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Part of a series on humanity in the digital age and how expertise has become the purview of AI in some ways.  the professional service firm has to bring trust-worthiness which is made up of credibility (words), reliability (actions), intimacy (emotions), and self orientation (motives that can be trusted).  

a learning place for wannabe online learning designers. Like the beginner, practitioner, expert, and advocate starting points for people to join at their current level of expertise and begin to develop more.

Post by Katie Salen, July 26, 2012, Leveling Up project at Connected Learning Research Network. I like this emphasis on individual and collective gains in connected learning networks. And how connected learning is "value additive." Excerpts: "Further, because connected learning, as a model, advocates for experiences that offer low barriers to entry and information, social supports for learning, and diverse opportunities for the development of interest and expertise, it must also advocate for outcomes that are both individual and collective in nature. It is no longer enough to develop metrics and pathways for individual outcomes; we must also find ways to recognize outcomes produced by groups or communities and provide pathways for collective participation. Or so our hypothesis goes." As a community, the members of Ravelry produce knowledge and expertise, projects and products with academic, civic, and peer value. The welcoming nature of the site and the mere existence of the thousands of groups it hosts are mechanisms inviting participation and the development of shared knowledge. Conversely, the environment provides individuals with opportunities to acquire social, economic, and cultural capital, to learn domain-specific content and skills, and develop metacognitive skills and learning dispositions. Unlike models of learning that center solely on individual outcomes and competition for zero-sum resources and rewards, like those seen in most schools, Ravelry exemplifies how connected learning is value-additive, elevating individuals and collectives in an integrated way. High-functioning connected learning environments are characterized not only by engaged learning at an individual level, but by high quality content and standards and collective purpose that is shared by all participants.

Blog on professional development, 12/7/09 "In the newer flatter models, there are still leaders and followers but not so many layers in between, and that ratio seems to be evening out and actually shifting towards more leaders than followers. In others words, when an employee feels empowered and is driven to leverage all the tools available today for better decision-making (the collective human knowledge is now free and accessible), then really, organizations need to set goals and truly get the heck out of the way. The flatter models are working and they are working great. In addition to being flat, they are also virtual and function-based as opposed to departmental or vocation-based. So, whoever has the expertise necessary to achieve a goal is sought after and their knowledge is harnessed. In some cases, this functional expertise could very well be outside the traditional walls of an organization. As we start 2010, let's be open to performance instead of accountability, to flatter models instead of traditional hierarchies, and to achieving greater success by empowering those who we compensate to perform."

YouTube video by Skip Via, prof. at University of Alaska in Fairbanks on Personal Learning Network, 2010. Has a great image of his PLN. He itemizes the tools according to the functions he needs: 1. Find answers 2. Read blogs/news 3. Publish and share 4. Communicate 5. Collaborate 6. Follow colleagues 7. Aggregate resources All based on people who have expertise or need his expertise.

Here are five ways to successfully tap into the women's market: 1. Provide good quality information. Producing a newsletter and Web site are excellent ways to demonstrate your expertise and to keep your image in front of clients and prospects. Include plenty of strategies and tips that will help guide women to be more successful in running or growing their businesses. Conducting free seminars or workshops is another good strategy for imparting your knowledge and has the added benefit of serving as a networking forum. 2. Build relationship marketing strategies. Develop and sustain relationships with women and cultivate a sense of community. 3. Host networking events. Historically, women have not had the same opportunities to network as their male counterparts. You can create your own networking events for women clients and prospects. Featuring a guest speaker in your industry can be an excellent addition. Just be sure to build in enough time for networking as well. 4. Sponsor women's business associations or events. If you are looking to target this market and build awareness, consider sponsoring one of the many women's business associations and events. These range from something as specific as mentoring programs (such as the Step Ahead One-on-One Mentoring Program - www.stepaheadonline.com ) to associations for women exporters (such as the Organization of Women in International Trade - www.owit-toronto.ca ). Most hold regular meetings and special functions. Some provide opportunities for sponsors to speak and showcase their expertise. Contributing material to their newsletters, publications and Web sites is another good way to build your identity among members, as these associations often welcome good quality, educational submissions of interest to members. 5. Share core information on a regular basis. Email or mail information that is considered to be "in our mutual interest." News clippings, industry data, notes from indus

blog post on Mashable on how to create your online identity 5 tips 1. Google your name--see who you are competing against in terms of name recognition 2. Own your name--get LinkedIn profile and pictures to show up first by creating a name specific URL at LinkedIn 3. Block and tackle on social networks such as Facebook to only share certain info with the public or limit Facebook content to friends only. 4. Advance the ball forward--create some great content in the first page of results; some apps help with that--Brandyourself 5. Make your own plays--showcase your expertise in a blog post, answer a question on Quora or comment on an article.

