In this weekly Media Literacy Digest, open education and connectivism advocate George Siemens, takes you to news and stories on emergent media, technology and learning that can help you make greater sense of the revolutionary changes taking place all around you.

Photo credit: delion

Inside this Media Literacy Digest:

• Google – Chrome Frame is a service that runs Chrome directly in Internet Explorer. Next, Google announces Sidewiki.
• What I Think Connectivism Is… – Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2009 is in full swing. The Daily is experiencing a bit of a delay as Stephen’s website (and OLDaily) are recovering from a rather significant attack.
• Trends and Issues In Open and Distance Learning In Africa – Dave Cormier and I are offering a bi-lingual (French / English) open online course on emerging technologies for learning starting Oct. 12.
• Networked Learning 2010 Preconference Online Hot Seats – Networked Learning 2010 conference is hosting a series of online “hot seats” over the next few months. These online sessions are free to attend, but registration is required.
• Corporate Learning: Trends and Implications – I am pleased to announce our third annual LearnTrends online(and free) conference on corporate learning, to be held November 17-19, 2009.
• Scaling Mt. Idiocy – As I read another article about another business leader declaring the obsolescence of universities, I started thinking about how absurd this language would sound if we applied it to other large institutions.
• Speed of Memes – Messages spread much quicker than they used to… but satire still reigns supreme as a means of creating artifacts for sharing cultural humour.

Here all the details:

eLearning Resources and News

learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends

by George Siemens

Google

Google has been busy this week: Chrome Frame is a service that runs Chrome directly in Internet Explorer. The announcement provides more detail. It is Google’s way of letting Microsoft know that inefficiencies can be bypassed.

I am a bit negative on Microsoft these days. I am teaching a course using Sharepoint (an Old English term meaning “hell“). It is horrendous.

Please, if you like the people or customers you work with, never, ever, make them use Sharepoint.

Microsoft understands systems / process. But not end users.

Next, Google announces Sidewiki.

Sidewiki lets users post comments on web pages through the Google Toolbar. This is not new – StumbleUpon and Diigo offer similar services. But Google has scope, reach, and the ability to integrate the service quickly into the online habits of users.

But, the more Google innovates (meaning – wants to assist in my online interaction and data creation / consumption) the more concerned I become. Others feel the same way.

And, in case you are wondering how Google got to the point of owning everything online, the summary of their acquisitions is a good starting point.

What I Think Connectivism Is…

Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2009 is in full swing.

The value of a distributed course is found in these points of failure.

If one tool goes down, other options exist. In this instance, I want to draw attention to a somewhat interesting conversation thread on Moodle: What I think connectivism is…

Trends and Issues In Open and Distance Learning In Africa

Dave Cormier and I are offering a bi-lingual (French / English) open online course on emerging technologies for learning starting Oct. 12.

The course is part of a grant from OSIWA and a collaboration between Association of African Universities and University of Manitoba. I will post more information on this in the next week or so. The course is directed to African learners, but others are welcome to participate.

With that course on my mind, I was quite please to see the most recent edition of IRRODL focused on Trends and Issues in Open and Distance Learning in Africa.

Networked Learning 2010 Preconference Online Hot Seats

Networked Learning 2010 conference is hosting a series of online “hot seats” over the next few months. These online sessions are free to attend, but registration is required. Details and schedule can be found here.

I am looking forward to Caroline Haythornthwaite’s discussion next week (Sept 28) – she has done fascinating work around evaluating language use (noun-phrase analysis in online communities as well as media use in strong / weak tie formation).

Stephen Downes and I are scheduled at the end of October. Sessions continue into early 2010.

Corporate Learning: Trends and Implications

I am pleased to announce our third annual LearnTrends online (and free) conference on corporate learning, to be held November 17-19, 2009.

Tony Karrer has more detailed information on his site:

“The theme / focus this year is on Convergence in Workplace Learning.

We will bring together people who look at different aspects of learning and knowledge work to understand better what is going on in those areas and how we should be thinking about this holistically.“

This year, we are going to focus more on highlighting examples of innovative projects, products and companies.

If you would like to submit an entity to be considered for innovation, please see Tony’s post.

