Social Media for Working & Learning

Blog has moved ...

For subscribers/readers of this blog you may have noticed that nothing has been posted here in the last few months.  The reason, early in January I set up a new blog - C4LPT BLog - where I post all my stuff now about social media for working and learning  -  and where you will also find archives of this blog.  So if you haven't found my new blog, please hop over and sign up for the feed.  See you there!

Twitter as a learning tool for surgeons

For those of you who didn’t see the episode of Grey’s Anatomy that showed the use of Twitter as a learning tool for surgeons, here are some clips on YouTube.Doctor Bailey introduces Twitter as a learning tool to broadcast surgeries over the internet. The chief on the other hand, is not very happy about the idea. At least not at first.

via www.c4lpt.co.uk

The Social Learning Handbook is now availabe

I am very pleased to announce that my Social Learning Handbook: A practical guide to using social media to work and learn smarter is now available to purchase  as a paperback book on  Lulu - You can go to directly to the relevant page by clicking here.

This is what appears on the backcover:

"It is becoming apparent that we are at the beginning of a fundamental shift in the way that both learning and working is happening in organisations. The revolution that is social media means that now everyone can have access to the Social Web and a range of services and applications to support their own as well as their team's learning, performance and productivity.

This should not be seen as a threat to the L&D profession, but as an opportunity to take on the new challenges it offers. The first step will be to understand the changes that are taking place, and then become immersed in the new social media tools that are underpinning this change in order to help others in the organization work and learn smarter. Social Learning, after all, is not something you just talk or read about; it’s something you do!"

This Social Learning Handbook covers both theory and practice:

• Part 1 considers the emergence of social media, its impact on workplace learning the difference between social training and social learning, the range of social technologies available as well as strategies for supporting and encouraging social learning in the business.
• Part 2 looks at some of the key social technologies and how they can be used to work and learn smarter.

You can view the Contents list, a synopsis of Part One, as well as excerpts from Part Two in 10 ideas to use social media for professional development.

The Social Learning Handbook is a companion book to the Internet Time Alliance's Working Smarter Fieldbook, and just like  the Fieldbook is an Unbook, in the sense that it is a "work in progress" in this fast moving area. Consequently, a supporting online site will help keep purchasers up to date with new articles, new resources and new thinking , as well as provide a place to ask questions and discuss topics with other readers.

Workplace learning is like learning a second language

In a recent comment on my blog I compared learning in the modern day workplace with learning a second language.  The more I thought about this analogy, the more it worked quite well to make my points about what workplace learning is all about and how social and collaboration tools fit in.  So here is a fuller comparison.

I learned German at school and actually went on to study it at university.  In school I was taught the rules of German grammar and spent a lot of time building my German vocabulary mostly through memorization.  But it wasn't till I spent time in Germany that I REALLY learnt how to speak German.  There I was able to get the "feel" of the language as I was immersed in it everyday. I heard  it spoken all around me, I had conversations with people, I watched German TV and I read German magazines and newspapers.  Sometimes I consciously made an effort to broaden my vocabulary by reading financial or economic articles, but most of the time I was unaware that I was absorbing so much about the language.  In fact I can recall a couple of occasions when I heard myself say something in German and thought, "I didn't learn that at school"!

Now, we didn't have Learning Management or Course Management Systems in my day when I was at school!  But if we did, then it would probably have been used to try to manage what I was "learning",  by that I mean recording my results in tests, etc which would have been used as an indication of how well I had learnt the rules of German grammar or the extent of my vocabulary.  But  even if a LMS had existed, it certainly is a ludicrous idea to think that it could have come with me to Germany to track all the conversations I had or overheard, all the TV programmes I watched, or all the magazine and newspaper articles I read.  And even if that HAD been a posssibility, it certainly wouldn't have provided any indication of what I had actually learnt, for as I mentioned earlier, much of the time even I was unaware of that myself.  But the evidence that I HAD LEARNT was clear enough - in my IMPROVING FLUENCY in the language.

