Yesterday (19th Nov) I planned to attend a few webinars – some rough notes below for the ones I made it to:
The Connected Global Educator (Global Education Conference)
The first session from this year’s GEC I have been able to attend. The GEC schedule is always hugely impressive and a great example of virtual tools being used to learn globally. However, it does not seem to attract huge audiences, at least live, with only 7 attendees (split between US, UK, Belarus, Nepal, Argentina and possibly elsewhere) for this session (with the presenter and moderator from Australia).
The presenter (Anne Mirtschin) talked about how she develops learner curiosity through global tools and collaboration. She connects with people globally with her countryside school in Australia talking to experts, community groups, other schools, etc. around the world to help learning be “far more effective than a textbook”. Using webcams, etc. also gives the students transferable skills, recognizing that people will talk via Skype, etc. in increasingly global workplaces, as well as with friends and families abroad. As well as synchronous sessions she has also used asynchronous tools, for example sending video recordings back and forth with US schools.
As well as her own activities can make us of globally organised events, for example, “International Dot Day”. Lots of good examples were run through, including using WeChat to communicate with Chinese students. She has had other educators contact her directly – finding her via Google – for example a rural Japanese school connected with them.
My take on all of this is it is amazing for cultural awareness and other learning opportunities.
Showing the value of learning as a service (LSG)
About how the presenter has changed the perception of learning and L&D at Rentokill during 3 years at the company.
Have made the move away from L&D being the experts, controlling things through a center of excellence model. Looked critically at their setup, for example, was the LMS just there for L&D rather than there to facilitate and democratize learning? Partnered with a start up (Fuse[?]) to see what could impact on business, lead to creating community based platform to source and share knowledge. Have given subject matter experts content creator/recorder tools – would have been doing it anyway locally but ability to do it easily amplified this. Particularly powerful as do on mobile whilst doing job. Realize time for 40mins eLearning had gone, follow lead of YouTube.
Made use of other tools, including mobile assessments and reflective questions. Including observational assessment guidance for managers.
Need to assess UG content? No. Likes, shares, etc. will see cream rise to top. Similarly, advantages if previous misunderstandings are now being communicated out as those people can be corrected.
Put price on items to change mindset – give business choice of going to them or elsewhere. Made people realise the benefit for L&D. Show can provide value compared to external vendors, make it easier to increase headcount based on demand from business.
Measure total of ‘learning interventions’, measure of access to digital resources – like YouTube play counts. However, even existing content has had big increases in use – not just growth through chunking.
With good content, created a revenue generating external learning platform for customers. This is same Fuse platform. For bigger customers they provide content so they can deploy themselves via an LMS or other system.
Overall a fantastic presentation on how they have transformed learning, changing the approach to learning and the business relationship.
Linking Colleagues, Researchers, Industries and Investments Today – Dr. Mirzi L. Betasolo (GEC)
Joined but unfortunately the presenter had not made the session.
Love Sharing, Love Learning (LSG)
Presentation based on some of points from new booklet Charles Jennings has done with Cornerstone.
Opening question on how people are supporting learning and sharing – wide range of ideas and tools put forward by the audience, as you would expect.
Humans are a social species – talking about natural behaviors. Technology now driving how we do this.
New work environments emerging, as a result of digital and social for many organizations the “20%” is much bigger in the mix.
Conversation a key learning tool. Need to create the correct environments, with openness and sharing. Need trust, honesty, etc. Can use questions, for example, if a performance manager you should not be talking for the majority of a conversation – mention for US after action review process.
UGC, shared search, all mentioned as playing part in wider changes. L&D role can be in speeding up knowledge sharing, [step out of the way].
No longer information scarcity, world now is one of information abundance. Mention for Jarche with KPM/SSS and those skills important in new world.
One role of L&D to find what is not available on the Internet [i.e. the real USP knowledge of your organization] – but now have options to do that seeking/sharing quicker.
Survey of College & University Faculty Workplace Engagement (Inside Higher Ed)
This sounded like a really good session considering the current focus on engagement in the corporate world. The figures, from US Higher Ed, showed some very low numbers in terms of workplace engagement. Clearly work to be done in this space.
Whose Education Is It Anyway? 