Futuring
A fun part of my job is looking at trends and predicting where training, e-learning, business, and technology will be going in the near and far future. But futuring is also a distinct profession, with publications, conferences, organizations, and so forth. Here are some recent good finds in the futuring arena.
I. Two experts in futuring, Charlie Grantham and Jim Ware, were interviewed for a must-read article on "Divining the Future of Work." They had some fascinating things to say about the coming talent shortage, the free agent/freelance/consultant transformation (it's way beyond a trend), offshoring, business sustainability, and more. Grantham and Ware say, "How we work, where we work, with whom we work and who's in charge--it's all changing," fast. They predict a "major social and political earthquake within the next three years."
Points important to workplace learning professionals:
--demographics of workers are changing to include more women and minorities, lower-skilled workers, and older workers
--the hottest job growth will be in the creative class--teachers, healthcare professionals, designers, financial analysts
--there will be a critical shortage of knowledge worker jobs--perhaps 10 million by 2010
--the shortage will lead to a change in the rules. Talent will set the terms.
--the age of the large organization may be over. Small groups, teams, and micro-businesses will lead in the future.
(I wrote about a conference put on by Grantham and Ware's Future of Work organization back in March. Their Weblog is featuring some interesting stuff these days.)
II. Thomas Malone, professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management and co-director of a five-year study there on "Inventing the Organization of the 21st Century" has written a book on The Future of Work published by Harvard Business School Press. (It isn't related to Grantham and Ware's organization as far as I can tell.) Subtitled "How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization, Your Management Style, and Your Life," the book doesn't just offer predictions--it provides case studies of organizations; discusses how business leaders, managers, and students can learn new management skills for the new world of work; defines critical leadership capabilities; and more.
III. The World Future Society is holding a conference I'll be attending in Washington, D.C. July 31st through August 2nd. There's a whole track on Learning and Education, plus ones on Business and Careers and Technology and Science, so I think I'll bring back some useful information. Sessions I'm interested in attending include "Transition into Tomorrow's Workplace," "The Future of Online Communities," "Human Capital and the Future," "The Emerging Paradigm of Knowledge-Based Enterprise," "Future-Focused Leadership and Communication," and "Incorporating Games and Simulations into Educational Contexts" (this one is led by Clark Aldrich, frequent contributor to T+D and Learning Circuits).
Have some favorite futuring resources? Post them in the comments section to share with your fellow readers and me.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Best of the week
I read probably a couple hundred articles, press releases, newsletters, and so forth each week. Here are the articles and resources I found the most noteworthy this week. I hope they are helpful for you.
1. "How Org Charts Lie." From Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge magazine, this article discusses how social network analysis can pinpoint and help you resolve problems in your organizational structure. A helpful example compares one company's org chart to its social network and discusses how to fix the issues that became apparent. This excellent article is an excerpt from Harvard Business School Press's book Hidden Power of Social Networks.
2. "Fee for Certificate." I wrote about diploma mills and how the U.S. government is investigating federal employees who received degrees from them using government money. Now corporations are getting wise to this type of scam, thanks in part to this article in the New York Post, which found 15 chairmen and CEOs, 29 corporate board members, and 40 other executives at public companies who have degrees from known diploma mills on their resumes.
3. The Telework Times. This Weblog covers the "business, technical, political, and social aspects of telework, remote collaboration, distributed development, and the virtual workplace of the 21st century." It's sponsored by the Telework Consortium. The consortium's tools guide to collaborative products and services is extensive.
4. "Defining and Measuring Quality in Online Discussions." This article in the Journal of Online Interactive Learning poses and tries to answer the question, What makes good online (asynchronous) discussion? After a fairly extensive literature review, the authors generate four categories with which to evaluate discussion: levels of disagreement, argument structure analysis, interaction-based analysis, and content analysis. Each is discussed in the article.
5. "Education Arcade." More on augmented reality and game-based learning. This article takes a closer look at the augmented reality scavenger hunt/whodunit at the Boston Museum of Science and then continues on to talk about the sponsoring organization, Education Arcade. EA is creating "a consortium of educators, game designers, publishers, and policymakers to develop sophisticated games that range from quick demonstrations that illustrate points made in lectures to semester-long projects that support the content of courses." Important statistic in the article: MIT physics students who played a game about electromagnetism called Supercharged did 20 percent better on tests than students who didn't play the game.
