Ever wondered what collaborative learning is? I’ve always had a few thoughts on what it could be and maybe took a logical guess or two but never quite understood why its so important to learning organizations and how they can be effective for learners. So I took it upon myself to ask the expert herself, Miss Hadley Beeman (@hadleybeeman on twitter) . Listen to audio for the exclusive interview!

Hadley focuses on collaborative technologies, helping people to work together when they are not in the same place.  She has worked in many parts of the public sector, most recently in the NHS designing and launching http://www.synapse.nhs.uk for doctors in training.  Her local government career has included managing the team behind the development of the IDeA’s communities of practice platform (http://communities.idea.gov.uk).

You can also find Hadley at http://hadleybeeman.net, which is coming soon!

My interview with Hadley on Collaborative Learning (30.08.09)

Liz interviews Hadley Beeman on Collaborative Learning

Here’s a breakdown/transcript of what I discuss with Hadley in this interview.

Download Transcript

Diving into the Learning Pool…

http://www.learningpool.com

So now that you know what collaborative learning is, after listening or reading my interview with Hadley, you might be interested to listen to my interviews with Learning Pool’s “Customer of the Year Award Winners in 2009″ to get a more practical and better understanding of the effects of collaborative learning from a community or users point of view. I worked with LP earlier this year and was thoroughly impressed with how highly LP’s customers spoke about LP.  You can check out my earlier posts on Learning Pool below:

Learning Pool at ScotWeb2 2009 on Collaborative Learning and Saving Money

Public Sector Learning Conference – Fresh idea’s for tomorrow’s people

Blend it!: LearningPool’s Public Sector Learning Conference Successful Blended Approach

LearningPool Winners Videos at Public Sector Learning Conference 2009!

So I’ve asked Mary McKenna who is the MD of Learning Pool and see if there was any way I could help publicize their services to my readers. Kindly enough, LP has commissioned me to do this piece for them, which certainly helps me as a struggling student  I do believe in what LP has to offer and hope that more people will be aware of the fantastic products and services that LP offer local authorities in terms of encouraging collaborative learning within and beyond their organizations. Click on the audios below to listen to these special feature interviews.

All interviews are slightly different from each other depending on each of their personal experiences but some of the basic questions asked are displayed below:

How would you describe your experience using Learningpool as a whole?

How would you describe LearningPool’s course design authoring tool?

Do you have any specific example’s of cost or time savings when using LearningPool’s services?

What are the major benefits, in your opinion, of using e-learning compared to class-based learning?

What are your thoughts on LearningPool’s customer service and what is their usual turnaround?

Would you say LearningPool has encourage collaborative learning in your council?

What would you say are the best features of LearningPool in your experience?

Here is a special featured interview with the overall winner of Learning Pool’s Customer of the Year Award.

Separate blogpost: Christine Shakespeare – Basildon District Council

Best Learning Pool Community Member of 2009 – Ian Leggitt (Bury Metropolitan Borough Council)

This interview features Ian Leggitt (Organisational Development Officer) from Bury Metropolitan Borough Council who earlier this year won the Best Learning Pool Community Member Award. I did do a video interview with him back then which you can view below.

I recently caught up with Ian again to catch up on more details of his experience using collaborative learning tools and Learning Pool e-Learning modules. You can listen to the interview here.

Liz interviews Ian Leggitt Best LP Community Member of 2009

Highlights from this interview:

Working with Learning Pool to develop the DLE system and suggesting improvements that was later evaluated by LP for the wider community.

Working to create a best practice formula for deploying the learning material.

Use the DLE to offer online materials that supplement our existing web courses.

Pre-learning and fast track option through the DLE.

Time and cost savings examples

Use of tutor-facilitated e-learning

Responses to sharing using LP’s e-learning modules and overlaps of courses between local authorities

Comparison between off-the-shelf e-learning solutions and Learning Pool unique and dynamic offerings

Open source principle = Learning Pool’s DLE principle

Collaborative approach and channels discussed as a viable way moving corporate training to online delivery.

