Social Networking, Learning, and

Job Performance: A Case Study

Ellen Epstein & Danielle Mozzetta, SI International, Inc.

808

www.eLearningGuild.com

The eLearning Guild Annual Gathering Conference 2008

Session 808

Thursday April 17, 2008 10:00 AM

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2008 Elearning Guild Annual Event

Agenda

Defining social networkingUsing social networks to improve workplace performanceSocial Network SafariCase studyLessons learned

2008 Elearning Guild Annual Event

What Is Social Networking?

Data + People = Information

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Types of Social Networks and Social Network Tools

Communities of Practice vs. Social NetworksWeb 2.0– Social network services– Collaboration portals– Social bookmarking– Virtual worlds– Wikis

Using Social Networks to Enhance Learning

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Social Network Safari

Stop 1– Collaboration made easy

Stop 2– Research with wikis

Stop 3 – Tagging your first website

Stop 4– Blogs: Send a postcard to the folks at

homeStop 5

– Meeting up with friendsStop 6

– A virtual community

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Social Networks for Workplace Performance

What are the benefits of social networks?When should they be used?What characteristics are needed to make them effective?

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Social Networking and Learning

Human Performance Technology (HPT)

BlendedLearningTheory

Constructivism/CognitivismConnectivismBlended approachPerformance supportScaffolding

Using Social Networks to Enhance Learning

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Standard SN Services and Tools

See handoutBlogsSurveysShared calendarsSocial bookmarkingDocument management/shared workspaceDiscussion groups Instant messagingChat roomsWikis

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USAF FAMs

How does FAMs meet the requirements for having a social network?Why a CoP and how is that encouraging a social network?Why use Air Force Knowledge Now (AFKN)?

Functional Area Manager Training

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Is It Working?

Currently transitioning to phase 2Phase 1: Anonymous Community Phase 2: Two-Way Communication Phase 3: Active Community

Using Social Networks to Enhance Learning

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Measured Results

Between September 25, 2007 (launch) and April 8, 2008

“Find a FAM SME”: In operation for 25 days, 53 CoP members have used it

Out of 11,700 active AFKN CoPs , FAM CoP ranks 54th for activity!

100,067Pages Viewed7,194Documents Viewed

634Documents Added

9,138Visitors6,560Returning Visitors

2,578New Visitors

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Overcoming Barriers

Guiding people to CoPHaving champions available onlineStarting discussions related to trends on the site

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Community Development

Using Social Networks to Enhance Learning

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2008 Elearning Guild Annual Event

Additional Materials

BuzzwordsAre Your Learners Ready for Online Social Learning?Social networking toolsSocial networking servicesResources for social networking and communities of practice

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Thank you!

Ellen EpsteinEllen.epstein@si-intl.com

Dani MozzettaDanielle.mozzetta@si-intl.com

Using Social Networks to Enhance Learning

Using Social Networks to Enhance Learning

The eLearning Guild Annual Gathering 2008

Buzzwords Buzzword Meaning

Folksonomies Collaboratively tagging content on the web, often done with social bookmarking, the user finds people with similar interests and finds out what information they think is useful

Web 1.0 The web is about publishing – driven by the owner of the information and the advertisers

Web 2.0 The web is about participation – driven by the people using it – information created by collective intelligence

Communities of Practice

Groups of people who share a common interest for something they know how to do and who interact with one another to learn how to do it better

Social Bookmarking

The habit or practice of saving bookmarks to a web site and “tagging” them with keywords. Social bookmarking sites are a popular way to store, classify, share and search links.

Blogs

Short for "Web log," a specialized site that allows an individual or group of individuals to share a running log of events and personal insights with online audiences.

Avatars

In online environments, a virtual digital image representing a person. In e-learning avatars usually represent the learners. The term comes from a Sanskrit word meaning an incarnation in human form.

Wikis

A server program that allows users to collaborate in forming the content of a Web site that operates on a principle of collaborative trust. The term comes from the word "wikiwiki," which means "fast" in the Hawaiian language.

Using Social Networks to Enhance Learning

The eLearning Guild Annual Gathering 2008

Are Your Learners Ready for Online Social Learning? CHARACTERISTICS OF THE … YES NO COMMUNITY or LEARNER

Is there an existing community or group?

Does the existing community share information?

Is there or should there be widespread and shared awareness of each other’s competencies, strengths, shortcomings and contributions?

Does the existing community have a shared, evolving language (e.g., special terms, jargon, or acronyms)

Is there a flow of information between and among members?

Is there a willingness to share knowledge and experience (i.e., no fiefdoms or rice bowls)?

Are community members willing to use personal knowledge and skills to enhance organizational knowledge and skills?