Scaling Mt. Idiocy

I am a strong proponent in advocating for universities to change. But, universities are systems. You cannot alter one aspect without creating a ripple effect of unintended consequences.

As I read another article about another business leader declaring the obsolescence of universities (a Latin phrase meaning “to scale Mt. Idiocy“), I started thinking about how absurd this language would sound if we applied it to other large institutions.

Let’s try banks:

• “Banks are obsolete because they were founded in an industrial era mindset” (they were not, but neither was teaching, so misinformation works here too)
• “Banks are too bloated. They cannot survive. They need to completely change in order to meet the needs of today’s world“
• “Now that we have the internet, people will not need banks anymore” (do not worry if it does not make sense… As Meister Mt Scaler Tapscott has proven, accuracy can be subverted by sensationalism).
• “People no longer need money, they will just share everything online“

…and the list could go on.

Try it – pick your own favorite industry. You too can play the game!

Speed of Memes

Messages spread much quicker than they used to… but satire still reigns supreme as a means of creating artifacts for sharing cultural humour.

Yo Kanye, I’mma let you have one of the best memes of all time discusses how changes in cultural memes are influenced by collective “knowing what to do“:

What is most remarkable about this is the speed with which it happened.

We are used to seeing a meme bubble up from the Web’s danker crevices, spreading from site to site over a period of months until it hits a tipping point and becomes unavoidable.

But once Kanye West opened his trap and bequeathed a pop-culture moment upon us, it was as if everyone sprang to meme action stations.

We have had the drills; we know what to do.

This might be pushing the lesson here a bit, but early broadcasters needed to figure out what worked or did not with audiences.

TV is largely stableThe odd moment of a new trend – such as reality TV – quickly sets in play predictable duplication.

Perhaps, what we are seeing with memes and sharing on sites like YouTube is that the mass of amateurs are similarly developing a tool kit of shared artistic (?) responses to novel events.

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on September 24th, 2009 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About George Siemens

George Siemens is the Associate Director in the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba. George blogs at www.elearnspace.org where he shares his vision on the educational landscape and the impact that media technologies have on the educational system. George Siemens is also the author of Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age and the book “Knowing Knowledge” where he develops a learning theory called connectivism which uses a network as the central metaphor for learning and focuses on knowledge as a way to making connections.

Photo credits:
Google – Zonkio
What I Think Connectivism Is… – Yurok Aleksandrovich
Trends and Issues In Open and Distance Learning In Africa – adama01
Networked Learning 2010 Preconference Online Hot Seats – Chris Lamphear
Corporate Learning: Trends and Implications – elearningtech
Scaling Mt. Idiocy – Ralf Kraft
Speed of Memes – yellow2j

In this weekly Media Literacy Digest, open education advocate George Siemens, explores and reports about emergent media, learning, education and on the future impact that new technologies may have on society.

Photo credit: rgbspace

Inside this Media Literacy Digest:

• Untangling The Web – Why do two people share information with each other? What impact does a connection (social or conceptual) have on a learner’s level of understanding a subject?
• Microsoft and Google – For most of the late 80’s and into early 2000, innovation on the desktop seemed slow or even non-existent. Microsoft dominated the personal computer experience. That has changed.
• Identity, Memory, Death and The Internet – Dave Cormier offers an insightful (and touching) post on how identity and memory are preserved online.
• Taming Digital Distractions – It is always been easy to find distractions (going for coffee with a colleague, chats around the water cooler), but even then, a bit of effort was required. I actually had to leave my office.
• The Future of Work – Britannica is getting sloppy with their blog postings. Most posts – even ones I disagree with – are usually fairly well thought-out. Then, they post this: The Future World of Work: Flexible and Decentralized.
• Thoughts On New Learning – Is connective learning naturally self-reinforcing? Is the building of community a means to an end (learning), an end in and of itself, or both?
• Immediacy – The implications of immediacy is particularly interesting. What used to be an off the record comment can now be broadcast immediately.
• Why Studies About Multitasking Are Missing The Point – If you judge a juggler by how many times the balls hit the floor and contrast that with someone throwing and catching one ball at a time, the juggler will always lose.
• Information Rich… and Attention Poor – What changes in how we access information? How we process it? What types of tools do we need to cope?
• Liberating Data From Google – The DataLiberation initiative by Google is a huge step in the right direction.

