Learning SandBox Plans for 2020

TO: Learning and Business Colleagues
FROM: Elliott Masie, Chair
RE: 2020 Membership in our Learning ThinkTank & SandBox

Join the Elliott Masie Learning CONSORTIUM, a 22-year-old Learning ThinkTank & Sandbox of over 150 major corporations focused on the ever-changing world of Workplace Learning, Technology, and Innovation!  

We include the learning leaders of some of the largest companies in the world (e.g. McDonald’s, Southwest Airlines, Humana, Xerox, UBS Financial Services, etc.). Throughout the year, CONSORTIUM members turn to each other and the staff of the MASIE Center for benchmarking, networking, research, and collaboration. Together, we are evaluating, inventing, revising, and improving the exciting field of learning! This is a community of trust, appropriate confidentiality, and syndicated efforts to enhance the effectiveness of our learning and training efforts.

These are the learning challenges and opportunities we will explore in 2020:

• AI, Automation, & SmarterTech – Building Learning Readiness for AI & More
• Learning Data Analysis – Shifting Metrics & Measures
• EveryDay Learning! From Workflow Support to Learning Cultures
• Learning Innovations: Experiments, Ventures, & New Approaches
• Issues Curated by our Members (e.g. Leadership Development Challenges, Changing Skills, Roles, and Structures for Learning & Development, and more!)

Elliott Masie Learning CONSORTIUM Activities & Benefits:

• Elliott Masie Live Briefing with Your Learning Organization or Business Leaders: Elliott will spend one hour, by video, with members of your Learning Team or your Business Leaders in an interactive discussion of key learning topics, challenges, initiatives, and more.
• Learning Festival – Our 2020 CONSORTIUM Retreat (June 16 and 17): We invite each member organization to send up to 4 key learning professionals to our 2-day annual retreat. We will benchmark and explore best practices on key topics and case studies from members, plus interviews conducted by Elliott Masie with business and global learning leaders.
• Monthly Learning Dialogues and Idea Jams: Each month, there will be a live, interactive video session led by Elliott Masie, Bob Mosher, Richard Culatta, and other MASIE Fellows.
• Learning Sandbox Projects & ThinkTanks: We will organize virtual and physical opportunities for members to think through and explore new technologies and methodologies for learning (e.g. Learning Data Dashboards, Redesigning Webinars, Pulse vs. Testing Assessment Models, Building Curation Skills, Storytelling Skill Development, Virtual Recognition, etc.). Members will work together and with Elliott Masie and members of the CONSORTIUM team.
• Reports and Summaries from Every Major Learning Event: We will share a curated summary from every major learning event in the US and several from around the world, written by Elliott, MASIE Fellows, or other CONSORTIUM members. We will curate content from ATD, CLO, Training, and Learning events.
• Engagement with Global & National Business & Learning Groups: For example, a small cohort of member organizations is already collaborating with Lumina Foundation on its “All Learning Counts” initiative to reskill and upskill the US workforce. Their progress will be shared with the entire membership!
• 100% Vendor Neutral: We remain committed to maintaining a vendor-neutral position in the learning field. As such, we will not make recommendations of any vendor or accept any sponsorship from a learning vendor.
• Video Snapshots from the Field: Elliott and the CONSORTIUM team will conduct video interviews with members who are working on exciting learning initiatives. We will share those videos with the entire membership!
• Targeted Benchmarking: We will invite members to participate in benchmarking dialogues, surveys, and more! Results will be shared with the entire membership.
• Discounts at LABs & Other Events: As a member, you receive discounts for every LAB and event we offer!

Complete details on the Elliott MASIE Learning CONSORTIUM at http://www.masie.com  We invite your organization to join us in our ThinkTank & Sandbox in 2020!

Yours in Learning,

1031 - Curation: New Focus and Name Needed; ID Learning Folks in Business Units; AI/Learning in China Briefings

Elliott Masie’s Learning TRENDS - November 19, 2019
#1,031  Updates on Learning, Business & Technology Since 1997.
58,564 Readers - www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
Host: Curation & Learning LAB: Dec 4 to 6 - Saratoga Springs, NY. 

