Write Technology

I moderated an unconference this year at the Wine Bloggers Conference.  I rapidly followed that up with speaking at DevLearn, so I couldn’t make it to Elliot Masie’s Learning 2008 for the first time since the event started. Truly, the Wine Bloggers Conference was probably more fun, as far as that goes, but I still missed a lot of things about the Masie event.

I think I’ve compared and contrasted  these conferences before, but with a new ASTD technology for the upcoming TechKnowledge, I wanted to do it again.

I enjoy ASTD TechKnowledge, and every year it gets just a tiny bit more technical, which makes me happy. In the past, there was no real way to communicate with the speakers, beyond recording their email address at a session. Well, ASTD has now implemented their Speaker Feedback System. You enter the speaker’s first name, last name, and session number. You can then fill out the form and it sends an email to the speaker.

Now, more often than not, I’m a speaker at these events. I already have an inbox of 431 work related emails, not to mention my other email accounts. I am not overly thrilled that this is the tact that ASTD has taken. Sure, it opens up a dialogue with the speaker, which is more than we had before, but email does not open up that big of a dialogue. It’s one on one and does not include group discussion.

This brings me to Masie’s conferences. For every conference, Masie offers a Wiki. Each session has a wiki page, complete with speaker bio and session information. You don’t need to have knowledge of the speaker’s name or session number. You can search on what you’re interested in.

At Learning 2007, I spoke on Blogs. Had you searched the conference wiki for blogs, I would have popped up. It was topic-based search, which is amazingly useful. Not only that, but conversations about the topic could start on the wiki (anyone could participate) before the conference started and continue after the conference ended. As opposed to using handouts, I put all of my resources – most of which were hyperlinks – on the wiki. Folks thought this was brilliant. It’s so much easier to click than to type out a long, nonsensical hyperlink. And because it was a wiki, anyone and everyone could contribute to group discussion beforehand.

Alternatively (and just as easily), ASTD could build a community group on Ning where each session has its own discussion group. Again, this site could be chock full of information and build itself on group input and collaboration. Not only would this help the speakers with their presentations and audience, it would help the attendees by generating useful discussion.

ASTD already requires that speakers create tree-killing handouts that include job aids and workbooks. Now we’re getting direct email as well. Wouldn’t a wiki or discussion forum, where everyone could join into the conversation work better? ASTD also offers fantastic Learning Labs – basically unconferences – where people discuss what they’ve learned so far. These sessions have individual wikis. Imagine integrating these sessions into an overall wiki, where they were searchable and easy to find for everyone. 

Again, I really enjoy the ASTD conferences, and I particularly enjoy the people I meet there. I appreciate the opportunity to speak at TechKnowledge. But I would love to somehow work with them to tweak their conference tools. I love that they’re trying to get attendees and speakers more connected, but I feel like they’re missing out on the opportunity for great discussion.

UPDATE: Just heard from ASTD, and they don’t want a group discussion. This baffles me completely. Group learning, group discussion, INFORMAL LEARNING – that’s the future. Not email. They are also setting up a social network via LinkedIn, so I’m not sure how well that will work. My money is on the idea that they’ll use the built-in discussion group features in LinkedIn and call that ASTD Connect.

Also, they hadn’t thought of a Twitter backchannel. Of course, the great thing about that is we can set it up ourselves if need be. I can’t even describe the amazing DevLearn Twitter backchannel and how much it brought to the conference for me.

I appreciate the effort, but somehow feel like they are missing out on the important points. I often feel like ASTD, and I include my local chapter in this, facilitates Learning 1.0 and sort of looks at Learning 2.0 but shies away like a scared bunny.

What do you think? As a speaker, would you rather have attendees email you or participate in a pre-session discussion? How about as an attendee? Would you rather send an email or participate in an informal, online discussion? I ask because I’m fully willing to admit that I’m wrong on this. Let me know.

Disclaimer: This is my third year leading a session of some sort at TechKnowledge. I am the frustrated webmaster (and recently the VP of Technology) for our local chapter. I’ve tried repeatedly to get on the Planning Committee for TechKnowledge as well – apparently I don’t know the right people. I want to fix this – not complain about it on my blog – but they make it difficult.

The world of eLearning is an interesting place. To let us all in on it, eLearning gurus George Siemens, Jay Cross and Tony Karrer have organized the free online conference called Corporate Learning: Trends and Innovation 2008.

