Gain The Skills That Will Be In Demand

Just a little (relevant) holiday fun... The Sequel!

Gain the Skills that will be in Demand

(Sung to the tune Winter Wonderland)

Change is near, in the distance,
Listen now, give it credence
The skills we now use,
Are yesterday’s news.
Gain the skills that will be in demand.

Gone away, worker displace, 
Learning stays, in the workplace,
Huge benefits lurk,
When learning IN work,
Gain the skills that will be in demand.

More and more the learners learn while working,
Learning without need for working pause
Some say “Where’s the trainer, are we lurking?”,
The trainer’s there just with a different cause.

Later on, we'll conspire,
using skills, we acquire
To face unafraid,
The change to our trade,
Gain the skills that will be in demand.

More and more the learner is the ‘teacher’,
Often never knowing that’s the case
That's the space for Training’s latest feature,
Helping learners learn in the workplace.

Focus less, on creation,
Focus more, on curation
It’s less of direct, and more of connect,
Gain the skills that will be in demand.

Some learning will still be in a classroom,
And elearning will not grind to a halt
But workplace learning is how we best consume,
so maybe those should not be our default.

There are skills, that we’re needing,
to ensure, we’re succeeding
So practice and play, and you’re on your way,
Gain the skills that will be in demand.

Gain the skills that will be in demand...

Happy Holidays Everyone!

-David

Giving Thanks for an Awesome First Year of Blogging

This is the time of year when Americans collectively pause and consider what it is they are thankful for.  It seems only appropriate that I am also celebrating the one-year anniversary of this blog at the same time, as what it has contributed to me over the last 12 months is something I could never have predicted, and something I am incredibly thankful for.  So for this Thanksgiving-themed post, I reflect on the first year of this blog, and give thanks for what it has provided me.

I thought about starting this blog for years.  In truth, there’s a very good chance that I could STILL be thinking about it had it not been for a #lrnchat tweetchat I participated in where blogging was discussed.  I had mentioned that I didn’t yet have a blog, and a few people came forward to encourage me to start one.  One of those people was Dave Ferguson, who pointed out that I should be blogging for my primary audience: myself. It wasn’t until Dave gave me that subtle nudge I didn’t know I needed that I finally made the jump.  Thanks Dave.

Another turning point in my blogging was the holiday-themed post I wrote called “Twas the Night Before Social Media”.  That was something I wrote, tweaked, and finalized about two weeks before I published it.  It was something that I looked at as a ‘risk’.  Did it match the image I was trying to portray?

In hindsight, taking the chance was the best thing I could have done.  Without realizing it at the time, it was a post that allowed me to be a little more open, and invited people to get to know me.  It also did strike a chord with readers, and to this day is the most popular posting I have written.  It was a catalyst to many of the gifts my blog provided me in the months that followed.

That posting helped me build connections with a great number of people, including many individuals I look to as leaders in the Learning and Performance field.  I was building a network of peers through which I could grow, and in turn help others with their growth.  I increased my exposure to the industry I love many times over, and have become a part of the greater community of the field. 

That community exposure is another gift I am eternally thankful for, and one that I hope I can share with others in the future.  Being a part of the community is wonderful, but the real gift my blog provided me with was awareness. 

There’s growing discussion in the field about how we can get professionals to adapt to the shifting nature of workplace learning.  The first challenge in that is awareness that the shift is going on.  Think about walking through a hallway you are unfamiliar with.  There’s a locked door to your right.  Behind it could be a tiny closet, or it could be an entry into a whole new world you had no idea existed.

In most cases, we just continue walking down the hallway, not really giving the door much thought.  As it turns out, my blog was the key to that lock, and I an eternally grateful that I opened the door.

The blog and my participation in the industry community provided me with something else that I am thankful for: Opportunity.  In the past year I have had the pleasure of participating in many opportunities that I would not have considered possible even a few years ago.  I have been invited to write for publications, to speak at conferences, and most recently, to be the ‘official’ curator for the backchannel of the DevLearn conference.  While there were a number of factors that contributed to these opportunities being available to me, they all stem from the same starting point: this blog, and the exposure it has given me.  For that, I thank each and every person that has ever read and/or shared something I have written. 

That brings me to the thing my blog has provided me with that I am most thankful for: You. 

I don’t mean ‘You’ in the context of being a reader of this blog – though I do appreciate that.  I am referring to the connections that I have made with the people on the other side of the door that my blog helped open.  I have made very real connections with people through my blog and subsequent interactions that provide me with the ultimate value: friendship.