6. "Website Analysis Isn't a Game." Wired talks about Website analysis software that provides a graphic model of a virtual city to convey its statistics. People are represented by avatars who arrive and leave on virtual busses with their company logos on them. Each Webpage a company monitors is a building--the more traffic, the higher the building and the brighter its lights. There are lots of other interesting features and the software is fairly inexpensive. A cool tool to measure e-learning traffic and behavior? It might not help your CEO take your initiatives seriously, but it could be a lot of fun for you.
PS--Permalinks are now up and running, as is Trackback (albeit manually). Thanks for your patience and onward and upward!
I read probably a couple hundred articles, press releases, newsletters, and so forth each week. Here are the articles and resources I found the most noteworthy this week. I hope they are helpful for you.
1. "How Org Charts Lie." From Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge magazine, this article discusses how social network analysis can pinpoint and help you resolve problems in your organizational structure. A helpful example compares one company's org chart to its social network and discusses how to fix the issues that became apparent. This excellent article is an excerpt from Harvard Business School Press's book Hidden Power of Social Networks.
2. "Fee for Certificate." I wrote about diploma mills and how the U.S. government is investigating federal employees who received degrees from them using government money. Now corporations are getting wise to this type of scam, thanks in part to this article in the New York Post, which found 15 chairmen and CEOs, 29 corporate board members, and 40 other executives at public companies who have degrees from known diploma mills on their resumes.
3. The Telework Times. This Weblog covers the "business, technical, political, and social aspects of telework, remote collaboration, distributed development, and the virtual workplace of the 21st century." It's sponsored by the Telework Consortium. The consortium's tools guide to collaborative products and services is extensive.
4. "Defining and Measuring Quality in Online Discussions." This article in the Journal of Online Interactive Learning poses and tries to answer the question, What makes good online (asynchronous) discussion? After a fairly extensive literature review, the authors generate four categories with which to evaluate discussion: levels of disagreement, argument structure analysis, interaction-based analysis, and content analysis. Each is discussed in the article.
5. "Education Arcade." More on augmented reality and game-based learning. This article takes a closer look at the augmented reality scavenger hunt/whodunit at the Boston Museum of Science and then continues on to talk about the sponsoring organization, Education Arcade. EA is creating "a consortium of educators, game designers, publishers, and policymakers to develop sophisticated games that range from quick demonstrations that illustrate points made in lectures to semester-long projects that support the content of courses." Important statistic in the article: MIT physics students who played a game about electromagnetism called Supercharged did 20 percent better on tests than students who didn't play the game.
6. "Website Analysis Isn't a Game." Wired talks about Website analysis software that provides a graphic model of a virtual city to convey its statistics. People are represented by avatars who arrive and leave on virtual busses with their company logos on them. Each Webpage a company monitors is a building--the more traffic, the higher the building and the brighter its lights. There are lots of other interesting features and the software is fairly inexpensive. A cool tool to measure e-learning traffic and behavior? It might not help your CEO take your initiatives seriously, but it could be a lot of fun for you.
PS--Permalinks are now up and running, as is Trackback (albeit manually). Thanks for your patience and onward and upward!
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Please send me your stories
I'm writing a short, humorous feature for T+D magazine on Training Nightmares and am soliciting your stories. Did the projector screen fall on your foot in the middle of class and break your toe? Did your virtual classroom boot out the CEO of your company when you were demonstrating it? Did absolutely no one show up to your class? You get the idea.
If you prefer to remain anonymous, I can do that. Please email your story to me at ekaplan at astd.org. Thanks!
I'm writing a short, humorous feature for T+D magazine on Training Nightmares and am soliciting your stories. Did the projector screen fall on your foot in the middle of class and break your toe? Did your virtual classroom boot out the CEO of your company when you were demonstrating it? Did absolutely no one show up to your class? You get the idea.
If you prefer to remain anonymous, I can do that. Please email your story to me at ekaplan at astd.org. Thanks!
Monday, June 14, 2004
More free Web seminars in June and July
As always, I'm not guaranteeing the quality of these; I'm just passing along the information.
“Integrated Employee Performance Management.” HR.com will put on this free Web seminar TOMORROW (June 15th) at 1 to 2 p.m. EDT. The session will cover major trends in performance management, ways to increase employee performance, and how to effectively integrate performance management into your organization.
(HR.com is offering Web seminars almost daily—there are too many events to list them all here. Go to http://www.hr.com/events/HRSeminars.cfm to view information about all the seminars, including ones on recognition and rewards, employee engagement, competencies, work-life balance, and more.)
“A Preview of HorizonLive's New Product Release: HorizonLive Open Campus 4.0.” Learn about the upcoming (July) release of this new product on June 16th at 2 p.m. EDT or June 22nd at 11 a.m. EDT. You’ll hear about the features and functionality of this software in the beta stage of development.
