Best you might've missed

Here are the best articles and resources I came across this week.

Business

"Leadership Decision Making." A paper by a University of Baltimore professor (yay, Baltimore! I'm a native daughter) gets deep into this issue. (Thanks, Lifehacker.)

Best site for travelers. The Business 2.0 blog links to SeatGuru, a great resource for business travelers that can give you detailed info about seats on many commercial aircrafts before you book your ticket.

Free small business websites. Yahoo is offering a free website for companies who list themselves on Yahoo Local.

Learning theory

"Can Blended Learning Be Redeemed?" A scholarly paper from the United Kingdom examines this question.

New Paradigms for Learning. "Can training departments, with all of their post-industrial-revolution baggage, rise to the challenge and effect the kind of post-knowledge-revolution changes that are both necessary and inevitable?"

National Education Summit on High Schools. A speech by Bill Gates: "Training the workforce of tomorrow with the high schools of today is like trying to teach kids about today’s computers on a 50-year-old mainframe. It’s the wrong tool for the times."

Traditional training/development

ATLAS (Assessing the Learning Strategies of Adults). A short test that lets you determine what type of learner you are. (Thanks, eLearning Centre.)

"Great Managers Understand Their People." "Average managers treat all their employees the same. Great managers discover each individual's unique talents and bring these to the surface so everyone wins. An excerpt from Harvard Business Review."

What are topics about which a Learning Professional should be uniquely proficient? A thought-provoking post on the redesigned Learning Circuits blog. Add your comments.

Emergent learning

"A 'Sim' That's Dead Serious." The Army is using interactive video to train officers for Iraq. From the Washington Post.

Google poised to take over the world (Google Learning to follow?)

(Commentary alert!)

I'm going to go on record right now to say that Google is going to be the next Microsoft or IBM. It seems like every week they come out with a new product that makes our lives easier in a way that no one has done before, or that no one has done nearly as well.

A good way to be one of the first to know about their new offerings is to read the Google Blog.

Google Labs is where you can access all the new projects they're working on.

Today I was blown away by Google SMS. Using text messaging on your cell phone, you can access driving directions, business listings, answers to short fact-based questions, movie showtimes, stock quotes, and more.

I tested it out, asking for directions from my home to my work, and within a few minutes I got directions in two text messages that were dead on.

For someone who often drives around lost in DC without a map, this could be invaluable. I printed out the wallet-sized tip sheet to keep handy so I can remember how to send in queries.

You can do a lot more with Google on your mobile phone with Google Mobile. I had tried out some of these features before but my phone didn't support them.

But if you have Web browsing on your phone, you can search the Web, images, and more with Google using it.

Many people already use Google tools for personal knowledge management (see this blog entry I wrote). Can a Google Learning application be far behind?

Free Webinar and free intriguing seminar

Wilson Learning is offering a free Webinar by Harvard’s Dr. William L. Ury, "world-renowned negotiations expert." Principled Negotiation: Reaching Agreements While Strengthening Professional Relationships will be held from 11 am to 12 noon CST on April 29, 2005.

Dr. Ury is the founder of Harvard's Program on Negotiation and the co-author of Getting To Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In and Getting
Past No: Negotiating With Difficult People and Getting To Peace.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those of my readers located in or near the Washington, DC area, there is a very interesting-sounding talk taking place on April 22 from noon to 2 pm in the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Herb Rubenstein, an attorney, member of the World Future Society and its US National Capital Region chapter, a founding director and member of the Association of Professional Futurists, and a founding member and advisory board member of the Society for Leadership Change, will be giving a free talk on The Future of Leadership.

Although the talk is free, registration is recommended due to limited seating. To sign up, visit the National Capital Region World Future Society Website.

Here's more info from the press release on the talk:

"Herb Rubenstein distinguishes between 'leaders' and 'leaders of leaders.' Leaders are people who see existing problems and develop solutions for those problems with the support of the group they lead. 'Leaders of leaders' employ foresight and organizational tools to envision and avoid entire classes of problems from arising. They guide leaders when problems arise within the organization.