The conference runs November 17 (today!) through the 21st online. You can follow the conference blog, participate in the community site, or just participate in the sessions. It’s not all learning specific either. For instance, one of the first sessions is an interview with one of my favorite authors, David Weinberger (Cluetrain Manifesto, Everything is Miscellaneous).

The
conference draws thousands from within and without the industry,
worldwide. It follows on the heels of last week’s DevLearn, and I
suspect it builds on the energy from that event, as well as making it
easy for folks who didn’t get to attend. After all, this one is free
and can be participated in from your desk. It fits into most corporate
training budgets at the moment.

Here are just a sampling of the speakers and topics over the next week:

• Alvaro Fernandez: Brain Fitness for Peak Health and Performance
• Kevin Wheeler: The Future of Talent
• Dave Wilkins – The Amazon Model and Forum Model – the intersection of LMS and Learning 2.0
• Nancy White – Online Social Architectures – Networks and Communities
• Marcia Conner and Jon Husband: ROI of Web Learning
• Allison Anderson: Corporate Learning Ecology

So many of the sessions are relative to more than just the learning
industry, so I hope you’ll join us for this free event. Follow the
conference Twitter account (you can also tweet to it by direct
messaging the account), and participate in any way that you can. Note that all sessions are on Pacific Coast Time.

I’ll be presenting on Twitter at DevLearn ’08 – both at an introductory breakfast bytes session and as a slightly more advanced session later on. That has led to a Guildcast where I was interviewed by Brent Schlenker of the eLearning Guild.

We talk about Twitter (or microblogging) in general, as well as different ways I’ve used Twitter in learning on my own. I didn’t even really get to the myriad of other ways to use Twitter in learning. It was sort of a spur of the moment interview, so I’m really impressed with how Brent managed to edit out my ums, ahs, and giggles.

Oh, and Twitter is like Kleenex? There are so many microblogging tools (Twitter, Pownce, identi.ca, Jaiku, etc) that Twitter itself is sort of taking on a general term. You know, like Kleenex for any tissue or Coke for what is generally a soda.

The Guildcast is here – enjoy!

First off, an apology. There’s been nothing here but Twitter and delicious feeds for weeks. We lost power and Internet for almost an entire week in there as well. (There’s nothing like when a hurricane hits … Ohio.) I’ve also just been rather uninspired lately. It happens – blogger writer’s block. I haven’t conquered that yet, but I do want to tell you about an upcoming, and FREE, event.

Web 2.0 for Learning Professionals is being offered by Tony Karrer’s Work Literacy group (this includes Michele Martin and Harold Jarche) in combination with the eLearning Guild. According to Tony’s blog, this event is a

… 6-week, highly active, social learning event will introduce you to
new methods and tools. It will be moderated by Michele Martin and
Harold Jarche, with help from Tony Karrer. This is your opportunity to
ramp up your understanding of Learning 2.0 technologies prior to DevLearn 2008
so that you can participate better either in-person or as an outside
spectator, and to interact and learn with people who are passionate
about learning.

Tony has a schedule of topics on his blog and you can pop in and out whenever you please. It’s elearning at its finest, with activities completed at your own pace. The group is using Ning to facilitate the learning. I’m a big fan of Ning (as I wrote about here) and I use it for several sites, including a personal site, a charity site, and another non-profit site I currently have in progress.

You certainly don’t have to be going to DevLearn to participate, so I highly recommend signing up and just popping in occasionally to see
what’s happening, or ideally, participating the whole time.
__
Cheers!
Find Michelle Lentz here on Write Technology, on Twitter, Pownce, and FriendFeed.

Brian Solis, of PR 2.0, worked with Jesse Thomas to create the Social Media Conversation Prism. I’m interested in looking at this prism and thinking through how this applies to Learning.

(click the image to see a larger version)

Brian says:

The conversation map is a living,
breathing representation of Social Media and will evolve as services
and conversation channels emerge, fuse, and dissipate.

If a conversation takes place online and you’re not there to hear or see it, did it actually happen?

Indeed. Conversations are taking place with or without you and this map
will help you visualize the potential extent and pervasiveness of the
online conversations that can impact and influence your business and
brand.

As a
communications or service professional, you’ll find yourself at the
center of the prism – whether you’re observing, listening or
participating. This visual map is the ideal complement to The Essential Guide to Social Media and the Social Media Manifesto, which will help you better understand how to listen and in turn, participate transparently, sincerely, and effectively.

