I read through Chief Learning Officer Magazine for July 2006 (see http://www.clomedia.com/content/templates/clo_section.asp?articleid=1448&zoneid=99) yesterday and was impressed with their articles on blended learning (2 articles), simulations, innovative technologies (Brandon Hall), and the democratization of content (Elliott Masie). I was perhaps most moved by the article from Bob Mosher (who has a chapter in my blended learning handbook) entitled: "Moving from One to Many." See page 15 of the July issue or see http://www.clomedia.com/content/templates/clo_article.asp?articleid=1439&zoneid=51
I just zipped off an email to Bob. Here is what I said to him:
"I appreciated your article in CLO this month. There are masses of hypocrites out there who espouse problem-based learning, virtual teaming, collaboration, and online communities of practice, yet the tools for training remain centered at discrete knowledge bits of individuals. My e-learning and blended learning surveys indicate that it is the boring LMSs which have caught everyone’s attention. Why? Well, they can track learners and their learning that way. I am reminded of my accounting exams back in undergraduate days that sacrificed many a student with such tests but those who eked through the slaughter were no more prepared for the real world interactions and collaborations that were needed.
Yes, LMSs place learners in silos as you say, in a time, when learning is viewed best as a social event. We learn from our interactions with others—trainers, supervisors, experts, peers, team members, SMEs, guests, mentors, coaches, semi-intelligent agents, etc. Yet we continue to push learners into these silos and drool over mindless data that an LMS provides—minutes or hours online, tasks completed, time of day online, throughput, etc. As a former accountant, I see this computer log data as nearly meaningless. It took minutes to program into the system. When are vendors going to start to build tools and tasks for human learning and collaboration? Tools for brainstorming with team members, tools for mapping out one’s thoughts and ideas, tools for evaluating thoughts or ideas suggested, tools for comparing or categorizing ideas, tools for teaming, tools for timelining, tools for role play or debate, tools for juxtapositioning of ideas, and tools for mentoring and coaching? What say you?
We are in a learner-centered world using learning “management” systems. It is still the preprescribed behavioral approach that is winning out not an active or constructivist learning one. How come few people see this and raise the red flags as you have done? Why? Well, because they have done the easy part here—they can map out the learning of factual knowledge among individual learners. We must do better.
Nice article Bob. Think that the hypocrites will wake up? Me neither. Keep writing this good stuff!"
Tuesday, 4 July 2006
Sunday, 4 June 2006
E-Learning in the UK
In mid May, I spent a week visiting universities and institutes in the UK. I got the University of Glamorgan in Wales, Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford (30 minutes northeast of London by train), the University of Brighton (40 minutes or south of London by train) which is on the Atlantic, and King's College in London; in that order. I also spent some time in Bath and in London when not presenting somewhere. I was greeted by many great people along the way. I got to stay with my friend Dr. John Stephenson when in Bath and we explored the Roman Baths a bit. There was also an international music festival going on when I was there. I also got to see the Tate Modern Museum, St. Paul Cathedral (all 534 steps with a spectacular view of London), and the Victoria and Albert's Museum (see http://www.vam.ac.uk/).
Norah Jones (the researcher, not the singer) was opening a new Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) which was focusing on blended learning. Their Vice Provost seems very supportive for it. Norah has a staff not only designing interesting and engaging blended learning experiences with simulations, flash animations, and so on, but also has people doing research on it. She has developed a respect from the administators and staff there. The Univ of Glamorgan is near Cardiff which claims to be the fastest growing capital of Europe. Vibrant shopping, lucious eating, and beautiful scenary there. I loved exploring the Cariff Castle and need to post some pics of it at my Flickr site soon. Both of my keynotes went well there--on ATuesday night we opened their CELT with my talk on blended learning being the keynote. I also spoke on blended learning the following morning. I went over both times but Norah was ok with it. The 2nd one was more about the future of blended learning.
It seems that the UK has money for e-learning specialists now. The money for the UK-EU, which no longer exists, was apparently reapportioned to universities throughout the UK for e-learning initiatives. As a result, they have many jobs posted at the Guardian for e-learning managers, specialists, project coordinators, multimedia people, evaluators, and so on. These are exciting times in the UK if you are in the field of e-learning. There are only so many e-learning specialists, so such people seem to be in demand. Perhaps we at Indiana University should design a master's and doctoral degree in e-learning and blended learning. Follow the UK and Canada closely when it comes to e-learning. Those seeking to get citizenship in North America or the UK might think about applying for such jobs.
