Sunday
Oct162005
359 - Water Cooler Communities - College Facebook Example
October 16, 2005
Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - Oct 16, 2005.
#359 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
51,498 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
Learning 2005: Oct 30 - Nov 2 - Orlando, Florida.
Water Cooler Communities - College Facebook Example.
While organizations struggle with emerging models for creating learning-rich "communities of practice", there is a parallel viral growth of unofficial "water cooler communities". The official communities have been created on corporate intranets, linked into Learning Management Systems and seeded with support and experts. Some organizations have woven their communities into a blended learning curriculum. But, many of these communities have had a more minimal level of participation, often requiring an enormous level of support to make them sustainable.
Take a few steps away from the official communities and one may find an explosive and growing unofficial community. Much like the water cooler, these communities provide a place for people to go off-the-record and often are much better at linking into a social and sustainable motivational element. In some instances, the "water cooler community" may be, or at least be perceived as, threatening the organization and seen as a threat from a liability, talent retention or morale perspective. Yet, they are real and growing.
Water Cooler Communities have grown in the drug industry, linking field reps with each other, even across companies. In the military arena, there are a number of water cooler groups providing non-classified perspectives from officer to officer in the field.
One huge example is a water cooler community in the college world called Facebook. Started by a student from Harvard to link students to each other, it has grown into one of the most active (and, on some levels,
simple) community in the U.S. Today, the site has more 3.8 million registered college-affiliated users from 1,531 different North American campuses. (www.facebook.com)
A person with a college email address can join a campus-specific area on Facebook. They complete a profile about themselves, including interests, background (where they went to high school), current courses they are taking and, perhaps most importantly, their current relationship status and desires. Students approve requests to be "friends" and can see listings of social networks (friends of my friends), displays of people taking the same classes, invitations to parties and the ability post short messages on the digital doors of their friends.
As a trustee of Skidmore College, I was able to join Facebook and discovered a community that was more vibrant than any of the official digital collaborative structures on campus. Some students use it more than campus email, as it is spam proof and is opt-in permission based. While most use Facebook to maintain their social lives, it is also used by students to access a wider perspective of the people network on campus.
Facebook is accessed way more often than the LMS on campus, WebCT, and has woven and extended the campus community in a new and evolving fashion.
One student needed help with an assignment at 1 AM (when many of the students are doing their work) and went to Facebook to find a junior or senior who was taking a class in their major. Another powerful moment happened when a student was killed in a car accident last week and Facebook was used by students at other colleges who knew him to link to the campus grieving process.
There is much we can learn about communities of practice from these water cooler groups. They clearly drive their motivational elements by appealing to the more social sides of their members. But, isn't that what social networks have at their core? When I go to the water cooler, I am hanging out with people that I want to be social with. Yet, the water cooler conversations can also provide awesome support, coaching and learning moments. There is much to learn here.
For Learning 2005, we have launched a community called LearningNet, which is very similar to Facebook. Over a third of our participants have already created profiles in LearningNet (www.learning2005.net) and are starting the linking process that is often random at events. We reached out to TRENDS readers for the characteristics they wanted to have in the profile sections: About My Work, What I Am Seeking, My Issues and My Learning Issues. It is fascinating to see people finding new colleagues 2 weeks before the event based on a common interest in Rapid Development or moving to a new LMS, as well as people with a passion for jogging, music or touring Disney. We are even populating some discussion sessions based on participants' interests.
The challenge is to start something that will evolve to a "water cooler"
community that has strong value to the core organization. We have to resist tampering with it or exploiting it. If members get a lot of spam, they will vote with their feet and walk away. If members can help evolve the site and use it simply, it will thrive and grow.
Finally, the power of these digital water cooler communities is not in the technology. Clearly, they need to be easy to use and offer simple and effective ways of people connecting with each other. But, the technology is not the challenge. It is the culture that arises around the technology that has the power to leverage communities for learning.
We will keep Learning TRENDS readers informed about this experiment.
Update: Learning 2005 is now two weeks away and has over 1,500 participants. There is still time to register. Flights to Orlando are quite affordable and the early registration rate is still available.
Great rates in hotels at Disney. Learning 2005 starts on Sunday, October 30th. Come join us - http://www.learning2005.com
#359 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
51,498 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
Learning 2005: Oct 30 - Nov 2 - Orlando, Florida.
Water Cooler Communities - College Facebook Example.
While organizations struggle with emerging models for creating learning-rich "communities of practice", there is a parallel viral growth of unofficial "water cooler communities". The official communities have been created on corporate intranets, linked into Learning Management Systems and seeded with support and experts. Some organizations have woven their communities into a blended learning curriculum. But, many of these communities have had a more minimal level of participation, often requiring an enormous level of support to make them sustainable.
Take a few steps away from the official communities and one may find an explosive and growing unofficial community. Much like the water cooler, these communities provide a place for people to go off-the-record and often are much better at linking into a social and sustainable motivational element. In some instances, the "water cooler community" may be, or at least be perceived as, threatening the organization and seen as a threat from a liability, talent retention or morale perspective. Yet, they are real and growing.
Water Cooler Communities have grown in the drug industry, linking field reps with each other, even across companies. In the military arena, there are a number of water cooler groups providing non-classified perspectives from officer to officer in the field.
One huge example is a water cooler community in the college world called Facebook. Started by a student from Harvard to link students to each other, it has grown into one of the most active (and, on some levels,
simple) community in the U.S. Today, the site has more 3.8 million registered college-affiliated users from 1,531 different North American campuses. (www.facebook.com)
A person with a college email address can join a campus-specific area on Facebook. They complete a profile about themselves, including interests, background (where they went to high school), current courses they are taking and, perhaps most importantly, their current relationship status and desires. Students approve requests to be "friends" and can see listings of social networks (friends of my friends), displays of people taking the same classes, invitations to parties and the ability post short messages on the digital doors of their friends.
As a trustee of Skidmore College, I was able to join Facebook and discovered a community that was more vibrant than any of the official digital collaborative structures on campus. Some students use it more than campus email, as it is spam proof and is opt-in permission based. While most use Facebook to maintain their social lives, it is also used by students to access a wider perspective of the people network on campus.
Facebook is accessed way more often than the LMS on campus, WebCT, and has woven and extended the campus community in a new and evolving fashion.
One student needed help with an assignment at 1 AM (when many of the students are doing their work) and went to Facebook to find a junior or senior who was taking a class in their major. Another powerful moment happened when a student was killed in a car accident last week and Facebook was used by students at other colleges who knew him to link to the campus grieving process.
There is much we can learn about communities of practice from these water cooler groups. They clearly drive their motivational elements by appealing to the more social sides of their members. But, isn't that what social networks have at their core? When I go to the water cooler, I am hanging out with people that I want to be social with. Yet, the water cooler conversations can also provide awesome support, coaching and learning moments. There is much to learn here.
For Learning 2005, we have launched a community called LearningNet, which is very similar to Facebook. Over a third of our participants have already created profiles in LearningNet (www.learning2005.net) and are starting the linking process that is often random at events. We reached out to TRENDS readers for the characteristics they wanted to have in the profile sections: About My Work, What I Am Seeking, My Issues and My Learning Issues. It is fascinating to see people finding new colleagues 2 weeks before the event based on a common interest in Rapid Development or moving to a new LMS, as well as people with a passion for jogging, music or touring Disney. We are even populating some discussion sessions based on participants' interests.
The challenge is to start something that will evolve to a "water cooler"
community that has strong value to the core organization. We have to resist tampering with it or exploiting it. If members get a lot of spam, they will vote with their feet and walk away. If members can help evolve the site and use it simply, it will thrive and grow.
Finally, the power of these digital water cooler communities is not in the technology. Clearly, they need to be easy to use and offer simple and effective ways of people connecting with each other. But, the technology is not the challenge. It is the culture that arises around the technology that has the power to leverage communities for learning.
We will keep Learning TRENDS readers informed about this experiment.
Update: Learning 2005 is now two weeks away and has over 1,500 participants. There is still time to register. Flights to Orlando are quite affordable and the early registration rate is still available.
Great rates in hotels at Disney. Learning 2005 starts on Sunday, October 30th. Come join us - http://www.learning2005.com
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