As conversations are increasingly distributed,
everything begins with listening and observing. Doing so, will help you
identify exactly where relevant discussions are taking place, as well
as their scale and frequency. This dialog can be charted into a
targeted social map that’s unique to your brand.

So how does this apply to Learning? Obviously, every time we try something new, listen to something new, involve ourselves in something new, we Learn Something.  I think this sunflower of social media also helps us decide HOW we want to learn. Picking a petal that best appeals to our own learning style (or that of a majority of our students) and focusing on those tools can make a difference. HOW do we want to continue the conversation?

What are your thoughts on the Social Media Conversation Prism?

Cheers!
–
Find Michelle Lentz here on Write Technology, on Twitter, Pownce, and FriendFeed.

Intel has a child-proof laptop. I love that concept. Originally created for use in developing countries, Intel is now focusing on slightly "more mature" markets, according to this article from the BBC. The Intel deal provides laptops to school children between the ages of 6 and 10 years old.

The deal will change the way education works in Portugal, according
to Paulo Campos, the Portuguese government’s secretary of state
assistant for public works.

"It will change the educational system, change the way that
students look upon school and how we communicate with parents," he
said.

They want to take a "holistic approach," admitting that the hardware is just one part of the puzzle, which includes a relatively low use of broadband in the country. The biggest hurdle they expect, however, is how to train the teachers.

According to Intel, they have "already trained five million teachers to make better use of
technology and aimed to train millions more in the coming years."

As stated in the article, thsi will change the educational system. How would you approach the problem of teacher training?

Cheers!
–
Find Michelle Lentz here on Write Technology, on Twitter, Pownce, and FriendFeed.

If you work in eLearning at all, or you want to learn more about how to integrate new Web 2.0 technologies into your workplace, I’ve got a seminar for you. Plus, it’s amazingly inexpensive.

Dr. Tony Karrer, CEO of TechEmpower, and author of at least two learning-related blogs, is running a seminar on July 15 here in Cincinnati. The seminar is sponsored by the Greater Cincinnati ASTD chapter, but you don’t have to be a member to participate.

Attendees of the  workshop will

• Experience new tools including blogs, Wikis, social networks, social book marking, RSS readers
• Learn specific methods you can use to accelerate your own knowledge work and learning
• Define strategies for eLearning 2.0 for your organization
• Make a plan for getting an eLearning 2.0 toolset for yourself and your organization

Tony is an expert on innovative uses of technology that improves human performance. He is a sought after presenter on eLearning 2.0 and it’s implications on workplace learning. He is the author of the award winning eLearning Technology blog and recently founded Work Literacy.

The workshop will be held at the NKU METS Center in Erlanger Kentucky. Breakfast and networking will be from 8am-9am. The workshop begins at 9am.

The cost for the workshop is $129 for GCASTD Members and $179 for Non-Members. The price includes breakfast, lunch and GCASTD membership for Non-Members.

For more information or to register for the event, visit the GCASTD web site.

Cheers!
–
Find Michelle Lentz here on Write Technology, on Twitter, or on Pownce.

Note: This is cross-posted from bub.blicio.us, where I posted it first, and then decided to share here as well.

image by Darren Hester thru Creative Commons

There’s a lot of discussion happening right now about Nick Carr’s controversial article in The Atlantic Monthly: Is Google Making Us Stupid?

In addition to Carr, there are other voices chiming in, including Maggie Jackson (Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age) and Rick Shenkman (Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth About the American Voter). I heard these two speak, in particular about how the Information Age is really an "ignorant age" on the Diane Rehm show on Tuesday.

I take issue. I think we’re getting smarter.

I work a lot in instructional design and eLearning. The world of adult learning is changing. We learn faster and can take in more types of information – we have access to more types of information. It’s a fascinating time to work in the industry.

There’s a buzzphrase you hear now at all the eLearning conferences: informal learning. I call it watercooler learning. People have all this information about their jobs tucked away inside their heads. With Web 2.0 tools and content sharing, we can not only get people to share that information, we’ve got people willing to teach each other in an informal setting. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to tap that previously hidden knowledge.

