Hackable Idea Of Week: Learning 2.0

Its Monday, and I already have my Hackable Idea of the Week ! Check out this article at Wired, on how a library IT director put together a grassroots technology learning program for her staff.

When the IT director at North Carolina's Charlotte & Mecklenburg County public library began training staff in the latest web technologies, she lured reluctant participants with bribes -- a free MP3 player and the chance to win a laptop.

Six months later, the program they developed is the real prize. Learning 2.0, developed by public services technology director Helene Blowers, has become a surprise grassroots hit, available for free on the web and adopted by dozens of other libraries around the globe.

...the success of Learning 2.0 shows that the human problem of retraining workers is often being tackled from the ground up.

Recognizing that librarians need to know how to participate in the new media mix if libraries are to remain relevant, Blowers challenged her 550 staffers to become more web savvy. Using free web tools, she designed the program and gave staff members three months to do 23 things.

They created blogs and podcasts, tried out Flickr, set up RSS feeds, learned about wikis, uploaded video to YouTube, played with image generators and Rollyo, and explored Technorati, tagging and folksonomies.

I love several things about this:

• its an open source learning modality, supported by technology, but really about learning the new tools for societal engagement


• it employs creative destruction of accepted professional training - a training company wins a contract, schedules a class, teaches ABC, which are outdated as soon as the class finishes, and charges an extortionate amount


• its re-usable ! we need the same thing for non-profit leaders, public school teachers, health workers, and everyone else at the front line of our civil society