Last night's #lrnchat seemed to have even more participants than previous ones, including the one described in eLearn Magazinee by Dave Ferguson and Christy Pettit. It felt more like a cocktail party - with a mention of drinks even. But no hors d'oeuvres or dancing.

Since I missed most of it (other demands: bedtime stories and the like), I turned to a participant who did not seem to miss a tweet, Clark Quinn, who summarized:

The topic was organizational equivalents of the ePortfolio use in the academic world. The range of knowledge about ePortfolios surprised me; many people seemed unfamiliar with the concept. On the other hand, that made it a great learning occasion, which is a frequent occurrence.

There are always new people, it seems, and it seems they take a bit to get up to speed, then start pitching in. Most seem to get it, though I suspect a few get overwhelmed by the flow.

The topic really got me thinking about what would constitute the components of an ePortfolio, and I considered things like independent task performance, work-based task performance (both always with a reflective component on the thinking underlying the choice of approach), 360 perspective on performance.

Jay Cross noted that it's about your network, indicating that part of your portfolio might be who you know. I took that in a separate direction, thinking about having people indicate who they respect in the area, who's theories they follow, etc.

Realize that many other conversational threads are often going at one time!

As always, people crack jokes left and right, too, sometimes topic related, sometimes deliberately misinterpreting a statement. Jay's comment led to a subsequent crack: "Sorry, dude, your social network is not the caliber we're looking for in this position."

All in all, rapid fire learning and fun with a lively and aware crew.

Anyone agree - chat is such a blase term - #lrnparty next Thursday?

    Posted by Lisa Neal Gualtieri ( Nov 6, 09 10:34 AM) | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

An advantage to the classroom, for me, if that I focus on the teacher. When someone isn't a good teacher, certainly my mind wanders, but it's usually to what skills need improving. There are limits to what can be done appropriately in a classroom besides being attentive. Enter e-learning: does it encourage multitasking because students are on their computers, which is where they already spend time playing games, reading email, etc? In Paying Attention to Attention, Michael Feldstein and I wrote, "Multitasking is not only common - many practice it with pride." I know from my own experience how easy it is to be distracted by other demands on my attention.

A Boston Globe article, Multi-tangle, points out that working memory is limited and that everything we do, even the things that seem automatic (with the exception of what we can do in our sleep like breathing), tax the brain. The article goes on to point out that multitasking is becoming part of our culture; which brings me back to my question: does e-learning create a culture of multitasking?

    Posted by Lisa Neal Gualtieri ( Oct 28, 09 08:06 AM) | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

I find it fascinating to see who is reading eLearn Magazine. Our readers from July-September 2009 came from 176 countries and territories, the top ten being United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, India, Philippines, Germany, Spain, Malaysia, and Taiwan.

It is even more interesting to hear from them about how they found us and what they like. Linda Urban wrote:

Once again, I followed a link in an interesting sounding tweet related to online learning and found myself at an article in eLearn Magazine. This time, it's Mitigating Conflict in Online Student Teams, by Richard Dool, with some good solid suggestions based on experience working with teams. One last week I really enjoyed was Michelle Everson's article, 10 Things I've Learned About Teaching Online. And then there was the great experience of using the #lrnchat twitter meet-up, recounted by Dave Ferguson and Christy Petit, which opened up a whole new learning mode for me.

I continue to be delighted by the depth and breadth of knowledge that I find at eLearn Magazine. Thanks so much to those of you who gather and present this information - as well as to all the contributors!

Thanks so much, Linda, for letting us know what you've been reading and enjoying.

    Posted by Lisa Neal Gualtieri ( Oct 26, 09 08:13 PM) | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have been interested in the Kindle ever since Mark Notess wrote about it. As a book lover whose first job in high school was in the Brookline Public Library, I was unable to imagine the joys of curling up with a Kindle. Disclosure: I have never even held one, although I have seen some of the competing products. And my uncle told me that he got one for my cousin, Eileen, who loves it.

Okay, so maybe I am on the fence about using a Kindle for casual reading. What about for education?

The Boston Globe reported on the use of Kindles by 200 college students given free ones by Amazon.com. They found that "some students miss the decidedly low-tech conveniences of paper: highlighting, flagging pages with sticky notes, and scribbling in the margins." Students reportedly did not like the small keyboard and took fewer notes. They missed page numbers. It was hard to read on a dark early morning bus ride. Etc.

Pluses: the weight.

I wonder if a different design is needed to support students, and, if so, would the same one work for online students as those on campus or on the job?

    Posted by Lisa Neal Gualtieri ( Oct 25, 09 11:25 AM) | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I never read Donald Schon's Educating the Reflective Practitioner but I just read a review of it. I was especially struck by "you as the master must make your thinking transparent to the learner."

This reminded me of when I took a mandatory course for parents when I enrolled my son in driver's education. I was not impressed with the instructor initially, primarily because of his response to my question about how to best teach someone to drive a car with manual transmission. He told me that everyone has automatic transmission and I should too. When I said that he hadn't answered my question, he restated his views on manual transmissions and my need for a new car. This did not make me highly receptive to his instruction, but I took notice when he said that the best thing to do henceforth when your budding driver is in the car is to voice your thoughts: How are the weather conditions affecting you, why are you slowing down, your concerns about the erratic driving of the car ahead of you, etc.

His point was that these generally unvoiced thoughts help the inexperienced driver, focused on basics, to taste the insights of years of experience. Transparent thinking. While Schon's book is not recent, making an expert's thinking transparent is not explicitly done in most courses, online or otherwise.

    Posted by Lisa Neal Gualtieri ( Oct 23, 09 01:14 PM) | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Having developed many online courses, I know what my thought processes are. But I rarely hear how others approach course design. There is a 3 minute video describing the Human Systems Explorer that I recommend; one of the best lines is from Dr. Michael Parker, Harvard Medical School, about how inhabiting the confusion can lead to good insights about how to explain complex material.

    Posted by Lisa Neal Gualtieri ( Oct 18, 09 10:58 AM) | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Quick: when you think downside to social media use, what comes to mind? For me, the first is time and the constant struggle I have with the illusive return on investment. The second - this is as an educator - is how much do I really want to know about my students? In general I love getting to know them as people, but I still remember the discomfort I felt at learning more personal information than I really wanted about a student who became my Facebook friend.

Managing Social Media Risks, by Bridget McCrea in T.H.E. Journal, covers another downside associated with the growing use of social media in educational settings: reputation damage. The article makes the excellent point that "many organizations and institutions prefer to ignore the problem" but that they should be active and diligent instead. Guidelines are mentioned, but they need to be created in a way that doesn't stifle the exact point of social media, and, of course, they need to be enforced.

I especially liked the comment following the article from David M. Adler, Esq.:

Many of our clients are asking for guidance on how to go about implementing social media as part of their online marketing strategy. First, we counsel clients to understand that employees are going to use social media with or without them. For companies seeking to leverage the social media frenzy the question is not "How do I control these relationships but, rather, "How do I leverage the value of all these relationships?" Second, we counsel clients to understand that they are building a social reputation, so it shouldn't be frivolous or uninteresting. Lastly, we counsel clients to focus on strategies that empower employees to become brand ambassadors, increase knowledge, share ideas and information and promote collaboration.

The rest of his comment is also insightful, and relevant to any organization, educational or otherwise. NIOSH is one of many organizations working through exactly these issues. But while organizations are dealing with social media risks, much of it still comes back to individuals. In the case of NIOSH, it's one person who tweets and hopes to continue doing so without too many restrictions imposed. And in my case, I'll return to my initial point: the biggest risk, I believe, is time management.

    Posted by Lisa Neal Gualtieri ( Oct 18, 09 09:44 AM) | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)