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".

Said to be a landmark in computer entertainment, the creation ofPeter Molyneux, Milo, is a young boy who enjoys football, drawing and playing around his fish pond.Molyneux's ingenuity uses Microsoft's new full-body controller forXbox 360, in Project Natal.Check out the video: Video

Eliademy is one of the most diverse startups in Finland. Our team has 8 nationalities and great age/gender balance. 22 volunteers helped us to make localization to various languages. Our users are coming from 160 different countries. We support diversity … Continue reading →

Have you checked out interactive YouTube videos and wondered how they were created? How it works: while the video plays, it offers options through links embedded in the video, which take you to a different place on the timeline or to a different video, which offers new options, and so on. The combined effect is a seemingly infinite number of choices, but for interactive YouTube videos it is in fact very finite: a separate video has to be created for each choice. The interactivity is created by overlaying annotations on top of the video. Annotations were previously used solely as captions or speech balloons leading viewer to another site for more information related to the video. Now they are transforming YouTube from a static video player to a tool for engaging the audience.The YouTube Annotations Editor is a creator tool that lets you layer text, hotspots and links over your video, thus enriching experience with information, interactivity and engagement. Examples: Hunter shoots a bear - http://www.youtube.com/user/tippexperience Blend Your Own Adventure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcJFwy7KPBA The Time Machine - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8rJ1WML60Y How to make an interactive video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMrMEydnFFA Annotation Man:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqzlqPK0VVY#t=19

Fellow blogging companion and friend, Paul C of quoteflections,gave us the challenge:For the month of June could anyone so inclined go on an interesting personal journey for good quotations and include some reflections?Here’s my June contribution.Suppose you were asked to pick 50 street numbers at random from your local telephone directory. You might have some fun working out a method of selecting them so that, as near as possible, your list showed a chance selection of numbers.What if you were then asked to sort them by first digit, called the leading digit. You might put all numbers beginning with 1 at top of the list, such as 14, 105, 138, etc. The next set might then be 27, 223, 2901 and so on. Since these were selected in truly random fashion, and given that there are nine possible categories (1 to 9) you might be forgiven for thinking that the pattern of numbers in your list may look something like this:11, 14, 19, 103, 198, 161321, 23, 24, 27, 213, 259,3, 30, 33, 35, 37, 38, 39, 3594, 40, 43, 49, 4905, 50, 54, 57, 57, 5026, 61, 61, 62, 65, 667, 7, 70, 71, 70482, 85, 836, 84090, 91, 93, 913, 962As you can see, the number of numerals in each line is roughly what you might expect, of about 6 in each, give or take to odd one or two allowing for some unevenness due to the smallness of the sample.It’s the sort of distribution you'd get from a random number generator.Trial by experimentYou can conduct your own similar experiment. Take today’s newspaper for instance. Scan through the newspaper gathering all the numbers in the text on each page - the financial pages are good for this.Starting from the left of each number, ignoring the sign, decimal point and any zeros, the first digit you come across is the leading digit. There are 9 possible