My talks at Chelmsford (Anglia Riskin University) also went very well thanks to people such as Sharon Waller and Richard Millwood who brought me there. They also have a campus in Cambridge which I hope to visit someday. Anglia Ruskin also has the Ultralab which has sponsored the NonSchool project (see http://www.notschool.net/ns/template.php?id=home). People at each stop seemed interested in plagiarism, copyright, and differences between face-to-face and online teaching--and it was true here as well. My talks here were once again on blended learning but also on multimedia for visually hungry learners.
Brighton was a cool stop along the ocean. They have a CETL as well that is focused on creativity. They shared their proposal with me which seems highly unique and ambitious. Let's see what happens in a year. Will e-learning and creativity be a happy marriage? I think so. But it is difficult to predict where such innovation might go. Will it be in new forms of work collaboration or in teaching? Will we be able to recognize creativity when it occurs online and also be able to duplicate it? Thanks to Jon Dron for bringing me there. I gave a talk on blended learning as well as one called Pocasts and Wikis and Blogs, Oh My: E-learning is not in Kansas anymore. My friend, Donald Clark appropriately pointed out that much of the discussion and examples on blended learning relates to blended instruction and not learning at all. I think he is right. You can read 3 or so blogs he did of my visit at http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/
Donald sold Epic Group which is an e-learning services company. They do much e-learning development and evaluation. I had read many of his blended learning reports in the past. Good stuff! Donald definitely has a pulse on the field. He is one of a select few who has a sense of e-learning needs and experiences in both higher education as well as corporate training.
My final stop was at King's College in London. Anne-Lucie Norton and the folks at the War Studies Department brought me there. What a wonderful view of the London Eye and other featured sites from her office. My 2 talks went pretty well here as well though my computer cables had fried and batteries had died before it so I had to use their machines. Anne-Lucie informed me that their new master's in War Studies is entirely online. Cool! You might write to them. Loads happening at King's College. My blended learning talk ended with 30 minutes of questions and answers. After this talk, Brian Ford (a famous biologist with shows on the BBC), Tingting Zeng (a research assistant of mine from Roehampton University in the London area), and Chris Essex (a student of mine from Indiana just happening to be visiting the UK) met me at Cheers Pub. And some of us saw a show at the Comedy Store after that. I flew home the next morning.
I am sitting at my brother's house in Syracuse, New York writing this. I did talks Thursday for the State of NY instructional technology conference and head to DC next. Yesterday I ran in a short 3 mile (5K) run for cancer victims. My time was a respectable 24 minutes and 35 seconds. I tend to run farther distances. (see this run at http://pbrun.org/).
Norah Jones (the researcher, not the singer) was opening a new Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) which was focusing on blended learning. Their Vice Provost seems very supportive for it. Norah has a staff not only designing interesting and engaging blended learning experiences with simulations, flash animations, and so on, but also has people doing research on it. She has developed a respect from the administators and staff there. The Univ of Glamorgan is near Cardiff which claims to be the fastest growing capital of Europe. Vibrant shopping, lucious eating, and beautiful scenary there. I loved exploring the Cariff Castle and need to post some pics of it at my Flickr site soon. Both of my keynotes went well there--on ATuesday night we opened their CELT with my talk on blended learning being the keynote. I also spoke on blended learning the following morning. I went over both times but Norah was ok with it. The 2nd one was more about the future of blended learning.
It seems that the UK has money for e-learning specialists now. The money for the UK-EU, which no longer exists, was apparently reapportioned to universities throughout the UK for e-learning initiatives. As a result, they have many jobs posted at the Guardian for e-learning managers, specialists, project coordinators, multimedia people, evaluators, and so on. These are exciting times in the UK if you are in the field of e-learning. There are only so many e-learning specialists, so such people seem to be in demand. Perhaps we at Indiana University should design a master's and doctoral degree in e-learning and blended learning. Follow the UK and Canada closely when it comes to e-learning. Those seeking to get citizenship in North America or the UK might think about applying for such jobs.
