Susan and Dan - of Learning Times Green Room - have put created a podcast of their experiences attending the Future of Education conference. Nice to hear of the experiences and points of learning for conference attendees (and, I would assume, a great reflective way to synthesize personal learning).
Exploring the Key Themes for Corporate Learning highlights (duh) the learning trends in corporations. Reads like a list for academic institutions (but with greater focus on LMS' and standards). Universities and corporations look at each other as if positioned across a chasm, but there is much opportunity for dialogue and learning from implementations in both environments. Someone should organize a corporate-academic learning technology conference.
Several bloggers have sourced this chart from Business week on who actually participates in the social media of content creation, critiquing, following, etc. Not surprisingly, younger generations are more active...but the contributions of those over 27 years of age are significant.
I’m sitting in a session at ED-MEDIA 2007 in Vancouver. Last few days have been somewhat interesting –a few good sessions with too many droning sessions. I’m dismayed at how much the conference appears to reflect one-way discussions. No conference blog. Or wiki. Or tags. No opportunity to extend conversations beyond the conference. No pre-conference podcasts. And no indication of post-conference follow up. The "physical only" approach to conferences is just not acceptable anymore. (See Tony Karrer's discussion on the topic of improving conferences)
On the opening day, I had the pleasure of participating on a panel with Scott Wilson, Sebastien Fiedler (thanks for organizing the session!), Brian Lamb, Rob Fitzgerald, and Kai Pada on Getting Beyond Centralized Technologies in Higher Education (Brian has a summary of the session and audio).
Terry Anderson delivered the keynote today on Social Software 2.0 (slidshare link). He's continuing to refine (with Jon Dron) the notion of "groups, networks, and collectives".
I've had the pleasure of meeting a several individuals at ED-Media who've provided much opportunity for discourse and debate. Over the last few days, I've had several conversations with Kai Pata from Estonia (see her excellent blog Taming the Spaces). Over dinner, shared panel, and beverages, we've tackled a few concepts - including the notion of affordances. Kai views affordances as arising not from the tool itself, but rather the context of use (great diagram at the end of her post). As I mentioned her comments section, the affordance of a tool or media possesses at least three elements: 1) the tool itself (what it was designed for), 2) what end-users opt to do with a tool, 3) the context of use which impacts/influences tool use.
Chris Sessums discusses Twitter: "Twittergrams, tweets, twitterbugs… they all have such a light, fluffy, almost confectionary tone about them. But is Twitter trivial? Is it the pet rock of 2007? Is feeling human unimportant? Hmmm…"
I play around with Twitter occasionally (my twitter page) - posting once everyday or so. I'm not as hooked as some bloggers are. Twitter (and other tools) are interesting examples of hyperconnectivity. Our lives become increasing transparent. Blogs opened the door a bit. Twitter swings it open. And the concept of lifecasting takes down the entire wall (see justin.tv).
Henry Jenkins tackles new media literacies, tackling the notion of digital natives and digital immigrants (a distinction which is unfortunately based on age, when it should be based on mindset of learners. I know many young learners who have very shallow understanding of technology...and older learners who have an amazing comprehension of the technology landscape).
While some have argued that these new media skills represent the different mindsets of "digital natives and digital immigrants", that analogy breaks down for us on several levels. First, the participatory cultures we are describing are ones where teens and adults interact but with less fixed and hierarchical relations than found in formal education. It is a space where youth and adults learn from each other, but it would be wrong to see young people as creating these new institutions and practices totally outside of engagement with adults. Second, the "digital natives" analogy implies that these skills are uniformly possessed by all members of this generation; instead, young people have unequal access to the technologies and cultural practices out of which these skills are emerging and so we are facing a growing participation gap in terms of familiarity with basic tools or core cultural competencies.
Move the train with your brain: "Forget the clicker: A new technology in Japan could let you control electronic devices without lifting a finger simply by reading brain activity."
Well, that might help with losing the remote control...but with a 2 pound headband, convenience is not yet attended with comfort.
Six Basic Truths of Free APIs: "Amazon and Google have recently shattered a common misconception: that free APIs are a commons of goodies to be built on top of for fun and profit, like open source software."
Web 2.0 is killing open source. We too often equate free tools with open tools. Not the case at all. Google offers great software tools to make money and capture market share. Not because they adhere to a higher ideal of a better world. The ideals of open source software (and related concerns, including content) are usurped by ease of software use (hmm, install squirrelmail or use Gmail? Set up WordPress or use Blogger? Setup Mediawiki or use Wikispaces?). Google and many other web 2.0 providers are "functionally" open, not idealistically open. At such a time as financial circumstances are not favorable, the rules and software change. Ask long term flickr users. Or developers who have built their tools on APIs that can suddenly be shutdown when the graces of the provider turn to other interests.
