Let me let you in on a little secret: your “students” are already engaging in learning with or without you. Daily. In creative and interactive ways.

Thanks to ever-evolving social media tools, people have become experts at personal and social learning. Every day, millions of people access information that furthers their education in an informal, but powerful manner. Podcasts, blogs, free webinars, articles, Wikis, and on-and-on it goes. This happens when they want it, and how they want it.

Not only are they taking advantage of information that is out there, but they are creating their own and sharing it far and wide, through tools like You Tube, Slide Share, and a host of others  that are bringing a whole new meaning to the term distance learning.

According to Nielsen Online (March, 2009), time spent on blogs and social networks is growing three times faster than that of the Internet as a whole. Through social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook individual learners are connecting with others interested in the same topics, and giving and receiving expert advice on limitless topics. This is done in real time, and with a sense of collaboration and community. How many of your learning offerings can you say that about?

Many traditional educators have caught on, using a suite of social media tools and applications to enhance their classroom settings and to engage students in more thoughtful, collaborative learning.

The question is: how are you doing this? How are you designing your distance learning offerings or on-the-job-training to encompass both formal and informal learning, as well as personal and social learning? How are you engaging your students in their own education?

The expectations of learners has changed. How will you change with it?

I love Jane Hart’s work, and her tools for learning lists are always a must-see. This year’s Top 10 for (20)10 is no exception, and has a host of freebies and low-cost sites, tools, and applications to enrich your learning practices and boost creativity and efficiency in the workplace.

This year’s picks are:

• Prezi
• Evernote
• Dimdim
• Ether Pad
• My Udutu
• Screenr
• Posterous
• Yammer
• Wordle
• Flip Video

While some like Worlde seem to put the fun-in-functional, others are extremely useful and have practical applications, as well as the ability to expand your creativity and reach in meaningful ways.  Prezi, My Udutu, Ether Pad, and Screenr are prime examples of products that can help take your work in exciting new directions, without breaking the bank or requiring a huge learning curve.

If you work on a team and you haven’t tried Yammer, I would give it a whirl. This private micro-blogging site is a great way to keep connected, share links and info, and keep the loop efficient and fun.

I just ordered my first Flip Video. I can’t wait to see how I can use it to make quick videos, jazz-up presentations, and use it for relationship building for projects whose remote locations make creativity and innovation a must.

In our rapidly changing world, there seems to be something new around every corner.  I would love to hear how you are using these tools in your work, or if you have any others you would nominate for your Best of the Best this year.

Editor’s Note: If you missed last week’s blog – the first in our On the Job Training (OJT) series, give it a quick read.

Why is it that when we translate an organization’s need for employees to gain understanding of a topic or job function, there is often little credence paid to educational research but ample attention paid to the bottom line? Or, did that clever turn of a phrase just answer the question? I actually meant bottom line, as in the basic info that must be conveyed, versus bottom line as in spending, money, budget.

Why can’t we get Bloomin’ in the workplace?

Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning utilizes six hierarchical cognitive domains to move the learner through the education process. The domains follow:

1. knowledge
2. comprehension
3. application
4. analysis
5. synthesis
6. evaluation

Based on a hierarchical structure, they assert that a person cannot obtain comprehension without knowledge, and cannot apply knowledge without comprehending it, and so on. Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to design even your most basic OJT trainings acknowledges the learning processes that are realistic and increases your ability to hit your learning objectives and your business objectives.

Once again the term bottom line comes to mind. While it may seem that skimping on things like working with instructional designers or in-house training teams is a short term win for the current budget cycle, the quality and efficiency of the overall workforce will pay dividends this fiscal year and well beyond if you use their expertise. That is a bottom line that should not be overlooked.

In his great On the Job Training (OJT) piece, Elliot Masie encourages companies to once again look to OJT as a vital part of training an efficient workforce. Indeed, in today’s challenging economy, when job responsibilities are being combined into new or hybrid positions and employees are expected to tackle more responsibility and new duties at a rapid pace, it seems imperative that OJT once again takes center stage.

So, how as an organization do you do that? How do you move beyond the basics of a day or two of orientation and then the inevitable initiation by fire? How do you bring learning theory and best practices to OJT, and empower the staffers involved to teach? How do you help employees learn their jobs in a dynamic, useful manner?