My talks at Chelmsford (Anglia Riskin University) also went very well thanks to people such as Sharon Waller and Richard Millwood who brought me there. They also have a campus in Cambridge which I hope to visit someday. Anglia Ruskin also has the Ultralab which has sponsored the NonSchool project (see http://www.notschool.net/ns/template.php?id=home). People at each stop seemed interested in plagiarism, copyright, and differences between face-to-face and online teaching--and it was true here as well. My talks here were once again on blended learning but also on multimedia for visually hungry learners.
Brighton was a cool stop along the ocean. They have a CETL as well that is focused on creativity. They shared their proposal with me which seems highly unique and ambitious. Let's see what happens in a year. Will e-learning and creativity be a happy marriage? I think so. But it is difficult to predict where such innovation might go. Will it be in new forms of work collaboration or in teaching? Will we be able to recognize creativity when it occurs online and also be able to duplicate it? Thanks to Jon Dron for bringing me there. I gave a talk on blended learning as well as one called Pocasts and Wikis and Blogs, Oh My: E-learning is not in Kansas anymore. My friend, Donald Clark appropriately pointed out that much of the discussion and examples on blended learning relates to blended instruction and not learning at all. I think he is right. You can read 3 or so blogs he did of my visit at http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/
Donald sold Epic Group which is an e-learning services company. They do much e-learning development and evaluation. I had read many of his blended learning reports in the past. Good stuff! Donald definitely has a pulse on the field. He is one of a select few who has a sense of e-learning needs and experiences in both higher education as well as corporate training.
My final stop was at King's College in London. Anne-Lucie Norton and the folks at the War Studies Department brought me there. What a wonderful view of the London Eye and other featured sites from her office. My 2 talks went pretty well here as well though my computer cables had fried and batteries had died before it so I had to use their machines. Anne-Lucie informed me that their new master's in War Studies is entirely online. Cool! You might write to them. Loads happening at King's College. My blended learning talk ended with 30 minutes of questions and answers. After this talk, Brian Ford (a famous biologist with shows on the BBC), Tingting Zeng (a research assistant of mine from Roehampton University in the London area), and Chris Essex (a student of mine from Indiana just happening to be visiting the UK) met me at Cheers Pub. And some of us saw a show at the Comedy Store after that. I flew home the next morning.
I am sitting at my brother's house in Syracuse, New York writing this. I did talks Thursday for the State of NY instructional technology conference and head to DC next. Yesterday I ran in a short 3 mile (5K) run for cancer victims. My time was a respectable 24 minutes and 35 seconds. I tend to run farther distances. (see this run at http://pbrun.org/).
Wednesday, 3 May 2006
Hanging Around Western Canada
Been in Saskatoon, Calgary, and Edmonton this trip. Meeting many interesting people who are having me talk about blended learning and e-learning. Been to the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon for 2 talks, Mount Royal College, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Calgary; and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in Edmonton. Many kind people escorting me from place to place including folks from the University of Regina, the University of Calgary, the University of Alberta, and Grant MacEwan College. Lots of energy and excitement here. And lots of oil monies in this province.
I met many former IU IST students when in Saskatoon. I really enjoyed that and the tour of the city from Barry Brown. Got them all IU tee-shirts.
Today, NAIT ran an institute or workshop for instructors and staff to think about blended learning and the next generation of students. This topic fits into my recent handbook of blended learning as well as my upcoming one on my R2D2 method of learning styles (a book Ke Zhang and I are writing that we are temporarily calling "A Web of Everything" and will be focused on how to address diverse learners and learning preferences or appoaches online.
I fly back from Edmonton tomorrow. Today was a wild one--2 keynotes (one on blended learning and one on Gen X and Y students as a sub for someone who was sick) sent to 700+ people at 30-40 sites in Alberta and around the globe, interviewed by 2 TV stations and will be on 3 TV stations tonight, interviewed live on 1 the well known CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) radio station, 1 newspaper interview for tomorrow's Edmonton paper, and I sat next to and chatted with the Premier of Alberta (Ralph Kline). He is like the Governor of this province. Pretty cool day. This is after 3 straight days of presenting. So wow!