A series of short newsletters exploring concepts in neuroscience: Brain Briefings...including topics such as pasticity, stress, addiction, fear, love, and many more. A basic overview of neuroscience is also presented.
Love this quote by Clay Shirky: "The hallmark of revolution is that the goals of the revolutionaries cannot be contained by the institutional structure of the society they live in. As a result, either the revolutionaries are put down, or some of those institutions are transmogrified, replaced, or simply destroyed. We are plainly witnessing a restructuring of the music and newspaper businesses, but their suffering isn’t unique, it’s prophetic. All businesses are media businesses, because whatever else they do, all businesses rely on the managing of information for two audiences — employees and the world. The increase in the power of both individuals and groups, outside traditional organizational structures, is epochal. Many institutions we rely on today will not survive this change without radical alteration." (via Mark Oehlert).
In my mind, there is little doubt that we are at the initial stages of tremendous change to our educational structures. The way in which we interact with knowledge - co-creation, commenting, amateur peer-evaluation, openness, etc. - is strongly at odds with traditional education. Classrooms have been conceived as comprising a single prominent node (the teacher). Our daily interactions are multi-nodal. Our experience with information in multi-perspective. The question that remains for me is whether education can evolve on it's own...or whether it will be transformed/revolutionized by outside forces.
The European Commission recently released Science Education NOW (.pdf) seeking to counter declining interest in science and math. A bit of a renaissance in science education is occurring - see UBC's recent announcement. The EU report correctly highlights innovation and quality research as casualties of this decline (I should note that in my eyes the decline in interest should not be seen solely as a function of formal teaching/learning, though much of the passion of learning is no doubt eviscerated through formal processes - p. 8 lists dismal satisfaction - 15% of Europeans - with science education). The report's emphasis on "learning by doing" is important and obvious. The broad solution proposed is of inquiry-based science education, defined as a "new pedagogy"...with high awareness, but limited actual implementation. Brief mention is also made of the importance of teachers being involved in a network (p3).
IRRODL's new issue on Mobile Learning is online. I noticed options now exist for audio files (in addition to pdf and html). Sounds like a text reader was used - a bit choppy like the gently irritating voice while waiting for assistance on a phone. Still, nice addition. Setting that small detail aside, looks like a great collection of articles (haven't worked through them all yet).
Stephen Downes has posted a nice introduction on how to create your own learning network using simple social tools - valuable for even the most basic technically-skilled: Web 2.0 and Your Own Learning and Development (including guerrilla tactics for interaction, usability - if it's not provided by the forum, instructor, or conference organizers, create your own via blogs, instant messaging, etc.). Basic message: don't wait for others to do it for you - get active in forming your own learning and your own learning networks. The format - powerpoint with web cam, audio, and images (happily blended with iMovie, I imagine) is a proof of concept. With the most basic software, and a bit of technical skill, presentations online can be much more appealing. My only criticism - need a podcast feed. I took the 20 minutes to view the presentation, but would have appreciated the ability to listen on my drive in to work...a download option is available, but only for video iPod...which I've found to be a challenge watching while driving :). Which reminds me...I'm still waiting for Articulate to enable audio file export...
Lack of Identity in SecondLife: "Mostly, I’d like to note that SL doesn’t allow users to synchronize their real life and their second life. For some this is just fine and the reason they go to great lengths to develop a fully featured secondlife. However as an educator, I want my students to develop insights, explore new information and apply this learning in their real lives...Chester and Breterton (2007) conclude “cyberspace is not a virtual world without connection to the rest of people’s lives. What we do and who we are online are shaped consciously and unconsciously by who we are offline. The Internet is , after all a part of our real life”"
Dave Warlick states information has changed, resulting in a good bit of discussion. Downes suggests what has really changed is our understanding of information. I'm of the mind that information may not have changed at its core, but the context in which it exists and its characteristics (speed of development, digital, capacity to share) have changed. But, as Stephen indicates, our changed understanding, and thereby how we related to it, does not mean a core change in information.
Attention Crash: "We are reaching a point where the number of inputs we have as individuals is beginning to exceed what we are capable as humans of managing."
Information growth shows little sign of abating. While the current flow exceeds our ability to cope, the solution will not be found in changing the amount of information. It will rest instead in the use of networks to filter information, development of new tools to cope, reliance on software to offload "grunt cognition", and the use of information visualization tools to allow us to interact with patterns of information, rather than information pieces themselves.
Good introductory article to a concept (embodiment) that is increasingly referenced in cognitive science - What's that Thing called Embodiment?: "The term 'embodiment' has become progressively more prevalent in what may for simplicities sake be termed the artificial intelligence (AI) literature, as there is a more explicit recognition that interaction with an environment is necessary for intelligent behaviour. In cognitive science, the term is similarly used - as a requirement without which there can be no intelligence. However, what is actually meant by the term varies among it's users, sometimes to quite a wide extent."
