The idea of “failure” sounds negative and scary, doesn’t it?  I’d like to change that.  I think the word should connote inspiration and opportunity.  Let me explain…

Dr. Bea Carson published an excellent article titled “The Role of Failure in Learning” in the January issue of Chief Learning Officer. In it, she explained that “performing” is a situation in which failure is viewed as totally unacceptable. “Learning” is different, she explained. “[T]hose who make it to the top of the corporate ladder aren't necessarily the ones who have been best all along. Rather, it's the ones who take failure as a learning opportunity.”

Dreamforce 2010, the cloud computing event of the year, is taking place today through the 9th in San Francisco, CA, and Blackboard will be there.  We are so excited to connect with other cloud computing leaders, users, and developers (yes, all 25,000 of you that will be there!).  

It’s hard to believe that the holiday season is upon us again! As we look toward the coming year, here are some technology trends in professional education worth watching closely in 2011:

Activity Streams – Online learning is all about utilizing new, social technologies for education, right?  Well, not exclusively.  Our industry is beginning to think about the information in new ways too, specifically as “Activity Streams.” George Siemens calls this information splicing — “selecting the type of information and social interaction streams that are needed to address a particular topic or area of interest at a particular time.”  Good examples include Google Groups or a Facebook news feed.

As more and more Chief Learning Officers integrate online and social tools into corporate education, one of the questions we’re asked most frequently is how learning organizations can prepare older employees to effectively use the new technology.  But the question isn’t really about the age of the user – what we are really being asked is how learning organizations can prepare employees who are not technologically savvy to use new technology.  Accordingly, we thought we’d offer some suggestions that anyone can use.

In this month’s issue of Chief Learning Officer, columnist Tamar Elkeles answers the tough question, “How can learning and development professionals prepare for times of turbulence?”

Elkeles, who is vice president of Qualcomm's Learning Center, advises learning and development professionals to use contingency and scenario planning to minimize the impact of change. This means working through a structured decision making plan with employees in case of certain disruptions.  That’s excellent advice, and in today’s world such planning can be significantly enhanced by effective online learning platforms.