And after my Sunday night talk in Saskatoon, sometime told me it was one of 2 great talks she had heard in her life and the other was by Bill Clinton. So that was cool. So having a fun trip.
Lots of pictures. I will add them later.
The radio interview was the best part!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I met many former IU IST students when in Saskatoon. I really enjoyed that and the tour of the city from Barry Brown. Got them all IU tee-shirts.
Today, NAIT ran an institute or workshop for instructors and staff to think about blended learning and the next generation of students. This topic fits into my recent handbook of blended learning as well as my upcoming one on my R2D2 method of learning styles (a book Ke Zhang and I are writing that we are temporarily calling "A Web of Everything" and will be focused on how to address diverse learners and learning preferences or appoaches online.
I fly back from Edmonton tomorrow. Today was a wild one--2 keynotes (one on blended learning and one on Gen X and Y students as a sub for someone who was sick) sent to 700+ people at 30-40 sites in Alberta and around the globe, interviewed by 2 TV stations and will be on 3 TV stations tonight, interviewed live on 1 the well known CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp) radio station, 1 newspaper interview for tomorrow's Edmonton paper, and I sat next to and chatted with the Premier of Alberta (Ralph Kline). He is like the Governor of this province. Pretty cool day. This is after 3 straight days of presenting. So wow!
And after my Sunday night talk in Saskatoon, sometime told me it was one of 2 great talks she had heard in her life and the other was by Bill Clinton. So that was cool. So having a fun trip.
Lots of pictures. I will add them later.
The radio interview was the best part!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, 4 April 2006
Israel Visit and E-learning in the Open University of Israel
My has it been nearly 2 months since my last update? Hard to believe. Well in late February and early March I spent time in Israel. Yoram Eshet from the Open University of Israel hosted me. He showed me around his home city of Jerusalem (lives there despite distance to the Open University which is an hour or so from there north of Tel Aviv in Ranana). Yoram does research on digital literacy and has many interesting insights.
I also had a chance to visit with Rafi Nachmias, Judith Ram, and David Mioduser from the University of Tel Aviv who have a chapter in my recent Handbook of Blended Learning. They showed me around their lovely university and also parts of Tel Aviv such as the old part called Jafa. Wonderful people.
I was joined by my doctoral student, Robert Fischler, who after 14 years of studying at Indiana University defended his successfully dissertation yesterday. Robert helped me out while in Israel. We also had a beer or 2 at Mike's Place across from the beaches of Tel Aviv which we found out later was blown up by a terrorist 2 years earlier. The Green Bay Packer signs and such did not make it seem like it would be a dangerous place. Of course, our bags were thoroughly checked on the way in. I also had dinners at a couple of other friend's places during the visit (Sherm and Melodie Rosenfeld, for instance) and Miri and Yossi Shonfeld's). Elaine Hoter ad Asmaa Ganaye joined us at Miri's for dinner. They are working on a project to get their teacher education to work together and share ideas. They are team teaching across private and public Israeli and Arab schools. Interesting.
Robert and I also visited former IU student Dr. Ronen Hammer who lives in Haifa. Ronen was a great host. He showed us the Baha'i headquarters. Baha'i is is a religion which promotes peace in the world. Gorgeous views of the Med Sea from his house and many places in town. See pics I will post later on in Flickr.
Ok, in terms of e-learning and blended learning, there is much interest in Israel. The Open University hosted one conference when I was there (where I did a keynote) and it was well attended. The seem to want to be the hub for online learning innovation and research in that country. They have built their own course management system. They are doing research on technology integration and online learning in education and have funding for such. The number of courses using the web in instruction there is exploding from 1 percent in 1998 to 19 percent in 1999 to 99 percent today. These numbers were provided by Dr. Yoram Eshet and Dr. Yoav Yair.
They have grown from 24,200 students in 1995 to 40,200 in 2005. Very fast growth! Not as fast as the Open University of Malaysia which has gone from a few hundred in 2001 to over 30,000 today. What does this say about education and online learning and open learning? I think it is clear--there any millions (if not billions) of people looking to obtain a college education. The typical hoops and hurdles to get in that the Harvards, Stanfords, and Indianas place on students are too stringent. Online is chiefly about access to learning and ideas. Open Universities facilitate such access. Sure we can deal with high level students and I love to as well, but more important is opening access to everyone. It will be important to monitor the growth of the Open University of Israel (and Malaysia and other places).
