This month’s Big Question from ASTD’s Learning Circuits blog is What did you learn about learning in 2008?

I started grad school in the Fall of 2007. So this year I took the following courses:

• Introduction to Instructional Systems
• Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology (I wrote a couple of papers for this class on social networking sites as a form of Instructional Technology)
• Designing for Online Collaborative Learning – My group produced this site as a final product. I also have a work project based on what I learned from this class
• Introduction to Instructional Design – Module, pre-test and post-test are here. The report will get published there soon.

One thing I have learned from my graduate studies is how much I already know about instructional design from work. We do a really good job of writing instruction based on learning objectives. It’s given me a better appreciation for my department, and my current skills.

I have been explaining the hows and whys of social media to my management for over a year now. I have learned how to communicate and work with a group of people who have to be concerned with things I never really thought of. It has forced me to slow down, think about why using these tools will solve problems, explain again, and just keep repeating that process. Being forced to tie things back to the business has been a huge learning experience for me.

I also participated for most of CCK08. I learned that you can learn alot from other people you don’t necessarily agree with.  I can’t even list all the ways I have used things we discussed as part of that class at work. I also made lots of new twitter friends.

I learned people love to open up and share. Once I got past the scariness, I learned that letting go and opening up is a great feeling.