“Experience Macromedia Breeze.” This free seminar on June 22nd at 1 p.m. EDT introduces users to Macromedia’s Web-conferencing and collaboration software. The seminar will demonstrate the features of the technology that requires no special plug-ins or media players.
“Virtual Tutoring and Student Support Systems.” On June 23rd at 2 p.m. EDT, Jennifer Geary, winner of the Alberta Distance Education and Training Research Award, and Colm Brannigan of Mediate.ca will talk about virtual tutoring developments and student support systems.
“The What, How, and When of Blended Learning.” GeoLearning hosts this free online seminar on July 14th at 2 p.m. EDT. The session will cover how to use blended learning most effectively as well as best practices for “aligning learning management systems, learning content management systems, e-learning courseware, classroom instruction, self-study and live Webcasting tools with training and business needs.”
“Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education.” Michael Simonson, Sharon E. Smaldino, Michael Albright, and Susan Zvacek,
co-authors of the book with the same name, will give a free Web presentation on July 20th at 1 p.m. EDT.
As always, I'm not guaranteeing the quality of these; I'm just passing along the information.
“Integrated Employee Performance Management.” HR.com will put on this free Web seminar TOMORROW (June 15th) at 1 to 2 p.m. EDT. The session will cover major trends in performance management, ways to increase employee performance, and how to effectively integrate performance management into your organization.
(HR.com is offering Web seminars almost daily—there are too many events to list them all here. Go to http://www.hr.com/events/HRSeminars.cfm to view information about all the seminars, including ones on recognition and rewards, employee engagement, competencies, work-life balance, and more.)
“A Preview of HorizonLive's New Product Release: HorizonLive Open Campus 4.0.” Learn about the upcoming (July) release of this new product on June 16th at 2 p.m. EDT or June 22nd at 11 a.m. EDT. You’ll hear about the features and functionality of this software in the beta stage of development.
“Experience Macromedia Breeze.” This free seminar on June 22nd at 1 p.m. EDT introduces users to Macromedia’s Web-conferencing and collaboration software. The seminar will demonstrate the features of the technology that requires no special plug-ins or media players.
“Virtual Tutoring and Student Support Systems.” On June 23rd at 2 p.m. EDT, Jennifer Geary, winner of the Alberta Distance Education and Training Research Award, and Colm Brannigan of Mediate.ca will talk about virtual tutoring developments and student support systems.
“The What, How, and When of Blended Learning.” GeoLearning hosts this free online seminar on July 14th at 2 p.m. EDT. The session will cover how to use blended learning most effectively as well as best practices for “aligning learning management systems, learning content management systems, e-learning courseware, classroom instruction, self-study and live Webcasting tools with training and business needs.”
“Teaching and Learning at a Distance: Foundations of Distance Education.” Michael Simonson, Sharon E. Smaldino, Michael Albright, and Susan Zvacek,
co-authors of the book with the same name, will give a free Web presentation on July 20th at 1 p.m. EDT.
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Week-end wrap-up
NOTE: This entry has been revised to add permalinks.
Today's the end of the week for us--we're off tomorrow because we follow the federal government's schedule. So here's a Friday-like wrap-up of some items that caught my eye this week and that relate to ideas I've written about on this blog in the last couple of months.
On games and learning and augmented reality: I received a press release from a company that creates murder-mysteries and scavenger hunts to be used as learning activities. The offerings are marketed as boosting morale, teaching communication and listening skills, and creating a fun learning event. I can see more complex technology-based (but not computer-based) versions of these types of offerings being developed by a company in the future. In fact, I predicted mystery learning experiences in my April entry about an augmented-reality scavenger hunt that took place with some children at the Boston Museum of Science. Also see PacManhattan and Net Attack for where this could all be going. (Here's what I wrote about NetAttack in April and PacManhattan in May.)
On blogs as learning tools: I wrote about blogs and knowledge management in March. This short but very informative article by Maish Nichani of elearningpost, published on the Website of the Australian Flexible Learning Community, explains "How to Use Weblogs to Create Engaging Learning Experiences."
On computers and humans' emotional reactions to them: In May I wrote about how calming computer messages can ease people's frustrations with technology (like I'm having these days) and boost people's performance on problem-solving exercises. This article from the Washington Post discusses how and why psychologists, computer scientists, and marketers are examining the way humans and their emotions respond to technology. The Post article is very interesting--make sure you read to the page 2 discussion of teaching software that may be able to detect when a student loses interest.
