Google Wave – Social Learning – Business – eLearning Hot List

eLearning Learning Hot List

June 12, 2009 to June 19, 2009

Top Posts

The following are the top posts from featured sources based on social signals.

1. Business of Learning- eLearning Technology, June 15, 2009
2. New online book on mobile learning -available for free download- Ignatia Webs, June 12, 2009
3. Phases of the 3PD Approach: Discovering Instructional Design 15- The E-Learning Curve, June 16, 2009
4. Google Wave as a Learning Tool- Learning and Technology, June 12, 2009
5. Student Guide: Introduction to ‘Wikis’ in Blackboard- Don't Waste Your Time, June 12, 2009
6. Captivate Widgets Tutorial: Create your first Widget- Adobe Captivate Blog, June 19, 2009
7. Discovering Instructional Design 14: the Three-Phase Design Model- The E-Learning Curve, June 15, 2009
8. How Big is Moodle?- MinuteBio, June 12, 2009
9. 3PD Approaches to Evaluation: Discovering Instructional Design 16- The E-Learning Curve, June 19, 2009
10. Nintendo’s Four I Standard- Upside Learning Blog, June 19, 2009
11. Call for Panelists - Future of Business of Learning- eLearning Technology, June 18, 2009
12. New Lynda.com tutorial on Captivate 4- Adobe Captivate Blog, June 18, 2009
13. Top 100 Educators to follow on Twitter- Don't Waste Your Time, June 18, 2009
14. New Networked Organisation- ThirdForce Blog, June 17, 2009 
15. The Tipping Point - Are You There Yet?- Engaged Learning, June 16, 2009
16. Opera Unite for Windows/Mac/Linux gives you immediate access to group or personal learning spaces- Ignatia Webs, June 16, 2009
17. #eden09: educational shift in Japan, using ubiquitous learning by Haruo Nishinosono- Ignatia Webs, June 15, 2009
18. Is it ever okay to have multiple tweeters for one twOrganization?- Business Casual, June 14, 2009
19. Brain rule #12- Clive on Learning, June 12, 2009

Top Other Items

The following are the top other items based on social signals.

1. Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked, June 17, 2009
2. Here’s Why You Need an E-Learning Portfolio, June 16, 2009
3. Game Studies 0102: Cultural framing of computer/video games. By Kurt Squire, June 17, 2009
4. Interesting Web Sites for Game-Based Training, e-Learning and Education:, June 17, 2009
5. 10 Strategies for Integrating Learning and Work (part 1), June 15, 2009
6. What is a Game? The Art of Computer Game Design, June 17, 2009
7. The Top 5 Platforms for Creating Educational Video Games « Educational Games Research, June 17, 2009
8. Why Do People Play Games? - The Art of Computer Game Design, June 17, 2009
9. Social Network Analysis: An introduction, June 12, 2009
10. Rapid (Collaborative) Authoring Tools for developers/SMEs in multiple locations, June 17, 2009
11. U.S. Spies Use Custom Videogames to Learn How to Think, June 17, 2009
12. Marc Prensky - Twitch Speed, June 17, 2009
13. Business Impact of Social and Informal Learning, June 12, 2009
14. Fourteen Forms of Fun, June 17, 2009
15. Gamasutra - Features - "Natural Funativity", June 17, 2009
16. Integrating Learning and Work, June 16, 2009
17. Why group norms kill creativity, June 14, 2009
18. The Ideal Computer for Camtasia Studio, June 17, 2009
19. Examples from TWITCHSPEED.COM Digital Game-Based Learning, June 17, 2009
20. Twitter Search in Plain English, June 17, 2009

Top Keywords

• Google Wave (4)
• Social Learning (25)
• Business (43)
• Adopt (7)
• Market (17)
• Performance Support (15)

Call for Panelists - Future of Business of Learning

I am pulling together an online only event for Learn Trends that will occur on July 23. I'm seeking several kinds of panelists who can contribute to the discussion. Please contact me via email: akarrer @ techempower.com if you are interested in being on one of the panels. Or if you know someone who I should recruit.

This event focuses on the issues raised in Business of Learning. The event is:

Future of the Business of Learning

You can click the link for a bit more detail and to sign up to Learn Trends. The crux of the session is looking at:

While training as a publisher of courses and courseware faces an increasingly challenging market, what other things can learning businesses successfully sell to internal or external customers?

The session will have several panels looking at different perspectives on these questions.

CLOs /VPs Learning from inside medium to large corporations who will discuss:
* What new offerings are they selling or trying to sell to internal customers?
* What new offerings are they looking to buy to bring into their company?

Training CEOs who run companies that sell particular training offerings to corporations
* What new offerings are they selling or trying to sell?
* What are the key challenges they face in selling these?
* Are they moving beyond blended learning to social learning solutions?

Software/Services CxOs Vendors who provide other kinds of software or services to corporations
* What new offerings are they selling or trying to sell?
* What are the key challenges they face in selling these?

Industry Analysts and Others
* What do they see as being the new kinds of offerings that will get traction in the market?
* What should CLOs, training companies and Vendors do to create and sell these offerings?

