I prefer to stay away from pop-culture resources as a source of guidance for where we are heading in terms of technology, and more broadly, society. I listened to a podcast (TWiT, episode #197) and was inundated with buzzwords (apparently it’s still cool to say “Google Juice”) and random nonsense. I was surprised by the seriousness of the topic (future of university) and the shallowness of the approach (at one point Don Tapscott offered the nonsensical statement we often hear at conferences: universities haven’t changed in 100 years!).

In June, through LearnTrends, we hosted an event on Social and Networked Learning. The recordings are now available (thanks to Scott Skibell of SkillCasting ). Topics include: What is social networked learning? ROI, Organizational Challenges, and Moving Beyond Networks.

Join the Northstar Nerd for the Rice River Ramble. Deep in the Northwoods of Minnesota accompany me on my solo 3 mile run followed by a 6 mile kayak trip down the Rice River. I parked my van downstream and ran back upstream to where I had left my kayak. Enjoy part of what makes America beautiful! ( video link for RSS feed). Happy 4th of July ... using the Frontier Bait "hot spot" in the Edge of the Wilderness . Rice River Ramble on PhotoPeach ...Tags: Hodge Podge.

Up to this point, I’ve used eLearning Weekly as my own personal blog to talk about my experiences with learning and technology. I’d like to open up the format for others to contribute so we can all benefit from different perspectives. If you are interested in writing for eLearning Weekly, please email me at . I’m open to most topics related to learning and technology. I will allow vendors and consultants to contribute if and only if they contribute new ideas and perspectives . I will not allow people or companies to push products or services to my readers.

Go take a class! | Dave Talks Shop (tags: ILT ) Informal Learning Equals Formalized Chaos? (tags: informal learning ) Authored by gminks . Hosted by Edublogs . ...Tags: 4.

This month's Big Question asks what new skills learning professionals need going forward in a Web World, "where learning and performance solutions take on a wider variety of forms and where churn happens at a much more rapid pace". I don't know that I see 'new' skills so much as further refinement of the ones that we've needed since we first tried to integrate any web technologies into traditional classroom and OTJ instruction: 1. Become comfortable enough with technologies so that you can recognize them for what they really are . Get yourself past the hype and to the possibilities.

Does anyone still use Second Life? The answer, according to a recent report (which is a bit of a pain to get, but free), is a strong yes. Not only is Second Life thriving, its citizens spend more hours each week in world than those in other multi-player online games. The hype around SL has been more subdued in educational conferences this year. Of course, with all new technology, it first needs to go through an insane hype cycle, be declared dead by a prominent theorist/writer, fade into obscurity (i.e.