LearnHub

Proliferation of information without educating the user in the means and methods of deploying new technology services that facilitate cataloguing and retrieval, invariably means that such capabilities such as bookmarking and tagging are poorly applied. More information doesn’t imply greater learning. Learning, demonstrated in adopted and iterative behaviour, illustrates that new skills are acquired and actioned.

Who is teaching the learners these new skills? What motivates the learning by digital natives? Are skills learned through social media engagement sufficient to transition similar skillsets to learning environments?

I think the tools you mention do have a great advantage in term of knowledge management: when everybody in doing stuff online, they leave a trail that is much easier to follow, store, and revisit than when this is done offline.

Web2.0 makes it all more attractive (“sexy”) and gives very good clues as to who you are collaborating with, thus making the process a whole lot more engaging.

I will agree with a big BUT. Web 2.0 technologies are tools. When I deal with anything today, I use a triangle with people at the top, processes, and technology at the bottom. When looking at Web 2.0 by itself, these are just tools of the trade. We can not forget the people and processes needed to make the tools work. You can have the greatest Web 2.0 technologies in the world but it does not mean it will be used. There are lots of examples of great technologies that never made it. Those stories could be used to dispute your premise. So, my take is that is all depends like everything else. But, Web 2.0 does have potential with right combination of people, processes, and technology. The book Diffusion of Innovations by Rogers is a good one to read to understand how technology is adopted and used and can be applied here.

I’m loving the distinctions you’re introducing here, Dr. Techie! People/Processes/Technology. In my personal experience, this balance is everything.

Right now, there’s so much innovation going on, so many new tools flooding the market and vying for our attention and there IS a limit to how much information we can work with in our short term memory! Unfortunately, it’s a LOT smaller than most of us want to admit… and our interaction with all the innovation can become crazed, instead of wise, when we hit the limit and don’t do something effective to organize and dump what we’re carrying in our minds (and hearts). Emotion is a big part of all this, too…

What are people here doing to work with this obstacle of too much of a good thing? And what kinds of processes are you using to engage your colearners without overwhelming them?