blog post). The excerpt below reminds of why networks are helpful. "At age twenty-one, he formed a "club of mutual improvement" called the Junto. It was a grand scheme to gobble up knowledge. He invited working-class polymaths like him to have the chance to pool together their books and trade thoughts and knowledge of the world on a regular basis. They wrote and recited essays, held debates, and devised ways to acquire currency. Franklin used the Junto as a private consulting firm, a think tank, and he bounced ideas off the other members so he could write and print better pamphlets. Franklin eventually founded the first subscription library in America, writing that it would make "the common tradesman and farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other countries," not to mention give him access to whatever books he wanted to buy."

Survey in November 2014 by Accenture of 3,600 business professionals from entry level to management (600 from US) (respondents split evenly by gender, age, and level in their organizations) on listening, learning, and leading in the workplace, 2015. Finds that multi-tasking depresses good listening (which is valued as a work skill) and that while technology enables leaders to communicate quickly with workforce, it can also make them too accessible and subject to information overload.

by Maud Purcell. States that scientific evidence supports journaling accesses your left brain, which is analytical an rational, but also allows your right brain to be free to create, intuit, and feel. This removes mental blocks and allows one to use all of your brain.

from themuse.com 8 steps to begin journaling and make it a daily routine. Contrary to the other resources, this one suggests journaling before you get out of bed in the am instead of at the end of the day. They also suggest using an app so you can access your journal throughout the day, writing in sentence fragments to get the ideas down, write on a calendar, make a template, find fun prompts, choose your time frame (once a year, week, month, etc).

interesting infographic on why cloud based LMS is the way to go--lower costs, less setup/management time, mobile, accessible anywhere anytime...

Link from Beth Kanter's blog to infographic about the modern learner and how overwhelmed they are. From Bersin/Deloitte site. Says that only 1% of a typical workweek is all that employees have to focus on PD, and 80% of them are developing and accessing personal and professional networks to obtain info about their jobs.

like this assessment of value of gap year by Abby Falik

excellent explanation by Tom Vander Ark on why parent-managed learner profiles are becoming more important all the time for young people.  Is the corollary true for adults owning their learning in portable, digital carry-alongs for sharing with potential employers, etc.  

Patricia Hatley assesses how digital speed and communications affect leadership style and workers' expectations, January 11, 2016.

Today's Tampa Bay Times, May 7, 2012 on free online learning. Names at least three different places to learn online: Khan Academy, TED, Academic EArth, and Instructables.

Another approach might be with engage a large or small company to guide their employees through courses that would improve their current job skills. I shared a writing course I found at the Purdue sight with me daughter. She shared it with her supervisor suggesting that their whole team take the course. There may also be opportunities to work with job centers to educate potential employees on specific job skills required by a company. I mentioned online learning at my most recent book club. WOW, they see it as a way to exchange money for a degree. The response was very negative. Now, Judge Judy is offering online access to cases - and you can weigh in on how you think it should be resolved. Online interaction is coming but, there needs to be a clear case made for its value as an educational tool. I have always had a fear about "experts" teaching the courses. It reminds me of cloning.