Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Community Based eLearning

I believe that Community Based eLearning is a positive addition to a training environment.  I think that when instituting community based eLearning.  It is important that someone should ensure that the content has instructional value. If
someone posted an advertisement about cars in a newsgroup, the
moderator could (and should) prevent it from being widely broadcast. If I received hundreds of inappropriate e-mails from a newsgroup, I would apply my own level of censorship, and un-subscribe myself. That is precisely why I recommend some
filtering - so that the eLearning site does not become repulsive to its
audience.

A properly set up site that allows unfiltered posting should have a blog
area for first timers, and this should not be the principal area of the
site. Frankly, I no longer read the main general discussion area on the
BH network site because it is so unfiltered, and it takes too much
effort to find the useful opinions from among the "I'm thrilled to do
this..." postings.

I have already signed up as a volunteer for several discussion groups
about Rapid eLearning and Practical eLearning. Wouldn't it make
more sense for your B-H experts who wrote the reports on the new
technologies (and seem to advocate adoption) be in a better position to
guide these discussions (and could simultaneously recommend purchase of
their reports)?

I much prefer a newsgroup style of discussion simply because
responses are pushed to my desktop via e-mail. I can read them when I
want, and respond in near-real time if I can. It is a more
"event-driven" system. I don't use a newsgroup if they require that I periodically log
in and review the entire site to find out what is new. I don't have any interest in reading "this is really great" or "thanks for this information" type additions.

2 comments:

doofdaddy said...

Hello Al,

I wonder if sometimes being part of a community means dealing with those areas that are less pragmatic. If all of the useless chatter were stripped from the community I think that it would lose its personality and become less "community."

I think the role of the experts in the community is to be open to the chatter and still find ways to bring focus to the more practical conversations.

Your post did make me think about some ideas for our own user community. Have a great day.

Tom Kuhlmann

Janet Clarey said...

Hi Al,

[our email from November...]

We launched the Brandon Hall Network nearly two years ago to provide an online social network for learning and talent management professionals. Since then, the network has grown to more than 3,000 members. Thank you for participating.

When we first evaluated possible platforms for the network, our choices were limited. Social networking software has since evolved so dramatically that we believe we can better serve our community members by closing the Brandon Hall Network and continuing our discussions on the fastest growing social network, Facebook.

Consequently, we closed the Brandon Hall Network (www.brandonhallnetwork.com) on November 30, 2007 and are continuing our discussions on the Brandon Hall Innovations in Learning Facebook group.

Facebook was originally limited to academic institutions. Since late 2006, it has become available to the general public. The level of activity we see on Facebook indicates that this platform provides many of the tools and applications professionals want.

We hope to see you in the Brandon Hall Innovations in Learning Facebook group. Simply open an account with Facebook (www.facebook.com), and search for the Brandon Hall Innovations in Learning group. Or, once logged into Facebook, simply click the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5854362723

Janet