Learning how to work more effectively across sectors and building new skills is an ongoing requirement for professionals. As a community and youth worker (and now a social media consultant) I believe people want to be feel connected, they want to belong, they want to feel valued and competent, contributing to their own development and the development of those close to them. Using social media tools help me feel this way and I recognize the same benefits coming to others who publish online and use web 2.0 tools in their work.

I am very committed to communities of practice and networking initiatives as a means to create new solutions, improve skills and increase the sharing of knowledge across sectors. Over the last 3 yeas I’ve been working as Manager, Canadian Programs, Street Kids International and supporting a “learning community” in York Region.

My project, called Streetjibe, brought youth workers together to learn from each other, build skills and create better networks so youth at risk have access to relevant services and skilled staff. The Streetjibe blog is our online learning community that contains the learnings and tools used in the 25 workshops conducted over the past 2 years and of course introduces social media tools such as blogging, wikis, videos, podcasts as way to build community and engage in conversations with the youth service community.

Networking, collaborations and partnerships are essential practices in non profit service communities. With some of the networks I belong to, I’ve been introducing online tools such as the Ning network platform, wikis, VoiceThread software and collaboration mapping tools such as Mindmeister. While these tools complement face to face meetings, they can also be used to enhance service delivery and engage clients and stakeholders in conversations within your organization.

I am a member of Ning networks in Britain and Ireland. There is also keen interest by many within the educational sector in using these simple and relevant (most often free) learning and sharing tools. Here are the links to the UK groups and a link to a post written by Dean Shareski who writes about teachers who have opened up their classrooms to the world. I’ve also included links to several online learning conferences that I’ve participated in over the past 6 months.

Teachers Who Share Dean Shareski – Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech

Work Literacy – Web 2.0 for Learning Professionals

Corporate Learning Trends & Innovations 2008 – Hook up with fellow innovative thinkers and international visionaries to gain insight into what’s going on, swap opinions, and shape the future of learning.

Youth Work Online – Youth Work Online is an evolving network of practitioners sharing their learning, their questions, their visions and their ideas about the future of youth work and the web.

Youth Work Northern Ireland Youth Workers discussing the development of their youth work in Northern Ireland

Brent Uncategorized Learning Community, networking, ning, voicethread