leading digits. It seems reasonable to expect that 1/9 (or 11.11%) of all numbers would have 1 as the leading digit. However, this is not what’s found in practice.Here’s what I got when I made a random selection of 50 street numbers from the Wellington White Pages telephone directory:10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 15, 18, 19, 103, 113, 119, 126, 128, 133, 136, 137, 198, 161321, 21, 23, 24, 27, 213, 259,3, 30, 33, 36, 37, 3594, 43, 49, 4905, 50, 54, 5026, 61, 667, 7, 7082, 85, 84091, 93Not exactly what you might predict using the assumption that there would be an equal number of numerals in each category. It’s a fascinating observation that this distribution is common to an infinite number of possible random selections, measurements and totals from collectable data.A universal lawIt is the same sort of distribution that’s found when lengths, in millimetres, of fish are recorded from random samplings, the same scattering that occurs when pebbles are picked haphazardly from a beach and weighed in grams, and the same pattern that's obtained when the brightness of stars is measured from a random selection in the night sky. Contrary to what you might expect, the leading digits are not evenly distributed in any samples like these.True random number generators, however, do not produce distributions like this. Herein lies the usefulness of what’s known as Benford’s Law in checking the authenticity of data, such as collected numerical research findings, data measurements where true random sampling is the expected feed, accumulated travel expenses or income tax returns.Benford’s Law has become a universal tool for fraud detection when checking the genuineness of financial or related data.How does it work?Why are the distributions not even as you might expect? One, much simplified way of gaining an understanding of this is in recognising how number distributions occur in the first place. Here’s my simple model for correlating the leading digits of created numbers with their frequency of occurrence.Let’s suppose that I invested a dollar in a company that returned me a monthly 10% on my investment. I decide to reinvest this return with the company when the total of investment returns and the sum invested reaches whole dollar amounts. So the expected value of my investment would increase by an integral dollar amount each time it’s reinvested: $1.00, $2.00, $3.00 etc.I keep monthly notes on the total value of my investment. It takes ten months for my original dollar to earn sufficient for the total amount to have reached a reinvestment value of $2. During this time, however, my notebook shows the following monthly value totals:$1.00, $1.10, $1.20, $1.30, $1.40, $1.50, $1.60, $1.70, $1.80, $1.90When my notebook shows a value of $2.00, the total amount is reinvested. My notebook then shows these monthly value totals:$2.00, $2.20, $2.40, $2.60, $2.80The next set of monthly records in my notebook looks like this:$3.00, $3.30, $3.60, $3.90And the next monthly set like this:$4.00, $4.40, $4.80At $5.00 my monthly records are:$5.00, $5.50And so on. You can see that the pattern of numbers recorded in my notebook is not unlike what’s expected by Benford’s Law. The probabilities of the occurrence of the leading digits are shown in the chart:Benford’s Law has a mathematical side to it, based on sound probability principles outlined in Wikipedia. If you are mathematically inclined and have the time, you may like to check it out.But the message to anyone who may think they know how to fiddle the books using bogus data from a random number generator or the like is summarised in the quotation:A little learning is a dangerous thing- Essay on Criticism, Alexander PopeA Green Pen Society Contribution( 3 ) ( 2 ) << - related posts

