The Scrambled Egg Mind of a Beginner

Apparently, when Tom Kuhlman links to your blog, crazy things happen. So hi to all of my new readers and thanks for joining.

Thought I'd check-in and give you all a quick status update on what I've been up to:

As you may know, I recently started with Kineo as the VP of Learning Design.

As with any new job, there are a lot of transitions to navigate. I'm in that beginner-mind zone. Although I've been doing this work for 15ish years, the ground beneath me is shaky and I feel like I'm in new waters, navigating new people, new processes, new tools.

Traveling. The past two weeks have been a whirlwind: ASTD, client visits, seminars on Moodle/Articulate in Boston and Chicago. I'm suddenly racking up lots of frequent flyer points. Next week I'll be heading to Kineo World Headquarters in the UK for 5 days. The kids may not take it so well...

Adjusting to life as a virtual office worker. When I'm actually in town, I work from the shed.

There are a lot of great things about this arrangement: lunch breaks with the kids, secret visitors who spy on me through the window, the occasional drum jam.

Has its downsides: the occasional drum jam while I'm trying to talk on the phone, my work is my home is my work is my home, and there's no one but me to bake cookies for the office.

My blogging and tweeting has been a bit sporadic with all of this mania. I'm in scrambled egg mind mode most of the time. Will hope for a few opportunities for reflection as things unfold.

Hope you're all doing well and please take the time to comment on the blog. I enjoy the conversations immensely. I do post a lot of learning tidbits to Twitter that never make it to the blog, so join me there if you're so inclined. I'm @cammybean.

eLearning Tip #23: Karmic Learning with Twitter

You probably already know that Twitter is the 140-character microblogging platform. It's where people talk about what they had for lunch. So what? But I have to tell you that sometimes it really is interesting to hear what Jay Cross is having for lunch in Palermo or Rome.

But Twitter is way more than that. Twitter is a powerful platform for resource sharing, community building and connection. It's a gift-giving economy: you give, you receive. Karmic learning.

In my first eLearning Tip for Kineo , I've created a short piece on getting started with Twitter. It's tip #23.

While you're there, be sure to check out the previous 22 tips -- all great articles written by Stephen Walsh, one of Kineo's founding partners.

Learning to Work, Working to Learn

This post is my contribution to this month's Work/Learning Blog Carnival hosted by the venerable Dave Ferguson.

The last time I posted for this carnival (almost a year ago!) I wrote about trying to build learning into work when you're just too busy doing work.

This go-round, I'm at the other end of things: in a much-needed lull between projects, taking a breather. Opening my eyes, looking around, and seeing what I can see. A great time to brush up on skills, seek inspiration, and learn learn learn.

Here's what I've been doing lately on the job:

Tinkering

I've been tinkering around with new and old tools, expanding my skill set.

Audio:

I've been learning the basics of using Adobe Audition for sound recording and have been creating narration for a course we're currently building. This reminds me how much I like to make stuff.

PowerPoint:

Tom Kuhlman's got some great demos and exercises on his Rapid eLearning Blog, like this one on building an eLearning Template in PowerPoint.

Getting Inspired

Looking at what other, more creative people are building for eLearning seems like a no brainer.

Here's some of what I've been tapping into lately for instructional design inspiration:

• Tom Kuhlman's Resource List for the eLearning Guild's ID Zone at the recent Annual Gathering.
• Articulate Guru Awards 2009
• Clive Shepherd's 60-Minute Masters

What else should I be looking at? What are you looking at?

Reading

I'm still in the midst of The Adult Learner by Malcolm Knowles et al. My attention has admittedly wandered to shinier, more gripping things.

I've got a long wish list going in Amazon of books I'd like to read. Just need to make some decisions and add them to the cart. At the moment, my book wish list includes:

• Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire (Cliff Atkinson)
• Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School (Book & DVD) (John Medina)
• From Training to Performance Improvement
• (Jeanne Farrington) via Harold Jarche
• Non-Designer's Design Book, The (3rd Edition) (Non Designer's Design Book) (Robin Williams)
• Principles of Instructional Design (Robert Gagne)

Be sure to check out Essential Reading for Instructional Designers for more great book ideas. Have any to add?

Revisiting

Things don't seem to stick in my brain the way they used to.

Now's a good time to go back and thumb through some of my old favorites be they books, blog posts, articles, whatever. I pull something off my shelf (Essential Reading for Instructional Designers ) or head over to delicious and browse my bookmarks.

Sharing & Digesting

Since 2006/7, my blog had been my main vehicle for chewing things over and spitting them back up. The past year has seen a reduction in my posting. Some of that gap because I feel like I've said it all already. Some of the gap has been sheer laziness.

Since September, I've been blogging less because I've been twittering more. I wasn't at the eLearning Guild's Annual Gathering this year, but I felt close thanks to Twitter. So many resources to share.

Follow me @cammybean if you want to see what all the fuss is about.

Documenting

I've just discovered Evernote and I heart it. It's my new brain and it arrived just in time (my old one was getting kind of worn).

My iPod Touch synchs up with my desktop synchs up with the web version. Amazing. I anticipate this tool quickly becoming a best friend.

Check out eQuixotic's award winning Articulate piece for a nice view of Evernote's capabilities.

How do you learn at work? What are your favorite tools? Where do you go for inspiration?

Photo credits:

• Oh boy tinker toys! by Brianfit
• New Baby Bird Rehabbers by audreyjim529

All The World's A-Twitter

I've succumbed to Twitter.

After reading Jane Hart's article Understanding Today's Learner, I realized I'd better be walking the talk and trying out all the hot new "learning" tools.

So Wednesday, I signed up. Within minutes, I was greeted by a number of people. That sort of freaked me out and I momentarily panicked -- how do I reply back and just how did they find me so fast? (oh, yeah, I decided to "follow them" and they got an email from Twitter).

Sue Waters sent me off to a great post she'd written on getting started with Twitter.

Within 34 minutes, I was a pro. Sort of. Not a bad start-up time, if I do say so myself.

Like Tracy Hamilton, I'm enjoying the endless thought streams. I know that Karyn Romeis has a cold. That Janet Clarey and Clark Quinn were watching the vice-presidential debate last night.

I'm having fun hearing the stream of people's activities and thoughts ("ambient intimacy"), but is that all there is to it?

SoulSoup sent me a link to a post he'd worked up on Twitter for business.

It feels endless now -- all the places I need to go to keep in touch with my peeps: my phone, my email account (Outlook for work, gmail for life); Facebook; Google Reader; Twitter. I know people consolidate and slim down (Brent, for instance), but I'm not sure I'm ready for that challenge.

I'll let you know what I decide.

How 'bout you? Do you Twitter? Why? Why not?

I'm cammybean on Twitter.