Entries from March 1, 2006 - April 1, 2006
386 - Boomerang Workers, Content and Competencies, Blackberry for Learning
Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - March 30, 2006.
#386 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
52,376 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
LMS 2006 - April 6-7 - Las Vegas, NV - Over 435 Registered!
1. Boomerang or Returning Workers - Are You Ready?
2. Content, Competencies and Compliance: LMS Concerns.
3. Blackberry Learning Experiments - Volunteers?
1. Boomerang or Returning Workers - Are You Ready? As the length of tenure of our employees becomes shorter, we are also seeing an interesting trend of returning or "Boomerang" workers. These are individuals who are re-joining your organization after a few or many years. In some situations, returning workers are coming back for a 3rd time.
There can be great advantages of putting out the Welcome Mat for returning workers. They already have experienced your culture, bring the wisdom of working at more than just 1 organization and have often been well trained in the years after their first departure. Yet, few organizations have a process for tracking and re-recruiting "Boomerang" workers. It is an interesting conversation to raise with your Talent Management Officer:
What can we do to creatively leverage "Boomerang" workers? How is the on-boarding of a Boomerang hire different?
2. Content, Competencies and Compliance - LMS Concerns: As I prepare to host our LMS 2006 event in Las Vegas next week, we have been surveying our
435 participants about their key interests and topics. Here are a few of the phrases that are coming from the LMS deployment community:
- Content: How to manage content being developed by non-learning departments? How to manage non-instructional content used for learning (eg. podcasts)? How to manage global enterprise wide content harvesting?
How to add LCMS capacity to current LMS deployments?
- Competencies: How to integrate competency management into LMS deployments? How to create meaningful measures of organizational competency levels? How to map invitations to learning to competency profiles? How to experiment with e-portfolios?
- Compliance: How to use an LMS as a Compliance Management Tool? How to accomplish compliance requirements with "sampling" rather than full universe testing? How to find motivational elements for employee self-service compliance activities?
We will be tackling these issues at LMS 2006. I will post an executive summary in TRENDS after the event. If you would like to register for the handful of remaining spaces, go to http://www.lms2006.com
3. Blackberry Learning Experiments - Volunteers? We are looking for several Learning TRENDS readers to participate in an experiment on the use of Blackberry devices in learning programs. If you are a current Blackberry user and would be willing to spend an hour or two over the next few months exploring how organizations could use them for content, community and coaching, send an email to mollie@masie.com Thanks!
Upcoming MASIE Center Events & Services:
* LMS 2006 - Las Vegas - April 6 and 7.
* Learning 2006 - Orlando - November 5 to 8.
* Learning Futures! - Dublin, Ireland - July 10 & 11.
* Membership in Learning CONSORTIUM.
Information and Registration at http://www.masie.com
#386 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
52,376 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
LMS 2006 - April 6-7 - Las Vegas, NV - Over 435 Registered!
1. Boomerang or Returning Workers - Are You Ready?
2. Content, Competencies and Compliance: LMS Concerns.
3. Blackberry Learning Experiments - Volunteers?
1. Boomerang or Returning Workers - Are You Ready? As the length of tenure of our employees becomes shorter, we are also seeing an interesting trend of returning or "Boomerang" workers. These are individuals who are re-joining your organization after a few or many years. In some situations, returning workers are coming back for a 3rd time.
There can be great advantages of putting out the Welcome Mat for returning workers. They already have experienced your culture, bring the wisdom of working at more than just 1 organization and have often been well trained in the years after their first departure. Yet, few organizations have a process for tracking and re-recruiting "Boomerang" workers. It is an interesting conversation to raise with your Talent Management Officer:
What can we do to creatively leverage "Boomerang" workers? How is the on-boarding of a Boomerang hire different?
2. Content, Competencies and Compliance - LMS Concerns: As I prepare to host our LMS 2006 event in Las Vegas next week, we have been surveying our
435 participants about their key interests and topics. Here are a few of the phrases that are coming from the LMS deployment community:
- Content: How to manage content being developed by non-learning departments? How to manage non-instructional content used for learning (eg. podcasts)? How to manage global enterprise wide content harvesting?
