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Archive for 2009

Fruit Flies and Loneliness: Taking Cues from Others

Written by: Bill Sherman on Thursday, 31 December 2009, 12:24 PM

Social learning appears in more than human beings. Many animals, including0 stickleback fish display the behavior. Now, scientists believe that fruit flies are capable of social learning. Yes, fruit flies. According Sachin Sarin and Reuven Dukas at McMaster University, inexperienced female fruit flies follow the lead of mated female fruit flies when selecting which fruit to lay […]

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Posted in: Research, Social Capital, Social Learning, Social Networks | Leave a Comment

Managing Social Learning Initiatives: Top-Down or Grassroots?

Written by: Bill Sherman on Monday, 28 December 2009, 7:45 PM

Recently I spoke with Corinne Cort,  who served as the director of global learning for a leading-edge telecommunications company. She shared with me the following social learning example. The wireless manufacturer was growing rapidly. As a result, they were hiring software and hardware engineers at an incredible pace. The organization’s formal learning programs could hardly […]

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Posted in: Learning, Social Learning, Social Networks, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Rethinking Learning from the Bottom Up

Written by: Bill Sherman on Wednesday, 23 December 2009, 7:36 PM

Recently, I’ve been rethinking how organizations approach learning programs. Historically, organizations designed learning initiatives from the top down. They identified a need and assigned resources to create training that fit a business objective–onboarding, new product training, soft-skills development. These training programs often form the backbone of an organization. Some of them are developed internally while […]

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Posted in: Social Learning, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Ringing Bells: Finding Our Way Through New Experiences

Written by: Bill Sherman on Friday, 18 December 2009, 5:18 PM

In New York, Improv Everywhere creates urban-based improvisational events that transform everyday experiences into the unexpected. They’ve done some amazing theatrical work with freezes in Grand Central Terminal and wedding receptions. Imagines dozens of people walking through the train station and suddenly coming to a halt as living statues. However, let’s look at one of […]

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Posted in: Learning, Social Networks | Leave a Comment
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