Undergraduate Degree

Tuesday, 5 May 2009

eLearning Tour

On May 21, 2009, I moderated an eLearning Tour in association with Learn Trends. It was designed to take you on a quick tour of different examples of eLearning Solutions happening out there. The tour guides and their topics:

Judy Brown - Mobile Learning Solutions
Bob Mosher - Performance Support Tools
Karl Kapp - Games and Simulations
Tony Karrer - Self-Paced and Other eLearning Solutions

Below are the videos from the sessions:

Mobile Learning

Performance Support

Simulations and Games

Asynchronous eLearning

Mobile Learning

Judy Brown, Tour Guide

For the mobile learning section of the tour, we will be talking about the opportunities and benefits in using devices our learners are already carrying for various types of learning. The topics / presenters will be:

Overview/Introduction – a quick scan of the current and future environment

Judy Brown, Mobile Learning Strategic Advisor, mLearnopedia

Innovative Podcasting – Introduction of research and an example of improved audio communications

Christopher von Koschembahr, a pioneer in mobile learning previously with IBM

Mobile Lessons Learned – Overview of experiences in the first year of use of iPhones and iPods for all the learners at Abilene Christian University

William Rankin, Associate Professor of English & Director of Mobile Learning Research: iPhone
George Saltsman, Director of the Adams Center for Teaching & Learning and Director of Educational Technology

Performance Support

Bob Mosher, Tour Guide

In the Performance Support tour we will be looking at technologies and approaches which bring learning directly to the learner’s “moment of need”. Performance Support offers a unique opportunity to go beyond learning and acquiring knowledge directly in the context of doing work. 4 case studies will be shared. The topics / presenters will be:

Overview/Introduction – a overview of the PS learning landscape and some overall design principles which need to be considered

Bob Mosher, Chief Learning and Strategy Evangelist, LearningGuide Solutions US

Electron Performance Support integration – 2 examples of highly guided and integrated Performance Support environment for IT applications and the DoD.

Dan Peay, Transcensus

Performance support for Processed based learning – Two more examples of PS used for helping support Medical Devices and On-boarding.

Bob Mosher, Learning Guide

Simulations and Games

Karl Kapp, Tour Guide

In this part of the tour, we'll explore how organizations are using games and simulations to provide engaging, effective training to their employees. You will see how:

Mini games
Game Engines
Machine Simulations
Soft Skills Simulation

are being leveraged to transfer knowledge within organizations.

Speakers during this section will be:

Adam Nelson who currently leads the learning group at Linden Lab, the creators of Second Life, designing and implementing next-generation adaptive learning environments in enterprises of all sizes. Prior to joining Linden Lab, Adam spent 10 years at Ninth House, a leading leadership and behavioral change company.

Phil Sueper - Simulation Designer for The Performance Development Group. Over the past nine years, he's designed more than 200 performance simulations. He will present a series of simulations with very brief summaries of the unique approaches to learning included in each

Self-Paced, Asynchronous eLearning
Tony Karrer, Tour Guide

In this part of the tour, we will quickly go through a series of demonstrations of different types of asynchronous, self-paced eLearning that comes directly from the submissions.

The topics / presenters will be:

Really Rapid eLearning - A rapid process, integrating SMEs to produce software overviews.
Ben Duffy, eLearning Program Manager, Fairchild Semiconductor

Narrative eLearning - Teaches about Pandemic Influenza Preparedness at Work and at Home through conversations at work and at home, and newscasts - incorporating audio and bandwidth constrained “video.”
Kim Koehler, Learning Center, Park Nicollet Health Services

Scenario eLearning - Introduces AmeriCorps VISTA to new members through an exploratory environment with interactive scenarios.
Angela Nicholas, Instructional Designer, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory

Non-linear, Clue/Puzzle eLearning - Introduces banking staff to a banking service and customer enrollment through a film noir setting where learners play a private detective search for clues.
Jeffery Goldman, e-Learning Designer, Provident Bank

Social eLearning - A reusable product that invites conference audiences into a conversation with keynote presenters before and after the event.
Douglas Flather, Vice President, Product Development, Washington Speakers Bureau Multimedia

More on our tour guides:

Karl Kapp

Karl is a consultant, speaker, scholar, and expert on the convergence of learning, technology and business operations. His background teaching e-learning classes, knowledge of adult learning theory, and experience training CEOs and front line staff provides him with a unique perspective on organizational learning. In 2007, he voted as one of TrainingIndustry.com's 2007 Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals. Recently, he won the Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology. His experience with technology companies and high-tech initiatives provides him with insights into the future of technology. He shares those insights and perspectives through writing, consulting and coaching with clients in the field of learning and e-learning.