I haven't read Andrew Keen's new book - The Cult of the Amateur. But I will. I've been following his blog for about a month - not because I agree with what he's saying, but because I believe we need to be intentionally diverse in our information habits. We have an unprecedented ability to filter ideas...the diverse perspectives of a newspaper can now be recreated in mono-voice blog reading habits. We can comfortably surround ourselves with ideas we already agree with.
Britannica Blog is critically exploring the challenge of web 2.0, collectivism, "flight from expertise", and fading of intellectual rigor. Nicholas Carr states we are changing: "Contemplative Man, the fellow who came to understand the world sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, is a goner. He’s being succeeded by Flickering Man, the fellow who darts from link to link, conjuring the world out of continually refreshed arrays of isolate pixels, shadows of shadows." I fully agree, we are changing how we relate to others and how we relate to information. Geetha Narayaran offers a vision of slow and wholeness in learning - an important concept, but one that increasingly is trampled under our feet in our mad rush to stay current and cope with information. While Keen and others may be intentionally provocative in order to sell books and attract publicity, their voices are nodes in a diverse network of understanding. We do need to think about how read/write tools are changing society. How the collective activity of many (Wikipedia) relate to Britannica. I personally don't see them in conflict - when researching, I rely increasingly on journals...when I want information on Zeno's paradoxes (came up in a recent listserv discussion), I go to wikipedia. Different information needs, different approaches. Both camps in this discussion would benefit from a bit of color in existing mono-chromatic views.
The easiest predictions are those that already show clear signs of forming and gaining momentum. I can rather comfortably state that Facebook is the new Google. A few thoughts:
Facebook is growing tremendously fast...check out the statistics - 3% per week growth, 50% of users return to the site daily, etc.
Facebook as platform confirms the ability of facebook to reach beyond their own programmers and users...and create a space of innovation and collaboration with other providers: "Following the crack cocaine model, i.e. give it away for free then charge once users are addicted, businesses that achieve profitable growth through Facebook would have no choice but to accept a revenue share agreement."
Facebook, Addiction, and the New News: "Facebook does a lot of things well, but the one thing that impresses me most is how it exposes the actions of my friends on the site."
Myspace - the next Prodigy? "By providing a clear roadmap – and business opportunity – for the widget makers, Facebook has just increased its virtual R&D budget by over $250 million dollars. By welcoming third-party innovation, Facebook will reap the benefit of hundreds of millions of dollars of venture investment – and the Facebook user will have a much richer experience."
Trashing Teens: "Teens in America are in touch with their peers on average 65 hours a week, compared to about four hours a week in preindustrial cultures. In this country, teens learn virtually everything they know from other teens, who are in turn highly influenced by certain aggressive industries."
But the most significant difference I've noticed with Facebook from other tools is based on personal experience. I've never seen a tool (even in the days of yahoo mail or hotmail) that resulted in more requests from non-technical friends/family. I've received facebook friend requests from former employees, high school friends, family members, colleagues, etc. Google is about information. Facebook is about connections between people.
The Disembodied Professor - aside from the unfortunate attempt to present technology as a means for faculty to exact revenge on "gadget-engaged students", the use of Remote Presence Robotic Systems to allow nursing faculty to teach to remote locations is a great idea. We're in a period of significantly revising our view of "presence"...from one based in physical proximity to a view of presence as a function of needed knowledge accessible through technology - 3D worlds, holographic images, haptic devices, etc.
I've put forward a simple definition of knowledge on my Knowing Knowledge blog: "At its simplest, information is a node which can be connected. When connected, it becomes knowledge (i.e. it possesses some type of context and is situated in relation to other elements). The combined nature of many such connections results in understanding...i.e. understanding is an emergent property of the network".
Would love to hear reactions/thoughts.
UPDATE: I managed to delete about a year's worth of comments from my site...so if you don't see your response here, that's why - my apologies. :(
Heh. Sad but true: My Soul, and 10 Other Things that Google Owns (via iDC list)
I recently posted about the proposed Certificate in Online and Blended Learning at U of Manitoba. We will be closing the survey (intended to gain a sense of potential interest) - if you haven't, please take a minute to complete a (short survey). A fifteen minute presentation introducing the concept is avalable here.
The Future of Education Conference has been going well. All conference presentations to date can be found in this forum (a link to each recording is in the discussion thread of the individual presenters). To date, we have heard from Vicki Davis, Julie Lindsay, Sugata Mitra, Dave Cormier, Chriss Sessums, Dave Snowden, Teemu Arina, Cheri Toledo, Derrick de Kerckhove, David Wiley, Teemu Leinonen, and Leigh Blackall.