How to add LCMS capacity to current LMS deployments?
- Competencies: How to integrate competency management into LMS deployments? How to create meaningful measures of organizational competency levels? How to map invitations to learning to competency profiles? How to experiment with e-portfolios?
- Compliance: How to use an LMS as a Compliance Management Tool? How to accomplish compliance requirements with "sampling" rather than full universe testing? How to find motivational elements for employee self-service compliance activities?
We will be tackling these issues at LMS 2006. I will post an executive summary in TRENDS after the event. If you would like to register for the handful of remaining spaces, go to http://www.lms2006.com
3. Blackberry Learning Experiments - Volunteers? We are looking for several Learning TRENDS readers to participate in an experiment on the use of Blackberry devices in learning programs. If you are a current Blackberry user and would be willing to spend an hour or two over the next few months exploring how organizations could use them for content, community and coaching, send an email to mollie@masie.com Thanks!
Upcoming MASIE Center Events & Services:
* LMS 2006 - Las Vegas - April 6 and 7.
* Learning 2006 - Orlando - November 5 to 8.
* Learning Futures! - Dublin, Ireland - July 10 & 11.
* Membership in Learning CONSORTIUM.
Information and Registration at http://www.masie.com
Elliott Masie - The MASIE Center
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385 - 18 Wishes for an LMS
Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - March 21, 2006.
#385 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
52,350 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
LMS 2006 - April 6-7 - Las Vegas, NV - Over 347 Registered!
18 Wishes for an LMS!
By Elliott Masie
(This article originally appeared in Chief Learning Officer magazine, www.clomedia.com)
"Hey, Learning Management Systems, can you dance?" It is time for learning executives to have a heart to heart conversation with their LMS.
Ask them if they are ready to dance to the music of performance, profitability, talent management and extreme learning.
Tell your LMS that your company is ready to have it step up from its early role as an Enterprise Database of learning activities. Now, you want it to become an ENGINE to drive business and talent outcomes.
Don't be shy. Tell the LMS exactly what you want. Let me be your coach in this process. Take my LMS wish list as a "cheat sheet" when you go in to talk to your system. Note how I am telling the LMS straight-up what I want from it:
1. LMS, I want you to be able to personalize and target invitations to learn for each of our employees based on current projects, performance goals and critical events in our business.
2. LMS, I want you to create a "dashboard" for each manager that highlights, in real time, how their teams are learning.
3. LMS, I want you to be our Compliance Tracking System. As rules and regulations change, inform our employees and customers and offer updated learning modules.
4. LMS, I want you to integrate into our Social Networking Systems.
Sometimes, the source of knowledge is not a class but rather a conversation with a colleague down the hall with the exact right experience.
5. LMS, I want you to observe the learning styles of our workforce and offer learning options appropriate for each employee, content domain and situation.
6. LMS, I want you to get ready for more Extreme Learning. Let us use you to leverage the power of PodCasting, Wikis, Blogs and other emerging content models.
7. LMS, I want you to become part of our browser. As associates do their work, they should be able to click on a button and interact with the LMS for content, context, future learning needs and collaboration.
8. LMS, I want you to be more integrated with our business objectives. As we roll out new products, change our strategy, realign our workforce or add new customers, you need to be hooked into the process in real time.
9. LMS, I want you to work with a wider range of devices. Our workforce is moving towards less time in front of a desktop or laptop and more interaction with PDAs and mobile devices.
10. LMS, I want you to handle the growing use of content at the object level. Business is moving fast and often, the learning needs are small:
just a chunk of the right content, now! Stop calling that a non-completion. It is a learning moment and a success.
11. LMS, I want to have access to more reusable content. Part of the promise of the LMS and SCORM was reusable and sharable content. I want our organization to be able to access more content internally and in external affiliations. Where does Open Source content fit into your future?
12. LMS, I want you to be able to create portable learning digital transcripts for our employees. When someone leaves our company, they should be able to take a digital record of their learning history and certifications.
13. LMS, I want you to work closer with your cousins, Document Management and Knowledge Management. The three of you are deeply connected in terms of our business strategy but I rarely see you hanging out together or even talking to each other.
14. LMS, I want you to keep track of how valuable other employees found each learning offering. Just like Amazon, some of your best value will be in sharing peer reviews of content.
15. LMS, I want you to facilitate multi-language learning. Some of our employees speak English quite well, but learn best in their native tongue.
16. LMS, I want you to be able to facilitate informal learning. When I send someone to a conference, hire a coach, buy a set of books or make a development assignment, you don't seem that interested. Remember, most corporate learning is informal.
17. LMS, I want you to become part of our Emergency Management Plan. When a crisis hits, I'd like to be able to turn to you find competencies and to deliver extremely rapid content.
18. LMS, I want you to provide a macro-assessment of how the organization is approaching learning investments, bench marked with other similar organizations around the world.
In other words, tell your LMS that you want it to dance! The LMS providers have built high-powered databases that are ready to be ENGINES.
It is time for you to add the processes and focus to make your LMS dance for you!
(We will be working these issues at our upcoming LMS 2006 User Group Event in Las Vegas on April 6th and 7th. There are over 400 Learning Executives registered for LMS 2006 and it is sponsored by 26 of the LMS and LCMS provider companies. Information and registration at http://www.lms2006.com )
#385 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
52,350 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
LMS 2006 - April 6-7 - Las Vegas, NV - Over 347 Registered!
18 Wishes for an LMS!
By Elliott Masie
(This article originally appeared in Chief Learning Officer magazine, www.clomedia.com)
"Hey, Learning Management Systems, can you dance?" It is time for learning executives to have a heart to heart conversation with their LMS.
Ask them if they are ready to dance to the music of performance, profitability, talent management and extreme learning.
Tell your LMS that your company is ready to have it step up from its early role as an Enterprise Database of learning activities. Now, you want it to become an ENGINE to drive business and talent outcomes.
Don't be shy. Tell the LMS exactly what you want. Let me be your coach in this process. Take my LMS wish list as a "cheat sheet" when you go in to talk to your system. Note how I am telling the LMS straight-up what I want from it:
1. LMS, I want you to be able to personalize and target invitations to learn for each of our employees based on current projects, performance goals and critical events in our business.
2. LMS, I want you to create a "dashboard" for each manager that highlights, in real time, how their teams are learning.
3. LMS, I want you to be our Compliance Tracking System. As rules and regulations change, inform our employees and customers and offer updated learning modules.
4. LMS, I want you to integrate into our Social Networking Systems.
Sometimes, the source of knowledge is not a class but rather a conversation with a colleague down the hall with the exact right experience.
5. LMS, I want you to observe the learning styles of our workforce and offer learning options appropriate for each employee, content domain and situation.
6. LMS, I want you to get ready for more Extreme Learning. Let us use you to leverage the power of PodCasting, Wikis, Blogs and other emerging content models.
7. LMS, I want you to become part of our browser. As associates do their work, they should be able to click on a button and interact with the LMS for content, context, future learning needs and collaboration.
8. LMS, I want you to be more integrated with our business objectives. As we roll out new products, change our strategy, realign our workforce or add new customers, you need to be hooked into the process in real time.
9. LMS, I want you to work with a wider range of devices. Our workforce is moving towards less time in front of a desktop or laptop and more interaction with PDAs and mobile devices.
10. LMS, I want you to handle the growing use of content at the object level. Business is moving fast and often, the learning needs are small:
just a chunk of the right content, now! Stop calling that a non-completion. It is a learning moment and a success.
11. LMS, I want to have access to more reusable content. Part of the promise of the LMS and SCORM was reusable and sharable content. I want our organization to be able to access more content internally and in external affiliations. Where does Open Source content fit into your future?
12. LMS, I want you to be able to create portable learning digital transcripts for our employees. When someone leaves our company, they should be able to take a digital record of their learning history and certifications.
13. LMS, I want you to work closer with your cousins, Document Management and Knowledge Management. The three of you are deeply connected in terms of our business strategy but I rarely see you hanging out together or even talking to each other.
14. LMS, I want you to keep track of how valuable other employees found each learning offering. Just like Amazon, some of your best value will be in sharing peer reviews of content.
