(From the Washington Post) In the current competitive climate, upgrading your computer aptitude can help secure advancement within a company, better employment elsewhere or re-entry into the workforce after a downsizing.

Some companies are helping. In May, the Edelman public relations firm rolled out an interactive desktop system that trains employees in social networking online -- at their own pace.

"In our industry, it's quite critical today," said Laura Smith, managing director of U.S. human resources at Edelman in the District. Those who advance in hands-on use of LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are elevated to another rank in the training system.

Read the entire article.

Tags: technology, skills, social learning, web 2.0

Categories: News

Ran across this blog post from Element K talking about how everyone's talking about social media. Tom Stone, the guy who posted this, salutes ASTD's recognition of the game-changing nature of social media for learning professionals. Hat tip to Tom for linking to Tony Bingham's T+D article, "Learning Gets Social" (and the podcast of it) and also to a press release about ASTD's research report on Web 2.0 technologies.

Tags: social media, social learning, web 2.0, t+d, research, tony bingham, element k

Categories: ASTD in the News

(From OHSOnline.com) According to the American Society of Safety Engineers, in 2007, a total of 117 teens under the age of 18 died from work-related injuries and another 77,000 teen workers were hurt badly enough to end up in hospital emergency rooms. NIOSH says that nationally about 230,000 teens suffer work-related injuries, with most of those injuries occurring in the retail or service industries. Overall, close to 6,000 workers die from on-the-job injuries and 4.4 million more suffer from injuries and illnesses in the U.S. alone.

To help prevent such injuries and reduce such numbers, and to illustrate how SH&E professionals contribute to that effort, the ASSE this week launched an interactive online computer game called "Don't be a Zombie at Work." Located at www.dontbeazombieatwork.org and free to play, the new game features an imaginary evil corporation. Players find themselves helping their co-workers avoid becoming a "zombie" by finding tools and information from embedded SH&E professionals to stay safe on the job.

Read the entire article.

Tags: workplace, training, web 2.0, social learning, games and simulations, technology

Categories: News