SideBars has a great November issue out on Online Discussion. Links on asynchronous discussion, online facilitation, interaction, and moderation.
Free Content Becoming Thing of the Past
Quote: "Just 18 months ago, the United Kingdom was the land of free online news: Readers surfed from site to site and read every word, searched every archive and subscribed to every news alert -- all for free.
Now everyone's charging for something: With ad sales producing nowhere near the revenues needed to support news sites, every major newspaper site in Britain has decided it's time to bolster sagging income by charging for content."
Comment: Businesses and content producers have every right to charge for content. Consumers have every right to get their content from other sources. Payment for content is a difficult business model because of the mindset of Web users: It's all free and it's a click away. We are conditioned, after a decade of surfing, to acquire content for free. The economics of the Internet require awareness of existence and linking. Paid content excludes this.
I believe that a for-payment Internet model will emerge...but the group able to charge for content will be very small and exclusive. The rest of us will continue to bang out our thoughts and views in our blogs...
Predicting Student Success: Article deals with aptitude in computing courses. Determining students likelihood for success is an inviting proposition...but very difficult to do. The real challenge is in using the information to effectively improve student's chances of success...not deselection.
The best ideas aren't the ones that get noticed. The best software platforms aren't the ones that get used. The best learning environments aren't the ones that are accepted by learners.
We use tools and resources to the degree that they complete an intended task...not the degree to which they are visionary or "future effective". We see problems in the immediate, and typically desire solutions on this level. This is a real challenge for designers, online instructors, or people involved with knowledge management.
It's the principle of "just enough"...I'll do/use just enough to do what I have to do. Most people operate this way. A few people are passionate and go extreme, but they are the exception. The average computer user knows enough about Microsoft Word to type, format, and work with basic documents. The average person uses collaborative technologies just enough to do what needs to be done to communicate and collaborate. From my experience, the more elaborate and integrated a tool's feature set is (i.e. a learning management system that doeseverything), the greater the barrier to adoption for the average user.
The singularity of the tool, simplicity of features determine adoption for the majority of users. Online educators in particular need to think hard about the tools used for learning. I favour "connected specialization" in tools...as compared to advanced integration. An LMS shouldn't do everything. It gets too bulky, too restrictive, and too "one way". Learning/KM tools need to closely match the required task...without over-shooting or falling too short.
Impact of wireless/mobile devices is starting to ripple into the elearning field:Mobile Devices: "According to market researcher Gartner, 45 percent of the American workforce is using mobile technology of some kind, including laptops, PDAs, and new sensor networks... Gartner analysts called it "the biggest revolution in corporate data collection and distribution in a decade." "
See also From elearning to mlearning (.pdf)(via Stephen)
Managing the Synchronous Blend: "New conventional wisdom tells us that the best programs are comprised of a blend of various learning technologies. Blending technologies that take advantage of learning styles, learner convenience, and instructional design best practices enable the developer to create programs that engage the learner and maximize learning retention. For this reason, mixing the best blend of learning technologies is a critical success factor in creating effective online learning environments."
The Future of Knowledge Management...links to a paper by Dave Pollard on KM's future. Some of the diagrams and charts are quite helpful. From the article: "This paper is the result of discussions with many KM leaders about the current quandary of the KM discipline, and how 'social software', weblogs, and the perceived need for improvement in front-line worker productivity could present KM leaders with an opportunity to 'reinvent' the discipline and make it much more valuable."
Seb links to a good reference resource: Timelines: Usability and Instructional Technology
Great resource (via elearningpost): Why Tables for Layout is Stupid. Describes the limitations of using tables as a means of organizing HTML pages...and introduces CSS (cascading style sheets) as a more effective option. Very readable.
Alan, Brian, and D'Arcy are still at it: Connecting Learning Objects with RSS, Trackback, and Weblogs. Excellent. Done with Macromedia Breeze. If RSS and blogging makes no sense to you (especially in an educational context), this presentation will clarify things. It's only about 20 minutes...go ahead, take the dive!
Affirmation of simulations as effective tools for reducing the expense of some types of training:Sim Soars as a Learning Tool. "Flight Simulator started as a very basic program," said Bruce Landsberg, executive director of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Foundation. "Over the years, it's evolved phenomenally. It's my observation that someone wanting to become a pilot could save some considerable time and money by using Flight Simulator before starting flight lessons."
