HR Technology 2.0 - Help outline a new class

Regular readers of this blog may know that I have had an ongoing debate and discussion on whether or not I should 'split' my HR Technology class into two distinct classes, one focused on 'core' processes  and the fundamentals of HR Technology, and a new class dedicated to so-called the implications of 'new' technology on Human Resources.  You know, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, enterprise social networking, and blogs, wikis, RSS etc.

A survey of past students indicated 100% positive interest in taking a class completely devoted to new HR Tech, talks with one or two other professors were positive, and an informal Twitter poll also showed strong support and agreement for the need for the new class.

So, students, colleagues, and peers all think it is a good idea, now what?

Now I need an outline and proposal to the curriculum committee.  And here is where I am asking the community for help. 

What topics, technologies, processes, and innovations should be a part of this new HR 2.0 class? 

What should be emphasized?

What should the background reading assignments be?

What activities and assignments should be developed to help the students understand and demonstrate HR 2.0?

Of course I have my ideas on this, and I can write up and submit the proposal without 'community' feedback, but I certainly think the course will be richer, fuller, and have a much better chance of being accepted if I can include insight and expertise from the vast knowledge base of the HR community.

So, help me with my class would you?  What goes in an HR Technology 2.0 class? What would you like to teach, or to learn?  What should the modern HR leader know about Technology 2.0?

Leave a comment, send me an e-mail, or an @sbjet reply on Twitter.

Thanks in advance.

Ask the Experts

News flash - I do not know everything. Flickr - Great BeyondIn fact, even in my area of expertise, HR Technology, I do not have all the answers.

So when you accept the fact that you don't know everything, but still want or need to provide answers, insight, customer service, whatever, what do you do?

You find people who do have the answers, or at least can help lead you in the direction of the answers.

So for me, for the final session of my HR Technology class, for the part of the class where the students typically look to the instructor for some final thoughts, insights, and advice for the future, I did just that. I asked the experts.  I put out a request to the Twitter community for HR and HR Technology experts willing to connect to a web conference and participate in a expert panel Q&A session with my students.

And in a show of community and support that is a hallmark of the Twitterverse multiple experts volunteered their time, and shared their knowledge, expertise, and insights with my class. I have thanked them all on twitter, but I would like to thank and acknowledge them once again here. So, here they are, the Steve's HR Technology Class Expert Panel for 2009: (in no particular order):

Diedre Honner - aka The HR Maven follow her on Twitter - thehrmaven

Lisa Rosendahl - the voice behind HR Thoughts - follow her on Twitter - lisarosendahl

Karen Mattonen - from HireCentrix - follow her on Twitter - HireCentrix

Becky Allen from Serco North America - follow her on Twitter - beckyallen

Michael Krupa from Infobox - follow him on Twitter - pdxmikek

Susan Burns from Talent Synchronicity - follow her on Twitter - TalentSynch

Mark Stelzner from Inflexion Advisors - follow him on Twitter - stelzner

Without exception, each expert brought great perspective and wisdom to the class, and I truly thank them once again, and appreciate their contribution.

Already, folks are asking me when the next chance will be to connect with my students and do it all over again, so I am sure these type of expert panels will continue.

I don't have all the answers, but more and more, I know how to find the people who do.

Breaking Us in Two

Always liked Joe Jackson (the singer, not the baseball player, although I am pretty convinced the baseball player got a bad rap, but I digress). 

Joe the singer had a really cool song back in the day, 'Breaking Us in Two'.  I heard it the other day and Flickr - I'm Heavy Dutycoincidentally I have been thinking about a breakup of sorts, that is a breakup of my HR Technology class into two separate classes.

Currently, the class covers a wide range of topics and technologies, starting with the basics of HR Technology - 'Define ERP', progressing through the various components of Talent Management and their associated technologies, and eventually covering new trends and directions in HR Tech.  Things like the growing impact of social media in recruiting, discussions on the use of external social networking by employees, the concept of the corporate social network, and demonstration and testing of some of the technologies in that space.

Each time I give the course, the latter section about new technology and trends seems to get bigger, and since it is much more current and interesting, some of the 'older' material and concepts are starting to get squeezed out, and that really is a shame.  This quarter, I spent really not enough time on ERP and the issues and challenges inherent with ERP, did not talk about workforce scheduling and management technologies at all, and gave not nearly enough attention to Learning and Development technologies.

Even my sections on 'new tech' felt somewhat rushed, as we were fortunate to have the use of great Talent Management software from Halogen, that we spent quite a bit of class time using. Now I am at the end of class, wishing I had about three more weeks to really cover collaboration and internal social networking properly, with real software to use like Mentor Scout or SocialCast.

