Learning at Sun Microsystems rocks.
You’ve heard me prattle on about the convergence of work and learning on what I call learnscapes. Sun’s CLO Karie Willyerd shares a similar vision: Sun Learning eXchange is an online platform for learning, practice, and giving back. Shorthand: tell people what you expect them to do; then make it easy for them to learn how to do it. It’s not rocket science, but it does turn the usual way of looking at corporate learning on its head.
Bringing the vision to fruition requires making it drop-dead simple for anyone with a lesson to share to it. Say it; it appears online:
When Karie was showing me a video studio-in-a-box this morning, Charles Beckham, Sun’s tech lead for learning, wandered by in search of coffee.
Just watch the video. No files, no widgets, no FTP, no intermediaries. We sat and talked. Charles pushed the button. We were done. This is what immediately appeared in the cloud, ready for replay on PC or iPhone.
Remember “rapid eLearning”? This is more rapid.
Here’s the input station. I remember seeing one of these at Cisco several years back. Think “studio in a box.” It’s from Siris Media and will set you back around $12,000.
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If it’s direct to the cloud, then wouldn’t it be evaporative learning?
Ooh, Harold another new term to add to the mix! ;o)
But I like this approach to and respect for learning and learners reflected here.
It would have been more informal without the blue backdrop which is more representative of a “fixed” environment.
As someone who is experienced with Sarbanes-Oxley, I can’t see how a company could record and share in a public forum. For internal sessions; a perfect opportunity. With customers and public; I think this is TOO informal and could ultimately could create problems in the days of compliance.
Love the blog Jay…keep up the good work.
Ben, is this more dangerous than the hundreds of blogs individual Sun employees make available to the world?
Transparency is more important than it used to be. Was it Clay Shirky who said that when things aren’t transparent, he begins wondering what somebody has to hide? I appreciate that some things must remain confidential but suspect we have to trust our workers to make the right call on what must remain inside the wall.
For what it’s worth, in the demo, Charles had to select whether the video would be available externally in order to complete the session.
The backdrop doesn’t detract, and “informal” doesn’t necessarily mean “with no forethought whatsoever.”
The actual conversation is clearly informal, and does a great job of demonstrating the capability. I don’t know if you guys chose the background, but to the extent it makes it easier for someone to follow the main point, all the better.
Ben has a point about compliance. I can imagine an informal exchange like this in, say, the pharmaceutical industry, running afoul of requirements regarding good manufacturing practice or FDA inspections or whatnot.
That’s the point of a choice like the one you mention (“available externally?”). The same employees could share information inappropriately in other forums (e.g., discussing pricing with competitors). The challenge for the organization is to help people make those decisions appropriately and intelligently.
Thanks for the comment, Dave. The background in question was tacked to the wall behind us when we walked into the room. In fact, Karie was simply showing me the set-up when Charles walked by and cut on the machine. Totally impromptu.
“The challenge for the organization” has always been “to help people make those decisions appropriately and intelligently,” hasn’t it? Before the web and ubiquitous listening-in, the results of inappropriate, unintelligent decisions were easier to sweep under the rug.
Hi Jay, thanks for sharing the video. Just FYI, Sun is using Veodia platform as a service to enable the instant cloud recording from anywhere in the world. The box from Siris Media helps provides the standardized “production” environment (good light, good sound) to make it easy for people who don’t have a webcam. Also, about the security comments, the Veodia platforms comes with privacy features that allow you to restrict your audience to either internal or public if that’s what you want.
Wow! The more I read about Sun, and the more I talk to Sun people, the more I think that’s a company that gets it. This is so cool!
I hope I get a chance to meet Charles at DevLearn08 in November. Maybe you could introduce us?
Great post, Jay!
Brent
I’m all about informal learning, collaboration, communities of practice and 2.0 tech. But I have to wonder, is it always wise to have our heads in the CLOUD? There are those who say no (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/29/cloud.computing.richard.stallman) and the very metaphor itself suggests caution. Thoughts?
Hi,
I like the blog and I would very much appreciate if you could stop the video from autoplaying on your home page.
Thank you.
Raymond, you are absolutely right. I just put the blabbing video on another page, with a link from the pagea. The jarring video sound was getting on my nerves, but it took you nudge to get me to fix it. Thanks. jay