Previous experience with other generic e-learning solutions

Where does Learning Pool stand in the current market?

Best Learning Pool Ambassador of 2009: Simon Green (Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council)

I’ve never actually managed to meet Simon in person as he was absent from the conference and award ceremony earlier this year but I did manage to interview him over the phone a couple of weeks ago and talk a little bit about his experience with collaborative learning and Learning Pool as a whole.

Liz interviews Simon Green Best LP Ambassador of 2009

Highlights from this interview:

Learning Pool e-learning modules adds value to staff development and improving services.

Reaction from users using the e-learning modules. These include the recruitment selection programme, performance coaching scheme and leadership programme.

Its not only for training development, its also there for reference and quality delivery.

Examples of interactive tools used.

Explanation of the “blended approach”.

Overview of the online assessment offered by Learning Pool using the blended approach.

Good practices.

Flexibility of the DLE system.

Time and cost savings using Learning Pool e-Learning module.

Adaptation/Repurposing e-Learning modules example.

Trained 1500 users in just 3 weeks!

Description of Learning Pool’s course design authoring tool.

Thoughts on Learning Pool’s customer service and turn around.

Updates on the DLE system.

Blaenau Gwent saves cash by moving into e-learning

Simon talks about other e-learning companies and compares them to Learning Pool

Jean Tracey replacing Steve Day (Rotherham MBC) – Best Learning Pool Ambassador 2009

Liz interviews Jean Tracey

Highlights from this interview:

Description on LP course design authoring tool

Example of using videos for the e-learning modules

Time and cost savings using LP

Rotherham MBC trains 1,500 staff on Safeguarding Adults

Availability of courses on demand increases effectiveness and efficiency of council staff

Flexibility of LP – accessing the course at home and over the weekend

LP’s customer service and turn around

Encouraging collaborative learning with other local authorities

Comparison of how long it would take to deliver a course without LP e-learning modules

Repurposing e-learning modules

Example and explanation of favourite feature – quizzes

Anti-money laundering and terrorists modules for future modules

Why Rotherham MBC chose LP

Interview with Steve Day earlier this year

One more featured interview to come! A PDF format of this piece will be available soon. Please check back for this.

Let’s Party like there’s no tomorrow!

Also don’t forget to come and join Learning Pool’s Party this month. Here are the details. I’ll be there too, so don’t forget to say hello. I’ll be the one who looks like someone who’s never been on a boat party! LOL

Venue:    HMS President, Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0HJ 
Tel:         0207 583 1918
Date:      Wed 23 September, from 2pm till late (oh yes)
RSVP:     book your places here

Hope this was useful!

Liz xxx

Possibly Related Posts

• Special Feature: Liz meets Christine Shakespeare, Winner of Learning Pool’s overall Customer of the Year Award 2009
• Attention London Boroughs!: I’m becoming a CELEB for a day onboard the HMS President!
• Local Gov 2.0 Strategies: Tackling current issues like the swine flu through collaborative learning
• Learning Pool at ScotWeb2 2009 on Collaborative Learning and Saving Money
• The Social Media Challenges within UK Local Government

What the Moldova Protest and #AmazonFail might have in common.

Today I made the wrong decision to stay away from Twitter to concentrate on some thesis writing.  However thanks to @TimCooperUK, I’ve been alerted on a recent activity on twitter that has been creating quite a lot of buzz if you search the hashtag #amazonfail. So I’ve decided to update an article I wrote recently regarding “People Power on Twitter” for the Moldova protest. You can find the original post below.

Apparently, Amazon is deleting the rankings (de-rank) of LBGT and erotica books. Though this has possibly just caught on fire today, this has been going on since February. The response the authors affected got from Amazon was this

In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude “adult” material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.

