Ken Dow: Learning

Tue, 11 Mar 2003 14:56:40 GMT

Clay Shirky: Social Software and the Politics of Groups
"To get a conversation going around a conference table or campfire, you need to gather everyone in the same place at the same moment. By undoing those restrictions, the interent has ushered in a host of new social patterns, from the mailing list to the chat room to the weblog."
[Via Tomalak's Realm]

Tue, 11 Mar 2003 13:49:10 GMT

ITTraining: Make it relevant, interesting... and funny
"...the word haha has the Latin root of aha. In other words, when things are true and we find common truths, we often laugh. A great speaker doesn't have to tell funny stories, they just have to connect with common truths that will bring out our humour response"
[Via elearningpost]

Mon, 10 Mar 2003 16:13:29 GMT

PatD: Those who know probably don't blog
"I spent about 5 years of my life studying Chinese Mandarin"

The odd one does - know, that is. Thus one of my more memorable training moments: a crazy white Anglo talkin' Mandarin trash during a session. The very kind of thing that edges our consciousness along its journey from 1) Everything is, to 2) Everything is what it seems, followed by 3) Some things are not what they seem, and then 4) Nothing is what is seems, and finally 5) Nothing is.
So much for brevity, eh? ";->" Sop sop soyaaa! Or something like that...

Tue, 04 Mar 2003 17:28:00 GMT

MrG: (Smart) Mobs on the Job
"The value of a community portal is in building the infrastructure networks crucial to effective online collaboration"

Sun, 02 Mar 2003 15:34:39 GMT

MrG: Obstacles to Business Journaling
"In the personal blog space, we all have equal power, but in the business space, we do not. In the wilderness of the blog, I can criticize Cory or Doc, they could criticize me (if they knew I existed ;) and it's all taken with a grain of good fun and fair play, even where the warbloggers get bitter and vicious. No one has any control over anyone else, we all speak from a relatively safe distance... In a business, this is not the case. A manager can have you fired for comments even, as Dive Into Mark notes (I think it was Mark), the simple admission that once-upon-a-time you had a problem."

I complete agree, Gary. If freedom of speech belongs to those who own the presses, then the majority of those in a corporate context emphatically do not own the presses. No amount of yummy RSS sauce or refried blog tools are going to change that fundamental fact. There's a Japanese saying to the effect that "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down". Substitute blog for nail and you get the idea. Over time, all organizations develop a cultural immune system that seeks, first and foremost, to protect the status quo. This immune system doesn't take kindly to viruses of any kind, whether or not they might ultimately be beneficial.

Wed, 26 Feb 2003 15:03:23 GMT

E-Learning Post: Beyond cardsorting: Free-listing methods to explore user categorizations
"Free-listing is a semi-structured method. It can be conducted as part of an interview, or as a written exercise (and can be done online as well). Simply ask the respondent, 'Name all the x's you know.' Give them sufficient time to do so. If they stop after very few items, encourage them by saying, 'Can you think of any more?'"

Tue, 11 Feb 2003 02:29:15 GMT

Lean-In Technology, Safety Nets and Psychology "The best of the best online environments use a "lean-in" learning environment. Lean-in refers to an environment that insists the student interact with the course materials, usually by using the mouse to click on graphics, text, and objects to more fully engage the learner."
[Via Serious Instructional Technology]

Fri, 22 Nov 2002 15:19:41 GMT

The Heydad test of objective writing "If, however, the trowel-trade academy wants to use simulation to teach NON-masons how to clean equipment, I think they risk failing the Heydad test. Usually this applies to objectives, but I'm sure most on the list can extend it to modes of training delivery. "Unfamiliar with the test? It's very easy. Just take your training objective, and stick in front of it the words: "Hey, Dad, watch me while I..." If the total statement doesn't make sense ('Hey, dad, watch me while I understand principles of brick-cleaning'), there's a reason." [Via Serious Instructional Technology ]

Brilliant! You'd be surprised how much time it takes to explain the nature of a good objective to someone who has no experience in this area. This will help.

Thu, 14 Nov 2002 21:02:37 GMT

Developing an Interactive Web-Based Classroom "Creating a successful interactive web-based learning environment can be a challenging task. There are many issues to consider in the design, development, and delivery of a web-based course. Instructors must rethink the way that they teach to create an interactive learning environment in a web-based format. Suggestions on how to address classroom management, technical difficulties, and course evaluation are given. Ideas to promote interactivity in online instruction are offered." [elearningpost]

Tue, 05 Nov 2002 02:58:57 GMT

klogs: bottoms up KM development "My recommendation: Start simple. Get that working and then add complexity when there is demand for it." [Via Serious Instructional Technology]

Good plan - end user demand for complexity is fairly low... ";->"

Sat, 02 Nov 2002 17:32:35 GMT

Instructional Design in Elearning "Elearning is the marriage of technology and education, and most often, the instructional designer's greatest role is that of "bridging" concepts between the two worlds. This vital role ensures that a subject matter expert's (SME) concepts are properly developed by graphic designers and programmers. Unfortunately, the role of instructional design (ID) in elearning is often misunderstood - due to the perceived complexity of the process and to poor understanding of the pedagogical requirements of elearning. To a large degree, ID is the process whereby learning, not technology, is kept at the center of elearning development." [Via Serious Instructional Technology]

