Jay Cross helps people work and live smarter. Jay is the Johnny Appleseed of informal learning. He wrote the book on it. He was the first person to use the term eLearning on the web. He has challenged conventional wisdom about how adults learn since designing the first business degree program offered by the University of Phoenix.
Conversation has long been the most important learning technology. Unfortunately, not everyone is a born conversationalist. From an article in today’s Wall Street Journal, She Talks a Lot, He Listens a Little, tips on conversing:
I enjoy McKinsey Quarterly because it addresses the Big Picture.
McKinsey Quarterly frequently highlights trends that will ripple down through many aspects of the global business environment. For example, the current issue describes Clouds, big data, and smart assets: Ten tech-enabled business trends to watch.
You have to register to read the articles, but it’s free.
David Gurteen has written his “Knowledge Letter” every month for the last ten years. 120 issues! Here’s proof.
I’ve followed David’s adventures in Knowledge Management for years. It’s one of the few periodicals I let into my e-mailbox. Take a look. David’s site also provides reviews of KM books, biographies of thought leaders, and more. It’s my primary KM reference site.
David has been a major influence on my views of knowledge management. If the topic interests you, sign up for his newsletter.
The Gurteen Knowledge-Letter is a free monthly e-mail based KM newsletter for Knowledge Workers. Its purpose is to help you better manage your knowledge and to stimulate thought and interest in such subjects as Knowledge Management, Learning, Creativity and the effective use of Internet technology. Archiv e copies are held on-line where you can regist er to receive the newsletter.
It is sponsored by the Knowledge Management Forum of the Henley Business School, Oxfordshire, England.
You may copy, reprint or forward all or part of this newsletter to friends, colleagues or customers, so long as any use is not for resale or profit and I am attributed.
When I shot this photo in North Berwick, Scotland, nearly twenty years ago, I wanted to capture the concept of closing shop to do training.
Only yesterday did I notice the PUSH sign on the door. Push training, indeed. The opposite of Pull learning that is merged into workflow.
Best of Informal Learning Flow
May 1, 2010 to June 14, 2010
The following are the top items from featured sources based on social signals.
Other Sources
The following are the top items based on social signals.
Hot Topics
Information (1697)
platforms (700)
Company (2178)
Google (1149)
future (837)
This morning before breakfast I browsed the net with a large monitor and lightening-fast connection. I was soon immersed in captivating video, beautiful images, exciting news-bytes, and irresistible links. Half an hour disappeared down a rat hole. Was it flow or was it continuous partial attention?
Yesterday evening I had returned home after 30 days of viewing the net with poor connections on 12″ displays. The deprivation weaned me from internet addiction. Mornings, I looked at nature instead of the screen. I contemplated the beauty of my surroundings, the taste of fresh-baked pastry, the scent of fresh-cut flowers, and the aroma of fresh-brewed black coffee in lieu of checking my email and the news.
On the plane from Paris yesterday, I read Michael Polland’s Food Rules
–easily the most useful book on eating ever written. Polland blames the “nutrient industrial complex” for luring us to eat too much by adding unnatural amounts of sugar, fats, and salt to processed food. Our bodies are programmed to crave these things. They occur in small amounts in nature but in dangerously high levels in fake food.
Was the net pulling the same sort of wool over my eyes? This morning I was sucked into a maelstrom of enticing headlines, sexy photos, and flashy advertisements. I lost my ability to concentrate. Bang! Bang! Bang! This was subliminal — below my level of awareness. My inner programs were at work.
Because I hadn’t mainstreamed the flow of the web at this rate for a month, I was able to recognize what was going on and pull back. I walked away from the computer and into the garden, sipped a cup of coffee, gave the dog a pat, and enjoyed the panorama of redwoods in my backyard.
In my cramped seat on Air France I re-conceptualized what’s vital for society to leap from the industrial age into the network era. It’s all about people respecting one another’s character and competence. It’s recognizing we’re all in this together.
What enables vitality in this environment? FREEDOM!
I plan to ration my use of the net to preserve my ability to think beyond the present moment.
Probably the first iPad in Switzerland:
High unemployment? Bah!
The iPad has created these new job categories, according to Jennifer Jacobson, the witty publicist at Retrovo.
The iPad au pair or “iPair”
Are you tired of “baby sitting” your iPad? After all, it does require a significant amount of attention. You can’t just set it down on the counter at Starbucks while you put creamer in your coffee, and you certainly can’t throw it into a handbag or “man-bag” as the case may be. You need a 24/7 iPad attendee, so why not consider an iPad Au Pair? Similar to traditional au pairs who serve as domestic child-care assistants living with host families, the iPad au pair or “iPair” is a technologically skilled Mac enthusiast who is invited to live with an iPad owning family, so long as they have their own room, a reasonable allowance in iTunes credits, and at least two full days a week off. The iPair’s duties include holding your iPad while you eat greasy foods like french fries or pizza, holding your iPad while you talk on your iPhone, holding your iPad while you’re driving, and holding your iPad while you take your kids to the park.
iPad Smudge Station Attendant
If you’ve used your iPad for more than two minutes, you’ve quickly realized the importance of clean hands. But inevitably, you’re bound to build up natural oils, apply moisturizer, or perhaps eat something with your hands, and when you do, your iPad will go from sparkling to smudged. Not to worry. Simply drive your iPad to your local “iPad smudge station,” usually found at gas stations and car washes. Once there, simply hand your iPad to a trained smudge station attendant, and watch them make your iPad look like new. Remember, it is customary to tip them, which can either be done in cash or the purchase of an app for their own mobile device.
The iPad Addiction Counselor
As with the introduction of all new technologies, there are bound to be people who “overdo it,” and the iPad is no exception. Whether you’re playing AirCoaster, telling your Facebook friends that you’re updating your Facebook status, tweeting what you ate for breakfast, or making a poster for your yard sale in Pages, if you’re spending “too much” time with your new and shiny iPad or spending your rent money on iPad apps, it may be time for an intervention. You’ll need the services of an iPad Addiction Counselor. These people are trained to recognize the signs of iPad addiction, like expecting non-electronic objects like doors to open, with the flick of a finger, or talking to your kids with your thumbs. A good iPad Addiction Councilor can help you regain your connection to the people, not the things, that matter in your life. Once you’ve come to terms with your iPad addiction and completed iPad addiction program, then you’re free to tweet to everyone how far you’ve come.
After a lengthy hibernation, Learning Light‘s eLearning Centre rides again! From a press release yesterday:
Learning Light has now launched the new look and feel e-learning centre. Check it out for news, views, jobs, reports, research papers and supplier directory. The e-Learning Centre is a free information resource for learning and development professionals and e-learning developers
The Centre’s Articles and Papers section contains these ten articles I wrote when Internet Time Group was affiliated with Learning Light:
As you’ve probably read, SkillSoft is being sold to a group that includes Berkshire, Advent, Bain Capital, and Stockbridge Partners. I’ve got a copy of the acquisition disclosure statement.
Executive officers will be reimbursed for unexercised options as follows:
Charles Moran | $13,580,884
Tom McDonald | $8,689,325
Jerald Nine | $5,615,914
Mark Townsend | $5,883,519
Colm Darcy | $1,086,771
Anthony Amato | $751,950
SkillSoft’s 2009 revenues were $328 million. Of this, $108 million was the expense of marketing and sales. Net income was $51 million. Navigating the financial statements of any complex company is a bear, and when someone’s being acquired it’s doubly tough.
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