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Silicon Valley Parents Question Value of Technology in Learning. Should We?

by Jolene on October 27, 2011 in Classroom Learning, Evaluation, Informal Learning, Innovation, Learning Style Theory, Social Media, technology, Training Development

According to the recent New York Times series Grading the Digital School, parents in some of the most tech savvy places in America are questioning whether the investment in classroom technology is paying off. Many are sending their children to “low-tech” schools.

In Silicon Valley, the chief technology officer of eBay sends his children to the Waldorf School of the Peninsula, a nine-classroom school, and so do employees of Google, Apple, Yahoo, and Hewlett-Packard.

… the school’s chief teaching tools are anything but high-tech: pens and paper, knitting needles and, occasionally, mud. Not a computer to be found. No screens at all. They are not allowed in the classroom …

What does evidence show?

Some experts interviewed for the first article in the series, In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores, point out that there is little or no clear evidence that technology is paying off.

In a nutshell: schools are spending billions

…

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Unearthing Diamonds in Twitter

by Jolene on September 23, 2011 in Collaboration Tools, Informal Learning, mobile learning, performance support, social learning, Social Media

First, I have to confess that I am not a Twitter pro. It was only about six months ago that I set up a “business” Twitter account, and I have only a few tweets and followers to my name. My monthly Twitter stats are embarrasing, at best. I’ve had several conversations with colleagues about Twitter that end in “I just don’t get it.”

I am starting to get it, though. Partly because I haven’t given up (I skim my Twitter feed almost daily). Partly because of a few Twitter users that I’ve been following.

My Twitter breakthrough came about a month ago — along with a surprising social learning lesson. As I was preparing a talk on the trends in social learning, I promptly turned to Twitter. It was at that point that I realized Twitter was my primary source for social learning and social media news. Within few daily tweets, I was beginning to understand the impact social learning and …

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The Key to Adoption of Collaboration Tools: Process Integration

by Jon on September 15, 2011 in Collaboration Tools, social learning, Social Media, user adoption

Plenty has been written about why employees are slow to adopt enterprise collaboration tools. Most opinions on the matter, however, don’t provide satisfying conclusions about why collaboration tools are so slow to gain traction in large organizations. As with more traditional IT initiatives, the old “senior executive support” mantra is frequently cited as a key to successful user adoption.

For example, in a Klint Finley interview called Five Principles for Improving Social Enterprise Adoption, Yakabod CEO Scott Ryser cites the importance of “political juice.” Ryser says:

You need a champion with clout, supported by a cross-functional team of people with a good mix of experience, credentials and authority.

While executive sponsorship may be important, it’s not enough. In fact, executive support is a good example of what a logician might call necessary but not sufficient.

Certainly, it’s true that guidance like this from Ryser is valuable, along with …

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