Though it has enjoyed some use as a model in teaching Science, its potential for use in other disciplines lies near the core of cognition, recognition, learning, discovery, deduction and development, not the least of which is development of the imagination.Yet in education, the ‘black box’ experiment is often dismissed as a curiosity - an artefact of philosophy, relegated sooner or later to the too hard pile, while we get on with 'proper' learning.The ‘black box’ experiment appeals to all ages. It can be used as a toy, a puzzle, a model or a teaching resource. Here's how it works:One or more objects are sealed in a box easily held in the hand,the box contents cannot be seen and are unknown to the experimenter who deduces their structures by observation,the box remains sealed at all times.A collaboration toolWith the appropriate guidance, the 'black box' experiment can be used in the study of how to work as a team. Here the collective knowledge, experience and skill of each participant have the opportunity to be put to collaborative use.One approach to this is to allow each participant to handle the box for a fixed period of time, while making observations and being observed by others in the group. Strategies for collating and considering what’s been found can be presented at appropriate points in the study, or developed according to individual or team initiative.At no point during or after any activity is there a need to open the box. The learning goal is nothing to do with what’s inside the box. The whole point of the pursuit is unambiguously about what is unknown. It’s about how notion and ideas formed during observations can be gathered and used in developing strategies to explain what’s observed.Devising experiments to confirm or refute belief in first formed ideas is a development of that approach. They embody recognition of the need for further experiments to find out more.Classical black box stuffA classical example of how the 'black box' idea was put to use is the series of developments that led to the present day vision of the structure of atoms. While atoms and their structure are now often taken for granted, they were considered ‘black boxes’ at the beginning of last (20th) century. In those days, no one knew what they contained.In 1904, J J Thompson proposed the ‘plum pudding’ model for atoms. Thompson is accredited with the discovery of the negatively charged electron. His observations of the behaviour of matter under special circumstances led him to think that the electron was a component of atoms.Thompson’s first formed notion of atoms was of negatively charged plums (electrons) floating around in balls of positively charged pudding. All of his deduction could be described as based on his observations made during a series of many ‘black box’ experiments.Less than a decade later, Ernest Rutherford conducted a famous ‘black box’ experiment when he interpreted observations which suggested that atoms were not like plum puddings at all. His famous gold leaf experiment suggested strongly that, far from being solid like pudding, atoms have a huge amount of empty space within them, with tiny but heavy positive centres.Electrons occupy only a small part of that empty space.Each time new things are learnt about the structure of atoms, they are the result of ‘black box’ type experiments. In 2009 we have different ideas of atoms than Rutherford’s models, but those ideas are almost certain to be quite different from the vision Science will have of atoms in the year 2109.Life in a black boxAn amazing series of ‘black box’ experiments was performed in the middle of last century by Watson, Crick, Wilkins and Franklin. They used, among other observations, the intricate, complex data fromX-ray crystallography studies.These studies involved observing and interpreting thousands of photographs taken when X-rays are scattered by strands of dna.The elucidation of the structure of dna was an outstanding demonstration of analytical Chemistry, all of which required ‘black box’ observing, experimenting and deduction.Cynefin and other pursuitsA model most recently developed to describe problems, situations and systems was invented and refined by David Snowden. It has very recently been given an airing on several blogs I follow, notably Tom Haskins’ and Harold Jarche’s.Wikipedia describes Cynefin as drawing on "research into complex adaptive systems theory, cognitive science, Anthropology and narrative patterns, as well as evolutionary psychology. It 'explores the relationship between man, experience and context’ and proposes new approaches to communication, decision-making, policy-making and knowledge management in complex social environments."Given that no one really knows precisely how human communities behave and function, much of this understanding was brought together by sophisticated ‘black box’ observation and study. It began as an approach to knowledge management and has developed beyond that, in various stages, to a study of international relationships.Car maintenanceHave you ever taken your car to the service depot when it developed a mechanical fault? Though such faults are often apparent, their remedies are not always easily identified. Sometimes even the trained mechanic can be puzzled as to what’s wrong.A few perfunctory diagnostics might be applied. Failing any useful information from these, a closer look at the symptoms may be made. By a process of elimination, it may be possible to identify, if not the problem, at least where the problem could lie. This approach is really following a series of ‘black box’ experiments.Rediscovery and understandingIn recent posts on Sue Waters’ and Larry Ferlazzo’s blogs the function and behaviour of PostRank in rating blog posts have been discussed intricately. I was only too happy to provide Sue with some information and analysis data I’d gathered from my own posts. The ideas unfolding in these discussions are results of a series of ‘black box’ experiments.I’ve no doubt that someone somewhere will know the answers to many of the questions Sue and I have asked on how these applications work. In the absence of explicit information on function, bloggers frequently utilise the ‘black box’ approach to solve problems collaboratively and to find out how things work. Incidentally, it was while thinking about Sue’s admirable pursuit of cogent answers to practical questions that the idea for this post came to mind.And the catIn 1935, Erwin Schrödinger rationalised one of the most celebrated paradoxes in quantum theory in a description using the closed box idea specifically applied to observation. Of course, it is not possible to tell what is really happening inside Schrödinger’s closed box.The strange nature of quantum mechanics is that opening the box doesn’t throw any light on the matter. Paradoxical? I’ll say! What it does is to seal the fate of the poor cat.

