Torey Quinn's List: Knowledge Management

This month we’re proud to introduce to you our brand new mind mapping training, a free program for anyone looking to improve their mapping skills, as well as MindMeister for Google Glass, which lets you insert Geistesblitzes into your mind maps via voice command. Keep reading to find out what else has been going on this past month!

"Social learning—or learning with and from others (with or without social media technology)—is a force to be reckoned with. But how do you entice your online training learners to participate to take learning to a higher level, and make it participatory and social?"

"How does Amazon.com so effortlessly connect “zillions” of people with “zigabytes” of product information? The answer, in part, is through use of advanced knowledge-management (KM) techniques. We in the eLearning field can learn a lot from how Amazon approaches the relationship between customers and information."

"Last week we hosted a webinar with special guests from Forrester Research and HubSpot focused on the meaning and business value of social content – a key component of any collaborative culture. We discussed the tools that drive the collaborative cultures at HubSpot and Atlassian, and gave practical examples to help you transform your company’s culture."

"Collaborative learning is an exceptional way to learn. It can help unleash employee potential, strengthening development, help them to excel in their career and increase employee engagement. The 4 Cs of Collaborative Learning Infographic shows how creation, content, connection, and community can help employees adopt new skills and immediately adapt what they learn to their everyday work. "

"Informal learning is “the unofficial, unscheduled, impromptu way most people learn to do their jobs,” according to Jay Cross, an expert on this type of learning. Informal learning happens when we ask our colleagues for assistance, observe what they do, and share ideas or resources with each other. It also accounts for a large proportion of our knowledge. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has shown that 70 percent of what employees know about their jobs is learned informally on the job."

"The pace of innovation and the complexities involved in creating cutting-edge products and services are exacerbating the need for new methods of capturing, managing, and sharing information; synchronizing activities; and replicating best practices and proven techniques."

"For the purposes of this post, the definition of “online community” is “a virtual community that allows members to communicate and share in various ways via an online platform.” If that’s what you are interested in, read on…"

"Organizations will fail in their efforts to improve business performance if they cannot overcome major barriers to cross-functional communication and collaboration, according to "Six Best Practices for Moving to a Culture of Extreme Collaboration," a new report from Gartner. Garner analysts Janelle B. Hill and Daryl C. Plummer, explain how business leaders can avoid this failure by embracing what they call "extreme collaboration."  "

"What does a culture look like that leverages social networking technology to boost informal learning? Navistar International Corporation is one example. A leading manufacturer of commercial trucks, buses, RVs, defense vehicles, and engines, Navistar's various brands provide products, parts, and services via 1,000 dealer outlets in the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Mexic"

"Informal Learning: The Social Evolution Whitepaper

The Informal Learning: The Social Evolution Whitepaper, is derived from the full report of the same name, and based on a study conducted by ASTD and the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp). The purpose of this report is to examine the ways in which informal learning is evolving and how organizations are leveraging it to improve performance. The full report can be purchased on the ASTD Store and examine issues such as:

the current role of informal learning in the workplace
investment in informal learning now and in the future
the role of social networking technology in learning and development
informal learning strategies and practices in use by organizations.
ISBN: 978-1-60728-536-6
Pages:  13 pages
Publisher: ASTD Press
Pub Date: January 2013
Format: PDF"

"There are many different ways to use social media for learning, and its benefits have already been well documented. But not every formal learning initiative that uses social media is successful. If you’ve been trying things out yourself, you may have realized that this is not “Field of Dreams” scenario, you are not Kevin Costner, and simply building it doesn’t mean they will come. You need to stoke the fire to engage your learners."

"People share information and share learning. It became an informal way for people to learn. People are relying on themselves to learn rather than waiting for someone to come and give them the information. They are actually searching for the information and they are sharing it. It doesn’t stop at one person. There are a lot of people relying on these tools to share information and learn, and that is what is fascinating about it."

"There’s a lot involved in building a community: you can put up houses, roads, bus stops and shops, a village green, town hall, and school, but until people move in and start talking to the neighbors, you just have an infrastructure. You need people to make a community, but here’s the funny thing: you probably don’t need the infrastructure to do it. People and the conversations are what counts."

"To summarize, a healthy social learning community needs to be nurtured and actively managed. We have considered four dimensions: technology, conversations, engagement, and legacy. The best way to be successful is to be open to learning: create a small space and try your hand at curating the dialogue. To build community takes time and effort. Technology alone will not do it."

"Gone are the days when new employees were expected to fend for themselves until there was time for that three-hour, face-to-face onboarding session. Gone are the days when it is okay to spend the first few weeks exploring the organizational landscape before a new employee is expected to add value. And gone are the days when a “generic” onboarding program could cut the mark!"

"Constructivists have long argued for a more learner-centred approach to learning and development. And although many would argue that workplace learning still focuses on command and control from the powers that be in an organisation, there is evidence that we are becoming more learner-centric. According to Towards Maturity Benchmark 2012: Bridging the Gap, there is now greater user-experience design in e-learning, more focus on the usability of learning tools and technologies, and 91 percent of L&D managers seeking to improve staff engagement to aid retention and motivation."