Here all the details:

eLearning Resources and News

learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends

by George Siemens

Untangling The Web

Networks serve as a useful model to describe electricity grids, business activity, the internet, spread of diseases, and even obesity.

Caution is warranted, however, in over emphasizing networks.

In themselves, networks reveal a structure and mode of organizing. They can serve as both a foundation on which to build societal structures (such as education) and as a gateway to action.

Network analysis reveals the flow of information in an organization.

As important as the structure itself is the why and how of connection forming.

• Why do two people share information with each other?
• What impact does a connection (social or conceptual) have on a learner’s level of understanding a subject?

Mindhacks links to several reports addressing network structures underlying happiness and health.

Microsoft and Google

For most of the late 80’s and into early 2000, innovation on the desktop seemed slow or even non-existent.

Microsoft dominated the personal computer experience. That has changed.

Between Apple, Google, and open source software, innovation abounds.

• New devices (iPhone),
• views of software (cloud computing) and
• applications (Google Docs)

have generated a new spirit of progress around information and communication technologies.

Microsoft recognizes the threat and is responding by developing an online version of its Office suite. Techcrunch has a (mostly) positive overview of the service, expected for public release next year.

Identity, Memory, Death and The Internet

Dave Cormier offers an insightful (and touching) post on how identity and memory are preserved online. He compares the passing of a colleague (last year) and his brother (20 years ago) and how they are remembered today.

The identity people create online today is, in a sense, a gift to their children and future generations. I know my grandparents through a few black and white pictures. As Cormier notes, his children / grandchildren will know him through rich media. Memories preserved in full colour.

Too often, when discussing identity, the focus rests on “do not post this online, you will regret it in the future when you are [running for office, interviewing for a new job, etc.]“. The flip side of this argument is aptly expressed in Dave’s post.

Taming Digital Distractions

Forget multitasking.

The real challenge many people face in work productivity is coping with distractions. I find it rather easy to ignore activities I ought to be doing with sites like

• YouTube,
• Twitter,
• Google News,
• Facebook and
• Google Reader

at my finger tips.

It is always been easy to find distractions (going for coffee with a colleague, chats around the water cooler), but even then, a bit of effort was required. I actually had to leave my office.

Now, distractions are much more accessible. But there are ways of coping with, of course, more technology.

The Future of Work

Britannica is getting sloppy with their blog postings. Most posts – even ones I disagree with – are usually fairly well though-tout.

Then, they post this: The Future World of Work: Flexible and Decentralized. The post is poorly presented and largely speculative. Most obvious is the generational argument.

Work in organizations is changing. That has nothing to do with generational differences. Technological advances in communication and collaboration tools are producing a distributed workforce. What does that have to do with age?

The idea that work is changing is worth exploring. The concept that it is generational is silly.

Thoughts On New Learning

With CCK09 now underway, I am having a bit of trouble keeping up with posts and reflections of learners.

We encourage individuals to set up blogs (or use Moodle, SecondLife, whatever else)… and reading blog posts takes more effort than reading discussion forums.

• Discussion forum posts are generally shorter and the context is often established by the original post.
• Blogs also appear to be a better environment for a deeper level of analysis. I am not sure why – perhaps it is due to the sense of personal space or identity.

Thoughts on new learning:

“… Humans have an innate motivation to participate in shared knowlege and that it is this motivation that makes writing for “real” audiences more rewarding for students than writing for an individual “teacher”… is connective learning naturally self-reinforcing?

Is the building of community a means to an end (learning), an end in and of itself, or both?

Put another way, would you keep writing your blog of you knew nobody was reading it?“

Immediacy

Location and immediacy are two big trends developing in part to mobile devices – constant connectivity enables us to receive information in context – i.e. location… and microblogging produces a constant flow of information. The implications of immediacy is particularly interesting.

What used to be an off the record comment can now be broadcast immediately.

