DevLearn 2010 - I'm Speaking!!

Hey everyone...just a quick heads up, for those of you who know me and what I do. I will be presenting my Case Study on e-learning rapid development implementation at this year's eLearning Guild's DevLearn conference in sunny (well, sunnier than Pennsylvania in November) San Francisco!

Click here to learn more about the conference and all it has to offer!! Or, you can click here to learn more about what I'll be presenting on!! See you there!!

That's a wrap...

With that, I'm out. Time to drive 4 hours back to the Keystone State. If you're a new reader/visitor to my blog, and you subscribe to T+D, be sure to check out my article in the June issue!

Repurposing and Rethinking Social Networking in the Learning Environment (Millard/Sullivan)

Couple of librarians presenting on social media...could be interesting.

They present their Systems Analysis 101 course (H - Web Publishing, I - Using the Internet, R - Information Retrieval). This course became the background for a course in the Interactive Media Studies program. One course in 1996, 30 in 2010, so it certainly grew (due in part to $1mil seed money from Procter/Gamble). Faculty from every department and the library have a hand in this.

IMS 201 - Information Studies in the Digital Age, the core course itself, centers around how to become better information consumers and to be technologically literate.

An investigation into the course participants was conducted in 2009/10. All sections, currently, used ning.com and other social media sites to varying degrees, and were happy with some aspects, not with others. Challenge was to make a closed social network for purposes of this class, specifically. Infrastructure of the school and the online learning situation is covered (changing from Blackboard09 to Sakai).

All instructors set up a ning site (which is now a pay service). Good thing is that, for students, it aligns itself more with Facebook than any other social media. Blogs from within Ning are used heavily and in a different fashion. Some chose to use it as a way to enrich the discussion of the day, others posted selected readings in their blogs. Others still made blogging a course requirement, as well as commenting on others' blogs. Discussion boards are covered next, but we all get them.

(This is getting to be a commercial for Ning, as opposed to anything new, let alone repurposing/rethinking anything...)

The whole concept of replacing the textbook is covered. What don't people get about this? Yes, I udnerstand - Students can go out to the internet, find answers to questions, facts, figures, etc. BUT...this affords -0- consistency. You can guide them all you want, but the answers, the facts, the knowledge will be from different sources, appear differently, and thereby be inconsistent with one another. This is a HUGE issue from an assessment standpoint (how do you assess knowledge if the knowledge isn't standardized (<-- see: by a textbook)). Twitter use and misuse in the course is discussed. Always run the risk of potential anonymity, and even students creating alternate accounts for alternate purposes.

The pros of using all of this social technology includes Felxibility & Customization, Appropriate For Course Content, and Tools Available Post Graduation (Post Employment?). The Cons include Retention of Student Projects, Bueinss Model Stability (Ning is pay now), Less Control/No IT Support, Students More Familiar with Centrally Supported Platform, and Technology for Technology's sake?

Student Survey

So, what did the students think of all this? Survey submitted in addition to Course Evaluations, optional participation, and focused on the Ning backdrop. Received a 65% response rate, with varied responses across courses. Ranged from "Liked it" to "Sucked" (<-- and I quote). All in all, varied responses best describes what they got back across the board.

Conclusions arrived at:

- Students are goal oriented - need a gradebook.
- Social Media sites work better for courses covering Social Media (Think a Journalism class required to read the daily NYT)
- Social Media facilitates new models of classroom communication - Less push/more pull.
- LMS Vendors need to make their offerings more social (Discussion boards aren't enough)

All in all, a good case study for these folks. Would have liked to have seen more rethinking/repurposing with innovation, as opposed to existing/commonplace technology. Presenters carried their case well, though.

App This, Tweet That: Teaching in the 21st Century and Beyond (Rami Maysami)

"To teach them, reach them. To reach them, speak their tongue." Awesome quote...speaks to learning relevance. Make the content relevant, make the context familiar, and the content will stick that much more.

Using Music to Teach Economics

Sugarlans song (groan) is used to illustrate several economic principles (The cost-of-living in urban areas is higher than living in the country vs. "Please send me money, I'm so broke it ain't funny"). Good way to get their attention, then to tie in to the subject area (Pink Floyd sings about it, Barenaked Ladies sing about it).

