(The Learning Circuits Blog is moving. Please add this bookmark to keep up-to-date on all of our new posts: http://www.astd.org/Publications/Blogs/Learning-Technologies-Blog.aspx)One of the best things about being an instructional designer right now is that now more than ever we feel that our field is in the zeitgeist of what's happening in the media and technology worlds. What we do (rather, how we do it) is influenced greatly by technologies that support more flexible means of communication and collaboration. Social media and mobile technologies have turned the spotlight on social learning concepts, which in turn have made more of us think about the large, ill-charted dark matter of culture: informal learning.Of course, our response to this turn of events should be elation - finally, Charles Jennings can stop talking about 70-20-10! We can explain communities of practice without once using the phrase "well, no, that's not really an example of what i'm talking about..."! (bonus: we can avoid awkward tittering by wholly avoiding the name 'Wenger' in a classroom setting). Everyone in the Internet Time Alliance can retire to tropical islands. Their work here is done, because everyone in your care now understands the value of social and informal learning.Except maybe they don't. Maybe you're having trouble convincing your boss that her task force is not a community of practice. Maybe your top-down Yammer implementation has yielded more tumbleweeds than users. Perhaps it's because, in fact, no one is making the connection between the breakthroughs in networking that they can plainly see and whatever it is that you do. Maybe you should brag about your personal learning network.In this new world, those in our care probably find it harder - not easier - to square the existence of this wikiHow entry and your job as conductor of whatever they've been led to think formalized training is. Do you exemplify the benefits of social and informal learning in your own work life? Do you document successes of social learning? Are you watching and listening to the concerns of your co-workers, providing the right nudge when needed, and openly sourcing your information? Are you connecting your peers with relatable thought leadership or community resources that you've found valuable? How about using technology to make spaces for serendipitous learning - loosely organized, de-escalated learning, free from expectations but endowed with purpose?As I've said before, I love our kind of people, and not just for their unfailingly sparkling personalities. Every day, they are useful to me in my work, and every day I make it known that I am bringing fire to those in my care because of my associations. In design meetings, I nip errant learning styles talk in the bud. I stay up-to-date on the development of Project Tin Can and use what I know to rethink learning management systems. I experiment with Google Hangouts. I make it easy for myself to be a node in the network and I make sure that people know that part of my value is being as connected as I am.While I probably spend more time talking about #lrnchat than I do participating in it these days, I've been known by more than one boss as 'the Twitter guy.' I'm proud that I eventually stopped being 'the Twitter guy' - that is, I stopped being just a tolerated, quirky evangelist for the platform when I stopped telling people how valuable Twitter is and started using it very publicly to inform my discourse in the workplace. (As Jane Bozarth says, "Google gets you links. Twitter gets you answers.") As a result, the questions that I get around social media are less of the "what good is Twitter?" variety and more about how to use social learning tools to their best effect.As I rely on  a large, diverse learning network to help me be competent and prescient, I hope to show (not tell) that I am here to solve problems, not simply build courses or teach classes. I can suggest and employ social and informal learning strategies in part because they're already working: social media tools, content curation, collaboration, and networked learning are making me better at what I do.Craig Wiggins has been helping people create and manage learning experiences for the last 10 years. He is the eLearning Instructional Design Strategist for the Corporate Executive Board's Corporate Leadership Council, where he manages the creation of meaningful distance learning and performance solutions. Craig holds a B.A. in anthropology and an M.Ed. in curriculum development, and spends a lot of time thinking about how to sneak usability, accessibility, and proper task analysis into the mix. In his natural habitat, he is usually storyboarding on wall-sized whiteboards or pontificating on Google+.