He is the author of "Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning" and is working on a book about 3D Learning.

Judy Brown

Judy Brown is a Mobile Technology Analyst who has been involved in technology for learning for over 25 years and with mobile learning since 1996. She coordinates the mlearnopedia.com site. She moderates the Mobile Learning Content Community and is a fantastic speaker on all things mobile learning.

Bob Mosher

Bob has been an active and influential leader in the learning and training industry for over 23 years and is renowned worldwide for his pioneering role in e-learning and performance support. Bob joined LearningGuide from Microsoft, where he was Director of Learning Strategy and Evangelism. Before, Bob was the Executive Director of Education for Element K where he directed and influenced their learning model and products. He is an influential voice in the IT training industry, speaking at conferences and participating within industry associations such as CLO Magazine, CompTIA, ASTD, The E-learning Guild and The Masie Centre.

Tony Karrer

Dr. Tony Karrer is CEO/CTO of TechEmpower, a software, web and eLearning development firm based in Los Angeles, and is considered one of the top technologists in e-Learning. He has twenty years’ experience as a CTO. Dr. Karrer taught Computer Science for eleven years. He has been the acting CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony. His work in social media, e-Learning and Performance Support has won awards and has led him into engagements at many Fortune 500 companies including Credit Suisse, Royal Bank of Canada, Citibank, Lexus, Microsoft, Nissan, Universal, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Fidelity Investments, Symbol Technologies and SHL Systemhouse. Dr. Karrer was valedictorian at Loyola Marymount University, attended the University of Southern California as a Tau Beta Pi fellow, one of the top 30 engineers in the nation, and received a M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science. He is a frequent speaker at industry and academic events.

Social Network Analysis - Twitter - Social Media - Best Stuff from Last Week

Here is the best stuff from last week via eLearning Learning.

Top Other Items

The following are the top other items based on social signals.

Enterprise: List of 40 Social Media Staff Guidelines, April 23, 2009
NYTimes OpEd | End the University as We Know It, April 27, 2009
The future of e-learning is social learning, April 25, 2009
OpenGov: One big challenge? Or a thousand small hurdles : Tim's Blog, April 28, 2009
Ten Commandments of eLearning Design, April 25, 2009
20 Ways to Evaluate Contributions to a Corporate Social Network | Dave Duarte, April 28, 2009
Ignore This Post If You Don’t Care About Effective Learning, April 28, 2009
Incredibly Dull: Social Architecture, April 28, 2009
“Ba” for Management Development, April 24, 2009
Emergent practices need practice, April 24, 2009
Rough week for higher education, April 25, 2009
The Business Case for Social Learning: Dealing with the "Capability Recession" at Lower Cost, April 30, 2009
The intersection between work and learning, April 30, 2009
Social Learning and Emerging Technology, April 23, 2009

Top Keywords

Profile Photo

I'm actively engaged in all kinds of sites that can be roughly described as social networking. Through this, and because of my My LinkedIn Open Connection Approach where I basically treat LinkedIn like a really big business mixer, I have lots of opportunity to "meet" new people online.

My guess is that about 25% of the people I run into do not have a profile photo. I'm writing this post to encourage you to:

Spend a little bit of time to create a reasonable profile photo
Attach it to every online profile when you create it

And when I say every, I mean every – don't join that new Ning group without attaching your photo. Add it to your Elluminate and WebEx profiles.

It doesn't take a lot to add a profile photo, and it's fairly significant. Why?

It helps me believe that you are a real person. That your request isn't from some faceless person out there in cyber space. You are real. If you walk up and talk to me at a big mixer, I will talk to you. But if you are an unknown from cyberspace with no photo, it just doesn't feel as real.
It helps me remember you. I have a hard time associating names with faces. A really hard time. Your profile photo can be really helpful to me to connect the dots repeatedly.
It shows me you are serious. If I receive an inquiry or link/friend request from someone without a profile photo, I'm much more likely to ignore it. It's a signal that you are just playing around.

