Slides from the talk I presented March 17th at the IOC Online Conference http://www.internationalonlineconference.org/2010/program - I made a few post-talk adjustments to include some of the interactions and screen shots of the work of Dan Porter who provided live, electronic graphic recording of the talk.
Slides for a remote presentation/session for http://conference2009.e-uni.ee/index.php?n=en
SCHOOL - FROM TEACHING INSTITUTION TO LEARNING SPACE which takes place April 02 - 03, 2009 at the Estonian University of Life Sciences conference centre (Kreutzwaldi 1A, Tartu), Estonia (but I'll be in Seattle and it will be 4:30 am my time!)
Slides from my presentation at the European Foundation for Quality in Elearning about how we create connections (thus the Velcro TM) for learning anytime, anywhere.
The annotated slides from a webinar I presented for http://www.pkids.org about social media and public health . Links to the recording archive are listed in the first slide notes.
Slides for a remote presentation/session for http://conference2009.e-uni.ee/index.php?n=en
SCHOOL - FROM TEACHING INSTITUTION TO LEARNING SPACE which takes place April 02 - 03, 2009 at the Estonian University of Life Sciences conference centre (Kreutzwaldi 1A, Tartu), Estonia (but I'll be in Seattle and it will be 4:30 am my time!)
Slides from my presentation at the European Foundation for Quality in Elearning about how we create connections (thus the Velcro TM) for learning anytime, anywhere.
The annotated slides from a webinar I presented for http://www.pkids.org about social media and public health . Links to the recording archive are listed in the first slide notes.
fOSSa2011: Five Things About Online Community and NetworksNancy Wright White
My talk at fOSSa2011 in Lyon France sharing some ideas about communities, networks and technology stewardship in the context of Open Source Software communities. Photos of the sketchnotes I did of other presentations can be found here: http://fossa.inria.fr/nancywhite-s-sketch-notes-scanned-part-one/
This is a large mixed deck with three main topic areas - what and why to use online interaction, some tool issues and facilitation. Very brief and not annotated, so may not be useful as a stand alone. Used at CIAT, Cali Colombia August 14 2007
Communities, Networks and Engagement: Finding a Place for ActionNancy Wright White
Slides from a web gathering on October 11, 2011 with the Leadership Learning Network http://leadershiplearning.org/ and http://leadershiplearning.org/page/nonprofit-leadership-webinar-series
Miscellaneous slides from my Introduction to Online Communities workshops in Australia, 2009. Note that these represent raw material rather than a sequence of ideas.
Digital Habitats Activity Orientation Spidergram Activity CgNancy Wright White
These slides are a resource for an activity I use in workshops to explore what activities a group focuses on and how our tools and methods might support those activities.
Slides for an online webinar I did for The Nature Conservancy November 8, 2012. The recording can be found here: https://nethope.webex.com/nethope/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=MC&rID=65879162&rKey=982ec5cb40447d17
Presentation for public sector marketing conference on online community engagement for non technical audience. About how times have changed, methods for engaging with your community, and some case studies from public sector and government.
Social Media: Are you maximising its potential? #AHEIAJoyce Seitzinger
Invited Speaker presentation at the Australian Higher Educational Industrial Association (AHEIA) conference in Sydney, 17 May 2013.
This audience consisted mainly of HR managers in higher education organisations, so I aimed to show the rise of the networked academic and the advantages of networked practices by employees, and ask them if/how the organisation's policies enable or support those networked practitioners.
Beyond the Institution: Networked Professionals & Digital Engagement in Highe...Bonnie Stewart
Keynote for CAPAL at Congress 2016. Explores stepping beyond the boundaries of institutional education and roles, conceptualizing networked practice in light of Haraway's cyborg and new identities, engagement, and publics.
