Quick links and resources from BP’s Future of Learning

At the end of November, I flew over to Houston for a two-day internal conference organised by Nick Shackleton-Jones called ‘Future of Learning’. I tweeted a lot throughout the event, using the #BPFOL12 hashtag, and I’ll be writing up some of the key sessions and takeaways in subsequent posts.

In the meantime, though, I wanted to try and pull together some of the really useful links and resources from the backchannel: even though we were a relatively small group tweeting, there were a lot of websites, videos, infographics and tools shared.

I should say that this is almost certainly not a complete list. In my backchannel curation naivety, I didn’t realise that you need to get in there very quickly before Twitter erases all evidence of the hashtag stream! I did manage to find the majority of tweets on Topsy, but I’m fairly sure it was an incomplete record. If you tweeted a link or resource which isn’t mentioned below, let me know and I’ll add it in.

Conference summaries and overviews:

• Future of Learning tweetdoc (mostly Day 2, incomplete record) – via Aisha Taylor

Resources shared or mentioned by Nick Shackleton-Jones

• Sight – a futuristic short film on YouTube
• We have a wheel, we built a cart – a blog post by Nick 
• How to seal a bag of chips without a clip – YouTube clip

Resources related to Nigel Paine‘s session:

• 2012 Towards Maturity Benchmark Report
• Clouds, big data and smart assets: Ten tech-enabled business trends to watch – from McKinsey Global Institute

Resources and websites mentioned in or related to Greg Williams‘ session:

• mylearningworx (the UK’s first crowd-sourced hub for learning)
• StackOverflow (a collaboratively edited Q&A site for programmers)
• WhipCar.com (an example of collaborative consumption)
• Kiva (a micro-finance and social performance site)
• The Eight Kinds of Fun – by Marc LeBlanc, via Ben Betts
• The Flipped Classroom (infographic) – via Aisha Taylor
• Gamification by Design by Gabe Zichermann and Christopher Cunningham – via Aisha Taylor
• Codecademy – via Aisha Taylor
• Open Badges (for gamification implementation) – via Aisha Taylor
• MIT App Inventor (open source Android app developer) – via Aisha Taylor
• Waze (real-time, community-based traffic and navigation app) – via Aisha Taylor

Resources and websites mentioned in or related to NeuroSky’s session:

• NeuroSky website
• Necomimi concept video (‘cat ears’ product using NeuroSky technology)
• Bill Nye’s video game AERO lets you fly like a bird while learning about physics (TED blog and video) – via Aisha Taylor

Miscellaneous tools, resources and websites:

• Wordle, for creating word cloud graphics – via Aisha Taylor
• Tagxedo, also for creating word clouds
• Tool Tuesday: Twitter curation tools – blog by Tara Coomans via Aisha Taylor
• Twitter for Trainers by Jane Bozarth – via Aisha Taylor
• A who’s who of social media for 2012 (infographic) – via Aisha Taylor
• Manager Tools search results for podcasts on using LinkedIn effectively – via Aisha Taylor

Why you should go to Learning Technologies 2011

This will be my fourth Learning Technologies show and each year I’ve taken something different from the experience.

In 2008 I’d been working in the industry for just over six months. A couple of hours walking round the exhibition opened my eyes to just how broad and varied and interesting the industry is. Suddenly I wasn’t just working in the bespoke e-learning field, but in the much wider world of learning and development.

In 2009 I spent more of my time upstairs, attending a couple of conference sessions. This was my first real opportunity to hear some of the top movers and shakers speak, and it was probably this visit that really inspired me not just to follow blogs and read articles but to start sharing everything I was learning and thinking about with my colleagues and clients.

In 2010 I was back down on the exhibition floor for a lot of the time. I spoke in one of the seminar theatres, which was a fantastic opportunity to stretch myself and do something new (and daunting). But more importantly, manning the Saffron stand and attending other seminars meant I was really in the thick of it. Upstairs in the conference the discussions are all about visions for where learning and development is or should be going, which is great. But it’s downstairs in the exhibition where you can really find out what people are doing now, what problems they’re having and what’s working wonders.

Looking back over the past three years, it’s clear that Learning Technologies is a really valuable experience for anyone in the industry: whatever your role or career stage, you’ll get something from it.

So what am I hoping to get from Learning Technologies 2011?

• Most of my time will be spent on the Saffron stand where we’ll be filming willing volunteers sharing their top tips, to be uploaded to our YouTube channel for discussion, comment and point-of-need learning. So I’m looking forward to rising to the challenge of creating a learning resource live throughout the show.
• Since last January I’ve started Tweeting and blogging, so I’ve built up a great network and I’m looking forward to putting faces to names, turning virtual conversations into real conversations and meeting as many of the people I’ve shared with and learnt from over the past year as possible.
• If I do get the chance to explore the exhibition, I’m looking forward to seeing what other people are doing to constantly raise the bar and redefine excellence, particularly in e-learning. It’s always a great source of inspiration, ideas and talking points and I’m sure this year will be no different.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend any conference sessions and probably won’t make it to many seminars either. There are so many great topics, so I’m depending on my fellow bloggers to report back on all the good stuff they learn – please keep me in the loop!

I’ll be on stand 18 (the bright orange one; it’s hard to miss!) so if you are attending please do come by and say hello.

An e-learning Christmas variety box from the eLN (part 2)

Before Christmas I collated the first 14 days of the eLearning Network’s advent calendar, ’24 Tips for eLearning Professionals’. In case you missed then, here’s a round-up of the final 10 days:

1. Preparing for a virtual classroom, virtual meeting or webinar (by Barry Sampson)
2. Thinking about designing campaigns, not just courses (by Lars Hyland)
3. Making the most of e-learning storyboards (by John Curran)
4. Delivering results by aligning L&D and operations (by Lesley Price)
5. Setting up your own web server (by Dan Roddy)
6. Gameifying your e-learning (by Simon Bostock)
7. Creating successful scenario based questions (by Grant Williams)
8. Using the GEAR methodology for engaging, effective live online learning (by Kate Graham)
9. Designing effective questions (by Viv Cole)
10. Producing great video for e-learning (by Rob Hubbard)

There’s something for everyone amongst the full 24 tips, and I for one hope this is something the eLearning Network repeats next Christmas!

Something for the weekend: kinetic typography video

Despite having the best intentions of posting something new this week, it’s now 5.30 on Friday and I’ve not been able to squeeze in any blogging time so far. I promise to do better next week! In the meantime, I thought I’d share my favourite thing I saw this week. Anyone who loves language and wonders at words will enjoy this fast-paced, engaging ‘kinetic typography’ video set against Stephen Fry’s essay on language – well worth watching. Enjoy!

Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net