Filtering: A Challenge and Responsibility for Learning Professionals

In last week’s Learning Circuits, I explored how I use Twitter as a professional development tool, and explained how doing so has helped me build a personal learning network.  Personal Learning Networks (PLN) are, in many ways, both the past and the future of how people will learn.

Training and formal education are important, but people have always learned more from sharing with each other informally.  Technology has finally reached a point where it is no longer a barrier to this sharing, and can actually amplify it.  The concept of a PLN is the natural evolution of this, enabling us to connect, share, and learn with others that historically were out of our reach. It enables us to reach across the globe as easily as we historically have peeked over the cubicle wall.

But with the new technologies are new challenges.  I often tell people about the value of PLNs, and share tips on how to get started.  I notice a number of them taking the first steps towards building a PLN, but shortly thereafter abandoning the task. In almost all of the cases, the reasoning follows a common theme: being overwhelmed.

It’s not so much that the technical mechanics of a tool like Twitter are challenging; it’s the world that Twitter opens up that can be overwhelming. The common metaphor for new Twitter users is that it’s like 'trying to take a drink from a fire hose'. There is so much information that trying to take it all in is impossible.

This isn’t just a problem related to Twitter.  In today’s digital world where anyone can be a content creator, the amount of information that is available can be staggering. Various studies estimate that the amount of digital data that is stored doubles every 18 to 24 months.

Which begs the question: In a world of ever-increasing data, how do people find what they are looking for? How can all of the ‘noise’ be blocked out? Returning to the Twitter example, how can I find people to connect with in an endless sea of unrelated tweets?

It all comes down to a single word, a word that is a critical skill in the digital world: Filtering.

Looking through random data to find the information you need is time consuming and inefficient. Individuals need to develop filtering skills to block out the noise of everything so that they only see the information they are looking for.

Many applications have tools that can help with this. Let’s revisit personal learning networks and Twitter as an example.

Thankfully, Twitter self-filters.  When you log into Twitter, your main feed will only show the tweets of those people you choose to follow.  However, that really isn’t enough. As the list of people you follow increases, and the reasons for following individuals varies, your main feed may quickly become disjointed.

That’s where lists come in.

If you access your profile from the Twitter home page, you’ll see an option for lists. Creating lists is an excellent way to filter the tweet stream. 

In the example below, I created a list called TwitterTips. Once the list is created, I can easily add individuals to the list via their profile. That way, if I am interested in reading tweets from people talking about Twitter tips, I can go to the list I created and the feed will filter down to just the accounts I added to that list.

Another filtering option is to search for hashtags.  A hashtag is created when an individual adds a number sign before a word or series of characters. Twitter does not yet have a system where you can tag or categorize message.  When a user adds a hashtag, they are essentially adding some sort of category to a tweet.

ASTD is a great example. If I search Twitter for the ‘ASTD’, I will see tweets related to employee learning. However, I will also see tweets from people using ‘ASTD’ as an abbreviation for the word ‘assorted’ (a common practice on EBay).  By placing the number sign in front (#ASTD), I am essentially searching on the category of ASTD. Many learning and performance professionals (including me) will add the #ASTD hashtag to tweets about our field because they know that people in the field are following the hashtag.

Lists and hashtags used together are a great way to build your personal learning network. Following hashtags like #ASTD (or #lrnchat, another popular hashtag in the field) will get you exposed to other individuals you may want to follow and add to lists. This will filter the Twitter feed down to the information you find most valuable, and help you build a strong PLN.

My first two Learning Circuits posts have focused primarily on building a personal learning network via Twitter.  However, the underlying concepts of this discussion apply to the work we do as learning professionals as well.

People learn most from sharing informally with each other. Social media tools like Twitter enable us to take the informal learning that traditionally took place only face-to-face and amplify it to a global scale.  We are constantly learning from one another informally, and the pace is only increasing via social media.

In a world where most learning is taking place informally, shared via social media tools that reside outside of LMS platforms, and are not tracked… what role does the learning and performance professional play?

My next post focuses on that question, and introduces what I believe is the next core competency for learning and performance professionals: Curation.