The future would be brighter if society encouraged more 'leaders of leaders' to emerge. Herb believes that most Western societies only encourage the emergence of leaders, not leaders of leaders. In his talk, Herb will explore how we can encourage the emergence of more leaders of leaders in the future through improved technology, more ethical decision making frameworks, and other tools.

Best you might've missed

Happy Friday, all. Here are the most interesting articles and resources to hit my eyes this week.

E-mergent learning

"Games for Learning." This article focuses on children's use of video games, but since they are your future learners and workers, it's worth reading.

E-learning/e-content

Standards for online content authors. A good practical tip-sheet from a company in New Zealand.

"Online Learning: Social Interaction and the Creation of a Sense of Community." "This paper centres on the sense of isolation that online study may engender among learners, a factor...that may make the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful online learning environment for many students."

Traditional training/business

10 steps to develop learner support - a guideline through the key issues. The eLearning Centre links to a useful PDF.

Searchforclasses. Another training-finding Website. I've written about a few of these over the past couple of months.

"The New Steps to Career Advancement." "A recent study comparing Fortune 100 executives in 1980 with their counterparts in 2001 reveals changes in the path young executives take along the way to the C suite."

In Our Humble Opinion: What Will a World of $5 Gas Be Like? This musing by Future of Work gurus Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware posits that remote work is really going to take off with gas prices soaring.

"How to Start a Startup." An irreverent essay based on a talk given at the Harvard Computer Society.

"Got a Good Strategy? Now Try to Implement It." A Q+A with the author of Making Strategy Work: Leading Effective Execution and Change.

Theory

Learning vs. Training. Thoughts on the re-designed Learning Circuits blog.

Training for Dummies

Not that I'm saying you're a dummy or anything, but if you're interested in a good basic book on training, Training for Dummies was just released by Wiley Press and ASTD (co-published). It's part of the familiar Dummies series.

The description on the ASTD store reads:

Learn how to design and deliver effective training courses with Training for Dummies. Filled with hands-on advice, you'll use modern instructional techniques and dynamic delivery to reach and teach trainees. With real-world examples, author Elaine Biech shows you how to follow a training cycle from start to finish; and along the way you'll discover how to

--conduct needs and assessments

--custom design training courses

--adapt for different learning styles

--enhance participation and learning

--prepare for the new certification process

T+D April issue online

The April issue of T+D magazine includes

--"Relevance2," an article on the future of the profession by ASTD CEO Tony Bingham
--"Steelcase: Demonstrating the Connection Between Learning and Strategic Busines Results," by George Wolfe
--"Five Experts Speak Out," What's ahead? What skills should you have? Five industry sages show you the way
--"A Monstrous Welcome," by Dan Sussman, on orientation at Monster.com.

In addition,

--my Intelligence column covers the coming talent gap
--the new Re:Search column looks at keeping employees happy
--Development discusses coaches for training professionals
--Books reviews Radical Collaboration: Five Essential Skills to Overcome Defensiveness and Build Successful Relationships

and more.

"Good people are worth keeping"

I don't usually post about products and services for sale, but this brought a smile to my face and thought you all might enjoy it as well.

T-shirts, mugs, a teddy bear, clock, buttons, bags, and more with the "good people" slogan.

I think this is sponsored by trendspotters The Herman Group--the link was in their latest newsletter.

With CafePress, anyone can cheaply sell all kinds of items with their own slogan, logo, etc. on it. Check out the site for your own use.

What Keeps You Up at Night?

The Masie Center is offering a new free e-book containing 672 issues and challenges reported by workplace learning and training professionals.

Chapter heads designated categories of worries, such as Learning Management Systems, Company Culture/Structure, Time and Resources, Technical Requirements, and so forth.

Very interesting reading, and you can't beat the price.

Best you might've missed

Happy Friday, all. Still catching up on my reading (and work) from being out part of last week, but here's what I've found so far for your reading pleasure.

Emergent learning/communications

"Extreme Learning: Decision Games." Jay Cross's latest column for CLO magazine discusses "thin-slicing" or rapid cognition.

Virtual Meetings Through 'Telepresence.'"Pierre Boulanger, professor of computing science at U of A, has just received $1.7 million to develop new and inexpensive 'telepresence' tools."

