incidental learning

Friday, January 12, 2007

Never met a survey I didn't try . . . Dave Lee made me do this

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman
80%
Supergirl
55%
Spider-Man
55%
Robin
54%
Green Lantern
50%
Iron Man
50%
Batman
50%
Hulk
45%
Wonder Woman
40%
The Flash
25%
Catwoman
20%
You are mild-mannered, good,
strong and you love to help others.
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

Monday, November 06, 2006

CLO Fantasy Camp

Peter Jones, Bristol-Meyers Squibb Fantasy Camp - experience something you may not ordinarily do; usually takes a week F2F - such as baseball, rock & roll, covert spy Today: Experience highs and lows of CLO role Responsibilites:

  • Manages and owns the business of learning: budgets, P & L
  • Ensures employees have access to pertinent business information and knowledge
  • Often drives corproate, cultural and change initiative
  • Manages finacials for maintaqining learning organization and securing goods and services

Expertise:

  • Aligning learning initiatives to business goals
  • Building a learning governance strategy and structure
  • Managing financials
  • Measuring overall business impact of the learning function - Learning Scorecard
  • Selecting Learning Technolgies
  • "Right" sourcing Learning

TASK: Prepare a 5 minute elevator speech to CEO on the business case and rationale for a CLO positon for the company.

RESPONSES: Business professional with learning expertise.

Grant Ricketts, Saba: Learning Governance. Includes coordination of processes abd standards. Adopt a stakeholder view of the learning organization and reach across its members to reach a shared governance model.

Content

Operations

Adoption

Tracking & Support

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Flipping the Switch: Habits of Mind to Habits of Bloggers

Early in the summer I had a brainstorm . . . Blogging on my own was only partially successful since I wasn't answerable (production wise) to anybody but me. In the world of this ENTP (accent on the "P" character of my personality preference), having a CoP (community of practice, that is) drives me into action. And so I enlisted the help of some consulting colleagues . . . Sandy Wells, Roz Kay, Roberta Pierick, Tony Silbert, Susan Dannon and Loretta Randolph. We lauched Appreciative Inquiry Annotations on October 6. Three members of the blog team (besides me) have contributed. Some great traffic has been generated (1,131 visitors to date) and 5 blogs link to us. Getting into the flow of blogging requires two shifts as I see it: 1. A Shift of Mind - sort of a correspondent's view of the world that integrates and incorporates facts, observations, opinions and the larger world that can inform and expand a seemingly shallow topic into a rich, deep posting. 2.A Shift of Habits - from just noticing things on the web and moving on to bookmarking and categorzing, referring to them in postings,creating links, and then adding the blogs and sites that continually register on the radar screen into a blogroll. And that is why I now, more than ever, value the thoughts of blogger, Vicki Davis, at Ten habits of bloggers that win! These useful tips are just what my novice blogging team will find helpful. Thanks Vicki!

Saturday, September 23, 2006

25 Things You May Find Interesting About Me

About 10 years ago I was flying from the West Coast to New York and in the seat next to me was a guy from Disney who had spent his career in the visual arts. He started to ask me questions about my life and work. At the end of an hour, he handed me the sketch on the left of this posting. Whenever I come across it in my office, I have to smile as I think about the things that seemed significant at the time and the dreams I envisioned fulfilled by now. Nearly 5 years after that experience, I was going to be interviewed. For some unforgotten reason, it was important that the person get a more personal and eclectic view of who I was. So I created the "25 Things" list that follows:

Loves college basketball and waits all year for March Madness. Is a kinesthetic learner – who is not afraid of making mistakes. Can make 6 kinds of biscotti – and bakes them for *special* people. Holds the world record at Shea Stadium for the largest single block of tickets sold for one Mets game -- 7023. Has experience with Reusable Learning Objects. Was introduced to experiential learning by Sister Ethel Rita in the 4th grade. Can tell you what she wore for every significant experience in her life. Thinks multitasking is a required skill set for all human beings. Listens to Car Talk on NPR every Saturday. Was hooked on science as a result of an 8th grade report on Sputnik. Has met an FBI spy (really!). Has trained and coached over 200 trainers. Can name the 3 islands in the Bay of Naples – one of which where her grandparents were born. Is certified to administer the MBTI and CCL’s Benchmarks. Knows why Stephen Brookfield gave up guitar playing. Considers a Blackberry a fashion necessity. Is not afraid of bugs. Was responsible for running 3 after school centers serving 300 girls in Harlem, East Harlem and the South Bronx. Owns over 300 books related to learning, OD and management – at last count. Thinks ice cream is one of the basic food groups. Is a world-class sailing passenger. Has had Joseph Luft to dinner. Had her car broken into at Columbia University when she was picking up a paper she had written about crime on campus. Teaches grad school courses online for the joy of it. Intends to learn how to play the piano and use woodworking tools when she retires.
Many things on that list are still true; some are not. So, what's the point? People are composites of their life history, experiences and aspirations. They continue to change dynamically, to grow and outgrow, to learn and unlearn . . . Scratch the surface of my today and you'll find my yesterday and my tomorrow. What's yours?

