Mobilemind

People pay money for stories. People tell stories. People learn from stories. What is the story in recent elearning you've taken or developed?

In his book, A Whole New Mind, Dan Pink cites a great quote from Ursula K. Le Guin:

The story—from Rumplestiltskin to War and Peace—is one of the basic tools invented by the human mind for the purpose of understanding. There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no great societies that did not tell stories.

Stories are powerful things. I love hearing, learning from and re-telling (sharing) stories. Last October, I met Dan Bliton of Booz Allen Hamilton at Learning 2007. We'd just seen Dan Pink's presentation and Mr. Pink (there are 2 Dan's in this story, but "Mr. Pink" sounds so Pulp Fiction) mentioned his upcoming book on manga. Manga had been on my radar for about a year and this seemed like an interesting area, and an area of shared interest with Dan Bliton.

One thing led to another, and now Dan Bliton is going to share a presentation he's done on on Stories, Comics, and Manga - Oh My! Making Learning Stick For Your Audience! Dan's presentation shares insights and lessons learned in several markets and from Booze Allen Hamilton's award-winning learning organization. A take-away job aid and web site references summarize the approaches discussed and list additional resources

The live e-seminar will be this coming Thursday, March 13, 2008 10:00 A.M. PDT (yes, daylight savings time, the USA switches this weekend) and you can register for the e-seminar for free here:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=472090

As always, I'm looking forward to the presentation. Dan (Bliton) has a lot on stories and will even have a web comic embed in the live presentation. We might even riff a bit on manga and comics as catalysts for elearning storyboarding and user-contributed content.

I'm quite interested in the read-write nature of manga in Japanese culture. In fact, I'm already going to pre-order Dan Pink's manga book, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need which is due out on April 1, 2008 (no Foolin).

A shame I won't have this in time to chime in with and ask for comments on Johnny Bunko from the other Dan. That said, the session will still be really good, and is always better with the discussion with the live audience.

The interaction, the audience and the re-telling (or the desire to re-tell) is part of what makes an event a story, and what makes the word transcend the page. With fond memories of reading The Left Hand of Darkness in my high school sci-fi literature class, I'll close with another Le Guin quote.

The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.

—Ursula K. Le Guin

Labels: events, learning

Two cool updates with cool videos too. First off, the OLPC Give One, Get One 'XO' laptops are on their way. I got an email note on Saturday morning indicating mine should arrive by January 15. Coincidentally, I just stumbled on to a fascinating video with XO designer Yves Behar describing key features. Watching the video and understanding the thoughtfulness of the design, I couldn't help but think of A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink. Subtle features and textures abound and combine to an air of quality even at a low price. Who knew Bono and The Edge did the start-up sound for the XO? Who new the camera could easily link up with a simple malaria self-test?

What a segue. the Malaria No More bed nets made it to Mali Africa almost 2 weeks ago. Soon after they arrived, Elliott Masie posted a few interesting videos about the impact the nets will have and even some information on how local health advocates engage in learning and training. Here's an interesting video on the train-the-trainer and communications for the "Health Relays:" Field Lessons. There are other interesting observations and videos on the Learning Gives Back blog , that address everything from differences in mobile phone culture, to holidays, and even a bit on the Amazon Kindle.

One more bit on the One Laptop Per Child. Read what children and teachers are saying about OLPC and the XO at Learning Around the World. If you miss the December 31, 2007 deadline for Give One, Get One and are still interested, there are other Ways to Donate.

Labels: learning, Masie, technology

I used Google Trends to plot search popularity of Authorware, Toolbook, Lectora, and Captivate since 2004. It may not be a direct correlation to sales or interest, but there seems to be some consistency with gut-level reactions for industry positions. Authorware trending down since 2004, Toolbook relatively stable but lower, and a pretty good horse race between the seemingly indirect competitors of Captivate and Lectora. A sample image follows below, along with links for some other interesting plots.