And, this is actually the same in the workplace too.  Here training is often provided to teach the "rules" of the business, e.g. policies, procedures, use of systems, and even things like how to negotiate with difficult people.  But just like learning a second language the REAL learning takes place in the workplace, when you are immersed in the business: in conversations, in meetings, in reading documents and reports, in listening to podcasts or watching screencasts.  Once again,  some of the time you will consciously set out to find out about something, but most of the time you are absorbing new information and acquiring skills quite unconsciously.  

In many organisations nowadays an LMS is used to track and monitor how much you know (or rather can remember) about the business rules you  have been taught, and in some it is also used to provide a record of any necessary compliance and regulatory  training . But just as it was ludicrous to  consider trying to track all my activity whilst I was in Germany, it is similarly nonsensical to consider trying to track all the activity and interactions that take place in the workplace in order to monitor  employees' "learning".  The only place where your learning is "managed" is in your own brain, and the only relevant evidence that learning has taken place is in your IMPROVING JOB PERFORMANCE. 

Now, there is actually one BIG difference between learning a second language and learning in the workplace.  In Germany I was surrounded by native (ie expert) speakers of the language, who didn't have the same need or interest as me in improving their fluency in the language!  Although many, of course, provided me with help and support, it was up to me to get the most out of being in Germany.  The workplace is different, here we are all in the same boat.  Of course there are also experts - in their fields of interest, or those who are "good at their job" - but we all pretty much have the same goal: to do our jobs well or better.  And it is this common goal that we need to encourage and support, rather than try and track and monitor and manage activity in traditional management systems. 

Here of course is where the new social and collaboration tools have a part to play, as they are able to support the sharing of tacit knowledge as well as resources, and also enable collaboration between individuals.  In a previous posting I explained that I thought a top-down approach to implementing a social and collaboration system would not work. Although many people are already quite happily sharing and collaborating with one another to learn and work together; others will participate too once they see the value of it, but compelling them to do so and monitoring and tracking their every move, is not the way forward.  Social and collaboration tools should be available to be used as and when needed and appropriate  - much like the telephone which we use to communicate with someone when we need to. 

Although it will undoubtedy take a little time before the sceptical are convinced that social and collaboration tools are important workplace tools, I predict that it won't be too long before many others consider these tools in the same way that we view the telephone and email - as vital for job and organisational productivity.

Finally a word about Social Learning.  Up to now I've deliberately avoided the use of the terms "formal" and "informal" learning.  But it should be clear from my descriptions above where the formal and informal learning takes place.  [If not: Formal learning is when I learnt German in the school classroom, and where I received my training on the business rules.  Informal learning is when I learnt German in Germany itself, and in the workplace doing my job.] 

The social and collaboration tools I have mentioned earlier for the workplace are therefore being used as much for "informal learning" as they are for working.  In fact, at the Internet Time Alliance we consider working and learning to be practically indistinguishable. 

Social Learning in the workplace is therefore ALL about  "working smarter".

My Journey from E-Learning to Social Business

Photo taken by Jay Cross, 5 November 2010

The Internet Time Alliance is running two major Workshops next week, one in Maastricht in the Netherlands, and one in London.  As part of the introduction to the day, each of the 5 of us, is going to explain how, from very different backgrounds we have arrived at the same place in our belief that it is all about working smarter.  Harold has written about his journey from ADDIE through HPT and Social Learning here: Getting to working smarter.  Below I describe my journey from E-Learning to Social Business and what has influenced me along the way.  (BTW this is a  longer version than I will be providing at the workshops, but since I frequently get asked about my background and what I have done, I thought I would add a little colour as this might be of interest or use to some.)

My journey began in the 80s when I was teaching IT in a FE college.  However, as I was just as  interested in how the technology could be used for teaching and learning, I initiated, and got involved in, a number of CBT (computer based technology) projects.  When in early 1990 I moved onto become a Senior Lecturer in IT at a university in London, I developed my interest further, particularly when after attending the first World Wide Web conference at CERN in Geneva in 1994, my husband introduced me to the Web.  I could immediately see the potential for education, and as I eagerly surfed the early Web to find out about what is was all about, and taught myself to use HTML to write webpages, I developed a series of free online World Wide Web Workshops (WWWW)  to share what I had learnt. (This was the beginnings of my whole practice of sharing my work with others)

I also set up the first WBT (web-based course)  in my university to put into practice my thoughts about providing education online.  Although I was brimming full of ideas of what could be done, I was  amazed that others couldn't see the huge impact  that the Web would have on our lives, and I remember how aghast I was when my then Head of Department  said the Web was "all a load of hype".  It was a salutory lesson that not everyone "gets it" straightaway, and something I have had to remind myself about many times since then!