Tony Karrer’s Big Question for July has a syntax that’s almost rhetorical: New Skills and Knowledge for Learning Professionals?Does he suggest that, perhaps, there is nothing new in that field?Or is he genuinely asking for innovative ideas on what skills learning professionals should have?I couldn’t help thinking how taken aback I was at Tony’s reaction to one of my last month’s posts. I’d rattled it off almost like an email reply. When he said he had to walk through it and take notes, he got me thinking about what I’d written. I went back and read it through to check that he was talking about the same post. The first bullet in the closing list on attaining proficiency read:identify the required base-knowledge/skills, foster strategies for these to be recognised as key, and provide avenues for their appropriate acquisition and practiceThat’s all very simply put in a bullet. It’s the unpacking of what’s bulletised that I think Tony’s after when he asks his Big Question.In thinking of the complexity of what is embraced in that bullet, a plethora of other lists, schemes and recent and not-so-recent ideas came to mind.I often take a backward look at Bloom’s Taxonomy, for instance.New skills?If the above heirarchy of thinking skills is of any use to the young learner, it must surely be useful in some form to a professional who is still learning. Aren’t we all supposed to be lifelong learners? Isn’t that what our glorious learning journeys are all meant to be about?Just because the so-called lower-order-thinking-skills are fundamental to the others in the list does not mean that they’re to be neglected once the higher skills are attained. You may as well forget about tyre maintenance and just see to the fine tuning of a car engine before setting off on a long drive. When it comes to traction and treads, there are always new developments in the marketplace. So it is with knowledge in the professional arena.The fundamentals of learning, understanding and application of knowledge don’t mutate simply because someone has learnt a lot. Why relegate Bloom’s Taxonomy to the classroom? There’s a deal of wisdom there that can be applied to everyday learning in the workplace.Timely remindersOften the skilled and knowledgeable person needs to be reminded of some of the strategies that are at their disposal. Knowing what to do, and having the skills to be able to do it, are only part of what a professional needs in order to exercise initiative. The other and most important element is recognising where and when these knowledge and skills can be and should be applied. This takes practice and there’s seldom much time to do this in day-to-day routines.How people think, and what that thinking is associated with, varies widely from person to person. It’s the context that’s often so important for specific thinking to occur if it's to happen at all. Innovators and naturally creative people rarely need tuition in the elements of how to be innovative or creative. Others new to these skills need relevant and appropriate contexts in order to flex their creativity and innovation.Whether it is learning to touch-type, finding out how to embed a YouTube video in an announcements page of an LMS, or constructing a new strategy from peer feedback on a project, there needs to be a focus that includes:the learner,the relevant application of what’s to be learnt,the available resources for use by the learner, andthe time allocated specifically for that up-skilling to happen.Follow through is essential: that the learner has immediate, relevant and appropriate opportunity to practice what’s been learnt.Relevant references:Andrew Churches - Bloom’s (Digital) Taxonomyhttp://edorigami.wikispaces.com/file/view/bloom%27s+Digital+taxonomy+v3.01.pdfUNESCO - Task Force on Education for the Twenty-first Centuryhttp://www.unesco.org/delors/index.htmlhttp://www.unesco.org/delors/fourpil.htmhttp://www.unesco.org/delors/delors_e.pdf

Check it out:  http://blogs.sitepoint.com/thinking-web-voices-of-the-community/Preface - Sarah Hawk (Community Manager)Chapter 1 - Anatomy of a Website by Ralph MasonRalph's chapter looks at the building blocks of a website, from hosting through to favicons, with everything in between. If you are new to the world of web, then this is the article for you.Chapter 2 - Designing in the Dark by Alex DawsonAlex examines the ideas of web accessibility and talks you through the process of identifying your audience and ensuring that your sites meet their needs and expectations.Chapter 3 - Everything Must Go by Alex DawsonAlex is back, this time discussing the concepts of web accessibility in more detail. If you want some practical advice to ensure that your sites work for everyone, then this is a must read.Chapter 4 - Going Freelance by John BordaYou might be the best web developer in the world, but if no one knows that then it's of very little use to you. John looks at some of the things that a freelancer can do in order to make a successful career in the cutthroat world of web development.Chapter 5 - Successful PSD to HTML Freelancing by Paul O'BrienIn this chapter, CSS expert Paul talks about the intricacies of quoting on and carrying out a PSD to HTML conversion job. He points out some of the pitfalls and explains how to avoid them.Chapter 6 - Write Email Markup That Doesn't Explode in the Inbox by Coyote HolmbergIf writing electronic newsletters is something that is on your radar then this article by Coyote will be invaluable. In it she discusses the dos and don'ts of writing HTML emails from the design stage right through to the sending.Chapter 7 - Make Your Website Stand Out from the Crowd by Ursula ComeauSocial media has become so commonplace that it can't be ignored if you want your business to succeed and Ursula explains how important social media and blogging can be to your website and your online marketing strategy.Chapter 8 - Information Organization and the Web by Sherry CurryYou might have the most valuable information on the planet on your website, but if it is hard to navigate then the chances of people giving up before they ever get to it are great. Sherry talks about good strategies for organising and labeling your information so that it is accessible and easy to find.Chapter 9 - Using Vector Graphics to Build a Noughts & Crosses Game by Clive WickhamIn this tutorial, Clive outlines how you can easily build a simple game of Noughts & Crosses using interactive vector graphics and explores two ways of presenting it, via SVG and HTML5 Canvas.Chapter 10 - Efficient Actionscript by Christian SnodgrassChristian examines a selection of some of the more useful Actionscript tips, tricks and techniques for use in mid-to-large projects.Chapter 11 - Databases : The Basic Concepts by Nuria ZuazoDatabases are a must for any dynamic site and some basic knowledge is necessary to make the most of your database. In this article, Nuria looks at some of the intricacies of the modern day database and how you can harness its power in your own sites.Chapter 12 - The Iceberg of TCP/IP by Robert WellockRobert skims the surface of the massive subject that is TCP/IP and looks at a selection of protocols focusing on what is most relevant toweb design or general home computing.