Not just music - Poker, for example, is shown via YouTube. A video produced by students, but still - Poker is used to explain econ. Just goes to reinforce the fact of context, context, context. "Economics is a study of how people make choices, and poker is a game of choices." Good stuff.

Research At Your Fingertips

Card catalogs? What are those? If it's not at their fingertips, it's not worth the search/effort. I follow, but, again, I think it comes down to instrinsic motivation as a behavior driver. If they're motivated, they'll find ye olde card catalog...

(Technology is having a field day with the speaker...)

iPad, iPhones, and Interoperability

Apps are now becoming more intertwined than ever before. Practical apps, like Dragon, are now interfacing with Facebook, Twitter, and the like. So, what does this mean? Even the most practical of apps are now giving credence to social media as a credible field. SpeakIt is one I haven't heard of...find text, copy it, paste it, and it reads it. Okay...doesn't Windows screen reader do this? I mean, it's mobile...I get it...but this isn't new technology at all.

But Why Not Challenge Them To Do More?

NPR App is shown next. Touted as unique, you can click on a story, click the Twitter icon and it auto tweets the story for you, along with your comments. As a prof, teacher, or the like, this is useful as a knowledge transmission tool. Mark Frydenberg, seated behind me/speaker on social media, brings up an awesome question: Why not just email it to him?

Is this getting into Technology for the sake of Technology? It's cool, I get it, but is it necessary and is it the best means by which to transmit the knowledge? It comes down to yesterdays FGDLA presentation: Technology is the truck, not the groceries it's carrying. We can't eat the truck...

There's some mention of video, recording it, and making it available online for student download. Isn't this what PodCasts are for?

I get what they're doing here, and I'm glad to see a higher acceptance rate for social media being used for serious purposes. That said, not a whole lot new here, but still well presented (depsite the gods of technology giving the speaker a hard time).

How to Make Your Learning Stick - A Blueprint for Learning Reinforcement (Chris Ayers)

50% of the value of training comes in the 'back half'. Good stat - We're training for a positive effect on the organization, not necessarily for the individual themselves. Perhaps we tend to blur the line a bit about the 'why' are we training. It's important to consider the individual, but in the end...it's about the company. What's in it for (company name here)?

What Learners Need
- Acquire knowledge and skills
- Practice using knowledge and skills
- Coaching and feedback

Learning Reinforcement
Acquisition + Application - A good formula, but it's missing a piece...

Acquisition + Reinforcement + Application - The complete formula. Without reinforcement, the learner's motivation starts to wane and, as discussed yesterday, intrinsic motivation is key in adult learning. Moving from Acquisition to Application without Reinforcement is difficult, at best. Without it, you're putting all of the learning task on the learner themselves.

Finish this sentence: All I ever needed to know, I learned in ______________ .

Most people respond with Kindergarten. And what did we use nonstop back then, maybe thereafter for a little bit? Flash Cards.

Why do they work? Mobile, short, simple, inexpensive, customizable, immediate feedback, fun...a lot more. And the fun is optional, for sure. But it must be noted that the proper methodology...the proper knowledge (phonics, math, etc.) needs to be instructed FIRST. The Flash Cards do not work for primary instruction, but certainly do an amazing job of reinforcing existing knowledge sets. Or, if it is a new concept, it must be related to something previously known.

Push vs Pull Methods

Pull method is one where the learner has to go somewhere and find it for themselves. Push is when we, the trainers, push the materials to the trainees. Pull is more common and a lot easier to build, but...what's going to be better for the learner? Push is more controlled, more guided. Both of these methods can be "Just In Time". A mix, in the speaker's opinion (and mine), is the best recipe.

Speaker mentions that on some 90 day follow up calls with clients, it was like they were never there. Scary stuff...fortunately, in my field, the user gets thrown right into usage. But in the cases where usage is sparse/staggered, more push methodology for reinforcement is better than a good idea...it's a great idea.

Measurement

Reaction --> Learning --> Behavior --> Results

Speaker has a product, Cameo, which is a web based tool that delivers scenario-based learning reinforcement via email. Learners receive scenarios via email, learners receive feedback based on their response to the scenario, then Cameo aggregates the data of the learner responses. Kinda like an LMS in that regard...color me interested, though.

Good session on reinforcement and its finer points.

