social learning

Collaborative learning — For the people, by the people — from Bloomfire.com by Josh Little

On 03/26/2010, in corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, disruption, social learning / networks, training / L&D, by Daniel Christian

Collaborative learning — For the people, by the people — from Bloomfire.com by Josh Little (emphasis below by DSC)

Should training organizations cancel their LMS subscriptions, take a hammer to their laser pointers, and bury their Webcams? By all means, NO! Formal learning is needed in most organizations. What we must do is redefine ourselves as learning construction experts.

Traditional approaches to training are facing disruption. When I say “traditional,” I mean more than instructor-led training located in classrooms. I include e-Learning in most of the forms that have prevailed for the last 15 years or longer. Disruptive innovation, in the form of social software, is sparking new philosophies about formal and informal use of collaboration to support learning. But why are these ideas finding support among business leaders and e-Learning experts?

The basic reason is simple. Information moves too fast. The speed of commerce is faster than ever. Today, product releases happen every three months instead of every three years. Customers define your brand through online communities faster than you can think about creating a branding campaign. The pace at which workers must learn outstrips anything we have seen before. The influx of Millennials (gen Y), who will comprise 50% of our workforce in the next five years, brings with it new entry-level technology skills and new expectations. And that, in a few sentences, is your disruption.

From DSC:
This speed of information applies to higher ed as well. In fact, I wish my master’s program would drop the use of printed-based textbooks and use materials that are much more up-to-date and accessible via online-based methods; also I can search these online-based items in a much fast, easier manner.

Tagged with: collaboration • corporate training / universities • disruption • informal learning • social learning • training

Tagged with: CMS/LMS • Moodle • social learning • social networking

Digital access, collaboration a must for students — from eSchoolNews.com by Laura Devaney

On 03/16/2010, in digital learning, education technology, engagement / engaging students, game-changing environment, K-12 related, personalized/customized learning, social learning / networks, technologies for your home, by Daniel Christian

Digital access, collaboration a must for students — from eSchoolNews.com by Laura Devaney
Students increasingly are taking education into their own hands with personal technology experiences, a trend with important implications for schools

In a national survey that reveals K-12 students’ use of technology at home and at school, students overwhelmingly agreed that access to digital media tools and the ability to collaborate with peers both inside and outside of school can greatly enhance education.

“Speak Up 2009: Creating Our Future: Students Speak Up about their Vision for 21st Century Schools,” the latest education technology survey from the nonprofit group Project Tomorrow, identifies the emergence of “free agent learners”—students who increasingly take learning into their own hands and use technology to create personalized learning experiences.

“For these students, the schoolhouse, the teacher, and the textbook no longer have an exclusive monopoly on knowledge, content, or even the education process, and therefore it should not be surprising that students are leveraging a wide range of learning resources, tools, applications, outside experts, and each other to create a personalized learning experience that may or may not include what is happening in the classroom,” the report says.

…

The three elements identified in the report are:

Social-based learning: Students want to leverage emerging communications and collaboration tools to create and personalize networks of experts to inform their education experience.

Untethered learning: Students envision technology-enabled learning experiences that transcend the classroom walls and are not limited by resource constraints, traditional funding streams, geography, community assets, or even teacher knowledge or skills.

Digitally-rich learning: Students see the use of relevancy-based digital tools, content, and resources as a key to driving learning productivity, and not just about engaging students in learning.

Tagged with: digital learning • educational technology • game-changing environment • K-12 • Keeping students engaged • personalized learning • social learning

Tagged with: corporate training / universities • social learning

Powering social learning: Bloomfire formalizes informal learning — from mlive.com

On 03/08/2010, in informal learning, social learning / networks, by Daniel Christian

Powering social learning: Bloomfire formalizes informal learning — from mlive.com by Olivia Pulsinelli, Business Review West Michigan

(Emphasis below by DSC)

According to its Web site, “Bloomfire is everything traditional learning is not.”

Bloomfire founder Josh Little compared his new company, a hub of online learning communities, to gardens. Companies or other groups can sign up for Bloomfire, a monthly service which officially launches March 15, and each group’s “garden” of informal, social-learning opportunities can be dedicated to anything from sales strategies to fishing.

“Whatever a group or whatever a community would like to teach each other, you could deploy a Bloomfire,” said Little, who is based in Kalamazoo.

From his work at Pfizer and Stryker — and most recently, from working with other corporations through his online training-course development company, Maestro eLearning — Little and his team came up with the idea to create a tool companies could use as a way for employees to quickly and easily share knowledge and help each other build on that knowledge.

Bloomfire focuses on informal learning, which Little said contributes to about 90 percent of the knowledge that most people need to do their jobs. Informal learning usually comes from conversations and on-the-job or trial-and-error experiences.

“Bloomfire is a way to take all that informal learning and formalize it — somehow capture and harness that,” Little said.

On Bloomfire, one can do three things — teach, learn and manage.

Tagged with: informal learning • social learning

2010 Virtual Symposium

On 03/04/2010, in Augmented Reality (AR), disruption, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, Europe, global / globalization, higher education, K-12 related, mathematics, social learning / networks, training / L&D, videoconferencing, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian