559 - Tribes and Social Learning - Report from Dubai
January 27, 2009 Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - Jan 27, 2009.
#559 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
54,554 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
Report from Dubai - Social Learning and Tribes
Hello from Dubai! I am here giving the keynote to a Middle East Learning Symposium as well as working with senior executives from Emirates Airlines on Leadership in UnCertain Times.
Here are a few impressions and observations:
* During my keynote, I spoke of the rise of “Social Learning” and linked it to the role of the “tribe” in knowledge sharing. The metaphor of the tribe in social learning - linking to the more historical role of elders and peers in the learning process. Imagine the ability of designing a tribe for a learning activity - creating an intentional cluster of people that will enhance, extend and structure the social component of learning. The participants in my keynote were drawn to the added power of using Video Conferencing as part of social learning to allow for more natural communication, more deeply linked into the oral tradition.
I am convinced that as we explore Social Learning, we will find ways of aligning learning more closely to the culture and styles of our learners.
* e-Learning is increasing in implementation and sophistication in the region. There is a strong commitment to doing research on the most effective e-Learning approaches - with the support of their Ministry of Higher Education and the e-TQM arena. There are about 200 researchers and learning professionals from the region gathered here today and I was impressed with the degree of focus on standards and linking to “quality” measures.
* Economic downturns extend even to this part of the world. While there is still a massive amount of construction, several projects have been stalled or delayed due to the shift in the price of oil and change in the global economy. It is driving an increased interest in online, distance and distributed learning, which are less dependent on travel. And, when I talked about our upcoming ReSkilling Project, there was huge interest, mapping to the region’s need to rapidly align skills with changing markets.
Of course, all work and no play is no fun. We have been having a quite enjoyable time in Dubai, meeting new people and exploring this city that is a unique blend of old and very, very new. Along the way, I have taken a shower on our airplane at 36,000 feet, visited an indoor ski slope at a shopping mall and had more hummus than I ever thought I would consume. We’ve had some fascinating political conversations as well, with much attention focused on President Obama and finding a way to some creative peace solutions in the region.
Regards from Dubai,
Elliott
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