In 1997, as the Web became more and more popular in the corporate sector, I decided to leave education to work in the Internet consultancy business that my husband had set up a few years earlier, where I would focus on helping corporates with the new world of online learning.  I was very lucky that my first contract was based in the South of France, where I worked for the Training & Documentation department of a multinational telecommunications company.  They were also inspired by the power and reach of the Web, so I wrote a business proposal to build an Online Learning Centre for the Global Help Desk, and then single-handedly specified the hardware and software requirements, installed the server, set up a very early Learning Management System, and began creating initial content for the site (activities, by the way, which it now seems to take an army of people to undertake!)

By 2000 I was back in the UK, and taking on another contract this time with Cisco Systems.  They had set up an E-Learning Team in London to implement e-learning in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) region.  Cisco was already producing some fabulous stuff for its own internal use, and I was convinced John Chambers was right when he said:

"E-Learning is the next killer app; it'll make email look like a rounding error."

But what really made an impact on me, was the definition of e-learning that Cisco used.

"E-learning is information, instruction, communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing."

This made absolute sense to me as I had by now realised, learning in the workplace, is much, much  more than just receiving instruction.  However, e-instruction is exactly where many corporates focused their attention, mainly in an attempt to save the costs of running face-to-face events, and in the process disregarded the "information, communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing" aspects of e-learning. So, when Jay Cross, who I had known since around 2001, asked me to take a look at the manuscript of his new book, Informal Learning, and provide him with my thoughts and comments I was honoured and delighted to do so.  At last, I thought, organisations would now begin to realise that there was more to workplace learning than just taking courses. 

For sure, there are many people who recognise the value of learning informally in an organisation, but there are still many others who don't "get it".  It seems there are still some who come from a very traditional training background who still want to try and force-fit it in formal (course) structures, and manage it in their LMS!  So there is still lots of work to be done helping them understand what informal learning is all about.

Meanwhile, whilst people have been discussing the merits of informal learning, we have seem the emergence of a whole new range of web tools, which have been variously named Web 2.0 or social media tools.  As many of you know all too well, these tools are signifantly impacting all the different parts of our lives - personal, professional and organisational - as they allow us to co-create content, communicate, collaborate and share information in new ways.   (Do you recognise those words!)  For users of these tools, social media-ted learning (or social learning) provides the means for all of us, as individuals, to find out, discover and LEARN, by connecting with other individuals wherever they may be situated.  I have remarked to many people that I believe that Social Learning is now what E-Learning SHOULD always have been:

"Information, Instruction, Communication, Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing"

Over the last few years I have worked with a number of organisations, large and small, to help them understand the value of social media for their business, and that not only that their use for working and learning is merging, but also that these tools provide them with effective ways  to engage new and existing customers and clients.  My own work has therefore expanded such that I now refer to myself as a Social Business Consultant.

Of course, social media and its role in the business is still in its infancy; much of it is happening at the grass-roots level and happening in a bottom-up way (where some organisations are not even aware of it).  And course there are inevitably many people who "don't get it".  Those who haven't personally experienced the power of "social" are calling it "hype" or "a fad", and some organisations are desperately trying to re-gain control by banning its use in their organisations or attempting to force-fit it into their traditional, formal structures and processes - usually unsuccessfully when it involves users  who have seen the power that social media brings to them as individuals.  So in many ways, we are having to start all over again to convince organisations that they need to understand and harness this second generation of the Web.

Fortunately, however, I have been lucky to work with organisations who do "get it", who don't see social media as a threat but as a huge opportunity for them to thrive as a social business, and for them to help their people to work smarter. I look forward to working with more businesses in 2011 who want to do the same.

