Every once in a while you discover a blog where the content and voice truly resonate with you (which of course we hope you find with Next Level Learning!).  For me, that blog is Many Ways to Learn by Mike Petersell.   Petersell is currently Director of the Management Center for Learning & Performance, but has spent over twenty years in the professional education world through positions ranging from stand-up trainer to e-learning course developer to instructional designer. Petersell explores the latest topics and trends in the world of learning technology.  Some of my favorite postings include:

Those of us in the professional education and training sector are fortunate to have such a robust and active community of professionals participating in our field.  We include chief learning officers, training professionals, coaches, human resources experts, leadership development professionals, and so much more.  We attend conferences, conduct and follow webinars, and some of us even chat on Twitter using hashtags like #training, #astd, #clo, or #hrchat. But what is the optimal way to continue the dialogue and stay connected?

Here in the Professional Education division of Blackboard we spend a lot of time developing effective solutions to help trainers engage learners. Every once in a while we come across something that’s extremely effective and should be standard practice for all trainers, but that is often overlooked. Janet Clarey brought this one to our attention: Basic editing.

As Janet says, we’re not talking about spell-checking. We’re talking about real editing; to “prepare [content] for publication or presentation by correcting, revising, or adapting.” In today’s world of instant information, we’re often so focused on compiling all the necessary content and making it available as quickly as possible that it’s easy to discount the need to edit. Data is beginning to show, however, that such an approach can have a negative effect on the bottom line.

2010 was a big year for learning. There were exciting advances in theories and technologies for education, some great books were published, and some new tools released. Here’s our list for the top five learning concepts of the past year, and resources you can use for each.

• Mobile Learning – Back in 2008, The Masie Center’s Learning Consortium distributed a “Mobile Learning Update” highlighting mobile as the next frontier in corporate learning.  The Update said, “Our mobile telephones are evolving into platforms for collaboration, knowledge access and performance support.  The MASIE Center is convinced that one of the next frontiers will be designing learning and performance applications that fit naturally into our hands, pockets, purses and lives.” At Blackboard we took it to heart and launched Blackboard Mobile Learn on the iPad, Android, iPhone, and Blackberry.  For more on Mobile Learning in a business setting, check out Gary Woodill’s latest book The Mobile Learning Edge.

 

A great addition to any learning professional’s holiday wish list is Gary Woodill’s  latest book The Mobile Learning Edge.  Exhaustively researched and extremely well-written, this business-focused text offers case studies, examples, and resources that any reader can utilize to develop and implement an effective mobile learning strategy.

One of the more intriguing approaches taken by Dr. Woodill is his establishment of seven fundamental principles of mobile learning. I won’t spoil it for you by telling you all seven, but a couple of my favorites are, “Employees learn by solving problems that matter to them,” and, “Employees learn best in concrete situations where the context matters to them.” These may seem obvious, but they help us remember that learning – especially mobile learning – has to be constructed in a way that is relevant to the employees, not just a method that seems simple to implement.