I'm fairly new to this discussion forum and I must admit, I'm a bit confused and would appreciate some insight. I'm accustomed to these types of forums for the purpose of friendly discussion and sharing of experiences. I am not accustomed to people asking for others to provide their work for free. Is that part of the purpose of this particular site?

And for the purpose of making this a discussion -- what do you think the purpose of professional discussion forums ought to be?

Well, SSFN, this has been discussed before. Some people ignore those requests, some people try to help, and some try to point the poster to resources to help find the answer. I generally try to be in the latter group.

I think the line between asking for help in a new area at work and asking someone to do one's job is often fuzzy. I don't mind when someone asks for a new idea for an opener, especially when it is a topic or environment new for the poster. I do have a problem when people ask for pre-designed courses, for instance.

What I do detest and have complained to the moderators about, is the posting of blatant ads. There was a rash of software ads for a while, for instance.

One issue with these boards is that I don't think they are promoted very well. I would like to see a lot more members here. There have been some great discussions and I have learned a lot. The biggest benefit, though, is that they have helped me think about how I do things.

Personally, I think these boards have a better signal-to-noise ratio than the ones on LinkedIn or the ones on Yahoo or the ones on Google (especially the ones that were USENET groups).

I think professional discussion forums are starting to adopt more and more of the collaboration spirit, I only wish forum engines were inherently designed to support and promote more collaboration.

Imagine if 3 people who have a similar need could develop content together, collaboratively, on a forum? Not only would you save time during development, but you would get 3 different perspectives and added creativity into the project.

Maybe I just listen to Don Tapscott too much?

Why is there still a pervasive conception that learning is about building content? How do people who don't know about learning land jobs that require knowledge of it? How can one "build" anything if one is not part of that company and does not have the analysis information to know what, if anything needs to happen for that company? etc. etc. etc....

These are rhetorical questions...

You're right, learning is not about building content, just as driving is not about building a car; but you typically use one to perform the other.

It seems many "learning professionals" these days are a product of someone needing to fill the gap. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a SME moved into a learning function with no training or knowledge on how to perform it. (it's actually how I got into L&D about 10 years ago). These individuals then reach out to the community for assistance in performing the job responsibilities.

Think about the typical scenario of a learning need being identified in a company where no formal learning function exists. Someone recognizes a need, so they pick out a SME on the topic and tell them to teach the others. Many times, the individual is expected to develop content and deliver it to the audience.

You're right, some needs cannot be met by one who is not part of the company, but there are also many that can. If they couldn't, there wouldn't be a market for companies like SkillSoft.