A top-down approach to social and collaborative learning/working isn't going to work!

I've just returned home after a week away speaking at, and participating in,  a number of different conferences and events in Belgium and Germany. My main focus has been on the use of social media for working and learning, and I've been having lots of conversations and listening into other discussions about social learning and working smarter. 

What I'm becoming more and more aware of is that there are two ways organisations are considering "implementing" social and collaborative approaches : Top-down and bottom-up.

With the Top down approach, organisations are thinking about how they will need to get people to use social media - either within a formal learning context (in the classroom or online course) or for enterprise collaboration (sharing and collaboration with colleagues).  The type of questions they are asking are

• How do we get people to collaborate and share?
• How do we ensure what they share is accurate?
• When are they going to have time in their workday to collaborate and share with their colleagues?
• What platform can we ensure everybody uses to allow us to track every piece of social activity that takes place?

In other words, this approach is about imposing social and collaboration on their people, trying to compel them to share and collaborate, and then controlling and tracking what they do share.

This is the traditional way that organisations have operated when implementing new approaches- we have seen it with e-learning and the LMS - but I don't believe this approach is going to work well with social learning and collaborative working.  I predict that organisations that take this  approach to "implementing " social within their organisations, will report that it has failed; that workers are not using the collaboration systems, they are not sharing and that it is not effective.

The other approach to "implementing social learning" that is taking place is Bottom-up, this is about encouraging and supporting those individuals who want to connect with others and collaborate to work and learn together.  It is about recognising the fact that it works best when individuals and teams (themselves) have a purpose or need or interest to do so. eg to deal with a common issue or problem or to support one another.

According to my own research, many people are already using social media like this; creating trusted networks of colleagues (both inside and outside the organistion), and using these and othersocial tools to communicate, collaborate and share resources, experiences and ideas.  In many organisations  it is actually happening UNDER the radar of L&D and IT, as individuals by-pass enterprise systems and use online tools and their own devices (smartphones, iPads, etc) to address their own learning and performance problems  - particularly where access to public social sites has been blocked.

Smart organisations who are recognising that this is happening, are therefore asking very different questions about "implementing" social and collaborative approaches, e.g.

• how can we build on what is happening and support those who already using social and collaborative approaches?
• and how can we help those who would like to find out how to work and learn collaboratively, who are not already doing so now?

This supportive bottom-up approach to "implementing social learning" I believe is much more likely to be successful.   In organisations who adopt this appraoch, social learning and collaborative working becomes an organic process. And as more and more people recognise the value of it, they will become involved, participate, share and collaborate.  It is these organisations who will, I believe, be reporting productivity improvements,  increased customer satisfaction and an improved bottom line.

Twitter as a professional development tool

Twitter graphic from Spoon Graphics

As you all know, Twitter is #1 on the Top 100 Tools for Learning list this year for the second year running.

Those who voted it into the top spot, know how important and valuable it has become for them.  Others, who haven't yet tried Twitter, often show their surprise  that a tool which they often consider "trivial" can be of any use for "learning".

I've written a lot about Twitter as well as talked to many people about it - whether it be in  small corporate workshops or in conference presentations.  One of the ways that I try to explain its value is to show how it is a great place to build a PLN - Personal Learning Network.  However, this does not always hit the right spot, as it can take a bit of time to explain what a PLN is. So recently, I've been talking more about Twitter as "a professional development tool", and I now see more more people showing interest.

I often start by talking about my own professional developmemt using Twitter, ie by connecting with like-minded learning professionals worldwide, and how I have learnt so much about what is happening in the learning industry and how it is evolving.  Keeping in daily contect with those, whose opinions and ideas I value, is now enormously important for me  - both professionally and personally - as is participating in the weekly, synchronous live chat session, lrnchat, as well as getting involved in Twitter backchannels at conferences and other events. 

I also go so far to say that  without Twitter I probably wouldn't be able to do my job as effectively as I do nowadays, which includes advising organisations on the way that learning (and in particular workplace learning) is changing. And furthermore that although I continue to read blog postings about what is happening in Learning & Development,  my RSS reader - where I aggregate and manage my RSS feeds, this activity is now taking 2nd place to my use of Twitter.