There is a vast area of research to be explored related to seamless learning in MOOC. A paper authored by Inge de Waard et al. reviews researches in the related field, because they believe seamless learning can perfectly complement what ‘s lack in MOOC setting. Exploring Future Seamless Learning Research Strands for Massive Open Online courses Inge de Waard, The Open University, United... Read More ›

So...this whole week I was pretty excited about the idea of riding the interest from my last two blogposts. I was all set to mount a rousing defense of Google+ as a social media tool worth greater interest from learning folks of all kinds. I really was. Maybe one day you'll get to read that blog post, replete with breathy exhortations and compelling infographics....and then, I got distracted by something shiny and buzzy. A colleague of mine who is headed to business school sent me this article, in which Robert F. Bruner, Dean of UVA's Darden School of Business, meditates on the hurdles that online education will have to surmount in higher education. I'm going to admit that my first impulse as an e-learning instructional designer after reading perusing hastily skimming the article was to fall into a bit of defensive confusion, especially with passages like this:But it’s possible that what iTunes did for music and Netflix did for films will be what online education will do to traditional colleges and universities—not a pretty prospect.(Is what iTunes and Netflix did for music and movies bad? What was that, again? Are they the same thing? Can media forms like music and movies be equated with institutions? While we're at it, has iTunes U not been a successful venture? I have questions.)After a re-read, I realized that Bruner isn't so much pooh-poohing the coming digital transformation of the traditional college experience so much as he is scoping out the roadblocks that donors might throw up when called to empty their wallets for their alma maters. Fair enough, but I'm still not convinced that the investments necessary for improving the quality an accessibility of education are getting a fair shake.Still, as an educator who has never worked in higher education, I think I may be missing something here. To explain my disconnect, I've matched Bruner's five points of potential investor balk with what I hear and think when I read them.I read: Learning platform experimentation will "require ongoing investments through time," and obsolescence is a constant danger.I hear: Educational technology is evolving, and such evolution will be expensive and full of dead ends.I think: Dot matrix printers still print. Haven't seen one in a campus library in ages.I read: While online courses may result in more effective learning experiences for students, they may not result in greater productivity for professors.I hear: Our professors may have to spend more time developing their curricula, not less. If so, what's the point?I think: This kind of thinking seems to fall into the familiar trap of trading cost for quality. It also calls into question what a given university might see as the primary role of professors.I read: Economies of scale may allow one professor to reach thousands of students. While cost effective, this sort of mass dissemination is antithetical to the 'high touch' personal attention that is the hallmark of liberal arts universities.I hear: We're afraid of separating the content and delivery from the institution itself.I think: Is the synchronous, traditional higher education classroom consistently living up to its 'high touch' potential? Is 'high touch' a thing that all higher ed institutions actually value? Also, would not innovations such as the flipped classroom allow for professor time to be further partitioned into virtual office hours? Again, this is more work for the professors, but I believe it might allow for better experiences for the students.I read: A "'star system' of well-known instructors" will "amplify the arms race for talent that already exists among colleges and universities."I hear: We'd like to state again that we're really not comfortable with the idea of separating the content and delivery from the institution itself.I think: The only way that I see online course education exacerbating this 'arms race' (!) is by removing more physical barriers to hosting 'celebrity' professors. Is a university's only argument against dumping their physics professors' sets for a series of live events with Neil de Grasse Tyson that it's hard to get him down to Charlottesville?I read: Traditional university teaching structures require a certain number of people and things, and the need for these things and people might change if we change the way that universities teach.I hear: We have made considerable investments, and are calling on our donors to continue making investments in time-honored methods. Changing our methods threatens both current and future investments.I think: Yes, yes it does.I obviously think that using technology to mix synchronous and asynchronous sessions can only help universities by increasing the depth of student engagement. Still, Bruner has a point -- someone has to pay for all of this. His meditation brings up a number of other issues that I'm not qualified to answer:How do traditional universities update their methods and structures without breaking the bank and/or alienating nostalgic investors? How can they bring alumni donors around to supporting ways of teaching that are outside of their experience and (possibly) removed from the confines of the campus itself?Even if it proves possible, is such a feat desirable?Is the value of online instruction greater at the undergraduate level than in graduate courses (or vice versa)?I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that anyone reading this has had experience with a higher ed institution as a student or as an employee. What do you think? Is this a watershed moment for colleges and universities, or soon to be a minor speed bump in the history of our higher ed institutions? Is it possible for higher ed to wait this movement out and invest in an eventual learning platform 'winner'?--Craig Wiggins has been helping people create and manage learning experiences for the last 10 years. He is the eLearning Instructional Design Strategist for the Corporate Executive Board's Corporate Leadership Council, where he manages the creation of meaningful distance learning and performance solutions. Craig holds a B.A. in anthropology and an M.Ed. in curriculum development, and spends a lot of time thinking about how to sneak usability, accessibility, and proper task analysis into the mix. In his natural habitat, he is usually storyboarding on wall-sized whiteboards or pontificating on Google+.

First of all we would like to congratulate you with 1st of September, the first day of school. To celebrate it, we are releasing a brand new Dashboard experience. Better course organization From today we are sorting courses according to … Continue reading →