Do business users want to be represented by avatars when engaging in enterprise-style conferencing?"The results from this survey demonstrate that people are open to the idea of using avatars for workplace communication; however, the choice of avatar can significantly impact people’s comfort. In general, the respondents in our survey were open to interacting with a wide variety of avatars, from cartoonish to realistic and casual to formal, as long as the representation wasn’t too eerie or creepy. In contrast, users’ preferences for avatars they are willing to use to represent themselves were much more stringent. People primarily wanted more formal, realistic avatars."Check it out:  http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/143831/nt454-inkpen.pdf?tag=mantle_skin;content

Kelly is the Community Manager for OpenSesame, a marketplace to buy and sell e-learning courses that will work in any LMS. Among other things, Kelly writes and manages the OpenSesame blog and is the face of OpenSesame on Twitter. She’s a great model for a community manager; not only is she knowledgeable about the industry, but she has real and authentic interactions with the community. Kelly will be blogging this month about measurement, analytics, and data collection.You can connect with Kelly on Twitter @OpenSesame or catch up with her on the OpenSesame blog.

We have created Eliademy with a belief that instructors truly should be free to choose the way a course is taught. With functionality we have brought so far, you can create an amazing book-like course, upload unlimited amount of attachments, … Continue reading →

I find it intriguing how blogging brings opportunities to think and learn but not always in an expected way. There is a collegiality that impinges on my thinking, how I learn and what I do.While a lot of it is to do with blogging, it certainly isn’t limited to that practice. I was reminded of this diversity on receipt of a reply to an email, from my blogger colleague and friend, Tony Karrer, who aptly moved from the peripheral to the relevant in saying:"On a different note - any thoughts on how deliberative practice relates to becoming something less than an expert. It seems like it should be applicable to all levels of achievement, but everything I'm reading is the study of becoming an expert. Is that just aspirational, or is deliberative practice also studied for quick attainment of proficiency?"I assume that by ‘something less than an expert’, Tony means the level of competency that is needed by someone to perform a particular task properly - he uses the word ‘proficiency’.While I tend to agree with Tony that the emphasis in many studies to do with learning / training / attaining proficiency seems to be prescriptive towards becoming an expert, I wonder if it is the true intent of these studies.I suspect that the widespread and imprecise use of the word ‘expert’ has caused some erosion of its original meaning. Being highly proficient in tasks that are effected in doing a job properly does not mean being an expert. Nor does it necessarily have to lead to attaining that level of expertise. It’s all according to where the benchmarks lie for ‘proficient’ and for ‘expert’.Expertise is harder to achieveWith the advancement of technology and associated practices, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for expertise to reach expert level. The matter of change, which can arrive every 6 months to a year, or even more frequently in technology, will limit the efficiency of any aspiring expert in reaching true expert level.Changes in technology bring changes in business procedures. So the ‘expert’ is more likely to become someone who keeps pace with the latest updates rather than someone who, as in the past, truly reaches an expert level with knowledge of, application of and proficiency in the associated skills to do with these tasks. My impression is that there are fewer true experts in the workplace today than there were even 10 years ago.Collateral damagePrinted manuals, or online help, designed to provide knowledge and give pointers on procedural skills cannot keep pace with these changes, so it becomes even more difficult for the aspiring ‘expert’ to reach a desired level of achievement. What come as a result of this are beliefs associated with the cheapened worth of any textual instruction, any information held in text in fact, be it printed or digitally accessible on a screen - part of the collateral damage that accompanies change.Confidence and assertiveness, when together, are sometimes mistaken for competence and even higher levels of expertise. Experienced classroom teachers are familiar with the vagaries of confidence and assertiveness of young learners when it comes to acquiring expertise. The same unfortunate combination can often lead to lesser 'experts' among those who should have reached higher levels of achievement.Expert cover upBut what is even more unfortunate is that confidence and assertiveness are often developed as a cover for lack of expertise. It’s when the so-called expert has more confidence and assertiveness than expertise that incompetence tends to persist, and may even be fostered in the workplace.However, quick attainment of proficiency is not fictitious. There are a number of strategies that can be used to permit this to happen. They're not new and they’re not rocket science:identify the required base-knowledge/skills, foster strategies for these to be recognised as key, and provide avenues for their appropriate acquisition and practicecull redundant and/or recursive procedures or procedural loops in workplace routinesprovide incentive for revisiting and refining/updating key knowledge/skills/procedures (used to be called ‘training’) to clarify current understandingfoster a culture where its acceptable to ask questions to do with key knowledge/skills/procedures - in other words, it's OK not to be an expert.

Most virtual worlds have to do with fun and games. MinyanLand, brought to you by the Council for Economic Education,is a virtual community designed to engage students in games and other interactions that are both entertaining and educational. Choosing your own character, you can explore the world for yourself. In this world, students are safe and free to learn and be entertained by the concept of a market. They also learn the basics of economics and finance on a real world level, as the economics system mimics the real-life pricing of general goods and services. Everything you do can be practice for real life. Every action you take will effect the economy as MinyanLand as a whole.Players must do tasks like staying healthy by eating on a regular basis. They will also get rewarded for behavior such as charitable giving. There is also a journal where you can see what is new in the town.  Families can explore this world together, no matter the economic status or other social factors. It is a great way for them to learn about the operations of our economic system.Check it out:  http://www.minyanland.com/

For designers, developers and trainers, measurement is a weighted word. Employee performance is difficult to measure objectively - as is the success of a training program. Furthermore, for folks whose strength is creative communication, data analytics is a far cry from our comfort zone. Many instructional designers have also been turned off of analytics by seeing data used out of context or as the only measure of a complex initiative. As a result, measuring learning initiatives often falls into the pattern of measuring production - "we've provided X resources" or "we've distributed Y manuals" - because these are factors L&D can control. What really matters for an organization, of course, is not how many manuals L&D creates, but how many behaviors or outcomes L&D changes. With all the demands on our time, it’s easy for L&D departments to be consumed by "putting out fires": Meeting short term needs, creating resources for squeaky wheels and solving immediate performance problems often come before taking time for strategic decision-making. So the need is greater than ever for learning and development to embrace data, measurement and analytics to enable us to target initiatives to efficiently meet business objectives, make the best possible use of our limited time and to demonstrate the efficacy of our work to organizational leadership. Tough Economies Put Pressure on the NumbersImmersing yourself in data-driven decision making will enable you and your team to make strategic decisions that meet broad organizational goals. Ultimately, the ability to harvest, discuss and process this information correlates to improved financial outcomes for large organizations: A recent study by KnowledgeAdvisors and Bassi Investments illustrated that a group of companies with high learning and development measurement acumen outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in terms of share price appreciation by more than 15 percent.- "Emerging Issues in Measurement", KnowledgeAdvisorsMany L&D departments dread the measurement and ROI discussion. As a cost center (and not a direct revenue generator), L&D is always challenged to justify its connections to organizational success. If L&D professionals use good measurement programs to demonstrate improved productivity, changed behaviors and improved outcomes, they will be in a stronger position in the next budget cycle.This month, I’ll outline a framework for measuring changed behavior, and share examples of this model’s success in a social change program I worked with in Anchorage, Alaska. I will also showcase leading organizations’ use of learning analytics to meet organizational goals. We’ll continue next week with a discussion of connecting learning design to a data framework from the beginning. Further Reading on Measurement:"Evaluating Non-Formal Learning Using Kirkpatrick’s Four Level Model", Michael Hanley"Talent Development Reporting Principles", Dave Vance"Speaking the Corporate Language: Measuring ROI", Lindsay Edmonds Wickman"Measuring Success and ROI in Corporate Training", Kent Barnett & John R. Mattox (free download from Sloan Consortium)Image credit: Auntie P on Flickr

Eliademy mission is to democratize education with technology, and today we are bringing one of the most voted features, that will help instructors to understand student’s learning habits and assist them to achieve their goals. Learner’s analytics for Instructors You … Continue reading →

To all youths! Do you care about under-privileged children around the world who lack learning resources (teachers, learning materials…) ? Do you wonder how you can volunteer to offer your time and abilities to help them if you can’t travel often? Have you ever thought that creating content in the way that interests you -... Read More ›

"The Learning eXPLOSION" by Matthew Murdoch and Treion Muller will help you with moving corporate training to the virtual classroom. It’s packed with lots of great tips, tips and links. If you are thinking about a blended learning approach or have been tasked with creating virtual classroom events, you will find this book a valuable resource. If you are already using virtual classrooms, I am sure you will still find good information including checklists to make your classrooms run smoother and make training interesting and interactive. As I read "The Learning eXPLOSION", I found myself highlighting parts, using sticky notes to mark pages and mentally agreeing with the information in the book. My favorite chapters are "The Rule of Overcoming Bias" - how to address and overcome prejudice against virtual classrooms - with really life examples and what to say to leaders and "The Rule of Personal Practice" - especially the list of common technical watch-outs. The website (http://www.franklincovey.com/tc/solutions/books-and-audio/learning-explosion/) has all the action plans from the book for download. This book is worth adding to your library.ASTD Houston will host a webinar on May 18th with Matt and Treion - http://www.astdhouston.org/en/cev/539. Register and attend for your chance to win a copy of "The Learning eXPLOSION".