This should be a lively conversation.

Roughly scheduled from:

9 AM - 1 PM Pacific Time / 4 PM - 8 PM GMT
July 23

Social and Network Learning - Free Online Discussion - June 18

This is somewhat last minute notice, but Learn Trends will be having a free online discussion tomorrow on the topic of:

Social and Network Learning

Social learning and social networks continue to grow in prominence in corporations, organizations, and universities. The impact of networks, however, remains somewhat misunderstood. How should organizations “restructure” on network principles? How can ROI be calculated? Are networks a superior method of organization learning and development? How can professionals re-create wholeness of understanding in fragmentary conversations and information shared through social networks? What lessons can learning professionals apply from Facebook, Twitter, iPhone applications, and other software and technology trends?

Join LearnTrends on June 18th for presentation and discussion on the social, networked learning and organizations. Topics include: ROI of networks, Value Networks, fragmented conversations and sensemaking, and the next stages of social and learning networks in organizations.

All sessions will be held online and recordings will be made available after the event.

Moderators:

What is Social and Network Learning?
George Siemens and Tony Karrer - 9:30 AM Pacific

ROI and Social and Network Learning
Tony Karrer and Will Thalheimer - 10AM Pacific Time

Organizational Challenges of Social and Network Learning
Verna Allee - 11 AM Pacific Time

Dave Snowden - Noon Pacific Time

To attend the event or to be notified about future events, sign up to Learn Trends.

Blogger Outreach

I've been getting more and more messages these days that are asking me to take a look at a particular product or service.  I wish I had time to look at all these great things, but I find that I have to be pretty selective about where I will spend my time.

I have a tendency to talk about things that are a little less bleeding edge than some other bloggers.  I want to see that they are proven in the market somewhere before I'm generally going to jump on them.  So, I may be a little harder to convince to review something – although I'm sure that most bloggers do very similar filtering.

So I thought it would be worthwhile to post on how I evaluate whether I'm going to spend time on a request to look at a particular product or service offering.  I have a tendency to get a bit of push-back on these types of posts: Profile Photos, Profile Photo, Questions Before You Ask.  Yes, I'm exposing bias here.  Yes I'm making a snap judgment about how much time I'm going to spend.  You have to do this in life.

The amount of time I will spend relates to a variety of factors …

What's your position/role?

I generally will spend a lot more time with people at the top of this list than people at the bottom of the list.

• Possible Client
• Entrepreneur / CEO
• Chief Marketing Officer / VP Marketing / Product Management
• Business Development / Sales
• PR Person at Company
• PR Person at PR Firm

Of course I'm going to spend time with someone who I believe is legitimately a potential client.  I'm also more willing to spend time talking to key players in a company.  Once you get to someone who likely is motivated and compensated for purely getting the word out through any and all means, it becomes more of a one-way relationship.  That doesn't mean I won't engage with a PR person, but I'm much more likely to ignore a classic PR-driven request.

Corollary:

PR Firms have a lower probability of success in blogger outreach.

Are you engaged in social media?

I'm not sure when this started happening to me, but I look at things like:

• Do you have a blog?  Is it a marketing only blog?  Or an interesting blog?  Are you a thoughtful person with some interesting discussions on your blog?
• Do you have a LinkedIn profile?  What's your background?

I get so much value from my blog relationships and social network relationships.  If it appears you are going to be a good blog connection or LinkedIn Connection, I'm naturally going to be more interested in engaging in a conversation with you.

Corollaries:

Blog before you do blogger outreach.

Engage with social media before you do social media outreach.

Interesting Product / Service

Let's assume that you are a person in a PR firm representing a client with no blog and you don't have a LinkedIn profile (not sure why you wouldn't).  Is there a chance that I will spend time looking at your product / service?   Yes, but you are going to need to spend some time to be in position to get me to spend time.

• You have spent time figuring out how this product / service is different / interesting in the market place.  Your message to me should indicate some real thought.  You know that there are five types of competitors in the market and here's where this product fits into that.  Add value with your research.  Take a look at Questions Before You Ask.  The percentage of PR people who really do this is very small because they don't really understand the domain and thus can't really engage in a more interesting conversation with a blogger.
• You've looked at my blog and know who I am and some things I've written about before that relate to your product.  I likely have talked about stuff in your domain.  Otherwise, it may not make sense for me to blog about your product / service.  So, how about reminding me of that, but adding some thoughtful information about how the product / service is interesting.

Corollary:

Do your homework.

Nothing New Here

The reality is that this really is nothing new.  Using the Browse My Stuff site B2B Marketing Zone, I found some interesting articles on Blogger Outreach:

PR and Blogging Outreach: Practical Tips

8 Tips about Blogging Outreach:

1. Bloggers are not journalists

2. Read the blog first

3. Develop a relationship

Don't pitch, get "coverage" and then leave. It's like getting ready for a hot first date and being taken to a McDonald's for dinner. When you start corresponding with the blogger, maintain the relationship.