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Boston was hot and hazy as the CTC conference kicked off today. Saying "so far, so good" would be down playing one heck of a conference with super sessions, terrific attendees and a great venue at the Seaport Hotel. Day 1 began with a key note from John Seeley Brown, titled Globalization, Innovation and Collaboration in the Networked World. The business case for collaborative technologies and networks is clear, intelligent and compelling as JSB explains how firms, such as the Asian manufacturer Li & Fung uses process networks to build a loosely coupled relationship with suppliers and customers that yields collaborative learning for all the players. One example that he cites is the retailer, Ann Taylor, that stays on the competitive edge as it brings to market the latest fashions by tapping the best sources for fabric and construction from that L&F relationship. (And hearing this as I sat in the 2nd row in my Ann Taylor pant suit was a nice bonus!) As I see it, too many of the young gurus on the morning agenda ( Matthew Glotzbach, Head of Products, Google and Jason Fried, CEO, 37Signals) are smitten with the term "self-directed " in regards to innovation or collaboration. I'm the first person to get out of the way of the person who can self-direct -- at the same time, I know that only about 10% of adults at last count had the capabilties to kick-start their own work and to stay with it (Guglielmino did some research on this). Doing your own thing is a far cry from being self-directed, guys. The bottom line is being able take initiative without the help or direction from other people *and* producing something of value.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Syncronicity

With fledgling blogging skills, I've bravely raised my hand to help with an online public dialogue for the Citizens' Health Care Working Group . This landmark project sponsored by the President and Congress is providing a unique opportunity to the American public:

To become a part of an historic discussion taking place right now across America – where citizens like you get to tell the policymakers in Washington what you like and don’t like about our nation’s health care system, and what tough choices our country should make to turn it into one that works for all Americans. In the process of being a moderator for the project, I'll facilitate the forum discussion and share my perspectives in the blogs -- my own and others. I've been honing my skills in leading and supporting digital collaboration and idea sharing for seven years . . . as ever, I stand on the shoulders of some wise and wonderful folks, like Gilly Salmon and eModerators Zane Berge and Mauri Collins and the late Guy Bensusan, who gave my thinking a kick start and pushed my skills uphill as the horizon of virtual communities has broaded from classroom to community of practice to global forum.

Now all of this would be interesting to a point, but there's more to the story than that. Also attending orientation to the Citizens' Health Care Working Group via conference call from Hong Kong was Nick Noakes. It took only a few minutes for us to uncover our shared experiences with Appreciative Inquiry, online conferencing and faculty development. What a great conversation as Nick pressed America Speaks staff for better ways to manage the RSS from all the blogs and messages the initiative would produce. My marketing mindset triggered a stream of consciousness for getting the word out to the general public so their opinions and alternative solutions would be added to the collective intelligence being gathered. More on this next week . . . As for now, I'm smiling as I think of how near we all are in this internet cloud when we are seekers of meaning making.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Two Peas in a Pod

In an article headlined Podcasting Technology Promotes Convenience, Infotainment Learning and dated March 8, 2006 Kellye Whitney of CLO Magazine reports: "Research conducted in August of 2005 by mobile market intelligence company CLX showed that 15 percent of U.S. respondents listen to podcasts. While the technology is fairly new and seemingly perfect for a younger audience, apparently podcasting also has great appeal for the mid-40s and older crowd. Research data indicated that the two groups most likely to listen to podcasts are 45- to 55-year-olds and 55-year-olds and over, which indicates that there might be some real value in using this new technology to create learning programs that appeal to all ages." "Mid-forties and older crowd" sure includes me . . . and I guess Peter Adamson (my fellow learner in the unworkshop) is part of that demographic too. Thursday morning we compared notes in a Skype call across the Atlantic. We are auditory drop-outs. Tapes of conference sessions are purchased, placed in the player and started again, and again . . . We are engaged by the world we can see and touch. Listening is our least effective means of learning. Added to this life experience is the annecdotal information that instructional designers have used for at least a generation as the basis of reducing lectures and increasing experiential learning. Until these researchers invite Peter and me to be subjects of podcasting research, I'll remain a little doubtful that the Boomers and Pre-boomers will be sporting iPods. Remember what Confucious said:

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”