Consider Obama’s experience this week. For celebrities and leaders, the concept of a “safe zone” or an “off period” simply do not exist.

I wonder how many higher education faculty are blissfully unaware that their statements / lecture habits / clothing choice are the topic of lively discussion and commentary on Facebook / Twitter / Friendfeed?

Why Studies About Multitasking Are Missing The Point

Multitasking has gotten bad publicity recently.

I personally do not think I multitask – I task switch. Some people can task switch rapidly. Others prefer to focus on one element at a time. However, this article – why studies about multitasking Are missing the point – takes a different stance.

The author states:

“If you judge a juggler by how many times the balls hit the floor and contrast that with someone throwing and catching one ball at a time, the juggler will always lose. But the juggler is doing something different“.

This is a valid point, but it also misses the differences in the type of activities we engage in.

When I am involved in “flow” activities, I jump from my RSS reader, to my blog, to delicious, to a Skype chat, to Tweetdeck, to an online news site, etc.

But… when I want to create something (a paper, design a course, create a podcast), I need a different approach. If I continue to utilize a flow approach, I will likely not apply the depth of thinking needed to complete the project well.

Context is king. Approaches to learning and interacting are rooted in differing contexts.

Information Rich… and Attention Poor

Information rich, and attention poor addresses a frustration many of us feel: There is too much! it is all going too fast!

I agree with the author that attention is the attribute in greatest demand today. But that misses an important point: Abundance is not simply more, it is also different. Which means (and the author addresses this slightly at the end of the article) we need to think about what changes in this world of “much more“.

• What changes in how we access information?
• How we process it?
• What types of tools do we need to cope? (i.e. visualization tools and methods).
• Where is our education system falling short?

In my own, obviously non-opinionated view, education as a system has an opportunity to take a different view of how educational experiences are designed and delivered.

Open online courses – such as CCK09 – serve as a transparent experiment.

• How effective is sensemaking in social networks in relation to traditional course cohorts?
• What role should the educator play?
• And what role should students play?

Liberating Data From Google

I am frequently negative on Google (largely because in a few year’s time, Google will likely have a similar lock-in in many of its services / markets to what Microsoft had at its peak). However, the DataLiberation initiative by Google is a huge step in the right direction:

At the heart of this lies our strong commitment to an open web run on open standards.

We think open is better than closed – not because closed is inherently bad, but because when it is easy for users to leave your product, there is a sense of urgency to improve and innovate in order to keep your users.

When your users are locked in, there is a strong temptation to be complacent and focus less on making your product better.

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on September 18th, 2009 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About George Siemens

George Siemens is the Associate Director in the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba. George blogs at www.elearnspace.org where he shares his vision on the educational landscape and the impact that media technologies have on the educational system. George Siemens is also the author of Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age and the book “Knowing Knowledge” where he developes a learning theory called connectivism which uses a network as the central metaphor for learning and focuses on knowledge as a way to making connections.

Photo credits:
Untangling The Web – Mostafa Fawzy
Microsoft and Google – Blogs Zdnet
Identity, Memory, Death and The Internet – Vasyl Yakobchuk
Taming Digital Distractions – Pitchengine
The Future of Work – Linda Bucklin
Thoughts On New Learning – Jacek Chabraszewski
Immediacy – Chris Lamphear
Why Studies About Multitasking Are Missing The Point – Arpad Nagy-Bagoly
Information Rich… and Attention Poor – Yegor Korzh
Liberating Data From Google – Google Public Policy Blogspot

In this weekly Media Literacy Digest, open education advocate George Siemens, reports on emergent media and technology issues and on the future impact that these new technologies may have on the way you work, learn and interact with others.