Social Media Present Trends/Future Possibilities (Mark Frydenberg)

Intro to the ills of social media misuse by the gentleman from Microsoft Compliance...nothing we all haven't heard before. I'm amazed that people still think they're any kind of invisible when utilizing Twitter, Facebook, or the like...

First social network? "Reply All" (Hmm, I agree to an extent, but don't bulletin boards predate email?) Frydenberg has a textbook published on Web 2.0 Real World Applications.

Facebook is up under the hammer first. Discussed the social aspect of 'friending' - Who do you friend? Why do you do it? Teachers - Do you friend your students? It blurs the line between personal and professional lives. Most students don't realize that you can alter your settings (see: Friends list accessiblity, etc.)

Google Wave is trashed next. I take great pleasure in this.

Three trends in social networking up and coming:
- Location based networking
- Mobile networking
- Single sign on (Think Trillian for Social Networking)

Live Twitter demo/dicussion...this is fun. I'm surprised at the number of people who don't, by default, 'get' the educational value (potential as it may be) behind this. Brightkite and Foursquare are the future, at least with regards to location-based social networking.

Build-Your-Own social networks are available, but maybe not as much the trend as others. Ning, which used to be free, is an example of this. Others include Elgg, BuddyPress, and SocialGo. "The Long Tail of Social Networking" - Targets a specific group of people.

Spokeo - Goes out and aggregates all searchable/findable data. Scary...

Wow...this one sucked me in completely. Awesome, awesome stuff.

Learning Styles and Generational Differences: Do They Matter? (Jolly Holden/Phillip Westfall)

"Some educational psychologists say learning styles don't exist."

Wow - I'm in. We think that we learn differently...but we don't. And research supports it. Learning style is NOT a predictor of learning outcomes.

Meaning out of Meaninglessness

Research was done on the SATs last year. 100,000 students, outcome was a .8 correlation (HUGE) to the fact that success on SAT = success in college. Learning style tests, however, do not predict any form of success whatsoever. Neuroscience has proved that 90% of what you attain/process is VISUAL. Therefore, you can SAY you're BK, you can SAY you're audial...not true. We learn not by modality, but by the context we put it in. And how do we set that context? Visual cues, memories, etc...We attach meaning to EVERYTHING, but if we accepted we're VISUAL, we'd be a lot happier and accepting of strictly VISUAL training.

(Holy stuff...this seriously has me on the edge of my seat. THIS is the revolutionary thought I was hoping to find here. Note to self - Review THIS presentation as soon as you get home (to review generational distinctions, as well).)

Narration in training is brought up next and it is shot down so hard...I love it. Basically, for all of the clamoring that people do to get Narration plugged into training (on top of on screen text), it is pointless. POINTLESS. If it compliments the text (i.e. - not verbatim), great. But if you read the screen text, the narration actually SLOWS LEARNING DOWN. Brilliant.

Learning Styles

As of right here, right now, 71 different learning styles have been identified with 4 in the wings, waiting for acceptance. 75 learning styles. With no relationship to predicting outcomes, though, the speaker poses an awesome question: "Why waste your time?" He asked a colleague what he thought of this research...that there were 75 different learning styles...to which the colleague replied:

It's a convenient scapegoat for poor instruction. Spend your time instead on good instructional design.

Intrinsic motivation and prior knowledge are the ONLY items PROVEN by RESEARCH to have any predictability of student success. Everything else - learning style, teaching style, etc. - is just noise. WOW...genius...this is blowing my mind.

The example he gives: What does Orion (the constellation) look like? As soon as the question leaves his mouth, those of us who know, IMMEDIATELY visualize it...but in stages. He shows three images, increasing in complexity. I, admittedly, imagined the stars in the sky. Simple enough. But he progressed through images to an old drawing of the warrior Orion...now, whenever I think of it, I will think of the drawing, due simply to context.

Another context example: "What was the headline in yesterday's newspaper?" "What was the headline three months ago in the gulf?" Which one do you remember more quickly? The one with the context...two words increases your memory by three months.

So, what are we saying here? It doesn't matter what style we design the training for? No more narration? Visual only? Well, yes and no. But I'll say this - my view of BAK, Modalities, etc. are forever changed because of this session. Amazing, insipiring stuff...awesome job. I don't even care that we left out the generational stuff...this was perfect.

"Throwing technology at a problem has not improved learning."