I delivered my presentation at Online Educa a few minutes ago...it was loosely based on an article I've just uploaded: Knowledge and our structures of learning.
The conference is huge - representing 93 countries. It's the most international conference I've attended. Quick way to get a global glimpse of learning and technology. And vendors. My favorite statement found in vendor literature: Our product is web 2.0 enabled. What does that mean??? I'm breathing enabled because I have lungs? I really think some vendors have a low view of attendees intelligence...
A critical example of what happens when organizations move too slow - at a pace in line with "the way it was" rather than "the way it is" Fake sells better than originals (time to market): " LG took so long to get a Chinese version [of its Chocolate phone] ready, that by the time they launched theirs into the market, the copied Chinese version had been on sale for so long that LG’s phone was seen as the fake item copying the ‘original"
Games and simulations offer potential for engaging learning experiences. It's disconcerting for educators to encountere mildly interested students during lectures and class activities, only to see their energy level and enthusiasm increase during breaks as they aggressively pursue online game activities. It's enough to damage and educator's delicate ego. Learning and games don't need to be exclusive concepts. Alternative Reality Games (.pdf) is a great read on games in general...and education in paricular.
I value Nancy's measured approach by taking time to define context of appropriate use for teams, communities, and collaboration in her post Collaboration and Networks...too often, we try and obliterate the old to make room for the new. I'm inclined, however to call networks the meta-component...with other elements comprising a part. For example - a hierarchy is a type of network. So is a community. The key distinction rests in what type of network it is - for example, an effective network is one that allows maximum autonomy of individual nodes and greatest capacity for knowledge flow. Hierarchies and communities permit a certain type of knowledge flow...but with restrictions due to the nature of each network. For example, a community serves a particular need, and the individual network nodes may be silenced (intentionally or otherwise) as the community moves toward its intended target.
Networks (as Nancy alludes) need to occur within something - namely an ecology or space that fosters and enables the greatest capacity for network formation. Networks and ecologies, considered together (and in light of a systems approach) provide provide the basis for our learning needs today.
I arrived in Berlin this morning for Online Educa. I'm looking forward to connecting with individuals I know primarily by their online identity. I' haven't been very active in social networking sites (I have the standard Orkut, Linked In, whatever else, accounts - but don't use them as well as I could). I have managed to form a loosely cobbled social network through bloggers I follow. It is not ideal (I regularly get criticized for not allowing comments on elearnspace - a fact I try and excuse due to overwhelming spam when I have them open...I don't have that issue on connectivism or Knowing Knowlege - where I do allow comments), but it is a network structure I have control over...and for my purposes, it's as effective as any structured tool.
If you're interested, conference organizers for Online Educa have posted a useful listing of pre-conference resources...
Publishing is changing. The time requirement and expense have always been significant...so a fairly rigid process was established to ensure that authors capable of selling enough books to cover the publisher's investment were selected. But publishing is more than a numbers game. We assign a particular status to books as repositories or sources of knowledge (perhaps because they have undergone some type of process - more rigid than an article in a newspaper or a spot on the evening news). The perspectives of authors are validated through a peer or blind review process...again, with the intent of creating a book of quality. Wikis and blogs have received much attention as "end user" tools that enable anyone to publish and express their ideas. Ideas are deemed to be of certain quality based on how many individuals link to the source, or how they survive the peer-edit process of a wiki.
Collaborative Book on Management Best Practices is an attempt to use the power of "the many" in line with the value of a formal process.
I think this is a great idea...but one that will likely generate a different outcome than expected. When we first started talking about "communities", organizations were in a mad rush to set up communities. End result - most communities didn't last long. Collaborative work is of the same nature. People are more inclined to use and comment on existing content, rather than collaboratively create new content...and it requires a certain mindset among the contributors. For example, you can't take a group of experts who define value by how they are perceived individually, and expect them to eagerly contrbute to a collective knowledge base. Wikis over-write individuality.