Photo credit: Cyprien Lomas

Inside this Media Literacy Digest:

• Reorganizing For The Online Environment – Many institutions are slow to react to technology. Systemic inefficiencies trail new opportunities and technological affordances.
• Google Internet Stats – Once data has been sucked into Google Giant Vacuum Cache, it is ripe for analysis. After a decade of collecting (and digitizing) Google has created an astonishing resource that is ripe for value exploitation.
• Passionate Creatives –
  John Hagel talks about Passionate Creatives. For a growing segment of society, geography no longer restricts opportunity.
• Frequent Releases Change Software Engineering – Design of software and design of learning share similar attributes. I would go so far as to say that instructional design would benefit from considering how software design has changed over the last decade.
• The Cloud and Collaboration – Stephen Downes (in addition to hurling the odd grenade my way) consistently demonstrates the ability to provide innovative and critical commentary on concepts that many people accept on the surface.
• Virtual Learning Reports of The Demise of The VLE / LMS Are Greatly Exaggerated – The challenge with personal learning environments is most notable in how they fail to align with existing learning structures in schools and universities.
• Wiki Growth – How do you evaluate the impact of wikis on learning? Or, how do you research the contributions that wikis make to information creation and sharing?

Here all the details:

eLearning Resources and News

learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends

by George Siemens

Reorganizing For The Online Environment

Many institutions are slow to react to technology. Systemic inefficiencies trail new opportunities and technological affordances.

For example, somewhere in the past at an unnamed institution, I developed a course for online delivery. We had many international students from Hong Kong and other Asian countries. The registration department at this organization handled enrollment and contacted learners with access information.

When the course started, I noticed limited interaction in the online forums. I emailed the students to encourage them to log in and post introductions. I received several replies: we do not have access information. I then contacted the registration department. “Has contact information been sent?” I asked. “Yes”. “When?”. “We sent it on Friday”. “Oh, that is strange” I say “most students don’t have the information”. “Well, we only mailed the packages on Friday”. “MAILED?!?”. “Yes”.
Oh well. We move slowly in new directions… at least until we feel threatened.

Many educators do not feel a sense of urgency around technology adoption. But many aspects of our organizations need to be adjusted to reflect what is possible with technology. Sometimes the answer is not clear (for example, Wikipedia’s decision around how to record historical events).

At other times, the decision is really quite simple (i.e. email vs. mail). I wonder how much productivity people and organizations lose as result of failure to rethink existing “ways of doing things”…

Google Internet Stats

No company in the world has access to more data and more data processing power than Google.

Once data has been sucked into Google Giant Vacuum Cache, it is ripe for analysis. After a decade of collecting (and digitizing) Google has created an astonishing resource that is ripe for value exploitation.

Many organizations and companies have idly watched Google conquer a domain more completely than Alexandar the Great could have ever dreamed. It only makes sense that Google reveals a little bit of its long term intention: Google internet stats.

This is child’s play at this stage, but more value-driven data analysis will be developed soon. The data is there. Mining is next. When you organize the worlds data, you are eventually able to organize the world according to your interests as well.

Passionate Creatives

John Hagel talks about Passionate Creatives:

Many of us have suppressed our passions in an attempt to fit in and integrate ourselves into a world that expected stability, predictability and safety. But they remain in the margins of our lives or in the daydreams that distract us from our daily tasks. Our challenge is to re-discover and cultivate them, moving them from the margins into the center of our lives.

The article is a bit irritating at times – manifestos have a way of feeling dated once the emotions that drove their writing wears off – but captures a reality that I think many people experience daily.

For a growing segment of society, geography no longer restricts opportunity.

When I was at Red River College, I found great value in blogging as a means to connect with others outside of the college. There were only a few of us “online learning” folks at the campus…and many colleges / universities around the world also had a few. As a result, in pockets of two’s and three’s, a network of passionately creative people emerged around learning and technology.

Frequent Releases Change Software Engineering

Design of software and design of learning share similar attributes.

I would go so far as to say that instructional design would benefit from considering how software design has changed over the last decade.

Consider this article as a quick overview – Frequent releases change software engineering:

The main reason to consider frequent deployments is not the direct impact of getting software out to customers more quickly, but the indirect impact internally.

Frequent releases force changes in how an organization develops software. These changes ultimately reduce risk, speed development, and improve the product.

The Cloud and Collaboration

Stephen Downes (in addition to hurling the odd grenade my way) consistently demonstrates the ability to provide innovative and critical commentary on concepts that many people accept on the surface.

His most recent presentation on The Cloud and Collaboration is a good example.

