Week 1 - Web 2.0 for Learning Professionals

I just spent about an 90 minutes working on the Week 1 coursework for the Work Literacy - Web 2.0 for Learning Professionals course. The focus this week is on Social Networking--Ning, LinkedIn and Facebook. I've been exploring all 3 sites for quite a while, and as far as usefulness in my work as a Curriculum Designer, I'd rank them as follows:

1. Ning
2. LinkedIn
3. Facebook

I can see a lot of potential in Ning because it's a place to promote community and social networking, and it incorporates blogs, discussion forums, videos, etc.

LinkedIn is more of an online resume in my mind, though there is much more to it that I still need to explore such as groups, recommendations, etc.

Facebook doesn't seem to provide a lot of value professionally, but I'm open-minded and welcome any ideas that people may have regarding how to use it in a business and training environment.

I'll continue to engage in the Week 1 conversations and see where it takes me. So far, I really like the design of the course and I'm certain I'll learn a lot of useful information as I move forward with developing a business case for how we can use Web 2.0/Learning 2.0 technologies in our team/department/division/company.

Tom Peters: "Blogging has changed my life."

I'm a huge Tom Peters fan, and I love this interview clip with him from the Inc. 5000 conference in Washington DC on September 19, 2008.

Not Connecting with Connectivism

I guess it was wishful thinking to think that I'd actually have time to dive into the Connectivism class without having to do all the work at home. I haven't had time there either, so now I'm over two weeks behind on the "work" part of the class, although I've been keeping up fairly regularly with the discussions on the Moodle forum and on Twitter. I just haven't been contributing or keeping up with any of the readings, live webinars, etc. There is a tremendous amount of information flowing through the course, but so far it all seems very disjointed to me, so I'm just not sure where to jump in and how to organize everything for myself. I suppose that's one of the lessons I'm supposed to learn.

To make matters worse, something new has come up, and I'm like a kid in a candy store - show me something more colorful, sweeter, and a little fresher and I'll change directions in a heartbeat.Here's a link to what I'm talking about, and since it seems more organized and on topic, I'll probably mostly abandon the Connectivism course and focus on this one for 6 weeks:

Free - Web 2.0 for Learning Professionals

Is there such a thing as adult ADD???

Don't answer that.

Yammer Presentation Video from TC50

Here's the presentation that the people from Yammer did at TechCrunch50. It's only 9 minutes long, and very interesting.



It should also come as no surprise that Yammer took the top prize at TechCrunch50. Hate to say I told you so!

Jason Calcanis posted this in Twitter today:

I think when folks get 10 people from their company into Yammer they will see the huge impact it will have.

I believe it's true. I'm the first user on the AmFam Yammer network. (Is there an Early Adopter award?). Now I just need to figure out the best way to get the word out and to get people to at least try it out.

Mark My Words

If you haven't heard it somewhere else, then you heard it first - Yammer is going to be HUGE. It is a private Twitter-like application only for employees of a specific company that was introduced yesterday at TechCrunch50.

Here's a nice concise description of the company from CrunchBase:

Yammer is a tool for making companies and organizations more productive through the exchange of short frequent answers to one simple question: “What are you working on?”


As employees answer that question, a feed is created in one central location enabling co-workers to discuss ideas, post news, ask questions, and share links and other information. Yammer also serves as a company directory in which every employee has a profile and as a knowledge base where past conversations can be easily accessed and referenced.

Anyone in a company can start their Yammer network and begin inviting colleagues. The privacy of each network is ensured by limiting access to those with a valid company email address. The basic Yammer service is free. Companies can pay to claim and administer their networks.

Connectivism course blog

I'm considering participating in the Connectivism and Connective Knowledge Online Course.

Here's the course description from the course wiki:

Connectivism and Connective Knowledge is a twelve week course that will explore the concepts of connectivism and connective knowledge and explore their application as a framework for theories of teaching and learning. It will outline a connectivist understanding of educational systems of the future. This course will help participants make sense of the transformative impact of technology in teaching and learning over the last decade. The voices calling for reform do so from many perspectives, with some suggesting 'new learners' require different learning models, others suggesting reform is needed due to globalization and increased competition, and still others suggesting technology is the salvation for the shortfalls evident in the system today. While each of these views tell us about the need for change, they overlook the primary reasons why change is required.

Should be interesting, exciting, and enlightening. Hopefully I'll be able to find the time to keep up.