Authoring tool comparative search popularity plots

• Authorware vs ToolBook: http://www.google.com/trends?q=authorware%2Ctoolbook
• Camtasia vs Captivate: http://www.google.com/trends?q=camtasia%2Ccaptivate
• Lectora (Publisher) vs Captivate: http://www.google.com/trends?q=lectora%2Ccaptivate
• Authorware, Camtasia, Lectora, Captivate, Toolbook: http://www.google.com/trends?q=authorware%2Ccamtasia%2Clectora%2Ccaptivate%2Ctoolbook

Obviously, the comparisons depend on having a rather specific and unique search term. I unsuccessfully tried doing a comparison of AICC and SCORM, but things like All India Congress Committee (AICC), Antwerp International Cat Club (AICC) and other AICC's left me feeling like it was inconclusive regarding LMS specifications. Through my work with one AICC (Aviation Industry CBT Committee) I've already seen seasonal variations in web traffic due to All India Congress Committee and election cycles. However, I wonder if occurrence/popularity of a common word (e.g., Captivate) is relatively stable in the common usage and in that case product references might drive dynamic changes to indicate realtive changes.

Labels: learning, technology

I've had an Amazon Kindle for a week now. In fact, I've even read a book already and passed it on to friends and colleagues to get their feedback.

It was kind of cool to get the jump on folks like ZDNet and have real Amazon Kindle review done by last Monday. Their "initial impressions" reviews just showed up in my inbox today. However, last Monday, Elliott Masie shared his take on the Kindle in a video posted for the Masie Learning Consortium and also posted a PDF of my review. Recently the same material was also shared with the broader learning community via the Learning TRENDS Newsletter he publishes. Here's a quote from the December 5, 2007 entry:

Kindle Reader from Amazon - Perspectives: We have been testing the new Kindle Reader device recently released by Amazon. This is the latest in a series of e-book readers that we have seen and reviewed at The MASIE Center. While the new device has some flaws and usability challenges (including the absence of a touch screen), it is an important "baby step" towards the dream of more accessible digital content. Just as Apple's iPod and the iTunes site popularized the concept of buying and downloading a song for a dollar, Kindle is aimed at doing the same for books. Our Learning CONSORTIUM will be doing a series of experiments with the Kindle and other e-Readers to see how they could best be integrated into corporate learning. You can take a peek at our work by going to http://www.masieweb.com/kindle.

Elliott has a nice 6 minute video overview on the page at the link above, which also has a link to a PDF that he has referred to as, "[Tom King has done] a more technical, in-depth "first look" at content models for the Kindle as well as human factor issues." Cool and not even entirely self-promotion for me. :-)

Speaking of promotion, if you plan to purchase a Kindle, please consider using the link below so that I will receive an Amazon Associates referral fee. Thanks.

Kindle: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device

Labels: learning, Masie, technology

<rant> Dear WebEx, please help your product become less sucky. We live in a web world. People use different web browsers, different Java versions, different OS platforms, and some people even (gasp) have smartphones. I had a horrible experience with your product today. Bad enough for me to spend the time writing this rant. Bad enough that I will now to my best to cancel or avoid any meeting requiring me to join a WebEx meeting.

I think we've all had other challenges and bad experiences with your product in the past. For me this relationship has got to end unless you can change. I 'll no longer budget 10 extra minutes to get into a WebEx meeting, and then be distracted for the first 15 minutes of my co-workers actual meeting as I install, cancel, uninstall, reinstall, check and change browser settings, get Java versions, then download WebEx Meeting Manager, deal with WebEx support and eventually give up on the WebEx meeting.

The recurring Java and ActiveX hassles I had with the WebEx Windows versions a few years were a recurring mild annoyance. The fact that it is 2007 and WebEx still offers only a 2003 "PowerPC" version for Mac was the last straw. You've known about this for quite awhile. It's embarrassing. You are no longer the only one scaleable and available. Have a little respect for yourself and your victims/users. You are Cisco now for heavens sake. It is not me, it is you. Yeah, sure, maybe we can still be friends.

PS: WebEx competitors, no need to get all smug and happy yet. I'm still looking for something that will exceed WebEx features and works reliably and well on Mac and Windows and Linux, with at least 2 browsers on each platform.

PPS: Besides geeks like me, a couple hundred thousand kids will get OLPC Linux machines. They're selling USD $2 million worth of those things each day for the last few weeks with Give One, Get One. Look into getting those kids and their governments a solution. Might even be good for your business. Even Microsoft is starting to think that way about OLPC.

PPPS: The world has a couple billion mobile phones. Pretty much enough for each of us who can use one, to have two. We use them. A lot. Please figure out how to easily, centrally (?automatically) mute the call from the guy walking past the leaf blower or breathing like Darth Vader. When you've got that licked, see about getting at least a slide show or still shot screen sharing on 3-4 types of Smartphones-- a couple million of us will be happier.
</rant>

Labels: events, learning, rant, technology, virtual classroom

Last night on TV I saw am advertising spot for the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) initiative that featured Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura from NBC's Heroes) and then I went and checked online and it looks like the offer is extended through December 31, 2007. If you'd still like to try out the Give One, Get One ("GO,GO") offer, then follow the link or see my previous post. I'm also including links here if you want to learn more about the OLPC initiative or the technical specs of the 'xo' laptop.

While we're all in a thankful and charitable mood, how about helping to stop malaria for $10?

In many developing areas a simple mosquito net can help save children's lives by protecting them from nocturnal mosquito bites (ok, technically mosquitoes are crepusclar instead of nocturnal, but who knew that). Insecticide-resistant mosquitoes are emerging and a cheap $10 net can be quite effective at protecting vulnerable young children when they are most likely to be bitten. Malaria No More is a non-profit that helps procure and distribute such nets. I was lucky enough to be able to donate at Learning 2007 and have gone back and donated again since then.

Malaria No More - Education and Donation Information

Labels: events, learning, Masie, technology

I'm probably late to the party, but there is an awesome charity opportunity for anyone supportive of the OLPC One-Laptop-Per-Child initiative. I just found out about this through the JiWire newsletter, and it seems to be a great thing for anyone who is both involved in elearning and a charitable individual. Here's the link to Give one, Get One. This offer runs until November 26, 2007 for US and Canada. Now the description from the JiWire Newsletter

After several years of development, MIT's One Laptop Per Child initiative to put computers in the hands of children in developing countries has started to become a reality. And now that manufacturing has started, there's just one week left to give an OLPC laptop to a child in a developing country, and get a matching one for yourself (or for your favorite kid). For $399, the two-for-one deal also includes a huge sweetener: a full year of T-Mobile Hotspot Wi-Fi service, a $360 value in itself (normally $29.99 per month with a 1-year contract). If you already subscribe to T-Mobile, why not take advantage of the special deal, then cancel your current plan? Throw in the $200 tax deduction for the donated laptop, and you may even come out ahead of the game. Not to mention you'll have a great gift for a lucky kid, and do a good deed. Note that is will also be the ONLY chance that US buyers have to purchase an OLPC laptop directly.

Just remember to sign up by Monday, November 26 at LaptopGiving.org. While you're considering it, check out Laptop Magazine's review of the OLPC hardware, especially the 8-year-old's viewpoint!

Labels: events, learning, technology

One of the great take-aways of Learning 2006 for me was Machinima. Now there's some IP follow-up that is due for anyone considering using Machinima content for training. I think machinima is a powerful, effective and low cost alternative technique to "from scratch" 2D/3D animation, graphics and video production for e-learning. However, as always, one needs to be respectful of intellectual property (IP). A blog posting that I recently found is a good reminder of that.

But first, a little background. In February of 2007 I posted some information on machinima when I was fortunate enough to snag Tom Crawford as a guest speaker for an Adobe eLuminary web seminar titled Machinima: When Video isn't Video [description at bottom of page here, direct link to recording here (free registration req'd)]. By the way, Tom did the best job I have ever seen of formatting/encoding machinima clips for use inside Adobe Connect, but that may be a whole other seminar topic.

Since then I have been openly wondering about using imagery and recorded screen captures of Flight Simulator X and other tools for training. Hopefully, Microsoft and other vendors will make their IP policies clearer regarding this use case. It seems the use case for the elearning developer is not to use game storyline, but to co-opt it as a graphics or animation generator. I'm really not sure how this plays into their IP policies.