The remedy might be to split the current class and curriculum into two separate courses, an HR Tech Part I and Part II.  Part I would start with the basics, definitions, ERP, etc. and continue though the various components of Talent Management (recruiting, onboarding, performance, succession and comp).  Part II would then pickup with the impact of Web 2.0 on all these technologies, modern approaches to recruiting with social media, the use of external and internal social networking.  We could find a internal community platform vendor like SelectMinds to partner with the class to let the students roll out a full deployment of a mock internal social network for our class company. We'd spend time on internal use of blogs, microblogging and other new methods for company communication.

Does it make sense?  Is there really enough content and technologies to split one HR Tech Class into two?  Is this all just a shameless ploy to double my (meager) salary as an instructor?

What do you think?  Is HR Tech so big now, that 'Breaking Us in Two' makes sense?

Wiki Lessons

The third session of my HR Technology course is winding down, and the final class 'Wiki as intranet'project is coming together really well.  The students have really embraced the technology and have created some really outstanding content, and have extended the 'core' functionality by embedding video, chat rooms, polls, and presentations.

In my experience using wikis as a class tool as well as deploying wikis in the organization for faculty use there are a few key considerations and lessons learned that are important to understand if you plan on introducing wikis to your class or organization.

1. If Wikis are new to your program or organization, chances are 90% of the students and staff will have never 'used' a Wiki, beyond reading entries on Wikipedia.

2. Even though Wikis are touted as simple, no-training-required tools, doing more than adding simple text will initially require demonstration and review for most non-technical users.

3. Wikis that make as simple as possible the steps for embedding video, slide shows, Flickr images, chat, and polls (love Zoho Polls for this), will be most effective in the classroom

4. For the best chances of adoption of the Wiki as the primary class or organization communication platform, put everything on the Wiki. for your class this means Syllabus, course overview, assignments, presentations, and any 'sign-ups' should all be Wiki pages. Encourage the class to post questions and comments everywhere. For an organization wiki, meeting agendas, minutes, project plans, status reports and announcements should all be placed on the wiki.

5. For a class, old habits are still hard to break, you may need to 'cross-post' for a time in both the Wiki and the old course management system. Certain items like the gradebook still have to reside in the CMS. Try not to make the students have to bounce back and forth between the two platforms too often. In your organization, you may still need to resort to e-mail blasts to be sure important announcements are getting seen, while you are building wiki awareness and use.  If you do resort to e-mail, be sure to 'cross-post' to the wiki and provide a link the the associated wiki page in the e-mail message.

6. Keep the wiki alive even after the class or project ends. There's lots of good information there. Figure out a way to keep it accessible for students in the future. In an organization this is less of an issue, but be mindful of 'stagnation', many wikis start out with a flurry of activity, then sort of slowly die out as the novelty wears off.

I am absolutely convinced that Wikis are an incredibly effective tool for almost all class activities, with the added bonus of giving the students exposure and experience to a technology they will see in the workplace. In fact, a current student has already implemented her own company-wide wiki for here small business, largely based on the experience and lessons learned from using the class wiki.

These tips and observations are really vendor neutral, I have implemented wikis from Socialtext, Confluence, and PbWiki, and while they all have their individual strengths and weaknesses, they all support the essentials for class or organizational use.

What are your best tips, tricks and observations from using wiki?

Why Teachers should Twitter

There are dozens of good reasons for educators to get on Twitter, I am not going to try and re-hash them all again here, but rather tell a simple, quick story of the real power and strength of Twitter for classes and students.  One of the assignments in class is a presentation of a company or organization's application of technology to support or enhance a Human Resources process.

We had a series of excellent presentations on topics like employee self-service, onboarding, and corporate social networks.  We also had a great presentation on the use of technology for recruiting by the US Army.

The student, Jessica Wagner, did a fantastic job of discussing the challenges faced by the Army in meeting their recruiting targets, the makeup and psychology of the 'target' demographic for potential candidates, and the Army's application of innovative technology to bolster their recruiting efforts.

The next morning I sent out a Tweet with a comment and observation on the presentation, which led to the following exchange of Tweets between myself and Amy Lewis, Director of the Talent Acquisition Community on the Human Capital Institute.

 

After that last Tweet, Amy and I took the conversation to a few private Twitter direct messages and arranged a time to have a chat on the subject.  A couple of days and one really great discussion later, we arranged for my student and I to deliver an HCI webcast, 'Tell the Hiring Stroy with Technology' on May 14, 2009, which will be largely based on her original class presentation.

Needless to say, for a student (who is also a new HR Manager) to participate in delivering an HCI webcast presents a phenomenal opportunity, and I want to thank Amy for her interest and support.

The larger point though, is if you are a teacher part of your role should be to advocate and promote the work of your students beyond the four walls of your class, and even outside the boundaries of your school.   Twitter can be a fantastic avenue for that kind of recognition and promotion.  Jessica gave a great presentation in class last week, and now thanks in large part to Twitter, she will get the chance to share that presentation with a wide audience. 

Thanks Amy, thanks, HCI and thanks Twitter.