Comments on: Is There a Better Way to Social Learning?

By: Dawn

Dawn — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 13:38:37 +0000

Martin, thanks for your comment and I have been thinking about this over the past few weeks since you chimed in. I think that using a learner’s own social network is how social learning is taking root. The same grassroots, bottom-up approach that has driven social media across the enterprise in general. So for many social learners, what you are referring to seems to be already happening. Now that being said, the real issue to get to where you advocate in your comment comes down to two things. First, a person’s willingness to use their personal networks for work-related training. In my opinion, there is a tendency for that when it involves more professional-type networks (like LinkedIn) but not so much when it involves personal-type networks (like Facebook). Second, corporate policy regarding the use of these networks. This is an ongoing debate, but from what I am seeing, this is generally frowned upon due to the knee-jerk reaction of many companies when it comes to social media.

By: elearnspace › Xyleme voices

elearnspace › Xyleme voices — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 17:40:03 +0000

[...] a related post, Dawn Polous asks is there a better to social learning? This was written by gsiemens. Posted on Saturday, July 24, 2010, at 10:28 am. Filed under [...]

By: martin king

martin king — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 10:12:11 +0000

Identity is an important factor and I would argue that in moving to social we also move to self resourcing – using learners own social networks or helping them create and use their own social network for learning.

Learning needs to happen beyond the institution in both time and space – we need to start thinking about using learners own on-line identities.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:53:40 +0000

Thanks Harold. I think that most people agree work & learning must come closer together for social learning to take hold. But, as the traditional learning vendors do not make it a priority to integrate (or make it easy to integrate) their tools with the enterprise solutions typically used within organizations, there are opportunities for CMS and social business software vendors to fill in the gap, which is what we see happening. However, I am still hopeful that at least some learning vendors will find the right approach because they can add something significant to the value chain.

By: Harold Jarche

Harold Jarche — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:38:06 +0000

Good overview, Dawn. Integrating work & learning is the key for enterprise social software and it is possible to come at from either side of the spectrum, but as you note, the learning content vendors are rather myopic. We’ve been advocating a focus on performance over training for a long time but it seems few in the learning field have done this. As Gartner’s chart shows, the pure-play elearning vendors are not really contenders. In my own practice, I’ve done more Drupal installations (in visionaries quadrant) for learning projects than I have with any pure elearning platforms. Drupal is called “community plumbing” for a reason.

I would add that Mzinga is another elearning company on this chart, in addition to Saba.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:26:46 +0000

Thanks Dan! It was great having your posts/comments as a reference.

By: Dan Pontefract

Dan Pontefract — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:47:53 +0000

Bingo! Well said.

By: Tweets that mention Is There a Better Way to Social Learning? | Xyleme Insider -- Topsy.com

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:51:16 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by XylemeLearning, Dawn Poulos. Dawn Poulos said: Thanks @gsiemens for great discussion on Connectivisim. My thoughts on whether there is better way to social learning http://bit.ly/9aoA2h [...]