Idea management: "Recently idea management has seen attention and activity as a forward-looking component of KM. A focus on sharing ideas, gathering converts, embellishing, vetting and finding champions, monitoring progress, providing feedback and enabling escalation has helped to move companies from sharing existing expertise to fostering innovation."
Microsoft Goes Mobile: "What do you get when you combine Microsoft, the planet's biggest software company, which is desperate to move into the mobile - phone industry, with Vodafone, the planet's second biggest mobile operator?" (via moco.news)
How Effective is Multimedia in Education (.pdf) . This artice (on Kevin Kruse's site) offers a critique on the effectiveness of adding multimedia in education. Like everything else, a tool performs a task...when the task is properly matched to the tool, it works well. When mismatched, it doesn't. Multimedia is very effective for certain learning activities (and certain learning styles - a consideration the article doesn't explore), but it can also be very ineffective for other learning tasks.
How Everyday Things are Made: Spent the morning with my kids on this site. They loved it. Good example of learning with video/audio and limited interaction ("apply it" section). I'm reminded of how we are still in the early stages of elearning...and offerings will continue to be more sophisticated. My first exposure to the Web was a text only experience. Now, in a very short period of time, the browsing experience has become interactive, media-rich, and user-friendly (in many cases). We have the background of Web progression to direct our efforts in elearning...so it's safe to say that over the next five years, we'll see an exponential improvement in the quality of elearning materials.
As I was driving home yesterday, I heard a radio ad on a local station (I'm in Winnipeg) promoting University of Phoenix. Surprised me. I did not realize that they are that progressive in extending their reach. I've seen their ads in newspapers, magazines, and websites...so I'm not sure why it was a bit of a jolt. Perhaps I see radio as being a more local media. Regardless, U of Phoenix is in everyone's backyard. Until recently, higher education/training gained much of their strength geographically. Students in your area were your captive market. The product being sold was a "course" and credentials. Now, any online school has the ability to reach into any market. All of the courses listed in the U of Phoenix ad are offered by my employer Red River College.
U of Phoenix will always "out course" university and college courses. They're organized, have production-line efficiency, hire staff on an as-needed, program basis (resulting in reduced costs associated with tenure/unions), have a business model, have developed a recognized brand name, etc. Colleges and universities cannot compete against corporation-style education (look at some of the high profile failures over the last two years - Fathom, NYUOnline). The higher education model is not based on marketing and business metrics (yet).
If we can't build a better course, how can we compete? Stop thinking courses...start thinking communities, learning, accreditation, evaluation of prior learning...shift the focus from content to services. If higher education attempts to play the "commercializing education" game, we will lose before starting. Compete on our strengths, not theirs. Public education certainly has a strong future...but not within our current viewpoints of the services we provide (content) and what a learning model we use (courses) to deliver it.
Open Source Course Management Systems. Nice list. Compiled by Scott Leslie (who knows all things CMS/LMS).
An interesting experiment going on at Microsoft as they try to respond to the openness of Linux. Two articles: 1. The Scobelizer and 2. How to Hate Microsoft: "This is a big chance Microsoft is taking. We're bringing customers directly into our design process. We're giving our community members extreme power."
The comments in the second link aren't too positive on the intentions and trust.
The Connectors: "As it turns out, close friends are great for road trips, intimate dinners, and the occasional interest-free loan, but they suck for job leads and blind dates - they know the same people you do. In other words, it's not so much who you know, but who you vaguely know. Granovetter called the phenomenon "the strength of weak ties." He had discovered the human node."
The Battle for Web Services. Currently, this discussion is far removed from elearning...but the article is a good overview on the confusing landscape of web services standards. Web services are basically a communications protocol, allowing computers/applications/processes to interact. Apparently, the outcome of this debate will significantly shape our information use.
The heart of it: proprietary standards? or open? From the article "If the vision for Web services comes true, and companies use these standards as they use HTTP and HTML-that is, constantly-then royalties on Web services could become like a tollbooth for business on the Internet, chipping money out of every transaction that crosses the wires."
Community Intelligence Labs (link via Scott). There's an excellent resource page title Knowledge Garden that presents various resources communities, organizational intelligence, knowledge ecology, viral communities, etc. Worth bookmarking...
David Wiley announces that Pitch Journal will be available in November 2003. Sign up on the site to get notification of the official release.