#change11, blog post by Bon Stewart, May 2, 2012 And here's the rub... "The original MOOCs - the connectivist MOOCs a la Siemens & Downes, and the work of David Wiley and Alec Couros and others - have been, for the most part, about harnessing the capacity of participatory media to connect people and ideas. They've been built around lateral, distributed structures, encouraging blog posts and extensive peer-to-peer discussion formats. Even in live sessions showcasing facilitator's expertise, these ur-MOOCs have tended towards lively backchannel chats, exploring participants' knowledge and experiences and ideas. They've been, in short, actively modelled on the Internet itself. They've been experiential and user-driven. Their openness hasn't stopped at registration capacity, but extended to curricular tangents and participatory contributions and above all, to connections: they've given learners not just access to information but to networks. They've been messy, sometimes, but they have definitely not been business as usual. The problem with EdX is that, scale and cost aside, it IS essentially a traditional learning model revamped for a new business era. It puts decision-making power, agency, and the right to determine what counts as knowledge pretty much straight back into the hands of gatekeeping institutions."

article in Academic Matters, the Journal of Higher Education, by Stephen Carson and Jan Philipp Schmidt, May 2012 issue. Excerpt: "Expertise will be earned and maintained through ongoing lifelong education, not conferred once and good for life. Open learning systems offer the possibility for the kind of continuous lifelong learning that will be necessary as the pace of technological and scientific knowledge development increases. Like athletes, learners will not just learn once, but will maintain a level of performance ability in their chosen field through ongoing study and participation in learning communities."

Facilitating life long learning should be the goal of every teacher. I think that sometimes it is so cumbersome - passing tests, etc., that the fun part of learning is lost.

Blog post by Deborah Shane "According to a CareerBuilder survey "hiring managers are using social media to get a glimpse at the candidate's behavior and personality outside of the interview, and are most interested in professional presentation and how the candidate would fit with the company culture. Here are five strategies anyone can use to 'advance and own their professional development'." First three of five strategies are online: 1) Use Facebook in a hybrid way. Facebook can be one of the most effective and diverse self marketing, branding and networking assets of all of the social platforms. Posting professional questions, article linking, Facebook chats and using the Notes Feature are all great ways to brand yourself on Facebook. 2) Brand your LinkedIn and Twitter pages content and information. Having a content rich, branded landing page on LinkedIn and Twitter can make a strong first impression. Complete your profiles and tell your story in your job history. This makes you more personable and shows people you are serious, professional and you want to be remembered. 3) Launch your own blog or guest blog for other strategic sites. This is one of the best ways to share how you think and show your knowledge and expertise, as well as highlight others in your field that you admire or want to emulate. Some of the free sites you can use are WordPress, Weebly and Wix.

An amazing interview with Maria Popova of Brain Pickings, July 2013 Highlights: What is your area of expertise as a writer or online publisher? I'm not an expert and I aspire never to be one. As Frank Lloyd Wright rightly put it, "An expert is a man who has stopped thinking because 'he knows.'" Brain Pickings began as my record of what I was learning, and it remains a record of what I continue to learn - the writing is just the vehicle for recording, for making sense. That said, one thing I've honed over the years - in part by countless hours of reading and in part because I suspect it's how my brain is wired - is drawing connections between things," "Do you believe in "writer's block"? If so, how do you avoid it? I think the operative word here is "believe." If you fixate on it, it'll be there. It's kind of like insomnia - the more you think about not being able to fall asleep, the less able to fall asleep you become. It's different for everyone, of course, but I find that you break through that alleged "block" simply by writing. As Tchaikovsky elegantly put it, "A self-respecting artist must not fold his hands on the pretext that he is not in the mood." The writer's creativity … Define creativity. The ability to connect the seemingly unconnected and meld existing knowledge into new insight about some element of how the world works. That's practical creativity. Then there's moral creativity: To apply that skill towards some kind of wisdom on how the world ought to work."