Will the Open U of Isreal become the hub of e-learning for the country? Will it's influence extend beyond it to the rest of the Middle East or over to the US or up to Europe? Hard to say. Dr. Yair is pushing their thinking ahead on where things are going. One niche for them is that they publish more books than anyone in Tel Aviv (at least 1 book for each class they teach). They also own the rights to them. Could they perhaps make podcasts of the authors explaining the ideas in each book or perhaps create audio books of each one? What might they do to repurpose each one electronically? Many things are possible here with the web. Will this build their reputation if they do so? It will be interesting to find out. Stay tuned.
I also had a chance to visit with Rafi Nachmias, Judith Ram, and David Mioduser from the University of Tel Aviv who have a chapter in my recent Handbook of Blended Learning. They showed me around their lovely university and also parts of Tel Aviv such as the old part called Jafa. Wonderful people.
I was joined by my doctoral student, Robert Fischler, who after 14 years of studying at Indiana University defended his successfully dissertation yesterday. Robert helped me out while in Israel. We also had a beer or 2 at Mike's Place across from the beaches of Tel Aviv which we found out later was blown up by a terrorist 2 years earlier. The Green Bay Packer signs and such did not make it seem like it would be a dangerous place. Of course, our bags were thoroughly checked on the way in. I also had dinners at a couple of other friend's places during the visit (Sherm and Melodie Rosenfeld, for instance) and Miri and Yossi Shonfeld's). Elaine Hoter ad Asmaa Ganaye joined us at Miri's for dinner. They are working on a project to get their teacher education to work together and share ideas. They are team teaching across private and public Israeli and Arab schools. Interesting.
Robert and I also visited former IU student Dr. Ronen Hammer who lives in Haifa. Ronen was a great host. He showed us the Baha'i headquarters. Baha'i is is a religion which promotes peace in the world. Gorgeous views of the Med Sea from his house and many places in town. See pics I will post later on in Flickr.
Ok, in terms of e-learning and blended learning, there is much interest in Israel. The Open University hosted one conference when I was there (where I did a keynote) and it was well attended. The seem to want to be the hub for online learning innovation and research in that country. They have built their own course management system. They are doing research on technology integration and online learning in education and have funding for such. The number of courses using the web in instruction there is exploding from 1 percent in 1998 to 19 percent in 1999 to 99 percent today. These numbers were provided by Dr. Yoram Eshet and Dr. Yoav Yair.
They have grown from 24,200 students in 1995 to 40,200 in 2005. Very fast growth! Not as fast as the Open University of Malaysia which has gone from a few hundred in 2001 to over 30,000 today. What does this say about education and online learning and open learning? I think it is clear--there any millions (if not billions) of people looking to obtain a college education. The typical hoops and hurdles to get in that the Harvards, Stanfords, and Indianas place on students are too stringent. Online is chiefly about access to learning and ideas. Open Universities facilitate such access. Sure we can deal with high level students and I love to as well, but more important is opening access to everyone. It will be important to monitor the growth of the Open University of Israel (and Malaysia and other places).
Will the Open U of Isreal become the hub of e-learning for the country? Will it's influence extend beyond it to the rest of the Middle East or over to the US or up to Europe? Hard to say. Dr. Yair is pushing their thinking ahead on where things are going. One niche for them is that they publish more books than anyone in Tel Aviv (at least 1 book for each class they teach). They also own the rights to them. Could they perhaps make podcasts of the authors explaining the ideas in each book or perhaps create audio books of each one? What might they do to repurpose each one electronically? Many things are possible here with the web. Will this build their reputation if they do so? It will be interesting to find out. Stay tuned.
Thursday, 9 February 2006
E-Learning in for Kids, Libraries, and Older Adults
Ok, I see e-Learning becoming accepted in many areas of life. This week I see my son (who is a high school senior) taking an IU psychology course quiz online. Sure I know this is commonplace, but when you see your own son taking these online quizzes something strikes home that this online movement is not going away but instead is becoming more pervasive. I then walk up and see my 15 year old daughter exploring the web for English class assignment. She is using my new Sony Vaio laptop to do her exploring. And then I chat with my nephew on MSN about his first year in college at Madison and the tough classes he is taking as an engineering major. I try to give him some advice online. This Generation Y will be using more digital technologies than ever before to learn in high school and college and beyond. Nothing surprising here when I say that.