fOSSa2011: Five Things About Online Community and NetworksNancy Wright White
My talk at fOSSa2011 in Lyon France sharing some ideas about communities, networks and technology stewardship in the context of Open Source Software communities. Photos of the sketchnotes I did of other presentations can be found here: http://fossa.inria.fr/nancywhite-s-sketch-notes-scanned-part-one/
This is a large mixed deck with three main topic areas - what and why to use online interaction, some tool issues and facilitation. Very brief and not annotated, so may not be useful as a stand alone. Used at CIAT, Cali Colombia August 14 2007
Communities, Networks and Engagement: Finding a Place for ActionNancy Wright White
Slides from a web gathering on October 11, 2011 with the Leadership Learning Network http://leadershiplearning.org/ and http://leadershiplearning.org/page/nonprofit-leadership-webinar-series
Miscellaneous slides from my Introduction to Online Communities workshops in Australia, 2009. Note that these represent raw material rather than a sequence of ideas.
Digital Habitats Activity Orientation Spidergram Activity CgNancy Wright White
These slides are a resource for an activity I use in workshops to explore what activities a group focuses on and how our tools and methods might support those activities.
Slides for an online webinar I did for The Nature Conservancy November 8, 2012. The recording can be found here: https://nethope.webex.com/nethope/lsr.php?AT=pb&SP=MC&rID=65879162&rKey=982ec5cb40447d17
Presentation for public sector marketing conference on online community engagement for non technical audience. About how times have changed, methods for engaging with your community, and some case studies from public sector and government.
Social Media: Are you maximising its potential? #AHEIAJoyce Seitzinger
Invited Speaker presentation at the Australian Higher Educational Industrial Association (AHEIA) conference in Sydney, 17 May 2013.
This audience consisted mainly of HR managers in higher education organisations, so I aimed to show the rise of the networked academic and the advantages of networked practices by employees, and ask them if/how the organisation's policies enable or support those networked practitioners.
Beyond the Institution: Networked Professionals & Digital Engagement in Highe...Bonnie Stewart
Keynote for CAPAL at Congress 2016. Explores stepping beyond the boundaries of institutional education and roles, conceptualizing networked practice in light of Haraway's cyborg and new identities, engagement, and publics.
Brian and John introduce several concepts, including JavaScript Modules and Inversion of Control, and demonstrate how they alleviate many of the dominant problems encountered when building large JavaScript apps. This talk shows new architectural patterns and tangible examples of how these patterns improve testability, refactorability, composability, division of work, and team scalability.
This presentation gives you eight simple tips on how to make your PowerPoint presentation slides more visually engaging, creative and fun. Try out these advice and you will make your best PowerPoint presentation ever.
This presentation was created by my powerpoint design agency Slides. We are based in Spain but have clients worldwide.
Drop me an email and we will discuss your project.
Digital Habitats : stewarding technology for communities - South Africa, May ...Nancy Wright White
The general set of slides I'm using in my Technology Stewardship workshops in S. Africa, May 2010 (CSIR/Pretoria, University of Cape Town and IST in Durban)
Facilitating Communities of Practice in the Network EraNancy Wright White
This is the set of slides used for the morning workshop on facilitating communities, along with two other sets of slides that might be useful later to participants, but which we did not conver/talk about. So be forewarned!
A presentation/conversation to be provided by Dr Bex Lewis and Dr David Rush at the Hertfordshire Blended Learning Conference, 17th June 2010. You'll have to come along to see what we actually say alongside it!
Technology has changed what it means for people to "Be Together." We'll explore a tool to help look at how your learning community chooses to be together. The tool can be used to map activities to possible technologies, to assess the current status of a community or used to imaging the community's trajectory going forward.
Think Link: Network Insights with No Programming SkillsMarc Smith
Networks are everywhere, but the tools for end users to access, analyze, visualize and share insights into connected structures have been absent. NodeXL, the network overview discovery and exploration add-in for Excel makes network analysis as easy as making a pie chart.
A few background slides on Liberating Structures (http://www.liberatingstructures.com) shared at the Melbourne Knowledge Management Leadership Forum on November 10, 2015
Slides and harvest from a webinar I facilitated for the Mid Atlantic Facilitators Network on February 7, 2104. This is a cleaned up version of the slides with the chat notes processed into the slides as a "harvest" of people's inputs and participation
Slides for a virtual presentation I did on November 15th for the Benetec learning event. The audio for the last 10 minutes is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eQJkYlmp_g (webinar software failure!)
