To me, a community of practice is about people with similar interests coming together to share ideas, explore their chosen field, and solve problems. I was excited when ASTD shifted to this new way of thinking because it focuses on providing targeted content and enables us to better connect with our audience and understand their needs. My role is to understand your challenges and interests related to technology and learning, and then identify or create resources to meet those needs.

The Learning Technologies Community of Practice covers social learning, mobile learning, and simulations and serious games. These topics should come as no surprise since they've been the buzz for some time. But we believe that we're ready to move beyond the surface to explore how these elements take a strategic place in your learning strategy, and we're ready to take a hard look at results and calculate value. The community also will cover e-learning staples such as courseware, virtual classrooms, knowledge management, performance support, and so forth.

We've made some great progress in the past year, launching a brand-new educational offering, LearnNow, which focuses on building a strategy for informal, social, and mobile learning. This year's TechKnowledge was our most popular in years, and that's due to your input, feedback, and contributions. We'll continue to shape these events so that they are meeting your needs and helping you to solve the problems of the day.

You can all contribute in some way, whether it's writing a blog post with us, commenting on an article, or just letting me know what you're interested in. Your ideas and opinions matter and drive the great content that we develop.

I look forward to connecting with many of you, virtually or in person, to discuss this evolving field. My goal is to provide content, support, and resources that help you to get your job done better and faster. So, be sure to let me know what you need and how we're doing with this new venture—that's what community is all about, right?

Justin Brusino

Community of Practice Manager

Learning Technologies

[email protected]

@ASTDLearnTech