Last term I overheard a teacher conversation on pedagogy:"It’s all about learning. You don’t talk about teaching anymore."I wondered about this. I thought, ‘what am I doing if I’m not teaching?’It didn’t take me long to sort out the conundrum. It was to do with the perception of a teacher ‘filling jugs’ with learning. I’d never accepted this metaphor. I’d always believed that teaching was closer to learning than the metaphor suggested.The conversation progressed and centred on the teacher:courtesy Make Beliefs ComixThere was an involved discussion before some resolution was found on the difference between knowing when something was taught, and recognising if something had been learnt.Learning is explicitly to do with the learner. Isn’t teaching to do with the learner? Is there a difference between what’s taught and what’s learnt?This post is about these two related spheres: teaching and learning.How do you find out what’s already been learnt?A good teacher asks questions. In introducing a new topic, searching questions are put to the learner to see what resident knowledge and skills abound. In doing this, the teacher may well find out what, if anything, is required to be taught.It could be that parts have already been learnt. In which case, this exploratory conversation can serve as useful revision. It may also serve as an appropriate introduction to the next part of a lesson.So it is (and should be) with elearning. By embracing the function of asking questions during an introductory part of a topic, the learner is permitted to establish where competency lies. Opportunity to tackle any associated learning deficiencies can be offered at this stage. Once a compatible group of competencies has been recognised, a learner should then be able to progress swiftly to the next sphere of learning.How do you know when something's been taught?The direct presentation of raw information in text or other visual data is so often confused with teaching. Coloured pictures, animations or videos, however well designed and accompanied by notes or other instruction, do not constitute teaching when displayed on their own.So much more is needed to engage the learner, and to satisfy a learning objective through this engagement. The key to engagement is to ask questions or otherwise provide opportunities for the learner to participate.There should be a pedagogical progression, interposed by strategic and appropriate occasions for the learner to take part in dialogue about what’s gone before. Exemplary answers are given if and when they’re needed. This so-called formative assessment achieves a number of things relevant to learning:assists the learner to think about the topic in contextprovides additional teaching for a learner who may not yet have grasped all of an idea or conceptcan confirm, and give the learner confidence, that learning is happeningSo often in an elearning environment, less confident learners can be on track, yet be unaware of their own capabilities. Formative assessment can assist the able learner by providing assurance that what they have assimilated is aligned with the learning objective.Through questions and associated dialogue a teacher can affirm that something has been taught; it must not be confused with what is learnt.How do you know what’s taught has been learnt?In the classroom, a series of questions making up a summative test, together with associated perfunctory aural questioning, can be used to establish the extent of knowledge and skill uptake.Assessing some skills may require learners to demonstrate visibly the extent of their expertise. This may not be easily achieved in a written test. Assessment of practical skills requires learners to manipulate equipment or make observations from these or to do both.In elearning, summative assessment can be just as involved. The use of video streaming or video recording, so that learners can demonstrate a skill, such as playing a musical instrument or speaking a language, can be part of summative assessment. Where appropriate, these are incorporated into NCEA assessments of distance learners in New Zealand.There is an art in designing elearning resources, as there is in teaching.Learning and good teaching are in balance with one another.When the student is ready, the master appears - Zen proverb ( 12 ) << - related posts - >> ( 10 ) ( 9 ) ( 8 ) ( 7 ) ( 6 ) ( 5 ) ( 4 ) ( 3 ) ( 2 ) ( 1 )

OnGuardOnline.govprovides practical tips from the federal government and the technology industryto help you be on guard against internet fraud, secure your computer, andprotect your personal information. The websitehas lots of great games that can be downloaded and included in your training -the download includes both published and source files!The Internet Education Foundation, through GetNetWise.org, has contributed videotutorials for OnGuardOnline.gov. These video tutorials show you step-by-stephow to change the preferences in your internet software to enhance privacy,safety, and security.Check itout:  http://www.onguardonline.gov