Thanks for reading - see you next week.

David Kelly is the director of training at Carver Federal Savings Bank and Member of the ASTD National Advisors for Chapters. He is also the author of the blog Misadventures in Learning, where he discusses the future of the learning field and curates the backchannel of learning conferences 

Using Twitter as a Professional Development Tool

Last week during a discussion about design, Jeanette Campos asked me a fairly is simple question: What are the three artifacts that have shaped you most as a designer of creative learning solutions to complex problems?

Immediately one word came to mind: Twitter.  It isn't the tool itself that has been so impact full for me; it's the world to which Twitter opened up to me.

I started my career as a learning and performance professional much the same way many in our field do: without any training or education on what it means to work in this field. It's a challenge for individuals and for the industry as a whole.  It leads to a "We do what we do because it's what's always been done in this organization" approach to training. It's also a big part of why much of what we commonly define as training is nothing more than information communicated by those with expertise.

I recall those early years well. I read a number of books and took classes to educate myself on how "Training" was supposed to be done.  Still, I felt that there was something missing that I just couldn't put my finger on. It was like looking at a puzzle that was missing pieces, just enough so that you could not determine what the whole picture was supposed to be.

Then I discovered Twitter. From that moment on, I have never looked at 'Training' the same, and each day the interactions I have on Twitter continue to shape me as a professional.

To be fair, it was social media in general that enabled me to extend beyond the walls of my organization and connect with others externally in the field.  I am active on all the major social media channels, and they each have their strength and weaknesses. I find that Twitter has the audience and usage that best provides professional development support for those in our field.

Connecting with the community of learning and performance professionals on Twitter exposed me to new ideas and possibilities that enabled growth that wasn't possible before, simply because I was unaware of the possibilities that existed.

I connected with a few individuals at first.  Over time, that number slowly grew, and I started to become aware of a new type of network that has rapidly become one of the most important things in my life: my Personal Learning Network, or PLN.

Wikipedia defines Personal Learning Networks as:

A personal learning network is an informal learning network that consists of the people a learner interacts with and derives knowledge from in a personal learning environment. In a PLN, a person makes a connection with another person with the specific intent that some type of learning will occur because of that connection.

An important part of this concept is the theory of connectivism developed by George Siemens and Stephen Downes. Learners create connections and develop a network that contributes to their professional development and knowledge. The learner does not have to know these people personally or ever meet them in person.

Every learning and performance professional should have a PLN. These networks are, in my opinion, the single greatest source of professional development and support available. They expose us to new ideas and ways of thinking, they provide us with more targeted and qualified results than a search engine query, and they enable us to connect and share with peers and experts.  As the expression goes... None of us are as smart as all of us.  Personal learning networks powered by social media networks like Twitter allow us to tap into this collective knowledge in ways that simply wasn't possible before.

A well-cultivated PLN can also be your most powerful search engine, surpassing Google or Yahoo.  When I am researching a learning and performance topic, my PLN is my primary research tool.  Instead of a Google search, I send a question out to my network, and quickly receive answers to my query that come from the minds and experience of individuals I have chosen to connect with.  In almost all cases, the resources shared by my PLN are better than those I am able to find from a standard Google search.

So how does one build a personal learning network? In a word - participation.

Search out people and topics that interest you and participate in discussions. Ask and answer questions.  One of my favorite ways to introduce newcomers to PLNs is to invite them to participate in one of the Twitter Chats for Learning And Performance Professionals. There are a number of other great ways to build your personal learning networks. For more suggestions, check out Nuts and Bolts: Building a Personal Learning Network (PLN) by Jane Bozarth and Build a powerful PLN by Steve Wheeler.

The digital age has provided learning professionals with an amazing opportunity via personal learning networks; and as with most opportunities, this one comes with a risk. PLNs aren't just for learning professionals; it's representative of a fundamental shift in the way people learn. People all around the world are forming PLNs, most without even realizing it yet.  It's a natural evolution of our increasingly connected world.

Put another way... It's the future of how the individuals whose performance we are responsible for supporting will learn.  As such, our roles will need to adapt to accommodate this shift.