"Pitch is a peer-reviewed, online-only, continuous-release journal focused on instructional technology topics. Specifically, Pitch focuses on the pedagogical, technological, sociological, legal, and ethical issues of opening access to educational opportunity to underprivileged and underserved populations. Example topics include reusable media / learning objects, social networks and informal learning online, self-organizing learning communities, licensing of free educational materials, and right to education."
Jeremy Hiebert:: "If the designer isn't in contact with the end user, how can the learning environment/software/course/resource be designed to optimize their experience?"
James Farmer on Personal Publishing in Education. Read the three part series for some nice thoughts on blog use/trends in education.
The Future of Knowledge: "In addition to knowledge, organizations of the future need to tap value from interrelated networks of employees, partners and society at large for creating prosperity." (Knowledge Jolt)
Maricopa Learning eXchange... Building an Innovation Collection (with a bit of Competition and Bribery): "The Maricopa Learning eXchange (MLX) is an electronic warehouse of ideas, examples, and resources that support learning at the Maricopa Community Colleges, represented as mysterious wrapped "packages", from a Flash animation for a chemistry lab to a faculty development program. See how we tripled our collection with a friendly competition for software prizes. Learn how we are syndicating content with RSS news feeds."
Great idea eFolio: "Welcome to eFolio Minnesota, a multimedia electronic portfolio designed to help you create a living showcase of your education, career and personal achievements. All Minnesota residents, including students enrolled in Minnesota schools, educators and others can use eFolio Minnesota to reach their career and education goals." (via cogdogblog)
Stephen Downes has set up a blog to follow the NAWeb conference. I particularly enjoyed this post: We have all our courses online, Now what?
Why personalization hasn't worked
Quote: "Personalization hasn't worked because most people don't have a compelling reason to personalize. It hasn't worked because the cost of doing it well usually significantly outweighs the benefits it delivers. It hasn't worked because managers have seen it as some Holy Grail of content management."
Comment: While website personalizations haven't caught on, I think the concept is valuable in elearning. Learners working through a personal learning path, created based on previous learning and experience, is an excellent idea. However, as stated in this article, personalization costs. It takes much more time to plan design a course that allows for flexible learner entry and customized content.
A nice, needed, discussion about the challenges of subject matter experts and instructional designers working together: Surviving Course Development Wars. It's like trying to bring two different cultures and languages together, and then trying to get them to "play well"...without equipping either for the experience.
Trash Your Desktop
Quote: "Because Chandler presents information in its logical context-displaying all related items together-and not in the separate folders and application windows of the traditional desktop computer system, you can think of it as a new way into your computer."
Comment: I've been hearing about Chandler for about a year...but as the article states, progress with the project is still more hype and vision than code and results. Regardless, it's ambitious.
PDA, RIP"Why carry both a phone and a PDA around, when you can carry a single hybrid device?"
Informal Learning: "Workers who know more get more accomplished. People who are well connected make greater contributions. The workers who create the most value are those who know the right people, the right stuff and the right things to do.
It's all a matter of learning, but it's not the sort of learning that is the province of training departments, workshops and classrooms. At work we learn more in the break room than in the classroom. We discover how to do our jobs through informal learning-observing others, asking the person in the next cubicle, calling the help desk, trial and error and simply working with people in the know. Formal learning-classes and workshops and online events-is the source of only 10 percent to 20 percent of what we learn at work."
High Touch...High Tech (Ray)
Quote: ""I could never teach online," Neil said. "I like being able to reach my students individually."
"I feel I can reach them and connect with them online just as well or better than F2F," I retorted."
Comment: The concept of "reaching your students better" in a face to face (F2F) environment needs perspective. In F2F, a learner does have direct contact with the instructor for 1 - 3 hours a week. Online, a learner has direct access to the instructor throughout the week. It's a difference that you really notice when you're an online learner...If I have a question at 1:00 AM, I can contact my instructor...and usually have a response the next morning. In regular classrooms, I often have to wait until the next class. High touch needs to be balanced with high access.
I posted a new article on elearnspace: Learning Ecology, Communities, and Networks. Focus of the article is on how learning ecology (the environment that enables communities to develop), communities (clustering of similar people/ideas), and networks (our personal creation of various learning communities) are poised to alter the landscape of education...in a good way...allowing learners to truly become life-long learners.