I think it's okay to admit one of the things that attracts us to something like curriculum design and the world of knowledge management is the idea of achieving elusive goals. While we often profess to be striving towards something measurable, 'learning' is still a deliciously vague term for what we are trying to cause or create. I think part of becoming an instructional designer is loving (or learning to love) the craft of creating conditions and designing experiences. I could probably go on for a bit to talk about the virtues of pursuing systems excellence, but I want to spend a bit of time talking about the flip side of that interest - the part where what we create is rightfully situated in the corporate or academic contexts. The part where what you create is considered a component of a product.Do you think of what you do - what you contribute - as a product? For a long time, I didn't. I thought of myself as exercising a honed skill, and it didn't really matter where I was doing it. I didn't think a lot about how things would be acquired, and the term 'product' seemed a little too crass for what I was trying to do. These days, one of the more challenging and clarifying parts of my job is to focus on the product aspect of what I do. I say product because my design is a functional piece within a larger unit that is sold. Today, I say that thinking about instructional design (in my case, e-learning instructional design) in product terms helps me to create more useful solutions. In a way, I am becoming a product manager. For me, this means three things:Focusing on the contextIn my experience, we instructional designers can at times to look at 'the business' as basically a set of limits on what we can do: not enough funding, not enough freedom, not enough appreciation for what we can really do. (If only I had that really good authoring tool, you all would see something...) There's a bit of comfort in that position, of course -- the best solutions can't be properly leveraged due to limits, so we are cleared to make do with a lesser design -- often a design pushed by those with business concerns but no instructional design experience. That is one option. Another is to look past the minor limits and focus on what your business is trying to do. (I learned the term business acumen while working for CEB. It should probably already have been in my vocabulary.) Using the desired business outcome as your north star -- continually asking what the stakeholders want the learner to do, not learn -- means that you can stay rooted in how valuable this whole endeavor (e.g., your project) really is. Maybe your approach will change. Maybe your stakeholders' resolve will founder. Either way, we shouldn't fear this kind of interaction -- we should embrace this kind of practical analysis and strive to be known for it. We are partners in creating, rather than agents of stakeholder notions, and we have to be OK with (advocate for!) destroying in order to create. Thinking about product means thinking about how we want something consumed; focusing on the context means focusing on why you are making something before getting caught up in the how.Focusing on the positioningI am not a marketing professional. I do not want to be a marketing professional. Additionally, brief summer jobs selling vacuum cleaners and steak knives taught me that I really, really hate selling things. I just want to help people do what they do better. Most of us are taught that the target audience -- the end user -- is the most important profile is the cavalcade of people who will lay hands on the end result of our work. I still believe that this is true, but thinking about the product as a whole - as something to be sold and consumed - means that sooner or later, I start thinking about who's doing the shopping. In other words: when all is said, done, developed, and set on the shelf, who or what is going to deliver your work to the end user? Maybe you sell your products externally - in this case, you should have marketing working on your behalf. But maybe the product is internally focused (i.e., for your co-workers); in this case, who or what is standing in the way of your target audience consuming your content? Think about that, and you'll open yourself to more than design and development by thinking about production and deployment - the entire system at play in a business solution, rather than simply the part that you directly control.Focusing on the ecosystemLately, I've been thinking a lot about the learning ecosystems in my company. This is something that I never expected to say, but here it is: by focusing on the product, I am more aware of other products that are vaguely or acutely related to what I have helped to produce. To make sure that I know how what I've helped to produce is interacting with other products, my business acumen has extended from my business unit to other parts of the company. If my product is to be a star in the night sky, I want it to be part of a guiding constellation of resources.I don't know if thinking this way will work for everyone, but thinking about creating a consumable resource (i.e., thinking like a product manager) has made me closer to both the people who consume the fruits of my labor and the people who help me create them. I believe that doing so is leading us to create ever more helpful solutions - a goal that suddenly doesn't seem so elusive.--Craig Wiggins has been helping people create and manage learning experiences for the last 10 years. He is the eLearning Instructional Design Strategist for the Corporate Executive Board's Corporate Leadership Council, where he manages the creation of meaningful distance learning and performance solutions. Craig holds a B.A. in anthropology and an M.Ed. in curriculum development, and spends a lot of time thinking about how to sneak usability, accessibility, and proper task analysis into the mix. In his natural habitat, he is usually storyboarding on wall-sized whiteboards or pontificating on Google+.

Responsive Open Learning Environments (ROLE) is a European funded project that has focused on both Self_Regulated learning (SRL) as well as the development and implementation of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs). It aims to exploit web-based tools and technologies to empower learners to construct their own personal learning environments (PLEs). The overall goal is to create flexible, web... Read More ›

Visualizing the 21st Century Leader When Ankit returned to his home country, India, after getting his degree in Chemical Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark, he was not the same person anymore. At that point, he had the confidence, … Continue reading →

"We are all born with an innate need to learn so as to make sense of, and learn from, our experiences. The question is why do so many students lose this natural disposition?" - Bruce HammondsBruce Hammonds’ opening statement and question in his recent post What do we all need to be lifelong learners? made me wonder why the mechanism for learning is there in the first place.While I don’t entirely disagree with his supposition about the innateness of learning, I question the innateness of a need to make sense of experiences the way he suggests.One way of rationalising the existence of the learning mechanism is that it evolved for survival. Learning what's good to eat and what's not so good would certainly assist with this. Learning to recognise dangerous situations as well as environments that are safe for settling for the night, or for raising offspring, would likewise tend towards a continued existence.These abilities to learn are innate, and it is understandable how they may have arisen through evolution. But learning from experience, as an innate tendency, is less of a drive to want to learn. It is more a mechanism for survival. To have a drive to learn needs more than just instinct. It needs curiosity - a compelling urge to want to find out.Curiosity killed the catThat ‘curiosity killed the cat’ is well known. In order to seek a learning experience, one needs the drive of the explorer, a curiosity that might be associated with a bohemian tendency to stray away from the safety of the pack.Curiosity is not always good for survival, however, and it could well be why this trait is not so prominent in some as in others. Part of the curiosity that humans display at an early age can get discouraged by parental action, justified by the idea that curiosity may incur danger.At first sight, the characteristics of curiosity and learning appear to oppose one another when it comes to survival. But, curiosity coupled with a keen tendency to learn is what all teachers look for in their students.A complement to learning?Could it be that curiosity evolved as a feature complementary to the development of the learning mechanism? Curiosity certainly seems to stimulate learning in the young child. Several education principles encourage curiosity at an early age, advocating that it permits the unimpeded development of the child.Though curiosity may be thought of as being instinctive, it has an almost random aspect to it that makes it different from many other mammalian characteristics. This complex quality of curiosity prevents it from being categorised as a true instinct. It is not innate in the traditional sense, for it is neither a behaviour that’s learnt, nor is it necessarily influenced by the environment.A strategy for finding out?What can trigger curiosity, however, is a stimulus that suggests the existence of something unknown. Just watch a cat when it senses movement in a clump of long grass. In situations like this, the creature becomes engaged in a series of actions that appear to be strategies for finding out.The curiosity that’s experienced by scientists, explorers and the like, and that drives them to search into the unknown, is often stimulated through chance observation. Yet the conscious act of being curious when these situations arise does not occur in these people by chance.Curiosity and creativityThe importance of curiosity to creativity is implicit. Creativity is a curiosity to explore innovative thought. Curiosity is also important to those who are lifelong learners. It is what drives them to continue learning.Might it be that the ability to be curious or creative cannot be imparted to everyone? Or are these abilities that should be encouraged at all ages, so that their occurrence in each individual, however scant, can be best put to use in learning throughout life?Could it be that it’s not ability to learn that’s lost in the young as they progress through school, but the curiosity that drives them to learn that is suppressed?I affirm Ken Robinson’s opinion that schools can kill creativity.