DevLearn was the perfect example of something I’ve said a few times in the past: Before social media – and in this context, my blog and the interactions it helped initiate – I had never greeted people I was ‘meeting’ for the first time with a hug.  I lost count of how many times that happened at DevLearn, and I can't express how much it means to me.

Happy Thanksgiving friends, including those of you outside the United States who may not celebrate the holiday formally.  Thank you for everything you add to my life.

Learning 2011 Conference Backchannel: Collected Resources #L2011

I am a huge proponent of backchannel learning.  There are many conferences I would love to be able to attend, but my budget can only accomodate one or two each year.  The backchannel is an excellent resource for learning from a conference or event that you are unable to attend in-person.

I find collecting collecting and reviewing backchannel resources to be a valuable learning experience for me, even when I am attending a conference in person.  Sharing these collections on this blog has shown that others find value in the collections as well.

This post collects the resources shared via the backchannel of the Learning 2011 Conference, being held November 6-9 in Orlando, Florida.

Official Learning 2011 ConferenceResources

Conference Website Home Page

Conference Program Guide - Event Guide
Conference Program Guide - Keynotes
Conference Program Guide - Themes
Conference Program Guide - Breakout Session Formats
Conference Program Guide - Schedule
Spotlight Award: McDonald's Corporation WorldwideTraining, Learning & Development
Spotlight Award: Joint Special Operations University (JSOU)
Spotlight Award: iPad as “Game Changer”
Elliot Masie's Learning Wiki
Learning Perspectives 2011 (free eBook)

Conference Summaries and Recaps
Learning 2011 - Live Blogging by Karen Hanson
Mobile Story Telling with Bill Clinton by Marcel de Leeuwe (translated from Dutch using Google Translate)
Start Learning Conference 2011 by eLearning.nl (translated from Dutch using Google Translate)
Motivation, Robotic Arms, and Stories Learning 2011 by Marcel de Leeuwe (translated from Dutch using Google Translate)
The Sad Stereotypes that Still Exist - At a Learning Conference! by Sarah Bloomfield
Reflections from One Learning Professional about Learning 2011 by Liz Scott
A conversation at Learning 2011: The Learner is Still In the Driver's Seat by Intrepid Learning

SESSION SPECIFIC

President Bill Clinton Keynote
President Bill Clinton Keynote Mind Map by Clark Quinn
The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande book recommended by Bill Clinton
Karen Schulz: On Being Wrong TED Talk
The Big Sort by Bill Bishop book recommended by Bill Clinton
Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz book recommended by Bill Clinton

Other Session Specific Resources 

Learning 2011 Sessions: LearningWiki Resources
Tablets for Learning: Examples and Potential resources shared by Tom King, Erin Hynes, & Fran Bahn
Ken Zolot Mindmap by Clark Quinn
Learning 2011 Interview Mindmaps by Clark Quinn
Learning 2011 Day 2 Morning Mindmaps by Clark Quinn
John Lithgow Keynote Mindmap by Clark Quinn

Miscellaneous

Dawn of Learning Democracy by Raving Learnatics
A Hammer Looking for a Nail by Bob Mosher
Vimeo Video School
Is Google Ruining Your Memory? by Jonah Lehrer
Is the Internet Making Us Lazy Learners? by Dave Halvorson
Eric Stanley's Official YouTube Page
A Quick Guide to Personalization & Storytelling in Learning by Craig Dadoly
ADL Mobile Learning Newsletter
Why Companies Aren't Getting the Employees They Need by Peter Cappelli
Apple Futureshock YouTube video
Is Social Media Ruining Students? Infographic
The Onboarding Portal: A Stitch in Time by Chris Willis
How to Make Oatmeal... Wrong by Mark Bittman
A Sarah Divided Can Not Stand by Sarah Bloomfield
How language transformed humanity TED Talk by Mark Pagel
The Zappos Family on Nightline YouTube Video
Social Media for Trainers book by Jane Bozarth
Communities of Practice: Batteries Not Included by Harrison Withers
Educational Assessments: What it is and What it Might Be by Sarah Bloomfield
PwC Opens Up by Margery Weinstein
My Robot is Better Than Your Robot YouTube video
John Lithgow: Stores by Heart: Uncle Fred Flits By by Adam Perlman
Why Big Corporations are Putting the Brakes on Social Media by Mikal Beicove
Mobile Learning Resources from Innovative Learning
Dear Companies, Your Should Start Using Mobile Devices As Training Tools For Your Employees by Chad Udell
The Evolution of Masie's Dance Vimeo video from Learning 2011
Nuts and Bolts: Required Reading by Jane Bozarth
One-Word Answers Vimeo video from Learning 2011
6th grade iPhone app developer speaks at TEDx by Courtney Boyb Myers
Adobe Stops Development on Mobile Browser Flash [Report] by Stan Schroeder
The Fallacy of Digital Natives by Dan Pontefract

