Stephen Downes on A Gathering of Ideas

This is really worth reading by Stephen Downes, he talks about the meaning of the internet. Some extracts……..

“an explosion of capacity thrust into the hands of people worldwide, the instrument not only for the greatest outburst of creativity and self-expression ever seen, but also of the greatest autonomy and self-determination, and as well on top of that an unparalleled mechanism for cooperation and cohesion”

“the meaning of the internet boils down to a simple utility. One person, one voice. The freedom of each of us to form and to have and to share our own thoughts, created by us, contributed freely to the world, and a society built, not on the basis of a propagation of ideas, but rather, on the basis of a gathering of them.”

Reflections Learning and skills group conference

I attended the learning technologies conference this week in London. Another great conference organised by Don Taylor. (with his tie off!)

Here are some reflections and key points that I have taken away from the session run by Charles Jennings.

When working is learning then learning is working

The seller sets the price but the buyer/stakeholder determines the value. People have different views of what value is.

For L&D, performance consulting yields the greatest value

If HR and L&D strategy are aligned to business objectives then there will be a 250% increase in business performance

When designing, analysis is key

It’s all about trust when working with managers

Understand business challenges and respond quickly. This reminds me of Mark Oelhert‘s quotes from the conference in January. “Think big, start small, move fast”

Workforce development is too important to be left to L&D alone. Engage managers in the journey. Build strong collaborative partnerships and influence strategies and direction

The most significant learning experiences happen outside of the formal environment

L&D professionals need to understand the balance sheet, understand business, understand the technology and use performance consulting skills