I think I may have mentioned this before, but I work with researchers - people who spend time living in data and coming up for air only when they have actionable insights in tow. In some ways this has been a bracing change of pace for me, and for the most part it has been very interesting to witness. I don't think any of my colleagues in Rosslyn would put it this way, but I like to think that the unspoken refrain in this kind of work is:look -- really look -- at what is in front of you.stop pretending that things are otherwise.act accordingly. Rinse. Repeat.I like this idea a lot. I think I like it so much because we are living in an age of unprecedented access to data and potential analysis. It's flooding into our living rooms, our classrooms, and our conversations, threatening to knock over our television viewing habits and aborting our actor sighting arguments into trips to IMDb. Never has it been easier to elicit the right answer, even taking into account the number of wrong answers that doggedly flank our prey. In the interests of taking stock of the world in which we're working - in light of all of this (and inspired by this unconference update) - let's stop pretending.Let's stop pretending that the answer to 70-20-10 is to double down on formal learning hierarchies.Let's stop pretending that 'social learning' is something new (or something that can only be achieved using social media).Let's stop pretending that what you're collecting with your LMS has a lot to show in terms of learning analytics, ROI, or business intelligence.(While we're at it, let's stop pretending that you need an LMS at all to capture information about meaningful learning experiences.)Let's stop pretending that online learning can only be canned, disembodied public access TV-style instruction with no connection to universities' missions and students' needs.For starters, let's stop pretending that live instructor-led or online education are the only (let alone ranking) games in town.Let's stop pretending that the university will be killed by online education.Let's stop pretending that we don't know (better than most) that the ones most responsive to change will survive.Let's stop pretending that the solution to crafting excellent learning experiences is going to come from Silicon Valley....or from a tool....or from a tool....or from a tool. (it bears repeating.)Let's stop pretending that tools are anything more than tools.Let's stop pretending that elearning and mlearning should exist as terms.Let's stop pretending that we even know how to spell eLearning e-learning e-Learning elearning.Let's stop pretending that any part of our value comes from shrouding our methods and knowledge in mystery.Let's stop pretending that the transparency of a common language for what we do is anything but potential #winning.Let's stop pretending that any of this is about anything other than GTD.Pelo amor de deus, can we please stop pretending that catering to learning styles is something that we should be talking about in 2012?Let's stop pretending that bowing to business pressures from stakeholders is helping anyone, in the long run.At the same time, let's stop pretending that we are not in a business of production.Let's stop pretending that some part of us didn't wish that we could please everyone.Let's stop pretending that we don't have the scars to prove that much of our value is in our spirited, educated opposition.Let's stop pretending that, somewhere along the way, we didn't allow marketers to make us look kind of dumb.Let's stop pretending that we can get away with not knowing how to work with visual and user experience design teams.Let's stop pretending that we have nothing to learn from visual and user experience design teams. (for starters, they tend to be more comfortable with the concept of design thinking than we.)Let's stop pretending that badges = fun.Let's stop pretending that this game from 2006 isn't more engaging than a fair lot of serious/educational gaming.(While we're at it, let's stop to marvel at our breathtaking getting-schooled-ness at the hands of a motivated social change organization and a clever ad firm.)Let's stop pretending that content curation isn't already a core competency.Let's stop giving the impression that we as a people have this social media thing figured out. (This is me, standing on the free soil of Google+land, staring disapprovingly at you all trying to make it work in Facebookistan. Let's get it together, my people.)Let's stop pretending that, at one point or another, we haven't for a moment wondered if we deserve to be marginalized.  (Opinions on learning are never short supply.)Let's stop pretending that what we do is to be relegated to the corner of any business or institution. What we do is central to life -- or at least, living full throttle. Let's make everyone else realize that, too.--Craig Wiggins has been helping people create and manage learning experiences for the last 10 years. He is the eLearning Instructional Design Strategist for the Corporate Executive Board's Corporate Leadership Council, where he manages the creation of meaningful distance learning and performance solutions. Craig holds a B.A. in anthropology and an M.Ed. in curriculum development, and spends a lot of time thinking about how to sneak usability, accessibility, and proper task analysis into the mix. In his natural habitat, he is usually storyboarding on wall-sized whiteboards or pontificating on Google+.

