Jay Cross's Informal Learning
FEBRUARY 24, 2011
I started this blog when Informal Learning was released, November 10, 2006. The informal learning meme has gone mainstream. I am gratified. That crusade is behind me. Informal learning is more important than ever. It’s part of life. It no longer needs an in-your-face site to promote it. These days I focus my energies on helping organizations work smarter.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
FEBRUARY 13, 2011
A New Culture of Learning by John Seely Brown and Doug Thomas. This short book (136 pages) is inspiring. I just read it a second time, something I very rarely do. These paragraphs lept out and grabbed me: Peer-to-Peer Learning. In the new culture of learning, people learn through their interaction and participation with one another in fluid relationships that are the result of shared interests and opportunity.
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Jay Cross's Informal Learning
FEBRUARY 8, 2011
Training Smarter, Working Smarter. Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 11 AM PST/ 2 PM EST. FREE. Considering the fast pace and super-connectedness of today’s business environment, is the old static classroom really the best place for achieving modern training objectives? Hear Jay Cross, a leading expert on informal learning, for a far-ranging conversation about how organizations are working – and training – smarter in the network era.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
JANUARY 13, 2011
LX Briefing. Mixing case studies, stories, and actionable recommendations together with humor and easy-to-understand language, Jay Cross provides much more than buzzwords and back-patting, or so says his bio. He also has some very strong opinions on the future of workplace learning. A Harvard MBA and Princeton undergrad, he has been improving business processes since developing the first business curriculum for the University of Phoenix three decades ago.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
JANUARY 2, 2011
Recognition of Non-formal and Informal Learning. Fifteen years ago, “the OECD education ministers agreed to develop strategies for ‘lifelong learning for all’ &# They still don’t have it right. Who are these guys? OECD? According to Wikipedia, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, in French: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, OCDE) is an international economic organisation of 34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate e
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
DECEMBER 24, 2010
Learning is a continuum of degrees of formality • BY JAY CROSS. In the five years since the publication of Informal Learning, I’ve become the Johnny Appleseed of informal learning. I didn’t invent the concept. Informal learning is older than civilization. My contribution has been pointing out that overemphasis on formal learning in organizations is dysfunctional, uneconomic, bad business, and not a whole lot of fun.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
DECEMBER 22, 2010
Here’s a worthy idea. Mobilize your users to support one another via Twitter. This instance is part of the latest upgrade to Firefox. The push button takes you to their Tweetstream.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
DECEMBER 22, 2010
An artifact from Learning Day at the European Commission. My keynote was titled “The Impact and Inevitability of Informal Learning.&#.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
DECEMBER 20, 2010
For several years, I’ve used YouSendIt to send large files over the net for free. Yesterday I tried to send a 1.25 gig movie to a colleague. YouSendIt said I’d need to sign up for the pro version to send a file that big. I clicked the okay button and was charged $110 for a year’s service. So far so good. Then I received a notice that my file was not transferred due to technical errors.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
DECEMBER 19, 2010
Amazon just dropped the price of Informal Learning to $28.96. The Kindle edition is $26.06. You can buy a giant (4′ x 2′), durable, grommeted Informal Learning poster in the Internet Time Store. The Store also offers an online, read-only version of The Working Smarter Fieldbook for $12. Got money you have to spend before year-end? The Internet Time Store will sell you 30 minutes of advice from Jay for a mere $450.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
NOVEMBER 24, 2010
From classroom scheduling to nose counting to connecting people. Time for a change in emphasis. Tags: Informal Learning.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
NOVEMBER 16, 2010
Shuffle through Mary Meeker’s phenomenal research report on the state of the internet economy. (Thanks for the pointer, George Siemens.). Be amazed. Here’s the Quiz Question : Name a single trend Mary Meeker describes that won’t have a major impact on your workscape. Which trend can a director of human resources, CLO, or chief information officer cast off as irrelevant to helping people work smarter?
