We at Training magazine are always looking to share with our readers and conference participants the “what next” of training, learning, and employee development. To that end, we’ve been asking ourselves how we might apply leading-edge concepts such as “flipped learning” and “peer learning” in our conferences as a means of deepening participant engagement and connection-making.
For the 2015 Online Learning Conference last October, we flipped the conference and invited presenters to share more resources and content online in advance of the conference and focus more of their sessions on experiential, hands-on application of concepts and tools.
Leading up to the Training 2016 Conference & Expo in February, we curated four weeks of peer-learning experiences to get participants exploring relevant content for the conference, learning from and with each other, and networking with each other virtually before they connected in person at the conference. “It is really excellent,” says Jane Bozarth, Training 2016 presenter and author of “Social Media for Trainers.” “I do a lot of events, and many of them try. Y’all are the first people to get it right. The pre-conference wiki setup is just great—simple, interesting, with fresh content and questions that make people want to respond and engage and interact. Imagine … [actually] using social media for learning!”
The peer learning community generated more than 500 comments in dialogue between conference participants, and more than 2,500 views of that dialogue. In addition, numerous tweets with the #trgconf hashtag were shared in the weeks leading up to Training 2016 in response to the weekly peer-learning experiences.
Here are some highlights from participants’ responses in the peer-learning experiences:
On their Training 2016 learning goals: Participants wanted to learn, practice, train, create, use, design, and develop. They sought best practices, effective tools, and new knowledge and ideas, plus networking and engaging with new colleagues and thought leaders. In addition, participants offered their expertise to others via the online matchmaking, as well as shared their requests for knowledge for what they were seeking answers to at the conference.
On why Learning leaders should embrace Twitter: After reading Mel Milloway’s reasons Learning professionals should use Twitter, participants shared several reactions. For starters, many had not yet considered the value of using this social tool for learning, and became excited about new possibilities. They appreciated how Twitter easily connected them to Learning colleagues globally, as well as provided a means of quickly curating “tools, strategies, and solutions from an extraordinary community of professionals willing to share their expertise.”
On how we might learn more from and with each other by showing our work: Participants noted that they recognize they don’t always need to wait until they have “perfect” final content to share it with others, and that it takes some courage so show work in progress. They emphasized choosing to share something small on a regular basis, and sharing something every day. They admitted that they struggle with how not to make this approach feel like self-promotion or “human spam.”
On hot apps for learning, collaborating, and communicating: Surprisingly, several people shared music and radio apps—such as Pandora, TuneIn Radio and Coffitivity—for creating a more conducive environment for working. Spark and Yapp were singled out for social learning and communication between remote teams. Pocket was noted for organizing articles to read offline later, and 30/30 for managing tasks. MobileDay was used for multitasking during conference calls on the move. And then there were the usuals: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
On more apps from the Training Technology Test Kitchen preview: The Test Kitchen “chefs” suggested GooseChase for scavenger hunts, Blab for live conversations online, Canva for graphics and infographics (https://www.canva.com/create/infographics), GoAnimate for animated videos, and YouTube closed-captioning for audio/video transcripts.
On creativity, failure, and learning: Make it easy to play with new technologies, so the “failure” is part of the fun process of experiential learning, participants suggested. Other advice: Bring diverse people together from across and outside of the organization to broaden the perspective and experience. Look for unexpected connections for collaboration. Allow enough time to practice new skills. Learn to tell great stories.
On creating the future of learning: After reading workplace futurist Karie Willyerd’s ideas from her new book, “Stretch,” participants weighed in on future trends they already see starting to happen in their organizations:
- The emergence of the enhanced employee, embodying several roles, supported by technology
- Talent shortages, especially e-learning developers with advanced skills
- Universities offering lifetime subscriptions to content
- The end of the career track as we know it