But last week, I went to my first library conference--it was the Ontario Library Association Super Conference in Toronto. I gave my Perfect e-Storm talk. It was well received and it was a packed room with people standing in the back. In fact, it was one of the more engaging ones I think ever. These library professionals were highly interested in the latest trends in e-learning. Well, why not--the role of the librarian and library support personnel has been significantly altered with advances in search technologies, storage devices, mobile and wireless technologies, broadband connections, and, yes, e-learning. They need to be aware of technologies and pedagogies that online instructors might be using and students might be asking for. It was a fun. They especially laughed at my Bill Gates jokes, so I guess those struck a chord.
After the talk, I met with McGraw-Hill Ryerson people who are working on their 4th in a series of research studies related to technology integration and use in higher education within North America. It is interesting to hear discussions related to such survey research since some focus on technologies and others on pedagogies. I think we need both. Like the famous psychologist, Jean Piaget, I think learning and development is interactional. It is both nature and nurture. I believe that technologies, like genes, provide the nature--the equip one for the possible. Technology allows for certain things to happen in one's environment. But we also need pedagogy or thoughtful instruction. This is the nurture--this nudges us along. We need both the nature (technologies) and the nurture (the pedagogies) for successful online learning. Too often we focus on one and discount the other.
In higher education, it is not unusual for people to argue that technologies are not important, it is the pedagogy stupid. But I think such thinking is misguided. Sure, I would love to put more focus on the instructional effectiveness and pedagogical decision making. However, without chalk, marker boards, pens, paper, projectors, computers, tablets, the internet, etc., we would be back in the Stone Age or worse. I think the reason people attempt to downplay the technologies is that they are so overwhelmed by the many emerging technologies hitting us in the face each week. It is not easy keeping up with all of them--so, if you say, pedagogy is more important, you can feel less stress.
Earlier today, I presented at the a preconference session of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education in Indianapolis. Like the library conference the week before, it was a first for me. This was a session on evaluating distributed education within a half day institute on distributed education. It is interesting to see online learning become so pervasive that there are online learning experts and researchers in the field of gerontology. Like my talk to library professional a week prior, this one was well received. By the way, PDFs of most of my talks can be found at TrainingShare.com.
So I guess this reflection is just 2 things: First of all, it is a note that e-learning is increasingly important in society--it is important for high school kids and it is a critical area for library professionals as well as those in the field of gerontology. Secondly, it seems my work is spreading in new directions in speaking to those fields outside of education and business where I normally speak. That is what makes my work so much fun and rewarding as I never know who I might be able to meet, influence in some small way, and learn from. E-Learning does have its rewards!
But last week, I went to my first library conference--it was the Ontario Library Association Super Conference in Toronto. I gave my Perfect e-Storm talk. It was well received and it was a packed room with people standing in the back. In fact, it was one of the more engaging ones I think ever. These library professionals were highly interested in the latest trends in e-learning. Well, why not--the role of the librarian and library support personnel has been significantly altered with advances in search technologies, storage devices, mobile and wireless technologies, broadband connections, and, yes, e-learning. They need to be aware of technologies and pedagogies that online instructors might be using and students might be asking for. It was a fun. They especially laughed at my Bill Gates jokes, so I guess those struck a chord.
After the talk, I met with McGraw-Hill Ryerson people who are working on their 4th in a series of research studies related to technology integration and use in higher education within North America. It is interesting to hear discussions related to such survey research since some focus on technologies and others on pedagogies. I think we need both. Like the famous psychologist, Jean Piaget, I think learning and development is interactional. It is both nature and nurture. I believe that technologies, like genes, provide the nature--the equip one for the possible. Technology allows for certain things to happen in one's environment. But we also need pedagogy or thoughtful instruction. This is the nurture--this nudges us along. We need both the nature (technologies) and the nurture (the pedagogies) for successful online learning. Too often we focus on one and discount the other.
