Learning, Learners, and Communities: Evolution of the Professional Learning Paradigm

Are we at the edge of a paradigm shift?

Today I attended a great webinar from the Human Capital Institute (HCI) on innovations in the business learning model. It was called From Solitary to Social: The Evolution of Learning.

Referencing a number of studies and books on the topic, this webinar dived into discussions on the audience's current LMS and the role of informal learning in an enterprise environment.

Our host pointed out that in the recent economic recession and in the current recovery, learning always needs to be closely related to competencies and have a real and tangible business value. She tied this into methods for capturing, promoting, and nurturing informal learning.

We talked about breaking down silos and encouraging customers to work across roles and departments to get the most from each other. Social Learning communities can help facilitate these connections by employing Web 2.0 funcationalities.

These inlcude blogs, communities of practice, discussion forums and videos. Learners need to be empowered to co-create content and best practices in formal or informal programs. I've added some great graphics to ponder from the webinar.

Recasts of this presentation are available here:

Recast Schedule:

Friday, Jun 17 2011 6:00pm EDT
Sunday, Jun 19 2011 10:00pm EDT
Monday, Jun 20 2011 2:00am EDT
Monday, Jun 20 2011 6:00am EDT
Monday, Jun 20 2011 10:00am EDT

Are you familiar with Just In Time Learning? The usefullness of Sharing and Tagging? The changes prompted by Millenials in the workspace? Advantages of Jam Sessions or other crowdsourcing projects?

To learn more on these great topics, I would recommend you attend this webinar, which includes details from two very useful case studies: two large companies that revolutionized the learning environment with valuable input from their employees