Shift in Mobile Use (Smart Mobs): "What clearly can develop over the next four years is a shift in the way mobile communicating devices are perceived and used. Plain voice conversations will continue to take up most of operators' airtime. But data will play an increasing and increasingly valuable role, whether it is in music, images, personal data or corporate applications."
It's About the Learner, Not the Instructor!. This article expresses valuable points (it's not about elearning, it's about learning...and it's not about the trainer, it's about the learner). I don't share the author's optimism that vendors and end-user are starting to get it right. I still see elearning tools that attempt to replicate classrooms, that foster a course-based mindset, that give the instructor the control, and that fail to account for "meandering" learning experience that is reflective of the way in which people learn in "real life".
With that said, learners seem to be most comfortable with tools that are most like classrooms. The tools I've used that learners rate most highly are synchronous (vClass, Centra)...and follow a lecture model. Confusing really...give learners what they want? Or what we think is best for them...:).
Colony of the Future. This is a nice example of a learning community...simple design, variety of resource, variety of tools (blogs, forum, email, chat), and problem-based. As Jeremy states: "The scenario is interesting, the look is great, and the developer has made clever use of several free applications to get people collaborating online."
It's Cultural: " Of all the challenges before us, the most difficult to overcome are cultural. The culture of faculty, the culture of departmental support staff, the culture of centralized support staff--all of these work against one another when attempting to make changes."
What is Data Mining and What are Its Uses?
Quote: "Data mining is a data-driven capability for extracting patterns that can provide powerful answers to critical business questions."
Comment: Data mining is often viewed as foundational to knowledge management...but as this article rightly points out, "Data-mining software is not a replacement for skilled analysts. The algorithms used in data mining are quite powerful. If the users do not understand these issues or have access to knowledgeable staff, the results can be disastrous."
What happens when there are no standards in curriculum design
An understandable backlash against technology: Why computers have not saved the classroom:
Quote: "Putting computers in classrooms has been almost entirely wasteful, and the rush to keep schools up-to-date with the latest technology has been largely pointless."
Comment: I disagree with the statement of technology in education being pointless...but it's very interesting to watch the dramatically different discussions happening in schools. We talk in dollar amounts in regards to technology that most librarians/teachers have only dreamed of for their respective fields. Funds seem to be available for hardware/software...but not for teachers/books.
Ecology or library?: "When working with knowledge it is more useful to picture an ecology, than to envision a library - think links, relationships & flow rather than collections, classification & objects."
Open Source Everywhere: "Software is just the beginning ... open source is doing for mass innovation what the assembly line did for mass production. Get ready for the era when collaboration replaces the corporation."
This article (via Doc Searls) is political in nature...but I'm posting it here simply to draw attention to the concept of frames...which I find similar to the recent article I posted on ideas as corridors: "It is a general finding about frames that if a strongly held frame doesn't fit the facts, the facts will be ignored and the frame will be kept."
My recent post on learning communities and networks as an alternative to courses generated some interesting discussion. Two comments in particular present important concepts to consider: 1. The difficulty of evaluating learning that happens in communities (portfolios can be very time consuming to review), 2. The difficulty of structured learning in communities (i.e. communities often do not meet the needs of newer members - see more below). Both of these concerns are important to address in order for communities to play a greater role in education.
Here's a quick overview of the benefits of communities:
It's perplexing to listen to the discussion of "learner-centered"...and "life-long learning", and then see learning institutions give learners courses that only last 12 weeks and are delivered using instructor-centric tools. In my opinion, the solution lies in well-designed communities and networks.
Moodle, an open source LMS, continues to gain attention. Ray links to Moodle: Using Learning Communities to Create an Open Source Course Management System...and David links to BlackBoard & WebCT vs. Moodle.
KM and Elearning: A Powerful Combination
Quote: "To most organizations, KM and elearning are still seen as separate...There are a number of fundamental differences that have prevented a more complete integration of KM and elearning: historical and cultural factors, functional factors, and even vocabulary factors."
Comment: The separation of KM and elearning is basically the result of how training/learning are defined. If the definition includes more informal learning (acquired through work, experience, and conversations), then KM and elearning are already very closely aligned.
Why communities are not good?:
Quote: "Communities are nightmares for novices: lack of clear roles or structures, overflow of information, discussions that you join in a middle, strange language... Communities could be good to stay updated in the field or get specific questions answered, but they are hell if you want to get solid understanding of the domain."