In August of 2007, Mark Methenitis of The Vernon Law Group posted some informative discussion and commentary on Microsoft and machinima on his blog Law of the Game. from the original post, Microsoft's New Content Usage Rules: A Small Step for Machinima –

Microsoft has set forth an interesting new content policy, found here, that seems to be giving the non-profit machinimist a break. In fact, I would go as far as to say this is really what needed to be done, but only addresses half of the issue.

The rules boil down to this: You can use the following games:

• Age of Empires (all versions)
• Flight Simulator (all versions)
• Forza Motorsport (all versions)
• Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3 (when released)
• Kameo
• Perfect Dark Zero
• Project Gotham Racing (all versions)
• Rise of Nations (all versions)
• Shadowrun
• Viva Piñata

to make machinima, provided you put the following disclaimer on it:

[The title of your Item] was created under Microsoft’s “Game Content Usage Rules” using assets from GAMENAME, © Microsoft Corporation.

The blog entry goes on to list the rules Microsoft requires (which you really should read from the Microsoft Xbox.com page), but I prefer Mark's witty Carlin-esque summary.

Consider these the 7 Deadly Sins of Microsoft Machinima. In short, they are:

1. Hacking
2. Obscenity
3. Profit
4. Audio
5. Other IP
6. Fanfiction
7. Piggybacking

When using machinima techniques, I doubt that corporate trainers will ever intend to hack, cuss, directly profit, pirate audio, abuse IP, craft fan fiction or support derivative works (piggybacking), BUT even the best of intents doesn't mean that use for corporate training is legally acceptable to the IP owners. I hope that Microsoft will clarify the IP issues regarding use of game-generated images or image sequences for non-game corporate training purposes at the upcoming Microsoft DevCon 2007 or the related/co-located AvSim 2007 conference & exhibition.

In an interesting and relevant turn, the AvSim 2007 conference features guest speakers including both Capt. Mark Feuerstein, the Project Pilot for Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ 747-8 program and commercial pilot and flight instructor, Erik Lindbergh– grandson of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I wonder what their thoughts on training "fair use" might be.

Labels: blogs, events, gaming, learning, simulation, technology, virtual worlds

I'm already at Coronado Springs for Learning 2007. I doubt that I'll really do much blogging at all while I'm here. However, as a Masie Fellow, I try to dabble in what may be avant-garde for learning, so I'll try to update my own twitter more often. I also created a L07 (L-zero-7) twitter at http://twitter.com/L07 so folks can follow or @reply.

If you're not familiar with twitter yet, I have some links to share to help you understand twitter or even activate twitter for your phone. You can also find people/events to follow without signing-up.

It is far less avant-garde now, but still quite useful to use a wiki. I'll also try to update the Learning 2007 wiki for session that I am facilitating (or even those I attend) That's all the best of intent though. We'll see what really happens as I head into the blizzard of ideas and activities that seems to define a Masie Learning event.

Here are the wiki pages for the sessions that I am directly involved with:

• e-Learning 101: Fundamentals and Futures (with Tomás Ramírez) [Sunday - 9:00am to 3:45pm]
• iPhone and Learning (w/ Ez Yap & Jared Frisby, both from Apple, and Masie Fellow Judy Brown) [Tuesday - 1:30pm to 2:30pm]
• SCORM: 10 Years After and 10 Years Ahead (hmm, lets see who I can get to guest star. Any volunteers?) [Wednesday - 8:30am to 9:45am]

I think Larry Israelite has made me a (dis)honorary member of the Liars Club (Learning Edition), so I may be a drop-in at his More Lies About Learning session too. (btw, check out his Lies About Learning book now in paperback).

Whew. It's late here (1:20am Satuday) and I have lots to do tomorrow.

Please consider contributing to any of the wiki pages, or sending a tweet. I'm interested to learn what ideas you might have for the L07 twitter and how we could use it. You might even comment here on the blog.

Labels: events, learning, Masie

Artist, inventor, innovator, collaborator and colleague Philip V.W. Dodds passed away on Saturday morning. Please help me recognize and celebrate his accomplishments and the lives he continues to touch.