Are community members located in different physical spaces (i.e., it’s not easier to just walk over and ask someone for information)?

INFORMATION

Is information regularly used for learning or job tasks shared rather than imparted?

Does information or innovation need to be quickly diffused (e.g., rapid transfer of best practices)?

Are there common tools, methods, techniques, and artifacts such as forms, job aids, etc.?

ENVIRONMENT

Do community members have adequate computer equipment and Internet access?

Is technology required to complete job or learning tasks?

Do job or learning tasks require interaction with others?

ORGANIZATION and MANAGEMENT

Does the organization support the sharing of information between and among groups?

Is management committed to ongoing development of the tools required by community members?

Does management or the organization support or fund a skillful and reputable coordinator/administrator?

Using Social Networks to Enhance Learning

The eLearning Guild Annual Gathering 2008

Social Networking Tools Tool Description Use to:

Blogs Provide community with news and information on a regular basis

Transfer knowledge from a community leader to rest of community

Surveys Take the pulse of the community

Encourage the community to provide feedback that community leaders can use to make decisions

Shared calendars Provide information on upcoming events of interest to the community

Transfer knowledge from a community leaders to rest of community

Document management/ shared workspace

Collaborate on documents and manage the workflow of the community

Encourage collaboration and track which community members have reviewed, revised, and approved key documents

Discussion groups

Members of the community post and respond to questions and issues

Transfer knowledge – Often from community leader to other members, but sometimes from member to member

Social bookmarking/ favorite links

Members of the community share useful Websites

Transfer knowledge

Instant messaging

Quickly contact a particular member of the community

Improve communication between individual community members

Chat rooms Live discussion with a small subgroup of the community

Improve communication between individual community members Encourage team collaboration

Wikis Members of the community post information. Information can be revised and updated by any other member of the community

Tap into collective knowledge

Using Social Networks to Enhance Learning

The eLearning Guild Annual Gathering 2008

Social Networking Services A somewhat random sample of mostly free services Social networks Social bookmarking

Facebook www.facebook.com Del.icio.us del.icio.us

MySpace www.myspace.com Simpy www.simpy.com

Orkut www.orkut.com Google’s social network, extremely popular in Brazil

Furl www.furl.net

Yahoo 360 www.yahoo360.com Free social network from Yahoo

Stumbleupon www.stumbleupon.com

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com Business oriented social network

Digg digg.com

Couchsurfing www.couchsurfing.com Network connecting travelers with locals offering accommodations and advice

reddit reddit.com

Flickr www.flickr.com Photo sharing network

Collaboration Virtual worlds

These sites offer document creation and collaboration tools

2D and 3D virtual worlds

Yahoo Groups groups.yahoo.com Second Life secondlife.com

Microsoft Office Live www.officelive.com Active Worlds (AW) www.activeworlds.com

Google Docs docs.google.com Galaxiki www.galaxiki.org

Enterprise portals/ content management Content Management Sample

Microsoft SharePoint Wikipedia

SAP NetWeaver

Twiki twiki.org Open source wiki software

Wetpaint www.wetpaint.com Create your own wiki

Using Social Networks to Enhance Learning

The eLearning Guild Annual Gathering 2008

Articles and Reference Materials for Social Networks and Communities of Practice Grey, B. (2004). Informal Learning in an Online Community of Practice. Journal of Distance

Education, Vol 19, No. 1, pp 20-35. Available at http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol19.1/GRAY_article.pdf

iCohere. Community of Practice Design Guide: A Step-by-Step Guide for Creating Collaborative Communities of Practice. Available at http://www.icohere.com/CoPDesignGuide.pdf

Kirkwood. K. If They Build It, They Will Come: Creating Opportunities for E-learning Communities of Practice. Available at http://www.slideshare.net/sitkasitchensis/if-they-build-it-they-will-come

Krieger A. (2006). Neighbors in Cyberspace. Learning Circuits, May 2006. Available at http://www.learningcircuits.org/2006/May/krieger.htm

On Learning: The Future of Air Force Education and Training. (2008). Available at http://www.aetc.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-080130-066.pdf

Online Community Toolkit. Available at http://www.fullcirc.com/community/communitymanual.htm

O'Reilly, T. (2005) What Is Web 2.0? Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. Available at http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

Preece, J., and Maloney-Krichmar, D. (2005). Online communities: Design, Theory, and Practice. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 10(4), article 1. Available at http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol10/issue4/preece.html

Siemens. G. (2004). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. Available at http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Smith, J.D. & Trayner, B. Online Course Design from a Communities-of-Practice Perspective. Elearn Magazine. Available at http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=best_practices&article=34-1

Waters, C. (2004). Building a Learning Community Online. Available at http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=17301672

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System. Available at http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/lss.shtml