Blogwatcher Karyn Romeis selects the first 10 of her favourite L&D blogs. There will be another 10 in the next Browser. Are there any you would like to see here? Add a comment below.
If you’re a learning professional who already blogs, there will probably be few names on this list that you don’t already know. If you are just beginning to dip a toe into the world of social media, you could do worse than to start with these folks (note - this is not intended to be a definitive list by any stretch of the imagination). In no particular order:
1. Jane's E-learning Pick of the Day. Jane Hart provides an invaluable service to the L&D community by reviewing a useful tool every single day, many of which are free. She also compiles lists: tools favoured by the community (including you, if you’d like to contribute); L&D Twitterers, social networks for L&D professionals, etc.
2. Informal Learning Blog. Jay Cross is the CEO of the Internet Time Group and the person accredited with coining the term elearning. He is passionately committed to informal learning and (in my view) should be prescribed reading for learning professionals.
3. OLDaily. Stephen Downes is a like a walking, talking aggregator who seems to know about any- and everything. His provides short signposts to other blog posts, offering his comments on them. He has another blog called Half an Hour, where he calls it like he sees it, and at far greater length.
4. Cognitive Edge. Dave Snowden is proudly Welsh and a gifted, outspoken and sometimes controversial complexity theorist. His posts address issues and lessons from both his professional and personal experience.
5. Brandon Hall Analyst Blog. Janet Clarey is a senior researcher at Brandon Hall. She calls a spade a spade and relates ideas and challenges in a way that readers can relate to, often with an appealing touch of irreverence.
6. Blog of Proximal Development: Konrad Glogowski is a passionate learning professional seeking ways to understand the challenges facing the developing world and to address them.
7. E-Luminations: Kobus van Wyk is involved in an initiative that seeks to address the technological inequity faced by teachers in the poorer parts of South Africa, encountering obstacles most of us wouldn't even think of.
8. Connectivism Blog: It's probably not too much of a stretch to call George Siemens one of my de facto learning gurus. He is the originator of the connectivism learning theory. I also really recommend his (free) online conferences.
9. Donald Clark Plan B: Donald is a dyed in the wool iconoclast. Sometimes I get the impression that he sits down and wonders, "Hmm, which sacred cow can I desecrate today?" Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes I don't, and sometimes I get downright annoyed, but it all makes for interesting debate.
10. Growing Changing Learning Creating: Just the title of Tom Haskins's blog should pique the curiosity of any innovative learning professional. He addresses ideas and challenges covered by those four words, particularly where they overlap.
Karyn Romeis has 20 years experience in the field of learning and development and makes extensive use of social media. She operates an independent consultancy called Learning Anorak Ltd and can be reached via her website or on 07789786878.