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
NOVEMBER 16, 2010
Conversation has long been the most important learning technology. Unfortunately, not everyone is a born conversationalist. From an article in today’s Wall Street Journal, She Talks a Lot, He Listens a Little , tips on conversing: Set aside a time to talk. Taylor Keeney, a pilot, and his wife plan to speak for the first 20 minutes every day when they both get home from work. ‘The rule is that the TV or radio can be on but no computers or cellphone calls for however long it takes to r
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
NOVEMBER 12, 2010
Today I visited a very cool company in the South Park neighborhood of San Francisco. These guys have developed what looks to be an ideal enterprise social learning platform. Internet Time Alliance will soon have an instance of the software for you to play with. South Park is an old neighborhood by San Francisco standards, founded a scant four years after the discovery of gold that put San Francisco on the map.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
NOVEMBER 9, 2010
“Evaluation sheets, be sure to hand in your evaluation sheets.&# I refuse to fill them out. It takes a while for the important lessons to emerge. What people blurt out 30 seconds after hearing a presentation bears little relationship to what’s going to stick. After the LearnTrends conferences , I wait six weeks until I send out the evals.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
NOVEMBER 9, 2010
Poor man’s instructional technology. I bought several 12″ electronic picture frames from Amazon for $120 a pop and installed them in a display case at the Internet Time Lab in Berkeley. NIX N’ EASY 12 Inch Hi Resolution SVGA Digital Picture Frame, 1GB Internal Memory, Remote Control, Photo, Video, Music, Split Screen Option, X12A. In the Lab, one machine explains what the Lab is about (incubating ideas), another shows the people and thinking of Internet Time Alliance, and yet a
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
OCTOBER 28, 2010
This morning Dave Gray asked me if I had a few minutes to talk on Skype about the Working Smarter poster I’d like to have as a companion to the Informal Learning poster Xplane and I created several years ago. The Informal Learning Poster. Dave shared his screen as we talked. I rambled on about working smarter , and Dave sketched as we talked. Here’s the result.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
OCTOBER 22, 2010
Cross-posted from LearnTrends. Those of you waiting for the November 2010 LearnTrends Conference can stop holding your breath. It ain’t going to happen. Tony , George , and Jay are flat out in our efforts to make the world a better place. Also, we depend on volunteers to make LearnTrends work, and volunteers have been in short supply lately. George, Tony, and I have talked about fielding a new sort of session, perhaps in the first quarter of 2011.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
OCTOBER 20, 2010
If you want to learn what is really going on in learning and development while rolling on the floor laughing, you’ve got to read Donald Clark. Let me be clear here: I’m talking about the volatile, exuberant Scot who founded and later sold Epic, not the American author of the well-known Big Dog/Little Dog blog and site. The Scot says whatever he pleases at his Plan B site. (“What’s Plan B?
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
OCTOBER 12, 2010
Tags: Informal Learning itimealliance.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
OCTOBER 12, 2010
The day following DevLearn, November 5, the five members of the Internet Time Alliance are holding a retreat to share insights and plan for the forthcoming year. We’re meeting at the Internet Time Lab, across the Bay from San Francisco in Berkeley. We originally intended for this to be a private session for challenging one another’s views on what’s important in social learning, enterprise learning governance, working smarter, the impact of mobile learning, taking advantage of p
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
OCTOBER 12, 2010
Harold Jarche and I talk things over at the Berlin Stock Exchange and a fragment of the Berlin Wall. Tags: Informal Learning itimealliance.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
OCTOBER 10, 2010
Join us at DevLearn in San Francisco next month. We all plan to be there. Jane Hart provides a snapshot of the State of Learning in the Workplace Today on at 10:45 am on Wednesday, November 3. At 4:00 pm on Wednesday, we all be engaged in a conversation entitled Work Smarter: Learning is the Real Work. We expect to pop up at a few other places as well.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
OCTOBER 10, 2010
Once a year, two dozen of the top talent management executives in the country get together for a private retreat. This year we’re meeting at Asilomar, a breathtaking conference center on the Monterey Coast, October 17 t0 19. There’s one seat left, so if you’d like to join us, you’d best scurry to registration right now. I will be leading an exercise (a “Happening&# ?