Traditional training/business

"How to Battle the Coming Brain Drain." An article from Fortune magazine discusses how to keep older workers' knowledge from leaving the organization with them.

"Employee-Driven Design Moves into the Workplace." A novel idea: Let employees design the spaces where they spend the majority of their time. (Thanks, Future of Work Weblog.)

"Lessons of Successful Entrepreneurs." Tips from the Harvard Business School Entrepreneurship Conference.

Theory

Will That Be Coordination, Cooperation, or Collaboration? Another thought-provoking post from blogger Dave Pollard.


Cool tools

Free conferencing calling. A great deal from Freeconference.com: Conference calls with up to 25 participants at no charge.

Design Your Own Anti-Procrastination Plan. "Below are several lists of specific, concrete things you can do to confront and change your own tendencies to procrastinate. Choose several suggestions from among the four lists and put them into practice."

Answers.com. This is a site worth exploring more. SmartMobs pointed out that Answers.com just launched a mobile service. I'm curious about the site in general.

Free teleseminars

I received the following press release:

In an effort to help plan the coming months, we offer this handy reference for the 2nd Quarter 2005 One Person Training Department FREE teleseminars.

You might want to print this out and tack it up in your office.

You’ll definitely want to pencil these dates in to your calendar NOW.

= = = = = = = = = =

All calls occur on Tuesdays from 1:00 – 2:00 pm Eastern.

Just call in!

The call-in number for ALL teleseminars listed below is:

1-805-620-4000 and the passcode is: 58543

= = = = = = = = = =

The 2005 schedule (2nd quarter) of speakers includes


Date Guest Expert & Topic


4/26/2005 Bill Walton

Strategies for Teaching Adults: The Making of a Maestro in the Classroom


5/24/2005 Lenn Millbower

Razzle Dazzle Design: Developing Training for 21st Century Learners


6/28/2005 Carolyn Balling

Managing the One Person Training Department

Out the rest of the week

There will be no best-you-might've-missed this week, as I will be out of the office spending time with a Marine friend who just arrived safely back from Iraq. (Yay!)

Have a great weekend, all!

Customer service training that worked

(Commentary alert!)

Those of you who read my Intelligence column in T+D might have guessed that customer service is a bit of a pet peeve for me.

I've written on the topic quite a few times--most recently the column "Unbelievable Service" in August 2004 and a two-part series "Just One Thing" and "Strategic Service" in October and November 2003.

I'm always on the lookout for good customer service, and I had an experience over the weekend that I'd like to share with everyone.

I had gone to a restaurant in my neighborhood for a nice brunch with a couple of friends. After ordering, we sat there for about a half an hour without any food. I noticed, but didn't think much of it, as the restaurant was quite crowded and I remembered waiting a while last time I was there for brunch. I figured it was just the price we had to pay for eating at this popular restaurant at a popular time.

However, all of a sudden a man appeared at our table. "I'm the manager," he said, "and I want to apologize for your food taking so long. Frankly, we dropped the ball. I want to you to know that your food will be out shortly, and the meal is on us."

The waitress came over about 10 minutes later with the food and explained that there was some mixup in the kitchen and the cooks thought they had made it when they hadn't.

I was impressed. Although the principles of take responsibility, apologize, fix the problem, and go above and beyond aren't hard ones to understand or master, it seems rare that an organization follows them these days. But the manager's words were magic. Any irritation I had at being left waiting melted away in the face of his speech.

I might've thought that we had just encountered a particular good manager, except that my friend said, "That's great. The only other time that happened to me was in this other restaurant" that's in a neighboring town.

I said, "As a matter of fact, they're owned by the same people." So it became apparent that this type of service for mess-ups was a company-wide policy that managers were trained to enact.

A round of applause. It did my customer-service-hunting heart good.

Free webinar on outsourcing

TrainingOutsourcing.com presents a Webinar on Identifying and Driving Value Through Key Learning Indicators and Outsourcing next Wednesday, March 30th from 1 to 2 pm EST.