I'm somewhat curious as to how the publishers will share the revenue...
See also We are smarter than me
Whence goeth KM?: "Now don’t get me wrong, the objectives of KM theory and practice persist and will continue to be of great importance. They are clear, simple and important and can be summarised as follows:
To support effective decision making
To create the conditions for innovation"
The Future of Online Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: The Survey Says..."confusion swells as higher education explores dozens of e-learning technologies (for example, electronic books, simulations, text messaging, podcasting, wikis, blogs), with new ones seeming to emerge each week. Such technologies confront instructors and administrators at a time of continued budget retrenchments and rethinking. Adding to this dilemma, bored students are dropping out of online classes while pleading for richer and more engaging online learning experiences.1 Given the demand for online learning, the plethora of online technologies to incorporate into teaching, the budgetary problems, and the opportunities for innovation, we argue that online learning environments are facing a "perfect e-storm," linking pedagogy, technology, and learner needs."
Action Research and Social Software: An Approach for Adopting Technology in Schools: "It is difficult for innovators to stand idly by and watch others not get it. It is equally difficult to imagine educators acting complacent in a world changing at such an accelerated pace. So what can we offer educators as a way to get them to try something different, to take on an inquiring stance?"
I've encountered action research on several occasions. One of the main assumptions of action research is that we are all researchers in our daily tasks and activities - i.e. the stereotype of lab coat and clipboard gives way to the active practitioner. It's an inviting concept, and one that deserves serious consideration - especially in the space of technology and learning. I believe we will get more valuable research from bloggers who are actively implementing and sharing their experiences than we will from formal research. Which is how it should be.
Jay Cross and I had a chat yesterday on our upcoming presentations at ONLINE EDUCA. Jay has posted the podcast. As I mentioned during the discussion, I've known Jay for years (five or six, at least), but we have yet to meet in person. In each of my conference presentations over this last year, I've been able to connect with someone I've only met online. Kinda nice.
David Wiley provides a link to a valuable series of lectures on Open Source. Covers theory, economics, open access journals, wikipedia, and a broad array of other subjects. Quick gripe: when recording classroom sessions, it only takes a bit of advanced planning to ensure that listeners don't need to follow extensive, muted, background student introductions. Even a 1/2 hour of editing could make it more viewer friendly. There may be 50 people attending the lecture, but once it's online, the video/podcast may be viewed thousands of times. We can serve the needs of both the learners in attendance, and those at a distance. It only takes a small tweak in our thinking to see the broader audience and provide for their circumstances.
Not many people are more thoughtful and thorough in their exploration of blogging (and social software) than Lilia Efimova. She has provided an excellent overview of the blurred worlds of personal and organizational identities when writing or maintaing a blog - Personal vs. business dimensions of employee blogging.
Gary Woodill forwarded a link to a .pdf download of a new book "Plan to Learn: Case Studies of Elearning Project Management. It's a useful exploration (Canadian-centric) of case studies in elearning projects (hence the title :)). I imagine the report will be of interest primarily to those tasked with the act of developing online courses and programs...though at times, while reading the report, I felt that I stepped back in time about five years (during the discussion of issues and approaches that I would assume many departments or organizations have already developed some competence). Organizations involved in formal, structured approaches to elearning will benefit most from the case studies provided. I'm personally still looking for a report on "how do we design learning in today's knowledge mess" - designing learning when the traditional conceptions of knowledge come unhinged.
Communities of Practice: "My own view is that communities can evolve, but cannot be designed top down. Of course you can stimulate and direct evolution...you need to create an environment in which people can play with multiple tools, moving some of the results to a formal environment, when and if needed."
Different tasks require different tools. Just as formal courses do not meet all learning needs, informal/community-based learning have weaknesses as well. There are times where formal learning is important and needed. There are times where blogs and wikis are most effective. First define the nature and context of the learning task...then select approach and tools. This simple approach is too often ignored.
