In an earlier post on
Informal Learning I made the observation that social networks allow people to create their own villages of learning. What I meant by this is that people once had only one source of knowledge, the village. Even when a visitor brought new ideas, this new knowledge was shared amongst the group.
The industrial revolution introduced the benefits of scale to industry, further enhanced over the last 100 years by the structure introduced through Henry Ford's production lines. Education and learning followed a similar path, larger schools and prescribed curriculum. The results have been spectacular, never before have people learnt so much. This has resulted in the exponential rise of innovation and technological advancement. Schools, universities and formal learning have been undoubted successes.
BUT, as formal learning became the dominant mode, informal learning became to be seen as something less, not as good, unable to be tested by examination in the same way as formal learning. However this is now being questioned. In Malcolm Gladwell's book
Outliers he discusses how this is is happening. He explain how children in the USA complete the California Achievement Test at the end of each school year to assess their maths and reading skills. In one instance in Baltimore this test was also given at the beginning of the following year (allowing a measure of learning over the holiday break). It was found that some students continued to learn while on holidays whilst others learnt little or went backwards. The conclusion, the real difference in children's performance at school over a number of years was not due to 'clever' children learning more
during the school year but rather it was due to some children being provided with continued
informal learning by their family during school holidays.
I strongly believe that something similar happens in the workplace. Workers learn a great deal through formal channels. But those that learn the most are surrounded by managers and co-workers who take an interest in their development, again informal learning.
Twitter has struck me as a way forward to the past - if that can make sense! What I mean is that Twitter allows people to create informal learning networks, just as people did in the past in small villages - now we have the Village of Twitter.
What I am finding (as a real newbie to Twitter
@stickylearning) is that I am building networks with people who have interests and skill sets similar to my own. This is beginning to mean that I can enter Twitter conversations around topics that interest me, I can put forward my own ideas and hear back what others think of these.
I have also just finished reading
Twitter Power by Joel Comm (
@JoelComm). The book is about how you can use Twitter to build your business, however it is just as applicable to helping learners build their knowledge.
The key things I have learnt from the book (and by adding my own learning twist) are:
- Twitter is social, focus solely on business and people are not likely to follow you. Once you have broken the ice then you can move to business. (just like socialising and networking in real life)
- Use various Twitter tools (Twools?) to help you organise your Twitter Village. I have started to use Tweetdeck as I am able to create groups of followers according to my relationship with them. This could be used to form Twitter groups within business. You can make sure that your tweets are only visible to others within this group if you don't want tweets on the 'public timeline'. A further benefit of this is that Twitter can then be used to connect workers in businesses that operate in different locations or time-zones.
- Twitter is a great place to find experts in your field. You can search for particular words or conversation topics, denoted by #topic. You can add to conversations, provide helpful links/knowledge and feedback to others. You can build your profile.
- Twitter is another way of sharing information found on the wider web. Through posting links to can bring to others' attention ideas that they wouldn't otherwise come across - it saves time.
- You can then also share information gained from one Twitter group with another by 'ReTweeting' the information.
- And importantly, Twitter keeps things brief. No more than 140 characters per Tweet. In villages you may avoid people who ramble on and on, now Twitter makes rambling impossible!
Twitter is recreating the village learning environment. A place where followers (villagers) can chat about their day, what they are having for dinner and how to create new software code or solve other workplace issues. Furthermore promoting informal learning also enhances creativity and encourages people (and businesses) to consider how learning outside structured environments encourages innovation and creativity.
So this is my Village of Twitter. Not just a place for informal learning but a step forward to a place past!
