JEFF THOMAS COBB

Leading with Learning

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New Book on Lifelong Learning – E-Version Free This Week

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10 Ways to Be a Better Learner Cover ImageI’ve been doing a lot of writing this spring. A few weeks ago I turned in a manuscript to AMACOM for Leading the Learning Revolution: An Expert’s Guide to Capitalizing on the Exploding Market for Lifelong Learning. It will be a while before that one comes out, so in the meantime I am releasing 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner.

10 Ways to Be a Better Learner is meant to be a quick read that offers solid, practical advice to avid or aspiring lifelong learners. In the global learning economy we now live in there is really no arguing against the idea that continuous, effective lifelong learning is more important than ever. But most of us don’t tend to give a lot of thought to how to be better learners. And most of us have not been all that well prepared by traditional schooling to meet the challenges and opportunities of our hyper-connected, information-overloaded world.

If you haven’t thought of yourself as a lifelong learner before now, I’d argue it is high time. And whether you are an avid or aspiring lifelong learner, you are in luck this week: the Kindle edition of 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner will be available for free download through this Friday (June 8, 2012). Grab it at:

So, I hope you will take it for a spin.  If you do read it and find it of value, I’d also be truly grateful if you would consider giving it a brief review on Amazon.com.

Jeff

P.S. – “Official” press release for 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner

Reviving the Shift Age

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david-houle-futuristThe following is an older post that got lost a while back when the servers at my hosting company crashed. I’m starting to selectively restore some of those old posts whenever it makes sense. What is spurring me to get this one restored right now is that it focuses on futurist friend and colleague David Houle. David is a shining example of someone who really saw the potential for launching a whole new career using the tools of the social Web – along with a lot of hard work – and that is what he has set about doing over the past few years. Recently, he has been invited to blog over on Oprah.com. I encourage you to check out his posts over there and also to read on for a brief review of his book, The Shift Age. Here’s the original post:

[Read more…] about Reviving the Shift Age

Association Learning Management System Report Published

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Association LMS coverI talk a fair amount about creating and marketing digital products here on Hedgehog & Fox. I don’t do this purely from a theoretical or consultative perspective: digital products in the form of research reports are actually an important part of my own business over at Tagoras. So, I am happy to announce the publication of our newest report: Association Learning Management Systems.

You can get the full scoop on the  Association Learning Management Systems report page on the Tagoras site, but I’ve included some of the key details below for readers here who may be interested.

Whether of not you want the full report, I recommend downloading the table of contents and sector overview. It’s got some good content in it. Here are a few of the key details on what the full report – which is more than 400 pages long – includes:

  • An overview of LMS usage in the association sector
  • An extensive set of guiding questions for LMS selection
  • 29 tables that compare systems across a variety of areas
  • In-depth vendor profiles based on 243 questions covering 28 different areas
  • Brief reviews of each system based on answers to the questions and a demonstration session with each vendor

Companies included in the report are:

      In case it is not immediately obvious, a report like this can save you a tremendous amount of time and money if you are planning to run a learning management system RFP selection process.

      Jeff

      Update, March 2010: Individual LMS profiles from the Association Learning Management System report have now been released. See the Tagoras association learning management system profiles press release

      Talking eLearning with aLearning

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      A brief note to readers particularly interested in association e-learning: I had the pleasure recently of talking with Ellen Behrens, of the aLearning Blog, about her new book on association e-learning, aLearning: A Trail Guide to Association eLearning. I decided to post this one over on Tagoras. The interview runs about 30 minutes and covers topic ranging from what makes association e-learning initiatives successful – or not – to the potential role of social media in association e-learning. It’s well worth hearing what Ellen has to say.

      Interview with Ellen Behrens >>

      Jeff Cobb
      Hedgehog & Fox

      Association E-learning Report Released

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      Just a brief post to note that Association E-learning: State of the Sector has been officially released. We (Celisa Steele and I) have been working on this since October. As far as we know, it is the most comprehensive piece of research out there right now on the state of e-learning in the association sector. If you are with you an association planning to launch and or grow an e-learning initiative, the report is packed with info that it would take a great deal of time, effort, and expense to gather independently. The same is true if you are a technology or service provider in the sector (or want to be).

      If you are interested in the association online education report, then you might also be interested in the Tagoras report on learning management systems (LMS) for associations and our report on association virtual conferences.

      Association Social Media and E-learning

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      In working on the Association E-learning 2009: State of the Sector report, one of the resources I turned to was the excellent Association Social Technologies report issued by Principled Innovation in January. If you aren’t already familiar with this report, here’s the quick rundown.

      The report team, which included Principled Innovation founder Jeff De Cagna along with Ben Martin and SocialFishes Lindy Dreyer and Maddie Grant – arguably the “A-Team” when it comes to association social media – collected detailed data from more than 280 associations about their use of social technologies. They also interviewed a number of associations to create a set of “mini” case studies to include in the report. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, they infuse the entire report with their well-educated perspectives on the current state and potential role of social media in the sector.

      Really, if you are with an association that is thinking about starting or growing your social media initiatives, this is a must have.

      Aside from finding it very valuable at a general level, the report has also been particularly useful to me as I assess how the whole concept of Learning 2.0 – that is, e-learning blended with social technologies – is fairing in the association world. I asked the nearly 500 organizations that responded to the 2008 Association Sector E-learning Survey a number of questions about how they are using e-learning specifically for their online education programs. For the most part, they aren’t. The technology that fairs the best is discussion boards – old school, admittedly, but still social. Among organizations currently offering e-learning, 32.7percent report using discussion boards.

      Here’s how the responses for three key technologies – social networks, blogs, and wikis – stack up against usage numbers for these three technologies at a broader level, as revealed in the Principled Innovation report:

      Usage of social networks, blogs, and wikis Sector-wide
      (AST Report)
      		 E-learning
      Social networking sites 31.0% 25.0%
      Blogs 21.0% 16.4%
      Wikis 14.0% 10.1%

      ***

      While I am not surprised that social networks and blogs seems to have more traction than wikis, it is interesting to me that wikis are apparently being used so little – both broadly across the sector as well as in e-learning. They are so simple to use and can be such a great tool for collaborating among dispersed staff members, volunteers, and members. In the world of e-learning, they can be a great tool for complementing a course with easily updatable resources or even for team-sourcing or crowdsourcing the course in the first place. I’ll be interested to see how these numbers change over time.

      The Association Social Technologies report is full of more data on usage of social media in the sector as well as case studies and insights. I’ve found it to be a good resource in my e-learning research, and I’d encourage you to consider getting a copy today.

      Jeff Cobb
      Hedgehog & Fox

      P.S. – Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jtcobb