Late last week, I received a critque of my 2004 article on Connectivism. In preparation for my presentation (SURF in Utrecht, Netherlands) conference organizers asked Pløn Verhagen to review the article. He didn't like it. His comments are here.
In response, I have written a meandering article Connectivism: Learning theory or Past Time of the Self-Amused (a printable MS Word file is available here - you might prefer that, my server is spitting out some weird formatting in place of apostrophes in the web article). End result: most of our knowledge activities are about externalization (Vygotsky, Wittgenstein, Spivey, and others suggest this, though it is easily observable with our use of symbols, images, and language to communicate and make sense). Most learning theories are about internalization (i.e. bring concepts into our head (even if they are socially mediated, the intent is to hold to knowledge in our minds). With connectivism (and Stephen's work on Connective Knowledge), the intent is to externalize the knowledge - to distribute it in a network (often with the aid of technology). This view is critical in complex knowledge climates today.
Adding Meaning & Value to Information: "Those of us who manage written information therefore have a great challenge. How can we make what is written down more meaningful, more valuable? How can we make it "make more sense"? Here are ten principal ways to do so".
Engineering Education Not Keeping Pace: "Engineering education that instills global competence is not keeping pace with the complex and highly dynamic development process of globalization."
The problem of "not keeping pace" is evident in high change fields - medicine, technology, business, engineering, etc. Marginally stable fields - like agriculture - are not immune to rapid change anymore. Essentially, every field is accelerating its knowledge base (though for some it's more pronounced). The issue of too much information is one being faced by every sector of society.
Great approach to simulation - IBM's 'secret island': "IBM has decided to use the capabilities already developed by Linden Labs for its Second Life gaming environment to build a separate, experimental area within it. Participants – from IBM research and development departments around the world – can contribute whatever they feel is important to create a productive environment in which to conduct and manage "business"."
Washington post asks for help: What Are the Best Education Blogs?
They may want to follow Edublog Nominations.
Nice use of a wiki for individuals within a professional community/discipline to share their best learning resources: Neuroscience courses. Perhaps instead of pursuing the some what false illusion of learning object repositories, we should focus on learning wikis - where we can add our objects and resources without some complex metadata scheme. Let the community assist in creating a repository of learning resources (and by repository, I mean simply linking to the original site where the resource is held. Some should build such a system. Oh wait, they did. It's called the web. I think I'll introduce some people to it...could save them money).
Will Richardson let's his children know that they don't have to go to college: "Instead of the piece of paper on the wall that says you are an expert, you will have an array of products and experiences, reflections and conversations that show your expertise, show what you know, make it transparent. It will be comprised of a body of work and a network of learners that you will continually turn to over time, that will evolve as you evolve, and will capture your most important learning."
Search continues to improve - Like.com has a beta tool available to highlight areas of an image, and then conduct a search for comparable items (the service is currently targeting online shopping - an obvious first run application, but other visual search tools are available).
My book - Knowing Knowledge - is now available. Short version: knowledge context and characteristics are changing, our organizations (schools, businesses) need to adjust. The book explores these changes and suggests networks and ecologies as alternatives to hierarchy and control structures of both learning and organizational design.
Formats:
.pdf Download (free)
Book Wiki (for individuals to edit, change, discuss the book)
Color Images (on flickr)
For Purchase (via Lulu - Amazon will be available soon)
Feel free to share with colleagues who you feel may find this discussion of interest...(more information is available on the Knowing Knowledge site)
In a presentation at U of Manitoba yesterday (audio and .ppt) on social technologies, I made the point that the current individual functions of blogs, wikis, podcasts, social networking, etc. will need to merge into suites before they will be widely adopted by educators and businesses. Personally, I wish it wasn't so. I prefer to create my own suite of tools - the notion of connected specialization - each tool selected based on task required (with the added benefit of being able to extend my suite as new tools are released...whereas a vendor selected suite once again tends toward "lock in").
