A few weeks ago I mentioned the idea of doing a 23 Things Remix for Learning Web 2.0 in Nonprofits. Well, in my "spare time," (ha!) I've started building a 23 Things Remixed Wiki to do this and I think I'm ready to "go public." A couple of comments: The primary audience would be nonprofit staff who have little or no exposure to Web 2.0 tools. Like the original 23... Read more →

A few days ago, I posted about an article in Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge. It was on an interview with Harvard professor Amy Edmondson who has found that that learning makes people less productive at work, at least during the learning process. I suggested that organizations should accept that lack of productivity is part of learning and that it shouldn't keep them from encouraging and supporting learning with their... Read more →

Are teams that learn less productive than ones that don't? Harvard Professor Amy Edmondson says that in the short term, they probably are. In an interview in Working Knowledge from the Harvard Business School, Edmondson argues that there are built-in tensions between learning and performance that smart organizations must learn how to address. To learn means to become less productive, at least for a while, and she points to a... Read more →

Click To Play Via Common Craft--"There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don't. This video is for the people who could save time using RSS, but don't know where to start." In 3.5 minutes, everything the newbie needs to know about RSS, setting up a reader and subscribing. Uses a nice "low-tech" way of describing the process that I think is less intimidating... Read more →

I'm working through the concepts and implications of ePortfolios for both learning and career/professional development. Some questions and thoughts that are emerging for me. . . (note--this is very raw) Purpose ePortfolios can serve a number of purposes. They can be used as a record of learning, for job searching, for personal and professional development, as a way to manage your online identity. Many of the issues below are influenced... Read more →

I don't know Caroline, but I wish she worked for me. She's a great example of a lifelong learner. Apparently she just attended the Computers in Libraries Conference and returned home to blog about three categories that I think are pretty cool: "Possible projects inspired by the conference." Like all good learners, she's already moving into application thinking about how she can apply what she learned. And I love that... Read more →

Via Doing Well by Doing Good comes a great video in which Seventh Generation CEO Jeffrey Hollender asks a question that all nonprofits should be asking themselves: "How can we expect an organization to reach its full potential if we aren't ensuring that our staff are reaching their full potential?" That's a really profound question, I think, especially for organizations that are built upon the knowledge and skills of their... Read more →

A few days ago, I posted about my personal learning environment and how I'm using a variety of web-based tools to manage my own learning. Since then, I've been doing a lot of thinking about the whole concept of personal learning and how that relates to "staff training and development," what I consider to be more institutionally-driven training. In addition, thanks to a mention in Stephen Downe's excellent OLDaily, a... Read more →

Fast Company has an interesting article in their May 2007 issue (sorry--not available online at this point) by Chip and Dan Heath of Made to Stick fame on the power of self-fulfilling prophesies. Entitled "Success Can Make You Stupid," the Heath brothers write about how Hollywood pumps out bad films because they get into a cycle of self-fulfilling prophecies. What caught my eye, though, was this gem of a quote:... Read more →

Learning 2.0 and the 23 Things is a really cool series of Web 2.0 learning activities put together by North Carolina's Charlotte & Mecklenburg County public library to train library staff in how to use new media. (You can read Wired Magazine's coverage of their efforts here) Like many good Web 2.0 citizens, they've kindly made their program available under a Creative Commons license, and I'm starting to look into... Read more →