Tag Archives: social media
The Angry Birds Community: Social Learning Utopia?

The Angry Birds Community: Social Learning Utopia?

by on October 3, 2011 in Collaboration Tools, feedback, Game Mechanics, Informal Learning, Motivation, social learning, Video, YouTube

I’m not sure what it is about Angry Birds that made it so popular, but it works for me.  The game was introduced to me by my 10-year-old daughter, and we both seem to have the same (huge) amount of fun with it.

Angry Birds – the game – can certainly be used as a model for eLearning; it has all the attributes that make for effective game-based learning:  immediate rewards and feedback, increasingly challenging tasks, focus on action and decision-making.  Of course, actually creating effective eLearning with the same level of fun and excitement as Angry Birds would be a tall order, but it’s a worthy goal.

I’m interested in something more than Angry Birds’ gaming dynamics, though; I’m interested in the Angry Birds community.  We play Angry Birds on an Android phone – when we get stuck and click Hint, we are are transported to YouTube, where …

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Unearthing Diamonds in Twitter

Unearthing Diamonds in Twitter

by 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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Most Revolutionary Google Product Launch of the Past Month (Hint: It’s Not Google+)

Most Revolutionary Google Product Launch of the Past Month (Hint: It’s Not Google+)

by on August 1, 2011 in social learning, Social Media

Since its launch in beta format a month ago, Google+ has registered some significant buzz within the social learning community.  Whether it turns out to be a game changer or just another useful tool in the social learning arsenal has yet to be determined, but in my opinion, it wasn’t even Google’s most revolutionary social launch that week.

Yes, you heard me right.  Amidst all the hoopla (great word) and fanfare surrounding Google’s “Facebook-killer” the company also quietly released another new product that has flown almost completely under the radar (my radar at the very least), yet in concept could prove even more revolutionary within the social learning sphere.

Called Prizes, the site is formulated on the concept of crowd-sourcing, an idea I’ve written about recently, and which I’m convinced offers a wonderful opportunity for corporations to reap the benefit of great ideas while engaging with their employees and …

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I Don’t Care What You Had For Lunch: Finding Professional Value in Twitter

I Don’t Care What You Had For Lunch: Finding Professional Value in Twitter

by on July 5, 2011 in Social Media

Here at Dashe & Thomson, we made a New Year’s resolution for 2011 to dig a little deeper into social media and explore how to use it for social and informal learning, increasing website traffic, and building networks. Of course, Twitter was on the list of tools we were nudged to start using on a regular basis.

I have to say, I met this announcement with an inward groan. In my mind, at the time, I considered Twitter to be for celebrities to keep fans up to date with their most recent apologies (who cares?) and other sad folks who felt the need to broadcast their lunch menu to the world (double who cares?). Not for me, I thought. I am generally an introvert and not prone to fits of opinion sharing without being asked. I was NOT excited about this.

On the other hand, I was willing to give it a …

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The Death of the Traditional Web: Implications for Self-Directed Learning

The Death of the Traditional Web: Implications for Self-Directed Learning

by on June 29, 2011 in Informal Learning

A friend of mine recently sent me a fascinating article titled “The Shrinking of the Non-Social Web” which contained some real eye-openers.  Essentially the Web is not just evolving gradually as it absorbs the impact of smartphones and social media; it’s changing so radically that it might be better to look at what’s happening as the birth of an entirely new concept of internet interactivity and learning.  A brief overview of the content of the article:

Traditional use of the Web (i.e. non-mobile and non-video usage) is shrinking.  Per-person consumption of traditional Web content fell by 3 percent between March 2010 and March 2011 in terms of minutes.

Within that shrinking slice of online time, Facebook is increasingly the portal for everything.  While the “document Web” (as author Ben Elowitz terms the old-style Web) shrank by 9 percent overall, Facebook consumption increased by 69 percent, essentially stealing time …

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