I tried to write this yesterday and just couldn't. I truly believe the elearning community would not have SCORM as it is today without Philip's contributions as a visionary thinker, organizer, architect and evangelist. He was a man of art and a man of science. He loved technology, yet took great pride and active participation in true and faithful restorations to his historic home. He was drawing electronic circuits on blackboards at an early age, did R&D at ARP Instruments and Kurzweil Music, and led the charge to make CD-ROMs and sound cards a standard part of personal computers through his efforts with IMA and the MPC "Multimedia PC" standards efforts in the late 80's and early 90's.

I'd encourage you to learn more about him real soon now, courtesy of a page available through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Meantime, here is what Elliott Masie had to share about Philip in a message to the Learning Consortium:

"What are we saying to each other?"

That was a single line, spoken by the sound engineer at the end of Close Encounters of a Third Kind, as he played chords and a friendly alien spaceship played music back.

The role was played by a young sound engineer who was spotted by Steven Spielberg and given the on-screen role to be the interface between these two worlds. That man, Philip Dodds, was still young and inventing, as he passed this Saturday morning.

Philip Dodds was the Chief Architect of SCORM and the force behind sharable and reusable content. He was deeply involved in the evolution of interactive multimedia and expanding the possibilities for learning via technology.

If you use a Learning Management System, author an interactive learning module or talk about the future of Web 2.0, take a moment to thank a man who you probably never met. Philip's work was KEY and CRITICAL to the exciting world of learning, knowledge management and collaboration that we take for granted.

Philip's dreams were to create a global set of standards and specifications that would allow content to be searchable, reusable and expandable.

Philip, we thank you for all that you have done and we'll keep asking that question: "What are we saying to each other?"

With respect and sadness,

Elliott Masie

P.S. wikipedia reference at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Dodds

UPDATE: I cross-posted this to the AICC News Blog, and received a comment that suggests we share our memories of Philip there. If you'd like to post a comment on this topic, please do so at the corresponding post on the AICC News Blog- The Passing of Philip V.W. Dodds.

Labels: learning, technology

The AICC (Aviation Industry CBT Committee) is hosting a discussion forum on Authorware End-of-Development and developing an Authorware Impact & Issues Survey to help assess the impact and move towards solutions for heavily-invested corporate customers. A presentation used for live discussion is available from the AICC site, as are the AICC Meeting Minutes with additional notes on the matter.

If the Adobe end-of-development of Authorware will have significant impact for you or your organization and you might have helpful feedback or are looking for information, then please visit the Authorware End-of-Development Discussion Forums.

The AICC deadline for feedback on survey questions is October 9, 2007. See this AICC News Blog entry for information on participation.

Labels: Adobe, learning, technology

I'm barely in "Gen-X." I'm about 12 years too young to truly appreciate the Abbie Hoffman reference I just made. I'm about 12 years too old to be a real "gamer." Nonetheless, here I am in my 40's staying up late to write a book report on Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning by Karl Kapp. Sorry Mom.

I apologize to my mother, my beloved late-night term-paper typist, but NOT to you dear reader. This book is pretty good. I am going to apply a little gamer style that I learned from the book and mix it up with a little of my own Yuppie Yippie geezer pre-gamer culture jamming of my own. (Whew, too much social anthropology to parse there, no wonder one of the reviewers/contributors has a background in Anthropology.)

Learning Designer/Developer Cheating Tips for Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning: Tools and Techniques for Transferring Know-How from Boomers to Gamers

