The Death of the Lecture

I just read an interesting blog by Tom Crawford entitled The Death of the Classroom. He makes a point that most of us already knew, that lecture is the least effective way to teach something. He goes on to discuss how simulation and performance support are really the only effective methods for teaching/learning. In other words, the student learns best by doing. It sounds a little bit like Constructivism. I would recommend his blog.

A Podcast About the Past, Present, and Future of Rapid Elearning

I listened to a podcast this week which was an interview with the Director of Customer Support for Articulate, Gabe Anderson (part 1 and part 2). Articulate produces a software program that I regularly use at work and also a favorite tool for corporations doing Rapid eLearning Development. As the title suggests, Gabe talks about what Rapid eLearning is and where it is headed. Most Rapid eLearning works with PowerPoint as a foundation, but uses tools such as the Articulate suite to add content and functionality which PowerPoint is not normally capable of producing. The primary objective of Rapid eLearning it to enable the learner to have access to and assimilate new information or skills in the shortest time possible. This is a field that is growing exponentially and companies such as Articulate are working to meet the growing need.

Too much information

Lois Lindell has been blogging quite a bit about about Micro-Blogging. I've been reading a number of micro-blogs and some of them are really good, but most of them don't seem to say very much. If I'm going to take the time to read something, I want it to challenge me or move me in some way. As is probably obvious, I have trouble being that brief. The flip side is a blog that is too long or gives me more information than I have time or motivation to try and digest. A blogger that I really enjoy most of the time is Karl Kapp. Lately, though he's been writing blogs that are full of links to other blogs. I'm sure they are all very good. But just looking at the list turns me away. It seems to me that it would be better to briefly summarize the information or just give one or two links that are especially good. I respond best to an article that is short and to the point. When I see too much information, I usually click away thinking that maybe I'll return when I have more time...but, I rarely do.

The Changing World of Learning

I've been doing a lot of reading about Rapid eLearning (my chosen topic for my Emerging Technology Class), Virtual Worlds, and Web 2.0 Tools. The world is changing faster than most of us in the field of education/training are able to keep up. It's natural to find things that we're comfortable with, the way we like to do things and just settle down. Its hard to keep up with all the change even when we are trying too. There are a lot of trends that are developing that will, I believe, radically change the world of education. A course that takes several months to develop and several more months to implement will probably be dreadfully out of date by the time it reaches the students. One of the concepts promoted by Rapid eLearning is to shorten the distance between the SME and the learner. Tools are on the market that will let anyone develop training materials. This allows the people with the knowledge to be more involved in developing the courses. The quality may suffer a little, but the speed with which content can be brought to the learners is amazing. We may look down on these methods, but most businesses are moving in that direction. The role of the professional instructional designer is changing. If we are to remain relevant, we need to stay on the cutting edge of what's going on.

Some of the things that I've read:
An excellent article on "Rapid eLearning" http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?did=1232702341&Fmt=4&clientId=8553&RQT=309&VName=PQD

A blog on how to effectively use wiki's and blogs in an online class: http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2007/09/web-20-lessons-learned.html

Another blog that talks about what's happing in the world of eLearning:
http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2006/09/elearning-10-vs-20-help-needed_07.html

We Need a Revolution

David Warlick on his blog, 2¢ Worth, talked about a group of educational coaches that he was going to speak to. Each coach is going to go back to their school with a whole slew of toys (computers, printers, cameras, and lots more). He says, "It's pretty impressive...how a classroom like this might stir the imagination of a truly inventive educator." I agree, but most teacher's wouldn't know what to do with it all. Most of us ( I include myself here) find it much easer to just incorporate the new "stuff" into what we've always done.

I read a statement that came from AECT today, which talked about the need for systemic change in our schools. Systemic change is more than just learning how to do things a little different. It means chang from the bottom up (and the top too). For the new technology to reach its potential in our old shcool systems, the old "systems" must be completely changed. Completely new paradigms must be developed. I love technology. It has the potential to revolutionize education, but to work, it will take a revolutionary change.

My Well Connected Family

As I said in my last blog, my family is very well connected. Click on this link to see what I mean.

http://animoto.com/play/1c0f65c64e213cb6fff08d26bdc2eaa9

By the way, the video was created at http://animoto.com
David Warlick and Gary Stager had an interesting discussion about Animoto on their blogs last week. It's certainly a fun toy, but can it be used for education? I think it has possibilities.

1 to 1 - A Great Idea?

I just finished reading Sarah Levendusky's blog on 1 to 1 Computing. 1 to 1 computing is, so it seems, all the rage right now, at least in educational circles. I have to admit that I find myself a little skeptical about things that have the appearance of a fad. As a pastor and an educator, I’ve seen more “great ideas” come and go than I care to mention. Unfortunately, I’ve bought into one too many of them, and now I’ve become something of a skeptic.

I’d never heard the term before I started back to school almost 2 years ago. I’ve heard the term a lot since then, but it wasn’t until this semester that I found out what it meant. That makes me a late comer to this discussion, and, as you may have guessed, my reaction has been somewhat mixed.

As I set out to do a little research on 1 to 1 computing, I looked for both the positive and the negative. I found a lot of positive, but quite a bit of negative too. I’ll not take the time to review all that I found, but three writers stood out to me.

David Cole a professor at Georgetown University shared why he tells his students to “unplug” in a recent issue of Scholastic Administrator. In his opinion, laptops distract as much as they enable. Most students “multitask” while in class and don’t fully engage in the discussions that are going on around them. Using a computer to take notes, allows the student to capture the lecture without really thinking about it. Professor Cole says that, “attention diverted is attention diverted.”

Ryan Bretag, a high school administrator responded to Professor Cole by saying that he agreed with him so long as the teacher hasn’t “gone through the pedagogical shifts needed to use such a tool successfully. It is only when instructors shift their practices that technology possibly begins to play an important role in the classroom.” (The Four Eyed Technologist) Simply trying to integrate laptops into a traditional classroom setting will only create problems.

Finally, Jim Hirsch (the director of technology for Plano ISD in Texas) suggested that educators should be willing to look beyond laptops, to incorporating all types of technology. (Moving at the Speed of Creativity) As technology is rapidly progressing, there are a growing number of devices, that could serve the goals of 1 to 1. As one who relies quite heavily on his Pocket PC, I would agree with this.

I’ve listened to the arguments for 1 to 1 and I recognize that there are tremendous advantages that can be gained, but I also see some dangers. While my kids have always had access to computers, and our household has been connected in one way or another since the late ‘80’s, I’m still not ready to give them complete and unsupervised access to “their own computer.” Maybe I’m just too old fashioned.