the smart cut: Bersin tips

In an article of the January edition of Chief Learning Officer magazine, Bersin gives 3 tips for the 'downturn dilemma':

"He identified trends that are emerging from his work with learning organizations:

1) Increased centralization: Learning organizations are moving to federated, central learning models.
2) Emphasis on talent management: CLOs are partnering with talent management partners and programs.
3) Business alignment: Learning organizations are focusing on initiatives critical to the business."

I would have put them exactly in the reverse order. How do they say that: strategy before structure...

Learning on the cheap : open source web conferencing

One to add to the list of open source software that can be used for learning: dimdim. It's an open source online meeting platform. I haven't tried it out, but it looks good and has some unique features like synchronised browsing. It works completely in a browser, no downloads required.

There was a time online conferences and online classes were two separate things, and two separate products. Those times are gone, you can discuss, teach, learn in any online conversation.

More readings on learning in an economic downturn

Interesting post on the blog of Harold Jarche.

Quotes from the article:

Too many people in the training department make the leap from a performance issue (lack of skills, abilities, knowledge; lack of access to appropriate data and resources; etc) directly to training as the only solution. This is the wrong approach and the most costly. Even the CEO may play into this, with statements like “We have a training problem” and no one challenges that statement. There is no such thing as a training problem.

and

I, for one, do not regret the demise of the L&D function. Perhaps our profession will wake up and start helping the organisations we serve.

We in the training field might indeed all too often think training is the answer. Training might very well not be the best answer, or the most cost effective. Ouch, it hurts.

To boldly learn what noone has learned before (Nasa 360)

Nasa offers learning too! They have nice and free video material available for schools, educators and the general public on various science related topics. They look like mini TV shows. It highlights the uprise of video in e-learning.

Check it out: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/nasaeclips/index.html

Urban legends of learning: there are no learning styles?

There seem to be a lot of urban legends going around in the learning fields. Here is a video of a professor debunking learning styles. In the same series he explains why brain based learning isn't all that it is hyped to be either.

Video on multi-modal learning

Charles Fadel gives a very interesting interview on multi-modal learning on Elliott Masie's Learning 2008 conference:

http://learningwiki.com/Charles%20Fadel:%20Multi-Modal%20Learning%20(High%20Quality)

If you can't remember what multi-modal learning means, it's the urban legend that we remember 10% of what we read, 20% of what we see, 30% of what we do, etc...

Tag Galaxy on 'learning'

Taggalaxy.de gives you a very nice 'planet' of flickr photographs that correspond with a certain tag. This is the visual equivalent of 'learning'. I see a lot of people in there, and that's the essence.

Typealyzer says I'm an INTJ

You can type in the address of a blog and typealyzer.com will figure out what type of personality you are by the way you write. Right. On this blog, it gives an INTJ or 'scientist' type. I guess that's OK for a blog on a professional interest :-). Here's the verdict:

INTJ - The Scientists

The long-range thinking and individualistic type. They are especially good at looking at almost anything and figuring out a way of improving it - often with a highly creative and imaginative touch. They are intellectually curious and daring, but might be physically hesitant to try new things.

The Scientists enjoy theoretical work that allows them to use their strong minds and bold creativity. Since they tend to be so abstract and theoretical in their communication they often have a problem communicating their visions to other people and need to learn patience and use concrete examples. Since they are extremely good at concentrating they often have no trouble working alone.