Creating Passionate Learners 2005 = same in 2011

For those of you that were not into the blogosphere WAY back in...oh... say... 2005 or 2006, the name Kathy Sierra is probably new to you.  It's about time we ALL start learning how to "Create Passionate Users", or in our case Create Passionate Learners...and I'd argue they're the same thing, but I digress.  Let me start with why I am blogging on this topic.

@moehlert tweeted a reminder of an IT Conversations recording of her keynote from the Tools of Change conference (2/16/2011). So, I took 25mins and listened to her story.  I already knew most of the story but its always fun to get a refresher from thought leaders who bring a unique perspective to our industry.  And yes, she IS a learning person...turned blogger...turned top-selling, uber-tech author at O'Reilly.

If you are new to Kathy Sierra, after listening to the recording above, you should read the archives of her blog at headrush.typepad.com.  That will give you a pretty good idea of where she stands on turning users/learners into PASSIONATE learners/users.

My favorite moment in blogging...

I started blogging in August 2005 and I did not have anyone "following" me at the time.  So you can imagine how psyched I was when, after 4 months blogging, Kathy posted a comment on my post 2005 Review of eLearning.

Kathy Sierra said...

The chart that Kathy references
in her comment

What a great post Brent! You've given me about 15 different things to think about here... and I could not agree more. What I didn't mention in my "is it interesting" post (and thanks very much for the nice comments) -- but that you must have picked up on -- is that the ones who were approving my checklist were the ISD'ers and the heads of the LMS team at Sun. They basically said, "If it isn't supported technically by the LMS, it *must not be relevant.* Talk about tail wagging the dog... ; )

I'm especially interested in that diagram of courses vs. collaboration, too.

Thanks for this great blog, Brent. I'm so glad I found it.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2005 

As I was writing this post, and reviewing old posts, so many things struck me:

1. How amazingly powerful blogging and social media was and is,
2. how easy it is to forget about our learners in the process of ISD,
3. how much I miss Kathy's blog posts,
4. how much I wish she'd agree to speak at DevLearn 2012,
5. and how strange it is that my review of 2005 could easily be my review of 2011.

That last one, number 5, really has me thinking and pondering this question, "If I just changed a few dated words, and re-posted that post with a new 2011 title, would anyone know the difference?"
Because, ya know, it is that time of year where everyone reviews the past year and pontificates about the year to come.

But more importantly, are things STILL so much the same?  I've done a lot since 2005 and I'm sure all of you have too, and yet I wonder why so much of our industry still feels the same.  We've seen new iPhones, iPads, and iOS, Android, tablets, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, HTML5, apps, apps, and more apps, and on and on and on.  So why are still talking about building courses? Why do job reqs still read the same?

My guess is that if we started thinking like Kathy and focused on what can we do to help our users kick ass in THEIR job that we would be looking at eLearning A LOT differently.

So, lets make 2012 the year eLearning actually becames about the learner!

P.S.
Here are some other posts where I reference Kathy Sierra.

@KathySierra Learns Spanish via Twitter
Should We Twitter Face-to-Face?
Cubicles Cause Brain Damage

Announcing Blogger App for iOS

This is certainly not breaking news, but I wanted to let my readers know that Blogger now has an iOS app.  Download from iTunes App store.
I've been posting to elearndev.blogspot.com via my mobile device for many years now via email and other forwarding apps.  But now that Blogger has an official app, I'm more convinced that I will most likely keep my blog here for a while.
As mentioned in the Blogger Buzz blog post...

"Pictures are worth a thousand words, and the Blogger app makes it easy to add photos either by choosing from the gallery or taking a new photo right within the app. You can also add labels and location to provide more details about the post."

You can also save drafts, and edit drafts that were started from your desktop. This is important to me as I have a hard time staying focused. So, I tend to start several different blog posts at the same time and then add images and links over time. So, having the ability to start, edit, or finish a blog post from any of my computing devices is very efficient for me.
How does this impact eLearning? Well, if you're not into Blearning yet, then you might not understand. But if you have experienced the fun and effective use of reflective writing, and sharing via a blog, then you know what I mean.  I once heard someone say, "teaching is learning twice".  And I just recently saw a tweet equating their blogging to teaching.  I can relate to both statements.  I hope you learn something new from this blog every now and then.
Cheers!

If You're Learning by Blogging You Must be BLEARNING!

This week is about blogging.  Why? I just think its time to take a look at blogging again since I, and others from what I hear, seem to be neglecting blogs, feed readers, etc, in favor of microblogging.  I'm actually writing this blog post from Amplify.com which is an interesting hybrid tool.  As @simbeckhampson puts it, "it sits nicely in the middle of all the other social media tools".

I'm hoping to crank out at least 2 or 3 blog posts before Friday because I'll be headed to the Blogworld & New Media Expo in Vegas.  And yes, it does feel a bit insane to be doing a road trip so close to DevLearn in San Francisco the first week of November, but I feel the need to check it out.

Let's start with the basics:  What is blogging?

Definition from wikipedia - "A blog (a blend of the term web log)^[1] is a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog."

eLearnDevCast from 2007 - This podcast episode that I did is one of the first times I mentioned blearning.

Why do learning professionals care?

I can say from personal experience, since 2005 and the start of this blog, I've learned more than in all of my formalized education.  I know many people think blogging is just a one-way street, and a pulpit from which to preach and pontificate about whatever topic one might be interested in.  But the truth is, if you're doing it right, you're reading MORE than you are writing.  Consuming content is the biggest part of blogging.  Surely one could use a blogging tool to simply push out content and many do.  But that's not blogging.  That's a very narrow view of a rather simple web technology.  After all, blogging as I see it, is more about a process than it is about any tool or technology.

The process of self-motivated learning is what blogging is all about.  Its the magic of personal publishing that powers my blearning.  I consume the content of others and then act upon that content.  It's my acting upon the content I consume that is so powerful.  I can simply post a short comment and be a peripheral part of their conversation, or I can use their post as the inspiration for my own.  In either case, we've made a connection with each other.  And that connection in and of itself is even more powerful and longer lasting than the content of a simple blog post that brought us together. Blearning is about self-motivated learners connecting and collaborating with others around a shared topic or theme.  The technology simply facilitates the actions required.

So, do I really need to go on about how powerful this is for learning?  I hope not, but I'm happy too if necessary.

Should Blearning be part of your Corporate eLearning Strategy?

I think the easiest response to that question is YES!  But not in the way that you might think.  Do NOT make it mandatory.  Do NOT tie any artificial prizes or rewards to it.  The key is in setting up the system and encouraging employees to experiment.  Find your organizations early adopters and highlight their work.  Give them the opportunity to mentor/train others.  There certainly is a lot to consider, but by all means you should consider it.

Coming up...

I love talking about RSS.  I do think RSS is the most undervalued, underappreciated technology of the last decade.  But I'll save that for my next post.

If you are headed to Blogworld this weekend let me know.  And if you are headed to DevLearn in November let me know that too.

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/chki