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Friday, January 08, 2010
10 Ways To Learn In 2010: The eLearnin...
Let's get this party started.
Quotes:
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10 Ways To Learn In 2010: The eLearnin...
Here is a report I generated on Diigo after creating a Webslide Show.
Quotes:
This message was sent to you by Terry Elliott via Diigo
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REdefining Work Context
Work context? Why not the art of defining knowledge and skill requirements? After all, we are talking about learning here, and training is obviously a part of that, right? Certainly, it is…and that is exactly the point of this writing – training is indeed a part of learning – and in some cases, only a very small part. Josh Bersin of Bersin & Associates referenced in July 2009 on the “The Future of the Business of Learning” webinar that training organizations spend upwards of 80% of their time and resources focused on formal training activities. He also noted that there was a dramatic increase in the use of informal learning. Training organizations will not keep pace with that trend unless their discovery efforts include the work context where informal learning opportunities surface.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Thiagi's Newsletter for a New Year
Ten Exciting Ways To Waste Your Training Dollars
1. Analysis and Planning
2. The Finish Line
3. Content is NOT king
4. Information Please!
5. Multimedia Spectacular
6. Passive Learning
7. Activity Abuse
8. Testing, Testing
9. Follow the Script
10. Beyond Smile Sheets
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Learning Credos are Teaching Manifestos
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Principles for a New Media Literacy – Center for Citizen Media
- Principles of Media Consumption: the principles come mostly from common sense. Call them skepticism, judgment, understanding, and reporting.
1. Be skeptical of absolutely everything.2. Although skepticism is essential, don’t be equally skeptical of everything.3. Go outside your personal comfort zone.4. Ask more questions.5. Understand and learn media techniques. -
Gillmor, D. (2008, December 12). Principles for a New Media Literacy – Center for Citizen Media. Center for Citizen Media. Blog, . Retrieved December 30, 2009, from http://citmedia.org/blog/2008/12/27/principles-for-a-new-media-literacy/.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Amish Web Sites and New Scientist Curmudgeons
The Amish are steadily adopting technology -- at their pace. They are slow geeks. As one Amish man told Howard Rheingold, "We don't want to stop progress, we just want to slow it down," But their manner of slow adoption is instructive.
- 1) They are selective. They know how to say "no" and are not afraid to refuse new things. They ban more than they adopt.
- 2) They evaluate new things by experience instead of by theory. They let the early adopters get their jollies by pioneering new stuff under watchful eyes.
- 3) They have criteria by which to select choices: technologies must enhance family and community and distance themselves from the outside world.
- 4) The choices are not individual, but communal. The community shapes and enforces technological direction.
Kelly, K. (2009, February 11). The Technium: Amish Hackers. The Technium. Retrieved December 29, 2009, from http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2009/02/amish_hackers_a.php.
Below is a quick summary of the New Scientist piece that inspired this post using Diigo's annotation features. All material is quoted with some connective language added to aid the reader.
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"THE age of melancholy" is how psychologist Daniel Goleman describes our era.
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Our lifestyles are increasingly driven by technology.
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Technology can be hugely useful in the fast lane of modern living, but we need to stop it from taking over.
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- the computer has become the centre of attention; it is the medium through which we work and play.
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adults and children increasingly believe that in order to belong and feel good about themselves, they must own the latest model or gadget.
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psychologist Tim Kasser of Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, has shown that people who place a high value on material goals are unhappier than those who are less materialistic.
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As one unhappy human-resource manager in a high-tech company put it: "They gave me a mobile phone so they can own me 24 hours a day, and a portable computer, so my office is now with me all the time - I cannot break out of this pressure."
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Psychologists generally believe that the lack of a clear separation between work and home significantly damages our relationships with loved ones.
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Modern society is in danger of swapping standard of living for quality of life.
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My prescription is self-determination theory, developed by psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan of the University of Rochester in New York state.
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three vital elements
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First is autonomy
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It is easy to see how technology undermines autonomy, but also how to regain it. This may be as simple as switching off mobile phones during meals and family time, setting aside specific times to answer emails, and being available only when we choose to be.
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Second is a sense of competence
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being truly competent must be a continuation of our autonomy: knowing which activities are important to us and carrying them out in the most effectual way possible, making use of technology where applicable.
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The third factor is relatedness.
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Psychologists have found that the pivotal difference between happy and unhappy people is the presence or absence of rich and satisfying social relationships. Spending meaningful time with friends, family and partners is necessary for happiness.
- A added fourth factor is critical thinking.
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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Monday, December 28, 2009
The Innovative
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The Innovative Educator: Five Ways Innovative Educators Can Use Texting As a Professional Tool
- Five Ways Innovative Educators Can Use Texting As a Professional Tool
- Texting as an Efficient and Effective Communication Tool
- disruptive announcement system
- enables educators to communicate short, efficient messages to one another without robbing students of instructional time.
- Enhancing The Home-School Connection
- The Journal has an excellent article on how schools are using notification tools for more than emergency alerts. In fact some schools are using it in a way that can revolutionize parent involvement moving beyond basics using services such as TeleParent (thejournal.com/articles/22398 04/01/08)
- According to the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory study, “Students with involved parents are more likely to attend school regularly, earn higher grades, and have better social skills.”
- Free Audience Response System
- With Poll Everywhere everyone's voice can be heard by texting 99503 and texting in your vote just like they do on American Idol. No equipment needed or software to download within seconds educators have audience responses.
- SMS Tweeting from Your Phone to Gain a Collective Intelligence on Topics of Importance
- Twitter is a great tool for schools to use to share interesting and relevant information with the student body, staff, parents and family.
- Once you're set up, you can start tweeting your way into the microblogging community. Here are some ways you may want to use Twitter. 1) If school staff are attending a conference or professional development activity they tweet reflections, favorite quotes, or reactions to what they're learning. You can read how a group of school leaders did this at Leading By Example - Transforming Education for the 21st Century (http://tinyurl.com/leadbyexample). 2) School staff can tweet interesting announcements, updates, and activities at any time into the school account. This can be fed right into a school website providing the school community, parents, and more with an ongoing stream of updates about school happenings. See how one school does this at www.martavalle.org. 3) Use your class, library, or lab twitter account to share news and information with your students and teachers. For a great example of how this is done, follow Tracy Karas of Marta Valle High School in New York City at http://twitter.com/MartaVLibrary.
- Google SMS as an Educational Tool That Can Be Used Directly From Your Phone
- Editors note: Unfortunately, even as a Technology Innovation Manager, I have been cut off from using this innovative digital tool since October after a decision was made for NYC DOE employees that ALL TEXT MESSAGING capabilities for DOE account holders will be disabled. It was a NYCDOE policy decision to disable the text messaging feature from all DOE issued devices. The rational for the disabling this service is all devices provided are for DOE business related communication and this communication must be documented. It is also the DOE position that communication thru text messaging is primarily for “personal use." Upon further investigation I learned the service could be restored if a professional case was made for using texting. I made my case more than two months ago and still have no service.
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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Reshaping Learning from the Ground Up | Edutopia
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Reshaping Learning from the Ground Up | Edutopia
"Alvin Toffler's School of Tomorrow
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- Open 24 hours a day
- Customized educational experience
- Kids arrive at different times
- Students begin their formalized schooling at different ages
- Curriculum is integrated across disciplines
- Nonteachers work with teachers
- Teachers alternate working in schools and in business world
- Local businesses have offices in the schools
- Increased number of charter schools"
These are the fundamentals of the futurist's vision for education in the 21st century:
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I am astonished at the simultaneous niavete and common sense in this interview. Hard to describe. I have the anger that rises when I see an "expert" who it is utterly apparent never sets foots in a classroom yet I also see someone who is not in the least non-plussed by that. Worth a New Year's Read.
Citation:
Daly, J. (2009, December 23). Reshaping Learning from the Ground Up | Edutopia. Edutopia. Blog, . Retrieved December 23, 2009, from http://neo.glef.org/future-school?page=7#.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Teacher in a Strange Land: Online Grading: Treat--or Trick?
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Teacher in a Strange Land: Online Grading: Treat--or Trick?
A fascinating alternate take on how assessment (or the appearance of such) is the tail that waggeth the digital dog. It also introduces the idea of parents who "creep on their progeny". Before you go creepin' on the ol' proj consider the following quoted from the article.
Points to consider:
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- Expecting parents to track their children's grades--and do something about low grades or missing assignments--shifts responsibility for learning and monitoring the grade to parents. And guess what? It's the student's job to do that, not Mommy's.
- When parents are suddenly hawking their gradebooks, teachers feel compelled to put lots of numbers in the book, proving that they're organized and soldiering away, assigning lots of homework and giving lots of grades. My principal sent us a memo suggesting that we add at least one new grade per week, it being worrisome when parents see that several days have gone by with no grading.
- Some of those grades represent formative assessment: constructive feedback to students in the process of learning to master a concept or skill. Formative assessment is supposed to be non-punitive--information that helps a student improve. If curriculum is appropriate--in the sweet spot where it challenges, but builds on prior learning--then formative assessment will show lots of room for growth. Try explaining that to one panicked parent at a time
- Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. (Einstein said that, not me.) An online gradebook converts all assessment data to numbers. Because it's...digital. Sometimes, kids need coaching or commentary, not a comparative percentage. Sometimes, it's OK to paint a pumpkin, just to see how it turns out. You don't have to grade everything, to make it real or valuable.
- When parents are suddenly hawking their gradebooks, teachers feel compelled to put lots of numbers in the book, proving that they're organized and soldiering away, assigning lots of homework and giving lots of grades. My principal sent us a memo suggesting that we add at least one new grade per week, it being worrisome when parents see that several days have gone by with no grading.
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Citation:
Flanagan, N. (2009, October 31). Teacher in a Strange Land: Online Grading: Treat--or Trick? Teacher in a Strange Land. Blog, . Retrieved December 15, 2009, from http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/teacher_in_a_strange_land/2009/10/online-grading-treator-trick.html.
Artistic Insubordination: Ethics at Work (not Work Ethic)
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Artistic Insubordination: Ethics at Work (not Work Ethic) «
- The mirror in a middle school girls’ restroom is rusted to the point that one can not see her reflection. The Principal recognizes that not being able to primp properly before class is making girls tardy to class and affecting their learning. She asks the janitorial staff to replace the mirror. The district has a policy that mirrors are not replaced unless they are broken. The Principal calls the district to confirm, and promptly breaks the mirror with a hammer in order to solve this problem.
- Creative or Artistic Insubordination emerged as a concept in the 1970s, according to Eric Pitts, a graduate student in Counseling at Western Carolina University, to do the most amount of good, while minimizing the repercussions from superiors.
- Already presented at international conferences, with a head nod from the Executive Director of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA), their goal is to legitimize Artistic Insubordination as an alternative to teachers (and others) who want to “do good” rather than just “do no harm” through their work. Kappan Journal will publish an article on their research as well
- Many, nearly all bureaucratic structures are perceived by the citizenry as rigid, inflexible and unaccommodating.
- it is recognized by those in public servant leadership positions as an effective means of accomplishing things quickly that would otherwise take months or years.
- No Child Left Behind and the attitude of some state legislatures and governors has made creative insubordination a regular part of staying afloat in teaching.
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My question here is this: are there more examples of this out there and how could teachers use this to change draconian filtering policies, for example? Just asking. Guerilla teaching for our students? This isn't just about sticking it to the man, it is also about rising above groupthink and 'insane' institutional imperatives. There have to be reasoned approaches to why we do what we do in school. If they are not reasoned, then they are fair game for ridicule, for challenge, and for artistic insubordination.
Here is the article: http://www.filesavr.com/hanneli2009insufficientquestioningphideltakappan91365-69
Citation: Hannel, I. (2009). Insufficient Questioning. Phi Delta Kappan, 91(3), 65-69.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Wii Therapy for Special Needs Students
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Wii Therapy for Special Needs Students
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The
Wii can be used in special needs classrooms to:
- help students with their hand/eye coordination
- encourage students with physical disabilities to move, providing much-needed circulation to their limbs
- enable students to take part in virtual sports such as baseball, bowling, volleyball, golf and tennis
- aid students in gaining balance and coordination through virtual dance programs
- increase/develop the ability to concentrate for a long period of time
- motivate students to achieve goals
- help with problem-solving, reasoning, and communication skills- - post by tellio
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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Monday, December 07, 2009
The Golden Triangle of Tech Applies to eLearning Solutions too!
I stumbled onto a blog post from A VC blog. The author could not remember who said it but I thought it was pretty cool too: 'The three current big megatrends in the web/tech sector are mobile, social, and real-time.' That's the golden triangle. Mobile, Social, and Real-time. Apparently, new startups that have a golden triangle are deemed highly likely to have a successful company/product to offer. Certainly there's more too it than that but I digress. How does The Golden Triangle apply to eLearning? One word - PERFECTLY!
MOBILE, the first of the 3 sides is obvious. Everything is going mobile. I love my iPhone more than any other technology I have ever owned. One thing I discovered early in my iPhone experience was apps that were MORE than just iPhone apps became the most used and applicable to my work and life flow. More than just an iPhone app means that it also has a desktop and/or cloud counterpart. Think banking. My accounts reside in the bank's servers (their cloud). I access my bank information from both my desktop AND my iPhone (and the physical location, but not that often). I can watch video, do email, text messaging, record video, take pictures, and on and on with one simple device that fits in my pocket. THAT, in my humble opinion is the coolest thing EVER!
The second side of the triangle, and only slightly less cool, is SOCIAL. Many "learning gurus" have stated that all learning is social and many others have argued against that statement. I think the biggest issue is the use of ALL. Anytime you say "all" you're sure to set off somebody, somewhere, who can come up with an exception or two. The reality is that our nature is to be social. Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging, and all social networks in general, give us the ability to find other people we want/need to connect to for any number of reasons. In these spaces we build groups, or networks, of friends/followers who share their knowledge with us. Before the internet our networks were important but it was a complicated, and long process to gather and maintain a professional network. With today's web-based social networks it's almost too easy to create connections across many channels. In the long run the knowledge resides less in your own brain and more in the collective brain of the network. Let's argue that point later, but for now it certainly seems to be moving in that direction. So, SOCIAL connectivity is important to the future of our personal learning environments.
And lastly we have the REAL-TIME completing the third side of the triangle. Twitter is the best example of real time. And yes, twitter can also be considered SOCIAL, but the piece that makes twitter and micro-blogging different is that the conversations you see are the conversations happening RIGHT NOW. Conversations that happened yesterday, or even 2 hours ago or less, will run off the bottom of the interface and not be seen unless you search, or sort by hashtag. Even then, the real use and benefit is in the real-time nature of the tools. Its the idea used by many that its like jumping into and out of a giant cocktail party and actually listening to all the conversations that are going on simultaneously. While that can be overwhelming, it can also be quite exhilerating.
So, can our learning content be created for mobile devices with a social element connecting us with subject matter experts that we can access in real time?
I think so. There's also no reason why all 3 sides of the triangle can't be tracked AND measured. The current problem seems to be the legacy systems trying to make new media work with old media systems. There is also a legacy of design that the golden triangle does not yet fit into. At least it does not fit well.
I feel like many people are already learning in a personal environment that reflects the golden triangle with the existing tools. And that's what seems to be frustrating to many. There is no control of it just yet, and so many need that sense of control. It will come in time. It won't be exactly like this. But it will be close. Perhaps it will end up being a Golden Square, or hexagon. For now, I like the simplicity of the triangle and hope we can figure out how to make it happen.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
America's Top College Professor - WSJ.com
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America's Top College Professor - WSJ.com
- Like Prof. West, Prof. Burger believes that empathy is the key to good teaching.
- Prof. Burger says that he wants "to think about what it's like to be sitting in that audience, in a sea of people, when the professor is so far away he's a dot and I'm looking at overhead transparencies. What is that experience like?"
- Prof. Burger says that the role of a teacher is to change lives.
- As much as he finds math fascinating, he realizes that most people will not use calculus after college. The utilitarian promise "is an empty one," he notes. "You don't need to know how to build a bridge to go over one." He says that the hardest thing professors can ask themselves is "the 10-year question." "What will my students retain from my class 10 years out?" And so his lecture is devoted to showing the audience how to "think mathematically."
- "I don't give grades; I just report the news"
- he is only convinced a student understands a concept when he can "explain it to an 8-year-old."
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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Friday, November 27, 2009
My Favorite Liar | Zen Moments
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My Favorite Liar | Zen Moments
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What made Dr. K memorable was a gimmick he employed that began with his introduction at the beginning of his first class:
“Now I know some of you have already heard of me, but for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar, let me explain how I teach. Between today until the class right before finals, it is my intention to work into each of my lectures … one lie. Your job, as students, among other things, is to try and catch me in the Lie of the Day.”
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Early in the quarter, the Lie of the Day was usually obvious – immediately triggering a forest of raised hands to challenge the falsehood. Dr. K would smile, draw a line through that section of the board, and utter his trademark phrase “Very good! In fact, the opposite is true. Moving on … ”
As the quarter progressed, the Lie of the Day became more subtle, and many ended up slipping past a majority of the students unnoticed until a particularly alert person stopped the lecture to flag the disinformation.
- On the days when nobody caught the lie, we all sat in silence, looking at each other as Dr. K, looking quite pleased with himself, said with a sly grin: “Ah ha! Each of you has one falsehood in your lecture notes. Discuss amongst yourselves what it might be, and I will tell you next Monday. That is all.”
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- “Experts” can be wrong, and say things that sound right – so build a habit of evaluating new information and check it against things you already accept as fact.
- If you see something wrong, take the initiative to flag it as misinformation.
- A sense of playfulness is the best defense against taking yourself too seriously.
And while my knowledge of the Economics of Capital Markets has faded in time, the lessons that stayed with me were his real legacy:
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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
My Favorite Liar | Zen Moments
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My Favorite Liar | Zen Moments
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What made Dr. K memorable was a gimmick he employed that began with his introduction at the beginning of his first class:
“Now I know some of you have already heard of me, but for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar, let me explain how I teach. Between today until the class right before finals, it is my intention to work into each of my lectures … one lie. Your job, as students, among other things, is to try and catch me in the Lie of the Day.”
-
Early in the quarter, the Lie of the Day was usually obvious – immediately triggering a forest of raised hands to challenge the falsehood. Dr. K would smile, draw a line through that section of the board, and utter his trademark phrase “Very good! In fact, the opposite is true. Moving on … ”
As the quarter progressed, the Lie of the Day became more subtle, and many ended up slipping past a majority of the students unnoticed until a particularly alert person stopped the lecture to flag the disinformation.
- On the days when nobody caught the lie, we all sat in silence, looking at each other as Dr. K, looking quite pleased with himself, said with a sly grin: “Ah ha! Each of you has one falsehood in your lecture notes. Discuss amongst yourselves what it might be, and I will tell you next Monday. That is all.”
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- “Experts” can be wrong, and say things that sound right – so build a habit of evaluating new information and check it against things you already accept as fact.
- If you see something wrong, take the initiative to flag it as misinformation.
- A sense of playfulness is the best defense against taking yourself too seriously.
And while my knowledge of the Economics of Capital Markets has faded in time, the lessons that stayed with me were his real legacy:
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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.