Posted by “Breakneck speed” is a term that can best describe the explosion of data and information in the current digitally-disruptive era. Organizations globally, irrespective of size, are concentrating on how to connect <!–more–> intellectual (knowledge), working (money), and human (talent) capital effectively so that efficiency drives growth and brings in economic gains to the stakeholders.
Such being the scenario, every dime counts, right? But, what if you were cited an instance that occurred only few years ago, when the translation costs involving the members of the world-renowned body – the European Union (EU) worked out to $1.45 billion annually?What would your reaction be if you were informed that typically, 253 translators are needed to anticipate all the pairwise possibilities of translation work of 23 official languages of 27 member countries of the EU?What if such an effort meant1.3 million pages getting translated into English? Well, references to this example and the “visual theft” relating to knowledge, wisdom, and skills have been made by evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel in a 2011 TED talk! He was talking about the cumulative cultural adaptation with emphasis on how language has transformed humanity.
“Functionally equivalent traits co-exist” as the fundamental requirement of a knowledge-society is to facilitate free flow and exchange of ideas. In his words, language is a potent trait ever evolved. In the context of learning, it’s apt to mention that the world is moving from exclusivity to inclusivity and it would do better to know and understand the new language in the making – social media learning or social learning (as per the ongoing debate by experts). Instead of a cold (read formal, structured) atmosphere, if the learners’ environment is warm (read friendly, social, and informal), then finding, connecting, and engaging gets easy, doesn’t it?
Even LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, in one of his inspiring speeches, has said the sales narrative has changed. Citing a third party research report, he points out that “Social selling is leading to efficacy gains by 50%.” That being the case, isn’t it time for organizations to change the narrative of learning? Can we not draw the same inference to social learning or social media learning?
Leveraging the power of social media and collective intelligence, organizations need to evaluate the pros and cons of social learning. Doesn’t every learning and development team want learning to stick? Don’t organizations want to “encourage” learners rather than enforce learning? The rate of penetration and adaptation of social media networks and platforms are best left undisputed. Mark Pagel alludes to the map of the new world being created when he points to the picture showing the Facebook Friendship links cross-linking continents!
How do we make smart technologies relevant to learners then? How to make learning user friendly? How to use build your own devices options workable in workplaces? Can the ability to find, connect, and share experiences lead to more learner-friendly engagements and environments? Will the comfort of collaborative efforts lead to a healthy competitive spirit? Will learning become transparent, immersive, and addictive?
Consider the hunger to consume content – be it to gain knowledge or enhance one’s skills is certainly predictive in the present era, where digitization is on the rise. The tools and technologies and the rapid pace of embracing them to stay wired and glued to the internet of things have made the quest for progress as much visible as the efforts to connect and collaborate.
The learning architecture of an organization would do well to consider the layer (dimension) of social learning or social media learning, as the promise of expanding the scope of learning can be fulfilled by the performance it seeks to offer. SMAC or the social, mobile, analytics, and cloud computing power can be harnessed in evaluating social learning solutions. A webinar link says, “by 2018, digital jobs will have increased 500%. Do you know how companies are preparing their employees to succeed in their future business operations?” To stay ahead in a competitive world, organizations and people have to quickly adapt.
If you are ready to experiment, contact Origin for a demo of its award-winning platform – Konnect– that helps to track, measure, and monitor a learner’s path through a predictive, perceptive, and progressive approach.
Source:
http://www.danpontefract.com/tedtalks-me-and-you-social-learning-in-action-ie-help-me/
https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_pagel_how_language_transformed_humanity?language=en#t-346454