Over the next three weeks, I look forward to visiting this future with you, and exploring the new skills - like filtering and curating - that learning and performance professionals will need to add to their skill sets. Thanks for joining me for the ride.

David Kelly is the director of training at Carver Federal Savings Bank and Member of the ASTD National Advisors for Chapters. He is also the author of the blog Misadventures in Learning, where he discusses the future of the learning field and curates the backchannel of learning conferences

Welcoming March Blogger: David Kelly

David Kelly is a training director and internal learning and performance consultant. I first met David through Twitter. I was unable to attend last year’s mLearnCon, so I took to following the hashtag on Twitter. I quickly noticed that one person (@LnDDave) was compiling a lot of the information coming out of the conference. David was pulling so much information together that I thought he was at the event. Only later did I realize he was monitoring everything from afar, grabbing information from Twitter, the conference website, and blogs.

That’s how I came to know David Kelly and his love of backchannel learning. If you don’t know David or are unfamiliar with backchannel learning, I suggest you check out his curated backchannels page, right now. David is doing something unique—for conferences he compiles all of the available content from a conference, including slides, presentations materials, relevant tweets, blog posts, pictures, and more and puts it all in one place. David is not only able to accurately live tweet the session he is in but also able to quickly scan and retweet other relevant tweets. If you’ve ever tried to do this, you know it’s a unique talent. If you’re unable to attend an event, combing through his backchannel material is the next best thing. I share his belief that this type of content curation is only going to become more and more important for learning professionals to understand and participate in.

Over the next few weeks, David will be talking about Twitter and content curation—so please jump into the discussion.

You can learn more about David over on his new, slick-looking website or by following him on Twitter @LnDDave.

What's different about mobile learning?

As the doors open to a new era of mobile learning and performance support, it's a good time to step back and think about the new mindset required when designing for mobile.

Although a mobile pedagogy will continue to evolve, we already know quite a bit about how people use mobile devices and some of the advantages of mobile learning.

Mobile is Supportive
It doesn't take much deep thought to realize that mobile devices are an ideal medium for supporting performance at work. When an employee runs into an unsolvable problem, requires information to complete a task or needs step-by-step advice, this type of need can often be filled through mobile performance support.

Mobile is Collaborative
Learning and support at work can be provided through one's network of professional colleagues, both internal and external to the workplace. Using mobile devices, the geographically dispersed workforce can help each other solve problems and make decisions in real time when the desktop is isn't convenient. And of course, mobile devices can also be used for voice communication. That's an old-fashioned and highly collaborative approach.

Mobile is Gestural

The gestural user interface (UI) for interacting with a smartphone or tablet seems like another universe when compared to one-finger clicking on a mouse. The gestural UI removes the intermediary device (mouse, pen, etc.) so that users can directly manipulate objects on the screen. Objects are programmed to move and respond with the physics of the "real world." This opens up a new world of design possibilities for creative imaginations.

Mobile is Learner-centric
Learner-centric experiences occur when a person seeks the answer to an internal question. At this moment of need, the individual is highly motivated to learn and remember. When this occurs, it circumvents the need for extrinsic motivational techniques. Instead, it demands more effective information design, to provide quick and searchable access to content.

Mobile is Informal
Although there are bound to be an increasing number of Learning Management Systems that track mobile learning events, the mobile medium seems better suited to informal learning. Because mobile devices are often ubiquitous as well as always connected, they are ideal for learning in a variety of ways to fit a particular time and place.

Mobile is Contextual
Unlike other types of learning, mobile learning on a smartphone or tablet can occur in context. Only 3D simulations come close to this. Mobile learning may be initiated in the context of a situation, such as a few minutes of instruction prior to a sales call or quickly looking up a technical term at a meeting.

Mobile learning may be initiated in the context of a location, such as augmented reality to learn about a place while traveling or getting directions to the next technical service call. And if employees "check in" to a location-based site, they can find each other anywhere around the world.

Mobile is User-Generated
By taking advantage of smartphone and tablet hardware, users can generate content by taking photographs and recording video and audio. Through these multimedia capabilities, your workforce can send and receive information from the field.