Visual artifacts from our one day graphic facilitation workshop at KM Singapore, September 2012. Twelve great people, willing to let it all go and write on the walls!
This isn't what I thought it was: community in the network ageNancy Wright White
A narrated version can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB82kbj-NXw This was a short remote presentation that was part of a panel at the CACUSS 12.0: Engaging Digital Citizens conference <http: /> in Vancouver BC, Canada.
Facilitating Online Interaction 4 Learning Resource SlidesNancy Wright White
Annotated resource slides from a series of 16 workshops I ran in Australia about teaching and learning online. THIS IS NOT A PRESENTATION! You can find the annotations on a PDF file on my website, http://www.fullcirc.com/2011/12/22/reflecting-on-my-tafe-workshop-approach/
conVerge 11: Connecting for Learning: Left and right, up and down (annotated)Nancy Wright White
My annotated slides from ConVerge11 in Melbourne, Australia, November 24th 2011. I'll put a pdf with annotations on my website, http://www.fullcirc.com
Before and After slides from our live #change11 MOOC session -- whiteboard and chat intensive. I'm working on getting the chat transcript and will link it when it is available, as well as the recording
Quick sketchnotes I made during others' presentations. Hopefully I'll replace the crummy photos w/ scans for a few of the pictures. Lyon, France, October 26-28
Twittering or Frittering: assessing the value of a social media tool in your ...Nancy Wright White
This is the first draft - sharing for feedback. Slides are for a one hour webinar on social media tool evaluation and adoption practices, using Twitter as a case study.
Community of Practice Roles and Facilitation - Girl Scouts L&D Conference Res...Nancy Wright White
Resource slides from my workshop on Community Roles and Facilitation, Girl Scouts of America Leadership and Development Conference, July 2010, Edith Macy Center, NY
Introduction to AI for Nonprofits with Tapp NetworkTechSoup
Dive into the world of AI! Experts Jon Hill and Tareq Monaur will guide you through AI's role in enhancing nonprofit websites and basic marketing strategies, making it easy to understand and apply.
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
June 3, 2024 Anti-Semitism Letter Sent to MIT President Kornbluth and MIT Cor...Levi Shapiro
Letter from the Congress of the United States regarding Anti-Semitism sent June 3rd to MIT President Sally Kornbluth, MIT Corp Chair, Mark Gorenberg
Dear Dr. Kornbluth and Mr. Gorenberg,
The US House of Representatives is deeply concerned by ongoing and pervasive acts of antisemitic
harassment and intimidation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Failing to act decisively to ensure a safe learning environment for all students would be a grave dereliction of your responsibilities as President of MIT and Chair of the MIT Corporation.
This Congress will not stand idly by and allow an environment hostile to Jewish students to persist. The House believes that your institution is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and the inability or
unwillingness to rectify this violation through action requires accountability.
Postsecondary education is a unique opportunity for students to learn and have their ideas and beliefs challenged. However, universities receiving hundreds of millions of federal funds annually have denied
students that opportunity and have been hijacked to become venues for the promotion of terrorism, antisemitic harassment and intimidation, unlawful encampments, and in some cases, assaults and riots.
The House of Representatives will not countenance the use of federal funds to indoctrinate students into hateful, antisemitic, anti-American supporters of terrorism. Investigations into campus antisemitism by the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Ways and Means have been expanded into a Congress-wide probe across all relevant jurisdictions to address this national crisis. The undersigned Committees will conduct oversight into the use of federal funds at MIT and its learning environment under authorities granted to each Committee.
• The Committee on Education and the Workforce has been investigating your institution since December 7, 2023. The Committee has broad jurisdiction over postsecondary education, including its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, campus safety concerns over disruptions to the learning environment, and the awarding of federal student aid under the Higher Education Act.
• The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating the sources of funding and other support flowing to groups espousing pro-Hamas propaganda and engaged in antisemitic harassment and intimidation of students. The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is the principal oversight committee of the US House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X.
