Organizations (and training departments)  need to understand complexity, instead of simply increasing complication. This lack of understanding is a major barrier to adopting social business concepts and practices.

2 – 15 secrets of the most successful self-learners

For many curious folks, their impassioned yearning to soak up as much of the world’s wonders as possible completely transcends the boundaries of a traditional classroom. Armed with an insatiable lust for knowledge, they set out to acquire it on their own terms, although a few pointers obviously can’t hurt before departure and landing! Not every possible technique will necessarily stick with all self-motivated learners, of course, but the only way to find out is to test them. Try some of the following and experiment with what works in a more independent educational setting.

3 - DIY Learning: How Maker Faire Is Innovating Education - edudemic

It signals the permanence of the new mindset where teachers are showing how excited and innovative they’ve become. Thanks to events like Maker Faire, social media tools like Twitter, and an expanding marketplace of education technology tools, it’s a very exciting time to be a tinkering teacher.

4 – Twitter exchange on lifewide learning – Lifewide Education

TOPIC: - What does lifewide learning mean to you? How can twitter support lifewide learning and personal development?  WHEN:  Sun May 13 to Sun May 20th

2 - Google+: a mobile app with sense and soul - Google Blog

3 - Perfume-puffing robot sniffs out social media mentions - BBC News

Now your nose can tell you when you are being talked about on social networks thanks to a net-connected robot. Called Olly, the robot watches the millions of messages passing through social networks and spots when its owner is mentioned. For every mention or referral Olly emits a waft of scent as a “reward” for the online interaction

Why doesn’t the corporate learning sector think like this? Why can’t it introduce the concept of bite-sized learning chunks? Why can’t it grasp the notion that we all would like to learn at the speed of need? Couldn’t it introduce a concept like Best Buy Express kiosks (metaphorically of course) into the corporate learning space? Isn’t this a nice informal option?

2 - Survey shows people take training as infrequently as they go to a conference; but they learn continuously in other ways – Jane Hart

Taken together with the results  from my previous survey, which showed that training was considered to be the least important way of learning in the workplace, I think this provides useful evidence for those trying to bring about change in their L&D departments, and might help them to see where they should be focusing  their activities to have more impact in the business.

3 - Learning in the workplace – Harold Jarche – simple yet effective

Jane Hart asked readers “how regularly are you “learning” in the workplace?” Here are the top five ways that people learn, with my comments below on how this can be facilitated in the organization, either by management or the learning support group. 

People blog for all sorts of reasons. For me, it is mostly about learning. This wasn’t my original intention – it evolved over time. Now I see blogging as part of a continuous learning process:

The research considers digital media interaction, from sharing links and photos to writing blogs. It turns out that the old 1% rule, which said that more people will lurk in a virtual community than actively participate, is old news and that now, more than 10% are getting online to contribute and interact.

2 – How baby boomers are stifling the marketing revolution – Clark Kokich, Forbes – could be said of “learning revolution” too

There’s too much hand-wringing. Too much nay-saying. And too much argument about whether these changes are “real” (not an atypical reaction of an older generation that’s clinging to the past). There’s also too much fear. After all, who can be comfortable when they realize their future will soon be in the hands of their children?

HCI : “more than 50% of line managers believe that shutting down the L&D function would have no impact on employee performance!”

Too many training departments have become mere “order takers,” responding to requests for training by harried but ill-informed managers who believe that training is the solution to every kind of performance problem. (Managers probably don’t really believe that, but ordering training is easier than tackling the real issues.) I call this the “McDonald’s Clerk” approach to training; take the order and, at most, see if they want fries with it.

2 – Welcome to the Social media revolution – BBC News

Work itself is fundamentally social, so why can’t our business apps be social, as collaborative as Facebook, as transparent as Twitter, and as engaging as Zynga’s social games?

Managing and motivating employees is maybe the most important job for a management team. Yet today’s HR systems were built with a command-and-control framework of the past. They don’t represent how today’s workforce wants to be managed.

3 – LearningJar - this is one I’m going to be keeping my eye on – still in beta at the moment

Everyday people are learning real world skills from a variety of credible sources. Currently there is no place to easily validate and store this information. LearningJar provides an opportunity to prove what you’re learning outside the formal system. It’s time to make what you learn count.

2 –  The Web changes business - Harold Jarche

So you think the Web won’t change the business you’re in? Do you believe that education, training, and instructional design organizations will carry on with business-as-usual, as people keep paying for traditional courses? Look at how these business models, which were all created since the birth of the Web, have managed to change entire industries.

3 - Mobile Learning: The Time Is Now Report – eLearning Guild

In this complimentary report for eLearning Guild members, author Clark Quinn assesses how mobile learning is changing, and recommends strategies to make the most of the technology’s emerging opportunities. He also examines the current trends in mLearning, analyzing usage, perceived barriers, availability, ROI, and other aspects that will help you make the decision of how and when to go mobile.

4 – 8 Reasons to Focus on Informal & Social Learning - Charles Jennings – worth another view

In recent weeks, two of the biggest professional bodies for learning and development (L&D) specialists have released their annual surveys into how the profession is developing. Surveys have also been released showing some of the bigger L&D challenges facing organisations. Here is a summary of what has been published

2 - Hospital To Live Tweet Brain Surgery – ABC News

While not well known, Twitter does offer a number of operators that can be used to help filter the tweet stream. Operators are instructions that can be added to a twitter search to add an additional layer of filtering.  For example, searching Twitter with #lrnchat filter:links will show you only those tweets that contain the hashtag #lrnchat AND contain a hyperlink.  Another one of the operators is SOURCE.

2 – Reserve your seat for my webinar with Jay Cross - Jane Hart

Jay Cross is “the Johnny Appleseed of informal learning”. Jay has challenged conventional wisdom about how adults learn since designing the first business degree program offered by the University of Phoenix. A champion of informal learning and systems thinking, He was the first person to use the term eLearning on the web. He literally wrote the book on Informal Learning. Jay works from the  Internet Time Lab in Berkeley, high in the hills a dozen miles east of the Golden Gate Bridge and a mile and a half from the University. Jay is the CEO of the Internet Time Alliance.

3 – Antipodes Map 

In geography, the antipodes of any place on Earth is its antipodal point; that is, the region on the Earth’s surface which is diametrically opposite to it. Two points which are antipodal to one another are connected by a straight line through the centre of the Earth.

4 - A Day in the Life of a Connected Educator – Using social media in 21st century classrooms - Sheryl Nussbaum Beach – nice infographic for Teacher’s Day.

The contract grading approach, loosely speaking, is one where the student and the instructor negotiate a ‘contract’ for how that course is supposed to go. Here is an excellent example from Cathy N. Davidson that I’ve been borrowing from. (or, as she suggests, pilfering from)  So… if you want an A – do that much work. Only want a C? Do that much work.

2 – The world’s biggest school assembly – BBC Worldclass

On Tuesday 8 May BBC World Class, in collaboration with the BBC World Service global conversation programme World Have Your Say, will be holding the World’s Biggest School Assembly on the BBC. We want your school to be involved.

3 – How regularly do you “learn” in the workplace? - Jane Hart

It is clear we now use many different approaches, sources and systems to do all this – but just how regularly are we doing  it?  Please help me find out by taking my latest Learning in the Workplace survey

4 –  10 Fun Games That Look Like Office Work - Mashable

If you love casual gaming but find that work gets in the way, we can help. These 10 sneaky online games resemble desktop productivity programs, and will cover you for some stealth gaming in the office.