4. Be Transparent

5. Customize your emails

6. Grammar and spelling do count

7. Don't disregard the smaller bloggers

8. Read Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers by Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. At least read the the section about "Blogging Wrong & Right."

My Top 5 Blogging Outreach Mistakes

Number 5: Oops – I thought that was MISS Blogger, not MISTER Blogger

Number 4: Spellcheck is a wonderful technology…when you USE it

Number 3: I’m not stalking you honestly. Could you just puhleeze respond to me?

Number 2: Sorry – didn’t realize you just wrote about this… yesterday!

And the number 1 mistake that I’ve made pitching a blogger:

Who cares about YOUR interests, it’s all about ME

Blogger Outreach for PR - Worst Practices

1. Just send a press release.
2. Act like you expect coverage.
3. Send exactly the same message two (or more) times.
4. Promise something you can't deliver.
5. Don't acknowledge return correspondence.
6. Don't acknowledge coverage.

If you want more you can go to:

• Pitching Bloggers

• Blogger Outreach for PR: The Importance of Follow-Up

• How Not to Pitch a Blog

Performance - Collaboration - Social Network Analysis - eLearning Hot List

eLearning Learning Hot List

June 1, 2009 to June 12, 2009

Top Posts

The following are the top posts from featured sources based on social signals.

1. The Various Roles of Instructional Design (work in progress)- Jonathan's ID, June 5, 2009
2. Mistakes made in Academic Blogs- Don't Waste Your Time, June 3, 2009
3. New online book on mobile learning -available for free download- Ignatia Webs, June 12, 2009
4. Discovering Instructional Design 12: the ICARE Model- The E-Learning Curve, June 11, 2009
5. Audio in eLearning: When Rough Around the Edges is Better- Learning Visions, June 9, 2009
6. Compliance or competence: you choose- Clive on Learning, June 9, 2009
7. E-learning in the Mobile World and the Right Business Model to Deliver It- Electronic Papyrus, June 9, 2009
8. Discovering Instructional Design 9: Implementation and Improvement- The E-Learning Curve, June 8, 2009
9. Expert Level Answers via Social Networks- eLearning Technology, June 8, 2009
10. Presentation: Camtasia in eLearning- Don't Waste Your Time, June 4, 2009
11. Does Deliberative Practice Lead to Quick Proficiency?- eLearning Technology, June 3, 2009
12. Student Guide: Introduction to ‘Wikis’ in Blackboard- Don't Waste Your Time, June 12, 2009
13. Discovering Instructional Design 11: The Kemp Model- The E-Learning Curve, June 10, 2009
14. I Say Instructional Designer, You Say Tomah-toe- Learning Visions, June 9, 2009
15. Attribution in a Web 2.0 World Part 2- Social Enterprise Blog, June 6, 2009
16. Should you Care about Google Wave?- Social Learning and Communities of Practice, June 4, 2009
17. Our Top 10 Learning Tools 2009- Upside Learning Blog, June 4, 2009
18. Firefox Bookmark Shortcuts- eLearning Technology, June 4, 2009
19. Google Wave as a Learning Tool- Learning and Technology, June 12, 2009
20. Productivity tip: Quickly convert auto captions to voice over narration- Adobe Captivate Blog, June 11, 2009
21. Tips for Teaching Problem Solving Skills- Kapp Notes, June 8, 2009
22. A Little (Random) Learning- Blogger in Middle-earth, June 6, 2009
23. The When and What of M-Learning- Element K Blog, June 2, 2009
24. Web 3.0: yes, they went there- WISE Pedagogy, June 1, 2009
25. Time Spent- The Learning Circuits Blog, June 1, 2009

Top Other Items

The following are the top other items based on social signals.

1. Work Together: 60+ Collaborative Tools for Groups, June 6, 2009
2. Ultimate Guide to Delicious Social Bookmarking, June 8, 2009
3. 13 More Tips to Help You Record Narration Like the Pros, June 9, 2009
4. 4 Simple Tips for Recording High-Quality Audio, June 2, 2009
5. Chief Learning Officer magazine - Get Out of the Training Business, June 9, 2009
6. Price Ranges for Learning Management Systems in 2009, June 1, 2009
7. Social Network Analysis: An introduction, June 12, 2009
8. Social Learning Resources, June 6, 2009
9. Collaborative Learning « Social Enterprise Blog, June 3, 2009
10. Organizing for Performance Effectiveness, June 1, 2009
11. Business Impact of Social and Informal Learning, June 12, 2009
12. When it's just so obvious NOT to train it's painful to watch it happen, June 12, 2009
13. Co-operation for Networks, June 1, 2009
14. Social tools for networks, June 1, 2009
15. OutStart and HotLava Software - mLearning is Going Mainsteam, June 9, 2009
16. Aging. Can We Enhance People's Cognitive Outcomes?, June 4, 2009
17. From E-Learning to Social Learning, June 10, 2009
18. Investigating the Application of Social Software to Support Networked Learning, June 4, 2009

Top Keywords

• Social Learning (34)
• Social Network Analysis (4)
• Collaboration (43)
• Mobile Learning (18)
• Performance (46)
• Learning Management System (11)