A healthcare worker in a rural area can send photos of a patient's skin condition and ask for help with a diagnosis. An agricultural expert can create a photo album for farmers, showing conditions that indicate soil erosion. Rather than take notes, a trainer can voice record his or her thoughts on how to improve a workshop. Then use this recording back at the office.

Mobile is Fun

The most popular apps in iTunes are games. With mobile devices, games don't need to be limited to the phone. They can take in the larger world and be situational. For example, at a call center technicians receive digital badges through a mobile app for every satisfied caller. Badges are cashed in for various rewards. Think about ways to improve performance through challenges, team competitions and gamification.

Mobile is Sensitive and Connected
Take advantage of the hardware features of mobile devices. They have sensors for detecting touch, motion and device orientation. There is hardware for connecting through your carrier's network, and through WiFi and Bluetooth.

Some mobile devices can be used for tethering, which involves connecting the phone to a laptop with a cable and using the carrier as a modem to connect to the Internet. Mobile devices are also beginning to use Near Field Communications (NFC), so that devices can transmit information by touching them or coming into close proximity.

Conclusion
How can we leverage all that's unique about mobile devices and their use and at the same time, avoid the pitfalls? It will take time, thought and a high-level strategy to get it right. Your thoughts?


Connie Malamed (@elearningcoach) publishes The eLearning Coach, a website with articles, resources, reviews and tips for learning professionals. She is the author of Visual Language for Designers and the Instructional Design Guru iPhone app.

10 Visual Design Quick Tips

eLearning and slide presentations are highly visual mediums. The visual clarity of screens and slides can have a big impact on learning. If you're unsure what to do and how to go about designing the visuals for a training environment, here are some quick tips that might help.

1. Visual Design is Problem Solving
You solve problems all day long and you're probably pretty good at it. Coming up with a visual design is no different than other problems you must solve. First, define the visual problem (identify the goal and constraints); get ideas by brainstorming, sketching and researching what others have done; make decisions (ideally with input from others); and find a way to execute your solution.

2. The Screen or Slide is a Canvas
You're the painter. Think of the screen as a blank canvas. Don't let it be defined by an existing template. Start fresh by throwing away the standard approach with the title at the top and the content below. You might need it at times, but it will limit your potential solutions if you hang on to that approach at first.

3. Try One Typeface with Varied Styles
Without studying typography, it's difficult to know what typeface to use for an eLearning course or a slide deck. You can simplify this decision by using only ONE typeface in a course. A typeface that has several styles. Certainly bold and italic are necessities, but also heavy and condensed styles add more options. Then consistently vary this one typeface, as appropriate, using different sizes, weights and colors for different purposes. Some of my favorites: Myriad Pro, Helvetica, Franklin Gothic, Garamond, Gill Sans, Futura and Times.

4. Use Proximity to Indicate Relationships
We organize our perceptions according to certain brain rules. One of these is the Law of Proximity. When elements are placed close together, we assume there is a relationship between the elements. Use proximity to indicate which elements are related to each other so learners will know they are part of a group. Avoid using proximity when elements are not related, so you don't give learners the wrong idea.

5. Personalize Your Design
One way to give a design personality is to use a paper background for text or images. Don't overdo it, of course. For example, if you want to add a touch of informality, you might display text on a little note with masking tape or a paper with fold lines, as shown below. If you're going formal, perhaps a finely textured linen paper would work. Stock photo sites sell paper backgrounds or you can digitize one yourself.

6. Space is an Object Too
Think of visual space as an element of design, similar to image and text. Space and form are the yin and yang of visual design; without one, you can't have the other. White space or negative space refers to the area between and around elements and between elements and the edge of the screen. Use white space to provide balance and clarity to your design. This makes it easier for learners to process the visual information.

7. Let Characters Speak for You
eLearning courses tend to drone on. When it makes sense, switch it up and let characters (photos or avatar-types) do the talking.  You can use speech bubbles or just a connecting line to the text. When  characters speak, it transforms the content into a micro-story. Dialogue between two people, first-person statements or internal thoughts are usually better approaches to presenting information than didactic bullet points. (See Alternatives to Bullet Points for more on this.)