"This interactive e-Intelligence Webinar will look at how new models for assessing and measuring the value of learning in the enterprise are emerging. This executive webinar probes the challenges corporate learning executives face when trying to show the impact of learning and presents concepts that help determine if outsourcing training is right for their organization.

Chris Moore, President of Zeroed-In Technologies, introduces key learning indicators, a component of performance-based measurement for learning, as a means of measuring and predicting value. Dan Cantwell, Vice President of Performance Solutions at RWD Technologies, follows with an assessment model that gathers and assesses key measurement areas to determine the effectiveness of your learning organization and your candidacy for improving value through outsourcing."

New T+D managing editor

Congratulations to Sabrina Hicks, former senior associate editor of T+D, who was just promoted to managing editor!

Sabrina's eagle-eye and attention to detail keeps us all on track.

If you have any comments about the magazine (especially the redesign), feel free to contact her at shicks@astd.org.

Write a chapter in book on learning objects?

I received a press release the other day inviting me (and others) to submit an abstract for a book chapter. The book will be Principles and Practices of the Effective Use of Learning Objects.

I won't be submitting, but here's the info if you're interested:

You are invited to submit a 500-word abstract (the initial proposal) to write a chapter (theory & practice) on one of the following topics:

1. Learning Object Architecture
2. Learning Object Standards
3. Syntax and Semantics of Learning Object Metadata *
4. Learning Object Repositories *
5. Learning Content Management System (LCMS) *
6. Historical & Philosophical Foundations of Learning Objects
7. E-Learning & Learning Objects
8. Instructional Theories and Principles
9. Instructional Design of Learning Objects *
10. Learning Objects’ User Interface *
11. Granularity & Reusability of Learning Objects *
12. Multimedia & Learning Object
13. Learning Object Overview
14. Creating Learning Objects
15. The Future of Learning Objects *
16. Open Source & Learning Objects

(* Needed most)

The mission of the book is to inform clients of the above topics emphasizing their implications to learning.

Your abstract must contain an explanation about the topic you have chosen from the list above. It should summarize what it is that you are proposing to write. Please be concise (a maximum of 500 words), clear, and persuasive. Once the abstracts are accepted the authors will have 90 days to complete their chapter.

The deadline for submitting the abstracts is March 30, 2005. Once your abstract is accepted you will be receiving the author’s guideline and will be given thorough instruction for writing your chapter.

Look forward to hearing from you. Please reply to ijkloeditor@ijklo.org.

Best wishes.

Alex Koohang
Editor-in-Chief, IJKLO

Keith Harman
Editor, IJKLO


Alex Koohang
Editor-in-Chief
Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects
www.ijklo.org

Best you might've missed

Happy weekend, all. Here are the best articles and resources I came across this week. (A shorter list--I'm busy and a bit behind on reading.)

Learning theory

What is Learning? A good breakdown of the differences between data, information, knowledge, and learning.

Emergent learning/collaboration

Simulations and the Future of Learning. If you've meaning to try out this podcasting phenomenon, here's a good 'cast to download and listen to, from Clark Aldrich.

Microsoft, Groove Networks to Combine Forces to Create Anytime, Anywhere Collaboration. A not-unbiased press release from Microsoft, but it includes an interview with Groove founder Ray Ozzie. Read unbiased opinions here and here and here.

"Blogging Clicks with Colleges." Discusses how blogs and wikis are being used in higher education.

E-learning

More Real Dirt on eLearning (replay). Jay Cross links to the archived version of his recent presentation.

Business/organizational behavior

CEO Skill and Excessive Pay: A Breakdown in Corporate Governance? "What do Disney, AT&T, Exxon, and Verizon have in common?...a new academic study argues that all these firms were headed by CEOs who were paid too much."

Can Pessimists Ever Be Great Leaders? A good question and an answer, from the Fast Company blog.

Reinforcing Values: A Public Dressing Down. "Often the hardest part of a turnaround is improving bad interpersonal behavior in the organization. A Harvard Business Review excerpt by professors David Garvin and Michael Roberto."

Differentiating Your Workforce Strategy. "Even the best managers often forget to craft a workforce strategy along with their overall company strategy, but the two really need to be linked. An excerpt from the new book, The Workforce Scorecard."

