LearningZealot

Stylianos - Thanks for commenting and I agree. I ...

2012-02-28T09:30:35.393-05:00

Stylianos - Thanks for commenting and I agree. I am looking (slowly) at how VW may help our distributed workforce and need to better understand the strengths and limitations of avatars beyond my own experience. I'd love to read more of the reasearch you have seen - please share at your earliest convenience.

Valid observations, Mark. Indeed the power of Virt...

2012-02-28T04:31:53.856-05:00

Valid observations, Mark. Indeed the power of Virtual Worlds are deeply related with the psychology of the avatar.

As research solidly suggests, when we identify ourselves with our avatar, we are deeply influenced by what our avatar does in an immersive environment both in the conscious and unconscious level.

And this fact is a killer learning weapon in the hands of skillful

Thanks for your kind words Mark. This is a great p...

2012-02-07T10:23:37.501-05:00

Thanks for your kind words Mark. This is a great piece. As much as I like the browser accessibility and reliability of the web.alive platform, I totally agree that their avatars are mean looking and not as animated as in Second Life. You make a great point that our brains have been hard-wired for face-to-face communication since the stone age and virtual worlds appeal to that, you suspend belif

Very nice encapsulation. The overall workshop is a...

2012-02-01T09:26:46.579-05:00

Very nice encapsulation. The overall workshop is a major learning experience, although it is challenging from a facilitator's point of view to engage the learning fully as from a learner's POV, so I appreciate reading about your experience.

The downsides to using this platform (note: we are not wedded to Avaya's Web.Alive [WA]) are that is still technically in Beta (

Great, creative approach. I'd add a few exampl...

2012-01-30T16:35:29.059-05:00

Great, creative approach. I'd add a few examples - not a sales pitch, but screenshots - demonstrating the problems you've solved through social tools.

Good stuff Mark, I like your thinking here!

2012-01-26T07:30:41.456-05:00

Good stuff Mark, I like your thinking here!

Frank, Yes the time waste argument is a common on...

2012-01-07T14:40:24.409-05:00

Frank,

Yes the time waste argument is a common one. Unfortunately the rel culprit behind those activities are the people themselves, not the tools. SoMe doesn't make people lazy ...they were lazy to begin with. Its a hiring problem, not a social media one.

I think project may be a good idea, but I advocate within actual work flows, not outside of them. Enable social

L before M, absolutely! Farmville and cats playin...

2012-01-06T22:52:11.107-05:00

L before M, absolutely!

Farmville and cats playing the piano have given social media somewhat of a stigma. That makes it more difficult for L&D professionals like us to integrate it into our organisation's activities. You see their eyes struggling not to roll in front of you as they think, "Here we go... social media... flavour of the month."

I've found

Thanks for sharing this post on Learned Helplessne...

2011-12-30T12:15:41.669-05:00

Thanks for sharing this post on Learned Helplessness Mark. You helped me get a handle on the soft underbelly of organizational change, particularly the resistance of employees and managers to see, understand and invest in their own personal/professional learning. Your 3 recommendations or strategies point a way through this impasse.

Hi Mark, I linked to this from Jane's Social L...

2011-12-29T23:29:47.552-05:00

Hi Mark, I linked to this from Jane's Social Learning Community Network, where you commented on Stu Baileys request for help in getting this going in his organisation. I am the CEO of a small but growing e-learning company in South Africa where e-learning is new, let alone collaboration and social learning. We are keen to learn about this so we can help our clients with extended services (

Hi, I haven't given the guest posting consider...

2011-11-02T17:22:18.996-04:00

Hi, I haven't given the guest posting consideration before. feel free to email me a bit more about yourself and topic. my email is displayed in my profile.

Hello, I contacted you last week, but I havent hea...

2011-11-02T14:05:54.850-04:00

Hello,
I contacted you last week, but I havent heard back from you yet so I thought that I would send another comment just to make sure you recieved my request. My name is Lindsey and I am a writer. Do you accept guest posts? I'd very much like to contribute a piece if possible. I have a topic that would go well with your blog too! Please feel free to email me. I look forward to hearing

Agreed...maybe anyone can do it but not just anyon...

2011-09-01T05:37:08.564-04:00

Agreed...maybe anyone can do it but not just anyone can do it well nor even distinguish good from bad.

I've heard that it is said that it takes at le...

2011-08-04T09:45:45.659-04:00

I've heard that it is said that it takes at least 20 years for a new idea to take hold. (I'm not going to search for that to verify because its accuracy is not the point). Perhaps Block Buster's strategic and operational planning efforts were not robust to possible scenarios and didn't have contingency plans for some of the more likely possibilities - and the early warning systems

Couldn't agree more. They say that it took a ...

2011-08-04T09:09:15.037-04:00

Couldn't agree more. They say that it took a whole generation of physicists to die off before the correctness of Einstein's theory of relativity was accepted by the scientific community. Lets hope L&D can move quicker than that. http://bit.ly/8X3Sar

This is kinda funny! My department name changed fr...

2011-07-04T23:08:08.027-04:00

This is kinda funny! My department name changed from Technical Training to Learning Solutions in April. It's catching! LOL

My title went from Curriculum Developer to Project Manager - Instructional System Design...which barely fits on a card. :)

great post Mark, It is a perfect example of using ...

2011-06-27T04:48:19.222-04:00

great post Mark, It is a perfect example of using the advice we give to others and applying it to ourselves.

Mark, Great up-fron analysis in identifying that ...

2011-06-14T08:05:53.677-04:00

Mark,

Great up-fron analysis in identifying that the employees didn't have the opportunity to communicate to one another. In today's work environment it's hard to believe that there are still some companies that operate this way, but they are still out their.

Did you perform a performance analysis or did you take the exploratory approach and observe.

I love this! I've been working on a social me...

2011-06-06T07:39:38.128-04:00

I love this! I've been working on a social media coaching model to implement with my clients and am hugely encouraged by your story.

Well said! I'll defrost and reheat this idea ...

2011-03-21T13:05:15.152-04:00

Well said! I'll defrost and reheat this idea in a meeting tomorrow with a client that "thinks" it wants me to deliver a training series. I plan to get them thinking about learner-developed content and ongoing peer-teaching. Thanks for the inspiration!

Mark, great to have you involved. I found that rea...

2011-02-21T09:07:38.446-05:00

Mark, great to have you involved. I found that reading via Kindle w/ a group in the last effort (Power of Pull) did just that - great reflections and deeper understanding. And as far as being kind - please do the same, this is only my second book and 1st time "hosting" :)

Thanks, Mark. This is great timing as I finally s...

2011-02-20T16:37:41.445-05:00

Thanks, Mark. This is great timing as I finally started digging through Clive's book the other day. I think this activity will really add some depth to the content and it will also fill in some of the perceived gaps.

This will be my first hootcouse, so be kind. ;-)

Yes, great post Mark! There's such a need to u...

2011-01-24T17:06:06.927-05:00

Yes, great post Mark! There's such a need to use language that actually communicates, over language that obfuscates(!). It's another example of people being more conscious of the media instead of that which is being mediated.

But I think it's not surprising, because media is always, literally, 'in the way'. The negative and absurd judgments maybe transitory though.

Awesome post Mark. I have always been very consci...

2011-01-24T11:56:21.978-05:00

Awesome post Mark. I have always been very conscious of the language I use and the audience that is receiving it. Your post provides another great example.

I saw a t-shirt once that said, "If you'r...

2010-12-22T11:19:47.306-05:00

I saw a t-shirt once that said, "If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space". SO wish I'd bought it!

Best, and thanks for your help with the book chat,

Jane