15. LMS, I want you to facilitate multi-language learning. Some of our employees speak English quite well, but learn best in their native tongue.
16. LMS, I want you to be able to facilitate informal learning. When I send someone to a conference, hire a coach, buy a set of books or make a development assignment, you don't seem that interested. Remember, most corporate learning is informal.
17. LMS, I want you to become part of our Emergency Management Plan. When a crisis hits, I'd like to be able to turn to you find competencies and to deliver extremely rapid content.
18. LMS, I want you to provide a macro-assessment of how the organization is approaching learning investments, bench marked with other similar organizations around the world.
In other words, tell your LMS that you want it to dance! The LMS providers have built high-powered databases that are ready to be ENGINES.
It is time for you to add the processes and focus to make your LMS dance for you!
(We will be working these issues at our upcoming LMS 2006 User Group Event in Las Vegas on April 6th and 7th. There are over 400 Learning Executives registered for LMS 2006 and it is sponsored by 26 of the LMS and LCMS provider companies. Information and registration at http://www.lms2006.com )
384 - Happy St. Patrick's; Podcast on Leadership; Adderall Question
Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - March 17, 2006.
#384 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
52,254 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
LMS 2006 - April 6-7 - Las Vegas, NV - Over 347 Registered!
1. Happy St. Patrick's Day: Learning Futures in Ireland.
2. Free Podcast: Leadership Development Trends.
3. Adderall and Corporate Learning: A Question.
1. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Learning Futures in Ireland: First of all, Happy St. Patrick's Day to our TRENDS readers. I'm wearing Green today and have fond memories of the two years I spent working in Dublin right after graduating college. May your celebrations be joyous.
This is a perfect day to announce a new program that The MASIE Center & The Learning CONSORTIUM will be offering in Ireland this summer:
Learning Futures!
Trinity College - Dublin Ireland.
July 10 and 11, 2006
This new event will address the future of learning and how learning will impact our organizational futures. We will take an in-depth look at the future of LMS systems, Gaming, Informal Learning, Competencies, Collaboration and Globalization. Colleagues from Europe and around the world will be participating in this event that I will host at Trinity College, Dublin. If you would like to receive information, please send a note to mollie@masie.com The website for Learning Futures! will open in a few weeks.
2. Free Podcast - Leadership Development Trends - I recently interviewed John Alexander, the President of The Center for Creative Leadership, about the trends in leadership development. This interview is available in Podcast, Audio Download and Text Transcript versions at:
http://www.learning2006.com/university
3. Question about Adderall and Corporate Learning: We have been asked by a member of our Learning CONSORTIUM to see if there are any organizations that are confronting or dealing with the impact of employee us of Adderall type drugs. These are prescriptions focused on Attention Deficit Disorder. A significant percentage of college students are officially or unofficially using Adderall to help with studying. Here is a recent news article about the topic from a campus newspaper:
http://www.masie.com/adderall
And, there are reports that this continues when they enter the workplace.
I will be doing a report on this issue. If you have any experience or perspectives on the Adderall and workplace/learning implications, could you send me a confidential note. We'll provide a longer report in a future TRENDS. Send the note to emasie@masie.com
Upcoming MASIE Center Events & Services:
* LMS 2006 - Las Vegas - April 6 and 7.
* Learning 2006 - Orlando - November 5 to 8.
* Learning Futures! - Dublin, Ireland - July 10 & 11.
* Membership in Learning CONSORTIUM.
Information and Registration at http://www.masie.com
#384 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
52,254 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
LMS 2006 - April 6-7 - Las Vegas, NV - Over 347 Registered!
1. Happy St. Patrick's Day: Learning Futures in Ireland.
2. Free Podcast: Leadership Development Trends.
3. Adderall and Corporate Learning: A Question.
1. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Learning Futures in Ireland: First of all, Happy St. Patrick's Day to our TRENDS readers. I'm wearing Green today and have fond memories of the two years I spent working in Dublin right after graduating college. May your celebrations be joyous.
