LearnTrends 2009


I’ll again be on the team of  “sharers” for the LearnTrends 2009 online event hosted by Tony Karrer, Jay Cross and George Siemens. This time I’ll be dialing in from Australia (I’ll put that schedule up next!). I hope I remember to set my alarm clock!!! Here is the info about the bit I’m doing with John Smith (one of my co-authors and co-conspiritors)

E-learning outside the training box

E-learning outside the training box with Nancy White and John Smith Once you’ve mastered enough of the new social media tools, training and development professionals are figuring out that technologies can change the boundaries around training itself, just as they can interrupt organizational boundaries. We offer two cases that illustrate the benefits and opportunities of these changed boundaries.

In one, Nancy White talks about triangulating internal training and capacity building with external actors who part of the training and who validate it; that leads to more connections between people and has gained manager support.

In the other, John Smith talks about a workshop that brings social activities into the center of the training experience, investing time in making the social connections a lasting and practical resource. We use the polarities that are developed in Digital Habitats to tie these examples together and give you design ideas for program development.

Check the rest of the schedule – lots of cool topics and people! And it’s FREE!

Waving from Europe

At Kruller Moller museum, the NetherlandsI’m on the road again, this time for nearly three weeks in Bonn, Germany, Eschede, The Netherlands (where I am now, typing from under a cozy quilt at my friends Lilia, Robert and young Alexander), Brussels (for KM4Dev’s annual gathering) then back to Bonn for one more facilitation gig and staying with friends Ulf and Virginie. Along the way I have met up with some of my online or “imaginary” friends such as Cosmocat and Aldo de Moor, having fabulous conversations and meals. I am focusing on the F2F time, so little blogging. Check the photostream.

Social Media in Intl. Dev: Sarah Blackmun

Sarah BlackmunNext in the series of podcasts (previous podcasts linked below) is Sarah Blackmun of the Pangaea Network. Sarah is another long time online colleague and friend from the late 90’s who also seems to connect with others in my network (especially around her studies at the Fielding Institute where we both have a lot of mutual friends.

Sarah brings some different aspects to light about social media in international development. Sharing about work she and Dr. Steve Eskow have been doing in Ghana, Sarah brings in the issue of gender, particularly the importance of recognizing that often womens’ experiences are very different from men, so thinking about introduction of new technology needs to be with a full awareness of gender. Take a listen.

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Related Links

Sarah’s Bio
Sarah Blackmun-Eskow is President and Chief Operating Officer of The Pangaea Network.

Sarah  has four decades of experience as a president, CEO, and general manager of education-related international businesses. She served as the CEO of Harcourt Brace International and as President of Harcourt Brace Media Systems Corporation. She was a founder, with Dr. Eskow, of the Electronic University Network, where she served as Chief Operating Officer. She also served as COO of Durand Communications, Inc., a technology firm based in Santa Barbara.

Blackmun serves as President and Chief Operating Office of the Pangaea Network, where she coordinates research, planning, budgeting, implementation, and day-to-day operations.

In addition to her business background, Blackmun-Eskow has nonprofit and community service experience, including serving as a Commissioner of Human Services in Santa Barbara County; chair of the Justice and Outreach Council of Trinity Episcopal Church; and board member of AIDS Housing Santa Barbara. As a member of the World Mission Group of the Episcopal Diocese of California, and in her earlier position as  information officer of the Episcopal Diocese of California (San Francisco), Blackmun established connections with Episcopal and Anglican leaders in the U.S., Africa, Latin America, and the Philippines.

Blackmun-Eskow earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and a Master of Arts degree from Bowling Green University. She is currently a doctoral student in the School of Human and Organizational Development of the Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara, California.

Social Media in Intl. Dev: Dr. Steve Eskow

Dr. Steve EskowFinally, I have grabbed a few minutes to add the next couple of podcasts in the series on Social Media in International Development. (Links to all the previous podcasts are at the bottom of this post.)

This podcast is with another online colleague I’ve known since some of my early online days. I met Steve through Electric Minds, an early web online community. At the time, the context I knew Steve in was in education. Now he and Sarah Blackmum (whose podcast will go up later this week) are working with the The Pangaea Network doing work in international development, much of it faith based.  Steve shares a bit about the work they are doing in  Ghana and some basic heuristics about introducing (or not introducing) new technology. Take a listen!

podcast-logosteveeskowSept9

Steve’s Bio

Dr. Steve Eskow is Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the The Pangaea Network. he earned his Ph.D. in Higher Education from Syracuse University, an MA degree in English from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dramatic Literature from the University of California at Berkeley. He is the founder of the College Consortium on International Studies, a federation of 95 colleges that provides study abroad opportunities to 4,000 students annually in 30 countries; founder of the Rockland Community College Office of International Studies and its International College, which organize the college’s study-abroad programs in some 20 countries, offer technical assistance to schools and colleges abroad, receive and place foreign students, and create curricula incorporating international themes; founder of the International/Intercultural Consortium of the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges; chairman of its Advisory Committee; member of its Curriculum Committee; founder of the International Services Association of the Community Colleges of the State University of New York; founder of The Faith and Development Network, the Electronic University Network; and co-founder and current Chair of the Board of The Pangaea Network.  Prior to his current positions, he was on the faculty of the School for Transformative Learning, California Institute of Integral Studies; Director, “Keeping America Working” Project of the American Association of Community and Junior Colleagues (1983-4); President and Chief Executive Officer, Rockland Community College (A College of the State University of New York) (1963-83); and Dean of Instruction, Mohawk Valley Community College, Utica, NY (1956-63), Instructor of English; Chairperson, Division of General Education.

Eskow was the U.S. Representative to 1978 UNESCO Symposium on Contributions of Higher Education to Community Development, and a lecturer and consultant to Ministries of Education and colleges and universities in Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, the Soviet Union, and India. Assignments include work in Kenya, Tanzania, Barbados, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, England, France, The U.S.S.R., Israel, and India. He served as Principal Lecturer, United States Information Agencies Seminars on community college education, in five Indian states in 1975. He returned in 1979, sponsored by the U.S. Fulbright Commission, to lecture in four Indian states and conduct major international conferences on community-based education; and in 1982, for the Asia Foundation, to plan vocational education programs.

Previous & Related Podcasts: