Visual literacy: Short form video is many things, not one. It is animation, personal account, story, scenario, example, appeal. We do video not because it is ‘cool’ but because it is a flexible asset that can be used in many ways, in a variety of contexts, and because we can invoke visual and affective processing in ways which are otherwise tough to do.
Content Generation for Social Media: the big mistake was to think that doing things with collaborative technology was doing social media. Eventually we tired of building empty warehouses. Doing interesting things with content generation and audiences is social media. What’s your content generation strategy? What’s the propagation plan? These are interesting questions.
Ripples not Droplets: my thanks to Nigel Paine (@ebase) for this metaphor. Stop trying to create the perfect course/experience/resource and focus more on how it will actually reach people. This is a variation on the old implementation problem (top 10 elearning mistakes)
BYOD: Ipads… will pass. BYOD won’t. We’re thinking more and more about the kinds of things that fit with patterns of people using their own devices, as they do things.
A broader focus: there is nothing interesting to be learned about learning by learning about learning. The edifices & pseudo-science of formal learning are crumbling as technology enables informal learning to become both visible and immediate. Things that are interesting now? Neuropsychology, culture, technology use, marketing, branding, games... and how people actually learn. Cross-disciplinary learning is what will take us forwards.
Experience design: instructional design was always something of a fig-leaf. I’m keen to explore the mechanics of an experience economy – one which trades in the relative impact of a wide variety of experiences in contexts that range through education to marketing and entertainment (including gamification).
5 minute learning: if I remember three things after two days in a classroom, and three things after watching a short video, which is best?
Resources not courses: there are pretty much two occasions when learning takes place – when someone faces a challenge or when we present them with a challenge. If neither is going on, chances are no learning is happening. Resources work well with the former: if we really listen – if we really understand the challenges people face – and we build things that help them overcome those challenges, then we have done something worthwhile. E-learning is dead – but only because online learning is thriving.
Evaluation: What is the ROI of training? What is the sound of one hand clapping? Neither question had an answer, but both were interesting to ponder. It’s time to move on. Let’s start thinking about how we can make a real difference to attitudes, behaviour and culture rather than how we measure knowledge transfer.
Assessment: Badges are a trendy word for measuring competencies. With the displacement of formal education by all kinds of learning opportunities, new forms of competency-based assessment may surface.
ReplyDeleteThere is certainly something 'trendy' about badges, as you say; but also some interesting nuances: badges tend to be awarded for achievements so they answer the question 'what have you done?' rather than 'what can you do?'. Badges also lend themselves better to performance-based assessment - for example in gamified systems. Like you, I suspect that certification in a free-range learning environment is the final piece of the puzzle in the transition from old- to new-world education.
ReplyDeleteI've got about 50 badges from the various Open2Study courses I've done in the past few years. They are pretty cute, but mean nothing really. They are just part of the toybox that the internet can be for us adults who so love to play in the cyber sandbox. My question is what relevance do they have in a learning environment? What will replace a considered, critical tutorial system?
ReplyDeleteYup. I think I have my degree certificate somewhere too. The practical answer to your question is this: they will evidence your accomplishments, end up on your LinkedIN page and as such be a much better predictor for a future employer of your capability than are whatever qualifications you have there today. Think of them as representing your portfolio of work. Bluntly: who cares what you have learned, if you can share what you have accomplished?
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