The talk (short – only 20 minutes) juxtaposes neural architecture and functioning with existing models of collaboration in society. He makes a compelling argument: if we use the “global technological / networked brain” as an example, then we need to base it on an accurate understanding of how the brain actually works.

If it is neural structure we desire, then we need to rethink privileged / star individual mentality in society and in learning. As he puts it, there is no head neuron in the brain. Toward the end of the talk he moves into a discussion of socialism (unrelated, but humorous: Ze Frank on Labor Day and Socialism) and attributes of networks.

Virtual Learning Reports of The Demise of The VLE / LMS Are Greatly Exaggerated

Niall Sclater summarizes with anti / pro-learning management system rhetoric (I am proud to say that I have contributed to the rhetoric: LMS: Wrong place to start elearning and Learning or Management System?).

According to Niall:

Whether VLEs are any good at facilitating effective learning as well depends on the imagination and skills of those creating the content hosted by them and the activities facilitated by them. Meanwhile, denial-of-service attacks permitting, social networking sites and free learning content go from strength to strength for those with the time and inclination to engage with them.

The challenge with personal learning environments is most notable in how they fail to align with existing learning structures in schools and universities (see my earlier commentary on the systematization of education).

LMS’ are used in corporations and schools because they support the existing structure. By supporting the existing structure, they also play a role in preserving it. A co-dependent addiction…

Wiki Growth

We have been running wikis in our department at U of Manitoba for three years. The project is very much grassroots.

We installed Mediawiki and began experimenting. As a result, numerous faculty members have requested additional wiki installs for their classes and research.

The question becomes: how do you evaluate the impact of wikis on learning? Or, how do you research the contributions that wikis make to information creation and sharing? Or, for that matter, what would educators be using if they didn’t have access to a hosted wiki and would it be better / worse?

Delft University, running what looks like a similar wiki project to ours, offers a variety of visualizations of wiki activity:

• Edits,
• co-authorship,
• article / page connectedness (to other pages).

Research of this type is interesting, but fails to get at the bigger questions of impact.

What have wikis added that would not have been possible in their absence? Activity and co-authorship are basic metrics, similar to saying “Jane and Bob talked to each other four times during a group project in class“. That is nice. Now what does it mean? What did that interaction contribute to learning?

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on September 11th, 2009 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About George Siemens

George Siemens is the Associate Director in the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba. George blogs at www.elearnspace.org where he shares his vision on the educational landscape and the impact that media technologies have on the educational system. George Siemens is also the author of Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age and the book “Knowing Knowledge” where he developes a learning theory called connectivism which uses a network as the central metaphor for learning and focuses on knowledge as a way to making connections.

Photo credits:
Reorganizing For The Online Environment – Plevnjak
Google Internet Stats – Google
Passionate Creatives – Michele Piacquadio
The Cloud and Collaboration – Krisdog
Virtual Learning Reports Of The Demise Of The VLE / LMS Are Greatly Exaggerated – Ljupco Smokovski
Wiki Growth – No More Game Blogs
Wiki Growth – Michael Brown

In this weekly Media Literacy Digest, open education advocate George Siemens, shares his latest insights, discoveries and doubts on the impact that information and communication technologies have on our society and work.

Photo credit: Sunil Kumar

Inside this Media Literacy Digest:

• Struggling For a Metaphor of Change – I am trying to find a metaphor of change that captures what is happening in society, technology, education, training, learning and development.
• Social Media, Connectivism – Two reminders: the next social media session and the open Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2009 course.
• How Companies Are Benefiting From Web 2.0 – A report that tries to quantify value generated from use of emerging technologies on internal processes, customer interactions and supplier interactions.
• The Doomed Global Campus – Universities are trying to unlock the online education model. Many fail. Global Campus is the most recent.
• More Aggregation Fun – “We have limits to our cognitive capacity. As a result, we will have to look for new methods to make sense of abundance.“
• Putting It Together Again – The web has been quite effective at breaking down content elements from coherent frameworks to fragmented pieces. This causes confusion and frustration for many.
• 3D Video Conferencing – This video demonstrates 3D video conferencing with eye contact and person to person (rather than person to camera) communication.
• Getting Started With Visualization – Data visualization serves a grunt cognition role: patterns and connections are revealed in an image that might take hours (or days) to discover otherwise.
• Paying For Content? – PaidContent analyzes the current state of “pay for online” newspapers. Result? Mixed.
• Online Learning As a Strategic Asset – Online Learning as a Strategic Asset is a good report, addressing many of the pitfalls I often see in universities and colleges as departments decide they need this internet thing for their courses.

