23. “ Focus on connection & collaboration. The management of assets is mostly obsolete by the time it is stored.” @mneff http://twitter.com/mneff/status/12524816331
29. the “ best argument for Social Networks over Knowledge Management is shift in perspective from static content to dynamic interaction“. James McGee http://www.kmers.org/chattranscript/transcript-world-without-km
I work in eLearning at Deakin supporting the use of technology for learning and teaching and will speak from that perspective. In preparing this presentation I was struck by the irony that I’ve conformed to a power-point format (familiar, easy?) Please don’t accept this as a textbook type of presentation, but more of a conversation (even though I’ll be doing most of the talking) While I’ve got a number of points to talk to,I’m prepared for some spontaneity, so I’ll be expectingsome interaction. Harnessing?
Harness means to tether or restrain safety harness, seat belt but still able to function and drive or climb… But too tight or constraining can be…
… can be unproductive Unable to move - stops us getting the job done Should we be tethering or restraining informal / social learning? What’s it like in your workplace?
What harnesses or tethers exist in your workplace? Who controls things? Who writes the policies, makes the rules? What flexibility is there? How do we find a balance?
To help think about the balance I want to focus on three topics: Firstly - traditional formal learning methods to social learning and knowledge transfer Secondly - online learning community to enhance learning and student retention And Finally - Using social networks to improve learning opportunities
Firstly I’d like to talk briefly about learning Starting with a traditional model of learning
Traditional/formal learning = Sage on the Stage? transmission model - I have the knowledge you need ** Audience participation What assumptions are underlying this model? Who’s doing what? Does success = good memory?
Knowledge and learning for understanding Developing wisdom? How do you know how apply the information you’ve remembered? The Networked teacher a ‘Guide on the Side’? http://www.flickr.com/photos/courosa/344832591/ In a blog post ‘New Technology Supporting Informal Learning’, Stephen Downessuggests a pedagogy of participation rather than retention. http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-technology-supporting-informal.html What do we understand about learning?
How do you like to learn? **Audience participation Have you thought about this? Does it dependon what you want to learn? What about games….? … but is this the same for everyone?
Learning preferences (lots of models, but all recognise that we experience differently) Can learn by reading, hearing, seeing, doing/experience Need to consider individual differences (learning styles?) What is your experience of informal compared to formal learning?
Not just how, but Why do you learn? Worth the effort? **Audience participation Passionate, self motivated, intrinsic interest? I want to bake a cake, set up a blog, how to use twitter, learn a language, solve a problem. Encourage collaboration, outcomes can equal more than the sum of the parts What is the role of social media in learning?
Social Media provides affordances… growing fast, developing communities, and networks, web 2.0 tools, google, flickr, mobile devices, youtube, the cloud Always-on – open all hours? Enables us to update, inform, connect, engage How does the idea of community fit into this?
Secondly we’ll look at supportive and effective online communities
Communities facilitated by technology Know as - PLE, PLN, rather than the VLE, LMS One person in my PLN is Joyce Seitzinger - A friend who lives in New Zealand. We met via twitter, blogs. In the last two years, face to face at conferences in Auckland, Moolloollaba, Barcelonaand Melbourne. We will be working collaboratively to create a user guide for LMS Software platforms for community– Google sites,drupal, joomla, elgg, ning etc. etc Who makes up these communities
People with similarinterests, keen to share, of like minds, common goals We can even enjoy a joke together or share something interesting Connecting is often informal, relaxed, and allows for more openess These lemurs aren’t doing much, so how do you participate in a community?
How do we/they participate? There is a suggested - 90-9-1 Principle – creators, editors, audience http://www.90-9-1.com/ -Jakob Nielsen calls this “ Participation Inequality “. Does this have to be the case? Experience at Deakin shows that with appropriate leadership, scaffolding, and stewardship can make a difference (as in Digital Habitats by Wenger, White, & Smith, 2009 - http://technologyforcommunities.com/) Eric Davidove proposes the types of members we should consider http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/591/get-serious-about-social-learning-by-focusing-on-what-matters Firstly – the Consumer
The person who looks for and uses content, information, and social connections. Then the Creator
The person who creates, shares, improves, and discusses content and information. Then the connector
The person who helps others to find the content, information, and people they seek or need. Gladwell’s Maven in The Tipping Point Next the Carrier
The person who helps creators to transmit and promote their content and information to others. And finally the Caretaker
The person who manages the learning community. (could be officially or unofficially) In an informal sense, are you aware of these people in your organisation? If not, how would/will you find out? Audience participation? Are your people connecting & collaborating informally?
Concentrate on the moment and possibilities rather than the past of what has happened As our PM has been known to say, keep “moving forward” How do we encourage collaboration, curiosity and connection?
By setting problems and challenges Acknowledge participation, encourage collaboration, & celebrate contribution Remember that outcomes can equal more than the sum of the parts How do we draw people in and engage with them?
People are naturally curious – don’t stifle knowledge is everywhere and readily accessible Appreciate the ‘mashup’ – where someone takes something and remakes/repurposes it from their perspective Adding value, not just a copy or repeating, but amplifying and maybe not an improvement, but another point of view Does my curiosity lead me to connect with others?