In the first two posts in this series, we discussed the value of data and the process for using the theory of change model for learning design. This week, we’ll walk through creating a measurement model for a fictional company, Acme Donuts.As you work through the learning initiative design process, the key challenge is to balance strategy with tactics: Connecting specific actions that accomplish high level goals. The Theory of Change model, which starts with broad goals and asks you to work backwards to specific actions, forces you to make the connections between each step clear. The narrative step also challenges you to explain the connections: An excellent exercise for testing assumptions and discovering gaps.I created this sample narrative to outline the many factors relevant to designing a learning program that includes a measurement model from the beginning.Developing a Program Narrative: Acme Donuts ExampleWhat are your initiative’s goals? To develop functional goals, you need stakeholder buy-in, alignment with organizational goals and specific descriptors. Make sure you’re not developing goals in a vacuum.Acme, Inc. is a manufacturer of donuts. Our goal is to increase profits 15% this fiscal year. To do that, we must meet two key preconditions: 1) Increase the recurring revenue generated from long-term sales agreements; 2) The sales team must develop strong communication, sales and negotiation skills to negotiate and close sales agreements.Whether conscious or unconscious, everyone makes assumptions. A key step in developing a functional initiative is ensuring that you understand what variables you will hold neutral as you target changes in your organization.We are making two key assumptions: 1) The product is appropriately priced for its quality. 2) There is sufficient demand in the marketplace to enable us to increase sales.Work backwards from your goals to the preconditions that must be met. Limit the scope of your discussion to the changes that can be affected through training and development activities. If, for example, Acme’s Donuts just aren’t very good, training sales people more effectively may not do any good at all.Both sales team members and managers have described needing opportunities both to study and practice the techniques of sales and communication and to work together as a team to identify best practices and improve performance over time.Outline specific initiatives you will undertake. Ensure that you outline how those initiatives connect with your preconditions and goals.To reach the targeted competencies of communication, sales and negotiation skills, we will embark on a multi-phase initiative: Participation in online learning courses to expose sales team members to the techniques of diagnosing and creating a sales strategy. Group workshops with their peers to enable them to practice their communication and negotiation skills. Connecting each participant to a mentor who will meet regularly with them to enable them to seek feedback and advice. Creating a social network to enable team members to share successes and resources.Develop specific metrics based on your goals. Ensure that you have a variety of metrics at each level and step of your initiative. Make sure you can assess specific factors so that you can, in turn, make specific improvements to your learning initiatives.We will measure the success of our initiative on a monthly basis with these metrics: - Sales team’s self-assessment of communication, sales and negotiation skills on a detailed scale- Sales manager and VP of Sales assessment of individual and team performance- Monthly recurring sales per salesperson and as a group; the rate of change in monthly recurring sales- Profit growthSet expectations. Ensure that you and your colleagues understand and agree on goals and reasonable expectations for results.We expect to see some change in the metrics in the first two-three months of the initiative, but we believe that we will see significant improvement within six months as sales team members have an opportunity to implement and improve their new skills in cooperation with their peers. We will use data from assessment and from performance to continually create online courses and group workshops targeting areas of weakness. To the extent possible, we will use internal experts to lead workshops both in person and virtually. In closing, this example is just the beginning. Check out the Theory of Change website, which provides an excellent case studies from a variety of social and job training programs.Further Reading"Getting Serious About Measurement: Metrics for Social Learning""21 Questions to Ask Before Designing a Training Program", The Training DoctorImage credit: dasroofless on Flickr

