Group items tagged

Although ten years old, interesting blog post by Dave Kovaleski, July 1, 2004, Meetingsnet, makes some good points about what kinds of learning and when. Excerpt The key to an effective blended learning program lies in the mix of media used to deliver the training. Bersin identifies 16 different media, including classroom instruction, webinars, conference calls, CD-ROM courseware, study manuals, Web pages, online simulations, on-site labs, Web-based discussion groups, mentoring programs, and videos. To create a successful blended program, it's not necessary to incorporate many or all of them; in fact, two or three should suffice. Typically, a blended-learning program has several steps. The first might be a conference call, introducing students to the trainer and subject. Next is the self-directed portion, in which students are asked to study for the live session. The self-directed portion is best delivered through asynchronous means, such as webcasts or some kind of simulated, virtual exercises. Experts suggest follow-up testing on the pre-work to make sure students are prepared to move on to the live, or synchronous, session. "The self-directed portion of the blend is critical," says Jennifer Hofmann, president of InSync Training LLC, Branford, Conn., and author of The Synchronous Trainer's Survival Guide (Jossey-Bass). "It's a huge culture change." ... Post-meetings, or asynchronous evaluations, are frequently the final components of blended-learning programs. Coaching modules, online tutorials, tests, and simulations reinforce the classroom work. They also allow companies to make sure that employees are applying the new information to their jobs. In addition, testing allows employers to identify knowledge gaps so that follow-up training is well-focused.

excellent discussion of networks and social learning in organizations with references to Hart, Jennings, Cross, and Internet Time Alliance among others, 2010

rationale and components for WL Studio?

This is phenomenal. Thank you. YES! If we begin with the components of Notice, Dream, Connect and Do, we are well on our way to a viable leadership project.What have we noticed, what do we dream, what other connections can we make, what will we do about what we noticed? I have noticed that, like the young woman on the video, many do not know where their passions lie. I have noticed that women (and men) experience horrible events in their professional lives and they have little support. I have noticed we have so many directions in which we can go, and it would be helpful for us to find a direction that suits us.

Employer directed (and financially supported) and self-directed online learning in the workplace, Wired Campus, June 2, 2015

The author David Bach argues that business schools need to go in a different direction - more like liberal arts. Frame problems and get out of the way. "When people hear liberal arts, they - mistakenly - think of content, of literature, history or philosophy. They think of curricula without structure, of students mixing and matching courses from the arts and sciences without plan or direction. But liberal arts education is something more. "It's a way of looking at the world, a mode of inquiry. It is what Albert Einstein called "the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks.""

Envision is a company specializing in contract workers, right to hire contracts, or direct hire contracts

Eight trends that medium and large sized multinationals recognize but are not necessarily investing in--such as mobile or individualized personal learning or self-directed learning, Consultancy.uk, August 12, 2015

" 5 Reasons Why Job Boards Aren't As Effective Anymore Don Goodman November 24, 2015 Job Search At one time, job boards were the way to go for job seekers. It's where you could post your resume for employers and recruiters to view, and apply to job openings. But today, it's a different story. Related: Reactive Vs. Proactive Job Search Strategies Job boards are simply not as effective anymore since there are social media outlets like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter where you can pretty much network your way to the right contacts. The fact is, job boards have a 2-4% effectiveness rate whereas networking has over a 50% effectiveness rate." More than 85% of employers use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to review and rank resumes according to skills, experience, keywords. Companies use internal algorithms, so out of an average of 400 resumes using these measures results in only 10 - 20 even looked at. Most hiring managers and recruiters use Linkedin first. Job board resumes are still viewed, but chances are the info is outdated so relying on Linkedin makes sense for recruiters. Niche job boards are worth going to, but to be more productive tie into direct networking through the right contacts.

