Great summary of the stages of engagement that learners pass through, including th eemotional aspects.
The adult learners we work with face a difficult conundrum: Their social world is constrained by the technologies they know how to use and vice versa: The technologies they know how to use are limited by their social world. For many people, a solo exploration of the online world can be arduous, insecure, and time-consuming.
"To gain the full educational benefits of the major new investments in corporate technologies supporting online teaching and learning it is argued that a strategic, systems based approach to academic professional development (APD) is required. Such an approach requires a clear view of the key areas of potential and enduring teaching and learning benefit which can be realised from online developments, including an understanding of the changing role of the academic teacher in higher education, the identification of the desired professional capacities to educate online, and the implementation of a number of coordinated initiatives to develop these professional capacities in order to engage constructively with the learning and technology opportunities. Based on previous work, we propose a 6three model of Academic Professional Capacities Development for effective APD of online teaching and learning. The model can help inform the actions of policy makers, executives and practitioners in ways that promote an authentic learning organisation."
"In this seminar, Alan Cann of the University of Leicester considers the potential of social tools for researchers, based on both his own extensive experience and those of researchers interviewed as part of a study for the publication 'Social Media: a guide for researchers.'"
Big set of resources on using social media. Mainly aimed at non-profits but many monitoring tools and tutorials that should make it useful for a range of people - education included.
I think that this is useful to help inform senior leadership. We might 'know' or agree with a lot of this stuff but getting engagement at higher levels may well be helped by Tony's well laid out post.