Here all the details:

eLearning Resources and News

learning, networks, knowledge, technology, trends

by George Siemens

Struggling For a Metaphor of Change

I am trying to find a metaphor of change that captures what is happening in:

• society,
• technology,
• education,
• training,
• learning,
• development.

I doubt a single metaphor will do… or if one can be found, it will need to account for

• multiple,
• simultaneous,
• chaotic,
• disruptive change pressures.

Anyway, the post: Struggling for a metaphor for change.

Social Media, Connectivism

Two quick, random, reminders:

Dave Cormier and I will be hosting the next social media session (no charge) with AACE on Tuesday, September 8. Information is available here.

The open Connectivism and Connective Knowledge 2009 (CCK09) course (Stephen Downes and I are facilitating) will begin in about a weeks time. Registration is free…or you can enroll for credit if you are so moved.

How Companies Are Benefiting From Web 2.0

A free report (registration required) on how companies are benefiting from web 2.0:

We found that successful companies not only tightly integrate Web 2.0 technologies with the work flows of their employees but also create a “networked company,” linking themselves with customers and suppliers through the use of Web 2.0 tools.

Despite the current recession, respondents overwhelmingly say that they will continue to invest in Web 2.0.

The report tries to quantify value generated from use of emerging technologies on internal processes, customer interactions, and supplier interactions.

• Blogs,
• video sharing,
• RSS,
• social networking services,
• wikis

are prominent.

Not surprisingly, results and benefits centre on increased knowledge sharing and exchange of ideas.

The Doomed Global Campus

(Some) Universities are trying to unlock the online education model. Many fail. Global Campus is the most recent. The problem in this instance is not with the online environment, but with the model of implementation.

Faculty – who as I understand it are often required in formal education – were marginalized as the university sought to duplicate for-profit models.

Universities serve a different role in society than the one served by private industry. University leaders need to come to some understanding of this distinction.

What is the value formal higher education plays in society? Play to come to some understanding of this distinction.

Stop trying to be a second rate University of Phoenix or Capella or Walden.

Unfortunately, I suspect the failure of Global Campus will provide naysayers with an example of why online education does not. The real lesson here is one of implementation failure.

More Aggregation Fun

I am, once again, on a visualization kick. Something has to give in our ability to manage information.

We have limits to our cognitive capacity. As a result, we will have to look for new methods to make sense of abundance. Webtrendmap uses the following model:

Click above to enlarge image

The model emphasizes the role of curators (slightly related: curatorial teaching) in support of aggregation.

What fun we are having with data.

Putting It Together Again

The web has been quite effective at breaking down content elements from coherent frameworks to fragmented pieces. This causes confusion and frustration for many (learners in particular can be overwhelmed when trying to form a coherent narrative of a complex subject without the guide of a book or course).

Breaking things down into smaller pieces was a necessary step to lead into the more important work of repacking elements to reflect varying contexts and interests.

Tony Hirst is brilliant at this – he treats data as a paint brush to create new information canvases (i.e. overlaying twitter feeds to YouTube presentations).

Powerhouse Museum is channeling Tony: About NSW – an important post detailing their effort “to build a contextual discovery service that assists in exposing existing content online“.

Similarly, the key to open education effectiveness is not in making the resources available…it is in packaging them in a contextual manner without heavy curatorial oversight.

3D Video Conferencing

The quality (authenticity?) of video conferencing has improved significantly over the last several years.

I deliver video conference presentations to conferences or organizations fairly regularly. University of Manitoba, point of origin for most of my video conferencing, uses Tandberg. The experience is… ok.

It is tough presenting to a conference when you, as the presenter, lack visual cues. Sure, you can see the people seated around tables and you can see the layout of the room, but if it is a larger group, you miss the important communication signals of eye contact, raised eyebrows… or people falling asleep.