This is a perfect day to announce a new program that The MASIE Center & The Learning CONSORTIUM will be offering in Ireland this summer:
Learning Futures!
Trinity College - Dublin Ireland.
July 10 and 11, 2006
This new event will address the future of learning and how learning will impact our organizational futures. We will take an in-depth look at the future of LMS systems, Gaming, Informal Learning, Competencies, Collaboration and Globalization. Colleagues from Europe and around the world will be participating in this event that I will host at Trinity College, Dublin. If you would like to receive information, please send a note to mollie@masie.com The website for Learning Futures! will open in a few weeks.
2. Free Podcast - Leadership Development Trends - I recently interviewed John Alexander, the President of The Center for Creative Leadership, about the trends in leadership development. This interview is available in Podcast, Audio Download and Text Transcript versions at:
http://www.learning2006.com/university
3. Question about Adderall and Corporate Learning: We have been asked by a member of our Learning CONSORTIUM to see if there are any organizations that are confronting or dealing with the impact of employee us of Adderall type drugs. These are prescriptions focused on Attention Deficit Disorder. A significant percentage of college students are officially or unofficially using Adderall to help with studying. Here is a recent news article about the topic from a campus newspaper:
http://www.masie.com/adderall
And, there are reports that this continues when they enter the workplace.
I will be doing a report on this issue. If you have any experience or perspectives on the Adderall and workplace/learning implications, could you send me a confidential note. We'll provide a longer report in a future TRENDS. Send the note to emasie@masie.com
Upcoming MASIE Center Events & Services:
* LMS 2006 - Las Vegas - April 6 and 7.
* Learning 2006 - Orlando - November 5 to 8.
* Learning Futures! - Dublin, Ireland - July 10 & 11.
* Membership in Learning CONSORTIUM.
Information and Registration at http://www.masie.com
383 - 48 Hours in a Flatter World
Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - March 1, 2006.
#383 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
52,199 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
LMS 2006 - April 6-7 - Las Vegas, NV - www.lms2006.com
48 Learning Hours in a World Getting Flatter, By Elliott Masie
In the last 48 hours, I have come to better understand and experience Tom Friedman's "The World is Flat". I wanted to share a few of my personal learning experiences and experiments in these 2 days:
Saudi Arabia by Video - Tuesday Morning - 1:30 AM: Sitting in my office in Saratoga Springs, NY, I deliver the keynote address to the Higher Education establishment in Saudi Arabia on the future of e-learning. We are connected via an internet based Video Conference setup. The men are in one room, the females are in another room and Elliott is in his office.
The the next sixty minutes, we have a robust dialogue about learning, generational changes, globalization and how to integrate local culture into emerging e-Learning models. No powerpoints, little formality and a very provocative discussion occurs across the net. I envy their strong coffee being poured for dignitaries in the front row and they wonder about the snow outside my office. We talk about "digital tribes", blended learning, rigour for e-Learning and generational differences in knowledge processing. We are struck by our common use of Google as our starting point for knowledge access.
Board Meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio By Video - Tuesday 9:30 AM: As a member of the Board of Operation Respect, I am supposed to be in Ohio for an important meeting, but the calendar won't support the trip. So, I point my internet video-conference to the Board Room and jump right into the proceedings. I actually find myself more engaged by video then I usually am in person. Plus, I can do some other tasks and some context work during the process.
Tom Friedman by Web - Tuesday 11:00 AM: I leave the Board meeting to participate as a student in a live (via web) e-Learning segment by Tom Friedman, produced by Linkage. The topic is "The World is Flat" and the content and quality of the delivery is awesome. Using a 133 kps stream, I see a live and highly animated video of Friedman discussing the key "flatteners of the world" - and the impact for knowledge, collaboration and the economy. Learners telephone, fax and email great core questions to Friedman and it is one of the richest 90 minutes of learning.
Leadership Coaching by Video - This Morning: As I send off this note, I'll be heading into a quarterly coaching session that I lead, via video, with the leadership of a telecommunications company. Every few months, we gather together - connected by video - and discuss emerging and disruptive trends in the technology, knowledge and business world. It is efficient, focused and easier to schedule.
