U-Learning

 Really interesting post on Janet Clareys blog  http://brandon-hall.com/janetclarey/ Here’s an extract;

“Ubiquitous learning (u-learning) utilizes smart devices to provide people the right information at the right time in the right way – it’s anytime, anywhere (literally), anyway. I like to think of it as the collaborative, informal convergence of e-learning and m-learning (mobile learning).It’s “wearable” learning with a social aspect that embeds learning in our work and/or life.”

A-Z of Learning & Development

Interesting list on what an L&D specialist should know. It will be good to be involved in a collaborative approach to putting together the A to Z of L&D via a wiki as Donald proposes

http://learningtechnologiesconference.wordpress.com/2007/02/04/what-should-an-ld-professional-know/

Explode, connect people

I’ve recently signed up to explode. http://explode.elgg.org/ What a great way to connect people and to build a relevant and focused social network. You can register your areas of interests and then connect with others who share these same interests.

Invisible or Familiar?

Technology and web 2.0 offer us new and creative ways to enable learning. Should this technology be invisible or should we learn about it in order that it becomes familiar and we can maximise it’s use?

When designing learning solutions we should focus on what technology can enable rather than the technology itself. However just as we have an understanding of training & learning methods, we need to have an understanding of the various products and tools that we (or our learners) could integrate into learning solutions.

For example; Wikis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki enable collaboration, blogs http://wordpress.com/ offer us a vehicle to record our thoughts, track our development, share information and develop our social network. Google http://www.google.co.uk/ enables focused search, kartoo http://www.kartoo.com/  gives us the opportunity to create our own search maps and elluminate http://www.elluminate.com/ enables remote 2 way communication and the sharing of information.

Thinking about more familiar items; a car enables us to get from A-B, glasses enable us to see, television enables us to watch programmes we enjoy or unwind & relax. How often do we consider the technology that underpins these objects? We use these things in order to get what we need. The technology is invisible. However most of us are familiar with cars, glasses & TV, we understand how to use them and the benefits that they can give us.

Any views?

Structure and Personalised Learning

‘Structure’ and ‘personalised learning’ seem to conflict. However personalised learning is a journey or exploration with purpose, within a context.

I have been working on an essay about CPD that evolved into a mixture of notes, books, social network links, thoughts and connections. The way ahead only seemed to become clearer when I put these into a structure. This structure was my own and allowed my journey and exploration about CPD to have focus and purpose.

Today I’ve had an optical powercut

I’ve lost my glasses and made lots of connections today, with the cooker, the front door and 2 people I didn’t know because I dialled the wrong number on my mobile. I lost my way, my normal perspective and the ability to write anything sensible on my blog.

However I gained a new perspective, everything seemed to have a misty tinge which was quite relaxing and I’m sure I had more time to think.

So, what have I learnt? That it’s good to look at things differently sometimes and everyone is much thinner than I thought!!

George Siemens; using technology in learning

George Siemens at the University of Manitoba suggests 3 stages of using technology in university level courses. They are;

Augmented (use of blogs,wikis,podcasts,email,webCT & discussion forums to extend in-classroom participation) Classes are still held face to face at this stage.

Blended (use of alternative presentation and collaborative technologies) Here he suggests online sessions replace some, but not all face to face sessions

Online (entirely delivered online, using LMS or a combination of tools to evaluate, collaborate, converse & present)

The challenge is finding ways to support learners in moving from one stage to the next.

Kartoo results in a map format

I recently discovered Kartoo http://www.kartoo.com/en_index.htm a search engine which presents it’s results on a map. I found it easy to make connections using this tool and the exploration that followed seemed to have more purpose. Have a go, what do you think?

Blogging; What a fantastic tool for reflection

Blogging provides us with the ideal tool for reviewing our learning on an on-going basis. We can log our thoughts daily and reflect on our thinking over a period of time. Comments from others could help us to refine our thinking and challenge our assumptions. This process not only helps us to develop our social network but also provides us with an on-line CPD record too. In order to be meaningful I guess we need to be honest with ourselves and prepared to share our thoughts with the world.

New key skills for information overload

The University of Manitoba’s Wiki identifies a number of new skills that are required in order to cope with the abundance of information available to us and the significant changes that are happening around us based on technological developments.

These key skills include;

Recognising patterns & trends

Filtering of knowledge and extracting the important elements

Determining the value of knowledge and ensuring it’s authentic

Achieving our purpose or goal by navigating between people, technologies, repositories and ideas.

Critical & creative thinking

Building networks in order to stay current and informed

Focusing on important tasks while undergoing a deluge of information

Acceptance of uncertainty