Great article on DOCC (distributed open collaborative course) by Scott Jaschik, August 19, 2013, that helps inform/substantiate in a small way the Studio Learning Labs model of learning? ""A DOCC is different from a MOOC in that it doesn't deliver a centralized singular syllabus to all the participants. Rather it organizes around a central topic," Balsamo said. "It recognizes that, based on deep feminist pedagogical commitments, expertise is distributed throughout all the participants in a learning activity," and does not just reside with one or two individuals."

Blog post identified by Brenda Kaulback for CPsquare Inquiry 2013. Blog by Scott Jaschik, August 19, 2013, focuses on the DOCC, a MOOC feminized with different values and pedagogy. Excerpt "The DOCC aims to challenge MOOC thinking about the role of the instructor, about the role of money, about hierarchy, about the value of "massive," and many other things. The first DOCC will be offered for credit at 17 colleges this coming semester, as well in a more MOOC-style approach in which videos and materials are available online for anyone." Excerpt: "A DOCC is different from a MOOC in that it doesn't deliver a centralized singular syllabus to all the participants. Rather it organizes around a central topic," Balsamo said. "It recognizes that, based on deep feminist pedagogical commitments, expertise is distributed throughout all the participants in a learning activity," and does not just reside with one or two individuals. Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/19/feminist-professors-create-alternative-moocs#ixzz2xY8xLHur Inside Higher Ed

In June 2014, Jane Hart updated her social workplace learning chart with roles and activities, resulting in four social workplace learning models: Directed social learning model (what we did as facilitators to ensure that people participate and stay on track); Guided social learning model (guiding to encourage and support the conversation rather than enforce it) Continuous social learning model (championing the ongoing sharing of knowledge and expertise, encourage learning out loud, working out loud, collaborative working) Independent social learning model (advising individuals to develop the new skills to manage their own learning networks and bring insight/feedback into the organization)

Jacob Morgan of Chess Media Group also constructed this infographic on the current and future worker, entitled The Evolution of the Employee. Good overview of the changing nature of how work is morphing from content based to learning based skills and expertise. From Forbes, 9/02/14

This woman is featured in Downes video at ChangeSchools event; her web page design, content, and expertise deserve a careful look.

article by Robert Elsenpeter, Star Tribune, 2008. Expand Your Network Many admins are already members of the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP). And while that is a group worth joining, there are other organizations - like Toastmasters - that can help your professional life. "Attend community groups and industry association meetings," says Kathy Northamer, vice president of OfficeTeam in the Twin Cities. "Make presentations on your area of expertise. Volunteer with a nonprofit. You'll not only gain new contacts, but acquire experience and work samples you can use to build your career." Different organizations can offer different opportunities. But there is one thing they all have in common and it's something beneficial for the admin. "Networking, networking, networking!" says Northamer. "The more contacts in your network who know you, the more likely you will secure leads, interviews and interesting job offers." Reasons to Join a Professional Organization: Personal and professional development resources. Networking opportunities. Professional certification that can help your career. Service and support from the national organization. Opportunities to develop one's leadership skills. Discounts on related products and services. Regular organization conferences. Member publications.

ASAE's page on Collaborate Welcome with explanation of how to get started and how members "easily interact and communicate online and via email to exchange ideas, experience, knowledge and wisdom of your peers." Join our discussion groups to spark or contribute to a conversation. The benefits are endless!" Overview of how to get started "1. customize your profile and preferences... 2. adjust your subscription settings... 3. start a conversation in the discussion groups... 4. start networking--find a member and connect... 5. Volunteer Town Square--here you will find short-term opportunities as well as ASAE's one-year term council and committee appointment groups. We encourage you to volunteer for projects that fit your interests, expertise, and schedule!"

Article by Timothy Stafford, November 2014, eLearn Magazine. Reports on study of 25 instructional designers who had at least three years of experience in p.i. design and one year of implementing social media into their instructional design platforms. Most interesting to me is the equal weight given to 3 learning theories to drive design and very broad definition of social media (which I agree with). Conclusion "Learning is shifting, but in many ways it is the foundations of learning that are having the most profound effect on contemporary instructional designers. Defining social media, digital literacy and learning, knowing, and expertise are only the tip of the iceberg for the future of learning within digital environments."

Another blog from workintelligent.ly. 3 simple signs your company is not understanding today's technology - most of which point to not trying to control what is used and how it is used, sharing tech info, knowledge and skills, and using the expertise of everyone that uses technology. A unnamed dig at Microsoft and Explorer as an example of what not to do.

A good model for us to think about: 3 signs your organization doesn't understand networked learning and/or PD could be a blog or promotional outreach for us.