• The Committee on Ways and Means has been investigating several universities since November 15, 2023, when the Committee held a hearing entitled From Ivory Towers to Dark Corners: Investigating the Nexus Between Antisemitism, Tax-Exempt Universities, and Terror Financing. The Committee followed the hearing with letters to those institutions on January 10, 202
Francesca Gottschalk - How can education support child empowerment.pptxEduSkills OECD
Francesca Gottschalk from the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation presents at the Ask an Expert Webinar: How can education support child empowerment?
Macroeconomics- Movie Location
This will be used as part of your Personal Professional Portfolio once graded.
Objective:
Prepare a presentation or a paper using research, basic comparative analysis, data organization and application of economic information. You will make an informed assessment of an economic climate outside of the United States to accomplish an entertainment industry objective.
Safalta Digital marketing institute in Noida, provide complete applications that encompass a huge range of virtual advertising and marketing additives, which includes search engine optimization, virtual communication advertising, pay-per-click on marketing, content material advertising, internet analytics, and greater. These university courses are designed for students who possess a comprehensive understanding of virtual marketing strategies and attributes.Safalta Digital Marketing Institute in Noida is a first choice for young individuals or students who are looking to start their careers in the field of digital advertising. The institute gives specialized courses designed and certification.
for beginners, providing thorough training in areas such as SEO, digital communication marketing, and PPC training in Noida. After finishing the program, students receive the certifications recognised by top different universitie, setting a strong foundation for a successful career in digital marketing.
Embracing GenAI - A Strategic ImperativePeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
Model Attribute Check Company Auto PropertyCeline George
In Odoo, the multi-company feature allows you to manage multiple companies within a single Odoo database instance. Each company can have its own configurations while still sharing common resources such as products, customers, and suppliers.
Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.
1. IOC 2010 Should we be using “community” for learning? Nancy White Full Circle Associates http://www.fullcirc.com @NancyWhite Talk Wiki: http://bit.ly/ahkdi4 http://www.flickr.com/photos/sporkist/157543688/
2. Process Note! I had the great fortune to have my talk electronically graphically recorded by Dan Porter. I’ve added a few screen shots of his work “after the fact.”
14. Where are you most comfortable? Where do you learn the most? What stifles you? Post talk: people expressed that it depended on context. Some people did have personal preferences. :
15. Assumption: Social Learning (and? “social objects” and “socio-material networks la Engstrom...) http://mohamedaminechatti.blogspot.com/2009/11/laan-vs-activity-theory.html http://www.zengestrom.com/blog/2005/04/why_some_social.html (Social-material networks) h
16. Many: Networks We: Communities Me: the Individual Personal identity, interest & trajectory Bounded membership; group identity, shared interest, human centered Boundaryless; fuzzy, intersecting interests, object centered sociality (Engeström)
17. Many: Networks We: Communities Me: the Individual consciousness, confidence level, risk tolerance, styles, emotion Distinct power/trust dynamics, shared forward movement or strong blocking, stasis, attention to maintenance, language Flows around blocks, less cohesion, distributed power/trust, change
20. Where are you currently aiming your efforts? Click to next slide to see where people started “filling in.” Individual Community Network
21. This is the white board when I asked the question. Eventually there was a strong cluster in “community.” There was also a great comment about calling something community when it really wasn’t.
39. Epilogue Resources: Talkwiki http://bit.ly/ahkdi4 www.technologyforcommunities.com http://davecormier.com/edblog/2010/01/27/community-as-curriculum-vol-2-the-guild-distribute-continuum/ Contact Nancy White nancyw at fullcirc dot com http:www.fullcirc.com @NancyWhite http://www.flickr.com/photos/poagao/527259905/
Editor's Notes
The word &quot;community&quot; rolls off many tongues as a central form for learning. Do we really know what we mean by this? Are there contexts where alternatives such as individual, paired or network configurations would be more useful? What are the differences and how do we discern what to use when? Is it time to jump on or off the &quot;community bandwagon?&quot; Let's explore! http://www.flickr.com/photos/sporkist/157543688/ Uploaded on May 31, 2006 by sporkist
For those of you new to Twitter, you may have worries about it. Some of those worries, like getting slammed in public, are important to consider. Like any online facilitation, sharing transparently your intent and, where appropriate, asking for one or two very basic sets of agreement, can be your friend. Cliff Atkinson, author of the book “The Backchannel” offers some great guidance and role modeling. I've stolen his slide. Thank you, Cliff! @backchannelbook
As we dug into the PRACTICES of technology stewardship, we realized they were part of a system, a habitat in which a group, community or network interacted. That there were intersections between the defined set of tools in a group and those used by individuals. There were overlaps and disconnects. This sharpened my awareness of the habitats or containers we construct for learning. They are diverse and that is a darn good thing. So why were we always talking about building “classroom” or “workplace communities?” Why not look at the broader habitat for learning?
