Jane's Pick of the Day

C4LPT August Review

As August draws to an end - and summer is nearly over - here is a roundup of what's been happening at the main Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (C4LPT) site this month.

2010 Reading List

I added over 30 articles and resources to my 2010 Reading list in August.  One of the themes of the month has been highlighting the value of public social media tools like Facebook and Twitter for the workplace (both for working and learning), and actively encouraging their use rather than banning them, e.g.

• 5 social networking tools for enterprise collaboration, 24World, 26 August 2010
• 3 ways CEOs can connect with employees, Ragan, 19 August 2010
• Why more of your employees should be on Twitter, Search Engine Journal. 17 August 2010
  
• What Twitter has done for me, Jamie Forrest, 7 August 2010

I've written a posting about this topic myself, Encouraging the use of public social media - as well as a couple of articles for elearning Age magazine and for TrainingZone's Social Learning Month in September.  As I write in my elearning Age article:

"As more and more organisations recognise the value of the use of public social media sites for their business - and not just for marketing but for working and learning too - and actively encourage their people to use them, there will be a new role for Learning & Development departments to help individuals and teams, who are unfamiliar with social media, understand how to use these new tools effectively and responsibly ... Social media is not something you just read about, but something you do."

This is one of the reasons why I have been promoting my How to use Social Media in Your Job 30-day online programme, which starts tomorrow and already has over 100 people signed up for it.  At the end of September I'll report on how it went.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010

At the time of writing, there have been 391 contributors to the Top 100 Tools for Learning list.  As I'd really like to reach 500 contributions by the time I close the list in the middle of October, please do share your Top 10 list if you haven't already done so.

RIP John R Hart 1927-2010

Yesterday, my father-in-law died in intensive care in Antrim Hospital, in Northern Ireland, due to  complications following surgery a few weeks earlier; he had just celebrated his 83rd birthday. John was a lovely man, and I just wanted to pay my very small tribute to him here.  The photo above was taken at the time of my wedding to Philip in November 2005, and this is how I want to remember him - happy and in good health.

How to use social media in your job - in 30 days #SoMe4job

Social media is not something you just read about; it's something you do.

In response to demand from a number of people, the content in The Practical Guide to using Social Media in your Job, which I have posted about before,  is now available as a 30-day online programme.

The programme is intended for those new to social media who want to get up and running fairly quickly and be able to use a range of social media tools in their own job or professional practice.

Every day we will send participants an email with a link to the day's materials where we discuss a different tool.  There will also be an activity to work on and participants are encouraged to share their experiences and thoughts with others working on the programme. 

The first 30-day programme starts 1 September -

Find out more about the free 30-day programme here.

Juxio - combine image and text into visual streams

I came across Juxio today in a posting on TechCrunch.  It is a very interesting service that I think will be useful for creating simple learning solutions.

What is Juxio?

"Juxio is a new visual way to communicate. Individuals and businesses use Juxio to combine images, text and more into mashable, visual streams called Juxes to share across social media and in print."

How do you create Juxes?

Juxes can be created on both Web and iPhone/iPad apps - and there will be support for additional mobile devices in the future.

I've downloaded the Juxio iPhone app (and signed up for the web based app), and it seems very easy to use to create a Jux.  Here's a Jux I created on my iPhone.

I'm now going to work on a little Jux-based learning solution, which contains a stream of Juxes ... so watch this space!  If you create any yourself, please do share your work.

Juxio

SiftLinks - personalised Twitter links to your RSS reader

I've been wondering what had happened to my ReadTwit RSS feed, and only just got round to finding out that it's now passed away.  It's a shame as it was a nice little service that gave me a feed of all the links that those I follow tweeted about, so I didn't miss out. I've now looked around for an alternative and have just come across SiftLinks, so am giving that a go now.

James Constable explains the rationale for creating it::

"SiftLinks was created because I was tired of missing out on all the great links that people posted on Twitter that I never got the time to properly check out. I don't have a massive follow list but quite often, if I was away from the computer for a couple of days and only accessing Twitter via my iPhone, I'd miss out on reading some really interesting articles. I figured it would be easier if I could dash through those articles in my feed reader when I got the chance. I also figured that if I wanted this then someone else might too, so I went ahead and put it together."

Why focus on informal and social learning?

[Cross-posted from Social Media for Learning and Working]

My colleagues and I at the Internet Time Alliance - as well as others -  have written a lot about why organisations need to review their approach to "learning" .  I've referenced many of the key resources in my (constantly updated) State of Learning in the Workplace Today piece.. 

Recently, my ITA colleague, Charles Jennings gave a webinar to the eLearning Network of Australiasia on the 8 reasons to focus on informal and social learning.  Here is his elegantly designed presentation with its powerful message.

8 Reasons to Focus on Informal & Social Learning

View more presentations from Charles Jennings.

My colleagues and I at the Internet Time Alliance - as well as others -  have written a lot about why organisations need to review their approach to "learning" .  I've referenced many of the key resources in my (constantly updated) State of Learning in the Workplace Today piece.. 

Recently, my ITA colleague, Charles Jennings gave a webinar to the eLearning Network of Australiasia on the 8 reasons to focus on informal and social learning.  Here is his elegantly designed presentation with its powerful message.

8 Reasons to Focus on Informal & Social Learning

View more presentations from Charles Jennings.

How the Internet works Infographic

[Via: Online Schools]

15 mind blowing facts about the Internet

Via: Medical Coding Certification

July review

Here is a roundup of what's been happening at the main Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (C4LPT) site in July.

2010 Reading List

I added over 20 articles and resources to my 2010 Reading list in July.  As you can see from the Wordle (above) created from the titles, the dominant themes were social media and change. Here are some of the key articles calling for change in one way or another that I have included.

• Training needs to change or risk irrelevance, Donald Taylor, 28 June 2010
• Learning to change report, Mark Berthelemy, 6 July 2010
• The Social Employee Manifesto, Michael Fauscette, Smart Data Collective, 28 May 2010
• Is the formal traing room obsolete, Laura Overton, TrainingZone, 26 July 2010
• Why focus on informal and social learning?  Charles Jennings, Internet Time Alliance blog, July 31

State of Learning in the Workplace Today

I've updated my State of Learning in the Workplace Today piece to describe 10 factors for change in L&D (and referencing all the articles above) and also provided a (draft) model of how I believe L&D could be working more widlely to help individuals and teams - ie from a focus on training to performance consulting. 

How to use social media in your job

One of the key features of the way forward will be helping others to become self-sufficient - where they are not already doing so.  The tools are already there and being exploited by many; others will need help understanding how they can be used effectively.   My guide which shows how social media can be used in your job or professional practice, is now available - by popular demand! - as a PDF to purchase.. 

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010

At the time of writing, there have been 318 contributors to the Top 100 Tools for Learning list.  Have you shared your Top 10 yet?