(This is the 17th article of the series on learning design tips from dominKnow KnowledgeBase) mLearning is different from learning through reading manuals, watching videos, researching on the web, or participating in instructor-led training. That means it should be designed differently to help ensure it is a successful part of your training program. General tips for designing your... Read More ›

The Spanish training institute (Selected as the 8th best animation school in the world on 2014 by Animation Career Review) has partnered with CBTec OY (Eliademy) to create a set of around 400 courses to expand their market into another … Continue reading →

This month’s Big Question on The Learning Circuits Blog is"where is your time spent?" It paraphrases this in a series of more specific questions that saved me time in thinking up sub-headings for the sections in this post.Where do I spend my time?I think a more important question here is ‘when and how do I spend my time?' However, here’s the 'where', per day, based on normal weekday activities averaged over a 7 day period, not including holidays:As you can see, I have a 28+ hour day. Short of pitching the world off its orbital path to accommodate all this, obviously there has to be some overlap. Indeed, to be realistic, this is what I find - not multi-tasking - but the ‘where’ tends to dictate this more than the ‘when and how’. When and how I spend my time is another matter.How do I find time for all the relatively newer thingslike reading blogs, twitter, social networks, etc?In 2001, I discovered some useful things about myself. I learned more about when the best time is for me to think and reflect. I discovered that the early hours of the day was a good time to reflect on the day yet to come, and do some planning for that. The best and most convenient time for this is when travelling to work by bus.For me this - together with its more relaxed counterpart, that of travelling home on the bus - provides an efficient use of otherwise wasted time. So it does two things. It gets me to and from work. It also helps me with the efficient use of my time at work and at home.I might plan a strategy for tackling a ticklish problem at work to do with my learning group, for instance. Or I might have a bright idea for a blog post and have the time to think through different ways that it could be done. In fact, most of my initial thinking is done on the bus or at times like that where I've no option but to be there.Good planning, of course, has to be flexible. When things don’t go to plan, a new plan must be drafted or the old one reshaped. Here’s when contingencies can also be mulled over while still in the planning stages - another efficiency trick. That way, not so much time has to be spent rethinking the one-and-only, platinum-plated, carbon-nano-tube-reinforced plan.What am I doing less of todaythan I was 3-5 years ago?I don’t write so many letters. I spend more time writing equivalent emails and social networking to cover the same reasons for writing letters. With my older daughter, Hannah, at university and living in another city, I now spend time communicating with her through txting and Facebook and on the telephone.This weekend, for instance, I took some photographs of my youngest daughter, Catriona, with my Sony digital. She was all set to be off to a Saturday night fancy dress party. I just had to catch a few pix of her.Today (Sunday) I spent some time trimming the photographs and uploading them to Flickr and Facebook while chatting with Hannah online. This is one of the overlaps, in this case an overlap of family time spent with social networking and using digital technology.Do I have less of a life withall of these new things?Most certainly and categorically not. In 2007 and at the age of 60, I had a hip joint replaced. That was in August. In October, my family whisked me off to Auckland to spend a weekend with them. I’d got rid of my sticks by that time and was able to hold a digital camera steadily enough to nearly fill 2 Gb of upload.When I got home on the Sunday night I uploaded the digital pix to Facebook and used these in communication with family overseas.Similarly in December that same year, when I was still inebriated with my new mobility, I took Catriona across the harbour on a ferry to explore Matiu-Somes Island. Once again, the digitals provided an incentive to blend relaxation with family and a bit of web2.0 technology.The joy of the immediacy in using today’s technologies - my chat with Hannah while uploading pictures taken the night before - the rapid return to communicate pix taken on holiday immediately with family overseas - the fun of previewing pix that were taken on Matiu-Somes Island while returning on the ferry - do not detract from life.At the NetSafe Conference July 2008 I stepped out to the shore of Lake Wakatipu at morning tea. I had my camera in my pocket and I captured a scene that has brought back memories of the short time spent at the lakeside. The playback is on Facebook and has been appreciated by family and friends alike.But there are many moments of tranquillity that I have spent with others or in solitude without the accompaniment of technology - I am guilty of this. In those times I either leave the technology (digital cam - mobile phone) at home or in my pocket, switched off. I make the choice.

SCORE, a nonprofitassociation dedicated to helping small business start, grow and succeed, todayannounced the launch of e-Business Now, a new website providing small businessleaders with "how to" knowledge to successfully usetechnology-enabled applications. The website provides free on-demand workshops"how-to" guides, connections to technology mentors and more—a full rangeof tools for learning how to leverage technology to fuel the future success ofsmall businesses.  Register to access the free training and information.  Workshops are developed using Articulate Presenter.Check it out:  http://ebusinessnow.org/

Continuing with this section where we get to know a bit more about our beloved instructors, we came across a very particular and original person who has found true passion on technology. Sören Forsdal saw an opportunity while facing a problem … Continue reading →

ASTD - Best of T+D: BluePrints for Success:  http://t.co/OqfGhwgThe Bestof T+D: Blueprints for Success offers some of the most searchedfor articles from the highly popular Fundamentals and Learning Blueprintcolumns. Includes an article on Scenario-BasedLearning.  Somearticles are old - but if you missed them, this is a great way to read them ina consolidated format.  Free to NationalASTD members.Our Flag:  http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/sd109-18/sd109-18.pdfEverything you wanted to know about the Star and Stripes.Facebook and BeyondWhite Paper:  http://pages.lithium.com/facebook-and-beyond.htmlEffectivenessof a Facebook brand100Resources for Interactive Training Designers:  http://www.raptivity.com/100-elearning-resources.html

