I opted to cross-post this item because it’s not only interesting for looking at your future employees, but also, your future trainees.

Every year Beloit College prepares the Mindset List,
which provides the worldview of the incoming freshmen. Most of those
freshmen were born in 1990, which rather blows my mind, and they will
graduate college (ideally) in 2012. The mindset list is almost freakish
- I can’t believe some of these references.

The list is great
at making you feel old, but it’s also fantastic for looking at those
folks who will be your employees in about 4 years or so. From that
perspective, a mindset list isn’t a bad idea.There are 60 items on the list; I thought I’d share just a couple. 

4. GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.

17. Club Med resorts have always been places to take the whole family.

18. WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.

22. Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.

28. IBM has never made typewriters.

33. The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno and started at 11:35 EST.

34. Pee-Wee has never been in his playhouse during the day.

51. The Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.

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

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.

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.

ChitChat: Students may continue the conversations outside of class using Twitter. This is especially important when the class is spread out via elearning. The students have a shared experience – your classroom. This conversation and experience now continue outside, the same as with a wiki, yet with less effort.

Connection with VIPs: You can follow the big names. For instance, when it comes to Web 2.0, I follow Geoff Livingston, Chris Brogan, Brian Solis, and Jason Falls, amongst others. What is often surprising to me is when they follow me back. Twitter flattens the org chart. Your CEO can twitter and in the process, chat with employees that also Twitter. Suddenly, everyone is just a Twitterer. It’s a great way to learn from the experts or access the executive tier.

Question and Answer: Twitter can provide instant feedback. It’s great for question and answer. Recently, Geoff Livingston was guest lecturing at University of Maryland. He asked Twitter – what advice would you give students for graduation? He received tons of responses, live, which were shared with his students instantly. Another Twitterer once demonstrated the power of instant feedback by asking Twitterers to call him on his cell phone while he was giving a presentation. The constant flow of calls was  so much he had to beg folks to stop calling him. His point was well proven. This can also be used with GroupTweet to pick a specific distribution list for your question tweets.

Twitter Tracking: I actually have a few issues with this one. I don’t use Twitter on my phone very much. I set up phone notifications for a few folks for one month, and it was too much. Not being 22 or younger, I don’t like getting constant text messages. Maybe I just need an unlimited texting plan. So now I just get Direct Messages only via text. Twitter Tracking is a cool feature that needs to be expanded to the Web. Currently, you can send Track Instructional Design (for example) to Twitter via SMS and you will recieve an update whenever someone tweets using the phrase "instructional design." You get the update via your phone. The concept of tracking, however, is fantastic. Want to know what’s up with the latest iPhone update? Track iPhone. To turn it off, simply send "Untrack iPhone" via SMS. A nifty web-optimized replacement tool for Twitter Tracking is TweetScan.
For education, Twitter Tracking (even through TweetScan) could be used to track instances of language use, specific conferences, and so forth.

Note Taking/Sharing: You can ping specific tweets/thoughts as Notes using TwitterNotes. You can then share the notes with the world – or with your class.

Microblogging (whether Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, or something that isn’t here yet) has endless possibilities for the classroom. How much can you do in 140 characters? A lot, it would seem. The #1 advantage to microblogging is that it breaks boundaries – you are no longer confined to a computer and can explore the world. Twitter (et al) allows you to use any number of third party programs or simple text messaging on your mobile phone, no matter where you are.

Here’s a video from the Chronicle of Higher Education that I found via Brightcove. Tomorrow I’ll post on other uses I’ve found for applying Twitter for learning.

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…

It’s only free for a limited time. The "lite" version is called Firefly SME, for Show Me Edition (download link at end of post).

Designed for ease of use and flexible deployment, Firefly SME insulates
novice and experienced developers from scripting or programming, with a
simplified process for recording application screens and functionality,
as well as a template-based, intuitive environment for authoring
instructional content and screen objects. Web-based and plug-in free,
simulations can be made easily accessible to learners through a simple
browser, or imported into eLearning courses.

This is a fantastic marketing move by KnowledgePlanet. I bet there
are a lot of businesses bigger than me who will jump on this
opportunity. It’s like a never-ending trial run. But as we all develop
more and more intense simulations, we’ll start to want that full
product. Plus, it can go viral throughout the industry. KnowledgePlanet
is creating converts by offering the product for free. Not only that,
KnowledgePlanet recognized a choke point and addressed it.
Very smart, very effective, and well, very exciting.

