A Brief Introduction – Communities of Practice Manager

As Ryann mentioned in a previous post, I’m the Community of Practice Manager for Learning Technologies at ASTD. In this role, I engage with the community and help build ASTD’s portfolio of content—from T+D articles to books to educational programs to conferences and beyond. I also help foster discussion and debate within the community.

I’ve been with ASTD for nearly five years, working primarily on books and Infoline with ASTD Press. While I’m already familiar with many of the concerns and needs of our members and audience focused on learning technologies, I look forward to connecting with many of you, virtually or in person, to discuss this evolving field. My goal is to provide content and support that helps you get your job done, better and faster.

Indeed, no area in world of learning is more exciting than Learning Technologies. My current areas of focus are Social Learning, Mobile Learning, and Simulations and Serious Games. These topics should come as no surprise as they’ve been the buzz for some time. But Mobile and Social Learning are both ready to take that next step in maturity; we’re ready to move beyond the surface of such tools and benefits to explore how these elements take a strategic place in your learning strategy—and we’re ready to take a hard look at results and calculate value. If you’re skeptical about the power of games, consider the recent breakthrough with Fold.it and its role in deciphering an AIDS causing protein. It’s definitely an exciting time to be in the learning field.

With your help, we can advance the learning profession and create a world that works better. Feel free to contact me directly at Justin (at) ASTD (dot) org.

New LC Blog – What Issues/Trends Do You Want Us to Cover?

Change is afoot for the LC Blog. After many years of managing the LC Blog for us, we’re giving Tony Karrer a much needed break. (We’re actually hoping that will give him time to work on other projects for ASTD. Shhh. He doesn’t know about that part...yet.) Please join ASTD in thanking Tony for his many years of managing the LC Blog. We couldn’t have carried on these last years without him—or the Big Question Thought Leaders who helped keep us up and running.

So, what do we have planned? For several years the LC Blog has focused on having industry leaders respond to a Big Question of the Month (the LCBQ). We’re planning on expanding the blog by inviting those experts and other “blogger extraordinaires” to take over the blog. Starting in October, each month a different thought leader will post to the blog weekly. They will pose their own LCBQ, remark on new technology and tools, and report on issues and trends affecting workplace learning and performance professionals directly working with technology.

In the meantime, Justin Brusino, ASTD Community of Practice Manager for Learning Technologies (more about him next week), and I will make a few posts introducing you to the coming blog leaders and asking readers what experts we should tap for this new venture and issues they should address. To that end, the September #LCBQ is:

What issues and trends do you think are having a major impact on the industry—and should be on the hot list for the LC Blog to tackle?

How to Respond:

Option 1 - Simply put your thoughts in a comment below.

Option 2 - Tweet your thoughts using the hastag: #LCBQ. We will do our best to collect together tweets around the topic.

Option 3 - Post in your blog (please link to this post). We recommend including #LCBQ in your title to help us. Put a comment in this blog with an HTML ready link that I can simply copy and paste (an HTML anchor tag). I will only copy and post, thus, I would also recommend you include your NAME immediately before your link (or you could also include your blog name). So, it should look like: Tony Karrer - e-Learning 2.0 : eLearningTechnology.

Stay tuned!

Ryann Ellis, Learning Circuits Editor