elearnspace » Learning

Management kills innovation

gsiemens — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 14:36:48 +0000

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…”"

WiAOC – Connect 2007

gsiemens — Sun, 20 May 2007 00:39:33 +0000

For a Saturday morning, 6:00 am is a bit early for me. Today, I presented to WiAOC on Connections and Conversations: What happens to content? (.ppt file is here)…so to avoid the disjointed presentation I delivered a few weeks ago, I opted to consume sufficient quantities of Tim Horton’s coffee prior to presenting. Still, a Saturday, or a long weekend, is not the most desirable time to present. The participants in the discussion area were great – lots of comments…always nice to see the voice of the presenter balanced with the interactions of participants. Overall, I think it went well…
All presentations from the conference are now available – an excellent series of presentations…much joy for the old iPod.

Personal Learning Environments

gsiemens — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:22:45 +0000

The Learning Technologies Centre of University of Manitoba will be hosting a conference in late January 2007 – Personal Learning Environments: “A one day exploration of the changing nature of today’s learner and the implications for teaching.”
We will be streaming the sessions (Terry Anderson is the opening speaker, Darren Kuropatwa, Clarence Fisher, and I will be speaking in the afternoon) – I will provide more information shortly on remote access..

George Siemens – The role of management in facilitating change within a learning organisation

gsiemens — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 16:05:24 +0000

Steven Parker has posted an interview he conducted with me on The role of management in facilitating change within a learning organisation. I’m currently on a holistic thinking slant…and in terms of change, we need to see which elements of education need to be changed – and what the nature of that change should look like (and the roles to be played by all participants of the educational space). I don’t think the whole system is broken. I do think the system is broken for a particular type of learning and knowledge – rapidly changing, complex, diverse, globally-driven, trans-discipline knowledge. This type of knowledge is becoming more and more prominent, which in turn requires more rapid institutional change.. It is in this arena that change needs to occur. For additional reading, Stephen Downes presents a quick overview of the current discussion on How to Bring Bring Schools into the 21st Century.

Fixing Education

gsiemens — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 04:38:31 +0000

John Seely Brown offers his view on the future of education: “Rather than treat pedagogy as the transfer of knowledge from teachers who are experts to students who are receptacles, educators should consider more hands-on and informal types of learning. These methods are closer to an apprenticeship, a farther-reaching, more multilayered approach than traditional formal education…With every new piece of technology, to make this technology work, you have to change your teaching practices”.
The debate here becomes one of whether technology is largely an instrument to serve the existing needs of learners and the existing teaching process, or whether technology is transformative in restructuring the teaching and learning process. Is technology a tool? Or is it the initial foray into a changed world? James Bosco argues for the latter in his paper Tools, Culture, and Education

Knowledge and our structures of learning

gsiemens — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 09:37:36 +0000

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…

Don’t go to college?

gsiemens — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 19:16:20 +0000

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.”

Short online presentations

gsiemens — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 20:44:01 +0000

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).

elgg spaces

gsiemens — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 15:29:25 +0000

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.”

Bounded Applicability

gsiemens — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 14:36:59 +0000

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.”