This book is intended primarily for the workplace training practitioner, working partly or entirely in the traditional four - walled classroom. It will also be of use to those working in delivering training online via web conferencing tools, such as WebEx or Elluminate, and those involved in instructional design work for both traditional and online environments.
The first decade of the 21st century saw rapid growth of web technologies and ideas and tools related to workplace “ e- learning ” in its many forms. This was sometimes viewed by training practitioners as the provenance of younger generations, referred to in the literature
(which has been largely discounted) as “ digital natives, ” who grew up with computer and web technologies. It was common to hear trainers claim that staff were not “ tech - savvy ” or “ preferred face - to - face interaction, ” even when that was only a gut feeling. Rather, my graduate school research revealed that it was actually more often the Baby Boomer - ish - age trainers themselves — who comprise a large part of the workplace learning industry — who were not tech - savvy and preferred face - to - face interaction. They then appeared to project this onto their beliefs about the younger members of the workforce.
But as technologies have become easier to use, with more personal relevance to the end - users, arguments about learner age or lack of skill at using technology simply don ’ t have any credence. The fastest - growing group on Facebook is made up of those age fi fty and older, with those age forty - one to forty - nine right behind; the fastest - growing single demographic among Facebook users is women over age fi fty - fi ve. (Data: http://technomarketer.typepad.com/technomarketer/2009/03/the - age - of- facebook -v s- myspace - februarymarch- edition.html ). It is evident that, as learner interests and abilities evolve, it behooves those in the workplace training fi eld to keep up. Essentially, developing ways of incorporating social media strategies into training practice is crucial in fi nding ways to meet learners where they are.
Social Media for Trainers is intended to be useful to those working in the workplace training and learning fi elds who are brand new to these technologies, as well as those who may be using them at home and wish to transfer their understanding of them into their work roles.