1. Use the Corporate Card to buy it. It's expensive, but you'll come-off like a super-genius. Plus you'll want to share this book with co-workers and clients. Boomers will be able to throw down some gaming terms, and understand what makes gamers tick. Gamers will even gain some insight into Boomers.
   Bonus tip: Independent consultant like me? Buy it anyway and "Stick it to the man." It's fun, even if you are "the man."
2. Read Chapter 1 first, and read it all. Well, duh. It's like doing the tutorial at the start of a game, you'll get further faster. This chapter has a lot of the background and research references that helped shape the book.
3. Jump to Chapter 5, it's about cheats Why? 'Cause one man's cheats is another man's job-aid (or performance support tool). Besides this whole post is a cheat, right. Don't hate the playa, learn to game the gamers.
4. Now skip to Chapter to Chapter 10, it's about the coin You're going to need budget or at least time to do some interesting games, get some gizmos, design networked social learning and generally do other cool stuff. Chapter 10 gets right to the new math of explaining that not just playing, but designing games is critical and worthwhile. You'll need to justify this stuff.
   Bonus tip: Now go back and read the "Workplace Implications" from Chapters 2-4 and 6-8-- they'll have some good fodder for the Exec Summary of that budgeting proposal.
5. Refine and Polish Go back and skip around, read more in any order... don't be so linear dude. Refresh some basic ISD in Chapters 2-3 and re-orient it to games and gamers. Think about recruiting them in Chapter 9. Think about how you obtain, train and retain across the board for boomer and gamers alike.

Not exactly a book report, but hopefully an interesting stop on this virtual book tour. I like the book for the anecdotes, data and scenarios. Those are things that resonate with me and I find memorable, repeatable and applicable. Right there at the front (p. 16-17), Karl pulled together a nice chart of the attributes of the games and gamers across 4 "generations" of gamers from Gen I Pong and Odyssey to Gen 4.0 Halo, The Sims and GTA3. I'm starting to use bits from this table like a mini Meyers-Briggs assessment for quickly sizing up and adjusting to gamers. Check out the book on Amazon, or do a little more recon and learn more about it via the current virtual book tour that is underway.

Labels: blogs, gaming, learning, simulation, technology

As a Masie Fellow, I participate in monthly Masie Learning Consortium calls hosted by Elliot Masie. This month's call was on Learning in 2012. I won't give away the store and undermine the value of Consortium, but I'd like to share a few interesting thoughts from the discussion of what learning organizations and training will be like in 5 years.

I heard some trends on the call that people are both observing and hopeful for these trends continuing. One trend (or goal), is moving training departments from a cost center to a revenue & performance contributor; integrating what was "training" into performance, knowledge, collaboration & compliance integration. This may take a variety of forms.

An additional trend was the increasing role of leaders in leadership development. More organizations are seeing their own leadership as critical in being active participants, presenters and resources in leadership development training.

Another one of the many trends discussed was the move to shorter & tighter e-learning modules and transitioning of learning modules into performance support tools. I couldn't agree more and I think this is reflected in all the Rapid Elearning and SME-authoring trends and tools we've seen in the last 4 years. That said, there will always be a need for fundamental skill development, and it is my opinion that performance support and SME-authoring are not the most effective approaches for fundamental skills development.

Elliott also made some predictions that he stands behind and are quite clear. The predictions focus on disruptive (to me, enabling) technologies that will undoubtedly impact organizations in the next 2-4 years. They are Multi-touch and haptic interfaces (like the iPhone uses), ubiquitous mobile device with parity in broadband connection speed relative to current desktops, and mobile devices with "big" high-resolution display capability (it may be in the form of wearable, virtual or projected screens or ???).

There was tons more talked about and it wouldn't be fair for me to publish it all here. So if you are a Learning Consortium member and missed the call, be sure to visit the members site and check out the recording later (hint: login and scan the page or use search to find 'podcast'). Who knows, your organization might already be a member as many big corporation are, or your organization can consider joining.

Labels: learning, Masie, technology

I stumbled on to a great little untold story of a coaching success. In early August, I finally got around to watching the Walt Mossberg & Kara Swisher interview of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates from D5 last Spring (free iTunes video podcast here, but you can probably find it elsewhere too). First off, it includes some old video in the intro with a little skit from 1984 with Mitch Kapor and a very young Bill Gates. That said, the intro continues and it takes 8 minutes until the interviewing really starts. The fulll 90 minute video is definitely worth watching for anyone who spent 10 years or more working or playing in the Windows or Mac ecosystem... maybe some good history for Gen Y's too.

For me, the interesting surprise came 01:26:00 (88 min) into it. Steve casually mentions the Apple one to one program, which I had never heard of before. For $99 a customer can register for a single membership that allows up to 1 hour of 1:1 training each week for a year. (OK, technically it is 50 minutes to 1 hour, but you can ask your lawyer or psychiatrist how that works.).

