There are more than 200 million Facebook users. Are you one of them? Is your learning organization? Is your company? Are your employees?
Yes, I’ve asked these questions before. But there are new happenings that might make Facebook an even more compelling site for e-Learning professionals. Consider these product announcements from Facebook:
- Facebook Connect – a network of more than 10,000 independent sites that lets users access their Facebook IDs, networks, and relationships on the partner site without logging in to Facebook.com.
- Facebook Open Stream API – gives application developers access to the constant stream of user data that Facebook generates.
- Updated user privacy and permissions policies, along with interface changes, to give users greater control.
- Facebook Search – gives users the ability to search the feeds of other users and groups in the Facebook universe, and partner with Microsoft Bing (not Google!) for Web search.
These changes, Facebook executives hope, will shift the Internet paradigm from data-centric to people-centric, and places the Facebook platform and the network of each user at the center of online life.
So what’s the big deal for e-Learning?
Everything rests, of course, on Facebook’s commitment to individual privacy. Assuming that’s handled appropriately, Facebook could become an interesting platform for content dissemination and collaboration, particularly when Facebook Connect facilitates a user-base for a partner at its own Website. In accessing Open Stream, those interested in user assessment, learning transference, and predictive analytics will have access to user behavioral data over time on a massive scale. With the right query structure, unknown pockets of knowledge and expertise will be brought into the light through Facebook Search for the benefit of others.
As you and your organization explore Facebook as a tool for learning and productivity, please share your experiences and recommendations. You can do it on Facebook – join the e-Learning Guild group on Facebook and start, or join, a discussion.
On July 15, Rep. George Miller (D-CA) introduced the Student Aid and Financial Act (SARPA) of 2009. The primary purpose of this legislation is to update and reform the student financial aid system in the United States. However, a key section of the legislation addresses the need to ensure the development of 21st-century skills within the American workforce, and calls for a $500-million grant program that would expand access to education by supporting free, high quality online training, as well as high school and college courses.
This bill has passed out of committee, and is awaiting action by the full House of Representatives. A number of organizations have registered their support with the House Committee on Education and Labor, all of which you can find on the committee’s Website. The Senate has yet to move any similar legislation.
As the legislation stands now, the specifics related to the grant program for online training/education are sketchy. The Education and Training Administration of the Department of Labor will write the rules related to this program, and the grants that support it, but without sufficient legislative guidance and specific mandates guiding the administrators, there is some risk the program could go astray of its intent. For example, issues of standards and competencies are critical to developing a portable certification program. They must articulate consistent technology specifications to enable consistent access across the greatest number of users, while preserving participation and competition among vendors.
Given the date, and the huge issues that Congress currently faces – especially in light of the fact that the Senate committee to take up this issue is the same one that is (as of this writing) grappling with health care reform – SARPA ’09 is likely to become SARPA ’10.
This is not necessarily bad. In fact, it gives all specialists and experts in online training/learning an opportunity to lend our voices and wisdom to the conversation. In fact, the committee is on Facebook: http://bit.ly/z3NDw. It’s an active site, and they are reading comments. Make sure yours is one of them.
Looking for new ideas? More resources? How about a way to give back, and help colleagues around the world?
Check out WikiEducator.org (http://wikieducator.org/Main_Page, or on Facebook: http://bit.ly/BRvtQ)! From its Website: “WikiEducator is a community project working collaboratively with the Free Culture Movement towards a free version of the education curriculum by 2015.”
What you’ll find there: an amazing collection of e-Learning content from around the world, news about grants and funding, research, and on and on.
P.S. I took up my own challenge from the August Dispatch. I am now, officially, a classroom volunteer at our local high school. I have been assigned to two programs: Senior Essays; and, Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), which helps mid-tier students learn and apply new skills and habits to keep them on a college-bound track. I’ve also been asked to help design a new program, College Support Network, to support students in the non-academic components of getting into a four-year college.
How about you?