A few other thoughts on this topic:

In business networking, using stylized photos or anything other than a normal photorealistic picture says – I'm playful and fun, but maybe not all that serious about all this stuff. It's your choice, but I believe it hurts you on all three of the above items.
Have a reasonably complete LinkedIn profile and link to it everywhere. When I meet someone online, I commonly go search for them on LinkedIn to see who they are and what they do. If I can't find them or they have really limited information, that suggests they aren't as serious about online connections. In my experience, it's not as effective to spend time with them online. I'm not saying this is a rule, but there's a correlation in my experience. And while I'm at it, if you have less than 200 connections, you probably aren't trying all that hard online either.

Monday, 4 May 2009

New Way of Learning

This month's Big Question - Social Grid Value and a comment by Ken Allan on my Learning Goals post really got me to thinking. Ken said:

I don't really think there's any new way of learning, but we may need to experiment with its delivery.

At first I nodded my head, but then I started to wonder...

Is there really no new way of learning?

This is similar to the question raised in Brain 2.0 and I'm not really sure where we landed in that discussion. At the time, I said:

I'm not claiming that the brain itself has changed, but instead what's changing is:
metacognition
metamemory
access to information
access to other people
access to smart systems

And I still feel we are vastly underestimating what is happening around all of this.

Our Better Memory changes what we remember, how we remember, how we find and filter information (Information Radar), how we process information (Processing Link Pages).
The Social Grid and Network Learning have changed when and how we Search which is actually quite a change from how many of us learned to acquire information when we were in college.

In fact, I still believe that this is THE challenge of the next 50 years plus. How do we accommodate the dramatic changes in the ways that humans interact with computers, information and each other? In 30 years we will be able to have implants that give us full, instant access to the web (no typing) including the social grid. Today, our access to all that information and other people is just a bit slower (we have to type). Sorry, I digress ...

So, back to the original question - new way of learning?

Part of the answer of whether there are new ways of learning is how we interpret the "way of learning." What is learning? Some definitions:

the cognitive process of acquiring skill or knowledge
refers to the acquisition, and transfer to long-term memory, of experience, Information, and Knowledge, which may subsequently be used for solving problems, making decisions, and creating new knowledge

If we are talking about brain function, I don't know enough to know whether there really is something different going on in how the brain works. So, if we interpret learning to be purely at that level, then an argument can be made that there's not anything different here because the brain still "learns" in the same way. Therefore the "way of learning" are the same. It's still some kind of physical activity within the brain. Once we are able to bypass visual / reading as our input mechanism from computers and have direct input into the brain that may be interpreted separate from those normal brain signals, then we can be assured that learning is different at this level. But I'm not sure that should be the hurdle we need to achieve in order to start to claim "new way of learning."

If I look at the result of learning which according to the above definitions:

skill or knowledge
subsequently be used for solving problems, making decisions, and creating new knowledge

I believe that so much is changed around this that it really has a profound impact on learning. We are already beginning down the 30 year path I'm describing above. Essentially we've begun to use computers as an extended brain. The social grid represents a Borg-like extended brain that gives us incredible access to expertise and problem solving. All of this changes:

what we learn
how we choose what needs to be committed to long term memory vs. electronic memory
what we need from a future look up standpoint
how we solve problems and make decisions

So while the physical level of learning may not be changing, the context has and is changing. It's changing enough that while it's technically accurate to claim there is no "new way of learning" - it feels misleading.

I believe the way I learn today is very different than the way I learned 10 years ago. And dramatically differently than I the way I learned 25 years ago.

Improved Learning or Business Benefits

Looking at the responses in Social Learning Designer to my services positioning template:

For _________ (buyers) we help in their desire to __________ (benefits)
by ________ (services) unlike others we _____________ (differentiation).

There were only three responses:

Jane Hart: I work with learning depts to help them create more participatory, collaborative approaches to learning - rather than just shoving content at people

Colleen Carmean: for learning orgs, we help in their desire to increase knowledge within the org by shaping systems that make info needed available to anyone at anytime. Unlike others, we do this by creating distributed spaces, places and tools for sharing, finding and creating knowledge.

John: For learning organizations we help build productive, skilled, thinking individuals and teams. Unlike others we do this in a collaborative, active, constructive manner.

This sparked a couple of quick thoughts …

Buyers / Audience – Learning Dept / Organizations

I'm guessing that each of these responses are from a vendor perspective as they define the audience the same and it's not the organization itself, it's the learning organization / department.

Benefits – Learning / Knowledge

In my post Social Learning Measurement – Will Thalheimer points out

there are basically three reasons to measure learning:
1. To prove benefits
2. To improve the intervention
3. To improve learning.

And I think you could make an argument that our benefits could fall in any of the three camps:

business benefits,
better interventions,
improved learning.