And a fun fact from the Washington Post article to leave you with: Three-quarters of people in a British poll admitted to having hit their computers in frustration.
Have a good weekend, everyone.
NOTE: This entry has been revised to add permalinks.
Today's the end of the week for us--we're off tomorrow because we follow the federal government's schedule. So here's a Friday-like wrap-up of some items that caught my eye this week and that relate to ideas I've written about on this blog in the last couple of months.
On games and learning and augmented reality: I received a press release from a company that creates murder-mysteries and scavenger hunts to be used as learning activities. The offerings are marketed as boosting morale, teaching communication and listening skills, and creating a fun learning event. I can see more complex technology-based (but not computer-based) versions of these types of offerings being developed by a company in the future. In fact, I predicted mystery learning experiences in my April entry about an augmented-reality scavenger hunt that took place with some children at the Boston Museum of Science. Also see PacManhattan and Net Attack for where this could all be going. (Here's what I wrote about NetAttack in April and PacManhattan in May.)
On blogs as learning tools: I wrote about blogs and knowledge management in March. This short but very informative article by Maish Nichani of elearningpost, published on the Website of the Australian Flexible Learning Community, explains "How to Use Weblogs to Create Engaging Learning Experiences."
On computers and humans' emotional reactions to them: In May I wrote about how calming computer messages can ease people's frustrations with technology (like I'm having these days) and boost people's performance on problem-solving exercises. This article from the Washington Post discusses how and why psychologists, computer scientists, and marketers are examining the way humans and their emotions respond to technology. The Post article is very interesting--make sure you read to the page 2 discussion of teaching software that may be able to detect when a student loses interest.
And a fun fact from the Washington Post article to leave you with: Three-quarters of people in a British poll admitted to having hit their computers in frustration.
Have a good weekend, everyone.
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
Free Web seminars in June
"Creativity and Innovation: Keys to Corporate Growth". On June 16th at 1 p.m. EDT, entrepreneur, psychologist, and attorney Dr. Jerry Cahn will discuss how to "understand the relationship between creativity and innovation, stimulate employee creativity, develop a business case for innovation, [and] build an innovative culture." His talk is sponsored by Presentation Excellence.
"Online Retail Metrics: Benchmarking and Best Practices Guide." On June 22nd at 2 p.m. EDT, Patti Freeman Evans, analyst with Jupiter Research, will discuss "why setting clear, measurable goals and defining key performance indicators are vital to making the most out of your Web metrics," as well as best practices for tracking and sharing data.
"Needs Assessment: Finding the Right Focus." Learn how to assess learning needs and increase the effectiveness of your programs in this Webinar on June 23rd at 2 p.m. EDT, sponsored by Thomson/NETg and CLO magazine. Panelists include Jim L'Allier, chief learning officer and VP for research and development at NETg, and Steve Mosley, director of training and employee development for Alltel.
"The High-Performance Learning Organization: Research Results from 285 Organizations Worldwide." On June 24th at 2 p.m. EDT, Jeanne Meister, VP of market development for Accenture Learning; Brenda Sugrue, ASTD's own senior director of research; and Ray Vigil, CLO of Humana, Inc. will join together to discuss Accenture's research aimed at disovering "the specific practices, tools and technologies that drive high performance learning organizations."
"Winning Sales Presentations". Communispond is offering this free Webinar on June 24th at 11 a.m. EDT. It will cover active listening skills that can enable your sales staff "to deliver credible and concise presentations that are tailored to the customer’s own key objectives" and increase sales. Webinar registrants will also receive a free copy of the whitepaper "The Top Ten Reasons Why Sales Presentations Fail."
"Creativity and Innovation: Keys to Corporate Growth". On June 16th at 1 p.m. EDT, entrepreneur, psychologist, and attorney Dr. Jerry Cahn will discuss how to "understand the relationship between creativity and innovation, stimulate employee creativity, develop a business case for innovation, [and] build an innovative culture." His talk is sponsored by Presentation Excellence.
"Online Retail Metrics: Benchmarking and Best Practices Guide." On June 22nd at 2 p.m. EDT, Patti Freeman Evans, analyst with Jupiter Research, will discuss "why setting clear, measurable goals and defining key performance indicators are vital to making the most out of your Web metrics," as well as best practices for tracking and sharing data.
"Needs Assessment: Finding the Right Focus." Learn how to assess learning needs and increase the effectiveness of your programs in this Webinar on June 23rd at 2 p.m. EDT, sponsored by Thomson/NETg and CLO magazine. Panelists include Jim L'Allier, chief learning officer and VP for research and development at NETg, and Steve Mosley, director of training and employee development for Alltel.
