Interview: “Hosting Todd Harple, INTEL Experience Engineer at ITC-ILO”.

Todd Harple is an Experience Engineer and Strategist at Intel Corporation, and is currently on sabbatical at the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin. The Delta Unit commissioned Todd to support the implementation of three projects focusing on mobile learning, knowledge management and crowd-sourced funding, motivated by a desire to benefit from external expertise in user-centred design and to broaden our perspectives on learning and communications. In this interview, Todd discusses his three-month experience at the Centre.

20 hours to learn something new?

Liberating Structures

From 12-13 March 2013,  colleagues from all units of the International Training Centre of the ILO came together to strategize on how to best “deliver as one” in responding to the latest challenges and opportunities in the world of decent work and sustainable development. Using the knowledge sharing methodologies we regularly apply in designing training activities for partners and constituents, we engaged in substantive discussions about future directions of the Centre and proposed bold new topics for training activities to stay ahead of the curve. Working with consultants from “Liberating Structures,” we also enjoyed the opportunity to update and refresh our repertoire of knowledge sharing methodologies. Watch the video to learn more.

Haley Horan

The world of webinars

Webinars (or web-conferences) are in nowadays. It’s a good and cost-effective alternative when face-to-face meetings are just not possible. The amount of webinar software hence is also growing. Who of you had not the possibility to try one of the following technologies (Web-Ex, Adobe Connect, Wiziq, Go-to-Meeting, Elluminate, . They all share a common set of features that enrich the entire on-line presentation and knowledge sharing experience. The presenter shares the slideshow, streams video’s, engages with participants through live text chat, sets up polls, invites the participants to discuss through raising hands and asks them to take note on the shared whiteboard, uploads documents that support the lecture or discussion and finally records the entire meeting to be shared for those who could not make it. If the technology is out there, including a diverse set of interesting functionalities to interact with your audience, why are there still so many webinars out there that are not engaging enough?

Human centered learning design

Organizations, institutions and businesses have applied human centered design to find innovative solutions to problems and challenges. Why not apply these principles and methods to the world of learning and training? The HCD toolkit, developed by IDEO might be a good starting point as it walks you through the entire human-centered design process that according to IDEO will support you in activities such as building listening skills, running workshops, and implementing ideas.

Visual narratives to learn from

Visual recordings of presentations in a narrative way through highlighting key ideas visually is a very interesting way of packaging content. RSA animate is succeeding quite well in this. We selected a series of video’s related to learning and training. Some of them already featured in this blog, others are new.  If you get inspired, start to record your own presentations visually with your Ipad.

The surprising truth about what motivates us

The power of networks

Free audiovisual learning opportunities

The open and free audiovisual opportunities to learn are growing exponentially on the internet. After already two posts about this topic we would like to share some more interesting tips and links with you:

- After several years of TED lectures there is a fantastic inventory of 1204 lectures which is made available here.

- The global classroom of the Khan Academy is reaching currently more than 3200 video’s with lessons and exercises.

- The Udacity university with professors from Stanford  is also expanding in open courses integrating didactic sets of learning resources.

- Academic Earth is steadily growing in its offer and is combing lectures from different top universities

- The University of the People is the last one in line we want to mention with the objective to democratize education.

Any other interesting examples?

learning about scenario planning and thinking

To learn about the future and to see what kind of patterns and trends will affect your strategy it is always useful to rely on scenario planning. A scenario is basically a story that describes a potential future. For learning professionals it can be a powerful method to learn about the possible driving forces that will affect our world so that we can incorporate them in our future learning strategies. The development of a scenario entails a collaborate process, the creation of a common language and specific tools that can bring people from different backgrounds together. Jisc Infonet puts it as following:

Scenarios provide alternative views of the future. They identify some significant events, main actors and their motivations, and they convey how the world functions. Building and using scenarios can help us explore what the future might look like and the likely changes of living in it.

At Online Educa last year DELTA participated in a learning scenario planning exercise with Hans De Zwart and Willem Manders. During this meeting we mapped out the (corporate) learning environment, the important actors and the driving forces which gave us a solid base to map out different scenarios. Click here for an overview of the used scenario methodology.

Linking with Learning Professionals. Article one: Linkedin

Social networks are growing and the labyrinth of social media tools and networks is not always easy to oversee, let be the added value what you can get out of these networks. Therefore we will on a regular base zoom in on some of the specific tools and reflect together with you what the added value could be for learning and training professionals. The first one to kick of the series is Linkedin.  For those who want a simple explanation about the tool we refer to the In Plain English series


What would be the real added value of Linkedin for learning professionals and institutions? To kickstart this brainstorming session we would like to invite you to read two articles and extract there all possible tips for learning professionals.
10 ways to use Linkedin
Smart ways to use Linkedin

the art of knowledge exchange

In a training institution more and more activities move beyond the traditional cycle of delivering courses. Learning and training gets closely connected with knowledge sharing and the larger domain of knowledge management. We will take this aspect into account and feed this blog also from this knowledge angle. Two elements that might be of interest for you:

- ITC-ILO is launching its first knowledge lab:”From Knowledge Management to knowledge sharing“. A workshop that will walk you through the entire knowledge management cycle address all the necessary tools and techniques to share organisational knowledge in an efficient and effective manner. More information and registration available on this link.

 

 

 

 

 

 

- The World Bank Institute published recently : “The art of knowledge exchange“. A step-by-step guide for practitioners with methodological insights on how to set up and manage knowledge exchange activities such as study visists, peer reviews, communities of practice, dialogues and conferences. Download the publication here.

Any other knowledge sharing link, publication or event more than welcome !