Of course, there are many others who understand the value of Twitter as a professional development tool.  In a previous blog posting I mentioned a schoolteacher who felt that Twitter had not only increased her desire for and pursuit of professional development, but also had improved her self-confidence and attitude (See What Twitter has done for me)

And here are a few other articles I have found too:

• 5 reasons I use Twitter (and you should too), Molehills out of mountains, 27 November 2010
• Using Twitter as a professional development tool, Sarah Fischler, 10 March 2010
• Twitteracy: Twitter as professional development tool, TannerVision, 13 October 2009
• Can Twitter help your professional development, T J Belt, Simple Talk, 16 December 2008
• Twittering, not frittering: professional development in 140 characters, Suzie Boss, Edutopia, 13 August 2008

Do you view Twitter as a professional development tool?  If so, do please leave a comment below on how it is helping you, or else share a link to a resource where others have shared their experiences.

[And if you are looking for more information on how Twitter can help YOUR professional development, take a look at my online Guide,  How to use Twitter for Social Learning]

Where are you on the LMS adoption curve?

As readers of this blog will know, the LMS Debate has been in full flow this year.   This was triggered by a number of blog postings from the Principals of the Internet Time Alliance who highlighted the fact that these "command and control" systems are no longer  appropriate to support the full range of learning, working and performance needs of the organisation - particularly as learning needs to be integrated into working, and not vice versa. For those of you who haven't followed the debate,  we have documented it here.

Whereas a number of organisations are already pushing their LMS to the side or abandoning it altogether, a recent article suggested there there are still organisations shopping for their first LMS.  Harold  Jarche and I began to discuss who these organisations might be, and I originally began to plot them along Moore's technology  adoption curve.

However, Harold has picked this up and done much more work on it and has come up with the following chart, which places the LMS in the context of how an organization approaches "workplace learning" - ie whether it is Compliance-focused, Learning-focused or Work-focused.  (See Harold's blog posting,  From learning to working technologies)

Harold also succinctly explains this in terms of the adoption curve as well:

"The Late Majority and Laggards are focused on meeting their compliance needs. Many of these are in traditional industries. They are purchasing one of their first learning management systems (LMS) and are focused on features & functions, which is usually a large shopping list provided by a variety of constituents.

The Early Majority are focused on learning and particularly course delivery. They are comprised in large part of education and training (E&T) intensive organizations, including schools. Most have existing contracts that bind them to a vendor. Some are considering open source (OS) as an option to their costly systems.

The Innovators & Early Adopters have shifted to a work focus. Many are in newer industries, with little legacy software. Others are in more traditional industries who have seen the urgent need for change. They are focused on supporting social and informal learning and integrating it into the work flow. These companies are retiring their LMS and are outsourcing formal course development that accounts for only 10% of their performance needs."

Where are you on the LMS adoption curve? 

Jay Cross has visualised the evolution of learning systems like this:

Want to move from a compliance- or learning-focused organisation to a work-focused organisation?  The Internet Time Alliance helps organisations work smarter:

Work and learning have become one and the same. Networks rule. Nothing is certain. Simply doing things better no longer guarantees prosperity or even survival.

Our five principals have more than two centuries of experience improving team and individual performance. We develop strategies to help people learn, work, and grow in real time. We do the work ourselves. We employ no junior consultants.

We promote next practices that foster collaboration amid lightning-fast change. Our customers draw strength from the competence, ingenuity, and autonomy of their people.

How do you learn from #lrnchat ?

Those of you who are regular readers of my blog know that I am a host of the early synchronous live-chat session that takes place on Twitter at 4.30 on Thursday afternoons in the UK (5.30 pm CET and 11.30 am EDT) known as #lrnchat.  I also regularly blog and talk about how valuable it is as a professional development learning experience for Learning & Development professionals - particularly those involved in workplace learning.

Today I received the following email from a new lrnchatter:

"Earlier this week I had my first “twitter LIVE” experience with #lrnchat.  I discovered lrnchat through your blog and it seemed like a good idea.  My experience, however, was a learning one, but not in the way I expected it to be.   My purpose in writing you is to increase my understanding of the “live chat” approach and its intended value.

