I've written before about the importance of reflective practice in professional development--the process of reflecting on your development as a professional and recording those thoughts somehow. The problem for most people is that getting in a regular practice of reflecting and recording can be difficult. Developing new habits can be hard, so having a tool to help you along can be invaluable. So, via TechCrunch and Marianne Lenox, here's a... Read more →

PLE is a way of viewing learning on the web--we're not centered on one application. Stephen's PLE: Store photos (Flickr) and video (Google video) Place to work collaboratively through Google docs. Way to stay up to date (Google Reader)--My note--only 4-5 people in this group of about 40 who use RSS!!! Way to save money on long-distance calls (Skype) Knowing where he's staying before he gets there (Google Maps) Way... Read more →

These are some notes I found in in one of the artist sketch pads I use to capture my off-line ideas (yes, I do work offline). They seem particularly appropriate to share in light of yesterday's post on being a "career untouchable." Tips for Creating a Personal Learning Plan 1. Reflect on successes, challenges, etc., from the previous year. Also reflect on trends in your industry and/or occupation. What strengths... Read more →

I've always said there's no such thing as job security. Whether we realize it or not, most of us are essentially independent contractors, working at the whim of our customers, assured of employment only as long as we are able to add value in some way. This weekend I started thinking about ways to become a "career untouchable." That is, how do we position ourselves so that we are always... Read more →

| View | Upload your own In a world that's rapidly evolving and changing, I think there's a tendency to want to make our learning match the pace of change. There's a focus on activity and rapid development that intuitively seems to make sense, but that in the end may not actually prepare us well for this new place. Nancy White has a great slideshow, Thinking About Slow Community (via... Read more →

From the slideshow by Neil Perkins, What's Next in Media, via Beth Kanter. Replace Neil's title with this-Learning 2.0: Workplace Learning Professionals Take on a Broader Role and the word "audience" with "learners" and I think this slide sums up a lot of how social media changes what we do. This is a sort of elaboration on my earlier thoughts about instructional designers and trainers as digital curators that breaks... Read more →

A few days ago, I was checking out Nine Notable Uses for Social Bookmarking (read the article--there's stuff there you probably haven't considered before) and I was struck by number 6--build an online portfolio. I personally believe that having an online portfolio is a critical work literacy skill and an important part of an overall online identity management strategy. So back in April I ran a webinar on using free... Read more →

Karyn Romeis is wondering how people got started with social media and what it's meant to their professional practice. This is part of her dissertation, which she is actually writing on a wiki--a strategy I think is pretty interesting. So here's my story. . . I've been online since 1995, participating initially in email listservs and forums. I also dabbled in teaching classes with what we, at the time, called... Read more →

A few weeks back, I was doing some thinking about 21st century workplace literacy and wondering why edubloggers and workplace learning bloggers weren't having more conversations about what constitutes "literacy" in a radically changed workplace. I would argue that by anyone's definition, digital literacy should be part of what we mean when we talk about the skills that all workers need to be successful. I'd go so far as to... Read more →

I learned a new word this week--"homophily," which is the tendency for people to associate and bond with others who share their interests, values, culture, demographics, class etc. This is the all-too-familiar online behavior I was remarking on earlier this week in my post on 21st century workplace literacy. There I noted that it seems like edubloggers tend to associate online with other edubloggers, while the workplace learning folks are... Read more →