Are people being encouraged/allowed to connect? What about current situation in Egypt and turning off the Internet… Are individuals better off? Are groups working well? Are people wasting time? What is the cost? - ROI? What is being produced, who is being affected, are outcomes being achieved? We might need to think of new ways to evaluate effectiveness Where does the social network fit in?
Moving finally to social networks…
Statistics on social networks are staggering – (difficult to keep up with current data) social networks and blogs 4th most popular online activity. - 67% of the global online population visit member communities, - the time spent on social media sites now accounts for almost 10% of all internet time http://www.thatagency.com/marketing/social-media-networks.php See also: http://www.thatagency.com/design-studio-blog/2010/08/2010-social-media-statistics/ open up to others outside the immediate 'learning environment' work integrated learning, industry partnerships, external experts But there are tensions between the formal & informal
Informal versus formal Knowledge is being developed/remade continually Do we recognise this participatory learning? What tools can be used to facilitate this?
Social networking tools include – mobile/smart phones, tablets, applications, email, web, student portals, SMS, & RSS Applications such as: Facebook, twitter, linkedIn, myspace, yammer, flickr, technocrati, del.ico.us, foursquare, QR codes, youtube * Foursquare - location-based social networking website, software for mobile devices, 3 million users, Reward your customers? * LinkedIn (http://www.quantcast.com/linkedin.com/traffic), 80 million people in 200 countries, 47 million people per month viewing 1.4 billion pages * My Space - 122 million active users, 100 new users every day, Fastest growing demographic 18-24yo Let’s look at a few more closely… firstly Facebook
the update – Facebook you can change yourstatus, send messages,& create groups, pages, &places 500 million active users (50% sign in daily) 900 million pages, groups, communities, events 150 million active users connect via mobile device Used at Deakin to network between staff and students but also formarketing Next we have blogs
the blog - public publishing, topical, more considered writing, eg. VC at Macquaire, Steven Schwartz = sending a message, building the brand State of the blogosphere 2009 - 133 million blogs - 77% of internet users read blogs – and many comment on them http://technorati.com/blogging/feature/state-of-the-blogosphere-2009/ “ Bloggers’ use of and engagement with various social media tools is expanding, and the lines between blogs, micro-blogs, and social networks are disappearing. As the blogosphere converges with social media, sharing of blog posts is increasingly done through social networks—even while blogs remain significantly more influential on blog content than social networks are.” http://technorati.com/blogging/article/state-of-the-blogosphere-2010-introduction/ Next is twitter
the tweet - Twitter, based on following, has powerful searching functionality using the # (hashtag) Example of Qld floods & emergency services and Qld Police - #qldfloods& #QPSmedia http://socialmediadaily.com.au/emergency-services-embrace-social-media/ Can have multiple accounts, spread the load, public & private, immediate Deakin – tweets from faculties, service divisions, library, research office Statistics 100 million registered users (300 thousand new per day) 55 million daily tweets - 600 million search queries - 60% third party apps, 30% from mobile devices I’m actually speaking here today because of a tweet! And finally yammer
Yammer within a domain, Eg. deakin.edu.au Has beentotally informal Can have -groups, private, invisible, staff & students, communities, networks Able to share files& images, ask questions, conduct polls, promote events via calendar. Liketwitter but a broader range of people from other service divisions HR, finance, (maybe because of closed network?) We have 44 groups of which 36 are visible There are 491 members of which 40-45 are students India study tour, Car pool,Mobile devices, social media, ePortfolios & support groups 1% = 50% of posts next 9% = 25% of posts, final 25% by 90% of people. And what do the results indicate?
So what outcomes can we expect from using these tools? Can be personal, develop relationship - make connection, Develop loyalty – rapid spread ‘word-of-mouth’? Example companies searching twitter for bad publicity and responding to tweets Need to be measured when responding to issues. At Deakin we are developing a core of evangelists and a knowledge base that gets added to frequently - iPadders group swapping application reviews, - ePortfolio group talking about implementation and models for assessment look for ways to increase learning autonomy & community engagement … and think about balance
Need to come back to the idea of balance… While setting boundaries, any policy needs to enable! Change is require both in business organisations and in educational institutions Find a balance between formal & informal learning May need to give up some control, and learn to trust your people
provide our learners with toolsand resources that they can use to drive their own development Will this require a change in culture?
It probably does… InThe Learning Generalist blog it’s suggested that the a social learning culture requires - A culture of questioning - Need for complex problem solving - Inviting diversity and feedback PassionatePeople http://www.learninggeneralist.com/2010/12/what-constitutes-social-learning.html Is this appreciated & encouraged in your workplace? So what’s over the horizon?
the future of Informal learning& social media? It’s here to stay, and it won’t stay the same At Deakin we’re still working it out, developing policy, encouraging execbuy-in, suite of tools etc. We need to keep learning, understand what is possible, Need to ask questions and get good advice, it's about the relationships, engagement & social behaviours We can encourage people to learn how to learn. We can embrace, encouraging and support informal learning as part of a greater workplace cultural change. Thankyou