PM Network - August 2009

Learning 2.0
John Winter, vice president of global learning solutions at International Institute for
Learning Inc., offers insight into the project managers of tomorrow.

IN 1910, NOVELIST E.M. FORSTER wrote as an epigraph for his novel Howards End, “Only con- nect...”. He was, of course, referring to the flawed interaction of the class-ridden characters of his story. But it is impossible to conceive how he could have foreseen the relevance of two simple words today, almost a hundred years later, in a society with access to technology beyond his wildest dreams.

In the advent of Web 2.0 and social media, we see the rapid rise in popularity of sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and You Tube, and we can see that Mr. Forster’s words still hold true today.

For this generation and the next, it’s all about relying on the Internet to connect. They are adept at connecting, sharing messages, photographs, music, videos and tweets with their friends and the world beyond.

So what relevance does this have to project management?

THE WEB 2.0 GENERATION AS
PROJECT MANAGERS

Consider this: The average age of the project managers taking IIL’s Project Management Fundamentals course is 23 to 25 years old.

Unlike the preceding generation, the new breed of project managers has grown up with digital tools. Living with this level of “connectedness” is as natural to them as living with television and telephones was to their parents. They are the “digital natives.”

Developing educational content for this generation requires a paradigm shift by the “digital immigrants” responsible for this task. The key to success will be finding ways to use social media as a catalyst for learning the methodologies and

practices of managing projects in a digitally connected way.

LEARNING TO CONNECT

Learning, in the very near future, will need to be a digitally connected activity.

For example, Delicious is a wildly successful social bookmarking site. People all over the world can share their lists of browser bookmarks and see what others are bookmarking. Imagine setting up a group of learners on a social networking site such as Facebook, giving the learners a task, and letting them investigate and explore—with the requirement to share the fruits of their labor with the group via a list of tagged sites collected in Delicious.

Another way to reach these Web-savvy learners is by setting up a project management category on StumbleUpon, where they can tag any website they decide is worth sharing with their fellow learners. If you’ve never heard of this site, you may be amazed to know that it already has 7. 8 million members who are using it to categorize the social Web.

These are just two examples of new attitudes towards communicating and accessing information. Today’s educators must rise to the challenge presented by the next generation of professionals in project management.

IIL’s mission is to connect with clients and industry leaders, and to stay ahead by providing the latest in learning solutions.

Thank you, Mr. Forster, for giving us the heads-up!

International Institute for Learning Inc. can be found within the ever-expanding selection of social networking platforms, including LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Visit www.iil.com to connect.