In higher education, it is not unusual for people to argue that technologies are not important, it is the pedagogy stupid. But I think such thinking is misguided. Sure, I would love to put more focus on the instructional effectiveness and pedagogical decision making. However, without chalk, marker boards, pens, paper, projectors, computers, tablets, the internet, etc., we would be back in the Stone Age or worse. I think the reason people attempt to downplay the technologies is that they are so overwhelmed by the many emerging technologies hitting us in the face each week. It is not easy keeping up with all of them--so, if you say, pedagogy is more important, you can feel less stress.
Earlier today, I presented at the a preconference session of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education in Indianapolis. Like the library conference the week before, it was a first for me. This was a session on evaluating distributed education within a half day institute on distributed education. It is interesting to see online learning become so pervasive that there are online learning experts and researchers in the field of gerontology. Like my talk to library professional a week prior, this one was well received. By the way, PDFs of most of my talks can be found at TrainingShare.com.
So I guess this reflection is just 2 things: First of all, it is a note that e-learning is increasingly important in society--it is important for high school kids and it is a critical area for library professionals as well as those in the field of gerontology. Secondly, it seems my work is spreading in new directions in speaking to those fields outside of education and business where I normally speak. That is what makes my work so much fun and rewarding as I never know who I might be able to meet, influence in some small way, and learn from. E-Learning does have its rewards!
Sunday, 15 January 2006
UK was a Trip
Ok, back from a week in the UK. Yesterday, I experienced a bomb scare in the express train terminal heading to Gatwick airport and they made us all exit the station...and then when I got to Gatwick the computers were down and the place was a zoo. Last week when flying to Gatwick, our plane had multiple engine and power system problems and we sat on the runway for 3 hours while our plane engine got a new starter. Suffice to say, it was a strange trip and I am happy to be safely home.
When in the UK, I presented on learning style and motivational ideas online at London South Bank University. It was an all day seminar with people from Australia and the UK presenting before and after me. Rick Bennett was among them and he presented on his art and design project online. The people at London South Bank were not heavy users of e-learning but it was definitely growing. There was a wonderful view of the London Eye from the lunch meeting room.
Rick and I also spent 2 days at the University of Leicester where Dr. Gilly Salmon was running an e-learning conference. About 60-70 people came for the first day which was focused on e-learning research. I gave the keynote with 10 stories for 10+ years of e-learning research at IU. When someone picked a story they got a CD of my work and an "I love New York" t-shirt. Day 2 was on potential partnerships. It seems the University of Leicester wants to be known for e-learning research. The hiring of Gilly Salmon from the Open University is a start. She is now hiring many people to support her and her multmedia zoo. Faculty and staff from all over the UK and beyond can for this event. Many potential e-learning partnerships were formed on Day 2 related to emerging technologies, online moderation, Wikis and blogs, online professional development, etc. I think the hope is for some jointly written research. More such partnerships are possible in the UK than in the USA since people can just jump in a train and meet up.
The following day, I had a chance to speak both at Oxford Brookes University and the University of Oxford. The Oxford Brookes presentations on blended learning and on how the learning world have become flat were well attended with about 50 or so people. Many good questions asked. The University of Oxford talk on blended learning was fun to do as well. Very bright students there, of course. I just got there in time as I had to wait 45 minutes for a taxi and the taxi driver I had was in training. Dr. Chris Davies from Oxford would like to put it on the e-learning map. They have a new master's in e-learning there in fact. I may spend a week of my sabbatical there. Would be an exciting week to do so.
Took the train back to London that night and met my old friend, Bob Craig, who had took me around New Zealand and also the United Arab Emirates in the past. this was our 3rd country to meet in. He is now working in Africa in Ethiopia and Somalia on educational programs.
So, lots seems to be happening in the UK in e-learning. Some of the focus is on research and also on digital repositories, blended learning, problem-based learning online, staff and instructor training, and retention and motivation online. The UK is a hotbed for e-learning in terms of my travel during the past year and Canada is the other.
When in the UK, I presented on learning style and motivational ideas online at London South Bank University. It was an all day seminar with people from Australia and the UK presenting before and after me. Rick Bennett was among them and he presented on his art and design project online. The people at London South Bank were not heavy users of e-learning but it was definitely growing. There was a wonderful view of the London Eye from the lunch meeting room.