Comment: Yes, which is why communities need a variety of components: searchable archives, tools for dialogue/debate, access to gurus, forum for self-expression/reflection...as well as structured exposure to content. What we currently call a course (which is basically just someone's conception of how content should be experienced) is still reflected in a community. Most communities currently do not have this more formal path of learning (but they should). If communities are to play a stronger role in education, they will need to include this...as well as means of assessment and evaluation.
Nice resource for knowledge managementKMCentral. Great links to KM glossary, tools, resources.
Knowledge ManagementQuote: "Succinctly put, KM is the process through which organizations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets. Most often, generating value from such assets involves sharing them among employees, departments and even with other companies in an effort to devise best practices."
Comment: This is the common definition attached to KM. Don't like it. Too cold, too methodical, too focused on the needs of the organization (rather that the employee who we want to share the knowledge). When I think of knowledge management, I think of the softer benefits - more satisfied employees, employees with a greater sense of belonging, access to information to do your work better, sense of connection. If organizations want KM to succeed, they have to think along the same lines. The ROI comes through these processes...not the other way around.
Dehham Grey offers some characteristics of KM worth exploring.
'A new kind of worker': "Organisations are finally beginning to recognise that information literacy is a key skill for their staff." Sample information literacy skill set:
Passivity is a missing element in many online courses I take. For years, the push to make learning engaging and interactive has produced a "fight for every scrap of knowledge" environment. It puts too much pressure on the learners...and it's demotivating.
When learning in a workshop or a lecture course, the Instructor provides some of the motivation to learn. Regularly scheduled sessions, lectures, presentations, all allow learners to absorb information...without having to provide all the effort. This may seem like a small distinction...but it is what I miss most about face-to-face learning.
Some days I'm just not motivated to read through multiple screens of text...analyze diagrams...experiment on my own...post my thoughts in a forum. All of these activities require that I'm focused on "getting my own learning". Sometimes, I like sitting back and listening to someone explain a concept. I like a certain amount of passivity in my learning.
Learning requires both "doing" and "reflecting". If courses don't build in some type of passivity, the learning experience might not allow for much reflection. Sometimes, staring at a wall is the best learning moment.
How can Instructors build in passivity? Here's some suggestions:
Interactive Instructional Designer . Neat idea. Allows potential online instructors to profile learners, their own skills, teaching strategies, support...and then generates an analysis report. A very valuable resource for newcomers to instructional design/online learning. Site is developed by Evan Straub...see her blog.
Diagramming the XML Family: "In this article we'll introduce some of the XML family members and discuss how they relate to one another. We'll then use these technologies to create a diagram of their relationships in order to demonstrate how they work together in practice."
Nice visual: Matrix of Blog Use in Education
Albert Delgado's excellent site: Educational Weblogs: "Educational weblogs, praxis and digital tools." Take a few minutes and explore the blog portals listed on the top, lefthand side of the page.
Internet Pioneers (via Seb): "This web site profiles ten individuals whose work has contributed significantly to the development of the Internet."
Online Courses and Underserved Populations:
Quote: "One of the primary appeals of online education is its claim to be able to offer a high-quality educational experience to underserved populations, and thus provide access where it did not exist before...In order to succeed, an approach must be developed that allows the online course provider to understand precisely where the challenges exist."
Comment: Article presents a number of areas of barriers that can be overcome in specific ways. Technology can make a difference in getting learning materials out to underserved populations and countries. I'm cynical, however, that it will happen on a large scale. MIT's Open Course Ware is an anomaly. Most institutions don't have a focus beyond the paying student (for various reasons - financial, lack of resources, lack of mandate, lack of vision). It's difficult for an organization to append altruistic intentions to daily activities (I wish it wasn't...but it is).
EPSS Central: Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) is an important part of elearning...providing learning at the exact point of need. Elearning is anticipatory learning, knowledge management is sharing existing learning/knowledge, and EPSS is just-in-time learning...at least that's how the model is typically expressed...but I don't think it accounts for how difficult it is to get it happening in most organizations. I think communities are the only concept capable of taking these (and other components of learning) and getting them to work together is a manner that is required by the end user.
An entire edition of CIO committed to Technology's Impact on Everything. It'll take a while to work through these articles. Some topics covered: markets, war, human condition, environment, children, health care, liberties, etc.