However, in recent conversations with individuals beginning to adopt social software (or web 2.0 tools), the message is clear: "I'm not going to get students to set up 10 different accounts on 10 different tools - it won't work". I can respect that concern (though it's really more about bringing different tools in at a measured pace). Intel is one of the first online with integrated suites of social software tools with SuiteTwo: "SuiteTwo is a rich set of interconnected services that combine to improve productivity and enable high-engagement marketing. SuiteTwo includes the most trusted platforms for blogs, wikis, RSS feed reading, and RSS feed management, all under a single management interface." (Why management right away? I prefer the notion of fostering, not controlling, though for most IT, the appeal of a central management interface is strong).
In preparation for ONLINE EDUCA, I have posted several resources on learning and knowledge:
Factors Impacting Knowledge Creation and Distribution
Static to dynamic knowledge shift
I used Articulate's Engage and Presenter tools - quite intuitive for rapid creation of learning resources (Disclaimer - I used complementary tools in creating the presentation).
Social Networks, market segmentation in real time: "new social-and-technology networks that can be studied include e-mail patterns, buying recommendations on commercial Web sites like Amazon, messages and postings on community sites like MySpace and Facebook, and the diffusion of news, opinions, fads, urban myths, products and services over the Internet. Why do some online communities thrive, while others decline and perish? What forces or characteristics determine success? Can they be captured in a computing algorithm?"
Scott Leslie hauls out his magic 8-ball (crystal ball is not working) and asks some tough questions about the future of course management systems (some notable quotes (paraphrased) "web 2.0 is software people use without being forced to"..."if we do it right, future CMS won't have ten addons, but hundreds").
Congrats to the people of elgg on the release of elggspaces. Pricing is very reasonable. My advice - for your next online course, skip the LMS, pay for a 200 user elggspaces account...and experience a much more socially-driven, adaptive learning experience (where content takes a back seat to conversation, learning, and reflection). As Ben states: "Elgg Spaces is completely automated; there is no server-side processing required. Creating a site takes two minutes, and your site will be managed and looked over by the core Elgg team."
Gannett to Crowdsource News: "Although newspapers still post healthy profits, circulation has declined precipitously as more and more readers migrate to the internet..." In response, Gannett is adopting a model that blends traditional news with increased presence of amateur journalists (or more specifically, crowd sourcing - relying on the activities of many to provide close to the point of interest coverage).
In education, I think we will encounter a similar model - instead of completely doing away with traditional structures, we will (and are beginning to) see a gradual blend. That will be stage one. After the existing model has adjusted to more learner-centric processes, the real change will be possible. It is unrealistic to expect a massive shift in structured institutions (though the longer we wait to initiate change, the likelihood of massive change rises...as the change pressures continue to accumulate and eventually wash over established structures - consider what happened with music and movie industries). Most likely, change will begin with accommodation to trends (as the Gannett news project exemplifies). The real transformation will be second generation - once the first generation attempts prove successful.
Bounded Applicability: "The basic concept of bounded applicability...simply states that any method or tool has limits. You know you are reaching those limits as the cost/benefit ratio of handling new issues becomes adverse. At this point you should not carry on doing the established approach more furiously, but instead realise that you are approaching a boundary and gain perspective so you can look on the other side."
Disconnect between what we teach, what they actually need: "Our educational institutions--at every level--need drastic changes or we're all screwed. The generation of students we're turning out today need skills nobody really cared about 50, 40, even 20 years ago. Where we used to prepare students for a "job for life", now we must prepare students to be jobless. We must prepare them to think fast, learn faster, and unlearn even faster..."
Stephen has been busy...here are some recent presentations of note:
Understanding Learning Networks (I particularly value his discussion of context (i.e. the learning associated with an object is found in the context...not the object itself))
The Future of E-Learning
...and images from his recent travels (Kruger National Park images are excellent).
