Acknowledging Professional Networks

I've been surfing blogs lately, following one link to another, when I stumbled across a post entitled The Blame Game on The Strength of Weak Ties by David. After reading this I began to think about my Learning Support Group (the staff in my Performance Management group) and the T & D record sheets I have been signing off in lieu of week 41 (which staff will not have to work if they have accumulated at least 38 hours of T&D hours throughout the year). And it occurred to me that of all the professional development and training I have signed off none of it was online training or development in Web 2.0 tools. Many staff claimed "professional reading" as part of their hours and I question how much of that was online reading.

I, myself, did claim hours for online training this year. I didn't, however, claim any professional reading, one because I didn't need to and two because it didn't occur to me that I could claim my blog or the reading associated with my professional network online. II know the hours I have spent developing my blog, reading other people's blogs and the many RSS feeds through my bloglines accounts along with creating a professional network online are well in excess of 38 hours.

As a site in a regional area it is logical for staff to develop professional networks online. There is no need for them to be isolated in their practice simply because of their geographical location. I would like see our site promote blogs and social networks as a legitimate training and development activity, and will do this with my Learning Support Group next year. I wonder what would happen if we were to encourage that a percentage of T & D hours claimed for professional reading involve reading blogs or online content?