8. Crop Photographs for Focus
Your photographs will have more impact if you crop them to show only what's important. Most photos have extraneous visual information that may detract from your purpose. Examine each photo you use and identify where you want the viewer to focus. Then crop the photo so the focal point becomes predominant.

9. Simplify Your Color Palette
There's almost never a reason to go crazy with colors (I can't think of one, but I'm sure somebody will). Generally, using too many colors will confuse your learners, making it harder for them to focus on what's important. Simplify your palette to a few subdued and compatible colors. Then add one or two contrasting colors for accent and emphasis.

10. Repeat Elements to Unify a Design
A sense of unity will make your visual design feel like one integrated composition. One way to create this sense of integration is to repeat certain design elements. If you use some of the techniques in this article, repeat them in a consistent way. This creates a connection between the elements. The trick is to use visual repetition without getting boring.

Keep practicing!

Connie Malamed (@elearningcoach) publishes The eLearning Coach, a website with articles, resources, reviews and tips for learning professionals. She is the author of Visual Language for Designers and the Instructional Design Guru iPhone app.

What will your training role be in the future?

After TechKnowledge 2012, I was inspired to think again about the role that learning and development professionals can look forward to in the future. For those who remain flexible and partake in continuous learning, I think the 21st century will be filled with exciting opportunities.

With cultural shifts slipping into the workplace, technologies changing at rapid speed, and an improved understanding of how adults learn, it's not surprising that many in our field are wondering what their training-related job might look like in the future.

One thing seems nearly certain—as time passes, the role of the training professional and instructional designer will be transformed. This is why various titles for our new role are being suggested, such as "Learning Experience Designer" and "Learning Architect" (see review of Clive Shepherd's book, The New Learning Architect).

There are many ways to imagine what will happen based on what is occurring today. One way to organize our thoughts about the future of the training and development professional is to think in terms of four roles that are based on how people learn, create, network, and collaborate. It seems feasible that all future roles could be based on this type of understanding, as represented in the diagram below.

Possible future roles of the Learning and Development professional.
Start with the core and work outward.

Each role defined here moves progressively further away from the traditional course design role. Perhaps the individual Learning and Development (L & D) professional will fulfill several of these roles simultaneously.

1. Design and Create Courses: This is currently the most well-used role in the L&D repertoire. It involves using a systematic process to design and develop (and sometimes teach) courses and supplementary materials, such as performance support tools, for a specific workforce. The range of methodologies for doing should continue to expand. Using anything from the ADDIE model and it's many adaptations, to Thiagi's Four Door Model to Rapid eLearning development, there are many organizations who will continue to require courses for compliance, new hire and other types of structured training.
2. Enable Learning: In this role, the L&D professional provides opportunities for a motivated workforce to learn and grow. These opportunities may be structured or unstructured, but they need not be tracked and have a certain informality and free flow to them. For example, setting up communities of practice, putting on special events with experts and teaching interested employees about enterprise collaboration tools are all ways to enable learning.
3. Support Learning: In this more learner-centric approach, employees choose how and when they need to learn, dependent on their job tasks and interests. They may use the L&D professional as a resource for getting the on-demand information and training to meet their personal needs. For example, an L&D professional could moderate an online community, work with IT to design a social network or ensure there are no obstacles in the way of employee's creating their own Personal Learning Environments.
4. Be a Change Agent for Development: In this role, the L&D professional envisions and champions critical transformations that are necessary for an organization to move forward. Savvy L&D professionals will be able to see where obstacles exist and provide insight and leadership for implementing innovative solutions, particularly as they affect professional development.

What do you think the future role of the training professional will be?

Connie Malamed (@elearningcoach) publishes The eLearning Coach, a website with articles, resources, reviews and tips for learning professionals. She is the author of Visual Language for Designers and the Instructional Design Guru iPhone app.

10 Ways to Bring A Conference Back to Work

When it comes to conferences, a better slogan would be, "What happens in Vegas should NOT stay in Vegas." If you're one of the fortunate people from your organization to attend a professional conference, how can you bring it back to the workplace so everyone can benefit?

