Personalized and adaptive learning has been described as the so-called holy grail of education. The idea is not new, though its technological instantiation is getting increased attention. In a well-funded education system, personalized instruction happens when guided by a teacher as each students strengths and weaknesses and knowledge gaps are known. However, when classrooms start to exceed 20+ students, some type of mediating agent is needed in order to address knowledge gaps as it becomes impossible for a teacher to be aware of what is happening with each learner. So, while the human educator is the original (and best) personalized learning system, the current funding constraints and other resource challenges have raised the need for alternative approaches to make sure that each learner is receiving support reflective of her needs. Many of the personalized learning systems now available begin with an articulation of the knowledge space - i.e. what the learner needs to know. What the learner knows is somewhat peripheral and is only a focal point after the learner has started interacting with content. Additionally, the data that is built around learner profiles is owned by either the educational institution or the software company. This isn’t a good idea. Learners should own the representation of what they know. Last year, I posted on personalized learner knowledge graphs. Since then, I’ve been working with several colleagues to refine and develop this idea. Embedded below is a summary of our recent thinking on what this would look like in practice. Personal Learning Graph (PLeG - pronounced ‘pledge’ (acronyms are hard)) is intended as a response to how work and life are changing due to technology and the importance of individuals owning their own learning representation. Personal Learning Graph (PLeG)

The employability narrative for higher education is over powering. While I certainly agree that work is important, I think the framework of "getting a job" is too limiting for the role that higher education (can and should) play in society. I had the privilege recently to deliver a talk to a group of folks at HERDSA in Australia on this topic. My argument: employability is important, but quality of life is more critical as a long term focus. Slides are below. Exploiting emerging technologies to enable quality of life from gsiemens

I’ve been busy, really busy, but just a moment of reflection and giggling, if you don’t mind.  Thank you. My 7th graders are learning about forces in nature.  You know, action/reaction stuff,  a body in motion, etc.  I’ve discovered over the past 2 weeks that my professional life has become …a real force of nature. […]

It seems odd to post about current technology jobs on a classroom blog focused on K-4 students, but, in my view, the sooner you start having conversations about careers with your child, the better off you’ll both be.    (N.B.: we’ve got a recent college graduate living at home, and another child a few years from entering college, so jobs & careers have been on our minds a lot lately.) Additional semi-needless background: I have personal experience with the high technology workplace and knowledge economy. For those who don’t already know, after 9/11 (ten years ago this August), I walked away from a six-figure job in I.T. (information technology) project management / consulting to pursue my dream of teaching as a second career. I freelanced for a while to pay the bills while I looked for work. I eventually landed a position at my school, and the rest is history. But, I digress… Bouncing around Facebook, Twitter and some blogs this past weekend, I happened across a sidebar widget for AuthenticJobs.com, a site that bills itself as a place "where companies and creative professionals meet to make a better web."  (The "We’re Hiring" graphic caught my eye.) I noted the checkboxes at the top - Full Time, Contract, Freelance and Internship; and the geographic filtering option. For grins, I checked all the boxes and entered our town zip code, 08225. Not surprisingly, there were zero hits. Then I remembered Dice.com: Dice is the preeminent website for finding work in the technology sector. I was curious what jobs were available down here in sleepy South Jersey. So, I entered our 08225 zip code again. To my surprise, two pages worth of opportunities - 45 in total - came up. (Granted, it assumes a 40 mile radius, but that’s fine.) I’m excited by this because: I see a wide variety in the listings. I see great opportunities to discuss, properly scaffolded of course, what these types of jobs might entail, the skills kids would need, and how that relates to our work in the K4STEMLAB. I see  a connection to our area. While some of these companies are further than 40 miles away - many of these listings are from recruiting/placement firms - there are some for firms with operations close by. Might these firms be interested in supporting our work by sending someone to speak with our class, or connecting via Skype or Google Hangout, or even becoming a donating sponsor? There is no better time to get a child excited about a future career than elementary school. As I’ve said before, I’m thrilled to have the chance to create the "a-ha!" moment in a child’s mind when they decide what they want to be when they grow up. Sure, most will change their mind several times - and some will have the decision made for them, sadly, overriding their inner desires - but I’ll take what I can get. If even ONE of my students decides to pursue a career based on a lesson we had in my class, I’ll be overjoyed. Seriously. A final thought. Check out these communities on Dice, areas of the site where people can connect and share information: Android? That didn’t exist not long ago. Mobile and Online Game development? Terrific, burgeoning areas of growth sure to be of interest to youngsters. Lots of great conversation and lesson material here! What do you think? - Mr. Jarrett

Every so often I am reminded that while eLearning may be a practice that some of us have been doing for a long time, for many others eLearning is a great big shiny world of new opportunity. Whether you are...

