Another Day in the HR Field

Yes, social learning platforms are in my classrooms (face-to-face, blended, and online) and have been part of my teaching methodology since 2011 or so.  I personally got online around 2008 not too long after social media started getting popular among the business community.  My first blog was actually on my original website (although clunky) because I remember writing a blog post about my very first Facebook post featuring my kids.  Of course, it took me a couple years to master all the start ups and I think twitter became a favorite in 2009 or 2010.  I remember, many of my SHRM friends showed me how to use twitter at conferences.  Twitter which is where I have my strongest following currently with just under 20k unique followers (no purchased lists - wouldn't even think of doing that).  In those early days, it seems like the Human Resource community was among the first to adopt the technology even though many of their employers were still strongly forbiddi...

One of the most important outcomes of my Organizational Behavior class is the self analysis each student completes during the course.  There are several assessments covering topics such as personality, leadership, decision making, and more.  This coupled with a semester long look at how individual, group, and organizational behavior affects the results (good or bad) of a company leaves each student with their own impression of what it takes to be a good leader or manger.  The following is a brief summary of just how one of my A students Galen F. Schneider views the world as it relates to the topic in the Title above:          Five big traits every good manager needs to possess in order to succeed not only in the business world, but also as a manager, are: 1.        A high motivation to manage 2.        A moderately high to high self-monitoring tendency 3. ...

Finding ready made content for education and training courses in business is not as easy as a Google search. Sometimes you need to know exactly where to look. This weeks lesson took us to many sites I personally had not even heard of. For instance, I found a fantastic site for my HR management students that will be a perfect source for international HRM issues. You see they have to research a country and compare three HR policies, laws or customs to same in the US. Some may choose hours while others chose minimum wage. The site was found on a site called Merlot which stands for Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning & Online Training. The site of interest to my class looking for recent International HR information is the HRM Guide . I plan to go back to this site at a later time to explore in more detail and perhaps join. The benefits looked intriguing: As a Member you can: Contribute learning materials Create a personal collection Devel...

Ok so this week we talked a lot of about synchronous technology such as live chats rooms, texting, Skype , Elluminate , instant messaging, etc. However, the thing that really livened up the content was the video I watched that is linked to this weeks blog title. CAUTION: FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY!!! Although it is a bit risque at times it really gets you thinking about the opportunities out there for teaching and or training using social media live. Another interesting, jaw dropping, light bulb went on...what if we used preexisting online chat's surrounding the topic for students to get involved and learn from professionals in the field. I know you can't control what the professionals say but it can be quite interesting and add some reality to what they are learning in the classroom. The article I read was a great source for this idea and suddenly I began thinking of #TChat , #HireFriday , #JobChat , #DTHR , #HRHappyHour & others. The latter two have a blog talk radi...

This week I am a bit rushed at posting my blog for the #TT1131 class scrapbook because I soon will be on a plane heading to #SHRM11 in Las Vegas, NV . I am especially looking forward to seeing Keith Urban (aka @KeithUrban on twitter) perform for several thousand of us "HR Geeks" Tuesday night. In the meantime, I have homework (as do my Organizational Behavior students). The title of this weeks blog is hyperlinked to a new site I discoverd in class called www.polleverywhere.com. It can be used in class to poll students about their opinion regarding a specific topic. For example, I might ask "How many of you have had a lousy manager?" (no really I would ask that) and then we could see the results and discuss why that might be. Usually the brown nose answer (just kidding) would be "because they have not taken your Organzational Behavior class Ms. Rogers". Seriously though, it can be used in face-to-face (F2F) or online classes for a variety of content...

Well this is my second post in a series for the class I mentioned in my first post. My scrapbook so to speak! I am now at the end of week one and just posted my reflection for this weeks module. My number one learning (teachable moment) from this week came from a website experience that I linked to this weeks title (Diigo). It's a bookmark site where you can keep track of great articles you read, sites you browse and want to go back to or just anything of interest. I am still trying to digest it's use in the class or within the HR profession but it was an interesting new find. The second thing that was a bit more concerning and will require me to do some more research is taking into consideration FERPA when requiring students to open a twitter or linked in account as part of their deliverables. I have certainly not considered this before because it is my understanding that the law is related to privacy of grades and how one is doing in the class. I don't see my current...

I know at least my twitter followers are aware that I have been incorporating technology into my teaching for a while now as they have watch several posts go by with #UIS431 in them. However, if you don't learn something new every day we tend to get a little stale. I am working on a Master Certification in Online Teaching. This summer I am taking course 3 & 4 out of 6 required towards that goal. I am learning about student assessment and teaching technology. As homework for the technology course, over the next seven weeks I will be taking a class requiring me to blog more than I do (currently once a month) and specifically highlighting new technologies that I am learning about. Specifically, my blog is going to be my scrapbook with at least the following items: -social networking/media -a tool for asynchronous communication -a tool for synchronous communication -an example of ready-made content -some content you've produced on your own -whatever your produced in the 7...