Learning Conversations

I ran a couple of workshop sessions yesterday, looking at the role that RSS & Blogs in particular can play in corporate learning & development.

The first one ran pretty much to plan, and seemed to go down well. The second, however, with a much smaller group, and with people who have known each other for a while, moved away from the plan even before it started... Rather than a led workshop session, with preset activities and content, it became a focussed conversation - which, to me, is probably one of the most effective learning experiences you can have.

Facilitating meaningful conversation is the most powerful thing you can do to improve informal learning.
Jay Cross

It was a real mix of people, from technophobes to technophiles - but all had expertise and interest in developing organisations and management.

The conversation focussed very much on the people aspects of technology: why people use it, why they don't, what happens when they do etc.

I came away with three core ideas that have been milling around my head for a while. They're not at all original, better people than me have written about them at some point or other. But they are three "principles" that I think we need to adopt when introducing people to learning online.

1. Know your sources: In the past we only had the mainstream media as sources of information. They lived or died on their reputation, and you sort of knew what you were getting - what their biases were etc. Now, anyone can be a media publisher. How do we know that we can trust what we read? It's all about knowing your sources - has that person been recommended to you? Have they cited their sources so you can go back to the original source? Have their opinions proved right/useful in the past?
2. Assume nothing you write is private: A general rule of thumb for me is that I assume that every email, forum post etc could, potentially, at some point in the future be made public. Once it's written and posted it's out of my control. Write with that in mind and you'll be safe.
3. The learner is in control: In a classroom/training room/meeting room the group leader/teacher/trainer is in control, can guide the interactions and activities that take place, and when they occur. Move online and the learner takes over. They can switch off, fast forward, engage more deeply, respond etc when and how they choose. So the first question becomes not which learning activity or resource should I use here, but what's in it for my learners - what is going to motivate them to engage with and act on what I'm putting forward. People designing learning experiences with an online element actually need to become good at marketing first.

Thanks are due to Leonard Low for his very effective paper-blogging exercise, and to all the people who contributed to the ASTD's Big Question on "should all learning professionals be blogging". This provoked quite a bit of debate in the first group, as they tried to pick out the key points: