Nicole Blogs

Additional thought stream…

…I have already established the players (see previous post), now with the last weeks readings, what do these roles need to do.

1. Support: Cognitive, technical, emotional
2. Scaffolding: Experts, resources, repository of information (including previous learners learninig! re-use)
3. Time spent on task/personal interest - learner motivation – want to complete the learning vs choose to complete the learning.
4. Lifestyle – work/life balance – time poor – activation of prior knowledge.
5. When does the ID let go – training the trainer.
6. Application in the workplace – real life activities.
7. Colleagues and classmates and managers
8. Oranisational culture

Let’s see where all of that has taken me…

In my assignment, I will be investigating further…

1. Learner Engagement (igniting personal interest – co-design)

2. Formal and Informal Learning

3. Workplace/authentic activities

4. Collaborative Online Learning

Ok, so this is my inital draft – there are some crazy arrows that I was trying to work out, but I think it isn’t about the learner in the centre anymore in my industry…evryone has an equal stake in the game:

1. The organisation has a quota

2. The external client (often within the organisation) has a task (designated by the organisation)

3. The ID has a tug of war between what they believe is instructionally sound and entertaining…and what the client wants

4. The internal client (multimedia devs/graphics etc) a great source of ideas and what can and can’t be done within the budget.

5. The learner – in business, are they there to actually learn – I mean learn for the sake of learning – or to tick a box, get a payrise, not get fired, have a competitive edge for a promotion, build skills to leave the organisation???

Oh what a cynical view I have right now…

After leaving my initial thoughts regarding the facebook group on my blog, picking up Wenger’s work put things in perspective for me in terms of what learning is versus entertainment.

I thought entertainment was an excellent parellel to relate back to a group housed in facebook! While I could certainly see potential in the facebook group for a learning environment I have to admit that I was tempted quite easily by the entainment value of the medium (3 people poked me, 1 added me as a friend, and 1 used their special super-hero power on me!)

Despite Wenger’s crazy name and passion for making up words (’reification’ – who? that took some extra reading I also had to admire his obvious passion for learning – I related to his need for a ‘negotiation of meaning’ it made me think back to some of my own powerful learning experiences and reliase that the most memorable ones where points of view were either argued and amended and then argued some more – or enabled me an opportunity to practice and fail and try again with something new and maybe fail again, but in a different way – or succeed.

Wenger’s use of ‘change’ – that learning ‘changes who we are’, and ‘changing our ability to particpate, to belong…’ was apt. have really learned anything at all if we are in exactly the same position that we were in before?

I have to say I enjoyed reading Wenger – you could feel his passion for the subject through his writing, and I am a big fan of expressive (often flowery!) language.

Go Wenger, and don’t let anyone give you bad ju ju about your name!

Hello again

I have endeavoured to map out the ‘flow’ of the facebook group functionality as part of the discovery process to see if there really was any learning going on…(It didn’t hurt to trial VUE either, at a superficial level – much better colour palette than Visio!)

Despite the perceived freedom of facebook, there was a certain linear quality about navigating around – almost to the point of people a full circle (generally ending up on my own personal profile page!). There were a few email escape pods though which made you remember that there is a whole world wide web out there…

Click the image for a severe close-up.

Hi again,

I feel a little bit like David Attenborough in a suit watching a group of e-learning professionals!

 Here are a few random things that I am noticing about my ‘e-learning professionals’ group:

1. There seems to be a guy who created the group – but I never see any posts or entries from him (or the other administrators! It would be handy with my point below about order if the ‘brainstrust’ behind the group could guide, or facilitate, bring discussions back on track etc.

2. I feel a bit like a ’ship in the night’ I am sure there are many exciting things going on, but there doesn’t appear to be any structure. I am a fan of independent learning, but I generally like my chaos organised.

3. It is just the same people all the time making posts and contributing to discussions. There are over 1600 members and only a hand full of contributers – that’s a whole lot o’ lurking!

4. There are a lot of great resources – where are they!? It looks like someone has started an ‘I’m New’ post on the discussion forum, but there is no resal introduction in the group or knowledge about their background without adding them as a friend and viewing their profile – and we all know what a facebook profile looks like, regardless of whether you are a college professor – odds are there is a photo somewhere of a comprising position and tequila shots…

I think my framework (so far) based on what I have written here will involve:

• modelling/social cognitive theory (affective valence) and the quality/skill level of the models and their feedback (corrective adjustment).
• Adult Learning through Self-Disclosure to Others/Learning Conversations (would also like to look more at participation/contribution levels)

Well, I have been signed up to the e-learning professionals group on Facebook for a few weeks now…

 Here are my observations/interactions to date:

I think the most exciting was a chat with a group member who triggered my interest in gaming as a component of e-learning with a call out for participants in an online survey about gaming (which I participated in).

I provided a little detail on myself and my interests and she offered to have a phone conversation with me. Now I had two thoughts on this:

1. Why already are we straying from the online environment for further discussion? Is the online environment not suitable? Is the group member not comfortable there?

2. Does it matter? Surely a phone call is still a component of social learning and the contact was made on line…

My decision: was easy! She was in the States so we continued our discussion online.

It was great, we have been chatting about ways to talk to clients to encourage incorporating games (i.e. the idea of re-usability), that games are only one part of the learning process (which is helpful when talking to clients), and the all important area of cost and getting a great product out there for a teeny price-tag!

 The group member even gave me some contacts who could provide me with some corporate examples of gaming in e-learning and she emailed me an e-learning guild report on immersive learning simulations (as ammunition!)

A look at Chapter 4 Social Learning by Ian R. Cornford

A few points that stood out for me when relating social learning theories to online education:

Generally…

1. Situated Learning: The chapter mentions ‘difficulties in obtaining transfer when learning occurs separated from real life experiences’. I think online learning, particularly in a community setting is an effective way to bring learning and context together – better still you get to hear about how other people have related their learning back to their own contexts – food for thought.

2. The adaptive learner (model) observation: It’s really great to start reading about learners having some control over what and how they learn. I relate this back to the Ning environment where the class has been given a set of requirements that we need to do in order to pass the course. Many participants have not only reproduced the behaviour, but adapted their behaviour, even endeavoured to improve on their behaviour (creative adaptation). i.e. developing checklists and amazing blogs with additional widgets.

Attentional Processes: Modelled Events…

1. Accessability to computers and understanding the underlining technology is extremely important when you move learning on line. I think we have already seen the stress that can be caused by initiating involvement in online communities – people may be learning about the subject matter, but if they need to learn how to use the technology, this is an added consideration.

2. Once we have the technology down pat, we then need to take into consideration or own cognitive capabilities, how we acquire, store and transform information – there is just so much information on-line, having the right cognitive tools is extremely important to organise information and take only what you need.

3. The complexity of the content raised a few interesting questions for me. For example just how complex can subject matter be containined in an online environment versus face-to-face and hands on experience?

4. Cognitive modelling and how models work through their thoughts and reasons. Comparitively, I thought that it may be our face-to-face learner friends that may miss out on the ‘how’ a conclusion was reached. Verbalising thought processes in written word in an online community setting can be a valuable record of thought processes, not just the end product.

5. Affective Valence, the ‘attraction and identification that exists between an observer and a model’ and how this affects skill acquisition and and the ability to perform skills effectively. I think matching the approriate level of model is important i.e. expert models who can ‘overawe novice learners with apparent effortless mastery’, especially in an online environment may decrease the motivation to continue, or I think with the right encouragement can act as a mentor or a goal ‘that’s what I want to be/where I want to go etc’ . I think this ties in with corrective adjustment, one issue of online environments I have found in the workplace is the quality of feedback provided. Obviously more accurate feedback from skilled contributers will determine the degree to which the performance matches the original model or the individual’s adaptation of it. I would like to explore this more in my assignment, looking at questions like ‘ just who is providing this advice and to what extent should we be using it?’.

6. It was interesting to read about vicarious incentives. I thought there were examples i.e. seeing dicussions about people reviving the joy of learning and getting excited about new technologies, and reading about people who are atressing about workload or feeling overwhelmed, that can be observed in our online environment!

7. Finally, I found observer attributes really interesting - that some individuals are reliant upon external forms of reinforcement while others are strongly self-motivated, that some set to work immediately, while some need further instruction.  I think we can see this occurring online – I can certainly see it my online group that I have chosen and would like to explore this more in the second part of the assignment, particularly around active contributers versus observers.

How does Shirley Saunder’s chapter on the Social Psychology of Adult Learning relate to our context? Let me count the ways…

Are we all having fun? (An initial thought)

Online social learning, and how people can use it to their benefit is strongly influenced by the technology being used and their level of understanding of it. So while some are cruising through all ‘motivated and supported’ we witness others who may be ‘confused and frustrated’ by the whole thing. It’s not social learning per se that they are struggling with in this context, but the technology.

Social Learning

Social learning whether online or face-to-face has many commonalities. In a well structured online environment (where technology isn’t a barrier and there is a safe and trusting group) there are many opportunities to learn from the example of others by sharing experiences and promoting discussion. I think there is even more value in ‘modelling’ in an online environment where not only the ‘teacher’ is a source, but the other learners.

I actually thought that there are some great examples of social comparison theory in our own Ning space, with shared feelings regarding everyone feeling ’overwhelmed’ we were able to compare ourselves and not feel so isolated. This social comparison combined with a competitive effect can also spur us on – I know when people started talking about how they had already completed a draft of their first assignment – it set a benchmark and I certainly picked up my game! 

Of particular interest to me were the sections on ‘Self Dislosure to Others’ and ‘Learning Conversations’. I think in an online environment self disclosure is even more important for two reasons; 1. Building trust, and 2. I think we understand more about someone’s opinion when we know a little bit about the person  it came from. It also allows you to locate people with a similar interest or passion to you to target and improve your learning. Learning conversations follow on nicely from this, it’s like looking at the ‘working out’ of a math problem, not just the answer, you learn alot more about the process. Conversations in an online environment can promote discussions about ideas and the Ning environment has certainly demonstrated an appropriate forum for ’support and challenge.

One other particular interest of mine was regarding the learning that occurs from non-verbal cues, do we lose out on these in an online environment, or do we make up for it in other ways, such as descriptive writing, emoticons, honest and open communication?

I am so wordy! These are my intial thoughts for the first assignment – still need to slice and dice some of the wording… 

1. A powerful learning experience: Day One and Beyond as an Instructional Designer at the Learning Group.  

Day one, I was directed to my workspace and provided with an outline of all the tasks I was expected to fulfil in my first week. I found basic instructions of what I was to do, where I could find samples for inspiration, who to refer to if assistance was required and most importantly – I had a draft script due for Business Interruption Insurance product training for an insurance company by the end of the day. This was my first experience of writing scripts for an online medium – forget about what Business Interruption insurance is – what is a script? What considerations did I need to take into account regarding on screen messaging? Is the style of writing conversational or more structured? What activities can be used when creating online learning?  I needed to figure out more about the product, so I spent some time with the Instructional Designer who attended the workshop to talk me through the details and provide me with materials to get started. I reviewed existing scripts and built online courses, asked questions about formatting and writing styles, and what works and doesn’t work in an online environment. I created a draft of the script, solving problems as I went and submitted the draft for review. I then had to respond to the feedback from the Lead Instructional Designer and make amendments.  This process continued, each time the tasks became more complex, the need to ask questions became more of a brainstorming activity, and I no longer needed to have my work reviewed at draft phase, in fact I was reviewing newer employees work. My confidence grew gradually over time and I was given more responsibility managing multiple projects for my own clients.  

2. A disappointing learning experience: Online compliance training  

Six modules, over eight hours of compulsory, online, page-turning compliance training, I could probably stop there and you could speculate what a disappointing learning experience this was.  Just the mention of compliance training creates a collective groan around the office. Here is the process. I receive an anonymous email telling me that I need to complete this training within so many weeks. If I don’t complete the training, I receive another email warning me that the next email I receive will be sent to my manager and included on my performance review – so I (reluctantly) complete the training.  I am greeted with at least a six page introduction telling me what I will learn by outlining my objectives. *Click* read about ten pages on how to sit properly in my chair (surely the course itself is a breach of OH&S!) *Click* Check Point. I answer some questions about what I have just read. *Click* Just scan through the next twenty pages to get to the assessment at the end. *Click* 30 multiple choice questions confirming what I have ‘learnt’ throughout the course. *Click* Passed the assessment, informed that I have achieved my objectives and now I can print myself a nice certificate.    

One module down, five to go…

After reviewing the Horizon Report from 2008, of the six key emerging technologies identified I was most familiar with…

• Grassroots video, collaboration webs and mobile broadband.
• The others have some familiar concepts but collectively – mashups? never heard of them!

Significant trends outlined in the report relate to my experiences of technology in learning contexts in the following ways…

Global Reach:

The more I read (and we are only up to week 2!) the more I realise how far large organisations (my company in particular) has to go. It saddens me to realise that e-Learning is being created as a quick and dirty band-aid solution rather than for the benefit of the learner (and ironically, the business as a result.) In all other areas within the company we cover global interaction pretty well – Allianz is a global company after all. We have an international (phone conference) forum for discussing what other L&D departments are doing around the world and still haven’t quite figured out that if that medium works for us – it might actually work for our learners!

 iknow already:

Mobile technologyis one of the areas that interests me a great deal. As a proud new owner of an ipod Touch I am amazed at what I can learn just waiting for my morning coffee (not just gossip from the girl behind me!) I love the notion in a supposedly ‘time poor’ (and I mean that in a positive sense, so much to learn – so little time) culture that I can learn French from Miranda to Central.

The Gap:

I realise this refers to ‘faculty’ however it really relates to business and in particular L&D for my point. I think one of the other students bought up the notion of Gen Y and Baby Boomers etc. While I am not a big fan of labels, I am not naïve to the fact that there are different age groups out there that need to be catered for. Business has a tendency to throw its proverbial hands in the air regarding new technologies as they believe the older generation won’t benefit as much as the younger gens. I am extremely interested in solutions using technology to cater for multiple audiences – and that failing, if my Dad can use eBay, a Senior Underwriter can figure out social learning networks!

So what did the 2007 Horizon Report hold?

Wow, Now I feel like we are 2 years behind!

All of the technologies are familiar to me here. I’m finding it difficult to comment here without coming up with more questions. Why aren’t we using these technologies? Is it too costly? Are people afraid of technology? Is it just too hard to calculate ROI on Second Life?

Hmmmm