Rick and I also spent 2 days at the University of Leicester where Dr. Gilly Salmon was running an e-learning conference. About 60-70 people came for the first day which was focused on e-learning research. I gave the keynote with 10 stories for 10+ years of e-learning research at IU. When someone picked a story they got a CD of my work and an "I love New York" t-shirt. Day 2 was on potential partnerships. It seems the University of Leicester wants to be known for e-learning research. The hiring of Gilly Salmon from the Open University is a start. She is now hiring many people to support her and her multmedia zoo. Faculty and staff from all over the UK and beyond can for this event. Many potential e-learning partnerships were formed on Day 2 related to emerging technologies, online moderation, Wikis and blogs, online professional development, etc. I think the hope is for some jointly written research. More such partnerships are possible in the UK than in the USA since people can just jump in a train and meet up.
The following day, I had a chance to speak both at Oxford Brookes University and the University of Oxford. The Oxford Brookes presentations on blended learning and on how the learning world have become flat were well attended with about 50 or so people. Many good questions asked. The University of Oxford talk on blended learning was fun to do as well. Very bright students there, of course. I just got there in time as I had to wait 45 minutes for a taxi and the taxi driver I had was in training. Dr. Chris Davies from Oxford would like to put it on the e-learning map. They have a new master's in e-learning there in fact. I may spend a week of my sabbatical there. Would be an exciting week to do so.
Took the train back to London that night and met my old friend, Bob Craig, who had took me around New Zealand and also the United Arab Emirates in the past. this was our 3rd country to meet in. He is now working in Africa in Ethiopia and Somalia on educational programs.
So, lots seems to be happening in the UK in e-learning. Some of the focus is on research and also on digital repositories, blended learning, problem-based learning online, staff and instructor training, and retention and motivation online. The UK is a hotbed for e-learning in terms of my travel during the past year and Canada is the other.
Friday, 30 December 2005
E-Learning Predictions for 2006
Lisa Neal from E-Learn Magazine http://www.elearnmag.org/ asked for my e-learning predictions for the coming year and then posts them to the online magazine site. She gets people like Elliott Masie, Carol Twigg, Margaret Driscoll, Metty Collis, Jennifer Hoffman, Stephen Downes, Clark Aldrich, Josh Bersin, Allison Rossett, Jonathan Levy, Saul Carliner, Mark Oehlert, Cathie Norris, Kinshuk, etc. to post their views. She even posts her own views. You will notice that many of these people are from the corporate training sector though a view are from higher education. Of course, Stephen Downes will always be interesting to read.
Well, Lisa has asked for my opinions again. I listed mine below.
"As instructors and trainers continue to become aware of the power and ease of creation of things such as wikibooks, blogs, Webcasts, and podcasts, 2006 will spur an explosion of media-rich and creative instructional approaches. Audio and video will become more expected in e-learning. For instance, instructors will increasingly add audio books to student reading (i.e., listening) lists. At the same time, knowledge repositories and mobile e-learning will lead to a rise in personally selected learning experiences and even self-labeled degrees. Entire certificate and degree programs will be available from content in handheld devices such as an iPod or MP3 player. This will lead a boom in professional development and training opportunities."
I am curious what you all think about e-learning and blended learning in 2005. It will undoubtedly be another interesting year! I will make one more prediction--with my sabbatical from May 1, 2006 to September 1, 2007, I will visit some great new places and enjoy the year.
Well, Lisa has asked for my opinions again. I listed mine below.
"As instructors and trainers continue to become aware of the power and ease of creation of things such as wikibooks, blogs, Webcasts, and podcasts, 2006 will spur an explosion of media-rich and creative instructional approaches. Audio and video will become more expected in e-learning. For instance, instructors will increasingly add audio books to student reading (i.e., listening) lists. At the same time, knowledge repositories and mobile e-learning will lead to a rise in personally selected learning experiences and even self-labeled degrees. Entire certificate and degree programs will be available from content in handheld devices such as an iPod or MP3 player. This will lead a boom in professional development and training opportunities."
I am curious what you all think about e-learning and blended learning in 2005. It will undoubtedly be another interesting year! I will make one more prediction--with my sabbatical from May 1, 2006 to September 1, 2007, I will visit some great new places and enjoy the year.
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