I wanted to highlight a really interesting blog post by Donald Clark (former CEO of what was then Epic - an elearning provider, and commentator on learning and technology) on the value of using social media for learning. You can read the post here.
Clark frames his thinking using the book Make it Stick, The Science of Successful Learning by Peter Brown and makes a powerful argument for using social media for learning.
This resonates for me as I use tools such as Twitter to help me connect with people and ideas. I also participate in Twitter chats to help me reflect and discuss ideas. Social media is hugely important for my personal and professional development.
I'm interested to hear how you are using social media to learn - if you are, so please let me know your thoughts. And if you aren't, what's stopping you?
PS I bought the book Clark mentions so will share my highlights once I've read it.
Replies
This also really resonates with me Martin as I just couldn't imagine a world without social media that helps me access information and connect with others. I don't even think of them specifically as social media anymore - they are just tools and enablers to help me live my life, do my job and continue learning in the process. Reminds me of the Gartner Hype Cycle and for me social media is now at the plateau of productivity - it feels like 'just the way it is'. I do however recognise that this takes time and people are at varying stages of adoption, this post reminded me of a presentation for Training Journal in 2012.
I've not looked at this presentation for absolutely ages - in fact I'd forgotten about it. It was a real blast from the past however it brought home again just how much of an impact and a game changer for me social media has been - or rather how I have applied and found value through social tools in both a professional and personal context. It documents the develop of my roles in L&D and when I joined DPG to work on this Community - you can even see how the community has developed and evolved which is great to see.
https://prezi.com/pcrmorfpsq3s/social-media-to-support-professional...
Whilst I've learned from my experiences over the last few years with a lot trial and error, the one constant has been the presence of social tools since 2007 when a whole new world was opened for me. The presentation stops at 2012 shortly after I joined DPG so I'm now wondering what 2012-2016 looks like........
When we changed the community in Oct 2014 to the new platform we creating a 'Becoming a Smarter Learner' group - the aim here was to raise awareness about communities and social tools and help people link this to their learning journey. It's been successful I think in preparing people for using the Community to support their learning.
We also asked people in their profile questions what sort of social characteristics they display - the results are interesting (only just looked now). I know I'm going off-piste a little from the title but I think some of the things 'stopping' some people using social media to support learning are tied in with this?
Hi Mike
Thanks for sharing this list - an interesting spread of social characteristics! Maybe we could explore what that list tells us a bit more?
I agree with Sarah, your Prezi is very inspiring. I just love the fact that I know you (and am here now) because of Twitter. That still amazes me!
Martin
Hi Mike,
I'm totally knew to L&D. I'm leaving teaching this July and joining the efforts to move L&D forward. Val Craft (thank you Val), on my Level 5 course, directed me to this blog which gave me the opportunity to view your prezi; honestly, it was inspiring.
Although I'm not anti-technology, I've never been quite sure about how to use it in a professional capacity. I've been cautious and your prezi has visually demonstrated the impact technology has had in your life, both personally and professionally. It has served to challenge you personally, build your confidence and reputation as a leader in this area.
I'm going to invest this into my future. Shamefully, I have always known that joining websites such as LinkedIn and Twitter are essential for connecting and networking, but I have also resisted actually doing this. Underlying fears have prevented me from taking the plunge, but it's time to put that to one side and get on with it.
It would have been great to have seen you share this prezi in person and heard your anecdotes etc. Is there a recorded copy by any chance that we can have access to?
Thanks again!
Sarah
Here is the link to the latest presentation on creating learning communities
https://youtu.be/ct8F918E9hk
Thanks for sharing Mike!
Hi Sarah,
Please accept my apologies for not replying sooner. I made a note on my daily to-do-list and then promptly lost it. I've just found that to-do-list under a big pile of paper. It is true men cannot multi-task successfully.
It put a big smile on my face knowing you enjoyed the Prezi and whilst it was done 4 years ago (wow), I can still remember the journey and the opportunities/challenges along the way. It's a great example of how social technology can be used to support career development. I honestly believe my knowledge and skills were fast-tracked being able to tap in to a wealth of knowledge and information that was available. I consumed and read so many great blogs on L&D and technology in a very short space of time - I was then lucky enough (brave enough) to try and do a lot of the things myself - sometimes successfully, often not. But you learn from not getting things right.
Its the reason why I think Twitter is the best development tool, you can find so much great content and access the greatest minds in our industry from your phone! It's great accessing the knowledge but the key it to put it in to practice and learn 'on the job'. Being brave, curious and collaborative all play a part here with us role modelling what this behaviour looks like in terms of being open, sharing and supportive.
I quickly learned that using words like 'social' received push back and skepticism so I tended to use collaboration and knowledge sharing, communities and conversations which worked worked better. Tools are purely enablers - you can have the best technology in the world but if you don't have the behaviours and mindsets that sit behind them - they won't be used and people will keep doing what they always do....a lot of this is down to the culture of any organisation and how they work together and encourage people to learn.
Here are some more resources you might find useful
The original post I wrote in 2012
Using social tools for professional development
Building online communities webinar
A blog about blogs
I'm also just uploaded a video of a session from Learning technologies conference in January - I'll share this when it's finished uploading.
Hope this helps and love to hear about your own journey :)
Mike
In a personal context I learn a lot from social media. One of the reasons I was a little more keen to try distance learning for my CIPD course with DPG was because of this DPG community, which is effectively a social media outlet for a specific purpose.
In one company I worked for, we had an intranet* that was based around a social media platform. I was one of the editors for the site. It was a great way to encourage informal work-based learning through a social media type of engagement. People could like posts and add comment as you can with other forms of social media. I thought this was a really useful tool in the workplace. From an L&D perspective I think there is great potential for companies making use of such technology.
*https://www.jostle.me/product
However, I think it depends on the company. For example, the organisation I currently work for is so big that a social media platform for their intranet would be extremely difficult to implement and manage and I do not think it would serve the purpose required for the organisation. Also, there are so many different departments and personnel working for the company that even making use of already existing social media could prove tricky. That said, I do manage a social media account for work that local employees and the wider public can access. I do use this space not only to engage with the community and advertise things going on, but also for some small bits of informal learning, although this is not related to L&D activity or work-based learning.
If we think about theory and in particular Maslow's hierarchy of needs (http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm), a sense of belonging is key on the pathway to personal growth and development. One of the great things about social media is that people can easily get involved in discussion and sharing ideas and information which help to build a sense of belonging to a particular group of people who are connected by a common shared interest. I therefore think social media has the potential to be a great learning tool for L&D professionals.
I do however think we need to be mindful of differing levels of confidence, competence and willingness to make use of technology. My experience in the workplace has shown me that although we are surrounded by technology, many people are still not as confident or competent at making full use of it. There are those who are also technology shy and try to avoid it as much as possible.
Maybe one role for L&D is then to begin by looking at people's technology skill levels and up-skilling people before then making more use of things like social media for L&D activity?
It's fantastic to hear the role you see the DPG Community (and other social tools) playing in your learning journey Val. Great role modelling.
Hi Val
Many thanks for these great insights. It sounds as if you have already had great success using social media for learning within organisations. I totally agree with the concept of using social media to unearth and share content and to connect people to other people as well as connect people to new ideas and thinking. This is really powerful both within organisations and externally.
I think you are right about skills and confidence with technology. How have you managed to help colleagues develop the confidence to use social media tools?
Martin
Hi Martin,
Thanks for your reply. I will reply properly later this week if that's ok?
Thanks again,
Val
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