Here is my month-by-month pick of the resources I have created during
the year - magazine articles, presentations, blogs, web pages, etc
JANUARY 2009
Reflections of a learning consultant
In this article for elearning age magazine I reflected on my career as an
E-Learning Consultant, and how I was convinced that social learning approaches
were the way to go. I also explained that for this reason I had changed my
title from E-Learning Consultant to Social Media & Learning Consultant.
Update: In fact I have now gone a step further and now call myself a Social
Learning Consultant
FEBRUARY 2009
A Guide to Social Learning
I began to convert my Guide to E-Learning into the Guide to Social Learning.
Update: Over the year the Guide has undergone a number of changes - and I am constantly updating and revising the pages to keep them
up to developments in this fast moving area of learning.
MARCH 2009
SoLEARN
As my social learning consultant work increased, and in particular I began to help more and more organisations (business and education) implement a social
learning environment, using the open source social engine, Elgg, I decided to open up
my own Elgg platform for learning professionals to try out.
Update: Originally the site was called C4LPT.net and I referred to it as a
"social network", more recently I renamed it SoLearn and now descirbe it
as a "social learning space"
APRIL 2009
The future of e-learning is social learning
This presentation, embedded below, was the first of a number of short,
introductory presentations I produced for clients and other purposes (like
conference presentations) on social learning in organisations. This first
presentation covered: What is Social Learning? Social Learning platforms, and
the role of Social Learning Professionals.
Update: This presentation was featured on the posting
100 must-read blog posts on the future of learning
MAY 2009
25 Tools: A Toolbox for Learning Professionals
In 2008 I wrote an article for e.learning magazine called
"25 Tools Every
Learning Professional should have in their Toolbox - and all for free!" The
article (and the supporting presentation) became very popular, so this year
I produced a 2009 version which
contained 25 categories of learning tool. The majority of
tools in the Toolbox are FREE, although a number of commercial tools are included. Some of the tools
are desktop tools; others are online services. You can read the
article for e.learning magazine or view the supporting presentation
(embedded below), Full information about each of the tools mentioned in the article and
presentation is available in the
25
TOOLS 2009 resource.
Update: The presentation has now been viewed over 25,000 times
JUNE 2009
Connexions Directory
In September 2008 I created a list of 100+
learning professionals to follow on Twitter. As more and more people were added
to the list, this grew into the Directory of Learning Professionals on
Twitter. In June, I re-organised the Directory and renamed it
Connexions, as it allows individuals to provide information about
themselves and their online presence: their blog, website, Twitter account(s),
as well as the social networks (like Facebook, LinkedIn and Ning) where they can
be found.
Update: There are now over 1,200 people listed in the Directory. You can
join it here. I also produced a 2009 version of 100 Learning Professions to follow in 2009.
Twitter Workshop
As Twitter became more and more popular I found myself being asked to run conference
sessions on how to use it, I produced a Twitter Workshop to explain the key
features of Twitter. The presentation is embedded below, but the script is
available on the
Micro-blogging page of the Guide to Social Learning.
Update: The Twitter Workshop has now been viewed over 10,000 times.
JULY 2009
Social Media in Learning blog
I set up this blog to post about social media tools, their use
for social learning and building a social learning strategy. This blog was to allow me to
provide more opinion and commentary postings than I do on Jane's E-Learning Pick
of the Day.
Update: I have now made nearly 150 postings and I have used this blog to
document my ongoing thinking about the importance of social learning, as well as
updates to the Guide to Social Learning.
AUGUST 2009
All things Elgg
In response to requests from a number of my clients and blog
readers, I set up this blog to post news and resources about the implementation, customisation and use of the open source social
engine, Elgg, with a particular focus on its use
for learning and working within businesses and education.
Update: I have now featured a number of Elgg implementations on the blog.
SEPTEMBER 2009
Directory of Learning Tools
During September I added the 3,100th tool into the Directory of Learning
Tools.
Update: I continue to add tools to the Directory on an almost daily basis. However, there has been quite a bit of change in learning tools marketplace since I started this Directory, so I'm now completely updating the content and overhauling the Directory pages to provide a new look with more information.
OCTOBER 2009
10 Tools for (20)10
In this article for e.learning age magazine, I highlighted 10
tools that appeared for the first time on the Top 100 Tools for
Learning 2009 list, that I thought were useful, innovative, cost effective and
worth considering for 2010.
Update: Etherpad has subsequently been acquired by Google to become
part of Google Wave, and the current service with close at the end
of March. Meantime no new accounts can be opened.
NOVEMBER 2009
Top 100 Tools for
Learning 2009
Since 2007 I have produed an annual list of the Top 100
tools for Learning. From March this year, a total of 278 learning professionals
in both education and workplace learning contributed their Top 10 Tools for
Learning. On 15 November I compiled the Top 100 list. Although the presentation is embedded below, the full list can be found
at the link above. I've also
compared the rankings of the tools since 2008, showing the winners and losers
in 2009.
Update: Since the presentation was placed on Slideshare 6 weeks ago it has
now been viewed over 30,000 times.
LearnTrends 2009: Creating a social learning environment
I was invited to present at the 3rd
LearnTrends online
conference. My presentation discussed the concerns organisations have with
pubic social media tools and how a private, secure platform powered by the open
source social engine, Elgg, can address these issues - and at low cost. I also
presented a couple of case studies - one from education and one from an
international organisation - that I had worked on.
DECEMBER
Online Educa: Tools of the Trade and 12 x 3D tools
In early December I was at Online Educa in Berlin. On the first day I
was in the
Creating the New Era of Corporate Learning
stream with most of my
Internet Time Alliance colleagues, either in person (Jay Cross and Charles
Jennings) or virtual (Harold Jarche, Jon Husband). My session was entitled
Tools of the Trade which I not only presented to those in the room, but which
was simulcasted (via Adobe Connect) to participants of the LearnTrends
conference. Additionally, I released the slideset in advance so that
others could tweet their thoughts and comments. This was an ambitious
idea, but thanks to Charles Jennings, who was chairing the session, we managed
to keep up with the chat comments in Adobe, the tweets, as well as personal contributions
from the room. The slideset, notes
and links to sources is available here. On the
second day, I was involved in a number of sessions including one on 3D tools with Donald Clark and Chris Brannigan of Caspian Learning.
I presented my favourite 12 3D tools for education, training and collaboration.
Slideset, notes and links to sources is available
here.
It has been a very interesting year for me and I look forward to 2010 being equally noteworthy.