During sessions, keynotes, hallway conversations and after-hours discussions, many great ideas are tossed around. Don't let them stay in Vegas! Share them when you get back.

Sharing what you've learned will not only benefit others in your workplace, it may help you take better notes and stay more organized during the conference. The pressure of knowing that you'll need to convey the best of the conference tends to help a person plan ahead.

If you're ready to hone your leadership skills, here are ten ideas for how you can bring the conference back to work to share the knowledge gained with others.

1. BLOG LIVE FROM THE CONFERENCE
Do you enjoy being hunched over your keyboard and typing furiously? Then this approach is for you. Every so often, you'll see a session participant madly taking notes to capture the essence of a session. Often, this person is Cammy Bean, the Queen of Live Blogging. Check out her live blogging notes from TechKnowledge 2012 (scroll down to see all of her notes).

2. GIVE BROWN BAG SEMINARS
If you work in a small organization, throw a series of brown bag seminars over the lunch hour to present and discuss some of your favorite sessions. Break down the silos and invite people from outside your department who might have an interest in a particular topic.

3. OFFER A WEBINAR
If your organization is large and geographically dispersed, consider presenting key teachings from the conference during one or more live webinars. Allow for questions and answers as well as discussion. If you don't currently own or subscribe to a webinar platform, this is the perfect time to try one out. There are usually 30-day free trials.

4. SHARE THE BACKCHANNEL
The backchannel typically refers to audience members using Twitter to share session points and to comment in real time. Backchannel curation refers to researching and gathering all the documentation regarding an event. It provides a way for people to attend a conference virtually, to catch up on missed sessions and to continue to learn after the event ends.

You can curate the conference backchannel for interested people in your organization. Or you can rely on the King of Backchannel Curation, David Kelly, to do an excellent job. Here is his curated backchannel of TechKnowledge 2012.

5. TRY POST-EVENT BLOGGING
Not interested in live blogging? Take judicious notes and then blog about what you've learned after the conference is over. If your organization doesn't have an internal blogging platform, consider a light blogging platform like Tumblr. It's very easy to get started. Then be sure to share posts with your peers.

6. START SMALL GROUP CHATS
Gather employees with common interests together and chat about issues and trends discussed at the conference. Let the conference topics be a starting point or stimulus for taking things further. Are employees spread around the world? Use Google+ Hangouts, which allows for free video chats of up to 10 people.

7. SLIDESHARE IT
Use SlideShare, Prezi or another online presentation tool to create a self-paced review of the best of the conference. This is a good way to reach out to employees around the world and to allow busy people to learn on their own schedule.

8. SCHEDULE VENDOR DEMOS
Did you connect with vendors who have products that could meet the needs of your organization? Most vendors provide in-person or virtual demonstrations. Schedule a few product demonstrations and invite experienced designers and developers to evaluate the products.

9. ARRANGE Q&A WITH PRESENTERS
Most presenters I know are passionate about their topics. That's one of the reasons they enjoy presenting. You might be able to arrange a webinar or teleseminar question and answer session with a presenter to go more deeply into their areas of expertise.

Although an unscripted question and answer session is exciting, it's probably wise to gather some questions from your community ahead of time. Pass these on to the speaker so he or she can be well-prepared. This will allow the speaker to better understand the audience's main areas of interest. Then allow some time for impromptu questions and comments as well.

10. START A BOOK CLUB
Many speakers have written books or often suggest books for further reading during their presentations. They will also be able to recommend books in their area of expertise if asked to do so.

A great way to bring a conference back to work and to continue learning is to gather a group of peers with similar goals and interests to read and discuss one book a month related to a presentation topic. Discussions can be face-to-face or online. Imagine how much you would learn in one year!

Any other ideas?
How do you bring the essence of a conference back to your workplace? Or if you're unable to attend a conference, how would you like others to share what they've learned?

Connie Malamed (@elearningcoach) publishes The eLearning Coach, a website with articles, resources, reviews and tips for learning professionals. She is the author of Visual Language for Designers and the Instructional Design Guru iPhone app.