Online Educa 2008

Berlin is beautiful in early December.

In what’s become an annual ritual for me, I’ll be heading back for my favorite eLearning conference on the continent, Online Educa, six weeks hence.

This year I’m leading a pre-conference workshop on Informal Learning and the Social Web. I expect this to be a blast. We’re going to explore the state of the art in mashing up web 2.0 and informal learning, in both Europe and the States. A few surprise guests will be dropping by. Everyone will receive copies of Informal Learning and Learnscaping. More importantly, we’ll initiate on on-going community of practice, and there will probably be a few give-aways.

When I first saw the line-up of pre-conference workshops, I went into a slump. Saul Carliner was conducting a workshop on informal learning at the same time as mine. I worried that people would not be able to tell the difference between the two events (beyond the fact that my workshop costs € 390, and Saul’s is € 150).

In fact, the events are very different approaches to informal learning:

	Jay’s Workshop	Saul’s Workshop
Topic	Informal Learning with the Social Web	Desigining Informal Learning
Price	€ 390	€ 150
Audience	Corporate and government decision-makers	Intermediate and senior instructional designers
Prerequisites	Familiar with how organizations make decisions	Have developed three eLearning programs
Outcome	Re-invent learning as active, collaborative, need-driven adaptation to change	Design an informal learning campaign for developing job-related skills
Topics	Apply social networks for work+learning, a dozen case studies, new leadership challenges, fun in the fishbowl	Overview of informal learning, implementation issues, exercise to create an informal learning campaign

What do you think? Do I need to re-name my session?

Informal Learning with the Social Web
Workshop Leader	Jay Cross, Internet Time Group, USA
Time	Wednesday, December 3, 2008. 10:00 – 18:00
Price	€ 390
Content	An action-packed, informative, hands-on experience of informal learning, Web 2.0, and Learnscape Architecture. Topics include: how to design and nurture learnscapes, the ecosystems of informal and web-based learning; the explosive convergence of informal learning, the read/write web, internet culture, and new business models; how network effects impact organisations, changing the nature of learning and human performance; case studies of a dozen organisations that are accelerating informal learning with wikis, social networks, collaboration, podcasts, tagging, graphics, and online teams; how internet cultural values such as transparency, rapid prototyping, giving everyone a voice, peer-based decision-making, and openness impact learning and development; how to apply an informal-learning maturity model to successfully bring on-demand learning experiments into an organisation; preparing to deal with the conservative forces of “paradigm drag” by understanding “the state of the art” in Europe, Silicon Valley and worldwide; using learnscapes to increase innovation, improve productivity, become more responsive, serve customers better, and help people grow professionally; what organisational leaders can do to nurture productive learnscapes; reinvent learning as active, collaborative, need-driven adaptation to change. Each participant will receive a copy of Informal Learning, Rediscovering the Natural Pathways that Inspire Innovation and Performance and of Jay’s new un-book, Learnscape Architecture, Getting Things Done in Organizations, a six-month visa to the Internet Time online repository of learning resources, and membership in an ongoing community of practice.
Format	This event is practical, hands-on, collaborative and participative. Interaction and active discussion are core components. The session combines informal presentations, demonstrations of web and social networking technologies, and case studies from exemplary companies.
Proposed Activity	Join Jay Cross for an action-packed, hands-on experience of informal learning, Web 2.0, and “learnscaping.” Jay will unveil a new vision of how organisations can get more done with less. He will lead participants through the above-mentioned topics with a combination of stories, examples, demonstrations, graphics and facilitation. Includes two books and internet resources.
Target Audience	Learning, organisational development, and knowledge management professionals Corporate and government decision-makers
Prerequisite Knowledge	Familiarity with how organisations make decisions. Basic knowledge of blogs and wikis is useful but not required.

Designing Informal Learning
Workshop Leader	Dr Saul Carliner, Concordia University, Canada
Time	Wednesday, December 3, 2008, 10:00 – 17:00
Price	€ 150
Content	Informal learning helps instructional designers realise the any time, anywhere aspect of e-learning by encouraging them to break free from the traditional tutorial and provide learners with only the content they are likely to need at a given moment—and to provide that content in a format that’s suited to the context. This workshop explains how to do so. After an exploration of the basics of informal learning and providing learners with examples of effective informal learning campaigns, this workshop provides participants with design principles and strategies for preparing informal learning programmes and provides cases where learners can practice the application of these principles and strategies.
Proposed Agenda	Opening exercise: What you might already know about informal learning An overview of informal learning Contrasting informal learning with formal, self-directed, and non-learning Types of informal learning, such as mentoring, structured on-the-job learning, developmental experiences and performance support Examples of informal learning campaigns A portfolio of strategies for designing and implementing informal learning High-level design issues, such as choosing a form, matching expectations and building intelligence into applications to eliminate the need to learn (when feasible) Detailed design issues, such as reusing content, ensuring consistency among different components of a campaign and addressing the performance gap between intention and action Development issues, such as context-free writing Implementation issues, such as marketing, support and evaluation Exercise in designing an informal learning campaign based on a case study provided Wrap-up
Target Audience	Intermediate and senior instructional designers, faculty development specialists, technical writers, web designers and others who have designed and developed e-learning programmes, online help, user’s guides or similar materials in the past.
Prerequisite Knowledge	Participants should have designed at least three e-learning programmes, online help, user’s guides, similar materials or a combination of these materials in the past.
Outcomes	Main outcome: Design an informal learning campaign for developing job-related skills or assistance to users. Supporting outcomes: To achieve the main outcome, you should be able to: Define the term “informal learning” Name at least five approaches to informal learning Explore why informal learning is a useful approach to learning online Describe the guiding principles underlying informal learning Describe a portfolio of strategies for designing and implementing informal learning Given a case study, apply the strategies for designing and implementing informal learning to it

Online Educa 2008

Informal Learning with the Social Web

Designing Informal Learning

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