Dedicated Backchannel Queries [Tool and search terms shown in brackets]

Access the up-to-date Learning 2011 backchannel [Twitter: #L2011]
Photos from the Backchannel [TwiPho: L2011]

I will be adding to this list as I continue to review the backchannel transcripts and find resources.  I will tweet updates occasionally as additional links are added.  If you know of a valued resource I should add to the list - or if something is inaccurate - please add it to the comments or tweet me a link to @LnDDave.

If you find these collections of value, I have posts that consolidate the backchannel resources from other conferences.  An archive of all of these posts can be accessed by clicking the link below:

Click here to access the archive of backchannel resource posts.

Expanding the Value of the #DevLearn 2011 Backchannel

In just about two weeks one of the best development opportunities for professionals in the Learning and Performance field will be upon us: DevLearn 2011.

The annual DevLearn conference, hosted by The eLearning Guild, continues to be one of the best events to attend if you want to learn about what organizations are doing in our field, and more importantly, where the field is going.  It has a reputation for being a conference that perfectly balances visions of the future with immediate skill takeaways professionals can apply today.  This year, DevLearn will expand to its largest size ever when it arrives at the Aria Resort and Casino November 2 -4.

One of the themes of this year’s conference is Curation, a subject that I have much interest in.  If you have visited my blog in the past, you may have noticed that I often follow conferences online, and post curated lists of the many valuable resources that are shared via the conference backchannels.  If you are not familiar with these posts, I recently posted an archive that collects them in a single location.  You’ll find a link to that archive at the end of this post.

My interest in the backchannel really began at DevLearn last year, or more specifically, through its backchannel.  I was unable to attend the conference in person, yet still discovered tremendous value from the conference by following its vibrant backchannel, and the sharing taking place there.  DevLearn 2010 was actually the first conference I posted a collected resources list for, and I enjoyed it so much that I have continued to do it for other conferences over the past year.  I look forward to once again collecting the resources shared through the DevLearn backchannel again in 2011.

But this time, things are going to be a little different.

The organizers of the DevLearn conference value the backchannel very much.  They see the added value it is able to generate not only for conference attendees, but for people that were unable to attend the conference in person, and for the field in general.  With that perspective in mind, the organizers of the conference reached out to me with a fairly simple question: “We like your Backchannel Resource postings and the value it adds to our conference; what could we provide to you to help take that to even higher levels?”

As someone that often thinks of ways to better leverage the backchannel concept as part of a learning and performance strategy, this opportunity is tremendously exciting.  At its core, this support will enable me to do what I’m already doing, but with greater access and outreach.  That in itself could be enough to add value, as it will result in more shared resources.  We’re also looking at doing other things to enhance the backchannel. 

One of the first pieces of that will appear here, in my blog.  For many people, the backchannel concept is still new.  In my experience, many people first learn about and experience backchannels at a conference. 

I’ve coached people on participating in the backchannel at conferences, and it’s often like trying to teach someone how to drive for the very first time… and taking them straight to the parkway.  Driving on a parkway requires an almost subconscious knowledge of driving mechanics so that the driver can focus on the interactions with the other cars.  The backchannel is very similar.  It’s hard to take in the value of a backchannel if you’re struggling with the mechanics of the technology required to participate.

Over the course of the next two weeks, I will be posting a series of blog entries that are designed to help both attendees and those monitoring the DevLearn backchannel from afar to prepare to participate, and to get more value out of the conference.

While we do have some plans as part of this process, what excites me most about this role is that it will be very much like the backchannel itself: something that develops organically and ultimately becomes what the interactions of the backchannel community determine it to be.

If there are ideas you would like to share on how the value of the DevLearn backchannel can be expanded this year, please do share them.  Post a comment to this blog, send me a tweet to @LnDDave, send me an e-mail to LnDDave@gmail.com, or just post to the #DevLearn hashtag to share your idea with the backchannel community at large.

I can say this though; what we’re doing here is very reflective of DevLearn.  Many conferences do a good job of reporting on what organizations are doing to take the field to greater heights.  What I’ve described here is an example of DevLearn actually being a part of that advancement, and looking to help drive our profession forward.  I’m honored and excited to be a part of it.

I’m looking forward to meeting many of you, either in person or virtually, at DevLearn this year.

See you there- David

** Click here for an archive of my backchannel resource posts