" 5 Reasons Why Job Boards Aren't As Effective Anymore Don Goodman November 24, 2015 Job Search At one time, job boards were the way to go for job seekers. It's where you could post your resume for employers and recruiters to view, and apply to job openings. But today, it's a different story. Related: Reactive Vs. Proactive Job Search Strategies Job boards are simply not as effective anymore since there are social media outlets like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter where you can pretty much network your way to the right contacts. The fact is, job boards have a 2-4% effectiveness rate whereas networking has over a 50% effectiveness rate." More than 85% of employers use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to review and rank resumes according to skills, experience, keywords. Companies use internal algorithms, so out of an average of 400 resumes using these measures results in only 10 - 20 even looked at. Most hiring managers and recruiters use Linkedin first. Job board resumes are still viewed, but chances are the info is outdated so relying on Linkedin makes sense for recruiters. Niche job boards are worth going to, but to be more productive tie into direct networking through the right contacts.

Although talking about youth, this video is a great explanation of the shift in education from knowledge acquisition to making meaning from self-directed learning. It explains the new way of thinking and learning and teaching and being in the world.

Newsletter by Ann Mehl, a life coach, 1.26.13. Justifies Studio's raison d'etre. Excerpts: "The workplace has changed enormously in recent years. Gone are the days when some benevolent company would direct and manage your career for you, while you dozed off at the wheel. Now more than ever, it is incumbent upon every employee to proactively manage his own career. We have become in essence, a nation of free agents. A company of one. And all successful "companies" must identify and set their priorities in such a way that our goals can be achieved. In the humdrum of work, it's often easy to find yourself adrift, floating aimlessly downstream without clear intent or destination. The days blur into each other, until you have no idea where you are going, or what it was you hoped to achieve. But ask yourself this question: if you're not steering the ship, then who is?" ..."Are there any personal development classes that would make certain parts of my job easier? Should I be speaking with other industry peers in my field so that I remain current? Is there anybody I can identify who might be willing to mentor me while I navigate this tricky next phase of my career?"

Blog post by Jeff Cobb, February 2011, Tagoras site, on adults' self-concept of being responsible for their own decisions and how this is as odds with their frequent relapse into their K-12 expectations/habits/behaviors in adult learning situations. Explanation of Malcolm Knowles's concepts of the Adult Learner: 1. Adults need to know why they need to learn. 2. Adults have a self-concept of being responsible for their own decisions - they have a psychological need to be seen by others as capable of self-direction. 3. Experience is often the best foundation for adult learning activities - often the "richest resources for learning reside in the adult learners themselves." [66] 4. Adults tend to be most interested in learning that has immediate relevance to their jobs or personal lives. 5. Adult learners tend to be life-centered (or task-centered, or problem-centered) rather than subject or content-centered. 6. Adults are typically more responsive to internal motivators (job satisfaction, self esteem, quality of life, etc.) than external motivators (promotions, higher salaries, etc.). Excerpt on how online learning environments are not always recognized as such and how facilitation of learning networks is critical: "Finally - something I have been arguing in one way or another for years - the problematic side of "self-concept" pretty much flies out the window if you remove the obvious, traditional labels like "seminar" or "Webinar." This is a key reason why social networks are so powerful as learning environments - people tend not to consciously acknowledge them as such even though learning is typically the key social object in any professional community that survives and thrives over time. Educators must recognize this and learn to facilitate learning within networks if they want to truly lead learning in their fields and industries."

Excellent paper by Jan H. Kietzmann, Kristopher Hermkens, Ian McCarthy, and Bruno Silvestre, Science Direct on social media.

Post in WP discussion forum on how unhelpful so-called help discussion forums really are. Excerpt: "I signed up for WP AT Godaddy,com and have the same question, so I have to come here and do whatever I can understand of what i'm told. my universal experience with forums like this - here at WP and at the forums which serve as the ONLY assistance for non-paying users of third party design businesses -is that genuinely inexperienced people are not-so-subtly encourage to self-select out. people who need help make it very clear that they are really inexperienced, beg for step-by-step directions and get responses they cannot decipher or use. And if they have the temerity to say so, well, here's the first forum i clicked under this topic: http://wordpress.org/support/topic/email-set-up-on-wordpress-site?replies=3 the forum was simply shut down. lol? I don't understand why experienced users who know how to do things bother to make such replies. Is there some club somewhere where such things are on display for the amusement of our betters? Because unintentionally or not, it seems gratuitously mean. "

