Techcrunch: Gibbon Launches A Different Kind Of Education Startup, With User-Generated Learning Playlists For All

This was the exact idea behind Chirplearning. There is so much free information available, and more being added every minute, that it begs the question: Why pay for a formal elearning program? The response will probably be around tracking or customization but what is better: forcing people through programs or rewarding them for learning about things that interest them and can help them in their daily job and life?
I equate this type of learning to the open source movement. People were skeptical of that at first too. Corporate elearning firms should be worried and have a strategic plan to deal with this new model.

Chirp of the Day - Codeyear: Learn coding for free

Sign up on Code Year to get a new interactive programming lesson sent to you each week and you'll be building apps
and web sites before you know it.
http://codeyear.com/

Again, why are paying for content???

Why are you paying for content again?

MIT Announces Platform for Free Online Courses

http://on.mash.to/rzwdPR

Chirp of the Day: Stopping the Mid-Career Crisis

Chirp of the Day: Stopping the Mid-Career Crisis http://bit.ly/qsstEP

Chirp of the Day: The Curve of Talent

Very good article by Eric Paley - Managing Partner, Founder Collective on The Curve of Talent

Chirp of the Day from WSJ: How to Raise an Entrepreneur

Good article  from the WSJ on how to prepare your kids to be an entrepreneur

Chirp of the Day: What to Do When a Sales Representative Misses Quota

From Inc.com:  What to Do When a Sales Representative Misses Quota

Chirp of the Day: Great Excel Tips and Tricks

Chirp of the Day: Great Excel Tips and Tricks from CFO.com http://bit.ly/i4adqU

Chirp of the day from OpenView Ventures

Chirp of the day: The 10 Rules for marketers http://bit.ly/h2u7ui  via @OpenViewVenture

Chirp of the Day

Chirp of the Day: 4 Reasons Your Boss Should Care About Social Media for SEO

http://bit.ly/eQNf7D 

 

Chirp of the Day: Social & Open Leadership from Mzinga blog

Chirp of the Day: Social & Open Leadership from Mzinga blog http://bit.ly/hWV9x3

Chirp of the Day: How to Find the Perfect Startup Job: Part I "Start with 'When'"

David Beisel of Next Viwe Ventures offers advise on joinging a startup. Check out his blog post:
How to Find the Perfect Startup Job: Part I "Start with 'When"

Chirp of the Day: 'We Don't Eat Scones': Magic Johnson Proves He Has the Acumen for More than Hoops

'We Don't Eat Scones': Magic Johnson Proves He Has the Acumen for More than Hoops

Published: April 15, 2010 in Knowledge@Emory
Earvin "Magic" Johnson's basketball career included five national championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and a gold medal with the "Dream Team" at the 1992 Olympics. But domination on the court meant little when Johnson began approaching investors to launch his first business venture. "Everybody wanted the autograph, but nobody wanted to invest with me. At the beginning, I got turned down 10 times before someone said 'yes'. You know what they said? They said I was a dumb jock," Johnson noted during a recent presentation at Wharton.

Chirp of the day: Under Armour's Kevin Plank: Creating 'the Biggest, Baddest Brand on the Planet'

Under Armour's Kevin Plank: Creating 'the Biggest, Baddest Brand on the Planet'

Chirp of the Day: Kindle for the Web

Amazon announces  that Kindle for the Web will expand to enable anyone with access to a web browser to buy and read full Kindle books - no download or installation required. For the first time ever, bookstores, other retailers, authors, bloggers and other website owners will be able to offer Kindle books from their own sites, let their readers start enjoying the full text of these books instantly, and earn referral fees through the Amazon Associates Program for sales made through their sites. Website owners can embed the Kindle for the Web widget in a matter of seconds and start offering Kindle books. 

What is your 2011 learning budget?

Chirp of the Day: Great FREE resource from Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

Again, why are you spending a fortune on corporate learning content and systems when it is all out there for free?
Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has a site called WeKnowNext.com that offers free videos from leading business people.