Some people are already closing their Amazon accounts and threatening to stop buying from Amazon.  I’ve never seen hashtag updated so fast! I’m beginning to wonder if Twitter will crash because of it! They’ve even already managed to make a logo out of it! That was quick!

Though what will be more interesting to see is what will happen tomorrow? What type of impact, action, maybe backtrack (like Facebook case) or PR response will come from Amazon. Will we see a 24 hour turnaround in response to Twitter “Collectively Organizing and Mobilizing Action”? Will customer voices on Twitter be heard loud and clear? Will Twitterers #amazonfail come together to launch a petition to demand Amazon to get their act together (Just updated – here it is http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/in-protest-at-amazons-new-adult-policy? Are we going to see a Facebook Group created to boycott Amazon until they change their ways (spoke to soon – its here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=70927484220)?

Here’s a snapshot of #amazonfail

Here’s a video on Youtube that popped out around an hour ago

The great thing about all this is… I’m sure I’ll find out in REAL-TIME what the outcome will be. I don’t have to wait for the news to come on, or a newspaper website to publish it, or even someone to blog about it. All I need to do is check #amazonfail on Twitter or even better yet, I’m sure one of my friends on Twitter will tweet it or RT it to me. Let’s see what “Collective Organizing and Mobilizing Action” (COMA) on Twitter will result in this time.

Here are some links talking in more details about #amazonfail

1. #Amazonfail and the politics of anti-corporate cyberactivism
2. An open letter to Jeff Bezos
3. Amazon Rank
4. Amazon Follies
5. GoogleBomb AmazonFail
6. Why Is Amazon Removing The Sales Rankings From Gay, Lesbian Books?
7. Amazon Accused of Removing Gay Books from Rankings

Original post:
There’s so much going around Twitter these days, its quite hard to keep up with its news and progress. We hear Twitter being mentioned everyday now and it might be a surprise to some people that those news headlines regarding Twitter are no longer confined to “What are you doing?” chit chats or the newest celebrity using twitter.

Just take an example of what is currently happening in the Moldova protest. People are “Collectively Organizing and Mobilizing Action” (COMA), which is from where I stand, is the true value of Twitter. Some people have called it the “Twitter Revolution” because of Twitters ability to report real-time events in a simplistic micro-blogging method of tagging each conversation with #pman. The #pman hashtag is then picked up by twitter’s search results at search.twitter.com . Then through these tags, more links and social media channels can be shared to update #pman with Flickr pics or Facebook group links and other social/new media and mobile applications.

I feel Flickr and other photographic new media outlets are also very powerful in this protest because everyone knows that “a picture is worth a thousand words”.  And not to be outdone, YouTube ,Vimeo and embedded videos from various news and other websites can also play an important part of social media if something significant happens like the incident where a man died at the G20 protest in London (link to YouTube video).

Here is an interview with an internet expert for global politics (Evgeny Morozov) talking about just how much of a factor is Twitter in the Moldova protest.

Moldova Twitter Revolution

So there could be a 1,000,001 reasons for governments, organizations or individuals to ignore or resist social media, however there are also 1,000,001 reasons to join the Twitter Revolution of  “Collectively Organizing and Mobilizing Action” (COMA).

Other posts

• Now with pictures & other Twitterati lists!: @Liz_Azyan’s Twitterati Dedication List – People you should follow on Twitter
• List of UK Local Councils on YouTube as of 22nd July 2009
• List and status of UK Local Council Twitters
• Updated list of UK Local Councils Twitter Accounts – 22nd July 2009
• Government-to-Citizen Communications: Utilising multiple digital channels effectively

I managed to catch up with Stuart Harrison/Pezholio this morning from Lichfield District Council to ask him about his new exciting development/mashup called Twitterplan. You can listen to the telephone interview here

Twitterplan – Pezholio

You can also visit Stuart Harrison’s website here to find out more about Twitterplan.

Follow Stuart on Twitter at @pezholio

Here is a snipet of Twitterplan introduction on Lichfield District Councils website.