Lev Vygotsky (1896 -1934) was a pioneer psychologist who lived in Moscow. I have great respect for his studies and found his Mind And Society an absorbing read. One of the precious ideas he brought to us is what he called the Zone Of Proximal Development. I was reminded of this recently when reading Laurie Bartel’s post, Lev Vygotsky & ZPD, where she called for elaboration or clarification of ZPD.Vygotsky had an interest in scaffolding, particularly in relation to learner development in vocabulary and language. He was fascinated with ways of determining the state of development in the young learner. He drew the distinction between what he referred to as ‘age level of development’ and the ‘developmental process’ in relation to ‘learning capabilities’.Closer analysisVygotsky’s studies in this field suggest he firmly believed there was more to potential development in the learner than just what could be judged by observing what he called the learner’s actual development level. This is what can be determined presumably through analysis over a range of tests and other related observational parameters.His argument was that what the young learner can do with the assistance of others is a better indicator of mental development than what she can do alone. He made the unambiguous distinction between the assessable accomplishment of the learner when unaided and the observable performance of the learner when given assistance. His pithy summary isThe zone of proximal development defines those functions that have not yet matured but are in the process of maturation, functions that will mature tomorrow but are currently in an embryonic state.Much of Vygotsky’s ideas were tempered by existing theory of the time and furthered by his insightful hypotheses based on his own observations. R G Tharp and R Gallimore proposed an expansion of Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development that involved further stages including the assistance that could be provided by the learner herself.While Vygotsky spoke of developmental stages in the learner, he also posited that development is too complex to be defined by stages that disperse and become diffuse as the learner develops. As a result of this diffusion, previously identifiable stages can no longer be recognised in the learner.Rather than ‘development’ laying down a series of identifiable zones, as shown above, learning is more a broad frontier that advances progressively. The zone of proximal development at the periphery of the actual development level has a depth according to the level of potential development."What is in the zone of proximal development today will be the actual developmental level tomorrow".

Meredith is a teacher in an xAPI-enabled classroom. A Teacher in an xAPI-enabled Classroom She doesn’t do roll call every morning, the students’ GPS enabled tablets take care of that for her. Her students have lots of apps and devices by which they learn and generate learning data. Lots of learning data. But guess what?... Read More ›

Designing the program is only the beginning - data are even more valuable in enabling you to consistently improve your learning programs. This week, we’ll discuss the "red meat": Implementation, data analysis, and program improvement. Baseline AssessmentOnce you have completed your program design, start the implementation phase by taking a baseline assessment. This means using the tools and measurements you have identified to assess your target audience’s current status and performance - and your organization’s status and performance. Remember that throughout the assessment process, you will likely identify administrative, logistical, and structural problems that can’t be solved through training. While this can be frustrating, it is an opportunity. You may not be able to solve all the organization’s challenges through your work, but as you isolate the factors you can change through training, you can share your findings on needed change within your organization. You can document the administrative, logistical or resource obstacles that are interfering with learning and productivity in your organization - and position yourself and your department as an internal consultant to your organization. Program ImplementationThe theory of change, once articulated, provides the metrics of your success. Your goal, as you implement your learning initiative, will be to collect assessment and performance data, and continually compare this data to your program goals. Iteration and ImprovementYou will know you have succeeded in generating positive change once you can demonstrate the uptick in the metrics you planned to address through your theory of change. Conversely, if you aren’t seeing positive movement in your targeted metrics, you can move into higher level analysis: Evaluation of possible causes for the lack of success, and experimenting with possible means of improvement.There are two crucial characteristics of the iteration and improvement phase: 1) Lack of success is not failure. If the first incarnation of your learning program is not successful, that means you have useful data about what doesn’t work. Don’t lose heart, but refocus on where the connections between your activities and desired outcomes broke down.2) It’s never over. Improvement of a learning initiative lasts as long as the program’s goals remain in place. As circumstances change, it will continue to be your responsibility to respond to feedback, improve the program and respect your learners’ needs.Lessons LearnedIn closing, here is my most important lesson learned: When you’re working hard to improve your program, you won’t be overwhelmed by too much data. In contrast, you will be thrilled to have access to great data and may even regret all the questions you didn’t ask. Building processes for collecting and analyzing performance data in your organization will empower you to make informed decisions, allocate training department resources effectively and focus on the changes that will make the biggest improvements in your organization.Further Reading: "How to Translate Training into Results", Ron Ashkenas"Why Measure Training Effectiveness?", Business Performance"The Three Reports: Talent Development Reporting Principles", Dave VanceImage credit: logos noesis on Flickr