Sat, 19 Oct 2002 23:29:56 GMT

The nonsense of 'knowledge management' "Now this one is a real hoot: The nonsense of 'knowledge management' is a serious and well-researched study into how we ever came to believe such a thing..." [TeledyN]

Thu, 17 Oct 2002 15:03:55 GMT

The Management Secrets of the Brain "Whatever consciousness is -- and that's a mystery that science is still a very long way from solving -- it does provide a comforting sense of unity, a conviction that your mind is under the absolute control of a single, executive you. And yet, the reality is that your conscious decisions and experiences represent only the tiniest fraction of what's actually going on in your brain. Before you can take that sip of morning coffee, for example, your motor cortex has to do a phenomenal amount of subconscious planning and coordination just to move your hand toward the cup. Before you can greet your colleague, your vision centers have to do an equally incredible amount of subconscious information processing just to recognize her face." [elearningpost]

Thu, 10 Oct 2002 00:02:28 GMT

Seblogging: Dynamic Webpublishing, CMS and Weblogs in Education "Seb's got some great links, including Hector Vila asking about what makes weblogs a disruptive technology. I'm pretty confident that this article by John Hiler was the inspiration for that characterisation. I think a parallel argument applies to LCMS like Blackboard and WebCT, with the exception of their gradebook and testing features, which are critical features for instructors that they won't find in weblog software."
[Serious Instructional Technology]

Mon, 07 Oct 2002 15:29:22 GMT

John quotes some Forrester research on the role of weblogs in knowledge sharing: "The person-to-person connections enabled by IM, shared workspaces, and weblogging confound published system-based communication paths -- like approval processes, lead routing, and technical problem escalation. The result is a behavior change at every level. Executives must accept that the best information may pop-up in the virtual hallway."

Mon, 07 Oct 2002 13:28:10 GMT

Welcome to Feedback Universe "For Faggin, the ultimate chip would be a processor that continually reconfigures itself through interconnects and software to become the application--word processor, adding machine, cell phone, fax, microcontroller--needed by the user at that moment. 'I see reconfigurability as an essential ingredient in learning and in the construction of intelligent machines,' says Faggin. 'By giving machines more self-control, we are freed to express our higher goals and desires.'" [elearningpost]

Thought provoking article. Weblogs would make an interesting case study in this area, as implied by the Raven's quote and MrG's discourse on the blog effect.

Thu, 26 Sep 2002 18:37:26 GMT

Weblogg-ed Vol.2: Using Weblogs in Education "One month into Manila with my kids, here's what I think." [Serious Instructional Technology]

Thu, 26 Sep 2002 12:55:02 GMT

ACM: Ubiquity - Ben Shneiderman "The intellectual heart of the book is a new understanding of human needs defined by the relationships people have and the activities they carry out. Instead of trying to apply the latest new technology, we start by asking what is it that people want to do in their lives?" [Serious Instructional Technology]

Mon, 23 Sep 2002 13:21:44 GMT

Using social network analysis to improve knowledge creation and sharing "A significant yet often overlooked component of people's information environments is composed of the relationships that they use to acquire information and knowledge. Social network analysis (SNA) allows managers to visualize and understand the myriad of relationships that can either facilitate or impede knowledge creation and transfer." [elearningpost]

Mon, 23 Sep 2002 12:28:57 GMT

Knowledge Management in Instructional Design [Serious Instructional Technology]

Tue, 17 Sep 2002 03:42:03 GMT

Explaining E-Learning to Executives "Focusing only on the positive aspects of the proposed project is short-sighted. It indicates a lack of maturity on the part of the people making the case. To indicate the soundness of the case, authors must explain the risks associated with pursuing the project--and not pursuing it. E-learning entails definite risks because it involves new technologies, learning methodologies, vendors, equipment, and so on." [elearningpost]

Fri, 13 Sep 2002 18:51:57 GMT

One of my favourite books is kinda sorta online. "Education is to learning as tour groups are to adventure." Hee, hee.

Fri, 13 Sep 2002 16:30:17 GMT

Get your skates on for e-learning success "The economic value of speed is huge. ROI is not the only goal. Executives look for other signs of value as well, such as emotional intelligence, performance improvement and, even more important, return on expectations of organisations and their customers." [elearningpost]

Some excellent points in this article but I'm at sea on the emotional intelligence bit. "Henderson, that's a fine looking plan. Are you positive we can get those EI numbers in just six months?" Wha..?

Fri, 13 Sep 2002 16:12:21 GMT

E-learning and Integration Projects Best for Roi "According to Nucleus, companies that implement e-learning systems for a modest five or six-figure investment typically save money in reduced travel costs, human resources overheads and regulatory compliance." [elearningpost]

$900K US is modest? Tell you what: I can move that decimal place one point to the left, realize all of the gains described here, and have enough left over for a sensible company car.

Thu, 12 Sep 2002 00:56:23 GMT

Being Objective "What is a learning object? At Cisco, it may be a 10-minute video clip. At U.C. Berkeley, it could be a single slide in an art history course; or it could be the carousel of slides; or the entire course. We don't have a common vocabulary to describe obejcts. Besides, they are relative. One person's object is another person's assembly." [elearningpost]