The Social Workplace blog, written by HR thought leader Elizabeth Lupfer, recently highlighted a fascinating infographic on the importance of social media to today’s young professionals.   The infographic features data from a Cisco survey that asked college students and recently employed graduates about the ways they value the Internet, social media, and mobile devices, especially as these tools relate to the workplace.

As expressed in the infographic, the overall trend found in Cisco’s study is that “the majority of college students and young professionals value social media access, device freedom and a mobile work style as much [as] or more than money.” When looking at the specific findings of the study, some of the most interesting points include:

· 2/3 of current college students will ask about social media policies during job interviews · 1/3 of students will prioritize social media freedom and device flexibility over salary during their job search.

As the New Year approaches, we wanted to reflect on some of the most important developments in professional learning that occurred in 2011.  What stood out after looking at this year’s trends could be summarized in a single word: mobile. Mobile technologies are not only increasingly important in our daily lives, but are also playing a more substantial role in workplace training and education.  Here are just a few examples of mobile developments in various professional working and learning environments this year:

Corporations and Associations:  One interesting trend in corporate education this year was the integration of social media into workplace learning. Mobile education expert Gary Woodill has noted that the enhanced collaboration from social and mobile learning tools can benefit companies that adopt them early, especially by allowing employees to share best practices and ideas in real time.

Career Colleges:  Students at professional and career colleges often pursue their education while balancing commitments such as holding full-time jobs or raising a family.  Considering their busy lifestyles, these students depend on their schools’ online learning and mobile capabilities to take classes on-the-go.

With our recent partnership with Salesforce, we have been thinking a lot about how businesses can optimize sales.  One article I came across recently on the Selling Power blog discusses how social and mobile technologies are revolutionizing the way businesses reach sales success.  The post mentions three “big shifts” in sales strategy that are occurring due to the proliferation of social media:

Big Shift #1: We’re moving from customer relationship management (CRM) to customer engagement management, a.k.a. Social CRM. When we consider that nearly 200 million people log on to Facebook every 24 hours, LinkedIn gets a new user every second, and 2 billion YouTube videos are watched each day, as this article cites, it’s obvious that social networks have huge potential for sales conversations and relationship building.  Strategies must therefore earn the attention of prospective clients, since they are already being flooded with information through these networks.

In a recent article, CNN listed the top 25 companies for leaders according to Fortune Magazine.  The article states that the companies listed “go above an beyond the call of duty when it comes to grooming talent from within.” Though there is great diversity in the Fortune list, which includes an American fast-food company, a Chinese property developer, and a Spanish bank, what the companies share in common is the view that cultivating strong leaders is a “strategic priority.”

Many of these corporations begin fostering leadership at the entry level and promote continuous learning for those leaders all the way up to the C-suite.  This helps to form leaders who are knowledgeable of and invested in their companies, especially when leadership is developed over the long term. So what’s their secret to talent and leadership success?  Well, we know that Blackboard plays a role with several of the listed companies, which demonstrates how our solution is key to building an exceptional professional learning culture. This commonality indicates that organizations dedicated to effective training and development are gravitating towards Blackboard for professional education solutions… and are getting results they desire.

I recently discovered Life in Perpetual Beta, a blog written by organizational consultant Harold Jarche.  The blog focuses on ways to “work smarter” in an era of constant development and change.  Jarche is a true believer in the importance of integrating effective learning techniques throughout the workplace, which definitely resonates with us at Blackboard. Life in Perpetual Beta is a great blog for leaders who are seeking new ways to revitalize their organizations through strategies in learning, and would especially appeal to those who aren’t afraid of change. An emphasis on social learning