Blog post by Chris Collison on 2.26.13, that discusses reciprocity in fostering a learning atmosphere and adoption of best practice in an organization. Excerpt: "Reciprocity is an important principle for knowledge management, and one which underpins the idea of Offers and Requests. Offers and Requests was a simple approach, introduced to make it easier for Operations Engineers at BP to ask for help, and to share good practice with their peers. The idea was for each business unit to self-assess their level of operational excellence using a maturity model, and identify their relative strengths and weaknesses. In order to overcome barriers like "tall poppy syndrome", or a reluctance to ask for help ("real men don't ask directions"), a process was put in place whereby every business unit would be asked to offer three areas which they felt proud of, and three areas which they wanted help with. The resulting marketplace for matching offers and requests was successful because: i) The principle of offering a strength at the same time as requesting help was non-threatening and reciprocal - it was implicitly fair. ii) The fact that every business unit was making their offers and requests at the same time meant that it felt like a balanced and safe process."

Infograph by online bank First Direct in UK; article by Michael Sebastian, Ragan's PR Daily, April 17, 2013, on 12 types of social media personalities; has some merit IMO.

Second story by Eric Nelson offers good reasons for volunteering during transitions to build relationships, references, reach clarity on new directions, etc. January 29, 2013.

Blog, June 19, 2013, Scoop.it, on how Most Popular leads into reading more in a webiste can be quite distorted to direct reads. Advocates for human curation. "The solution: Human curation. We need to provide readers with lists and collections of content that are popular within a certain field because they are genuinely popular to those who know about or are interested in that field. Most Popular lists on websites are generated by algorithms, making them extremely easy to game (by clicking the same content repeatedly, for instance) which in turn leads readers to believe they've found good content when they oftentimes haven't. It's the job of the curator, as a human, to let other humans know what they (the curator) are finding to be the best pieces of content on a topic - as someone who knows about a specific subject or interest."

****This post by Derek J. Keenan explains his Social Professional Learning Model that served as his Masters Capstone paper at Alberta University, April 23, 2012. Its core is an action research approach to learning enriched by and anchored in social media. Substitute teacher with "other named professional" and it works for people in all types of work/interests. There is also a short (s cultivating connections with the people who have the same self-directed learning quest as you. The next step is reciprocating by publishing and sharing what you know or believe to be true. Throughout it is your experience that informs your participation and your participation informs your level of understanding--you are constantly learning and eventually building your personal learning network relationships to be there for you.

Great article by Susan Weinschenk, Brain Wise: Work better, work smarter, September 11, 2012, and why dopamine keeps us "seeking" when we already have enough information. excerpt: Do you ever feel like you are addicted to email or twitter or texting? Do you find it impossible to ignore your email if you see that there are messages in your inbox? Do you think that if you could ignore your incoming email or messages you might actually be able to get something done at work? You are right!" ... "Instead of dopamine causing you to experience pleasure, the latest research shows that dopamine causes seeking behavior. Dopamine causes you to want, desire, seek out, and search. It increases your general level of arousal and your goal-directed behavior. From an evolutionary stand-point this is critical. The dopamine seeking system keeps you motivated to move through your world, learn, and survive. It's not just about physical needs such as food, or sex, but also about abstract concepts. Dopamine makes you curious about ideas and fuels your searching for information. Research shows that it is the opioid system (separate from dopamine) that makes us feel pleasure." Turn off the cues - One of the most important things you can do to prevent or stop a dopamine loop, and be more productive is to turn off the cues. Adjust the settings on your cell phone and on your laptop, desktop or tablet so that you don't receive the automatic notifications. Automatic notifications are touted as wonderful features of hardware, software, and apps. But they are actually causing you to be like a rat in a cage. If you want to get work done you need to turn off as many auditory and visual cues as possible. It's the best way to prevent and break the dopamine loops. What do you think? How do you deal with dopamine loops? Are you willing to turn off your cues?

Blog post by Howard Rheingold on September 1, 2009. "Knowing what to pay attention to is a cognitive skill that steers and focuses the technical knowledge of how to find information worth your attention. More and more, knowing where to direct your attention involves a third element, together with your own attentional discipline and use of online power tools - other people. Increasingly, most of the recommendations that make it possible to find fresh and useful signals amid the overwhelming noise of the Internet are social media - online networks that make possible social exchange and relationship. Tuning and feeding our personal learning networks is where the internal and the technological meet the social. "