The Open University has launched OpenLearn...seems to be in the same spirit as MIT's OpenCourseWare. Content is no longer the value point of education (it never really was...but we built our education models assuming this was the case). I'm hearing distance education departments in universities/colleges considering making their content available for free (not as elaborate a model as large universities have done, but very much in the same ideology). As I was browsing the course list I came across Play, Learning, and the Brain (it targets developmental education with children (at least based on many of the examples), but is still provides insight into how we learn).
Reviewing the course resources, I encountered this article: In Search of . . . Brain-Based Education: "While we know a considerable amount from psychological research that is pertinent to teaching and learning, we know much less about how the brain functions and learns. For nearly a century, the science of the mind (psychology) developed independently from the science of the brain (neuroscience). Psychologists were interested in our mental functions and capacities -- how we learn, remember, and think. Neuroscientists were interested in how the brain develops and functions. It was as if psychologists were interested only in our mental software and neuroscientists only in our neural hardware."
I don't equate learners in higher education with the term "customers". It's a nonesensical term. As I stated on my wiki for ONLINE EDUCA - business to consumer interactions are transactional (I'll give you 'x' dollars for your product service). Learning is sybiotic (at least when it's done right). Yes, there is often a monetary exchange...but the learning experience is much, much more involved than buying an iPod, or groceries. It's about development, maturing, deeper understandings. To use the term "customer" in relation to learning is about as silly as anything I have heard (though now I'm wondering if I've used the term in the past :)). With that out of the way, this article is worth reading from the perspective of an educator: 12 Consumer Values for Your Wall
I produce most of what I do under a Creative Commons license. Many who are involved in contributing to blogs, wikis, flickr, etc. do so in order to express themselves, gain recognition, or advance the community. Over the last several years, end-user created content has been increasingly commercialized...and individuals are starting to ask for a piece of the revenue - Who profits from user-created content?: "At the heart of the Web 2.0 movement is this idea that there is real value created by tapping the shared wisdom of grassroots communities, composed mostly of fans, hobbyists, and other amateur media makers...there is a nagging question -- if these grassroots efforts are generating value (and in fact, wealth) and their creative power is being tapped by major corporations, at what point should they start receiving a share of revenue for their work?"
A useful exploration of the functionality of social network sites - Social Networks and Urbanization: " Rather than categorize sites themselves it may be more useful to think about three primary functions of these sites – connection, creation and collaboration."
Content is a conduit for conversation. New trends in music sharing reflect this: We're with the band: "What these sites share is a reliance on our democratic instinct to communicate and share...Coupling these tools with technology to help you find people who share similar tastes will usher in a new wave of relationship building.... New communities will flourish and become the most powerful means of discovering what we want to consume." ...as Patrick Lambe states: "we are starting to use our own personal life narratives to string music together into expressive vehicles for sharing meaning – where words take second place."
David grapples with issues of openness with ELGG: Do you really care if a service is commercial or not?: "Our idea was to build integration with standards not specific services, in order to ensure longevity. However, you can stand on a moral high ground for so long but ultimately, does anyone really care?"
Personally, I care. I want control. I want learners to have control. But yes, more and more, the Google model (build excellent tools with low entry barriers) are replacing open source models. Part of the problem is the lack of ability for many open source projects to generate revenue. Many people use it...very few contribute. When I was in Oxford last month, I met with the kingpins of ELGG. Our discussions turned to the role of commercialization of software platforms. My stance: I would love for ELGG to have a profitable, commercial arm...because nothing ensures the long term success of an open source product as does a revenue stream (plus dedicated users and programmers). ELGG has committed to always being open source. I encourage them to build a profitable model to ensure that they will always be able to commit time and effort to updating the platform (while "monetizing" their expertise to clients who are willing to pay). Many people don't seem to understand the sheer labour of love open source developers commit to...a tool can be used by millions of people, and the developers still have trouble making personal financial ends meet. It shouldn't be that way.
Gee - this is a good sign: British and being watched: "British people are now more spied upon by their political leaders than any other population in the free world...a typical Briton will be caught on camera up to 300 times a day."