In just 1 year of operation the one-to-one program scaled up to an annual run rate of 1 million hours per year. ALL of that training is delivered in Apple retail stores. That is a LOT of 1:1 coaching. It also seems to shatter the myth that elearning is the only way to effectively scale training.

1. How many hours of 1:1 coaching could or should your organization realistically scale to deliver?
2. Would you consider 1:1 coaching formal or informal learning?
3. How could collaboration tools, social networking and web conferencing help it scale even better?

Labels: coaching, informal, learning, technology

Interesting thoughts on using a Nintendo Wii and Second Life together, from the Gadgets blog of Wired online

Nintendo games have made the Wii controller a satisfyingly realistic controller for pretend tennis, golf and baseball. But how about using it to practice doing surgery, applying pesticides or operating a nuclear power plant?

It will be interesting to see how this pans out over the next year or so for mainstream corporate training. For edu-tainment, the surgery bit has already happened. In a March Edition of Learning Trends (link followers- scroll to March 5, '07 #434), Elliott Masie mentioned a Wii application called Trauma Center: Second Opinion that is only $49 and lets you perform a varierty of tests and interventions using the simulated environment and the motion-sensitive Wiimote controller.

More from Wired:

One of the attractions of [MIT Research Fellow David E. Stone] Stone's approach is the low cost. In Second Life, it's relatively easy to build chairs, buildings and other objects for avatars to sit on or walk through. Tools like wrenches or manual controls are also easy to build and, with a little tweaking, users can control them with a Wiimote.

Labels: learning, secondlife, simulation, technology, virtual worlds

I just got back from the roving Adobe on AIR barcamp event in Seattle. The bus is cool, the APIs are cool, the AIR product/environment is cool, and the whole event approach is cool. It really struck me as a "2.0" seminar, in the "Web 2.0" sense- early feedback from users/participants, user-driven, high-tech, effective and appealing UI, adaptive, editable, lots of APIs and mash-ups (Flikr images, twitter feeds, JSON APIs and geo-tagging with GPS location data).

It was both organized and ad hoc. Both a tech-y learning event and a corporate mark-com session. A great chance to learn and see what's been done, work with experts, expand your network, and/or submerge head-down in the wireless network if you need to get a little business done online.

I really like that I came away with all the same materials and content that I would have had at a "1.0" seminar at a downtown hotel, BUT it was something that had community, something that will have its own lifecycle and a sort of harmonic sustain. This approach is something I could interact with and engage as it was on its way here, and something "sticky" that I'll want to check back in with and follow as it goes forward. Those are the things that you don't have with classic seminars-- and I'm also going to monitor the Google code site with examples and check out the twitter and camera live-feeds as they wind their way to Vancouver, back to Portland, a week-end diversion to Las Vegas, and then an event in L.A. (then Dallas then Denver- check a map first next time guys).

Good luck to Adobe with AIR and to the remote and local participants who join in the experience. Even if you're not into the product, you should check out the approach and think about creating your own mash-up like this for training and collaboration sessions-- its really quite effective. I'll be editing down some video interviews I did with the Adobe team and then submitting that to the Masie Learning Consortium site next week.

Labels: events, learning, technology

I'm working around a Blogger issue, so here is the rest of the entry.

Donald Clark- Plan B
Well thought, well researched information and opinions on learning and education. Here's a GREAT example that cites John Locke's thoughts on education and references William James too- Habitual Learning (h-learning). Recently (and informally) dubbed a premiere learning "debunker", he clearly puts thought, time and research into his posts.

Karl Kapp- Kapp Notes
I've known Karl for almost 10 years through Dr. Tim Phillips and the Bloomsburg University Corporate Advisory Council. Karl and I bonded over our shared background with major consulting firms, and interest in instructional design. He recently published an intriguing book on gaming (Gadgets, Games & Gizmos for Learning) that puts forth the notion of certain generations or epochs of computer/console gamers, as well as ramifications and possibilities for learning and training.