Tools

Find Similar Items with Google Sets. Lifehacker points out a pretty cool tool.

Free tips on selecting an authoring tool

Brandon-hall.com is offering a free PDF excerpt from the company's "Authoring Tool KnowledgeBase: A Buyer's Guide to the Best E-Learning Content Development Applications."

Register here to download "Tips on Choosing an Authoring Tool."

More free Webinars

From Interwise and CLO magazine:

Managing Human Capital for Strategic Advantages

March 16 , 2005
at 2 pm Eastern / 11 am Pacific
Presented by: Carolyn Koenig, SVP of Human Resources, MasterCard International and Curt Lockton, VP Marketing & Business Development, Success Factors

"This Chief Learning Officer e-seminar, powered by Interwise, will offer a lively, interactive discussion that will show you how organizations invest in learning technology because of the value of the data the technology provides and the dramatic impact it has on driving strategic decisions. Panelists will discuss their views on the business impact and outcomes of learning technology implementation within organizations."

Leveraging Executive Development to Drive Corporate Strategy

March 31, 2005
at 11 am Eastern / 8 am Pacific
Presented by: Albert Vicere, President, Vicere Associates Inc.

"In this presentation, Al Vicere, a well-known expert, author, and professor in the field of individual and organizational development, discusses how to blend executive development with strategy formulation and execution, using both innovative frameworks as well as examples from working with dozens of executives from Fortune 500 organizations. Al will also reflect on his recent book, Many Facets of Leadership, which was written with Marshall Goldsmith among others."

The CLO Position: Critical Issues and Changing Roles

April 13 , 2005
at 2 pm Eastern / 11 am Pacific
Presented by: Jim L'Allier, Chief Learning Officer and Vice President, research and development, NETg, a Thomson Learning Company and Susan Resner, Vice President, ITG Competency Group

"In addition to reviewing results of a CLO survey on the future of learning, this highly interactive e-seminar will help learning professionals benchmark their own skills, qualifications and career objectives against their corporate peers. Working interactively with audience members, panelists will define specific competencies and a job description for the successful CLO."

Training among 20 fastest-growing jobs

In the March 21st edition of Fortune, an article entitled "Hot Careers for the Next 10 Years" names training and development as one of the 20 fastest-growing professional jobs.

Growth is estimated at 22.3 percent, from Bureau of Labor Statistics projections.

This is good news for t+d practitioners. Ready to jump-start your career? Check out the ASTD Career Center and Job Bank (free for job seekers), with these added features.

Best you might've missed

A slightly shorter list this week, but maybe that's best. Trying to find the best balance between too many and too few!

Emergent learning

Bioteaming: A Manifesto For Networked Business Teams. "Virtual, networked business teams gradually emerge as the wave of the future."

Educating The Net Generation. An e-book from Educause.

E-learning

Taking E-Learning on the Road. How to globalize your e-learning offerings.

Current Trends in E-Learning Research Report. Analysis and commentary from the eLearning Guild.

Mark Rosenberg is Postive About the Future. Ryann Ellis, editor of ASTD's e-learning Webzine, interviews the management consultant, educator, and leading learning expert.

Traditional training/learning

Training 2005. All the handouts from the recent conference are now free online.

"Skills Availability and Finding Qualified, Appropriate Talent." A good primer for what's coming down the pike. The lead item in my April Intelligence column covers this issue--coming soon.

"'Old School,' 'New School:' Changing Workforce Retention Rules." "As different as are children from adults and schools from the workplace, so are the rules regulating workforce retention in the 21st versus the 20th century."

Questions for Success. "Powerful questions have the ability to shake people out of stale ways of thinking and critically reflect on faulty assumptions. Wise leaders know this."

Business

20 Ways to Say No. Have too much on your plate? Here are ways to politely avoid taking on more tasks. (Thanks, Lifehacker.)

Mixing Friendship with Business is a Mixed Blessing. Examines what can happen when your customers are also your friends.

Top Corporate Hate Websites. A good lesson for any company: Bad customer service can lead to a Website all about how horrible your company is.

Blogging is good for your career. Despite what the news may tell you.