bp16_2009113_Blog_Web2.0Tools_Google_Tools

It may be generational, it may be a personality thing (With a high “J” at the end of my Myers-Briggs type indicator, it’s clear I like order), or it may be that my work has wired me this way. Whatever the reason, I’m compelled to try to find a Web 2.0 tool to help corporate learners to organize all the wonderful Web 2.0 tools that are available to them.


Over the last three weeks I’ve been exposed to a head-pounding assortment of widgets, tools, resources, sites, and electronic instructions. I’m excited about the possibilities of putting many of them to use, at the right time and in the right way, but I see forward a dizzying experience for learners without a consistent method of getting to relevant learning resources when they need them. Corporate employees, at least where I work, don’t generally have continuous learning on their minds, and formal learning experiences are much fewer and farther between than perhaps they should be. When employees do engage in formal learning, time is usually short. For these reasons, I strongly believe that a consistent learning platform is needed for learners to manage all of their learning.


I have heard about Personal Learning Plans, and thanks to my professor, Rena Hanaway, I now have created one of my own, using the iGoogle tool. What I’ve created is fully my own, but I want more; so I went back to Google for help. Google University ate their own dog food and used Google tools to create a Learning Platform and experience that is incredible! Julie Clow presented at the Learning 2009 Conference, Learning in the “Cloud”: Foundations of Leadership & Teamwork.



Only two tools in Google’s Leadership program are purchased outside of the free Google accessible tools: One to help manage automatic deployments of emails to learners, and one to enable Web Conferencing. Some of the Google tools used to enable the learning platform include these:
- Wikis
- Profiles
- Moderator
- Knol
- Forms
- Spreadsheet
- YouTube Video

The Google University method of delivering web-based learning is loaded with the benefits my corporate organization needs to make learning 2.0 work:
- Easy, open, web-based access to content
- Learner driven content
- Inexpensive to create and deliver
- Easily updateable
- Effective, according to the results in the report.

The main hurdle to overcome with my corporate clients will be to break out of the paradigm of secured content. There’s nothing proprietary in learning opportunities we find out in cyberspace; so the minor risk of placing our method of organizing out on Google’s servers, while it may be a shock to the system (which is Sharepoint based), does not jeopardize any company secrets.


It’s time to harness the Information Age! I intend to recommend using Google Sites and tools to launch an employee cultural development program within my organization. Wish me well.


Reference
Clow, J. and Onstable, J. 2009. Learning in the "Cloud": Foundations of Leadership & Teamwork. Learning 2009 Conference.