From Editorial - Inaugural Issue of the Journal of Learning Analytics Since the establishment of the Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) in 2011, the rapidly emerging learning analytics field warranted greater focus and opportunity to showcase the quality research and practice underway. As an initial step, SoLAR established the international conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge. The Journal... Read More ›

Since Eliademy was launched on 2013, we have been amazed about how many people have been able to use the platform to bring education to others. The Chiriboga Green Project Foundation has now a special place in our minds, since they … Continue reading →

I'm presenting - eLearning Guild Online Forum on 9/16.  My topic is "Is HTML5 Ready for eLearning?"  Hope you will join me!In this Online Forum, you will review many of the top trends in eLearning. Is learning through play still on the rise? What about alternate reality, simulations, and visualization? Social learning? eBooks? Storytelling? What will HTML5 mean to eLearning? What business, economic, and cultural trends will impact how, when, and where we deliver learning? Attend this Online Forum to discover the trends that will impact what and how you develop and deliver eLearning in your organization in the future.Check it out:  http://www.elearningguild.com/online-forums/content/1853/2011-olf---sept-15--16/

The LACE project brings together existing key European players in the field of learning analytics & EDM who are committed to build communities of practice and share emerging best practice in order to make progress towards four objectives. Objective 1 - Promote knowledge creation and exchange Objective 2 - Increase the evidence base Objective 3... Read More ›

The voice I hear this passing night was heardIn ancient days by emperor and clown: - John KeatsIsn’t it . . .interesting that bird-song has charmed the hearts of explorers the world over?sensational how people are stirred to dance when they hear lively music?touching how music can arouse memories of past events otherwise long forgotten?profound that some melodies, still popular today, were played so long ago their origins have been forgotten?curious how some forms of music can affect the function of the brain?remarkable that nations burst into song as a symbol of solidarity in moments of triumph or disaster?intriguing that all over the globe, mothers murmur, coo and sing to their newborn children who, at only a few days old, will invariably respond by listening or vocalising?An ancient practiceArchaeological remains of flute-like instruments suggest that music must have been known and practiced as far back as 10,000 BC.The fragmentary physical remains of musicianship represent a mere trace of the significance that music may have played in the lives of the people of those Palaeolithic times. One can only surmise that singing would also have been a component of that music. Perhaps it may well have been customary thousands of years before that era.Music has an amazing power to bring people together. Legend tells us that Apollo initiated the earliest festivals of music and poetry around 6th century BC. Cultural elements of these arts became part of the festivity of the Pythian Games.MusicalityDancing and music have been major components of cultures from time immemorial. Yet only in recent years has musicality been considered to be of key importance to communication and to human development.We live in an environment that’s steeped in rhythm and movement. If all musical devices including radio, TV, CD and DVD drives, and the Internet were mysteriously to cease to function, the rhythmical component of our day-to-day lives would still make a significant contribution to the musicality of the environment we are in.Just take a walk to the corner shop and listen to the rhythm and timbre of the sound of your footstep. Or lie still in a quiet room and sense the dull throb of your heartbeat. You become aware of the leisurely tempo of your own sibilant breathing.It may be you overhear a conversation between neighbours in the street outside, voices too faint for you to make out the words. The patterns in their speech are familiar. You may even recognise a voice from its rhythm and pitch. A bird utters its warbling chronicle from a distant perch. You recognise the call of a songthrush.New Zealand Emeritus ProfessorIn today's Radio NZ interview by Gordon Harcourt, New Zealander Colwyn Trevarthen, child psychologist and Emeritus Professor at Edinburgh University, explains the recent and not so recent researches on the mother and child relationship.He tells of the major contribution brought to that relationship through the musicality of vocal interaction. The endearing conversation of parent and baby is a musical symphony. Babies are very attentive to the ritual of these interactions and take part by actively contributing through their own movement and vocalisation. He talks of recent studies that show an exact similarity of mother and baby communication to jazz music, in terms of the structural dynamics of rhythm and pitch.Bridging the communication gap, well known in the study of autistic conditions, is made possible through music. Trevarthen introduces, through example, how communication with an autistic child can be initiated through the skilled use of rhythm.Complexity in motionTrevarthen describes the motion of the human body as polyrhythmic.It is complex owing to the ability to stand on two feet with independent movement of legs, arms and hands.He likens the complexity of the extravagant gestures of the human body to the structure of human thought.People are as individual in the way they move as they are in the way they use speech patterns to communicate. Movement and dance, speech and speech patterns all contribute to a musicality that’s unique to the human form.His idea on the origin of language, through the musicality of human interaction, is one that challenges traditional theories of the origin of speech.The 34 minute interview was broadcast today, Saturday, 11 July 2009.A Green Pen Society contribution