Sometimes, expressing thoughts on paper (screen) produces an imperfect representation of what the author intended to communicate. I've written one of those articles: Ideas as Corridors. I'm a bit insecure as to the effectiveness of what I've expressed (it's a complex expression of a simple idea - generally not good!)...so I'd appreciate feedback...which would allow me the opportunity to clarify and dialogue.
The Future of E-learning (via Seb Schmoller - be sure to subscribe to his "fortnighly" mailer)...a summary of an elearning survey with a European (particularly UK) perspective.
A humorous look at the confusion in elearning: Define E-learning? Let me count the ways...
Some interesting stats on blogs: The Blogging Iceberg (via Seb).
Waves of Innovaiton (.pdf) (via Gurteen Knowledge). Presents a few interesting concepts: an innovation habitat (the combination of resources/people/culture to facilitate innovation), innovation from adversity (adversity as a launch pad for innovation), and innovation as a place-based occurrence (the article refers to place-based more as a physical location (i.e. face-to-face as the most effective means of interaction and information distribution)...but I would say that it could just as easily be a virtual community/place).
Game-based learning is a key trend in education. Short article on military use of games: Military Training Is Just a Game
The collapse of email:
Quote: "I knew Usenet was dead when teens stopped knowing what it was...Teens are focused less and less on email. It no longer provides an identity marker in the way it used to. Even at universities, students are more likely to use their easily accessible hotmail account than the university account. This also means that they are forced to constantly fight the annoyances of spam."
Comment: I still communicate heavily with email, but I have to agree with this observation. Most students I deal with typically only use email when an instructor requires it. Otherwise, more "instant" communication tools are used (largely instant messenging).
Scott has moved his blog to Movable Type: EdTechPost. Nice. I always appreciate an about page. Makes blogging more personal.
On a side note, I'm waiting for Movable Type to implement comment spam handling...
Distributing Learning Objects
Quote: "Though much discussion has centered around the nature and use of learning objects, less attention has been paid to the problem of their distribution...Closely tied to the question of distribution, and the subject of most discussion on the subject, is the question of finding learning objects."
Comment: This article provides short overview of the models being utilized to share learning objects: federated, harvested, and peer-to-peer.
Information Quality, Liability, and Corrections (Open Access News). A terrific article on ways information can be wrong, the process of dissemination, and improving the system. This kind of information is foundational to all learning (but unfortunately, is often not taught or understood).
Mapping tacit:
Quote: "By most estimates, the largest part of organizational knowledge escapes awareness, notice and conversation, it slips beneath the collective radar, avoids codification, escapes validation and remains undiscovered by traditional knowledge mapping activities."
Comment: At the end of the article, a series of valuable questions are presented for analyzing what hinders knowledge flow in an organization.
An excellent site (via elearningpost): "Each month the Association of Knowledgework Star Series welcomes an outstanding knowledge professional as guest moderator for one of our four e-mail discussion groups. These luminaries range from the highly acclaimed to the rising stars of knowledge work and they engage in "Conversations" with our members over periods of two weeks or more."
Be sure to check out other sections of the site...like white papers.
New, interesting blog: Pedablogue. From the author (Michael Arnzen): "I'm launching into this trajectory of inquiry because I want to learn more about the art of teaching and engage in scholarship the way it's meant to be -- in a public forum, involving research, open dialogue, and reflection."
Emotion and elearning. Article argues for the need to treat emotions on par with cognition in the learning process...and details emotions associated with online study, and implications for teaching online.
What is a 'learning community'?...a variety of definitions focused on the functions of learning communities. It would be nice to see definitions that detail the makeup (i.e. tools needed, how they are organized, services provided to members, how knowledge is captured/extended...etc.). Additional information: Links & documents
Interesting article: Transferring TRIZ principles to non-technological areas. I discussed TRIZ (based on the principle that creativity and innovation follow a limited number of principles and can be duplicated/created) several months ago...still trying to get a better grasp of the process and application.
Not sure if we actually need a study to prove this (sometimes common sense is fine): Collective action is good for you (via Smart Mobs)
Elearning and Blended Learning (.pdf): "What kind of tool is e-learning? What are its unique capabilities? And can these unique capabilities actually help learning? If they can't, how do we tell our bosses and clients that e-learning is a waste of time? If e-learning can be implemented to support human learning, in what ways can it best be used?"
Great overview and comparison chart: Characteristics of the Best Systems Designed for Human Users