Get local planning applications via Twitter

If you’re one of the many people who use social networking site Twitter and would like to receive alerts of planning applications in your area, then you’ll love Twitterplan.

Twitterplan is a new site set up by Lichfield District Council (with a little help from City of Lincoln Council and Planning Alerts) that sends a message to Twitter users whenever a planning application is submitted in their area.

It’s simple to sign up to, simply visit the Twitterplan website, enter your Twitter username and postcode, and follow the onscreen instructions.

If you don’t use Twitter, or would prefer to get alerts via email, then you can get alerts by signing up on the Planning Alerts website.

This service covers 324 local authorities, including Lichfield, so spread the word!

Warwickshire’s R&D website

Just in case you wondering who else is working on some exciting mashups, have a look at Warwickshire Councils R&D website. They’re working on some interesting projects with me in the near future. You could find their Web Services and API Dump here. Look out for a post featuring their projects here on LGEOResearch soon.

Possibly Related Posts

• @72prufrocks, @Pezholio & @ArunMarsh Reflect on the Digital Engagement Event on 6th October 2009
• ScotWeb2
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• Lichfield District Councils Innovative User Generated Content (UGC) Approach to using Flickr

Play this podcast to listen to Liz’s summary of this post.

Liz Azyan

This video feature Chris Pirillo, talking about TweetCongress.org in America, which is TweetMinster.co.uk. An overview about government officials on twitter and the reactions.

following my local council on twitter. yeah. on 12seconds.tv

Catch Simon Wakeman’s radio interview about Medway Council’s Twitter here (opens new page) - http://www.simonwakeman.com/2009/03/24/radio-interviews-on-council-twitter/

Reaction from a hyperlocal website – HarringayOnline via @hughflouch

Reply to this comment

NewcastleCC’s reaction examples via @alncl

• Conversation 1

Customer: “I am wondering why Newcastle City Council is following me. Is this a type of Big Brother surveillance?”
NewcastleCC: “Wouldn’t be very subtle if it was! No, we’re following Twitterers in and around Newcastle to join in the conversation.”

• Conversation 2

Customer: “Newcastle City Council (@NewcastleCC) just added me on Twitter. Great to see authorities communicating with people using new technologies ”

• Conversation 3

CustomerA: “Just got a Follower request from @NewcastleCC”
CustomerB: “RT @CustomerA “Just got a Follower request from @NewcastleCC” Yes, me too! I wonder why?”
NewcastleCC: “@CustomerB @CustomerA Because we’re interested in what people in Newcastle have to say.”
CustomerA: “@NewcastleCC I didn’t see it as a negative, quite the opposite! It’s great that you’re using social media….what would you like to know? ”
CustomerC: White“@CustomerB @CustomerA Don’t worry, it’s harmless. Been following @NewcastleCC myself for a little while now. No anti-free speech talk yet. ”

CustomerD: “@NewcastleCC Maybe they think it stands for Newcastle Credit Card, and not City Council?”
CustomerA: “@CustomerC @CustomerB I think it’s great that they’re using Twitter, cheers for the heads up! ”

• Conversation 4

CustomerE: “NewcastleCityCouncil is now following me?! Why?!!”
NewcastleCC: “@CustomerE We follow other journalists too!”
CustomerE: “@NewcastleCC ha… thanks for replying! should probably tell you that I’ve never been further north than Leicester…”
CustomerF: “@CustomerE time you got out more then! Come to #thinkingdigital”

NewcastleCC: “@CustomerE I agree with @CustomerF on this one!”
CustomerE: “@NewcastleCC @CustomerF I doubt I’ll find the cash for #thinkingdigital but a road trip to Newcastle is now in the planning stage!”
CustomerF: “@CustomerE you could always try and blag a press freebie from Herb. Or make it a promo visit for Wired UK – have a stand!”

NewcastleCC: ”@CustomerE Excellent”

Here is a example of a David Cameron answering a question from twitter through youtube.

 

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