I’m half way through my Technology Integration Course in my masters program and am finding the experience almost redundant.  A good deal of what I am learning, I have already tried or have considered adding to the repertoire in the near future.  Its a fun class.  I’ve made a Power Point game and am going […]

…this 1 minute video should help! EiE Principles - Value Failure for What it Teaches

One thing we can learn from the field of User Experience design is how to create user personas, better known as learner personas in the world of eLearning. Personas are well-developed profiles of audience member groups for whom we are designing a course. These audience groups are prototypes of learners in your target audience that share common characteristics, such as their training goals, job responsibilities, educational background or skill level. Every course has at least one audience group and most courses have several. Why Create Personas? Creating personas can help designers become more aware of their audience. Thinking through what a particular audience group needs and how they will react as they proceed through a course provides a tangible focus for the design. With a persona in mind, the designer might build more engaging lessons and discover new ways that learners can construct knowledge. In truth, many designers probably carry around a model of what their audience members are like. But developing personas helps to formalize the models so they can be documented, shared and used throughout the design process. This creates a consistency and unity in who your audience members are across the entire design and development team. Gather Information First The most effective personas are going to emerge out of an audience analysis that includes interviews and real conversations with sample audience members as well as supervisors and stakeholders in the training. This is one of the best ways to ensure your personas reflect reality rather than a projection of your ideal learner. Other sources of information might come from your client’s printed collateral and website or discussions with subject matter experts or personnel office. Then Write With this information in hand, write a descriptive profile of an audience group member. Give this person a name and borrow traits from real individuals of the group if you were lucky enough to hold interviews. Describe your persona’s demographics, job responsibilities, motivations for taking the training, experiences at work, attitude toward online learning, skill and educational levels and so on. Some groups go so far as to add a photo to their persona. Developing personas can be a collaborative process done with team members or created solo. How To Use Personas In the end, you should have several personas that provide a tangible sense of your audience members. Always share them with your team. Keep the personas in mind throughout design and development as though they are someone you know. Refer to them. Converse about them. Make them your imaginary friend. "Would Kathy want to spend her time playing this game?" "What would it take for Joe to pass the certification test?" The Persona Debate In User Experience circles there is an ongoing debate over whether personas are a help or a hindrance. Some contend that personas are a poor approach for understanding the needs and wants of the audience. Detractors say that personas promote distance between designers and users; that they are a product of what designers wish their users would be like. They say personas don’t reflect unique individuals and they prevent designers from having empathy for their users. Avoiding the Traps My recommendation would be to try personas the next time you’re working on a project with multiple audience groups. Then follow these tips to avoid the traps: Try to have conversations with sample members of your audience groups. Even a few conversations can help you remember the individuals behind the persona. Ensure the use of personas helps your team personalize and customize the design. If you find it has the opposite effect, you’re headed down the wrong path. Watch that stereotypes and social judgments don’t slip into your personas. These unrealistic profiles defeat the purpose. Build empathy for the audience groups. The more you can imagine their life and their story, the more likely you are to understand who they are. Have personas been helpful for you? Tell us about your experience. Articles related to connecting with an audience: Reality eLearning How To Add Realism To eLearning Post from: The eLearning CoachLearner Personas for eLearning

During the past several weeks, the tech press, Twitter-verse and Blogosphere have been filled with news, pronouncements, diatribes and debates regarding the future of Flash. Or more specifically, the death of Flash. To paraphrase Mark Twain, I would like to...

I came across a very interesting article the other day about using your cell phone camera to take pictures of children and what happens if you have your gps turned on. Naturally, quite frightening for those involved. Kinda funny to me. Till I thought about when I use my phone in the classroom to take […]