Repurposing Tools

Somehow or other, the wonderful and convoluted maze of hyperlinking led to me elearnity, which is a UK-based consulting service for corporate learning innovations. Like most corporate entities with an online presence, elearnity maintains a blog. I confess that I find most corporate blogs to be boring regurgitations of corporate speak, designed to market to a target audience. The Rapid E-Learning Blog, for instance is so biased in how it filters in comments, and while I enjoyed my first 6 months of reading it, eventually I realized that it's author was basically just writing variation after variation of leveraging Powerpoint and how great that is for a tool like Articulate. I realize the author is employed by Articulate, so some marketing copy is bound to be on the blog, but if you already know how to do some great things with clipart and the pixel real estate of Powerpoint, and you can appreciate a good job aid over a full course, the Rapid E-Learning blog gets old pretty quickly.

Sometimes however, a corporate blog throws you a curve ball and comes up with something really interesting.

In this case, the elearnity blog suggested tapping into the power of viral marketing and using it as a learning tool. Specifically, the author noticed SplashCast, which creates "embeddable entertainment." The full text of the blog post can be found here.

What interested me about the post wasn't so much SplashCast as it was the idea of repurposing tools that have already proved their success. We're often on a race to find the newest, most cutting edge web 2.0 tool, and there's certainly a lot to be said for bringing these tools and their innovations to learners, but what about using something else, that's already proved effective or even addictive, and using it for eLearning rather than its intended purpose? Kind of like repurposing a game for elearning, but in this case, taking the ideas behind viral marketing, and repurposing the marketing tool for socially transmitted education.

R5 Productions

R5 Productions
This website is, in my opnion, the best compilation site for indie shows in Philly. R5 allows users to access info using Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. Some of the Philly venues that are listed on this site are the 1st Unitarian Church (my favorite venue!), Starlight Ballroom, Johnny Brendas, and The Barbary. The site displays show-listings for each day, offers sample music downloads for the bands playing in that show, a link to purchase tickets to the show, and a brief review of each band. This is a great site for finding new music on the indie scene. Since R5 uses "social networking" tools, I figured it was a good opportunity to post about the site. Enjoy!

Out of the Woods into Technology

As a newcomer to social networking I have found last weeks presentations extremely helpful. Three years ago I met a lovely woman who asked me to contact her via e-mail, at that time I had let my e-mail account go, and was doing my best to live without the use of technology. I had no telephone, no television, and no computer. I was practicing a specific type of hatha yoga around 5 hours a day and was working as a associate manager of a vitamin and herbal medicine department. I had little time for technology and didn't miss it. But owe how things change, the day i met my now fiance, i opened up a hotmail account and soon after purchased a cell phone. I am now in my final semester in a technology heavy instructional design program and have come full circle (everything but a television:-) and feel more balanced as a result. Social networking sites were once a pet peeve of mine, tools for tennie bopper wanna be rocks stars but now I am seeing they can be amazing tools for keeping in contact with long lost classmates, co-workers, and even possibly new friends. Although i still find the overwhelming number of quizzes and mindless things I am sent, I no longer feel a disdain towards what I now feel is a helpful tool and a powerful medium for connecting our world. Thank you

Social Networks

It is ironic that the latest blog on Learning Town (a site developed by Elliott Masie) is on Leveraging Social Networks for Learning. Our organization focuses on Pharmaceutical, Biotech, and Medical Device Companies, so Social Networks are very difficult to bring into thier world. The critical challenges / road blocks we run into is surrounding regulation, medical/legal constraints, and concerns. I believe it is only a matter of time before even these industries will be using social networks to share data, exchange information and improve on interactions with both internal and external clients. I would appreciate any ideas, additional to what Dr. Nic has discussed on restricting postings, as to how Social Networks can be used in a highly regulated industry such as the area of Pharmaceutical or BioPharma. Thanks for your comments.