This month marks the end of an era. After nearly a decade and 500+ posts, we are shuttering the Learning Circuits Blog and posting exclusively on the ASTD Learning Technologies Blog. It has been a tough decision, especially with the LC Blog getting some of its highest traffic ever—thanks to the amazing group of guest bloggers who have contributed their ideas and expertise over the past 10 months. So, why are closing it down?Well, ASTD’s website redesign in April enabled us to publish blogs through our own Communities of Practice—rather than externally house them. For the past few months, we have been dual posting new content in both places, but that was never intended to be a long-term solution. So this month, we’re making the transition to post new content solely to the ASTD Learning Technologies Blog. It will still be the same great content, just on a different—and more dynamic—platform that is searchable from anywhere on the ASTD website, making it easier for users to find technology-related content. This isn’t the first time ASTD has revamped the LC Blog into a more serviceable offering. Excited about the new communication tool, we actually started our first blog somewhat ambitiously in 2002 as an experiment lead by informal learning guru Jay Cross and Learning Circuits editor Ryann Ellis. After a few years of misfires and restarts, Jay helped us relaunch the blog as we now know it on January 5, 2005, with a post laying down ground rules for a group-generated blog. In short, the rules were, no self-promotional posts, no personal attacks, and keep it brief—all good advice to heed today, no matter the platform. Indeed, over the years, the blog has seen several incarnations and a parade of learning technology thought leaders contributing content, including Clark Aldrich, Karl Kapp, Donald Clark, Dave Lee, Clark Quinn, Clive Shepherd, Harold Jarche, and most notably Tony Karrer, who was at the helm for nearly four years. We thank them and everyone else who shared their ideas, expertise, and dedication to the field. [And have no fear: For those looking for an older post, the LC Blog will remain live with all its content intact.]The final post on the LC Blog, Let’s Stop Pretending, is a fitting one. It’s been the most commented on post we’ve had in years. Written by Craig Wiggins, the post is a rally cry to all learning professionals and instructional designers. Thanks for sending us out on a high note, Craig.For August, our guest blogger is the wonderful Mayra Aixa Villar, who will share her insights on mobile learning.

Eliademy Team just released a new update with the following improvements: We noticed that you really like Eliademy Certificate of Completion, and we have made certificate sharing on social networks even easier. Now students can preview and share Certificates directly from … Continue reading →

Tuesday,Aug 2, 2011- Time: 11:00AM Pacific / 2:00PM Eastern (60 Minute Session)Joe Ganciwill discuss the factors involved with creating or repurposing eLearning forhandheld devices and show how to use Adobe Captivate with Adobe Device Central(both included in the Adobe eLearning Suite) to create, test and deliverexcellent eLearning. Users will be able to access interactive, media-richlearning experiences wherever and whenever desiredhttp://www.trainingmagnetwork.com/welcome/joeganci_aug2

The Institute for Simulation and Training at the University of Central Florida has published an online database known as the Instructional Strategies Indicator (ISI). The ISI contains 150 instructional strategies, indexed by when and where instruction occurs, the evidence for instructional efficacy, the size of the group being instructed, the expertise of the learner, and... Read More ›

Part 2 in a 4-part series on what the Human Capital Community of Practice can learn from neuroscienceNeuroscience is a field buzzing with new findings that are indisputably attention-grabbing. But what practical value do these findings offer for those in ASTD’s Human Capital Community of Practice? In part two of this four-part series on what neuroscience can offer to the Human Capital CoP, Dr. Erika Garms examines two related functions critical for our success in the workplace—focus and attention. Readers will learn what supports and challenges focus and attention so they can improve their own performance, and coach or train others in their organizations to improve their performance. We will also explore the facts and fiction surrounding multitasking, which may change the way you allocate your time and energy... continue reading

Help! And I thought I’d sneak through July without being tagged!Well it just isn’t going to happen!Paul Cornies’ recent post, 4 R's Meme: Favourite Posts, asks those tagged to select 4 of their favourite posts from their own blog, one from each of the categories: Rants, Resources, Reflections and Revelations.The posts are then listed with a brief summary on each describing:why it was important,why it had lasting value or impact,how you would update it for today.The intrepid bloggers are to tag all of their selected posts with the label postsofthepast and then select five (or so) other bloggers to tap with this meme.Here are my 4 selected posts, not all of them directly related to education:Rants - What Do You Do With A Fan Of Links?Infowhelm is ubiquitous and can even exist within a single post in the form of numerous links to dozens of associated and not so related resources. This rant-category post raged about the problem and brought forth sympathy, further discussion and some solutions. I’d like to be able to write more posts like this one.Resources - Ship-shape and Bristol FashionI needed to write 'Ship-shape and Bristol Fashion' to find out, firsthand, that bloggers have their own strong beliefs about their practices in publishing a post. I was aware that some readers may not have been familiar with the possibility of hazardous html and how it may be introduced. What I did not anticipate was that in the territory of other experienced bloggers, this topic could be hallowed ground.Reflections - Collective behaviourGroup dynamics is a current issue that’s the subject of numerous studies at different levels in society. The behaviour of the group, as opposed to the behaviour of its component individual acting as an isolate, is a paradox. This was a popular post that didn’t really put forward enough questions to stimulate further engagement through comments.Revelations - In Praise of Plaudit Positive feedback is such an important encourager for the learner and especially the isolated distance-learner. It is one of the cornerstones of learner engagement.'In Praise of Plaudit' sparked a discussion in comments that affirmed the need for teachers, tutors and elearning technologists to embrace the importance of learner encouragement through feedback.What I didn’t take into account when I wrote the post was that every educator has their own perspective on the learner. It is perhaps unclear to those who have not experienced distance-learner contact firsthand, the important differences between learners who have face-to-face contact with tuition and the needy situations so often experienced by isolated distance-learners.I tag the following intrepid and much respected bloggers:Andrea HernandezCafé ChickKen StewartManish MohanVirginia YonkersRemember to tag your post with the label postsofthepast.