The proliferation of internet based tools has expanded what it means to &quot;be together&quot; with others for learning, work and pleasure. How do we, as learners, educators and designers decide when to focus on the individual, the group or the wider network? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? How does our choice inform our selection of tools and methods? And what about all the gray area &quot;in between&quot; each of these? We'll explore how we might navigate these spaces and play with a few heuristics you can take back with you.
It starts with “me” - each of us as individual actors and learners in the world. How do we learn? What motivates us? And when are we best served as independent actors?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/swissrolli/2167756791/ Uploaded on January 5, 2008 by swissrolli
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27126314@N03/2956992219/ The next stage along the continuum – and I stress that this is a continuum – is the “we” - bounded groups with an explicit shared purpose. As we move from me to we, the purpose may be emergent, fuzzy and we may just be creating the boundaries of the group. But for today, I'll focus mainly on formed, explicit groups.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gustavog/9708628/ Finally, at the other end of the continuum – which I now think of as a circle, by the way, instead of a linear continuum, is the network. This is the network that we can now visualize and participate in more than any other time in human history because of technology. This is the “new” part of the game when we think about learning, because network participation is no longer constrained as it was by time and distance for many of us. (Not for all of us... we'll come back to that)
So let's do a little comparing and contrasting of this circular continuum. You can be clear when we talk about the individual, me. We can be clear when we have bounded communities with clear establishment of in/out membership. We can also have communities with fuzzy boundaries, which may even be networks. If there was a subliminal sign flashing across this slide, it would be saying “IDENTITY.” identity shows up differently across this continuum and identity can be linked to purpose and boundaries.
You can be clear when we talk about the individual, me. We can be clear when we have bounded communities with clear establishment of in/out membership. We can also have communities with fuzzy boundaries, which may even be networks. These different boundaries influence the power dynamics that occur between people. It influences processes of leadership and other roles. It defines levels of trust and privacy – which are not always closely linked as we move to the network level. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/bonnie_bassler_on_how_bacteria_communicate.html
Finally, the tools we use can vary across the continuum. We'll talk a bit more about this later.
From a teaching/learning perspective? From a technology perspective? From a process and/or facilitation perspective?
Note: I didn’t end up telling these stories…. Story 1 – Digital Habitats book. It started with Etienne writing a very useful report reviewing software developed for and/or used by communities of practice in 2001. As the technology market proliferated, he needed to do an update, but the complexity suggested he bring in some collaborators. John and I joined in, but in the end, the work reflected not just our work, but the knowledge that flowed to us from our networks. This was a small effort, thus our roles as individuals, as a group of authors and as actors in wider networks emerged organically. Story2 – ICT4Dev in Education. Hawaii. June 09, sunday morning after the rooster that lives outside of the condo we were renting in Punalu'u woke me up at 4:30 am, I was reading twitter and saw a link to a blog post by http://blogs.worldbank.org/edutech/why-we-need-more-not-fewer-ict4d-pilot-projects-in-education Michael Trucano of the Wold Bank. He wrote about pilot projects and the complexity of moving “to scale” in ICT for Education in Development. Since I work mostly in international development, I thought, hm, this is a great story for our time together today. You see, I don't work directly in education – which most if not all of you do, and frankly, I want to share what I've learned authentically. So why not from my sector? Looking at Michael's blog post, I immediately saw the very point I wanted to raise here. Many of my clients are looking to scale their work, to sustain it What if we explored the issue from a me/we/network perspective instead of simply talking about scale? What role would me/we/network play in scaling educational initiatives in an international development context? So, you might ask, what is this me/we/network thing she is going on about?
