Week 6: Pulling it all Together

For the past 5 weeks, we've been working together to explore social media tools and how they can be used for personal professional development and in working with learners. This course was also a preparation for the eLearning Guild's DevLearn conference, which runs in San Jose next week from November 11-14.

As we wind down the course, we're going to explore how social media can be used to support attendance at a conference, specifically DevLearn, but these tools can be used at in many conference settings.  We'll also be looking at the major themes and key learning points that have emerged as a result of our hands-on work with social media over the past few weeks. Now that you've had a chance to learn more about wikis, blogs, social networks, social bookmarking and RSS, what does all of this mean for learning?

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Social Media and Conferences

Attending DevLearn?

DevLearn attendees will have the opportunity to use a number of the social media tools we've been discussing during the Work Literacy course. A full list of the tools and how they'll be used at DevLearn is here. If you'll be attending DevLearn, check out the page and make sure that you're hooked into the social media scene at the conference. Also check out Tony's post on how to be an insanely great professional conference attendee.

Let us know here if you'll be attending DevLearn--it would be great for people to be able to hook up at the conference.

Twitter

One of the key tools they'll be using at DevLearn is Twitter. This is a "micro-blogging" or "presence technology" tool that allows people to share information with their "followers" in 140 characters or less. For many people, it's the most useful tool in their social media toolkit--check out how many learning professionals have identified Twitter as one of their top tools.  Also take a look at this directory of learning professionals who are on Twitter.Other people aren't so sure--here's someone who deleted his account. 

To learn more about Twitter and how it can be used for conferences and learning, check out Twitter in Plain English and then explore these links.

•  My Quick Start Tips for New Twitterers 
• Video Tutorial on Getting Started with Twitter
• TwiTip--Twitter Tips for Beginners--thanks to Collin Kromke
  
• Your Guide to Microblogging and Twitter 
• 17 Ways You Can Use Twitter
• 47 Awesome Twitter Tools You Should be Using
• Twitter for Academia
• How to Twitter Conferences Like a Rock Star

Also check out this Forum where we'll discuss how people are using Twitter and any questions you have on the technology.

Liveblogging a Conference

"Liveblogging" an event refers to the practice of writing a blog post while an event is occurring. You can liveblog a meeting, a conference keynote, a workshop or just about any other event. Liveblogging can be particularly powerful for getting the most out of a conference, both for you as a conference-goer, as well as for others who may not be able to attend.

According to this post, liveblogging an event provides learners with a way to record and learn more from conference sessions. Liveblogging can also demonstrate the power of social media to organizations--imagine having someone liveblog a conference, making this information immediately accessible to those who were not able to attend. And this post in Mashable  points out that liveblogging "allows those that aren’t at the event to participate remotely, and it also helps facilitate a conversation among attendees by giving them access to content they might have missed as well as a place where they can discuss it."

To learn more about liveblogging, explore these links.

http://delicious.com/michelemmartin/liveblogging

Liveblogging Lisa Johnson--an example of a liveblog post from Michele

You can share your liveblogging tips and ask any questions you may have in this forum.

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Social Media and Learning--What Are the Implications?

For the past 5 weeks, we've had the opportunity to try out new social media tools for personal learning and for working with other learners. We've also discussed best practices for using these tools and the opportunities and challenges inherent with each. In this final week, we want to explore the overall themes of learning with social media.

• How have these tools changed your thinking about learning?
•  How have they changed your personal professional practices?
  
• What are the key themes that have emerged for you?
  
• What questions still linger?
  
• What will you be doing differently as a result of participating in this course?
  

We'll be exploring the overall implications of the course in this Forum.  In this Forum, we're discussing whether or not the course was successful from your perspective.

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Activities

Spectators--Read through the articles and forums. If you'll be attending DevLearn, see who else might be there so you can connect. Check out the list of learning professionals on Twitter and visit their profiles so you can get an idea of how Twitter works.

Joiners/Collectors--Read through all the articles and forums. Set up a Twitter account and check out the list of learning professionals on Twitter so you can start following some of them. Check out the forum on learning with social media and share your thoughts on what you've learned during the course.

Creators--Read through all the articles and forums and if set up a Twitter account if you haven't already done so. If you're using Twitter, share your favorite resources and your thoughts on the pros/cons of Twitter. Try liveblogging an event this week--maybe a meeting or a training session. Share your thoughts on what you've learned during the course.