I followed the lrnchat in TweetDeck.  I had barely tweeted my presence when multiple tweets started coming in.  They were occurring so fast that I couldn’t even finish reading one because it would get bumped down in the stack and I could not find the tweet I had been reading.  Later on the tweets were so filled with “@”, “#” and bit.ly links that they made no sense unless you had remembered the comment made by the @[name] or had visited the link.   I found myself  spending all of my time “navigating” (i.e. finding my place: where am I?) and none of my time gaining any insights or learning.  I am amazed that people actually had the time to tweet!!

When I was able to catch some of the tweets, the comments seemed completely random.  True the “choir” was singing, but in this case it seemed that everyone was singing a slightly different song and no one voice was distinguishable from the next.   The result – cacophony. 

Finally, I gave up.  If I really wanted to know anything about “back channeling” at conferences I would likely use a more efficient approach.  I couldn’t imaging sitting through 90 minutes trying to high-speed sift through the noise to find a gem or two.   The thought “Inefficient learning” comes to mind…

So I’m hoping you might have some guidance for me.   Was I using the wrong tool?   Was Thursday’s chat the “norm” (in which case I might just be too “old school” to absorb it!) or did I just happen to chose a first experience that wasn’t the ideal place to get started?   What did anyone learn from that lrnchat session and how did they learn that (because the only thing I learned was my inability to learn from that format)?

 Like you, I believe that the world of adult learning is changing rapidly … as it should be given the tools and technologies at our disposal today.  I want to genuinely  thank you for catalyzing discussions that challenge the century old precepts that learning only happens when an “expert” imparts knowledge to the “student”.  I’m hopeful that you can help me see the value of live twitter streaming in an increasingly noisy marketplace of learning technologies."

My own response was as follows:

"My first session in #lrnchat I felt the same; but I got used to the pace of it all after a couple of sessions.  You can’t read every tweet or look at every link whilst it’s live, so that’s why we post  a transcript so that you can go back and review the conversation to help you find those “learning gems” ."

But as I think this is a very interesting question, and an experience that other newcomers to lrnchat may be having,  I gained the permission of the writer to reproduce the email here, and would like to invite all lrnchatters to share their own experiences of how they cope with the fast flow of the session and use it as a valuable learning activity. 

In fact what advice/guidance/support should we giving to those new to synchronous live chat sessions like #lrnchat?

Why have a L&D department? Revisited

I've just come across a TrainingZone article,  Why have a L&D department?, written in 2006 by William Doherty.  It begins

"The question, why have a learning and development (L&D) department, comes up year after year. The answer is straightforward: "To develop the people so they can increase the competitive advantage and value of the business!" If any L&D or training activity does not achieve this then it is in efficient and ineffective. The next four years (2006-2010) will all be about performance. Only those training companies that perform, deliver results and exceed the customers expectations will survive!"

William then quotes the Internet Time Alliance's, Charles Jennings, when he was Head of Global Learning at Reuters.

"Charles Jennings says that in the near future trainers will need to become performance consultants – able to diagnose the cause of a problem, explore who has ownership and be capable of facilitating a solution. This solution might have nothing to do with training but relate to not paying enough, not recruiting the right quality of personnel, having the wrong process or unrealistic objectives, not allocating enough resources and so on. The challenge facing business in 2006-2010 is to define the role, responsibility and accountability senior managers have towards developing their people and establishing that any problem around developing people or managing their performance is their problem – not the training managers problem.

Jennings makes the point that the training manager and the training function is not simply a fulfilment service delivering training on demand to line managers. In 2006-2010 training managers must help facilitate line managers' ability to identify the root cause of the problem, the size, scale and cost of the problem and, most important, define who owns the problem and the urgency with which it needs to be addressed."

It's 2010 - and it seems to me that not very much has changed except perhaps for the use of different training delivery media.  So why hasn't it happened?  And do things need to change?  Should the role of L&D in the future continue to be simply "a fulfilment service delivering training on demand to line managers"?  Or should it be more than that?

If you are in L&D what are your thoughts?