When I travel (which I do a lot), people often ask me what I do. I find this a very challenging question. My mom keeps wishing there was a one-liner she could tell people when they ask “just what is it that your daughter does.” Alas, my work doesn't fit nicely into a little cube. I work in the network and my work is network-like, connecting across the domains of collaboration, communication, technology, group process, and a bunch of other little things. This is not a satisfying answer to most people. But a few months back someone asked a new question, one that made me think deeply about my work and see it in a new way. They asked... Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/opendemocracy/267705194/ Uploaded on October 12, 2006 by openDemocracy
I reflected on this question. Now I work a lot in large international non governmental organizations, complex non profits and organizations. I am most often working not with executives or top leadership, but with middle people, front line project managers and field managers who have important stuff to get done, but often little or token management support (or understanding for that matter), few resources, few to no colleagues doing similar work close to them and always, not enough time. The recipe for failure right? Well, either that, or the recipe for success, because these people are usually amazing, motivated people who need just a wee bit more to succeed... usually in the form of support, learning partners and reflection. And they needed validation to be taken seriously within their own organizations.. Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/watz/1472273440/ Uploaded on October 2, 2007 by watz
I reflected on the patterns that led them to get these things they needed, and in many cases, what I retrospectively observed in my work was that with a client, I worked to hold up a mirror to help them see their own strength – the beginning of the reflective support, I connected them to an ongoing source of external domain and practice support – often a broad resource network and a smaller core, community of practice, and then I or others simply became an ongoing source of simple, human support. Their work was now triangulated out of being solely embedded in their organization, where time, attention and support for their work was scarce. They were tapping into what they needed without asking for more from the org. They were connecting to fellow practitioners to learn what they needed to learn. A little aside on the word “triangulation.” My friends in the human processes world raised eyebrows because this is one of those words used in many ways in different domains. I am not satisfied with it, but it gives something more specific than “networked learning.” It is the intentional connection of a few lines into this triangle of support, learning and validation. So bear with me until we can figure out a better word! Now I'm certainly not the first person to observe this practice, but I wondered why it wasn't more commonplace? Lilia Effimova surfaced how blogs helped this happen in the network of KM practitioners for example. The stories are everywhere. But I don't see this used as an explicit learning strategy. It is most often “user generated,” under the radar, skunkworks like. Why? Will surfacing this approach ruin it? Let's hold that question as we look at some of the elements within it. Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/roland/40344973/ Uploaded on September 4, 2005 by roland
The starting point is often a person's desire to either learn something from “an expert” (itself a loaded and often questionable term) or get an external perspective. What my colleagues often report is feeling alone and unsupported in their work. Some are so constrained, they refer to it as being imprisoned in a way that keeps them from really doing their work, or tapping into the deeper possibilities of their work. They want to go beyond “check the box” on the log frame analysis, but see little light at the end of the tunnel to do so. Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/onkel_wart/2487637968/ Uploaded on May 12, 2008 by onkel_wart
Being fully heard by someone else (preferably someone they respect and who has some external respect – that ties into the third point of validation) is akin to bringing light into the dark room, to illuminate both the substantive domain issues and they personal and often emotional contexts of the work. It is sometimes uncomfortable to talk about the emotional side of work in our organizations, but in my experience it has been crucial. Support means far more than a comforting “I understand.” Some of the elements including holding up a mirror so a person or team can see their own strengths in a new light. Asset identification and amplification. Identifying specific learning and practice needs in a very practical, task focused way. So the emotional part is woven immediately into practical work. Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/muehlinghaus/240944635/ Uploaded on September 11, 2006 by [ henning ]
The support part of the triangle identifies what types of learning, resources and practitioner connections might be useful. This is the connection bit of triangulation. An external community or network is a fantastic resource because most often it does not impose more hard costs on the person's organization (which might very likely be vetoed), it provides expertise, a place to ask and answer questions and learn, a place to find resources and experience one's practice in a fuller ecosystem, rather than in the isolation of one's own job. The connection to a community of practice or wider network however, becomes the field out of which the fruits of the ongoing triangulation live and breathe. It can take over the role of the person who provided the initial support, and it can also become the place for external validation, the next bit. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mathemagenic/4014282560/ Photo Credit: (And really interesting story) Uploaded on October 15, 2009 by Lilia Efimova This photo requires a whole of Creative Commons trail: - This is a piece of the photo made by Gauri Salokhe . - The original photo depicts a part of the visual summary of the huddle discussions at KM4Dev workshop made by several people , including myself. - I actually did the triangulation bit above and then others jumped in with coloring. - I think Nancy White was the one bringing triangulation as part of the discussion summarised here. Nancy also coached us on doing visual reporting.