Mark Oehlert- e-Clippings (Learning As Art)
Hmm, what can I say except, "Mark is out there. AND he brings it back to share with you." Tons of quick thought, deep thoughts and connections that can be applied to learning, training, development and technology. He is the first one I remember meeting who was genuinely and deeply interested and passionate about using Second Life for learning and training.

John Dowdell- JD on EP
I read John's blog daily to keep up on relevant techmemes, trends and key Adobe news. As a community manager and corporate blogger he provides lots of interesting connection and insights on the blogosphere, journalism and techno-social trends come along the way too. Plus you've got to love obscure references to Donald Duck artists and terms for non-verbal acknowledgment.

Steve Makofsky- The Furrygoat Experience
I started reading Steve's blog years ago when I got hooked on an RSS Reader he wrote for PocketPC. He's since moved into Microsoft and then out of Seattle and into Yahoo. I like the technology themes and random relevant insights of his blog. From him I learned of Kathy Sierra's blog (and subsequently recommended that VNU get her as a speaker for Training Directors Forum). Steve also reacquainted with Bruce Tognazzini whose book (Tog on Software Design) I had read years earlier.

Labels: blogs, learning

UPDATE: Google Blogger is totally crappy about providing any feedback other than failure, so I'm breaking this into 2 posts. Validating the HTML of the posts with the W3C and Dreamweaver validator is useless; Blogger just silently fails with a blank screen.

I perceive much of my own value as being a node in a network. The connections I make and the connections that pass through are valuable. I like to share them. Here are a few of the blogs I'd like to share with you and some of my personal editorial comments that may help you.

Clark Aldrich- Elements of Interactivity If you want to apply simulation to professional development, then Clark IS the man. Fantastic on-going posts on the ASTD Learning Circuits Blogand his own blog are great reading, thought provoking and encouraging for those who want to use more simulation to increase training effectiveness and performance.

Jay Cross- Internet Time Blog My summary about him? Foresight + Insight + Raconteur + ?? = Jay Example Entry: Now What Invited to speak about"Informal Learning Goes Mobile" at the Seriously Mobile Summit, Jay realizes they "get it" already and moves on.

The audience had already drunk the web 2.0 KoolAid. I pushed them to think about the implications several years out. As a starting point, I eliminated talk about devices. The previous week, when talking with a dozen very sophisticated learning technologists about mobile, the conversation rapidly devolved into complaints about unreadable screens and buttons too small for beefy fingers. Moore's Law will take care of those in short order, so we started as if it already had...

more to come

Labels: blogs, learning, simulation

Larry Israelite is the editor and one of the authors of Lies About Learning. I came to know Larry through Elliott Masie and the Learning Consortium, and I love his frankness on this subject, starting with the subtitle of the book, Leading Executives Separate Truth from Fiction in a $100 Billion Industry.

In the book, Larry and the gang take on a bunch of lies and myths, sometimes alternating sides, but always making strong statements. For example, Murray Christensen on Personalization: Learners Are Essentially the Same. Heresy you say? Last year, I saw a few presentations from Will Thalheimer on use of learning styles (or the "lie" about learning styles), and I have to agree, though I am not as courageous as Dr. Thalheimer with his $1000 USD challenge to the first person to demonstrate meaningful benefits from using learning styles in an instructional design.

Back to the book- I've lived and seen some other favorite lies from both the side of the consulting/vendor organization and the customer side of the fence, like:

• This is the team that will work with you on this project (at an early sales meeting; who know where these people will be staffed then).
• (All) the content and materials will be custom built for you.
• ... and from the client side, We have full support for this project and our SMEs will be available whenever you need them.

What about you? Are your pants on fire? Is your nose as long as a telephone wire?

To hear, discuss and share more lies... and how to actually learn from them, check out the free seminar on Lies About Learning this Friday, January 19.

Lies About Learning January 19, 1:00PM Eastern [GMT -05:00] Register here

The seminar looks like it will be a good discussion of some key topics. You can also get the book from Amazon- Lies About Learning. Note that is not an Amazon Associate link so I get squat for the referral, other than karma.

Labels: learning, SCORM