On Thursday we will hear from Rene Barsalo, Jay Cross, and MaryFriend Shepard.
On Friday, David Weinberger, Mark Oehlert, and Brian Lamb will wrap up the conference.
Forbes tackles Networks - interesting article from Jimmy Wales on maintaining open spaces and still keeping them from being polluted: "Leave your doors unlocked and your windows open' and creeps will sometimes come in. But the way to chase them out before they cause harm is to have plenty of friendly neighbors who are looking after your interests, which turn out to be remarkably similar to theirs. We all have a fundamental interest in liberty and openness, for ourselves and for others, and as much so online as in the real world."
Successful bloggers get hired by newspapers. Video bloggers find their way on to TV. And Youtube stars get record deals: Timberlake signs Esmee Denters to his label.
Are cellphones and the internet rewiring our brains?: "Studies are beginning to show that cellphone-toting execs and Facebook-friendly teens may be multi-tasking their way into taking on even more, by rewiring their brains to handle it."
Not sure I agree...oh wait...need to answer my mobile phone. Maybe I'll blog this. Our share with friends in facebook. Just a sec, need to check my email. Actually, it reminds me of something I saw on youtube...
I was listening to a podcast on innovation recently, and the speaker made the point that good management eliminates innovation. I agree. Management is concerned about achieving clear intentions and duplicating particular results. Innovation, in contrast, is concerned with achieving new objectives...and pushing boundaries. Management and innovation are completely different activities. I've seen this article several times today - A Struggle Between Efficiency And Creativity: "Efficiency programs such as Six Sigma are designed to identify problems in work processes—and then use rigorous measurement to reduce variation and eliminate defects. When these types of initiatives become ingrained in a company's culture, as they did at 3M, creativity can easily get squelched. After all, a breakthrough innovation is something that challenges existing procedures and norms. "Invention is by its very nature a disorderly process...""
The Google 'ick' factor: "In San Francisco, there's a man picking his nose on a street corner, another fellow taking out the trash and another guy scaling the outside of an apartment building, perhaps just for fun or maybe for some more sinister purpose...Potentially embarrassing or compromising scenes like these are raising questions about whether the Internet's leading search engine has gone too far in its latest attempt to make the world a more accessible -- and transparent -- place."
Google provides individuals with dueling emotions - "wow" and (increasingly) "ick". I remember bringing Google search into an organization several years ago...the CTO shut it down in about 2 minutes, due to finding organizational materials not thought to be available to the public. We know "stuff" is out there...but when Google makes it accessible from a desktop, we find the accessibility invigorating and intimidating.
When we are in chaotic or complex environments, the activity of ordering and applying structure is often futile. Too many unknowns exist...too much is unsettled...unplanned or unanticipated consequences arise almost overnight. It's almost impossible to apply order when change is rapid. In complex environments, our primary task moves from exerting our influence and creating the outcomes we desire, to seeking to make sense and understand the shape and nature of what we are encountering. When I look at initial examples of personal learning environments, many of the services suggested have changed or disappeared. Same with first web 2.0 diagrams. Ross Dawson has put forward an attempt to make sense of today's technology developments with the web 2.0 framework. It consists of seven key elements: Participation, Standards, Decentralization, Openness, Modularity, User Control, and Identity. While I think the elements have merit (and longevity), many of the companies reflecting these principles will fade or disappear.
Going Virtual: Technology and the Future of Academic Libraries (.pdf) - this presentation doesn't say anything new for those familiar with the changes in technology and the context of knowledge. It does, however, present those changes from the perspective of libraries. In the process it provides some interesting statistics and observations (89% of college students begin their research with a search engine vs 2% in libraries, libraries are not present in the top 2 educational web sites, more students use instant messaging than libraries (not sure how this is relevant - more people probably go to McDonalds than libraries too) and at the end, a whole sequence of predictions gone wrong through out history).
Over the last week, I've conducted a variety of workshops on blogs, wikis, audio and video online, and web conferencing. The message I've been putting forward: Educators should be less concerned with creating digital content and more with finding and using what already exists. TedTalks, OCW, OpenLearn (and many siblings), podcasts (odeo or an iTunes university like Stanford), and numerous other content sources offer high quality content. An educators challenge is one of finding, selecting, aggregating, and assisting students in navigating the content already available. A similar trend is already occurring in news and media industries.
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates made a recent (rare) appearance together. The interview is now online. Well worth the time to view.
You know those Mac vs PC ads? Well, as a sign of the times, here's a Facebook vs Myspace parody.
Well, our Future of Education Conference starts with our first presentation tomorrow. We've added David Wiley and Leigh Blackall over the last few days...full schedule is here...main conference site is here (you can still sign up)...and a map of some of the participants is here. Should be a fun week. We have some great discussion occurring on what education will look like in 10 years.