There is a lot of reference in the article, and in other supporting articles, to a lack of picking up a book and reading. I still read. In fact, I try to devour a new work of fiction every other weekend. It’s an escape mechanism for me. I will never stop loving the feel of the traditional, paper-bound book. No Kindle for me, thanks. I want to smell musty pages and turn the crunchy paper. I love it. I can’t imagine wanting to read less. I would go so far as to say that I now have easier access to things like the NY Times Book Review, as well as Amazon.com, which I wouldn’t have without the Internet. Those two sites, in particular, often guide me to new books.

Is my attention span shorter? I don’t know if it was ever long. Growing up, Sesame Street (you know, the TV) was my babysitter. I’m of the TV generation – I don’t know life without it and it was the dominant technology of my youth. Do I now skim web pages to grab relevant information? Yes! Because I’m smart enough to be able to pull out the relevant information. If an article really grabs me, I’ll read the whole thing. Do I twitter constantly? Yes! But it has actually improved my technical writing, helping me better condense relevant information into short concise sentences. Not everything you read needs to be lovely prose, after all. Not only that, Twitter has introduced me to a whole community of people, many of whom I’ve gone out of my way to meet in person and then carry on in-person, intelligent communication.

I don’t disagree that there is now a plethora of information out there. For the last two weeks I’ve only managed about one post a day on this blog because I’m suffering from a bit of information overload – or maybe information fatigue. I’m almost bored with the idea that there is a new startup every day. You’ve got to really dazzle me now, I guess. But times like this ebb and flow. Whether my mind is a bit jaded or not does not mean that "Google" has made me stupid. It means I need to work harder at separating the signal from the noise.

I’m a big fan of Steven Johnson’s Everything Bad is Good for You. I honestly believe that the strategic thinking employed in video games is a useful type of learning. I believe that honing my research skills both in a library and online is a good use of my time. And I believe that although we are learning differently now, and parsing information differently, that difference isn’t a bad thing. It’s evolution of information, and thinking. And I enjoy it.

I want to close with a quote from Stephen Downes on Stephen’s Web, in reference to the Carr article:

Sigh. My response is very simple. I read constantly. I write constantly. I also work in images and multimedia. If Google is making me stupid, then I am forced to conclude that without Google I would have been some kind of super Einstein or something.

–
Find Michelle Lentz here on Write Technology, on Twitter, or on Pownce.

I believe that software simulations are a huge part of the future of
corporate training. Used in conjunction with a guru-blog or a
department or company wiki, a simulation will complete and fulfill a
lot of technical training needs. They can also be created in short bursts, making
them quick to study and easily accessible, delivering information when
and if the user needs it.

When I attended the ASTD TechKnowledge conference last month, there were several products on the floor that attracted my attention. I’ve already told you about Veotag, which brings video to life. Now I want to talk about KnowledgePlanet’s Firefly.

Firefly is perhaps the best software simulation tool I’ve seen. It’s deep simulation, completely immersing your user in the environment. It’s very real – so real it’s hard to tell whether you’re in training, or the actual software product on which you’re training. That realistic touch makes Firefly extremely effective.

On top of that, when we sat through the demonstration of the product, Firefly seemed extremely easy to use. Have you used Captivate? Then you’ll have little problem with Firefly. In fact, Captivate is probably their biggest competitor, if only due to distribution channels, and there’s really no comparison.

There was one problem. When I finally mustered up the courage to ask how much a license would cost, I was given an unrealistic answer. I believe they said $10K. I’m lucky I remained standing. It makes other elearning software I think is overpriced suddenly seem inexpensive. I was crushed by the price tag and walked away shocked and sad.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who had that same shocked and sad experience. But here’s the crazy thing – Knowledge Planet paid attention. They are now offering a slightly scaled down but FREE version of their product…

continue reading »

The ASTD TechKnowledge Conference recently inspired me to make some changes within Write Technology. These are changes I’ve been thinking about for a while, but the time has come to start the ball rolling.
I want to move forward from creating standard eLearning for my clients. I want to start pushing them forward into collaborative learning, using blogs, wikis, RSS, and other tools to harness the existing knowledge surrounding them. I’ve got some great ideas as to how to implement this in a corporate environment.
Am I advocating switching from traditional elearning entirely? No. Just like I believe that not all training works best electronically, all learning does not always lend itself entirely to group collaboration. At least, not yet.
So, watch the Write-Tech main site in the next few weeks for some changes on the front and training pages. The world is changing. Several speakers at the conference pointed out – the world is changing. Adapt or die and learn.