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
OCTOBER 7, 2010
The New Social Learning. A Guide to Transforming Organizations Through Social Media. By Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco. 2010. Yesterday afternoon, an acquaintance who was appointed chief learning officer of one of the UK’s major banks three weeks ago asked me where to find some great examples of social & informal learning.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
SEPTEMBER 9, 2010
Julie Wedgwood has a new blog , and she’s off on the right foot. Instead of the usual “Look at me,&# Julie has started with what will interest other people. Like Julie herself, the blog is helpful and upbeat. Julie’s probably best known for her pioneering work using storyboards for learning. For me, storyboards are an essential tool for developing learning, particularly e-learning.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
SEPTEMBER 7, 2010
“I want your advice but I don’t have money to pay for it.&#. Not a week goes by that the independent consultant doesn’t receive requests from corporations or organizations to give free advice or presentations. “Think of the exposure you’ll get,&# they say. Generally, that exposure is not worth much. Follow-up work is about as likely as getting a free car by telling the dealer, “My friends will see me in it.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
SEPTEMBER 6, 2010
This inquiry will explore the ePub format and its potential for creating unbooks. Please join in. Read this as an ePub. Copy the file ePub_inquiry.epub file to the Books section of iTunes. Then sync your iPad and computer. This file should appear in the iBooks app. Once you open the file, select the Sepia color and your choice of font. It’s a book. It’s a file.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
AUGUST 26, 2010
Here are some blurbs from the next edition of The Working Smarter Fieldbook. “This book is packed with ideas that will mess with your head – in a good way – by turning your old notions about training, work, and learning upside down and inside out. Read it from cover to cover or dip into it here and there: You’ll find inspiration and insight on every page.”. – Daniel H.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
AUGUST 19, 2010
Published August 2010. Jay Cross is CEO of Internet Time Group and a thought leader in informal learning and organizational performance. He can be reached at editor@clomedia.com. In his 2001 book Kitchen Confidential , Anthony Bourdain describes how he became a professional chef and how he continues to support the community of professional chefs. Now, keep in mind that no one issues membership cards to professional chefs - but they are not difficult to recognize.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
AUGUST 16, 2010
I am growing weary of the shouting match termed the Great LMS Debate and don’t plan to waste any more breath on it. Others are articulating the issues well. Check these out: In The LMS Must Die , Mark Berthelemy highlights all the learning needs that LMS don ‘t deal with. All the time we have LMS’s, organisations will feel bound to continue to put content inside it that should, instead be sitting elsewhere, in a searchable (and thus findable) state.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
AUGUST 10, 2010
The Internet Time Community has been hosted on Ning for a little over three years. Most of the time, it has been more of a test site than a real community. We’ve experimented with features, swapped ideas, kept track of one another, and so forth. I was shocked and saddened when Ning announced that its free service was ending. Lots of non-profits had signed up on Ning.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
AUGUST 9, 2010
I enjoy McKinsey Quarterl y because it addresses the Big Picture. McKinsey Quarterly frequently highlights trends that will ripple down through many aspects of the global business environment. For example, the current issue describes Clouds, big data, and smart assets : Ten tech-enabled business trends to watch. Trend 1: Distributed cocreation moves into the mainstream.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
JULY 31, 2010
People who are told a story is controversial remember it better than those who are told it is fact. I chalk this up to my belief that “Uncertainty challenges the mind.&# This delightful article from the July 2010 Scientific American Mind goes one further: too much obedience to task stunts breadth of vision. The Willpower Paradox. Setting your mind on a goal may be counterproductive.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
JULY 30, 2010
When Jane Hart and I shared our thoughts on social learning at the Irish Learning Showcase in Dublin last week, a formal presentation would have run counter to our message. Instead, Jane and I had an informal conversation in the front of the room. In time, others joined in. The format enabled us change direction based on our reading of the mood in the room.
Jay Cross's Informal Learning
AUGUST 28, 2006
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