Curated Industry Content for the week of 10/12/15

Every Monday we curate a number of articles and blog posts that have relevance to members of the eLearning Guild Community, and to the learning and performance field as a whole. Each piece of content that we share includes a brief introduction from the member of the Guild Community sharing why they think the content is important.

Here’s the content for this week:

Where is L&D Headed? by Ryan Tracey
Ryan Tracey, an eLearning Provocatuer was a panellist at the Sydney eLearning and Instructional Design meetup recently. In his post he shares the questions that were presented to him and answers he gave.  In a conversational manner he shares his thoughts on the future of elearning, specifically about MOOCs, Interactive Video, Communities of Practice and the corporate sector’s movement in higher education. This is a thoughtful piece to stimulate your own conversations. – Mark Britz

20 Tips for Creating a Professional Learning Network by Miriam Clifford
Personal Learning Networks, or PLNs, are a huge source of learning and growth. While many will promote the value of PLNs, the strategies for leveraging and building a PLN are more challenging to identify. This posts takes that tactical approach, sharing 10 tips for leveraging a PLN, and another 10 tips for building a PLN. – David Kelly

The Future of Work: Navigating the Whitewater by John Seely Brown
Where are organizations headed? Or better where must they head? John Seely Brown is critical of current technology and it’s efforts to support workplace performance. “We must re-invent the workplace as a learningscape” is the battle cry but what we have today in terms of collaborative tools sets won’t get us there. John entertains the use of eHarmony like tools to create better, more scientific matches for apprenticeships and looks to the fact that internal collaboration isn’t enough as success happens in networks that are global and diverse.   – Mark Britz

7 eLearning Examples that use Gamification to Engage Learners by Steve Penfold
Gamification continues to be a strategy used for learning and performance. This post doesn’t tell you about Gamification; it shares examples of it in practice. – David Kelly

Helping Folks Find Their Own Answers by Bob Marshall
The consult model has long been based on a “hire me, I’ll give you the solution.” The truth is each organization is unique and ownership of solutions must be partially if not completely that of leaders. Bob looks to the practice of therapy for the answer and presents a case for a more empathetic approach that is high on synergy and community and low on judgement and control. – Mark Britz 

Project X Lets You Fight HoloLens Aliens In Your Living Room, And It’s Freaking Unreal by
Virtual and augmented reality have been around for quite some time, but recent advancements in technology have brought them back into the spotlight. Microsoft Hololens is one of the technologies that’s getting a lot of attention. This demo shows the potential of Hololens for gaming, but I share it for a broader reason. The demonstration here, an experience referred to as “mixed reality”, has tremendous applications for workplace learning and performance. – David Kelly

Age of Distraction: Why the idea digital devices are destroying our concentration and memory is a myth by Frank Furedi
At one time the written word was criticized as book reading  “tends to make you discursive and unsteady”. The Novel was similarly attacked as a cognitive toxin in the 19th century. No, gadgets were not the impactor here but innovation that we now regard as improving society was once seen as a scourge. Excellent article to read on a mobile phone, in a restaurant, with your friends. – Mark Britz

What are you reading?

If you have an article, blog post, or other resource that you think we should consider sharing in a future Curated Industry Content post, please feel free to send a link to the resource to David Kelly along with a few sentences describing why you think the resource is valuable.