ABOUT

Trends in the Workforce
Today's workforce is rapidly changing. Now more than ever, organizations are responding to the new realities of the workplace, and this means:

• Developing strategies to boost productivity in challenging times
• Retraining workers for the new economy
• Creating a workplace culture that attracts talent and improves retention
• Finding innovative ways to manage rising overhead costs
• Staying ahead of generational trends to improve management approaches

All of these things affect the workforce, your business and your people. In today's world, success translates into how well you adapt to these trends.

WeKnowNext.com

WeKnowNext.com is a forum where business leaders and thought leaders can explore and discuss trends in the workforce, and share real-life examples of success. It's sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) because as an organization, and through our members, we're responding to workforce trends everyday and we understand how important it is to know what's next.

The Evolving Role of HR

As the workforce grows more complex, the role of HR is changing and companies are beginning to tap into HR's unique expertise to help navigate trends in the workplace. HR professionals are becoming "people strategists" working directly with the most senior levels of management to keep an eye on what's next, so companies can increase profits and remain competitive.

About SHRM

As the largest membership organization devoted to human resources, with more than 250,000 members in more than 140 countries, SHRM helps members - and those they work with - respond and adapt to the new realities of the workplace. SHRM and its members are helping large and small organizations anticipate and respond to transitions in the workforce.

Chirp of the Day: The world's worst boss

Chirp of the Day: The world's worst boss by Seth Godin on his blog

The world's worst boss

That would be you.
Even if you're not self-employed, your boss is you. You manage your career, your day, your responses. You manage how you sell your services and your education and the way you talk to yourself.

Chirp of the Day from Knowledge@SMU: Managing social media: An exercise in managing organisation

 From Knowledge@SMU: Managing social media: An exercise in managing organisation

Relates to my prior post: How much will you pay for my free content?

"MasterCard kick-started this process some three years ago, with the internal sharing of daily news clips. These clippings include content from traditional newspapers, but more importantly, everyday conversations that occur within the digital space. It was a small step, but it went a long way in raising the organisation's awareness of the changing communications landscape. "We want to work with our executive team across the world to help them understand that you can use social media to engage," Issokson said. It is also important to consider where communication 'sits' within an organisation, he added – because communications teams that have a direct reporting line to the executive committee or CEO tend to be more effective at their jobs."

Chirp Of the Day: Analyzing Effective Leaders: Why Extraverts Are Not Always the Most Successful Bosses

From Knowledge@Wharton: Analyzing Effective Leaders: Why Extraverts Are Not Always the Most Successful Bosses

How much will you pay for my free content?

Since the inception of ChirpLearning, I have been trying to make people aware of all the high quality free content that is out on the Internet. When you combine access to this content with the opportunity to connect with hundreds of millions of others on social media sites, you create an extremely powerful and valuable free resource for learning. My question remains: why are you paying for systems and content when you can utilize an exponentially more powerful and free resource to let your employees learn what interests them, when they have time and where they want to do so?

The primary excuses will be no tracking or you are nervous about a renegade employee. Let me address these two concerns. First, no reporting or tracking. What are your utilization rates now? 3-5%across your target population? And you need to track this? What exactly does tracking tell you? Does it actually tell you the impact that your programs are having or just show how many people are fulfilling a mandate from above? Also, if you utilize a system like ChirpLearning to send out links to people about relevant topics, you can get tracking with some existing, albeit rudimentary tools, like bitly. My guess would be that utilization rates for targeted and timely content would be significantly higher than you have today.

How about the renegade employee who spills company information. How many of you have heard the story of the person that hit reply all instead of reply and sent out a nasty, embarrassing email. What was your recourse? With an open community like LinkedIn and the others, the renegade employee can be neutralized by others as well as offer a learning opportunity.Besides, that employees is probably already using these sites without your knowledge.

There are already sites out there that let users download textbooks for free as well as pay. Take a look at FlatWorld and its business model. This is the future, not a closed LMS with top down learning mandates.

So the next time a vendor comes in to sell you its content or platform, ask them why it isn't free.