One step in the right direction is to legitimatize OJT at the senior level, and require the actual management of the process as you would any other job function. For that to work, you need to build OJT into job descriptions, work plans, and yearly reviews. Another is to treat it as true ongoing education; use multiple mediums, create learning objectives, and evaluate your practices to create and implement a strategy to support a workforce from the beginning of their employment and as they progress through the ranks.

OJT does not stop once someone “knows your organization and how things work,”  but needs to continue as an employee’s position changes. This should include management and supervisory skills, in addition to the “house keeping” duties all managers have. If an employee has never been in that type of position before, part of their OJT at that level should address those skills and techniques.

What does OJT look like in your organization? Is it formalized, or simply up to the individual hiring manager to do as they see fit?

We would love to hear examples of what’s working and not working for organizations, and any OJT challenges you are currently facing. The call for an innovative and creative workforce has been made, but part of securing one will be providing ample OJT.

Since the beginning of time, humans have been storytellers, weaving yarns to not only delight (or frighten) children, but to shape moral codes, educate, and inspire. Storytelling has a place in every culture and society, and is often an intersection of commonalities and seemingly impossible coincidences of time, place, and station in life. Storytelling is a great equalizer, and has the powerful  ability to speak to the listener’s heart, as well as their mind.

With the capacity for user-generated content to enhance or complement a company or organization’s story, and the impact that social media has to share these stories far and wide, business leaders are standing at a crossroads of continuing to do business as usual, or to engage storytelling as a vital part of their modus operandi.

What stories do you have to tell across your organization? Are you ready to let go of the reigns a bit? Do you have the supports in place to help your employees become storytellers, and to engage your consumers and broader audiences with them? If not, how can you change that?

The fascinating thing about all of the technology we are all getting so used to using, is its capacity to make very real, very human connections – and to do it in a very short period of time. To help us put personal faces on our companies and organizations and the people who are a part of them. Gone are the days of the shiny, printed Annual Report being the place to engage your audience. It  has become so far removed from the day-to-day stories of our work, our passion, and the people it is important to. And while that may be scary for many, and a shift for some, it presents an amazing opportunity to be authentic and responsive, and to create a different kind of in-house culture, and a different type of relationship with your consumers.

It’s time to tell your story. Where will you begin?

The current economic climate has prompted many companies who were only considering eLearning before to pursue it now. Providing eLearning opportunities can save companies money by allowing employees access to training 24 hours a day, seven days a week, across all office locations and divisions, even internationally. Companies can reduce the travel and infrastructure expenses for educators and staff to attend face-to-face training workshops. At the same time, organizations will continue to provide the training that ensures best practices, reduces errors and cycle times, as well as fulfills compliance expectations. The universality of eLearning makes it an efficient and cost-effective way to share and distribute ideas and best practices across the organization.

By taking advantage of eLearning opportunities, your company will have an advantage over competition in the current economic climate. You can keep employees on the cutting edge of new technology and best practices, and increase their fluency and knowledge about your products and services. Online training programs are more efficient and flexible than customized face-to-face training, making information more accessible to a broader audience. Furthermore, eLearning allows you to track employee achievements, mastery of concepts, and  - most importantly - skills.

You may find internal constraints to implementing an eLearning program. Determining affordability is the first step, as online corporate learning is contingent on selecting a software platform.  Once you have decided to implement eLearning, you may encounter management apathy or resistance to change. Human Resources, training staff, supervisors, and managers may also resist going down this new learning path. Helping leadership see the value in eLearning, both financial and from a content perspective, will help to overcome resistance. Future blog posts will provide data and lessons learned from other companies that can help you with this.

If your organization is thinking about eLearning and you find yourself scrambling to identify staff and tools with no organized strategy in place, an experience eLearning consultant can help.  A consultant will work with you to identify which types of learning can best support your business objectives. When the answer is eLearning, a consultant will work with you to create eLearning objectives, map out strategies to meet goals, overcome obstacles, and work within constraints.

Look for a consultant with corporate training experience, eLearning expertise, and an understanding of how developing personnel will impact the operations of your organization. A consultant can work with you to develop your strategy on the front-end, and you can choose to retain the consultant to manage implementation long-term. A consultant does more than just create a plan and help you implement it. He or she will also help to assure quality, advise you in the change management process, conduct analysis of your efforts, and apply feedback to improve your programs along the way.