eLearn Magazine - CoPs: New Learning Models

Communities of Practice: Addressing Workforce Trends Through New Learning Models

Some good quotes from the article above:

"Organizations would be well-advised to shift budgets and resources from formal learning settings to informal situations where the majority of learning actually takes place."

"Organizations need to recognize that to attract and retain millennials, they have to eliminate hierarchy and corporate bottlenecks, open up internal communications, and provide ongoing training and development opportunities."

"While email and collaboration have become the norm in most offices, social networking-style technologies are quickly becoming a very real possibility for even the most conservative public sector organizations."

My thoughts: This article is a good primer for understanding the fundamental change occuring across the internet and how Communities of Practice are fast becoming the tool of choice for enhancing/improving DEEP learning within and across job business functions. There are many online technologies and tools that can begin to support CoPs, but it's important to remember that it's more about the people than the technology. The technology simply facilitates improved connections between those who have information and those that need information: Learning to learn by finding the right people (resources) with the right knowledge (information) at the right time (place).
This is a very simplisitic look at a very new and complex issue impacting the training/learning world. However, this little article is good one to send around if you are trying to get the conversation started with your boss, or the boss's boss.


UPDATE 4/30: Repaired the link