I want to add a specific note here on the value of the connection to the external network, particularly because sometimes when I talk in terms of NGO work, people say “this can't work in business organizations because of competitive issues. First, NGOs are hugely competitive, even though they have a supposed shared common good or outcome they are working towards. They compete for resources, often through branding and “WE DISCOVERED THIS HERE” approaches. These are survival mechanisms, but they often block the very learning and innovation that is required in the work. External communities and networks bring diversity of thinking that we need for innovation. Even when we can't talk about ALL of the specifics of our work, we can always talk about something about our work. So creating space and permission for these extra-organizational engagements is in fact an astute investment and the risks can be managed. Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/illustriousbean/571630048/ Uploaded on June 19, 2007 by illustriousbean iza
The third and very very important part of the triangulation is external validation. Folks in the middle often have a hard time getting their work seen, validated and thus supported for continuation or growth. Those beside and below them have little extrinsic or intrinsic motivation to pay attention. Those above them have little time, attention or motivation, especially in organizations where there is little latitude for risk taking, learning through “safe fail” (Dave Snowden's term) experiments (let alone FAILURES!) and when something succeeds, management more often needs to take credit for the success because thats how the politics of the organization work. One strategy we've used for external validation involves social media. When we – the people who are either doing direct support or the community/network members – learn about the success of the lone innovator in their organization, we tell the story externally. Of course, you check to make sure you are not messing with IP, rules etc. A blog post, a Tweet or a series of retweets shines a light on the work and success of the person. All of a sudden, “the boss” looks up. What's going on here? This is cool! Others think it is cool! Let's look into it ans support it. This external validation often best comes from credible people who work in the field. If X organization is having success, then Y is interested. All of a sudden, individual and organizational identity comes into play as a support of the learning, rather than a barrier. In the NGO “KM” world, the http://KM4Dev.org network has become an important player in this role. An added bonus, beyond the immediate support of the individual, is that organizations get a better line of site to where they are doing overlapping or complimentary work, and the motivated individuals from those organizations who are also members of the network start collaborating on both formal and informal learning and project work. Hey, think of the thousands of flowers might bloom! Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/exalthim/2063912337/ Uploaded on November 25, 2007 by Mr.Thomas
So lets talk a bit more about the mechanics of getting and using triangulated support and learning. We don't have to get through all of them. We can stop and talk, share stories or whatever, at any point. Raise your hand in the Elluminate room or chat box and we'll dig in. This is not some great, deep theoretical framework, just a perspective from my practice that seems to be resonating when I talk about it with others. So today, that is what I'm offering as part of John and my session about learning outside the “training box,” that place of formalized offerings that assume the offerer knows what the offerree wants and can deliver that in a neat (and often small) package.
Three roles that I’ve been looking at are community leaders, network weavers and technology stewards. Community leaders are a more familiar role, helping defined groups achieve specific goals over a period of time. “Helping” may mean creating conditions, supporting the emergence of relationships or individual and/or group identity, managing, etc. Network weavers are a new role (See the work of June Holley et al at http://www.networkweaving.com/blog/) – “people who facilitate new connections and increase the quality of those connections.” In between community leaders and network weavers are technology stewards – they show up both in groups/communities AND networks.