Video conferencing with smaller groups does allow for transition of greater detail (a smile, confused look), but it does not allow for eye contact. Contact is with the camera. Tracking eye movement is important for feeling connected with others.

This video, via Workplace Learning Today, demonstrates 3D video conferencing with eye contact and person to person (rather than person to camera) communication. It is rudimentary, but still seems to add a different dimension to video conferencing.

Getting Started With Visualization

Data visualization serves a grunt cognition role: patterns and connections are revealed in an image that might take hours (or days) to discover otherwise.

For example – a tag cloud is a quick snapshot of popularity of certain topics in a paper (when posted in a site like Many Eyes) or on a website. Or look at this image of the learning management system marketplace, providing information about the development of the LMS field, acquisitions, and market share.

The ability to visualize data to explore patterns is a basic literacy… and will continue to grow in importance as information quantity increases.

FlowingData has posted a summary of how to get started with visualization:

Are you looking to get into data visualization, but do not quite know where to begin?

With all of the available tools to help you visualize data, it can be confusing where to start.

The good news is, well, that there are a lot of (free) available tools out there to help you get started. It is just a matter of deciding which one suits you best. This is a guide to help you figure that out.

Paying For Content?

I guess it is a natural progression:

1. Newspapers ignore the online environment,
2. realize it is important and try to charge for content online,
3. realize people do not want to pay,
4. newspapers offer content for free,
5. they realize they are not profitable,
6. they decide to charge again.

This progress is natural because newspapers are attempting to preserve existing models. Which means they will continue to return to the same methods that work well in the past. In fact, they will become obstinate – yesterday’s survival tactics become today’s neurosis.

PaidContent analyzes the current state of “pay for online” newspapers. Result? Mixed. Some smaller markets are fairing well. Others report huge drops in site visits.

Online Learning As a Strategic Asset

The use of online and blended learning in traditional courses and training programs is fairly diverse.

In some instances, faculty members or trainers simply decide they want to try podcasting or blogs or video in their courses. These bubbles of innovation exist on almost any campus or organization.

In other instances – more rare and expensive – an organization plans to “move online“. This involves a change in:

• design process,
• allocation of resources,
• new policies,
• skill development of staff or trainers.

This process can be effective if it is taken with a strategic view on transforming the learning experience for the online environment, rather than simply transferring it.

A valuable report (in two parts) has been produced by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities and Sloan-C: Online Learning as a Strategic Asset.

It is a good report, addressing many of the pitfalls I often see in universities and colleges as departments decide they need this internet thing for their courses (a realization often facilitated by the loss of students to institutions that offer online programs).

The section on faculty is quite insightful: 24% of faculty responding teach at least one online course (that seems high), only 9% were developing online courses, more females than males teach online, most faculty teach online to meet needs of student flexibility.

My complaint: a fine line exists between providing structure for innovation to flourish and killing innovation. At parts (especially when the focus turns to benchmarking and intellectual property), the report veers into the land of innovation killing.

Related: Terry Anderson and I are offering a face-to-face workshop in November: strategic considerations of technology.

Originally written by George Siemens for elearnspace and first published on September 3rd, 2009 in his newsletter eLearning Resources and News.

About George Siemens

George Siemens is the Associate Director in the Learning Technologies Centre at the University of Manitoba. George blogs at www.elearnspace.org where he shares his vision on the educational landscape and the impact that media technologies have on the educational system. George Siemens is also the author of Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age and the book “Knowing Knowledge” where he developes a learning theory called connectivism which uses a network as the central metaphor for learning and focuses on knowledge as a way to making connections.

Photo credits:
Struggling For a Metaphor of Change – World Culture Pictorial
Social Media, Connectivism – GTS Community
How Companies Are Benefiting From Web 2.0 – Grki
The Doomed Global Campus – Eye My Degree
More Aggregation Fun – Roman Lebedev
Putting It Together Again – Vitalik
3D Video Conferencing – Picpics
Getting Started With Visualization – Ktsdesign
Paying For Content? – Elena Aliaga
Online Learning As a Strategic Asset – Bruce Shippee