Tonite: Australia Defence Department by .WAV File & Phone: At 6:30 PM, I will go "down-under" via a lower tech model of collaboration. I have produced a 20 minute video, responding to key questions from the Australia Defence Department on changes in the learning world. They have downloaded the .WAV file. The group will view this short video and then call me by phone for a question and answer session. Then, off to dinner and catching up on some sleep.
The world FEELS flatter. The technology of video-conferencing over the internet is getting way better and groups are getting more comfortable working creatively. I feel honored to have working relationships with learning colleagues around the world and blessed to live in a time when the flatter world is making for richer relationships. I welcome your stories about a flatter learning world, send them to emasie@masie.com
Warm regards, Elliott
Upcoming MASIE Center Events and Services:
* LMS 2006 - April 6 and 7 - Las Vegas.
* Learning 2006 - Nov 5 - 8 - Orlando.
* Membership in our Learning CONSORTIUM.
Information at http://www.masie.com
#383 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
52,199 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
LMS 2006 - April 6-7 - Las Vegas, NV - www.lms2006.com
48 Learning Hours in a World Getting Flatter, By Elliott Masie
In the last 48 hours, I have come to better understand and experience Tom Friedman's "The World is Flat". I wanted to share a few of my personal learning experiences and experiments in these 2 days:
Saudi Arabia by Video - Tuesday Morning - 1:30 AM: Sitting in my office in Saratoga Springs, NY, I deliver the keynote address to the Higher Education establishment in Saudi Arabia on the future of e-learning. We are connected via an internet based Video Conference setup. The men are in one room, the females are in another room and Elliott is in his office.
The the next sixty minutes, we have a robust dialogue about learning, generational changes, globalization and how to integrate local culture into emerging e-Learning models. No powerpoints, little formality and a very provocative discussion occurs across the net. I envy their strong coffee being poured for dignitaries in the front row and they wonder about the snow outside my office. We talk about "digital tribes", blended learning, rigour for e-Learning and generational differences in knowledge processing. We are struck by our common use of Google as our starting point for knowledge access.
Board Meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio By Video - Tuesday 9:30 AM: As a member of the Board of Operation Respect, I am supposed to be in Ohio for an important meeting, but the calendar won't support the trip. So, I point my internet video-conference to the Board Room and jump right into the proceedings. I actually find myself more engaged by video then I usually am in person. Plus, I can do some other tasks and some context work during the process.
Tom Friedman by Web - Tuesday 11:00 AM: I leave the Board meeting to participate as a student in a live (via web) e-Learning segment by Tom Friedman, produced by Linkage. The topic is "The World is Flat" and the content and quality of the delivery is awesome. Using a 133 kps stream, I see a live and highly animated video of Friedman discussing the key "flatteners of the world" - and the impact for knowledge, collaboration and the economy. Learners telephone, fax and email great core questions to Friedman and it is one of the richest 90 minutes of learning.
Leadership Coaching by Video - This Morning: As I send off this note, I'll be heading into a quarterly coaching session that I lead, via video, with the leadership of a telecommunications company. Every few months, we gather together - connected by video - and discuss emerging and disruptive trends in the technology, knowledge and business world. It is efficient, focused and easier to schedule.
Tonite: Australia Defence Department by .WAV File & Phone: At 6:30 PM, I will go "down-under" via a lower tech model of collaboration. I have produced a 20 minute video, responding to key questions from the Australia Defence Department on changes in the learning world. They have downloaded the .WAV file. The group will view this short video and then call me by phone for a question and answer session. Then, off to dinner and catching up on some sleep.
The world FEELS flatter. The technology of video-conferencing over the internet is getting way better and groups are getting more comfortable working creatively. I feel honored to have working relationships with learning colleagues around the world and blessed to live in a time when the flatter world is making for richer relationships. I welcome your stories about a flatter learning world, send them to emasie@masie.com
Warm regards, Elliott
Upcoming MASIE Center Events and Services:
* LMS 2006 - April 6 and 7 - Las Vegas.
* Learning 2006 - Nov 5 - 8 - Orlando.
* Membership in our Learning CONSORTIUM.
Information at http://www.masie.com