1. Curation: New Focus and New Name Needed
2. Identify and Connect with Learning Colleagues in the Business Units
3. AI in Learning: Visit and Briefings in China 

1. Curation: New Focus and New Name Needed! 

Our employees are often overwhelmed by the range, scope and diversity of content, context, collaboration and knowledge resources and experiences.  Curation is a term that the learning field is using to OPTIMIZE the search, storage, recommendation and leveraging of the right content at the right moment in the right format. 

Curation includes the ability of your employees to create content that can be found, evaluated and used by other colleagues.  Curation could provide a learner with a range of options (from internal and external sources) that include recommendations, ratings and content. 

Curation will involve new strategies, new tools, new tagging systems and new skills - for learning professionals, for content creators, for knowledge managers and even for our employees and learners. 

And, we should take a close look at the word “curation”. While it is a term that describes the process - I do not sense that it has been well adopted by employees. Perhaps we need to seek a better and more upbeat term. 

If you are intrigued by Curation and Learning - consider attending our upcoming LAB in Saratoga Springs on December 4 to 6th.  Details and registration at http://www.masie.com 

2. Identify and Connect with Learning Colleagues in the Business Units: There are probably dozens or more learning colleagues that work for your organization who are outside of the L&D Department.  

Increasingly, learning skills are needed in business units.  Often, they recruit learning professionals to join their group and add learning perspectives on a local basis.  Sometimes, the learning professional has a non-learning job title, such as Sales Manager, but in fact performs a learning and performance role. 

It is time to locate the widest circle of Learning Colleagues and build a connected network of contacts and resources. Often, when I visit a company to give a speech on learning, several folks pop up who are unknown to the L&D director - but are functioning in the business units.  

They are your advocates, your colleagues and perhaps your future managers. Connect! 

3. AI in Learning: Visit and Briefings in China: On December 15th, I will be visiting Beijing, China for a series of meetings with Chinese companies, universities and learning organizations. My colleague, Serene Wang, and I will be drilling down on how AI will connect with Learning.  

If you have any colleagues in China, we would love to connect. I would love to meet them in the Beijing area. Send me a note to emasie@masie.com 

Yours in learning, 

Elliott Masie
Email: emasie@masie.com 
Twitter: @emasie  

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services - Go to www.masie.com for Details: 

- Curation & Learning LAB - Dec 4 to 6, Saratoga Springs, NY
- Membership in the Elliott Masie Learning CONSORTIUM 

Learning TRENDS is produced by The MASIE Center. 95 Washington Street, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

Elliott After Learning? Curation, Storytelling and Smarter Tech!

TO: Learning TRENDS Colleagues
FROM: Elliott Masie, The MASIE Center
RE: Elliott After Learning? Curation, Storytelling & Smarter Tech!

What does Elliott do after Learning? We had a wonderful week at Learning 2019 - where I could enjoy the new role of learner, rather than producer.

Above is the “illustrated graphic” from my Keynote Address - looking at the waves ahead for us in the Learning field: Curation, Storytelling, Smarter Tech (AI ++), Automation, Learning Data Analysis, EveryDay Learning and Changing Roles for Learning.

Elliott’s roles are also evolving! I am so excited to increase my focus on key issues and unknowns in our field - from the intersection of Learning & AI to Evolving Storytelling Skills and making sure that “All Learning Counts!”

The Elliott Masie Learning CONSORTIUM will focus on these topics as we benchmark and innovate in a vendor-neutral collaboration.

Two Upcoming MASIE Events: Join me in Saratoga Springs for our popular Curation & Learning LAB from December 4th to 6th. Curation means making the learning experiences we create more dynamically engaged with changing content and changing learners.  Info at http://www.masie.com

And, if you are in the New York City area, we have a few seats that we will provide at no cost to learning colleagues in this week’s Storytelling & Broadway Experience - including a matinee at my new show, SEARED. Details at http://www.masie.com/storytelling  If you would like a complimentary seat, please send a note ASAP to emasie@masie.com

Let us look toward 2020 as the start of a new year and a new decade for Learning in our companies and careers. I am so excited to learn and collaborate with you! Check out the resources and Podcasts at our site, www.masie.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
The MASIE Center & Learning CONSORTIUM
emasie@masie.com