Technology and the University

I recently came across this article titled 'Fluid Learning' - from the human network blog that makes some very interesting and provocative predictions about the future of higher education. This is a fairly long article, but definitely worth a read, I feel. Essentially, the author asserts with the increasing use and utility of social networking, crowdsourcing, and instantaneous collaboration and communication that the very concept of the University is under threat. In this new world, the University ceases to maintain the advantage in organization of resources and capacity, and rather like-minded students could and will band together in sort of a 'knowledge-seeker' marketplace to identify their needs and universities, or even individual instructors would bid to supply their services.

I am not really sure of all that, but there are some specific recommendations in the article that I do happen to agree with. Namely, the importance of sharing and making available content from classes in as many forums as possible. Class lectures, materials, presentation slides, etc., not only should be made available on YouTube, SlideShare, iTunes etc, but you should also actively promote this, from the article 'You should trumpet their existence from the highest tower.'

The argument is that the more widely something is shared, the more valuable it becomes. 'You extend your brand with every resource you share. You extend the knowledge of your institution throughout the Internet. Whatever you have – if it’s good enough – will bring people to your front door, first virtually, then physically' - Fluid Learning.

I post any slides I use in class on SlideShare, once I figure out the best way, I want to get the class transcripts posted online somewhere (probably on some kind of 'open' wiki'), and I really want to get the classes recorded and have video posted one day. So I find myself in agreement with most of the author's assertions regarding openness. In fact just today, I corresponded with a recent HR graduate and directed her to my SlideShare space to learn a little bit more about my class, and told her about the class and the program via Twitter. She may or may not be interested in enrolling in our program, but it seems more likely to me that she would choose to enroll if 'real' content was more readily available on the internet.

I think that schools and instructors would benefit greatly from more openness, more sharing, and more real connecting with both current and potential students in the new technology frontier.

And to back up what I just said, here are the Week 1 and 2 presentation decks from my current class, enjoy!

Leveraging Technology - Winter 2008 Week 1

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: lt class)

Leveraging Technology Winter 2008 Week 2

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: technology hr)

I'm a stranger here myself

I am knee deep in prep for my HR Technology Class, version three and it really is remarkable to me how much I have learned and how much the course has changed in just a relatively short time.

In the beginning, I only had a passing knowledge of many of the tools and technologies that I now spend large portions of the class discussing.

I had never taught a undergrad or grad course before.

I had no vendor partners at all, (thanks again for the assistance this time Halogen Software).

Quite frankly I was just glad to have something to say for a couple of hours and tried to avoid looking like a complete idiot.  It did not help that the class was over-subscribed and located in a way too-small computer lab.  By the third hour, the temperature in the room had to have been about 80F and it was not a pleasant experience.

Tomorrow night I start version three, and the class is light years better than the first version.  Once in a while I run into a student from that first class, and I swear I really want to apologize.

This time I (mostly) know what I am doing, I know what to expect, and I have lined up a great set of tools and technologies to discuss and demonstrate.

I am really excited to be starting off a new session and I welcome any former and current students to give some recommendations and feedback here.

An HR Technology Sampler

As I am getting my materials in order for Week 1 of my HR Technology class, I thought I would attempt to compile a list of all the different tools/technologies that will either bt discussed, demonstrated, and in some cases used by the students.  Let's see how many I have come up with so far:

ERP - Oracle, PeopleSoft

Time and Attendance - Kronos

Self-service - not sure yet, maybe iEmployee

Talent Management - Halogen Software

Recruiting - All the obvious, but for the sake of this list, Monster, Dice, LinkedIn, HigherEdJobs, Jobvite, SmartRecruiters, visualCV

SaaS - Zoho, Workday

Collaboration - Wikis, blogs, Idea marketplace, Second Life, RSS

Communication - Twitter, Yammer, SurveyMonkey, CoverItLive

This is just off the top of mind, and after thinking about it, it does seem like a tremendous amount of different technologies and concepts to try and cover in 10 weeks.

What should I emphasize, what can or should be downplayed?

What are the most important technology concepts and lessons to be learned for today's HR leaders?

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The Net Generation in Class

Been spending some time this week reading the fantastic, 'grown up digitial' by Don Tapscott.

It really is a great book and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in understanding how Generation Y, or the Millennials, or the Net Generation, or whatever you would like to call the group born between 1979 and 1997 will forever change education delivery, workforce management, social networking, and collaboration.

To me the key points I have taken from the book center around the ways that Gen Y students generally prefer to be 'taught'.  The classic mode of delivery with the teacher in front of the class expounding his or her words of wisdom which the students dutifully transcribe and hopefully successfully regurgiate later on for the exam. This method is tired, old, and frankly boring for everyone.

Gen Y students want to to give their opinions, insights, and help to co-design the curriculum and content.  They are much more comfortable in a collaborative environment, and will gladly assist and help each other in their efforts.  They have the tools to explore and inject concepts and content from everywhere.

A key takeaway for me as the insructor is to stop talking so much, start listening and start asking more questions. 

In class I introduce a number of technologies like Performance Management, Succession Planning, wikis, blogs, and microblogs.  But rather on 'telling' the students what they are used for, perhaps I need to spend more time having the students tell me what these tools can be used for.

I think, then we will both learn more, and be better for the experience.

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HR Technology Class - Version Three

Version three (or is it Volume Three) of my HR Technology Class at RIT is scheduled to start in about three weeks. Flickr - Charlyn L

Preparing for the course is still a challenge, as I strive to turn over the material at least 30-40% each time, removing older readings and more dated topics, and adding the latest in technologies and trends.

Much has changed in the business environment since the last class ended. The banking and insurance industries are in turmoil, world equity markets have dropped precipitously, and more and more organizations announce job reductions it seems like almost every day.

Companies increasingly want less risk and exposure to traditional, or long-term software licenses. In technology, the trends continue to be towards simpler, more easily deployable solutions, mainly delivered in the SaaS model.  Complementing these technology trends are organizations that suddenly find themselves having less investment monies available for technology projects (or perhaps no funds at all for new initiatives).

Fortunately for me, in the last class I began to devote more time and emphasis to some of these newer technologies, particularly collaborative technnologies like wikis, Twitter (and this time Yammer), and corporate social networking. I also have hopes to incorporate software from Halogen this quarter, if the details can be worked out in time.

UPDATE : Had a great conversation with the folks at Halogen today, and we will be using their fantastic Talent Management software this class, Thanks Halogen!

I think that as the class (and the HR Technology world) evolves, it is essential that the materials also evolve.  Sure, it would be easier for me to just roll out the same exact class each time, but that would be doing the students a disservice, and I would get pretty bored as well.

What key concepts or technololgies do you think should be included in a graduate course in HR Technology?

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