Will at Work Learning

Learning 2.0 Bootcamp

Two people I respect greatly as purveyors and thinkers regarding new web technologies, Kathleen Gilroy and Bill Ives, are coming together to provide an intensive learning experience on Learning 2.0.

What is Learning 2.0? It's the idea that the web is changing from one that is driven by user searching and initiative, to one that is more amenable to subscription services for information compilation, etc. Learning 2.0 also recognizes that new web-based technologies are becoming available that provide instructional designers more tools for learning design. Learning 2.0 also provides more opportunities for groups to support each other's learning.

Here's what the organizers say you will learn:

• How new “2.0” technologies and services, including weblogs, podcasts, wikis, and aggregators, can be deployed for learning programs.
• How to build the new desktop: moving from browsing to searching to subscribing.
• How to plan for and build a learning 2.0 program.
• How to produce and distribute podcasts.
• How to motivate and manage networked learners.
• How to make the “wisdom of crowds” the outcome of your learning programs.

Click here to learn more.

HELPFUL HINT: After clicking on the link (just above), make sure you scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the small graphic of the document. This will provide detailed information in a PDF document.

Work-Learning Research in 2006

Work-Learning Research in 2006 will undertake some ambitious initiatives.

1. I'm going to come out with a book on Instructional Design. My goal is to make it the most important book on instructional design since Gagne. Tall order, I know. But if I'm going to go to all the trouble to write a book, why not make it a damn good one.
2. LearningAudit.com has been launched, Work-Learning Research's research benchmarking and evaluation service to help organizations and instructional designers learn from their efforts. If we---who tout ourselves as learning experts---can't learn and improve our own practices, we're not only being hypocritical, but we're not creating the most effective learning designs.
3. I've also launched a new program to help organizations build their knowledge and competency around research-based instructional design. The idea behind this program is simple. You invite me into your world, and we learn together over several days. The intimate setting helps you and your team build a deep understanding of human learning---based on the world's best learning research, of course. Call me to find out more.
4. Work-Learning Research will continue to release more research reports and white papers on research-based practice.

The theme for 2006 is to focus on the major leverage points that are available to improve learning design and development. When I asked myself, "How can Work-Learning Research help to facilitate more effective learning, my answer was this:

• Continue to bridge research and practice, especially by helping to translate research into practical recommendations.
• Provide the field with a way to learn from their efforts. Because the feedback loop in our field is so impoverished, we learn and improve much too slowly. LearningAudit.com was a response to this problem.
• Highlight the good work of instructional designers who are using research-based practices (whether they may know it or not). By shining a spotlight on good design, we help everyone learn.

Good luck to all in 2006. May we learn. May we help others learn.