When I read each of the benefits above, I read them to be 3 - improved learning. The closest to a real business benefit is "productive, skilled, thinking individuals" – but that's still a distance from what most business people would think of in terms of real business benefits.

This is really a critical positioning issue …

is our benefit improved learning or business benefits?

I realize there will be times for us to define ourselves as one or the other, but I hope that we seek to define ourselves in terms of business benefit.

In my post Social Learning Measurement – there are a host of things that we can measure around Social Learning (which was the focus of the post where these responses occurred). These include things like:

Networking patterns
Learning efficiency
Learning outcomes
Contribution patterns
Content usage patterns
Content quality
Idea to development initiation cycle time
Retention/Employee turn over
Time to hire
Prospect identification cost
Prospect to hire conversion rate
Hiring cost
Training cost
Time to acclimation for new employees

And most of these really are measuring learning outcomes or Intermediate Factors in Learning (see also Intermediate Factors).

Real business outcomes really fall into either: increased revenue or reduced cost. The rest are accepted intermediate factors for the business such as improved time-to-market, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, etc. And there can be lots of these intermediate factors.

So going back to a positioning question – I wonder if we shouldn't all be talking about specific kinds of business outcomes or intermediate factors that can be achieved?

Friday, 1 May 2009

Call for eLearning Demonstrations

One of the hardest things to find are real-life examples of different kinds of eLearning Solutions. On May 21, Learn Trends will be hosting a free online event where the people who have developed interesting eLearning solutions will demonstrate and briefly discuss what they've done.

This is an online call for people who can "demonstrate" their system. Even if you can't participate - please help me get the word out on this.

Because of my concerns about bandwidth - demonstrations will really be screen shot slides. Sorry. This makes it a bit harder to demonstrate 3D worlds, video based training, etc. But it can still be done - just screen shot it and plan to explain it.

Generally we are looking for examples of a variety of different kinds of solutions. We hope they will vary from practical solutions to common problems to leading edge solutions. Some example areas and this is by no means inclusive:

Self-Paced Courses
Performance Support Tools
Mobile Learning
Collaborative Learning
Social / Network Learning
3D Learning
Games
Toolkits
Interesting Tools

We especially would like participants who are developing solutions inside of organizations to participate. These are most often the hardest examples to see.

To participate, you must be available May 21 from 9AM to Noon Pacific Time.

If you are interested, please send me an email (akarrer@techempower.com) with:

A brief description
A couple of example screen shots

We expect to have more examples than we can show and discuss in the 3 hours, so we will likely only be able to choose some of what is sent in. We will try to choose a variety of different examples that represent effective patterns.

We are also trying to come up with ways to effectively share examples that are not shown real-time during the session.

Two last things:

Please help me spread the word about this.
If you know of places that examples already are captured, please point me to those. Another aspect of this is beginning to capture examples that will be available online.

Thursday, 30 April 2009

Twitter Learning

Saw a tweet this morning from @willrich45 (Will Richardson):

Reading: "Why Most Twitter Users Give Up" Interesting how edTwitterers use it for learning, unlike most, it seems.

This is a big meme right now based on a Nielsen study that resulted in the blog post: Twitter Quitters Post Roadblock to Long-Term Growth.

I'm not surprised to see that there are lots of people who sign up and then leave. Contrary to what Will implies in his tweet, I'm not sure that among edTwitterers there's really that much of a difference in the effect for people who use it as a learning tool.

I enrolled about a year ago (Twitter Status) and I've personally struggled a bit with the purpose, value, etc. If you look across a broader set of eLearning bloggers discussing twitter you likely will find similar challenges. A big part of this directly relates to my recent post Learning Goals -

Twitter is more for flow learning than directed learning.

The bigger challenge and my claim in Twitter as Personal Learning and Work Tool:

Twitter is Not for People New to Social Learning

Considering what I saw when I looked at following Twitter Learning Professionals - quickly I decided Twitter Mass Follow - Never Mind. My concern about twitter is that it will be too random for most people, especially those who have not established any relationships / understanding of the people they are following. Thus, my opinion is: Twitter is not a tool for people who are new to social media and the use of social media for personal learning and work.

There is one exception to this. If you are going to a conference or evening event where attendees will be using Twitter in a group fashion, then that's likely a good opportunity to try out the tool.

I would guess that among edTwitterers, you likely will also get high drop out rates. Maybe it's less than other audiences - but I'm not so sure.

Thoughts?