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Social Learning SIG - Push vs. Pull and How RSS Changes Learning
By Kevin Jones | September 26, 2007
Let’s bring this meeting to order. Welcome everyone. Sit back and enjoy the Social Learning ride (of course, you do realize you will have to drive some, don’t you? Unless the car breaks down…)
Let’s say I was behind a car and you were in front of it. I pushed it and you pulled it. We get the same result, yet are doing two opposite things. So it depends on which side you are on. Let’s take it from the learning professional’s perspective.
You have spent months (plus) creating training curriculum. Now, you need results (RIO). So you pull people to your training. Haven’t we all been there? They sign up through an LMS. We market our offerings. We try to convince managers why their people should attend. We create training and the people it is intended for may not want /can’t attend or don’t feel the need. Rather they may feel forced to attend, or they don’t have enough time to make it, or they were just hit with an unexpected project or… often we pull them to the learning. They feel like they are being pushed into learning - not alway, but sometimes.
Let’s turn that around. What if we were able to push learning to them and they pulled what they wanted, when they wanted, how they wanted?
Now look at it from the learner’s perspective. You want to learn about (fill in the blank). You could go out there, pulling information to you. This is the traditional way of getting information, no matter what that information is. In the early days of the internet, as an example, for you to get the industry information you wanted you needed to visit your favorite sites. On each one you would look for the information you were interested in. This might take some time. You might also come across information you didn’t want and would skip over it. And some days when you went looking you didn’t find anything useful. Oh well. Keep looking…
Well break those shackles which bind you! You don’t have a lot of time in a day to search and not find anything. For you to go searching for the latest information and not find it is not acceptable.
Let it be sent to you. This is one of what I call the ‘Seven Requirements for Social Learning.’ Unfortunately, (cliff hanger approaching) that is for another time. But I bring this up for a very important reason: for us to learn from each other in this SIG we must be able to get the information when we want it. We must let the information be pushed to us. You don’t want to check the blog every day to see if there is a new post. WASTE OF TIME. Instead, let the blog inform you of when there is new information and then tell you what that information is. If you don’t have time to read it right then, you want it waiting for you when you do have the time.
In this context, it is called RSS. I have written about this before on this BlogCascadia post. The best explanation, if you don’t know what it is (and even if you do) is found in this video.
For you to feel a part of this SIG you must RSS yourself. Here is what you will need to do:
- Go get yourself an RSS Reader. Personally, I use two readers. The most useful to me is the web based Google Reader. I also use Feedreader - a little app for the desktop. Here are some more web-based and application readers. There are pros and cons to all.
- Go here, here, here, here and here. (Ha, that was fun!) Sign up for their RSS feeds. (How? Watch the video mentioned above.)
- From those, find some others and sign up. You can always drop some or add some as you read them.
- Comment on this post. Tell us a) what reader you chose and what you think about it and b) what other RSS feeds you signed up for. If you find one, share it - we want to know as well!
The heart of this SIG is #4 - sharing. Tell us all what you think. Don’t shrink at the task! Agree/Disagree. Have any questions? Comment. Let’s hear it!
Other posts on similar topics- Web 2.0 in Learning - Part 1: RSS
- How I use Google Reader
- Why #8: Roam & Learn
- WHY #7: Choosing When To Learn
- Announcing The New Social Learning SIG
Topics: - Social Learning SIG |
September 30th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
Hi all,
I had too much to say for a comment, so I wrote this post:
http://astdcascadia.org/BlogCascadia/2007/09/30/how-i-use-google-reader/
October 5th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I use Google Reader simply because it’s easy to set-up and I can access it from anywhere. I subscribe to a rather eclectic group of blogs that range in topics from the technical (http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/km/elsua) to the absurd (http://irreverentfreelancer.blogspot.com/). What I love about tracking the various blogs I read is that I can sometimes “connect-the-dots” between unrelated subjects to find solutions that I never would have thought of before. I’m also a “serial-fowarder” in that I’m always forwarding articles on to others when I find something that I think they will find useful.
October 5th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Okay, so just after I posted my last comment I ran across an article in one of the blogs I subscribe to about “FeedHub”. Rather than summarize the article, here’s the link:
Reality Check: FeedHub
October 5th, 2007 at 12:44 pm
I agree, Karen. The blogs I follow are not all on targeted subjects. Instead, they vary and branch out a bit from the main subjects I am looking for. I first look at the title. Could there be some value for me? If not I skip, if so, I skim. Then, if it gets really interesting, I give it a good thorough reading. This way, what I do read is highly educational and beneficial to me and also varied.
I have been amazed to find how the blogs that are not directly to one of my targeted subjects will expand my mind and challenge me to think in new directions I had never considered or discover new territories.