eLearning 2.0 - Go Do It

Since my presentations last month at the Harvard Business School and at the eLearningGuild Annual Gathering, I've been getting several basic questions about what Web 2.0 and eLearning 2.0 really are. I've been trying to answer these questions by pointing people to various descriptions I've provided in the past such as:

• What is eLearning 2.0?
• eLearning 1.0, 1.3 and 2.0
• Learning Trends Point To and Shape eLearning 2.0

But here's the real answer and I'm going to call it Tony's eLearning 2.0 Law #1:

You will NOT really understand Web 2.0 and eLearning 2.0 until you begin to experience it yourself.

and that brings me to Tony's eLearning 2.0 Law #2:

You WON'T be effective in helping others with eLearning 2.0 until you help yourself with eLearning 2.0.

To that end, the real advice I have for people to understand the topic is to dive in. You can look at guides such as those mentioned in:

• Web 2.0 and eLearning 2.0 Start-Up Guides
• Authoring in eLearning 2.0 / Add-ins & Mash-ups
• Shift in eLearning from Pure Courseware towards Reference Hybrids
• Collaborative Learning Using Web 2.0 Tools - A Summary

But the BEST thing to do if you really want to learn about eLearning 2.0 is to simply:

1. Start a blog that you will use to journal your learning experience
2. Sign-up for a few other tools talked about in the guides listed above
3. Answer the question (in your blog):
   
• How can I use these tools to improve my personal learning?
• How can these tools be used to help other people learn?
  

That's it.

NOW GO DO IT. No really! GO DO IT!