Be forewarned. It’s a huge download. I downloaded it over wireless
today and it took awhile. You also have to give your name, address,
phone number, and email address multiple times in the process. They
have to sell you on the full product after all. While you’re
downloading, you also need to pull down the license key. In addition,
they offer you a downloadable tutorial, which I haven’t had a chance to
explore just yet.

Download Firefly SME here.
KnowledgePlanet Home Page

Tags: KnowledgePlanet,
Knowledge Planet,
Firefly,
Firefly Simulation,
elearning,
elearning simulation

A great Wikipedia entry on the Silent Generation (those born in the 1900s or 2000s) offers a fantastic chart on the generation name game, starting with the Puritan Generation in the 1500s and continuing through the New Silent Generation in the 2000s. It’s worth a look.

(Via Boing Boing)

Technorati Tags: generation X, generation Y, generations, millenials, digital natives

Elliot gave his speakers strict rules – no presentations and only a 1-page handout. (Granted, several speakers squished as much as possible onto the front and back of the handout.) You could see that several speakers were uncomfortable with this format, apparently wishing they had a PowerPoint presentation to hide behind. In most sessions, however, this setup forced discussion. The speaker was more of a facilitator in many cases, and discussion involved anyone who wanted to speak up. It was a fantastic way to get people actively involved in their learning.

The keynote speakers for Learning 2006 presented in a huge room
filled with round tables. Instead of giving a presentation, Elliot
would interview the speaker, taking questions from the crowd as well.
We were often given the chance to discuss things at our tables. Again,
this forced discussion, networking, and provided the chance to hear
opinions and thoughts we might never have run across otherwise.

The ASTD TechKnowledge conference was a traditional-style
conference. Keynotes were held in a dark room with rows of chairs;
presenters gave PowerPoint presentations that were sometimes helpful,
sometimes useless. Overall, I got a lot out of the TechKnowledge
conference, but I didn’t feel that I had stretched my learning wings
enough. The Learning Labs were fantastic, as they were an opportunity
for active discussion with other attendees. However, I would have liked
to see many of the speakers have less of a reliance on their
presentations and handouts, and more focus on interactive discussion.
Lance Dublin was a great example of a speaker who used his slides as a
secondary tool. His primary tools were knowledge and discussion.

Recently I attended two different local ASTD events. Both meetings
(eLearning Forum and the general chapter meeting) were facilitated, but
both involved group conversation, both in large and small groups, with
questions and feedback. Both events were exciting and beneficial. I
attended both with a slight feeling of dread, as I do most things where
a presentation is involved, and left both events feeling excited about
where our field is taking us. Discussion breeds excitement.

Most of my life I have led courses and presentations and relied on
my slides. So I’m making a resolution – no more Power Point. There are
times when it is necessary to use slides to illustrate a point, yes,
but as much as possible, I am choosing to leave it behind.

Presentation Tips

• Use Word or a PDF instead of PPT.
• Provide a short hand-out on an 11 x 17 page, followed by a
  discussion. A high-resolution data dump on the handout  can lead to
  targeted questions in a short period of time.
• Provide a space for your attendees to write.
• Know your content. Quality, relevance, and integrity of content are important. When creating your presentation, get started by writing a 200-word summary to focus in on relevance and integrity.
• Practice, practice, practice. Rehearsal improves performance.

• Show up early for your presentation. Get to know your audience, offer the handout, and advance your cause before you present.
• In your introduction, never apologize for anything.
• Go as far as you can without using "I" or "me," unless you want to express an opinion.
• Use the PGP teaching method for complex information: Particular, General, Particular / Say it, contextualize it, repeat it.
• Audiences deserve your respect. No one can communicate effectively
  when they are patronizing. Think the best of your audience and your
  audience will demonstrate intelligence.
• Humor helps make things relevant and memorable. However, use it only as quick reinforcement. Content is still king.
• If you believe in your presentation, show it. Don’t hide behind a podium or a presentation.
• Finish early – this delights the audience.

Evaluating a Presentation
When you’re a consumer of presentations, should you trust what you are seeing?
1. Learn the argument/structure/story of the presentation, and learn it quickly.
2. Decide if the speaker has competency and credibility.
3. You should be able to describe the domain statement of the evidence (to what is this relevant?).

Technorati Tags: Edward Tufte, Tufte, visual communication, presentations, presentation styles