"The High-Performance Learning Organization: Research Results from 285 Organizations Worldwide." On June 24th at 2 p.m. EDT, Jeanne Meister, VP of market development for Accenture Learning; Brenda Sugrue, ASTD's own senior director of research; and Ray Vigil, CLO of Humana, Inc. will join together to discuss Accenture's research aimed at disovering "the specific practices, tools and technologies that drive high performance learning organizations."
"Winning Sales Presentations". Communispond is offering this free Webinar on June 24th at 11 a.m. EDT. It will cover active listening skills that can enable your sales staff "to deliver credible and concise presentations that are tailored to the customer’s own key objectives" and increase sales. Webinar registrants will also receive a free copy of the whitepaper "The Top Ten Reasons Why Sales Presentations Fail."
Manual Trackback and Trackback's learning potential
Ah, technology is great when it works, eh?
Trackback isn't working for some reason. (Trackback is the tool that allows readers of this blog to see what other blogs or Websites have linked to an item on here and what the authors have written about it.) I'm working on figuring out why TB isn't working, but in the meantime here's a manual Trackback link: http://blog.contentious.com/archives/000227.html
Why do people care about Trackback and seeing where info from various blog entries have been picked up? Because of the learning that can occur through the collective musings of various people on the same topic. Different information gets added as each person comments on the item.
See, this entry was about learning after all!
Go here and scroll down to the What's Next heading to learn about how some people are using Trackback with learning objects.
Ah, technology is great when it works, eh?
Trackback isn't working for some reason. (Trackback is the tool that allows readers of this blog to see what other blogs or Websites have linked to an item on here and what the authors have written about it.) I'm working on figuring out why TB isn't working, but in the meantime here's a manual Trackback link: http://blog.contentious.com/archives/000227.html
Why do people care about Trackback and seeing where info from various blog entries have been picked up? Because of the learning that can occur through the collective musings of various people on the same topic. Different information gets added as each person comments on the item.
See, this entry was about learning after all!
Go here and scroll down to the What's Next heading to learn about how some people are using Trackback with learning objects.
Thursday, June 03, 2004
Two very cool ideas
1. SmallPiecesLooselyJoined at New Media Consortium (NMC 2004) conference
How can new social software tools be used in learning; how can educators "deploy, connect, de-connect them in useful and interesting ways"?
The SmallPiecesLooselyJoined presentation by Brian Lamb, Alan Levine, and D'Arcy Norman on June 17th at the University of British Columbia will include an activity done not only by the people at the NMC conference, but also by online contributors around the world.
Before, during, and after the conference, there will be three groups of people taking three different stances on educational technologies for the sake of discussion and learning. The groups are decentralist, centralist, and fence-sitter. Each group will have its own Weblog with RSS feed as well as a wiki.
Read this article to understand the how and why of the experiment--they can explain it a lot better than I can. It sounds fascinating; these three guys always seem to be on the cutting edge. I referenced their presentation on RSS, learning objects, and Trackback in my Learning Circuits RSS article.
2. Learning from your customers: Microsoft's Channel 9
Thanks to Bev Ferrell who pointed out on the trdev listserv a new offering by Microsoft, Channel 9. It's not a new software suite; rather it's a portal that combines online and new social software tools to open up conversation and learning between a group of Microsoft employees and customers.
Using tools like a blog, a discussion forum, a wiki, RSS feeds, video clips, and more, the site is a way for software developers to listen in to the creative process of five Microsoft workers. Their "Who We Are" page says:
"Welcome to Channel 9. We are five guys at Microsoft who want a new level of communication between Microsoft and developers. We believe that we will all benefit from a little dialogue these days. This is our first attempt to move beyond the newsgroup, the blog, and the press release to talk with each other, human to human."
The response has been very positive, judging from the comments on the site.
This is a daring move for any company. Making its processes transparent and its employees constantly accessible? Many organizations, especially large corporations, would run away from that idea. But I think a free exchange of information and learning, going both ways between employees and customers, can only be good.
What is it that the Cluetrain Manifesto says? "Markets are nothing more than conversations...We are key to the subject, but we're missing in action after working in secret for years. Our only hope is to talk. Starting now."
and, "...listen to these conversations coming from inside, outside, over, and above even the hardest-shelled companies that still think marketing means lobbing messages into crowds. Here is the sound our ancestors heard in those ancient marketplaces, where people spoke for themselves about what mattered to them."
The five Microsoft employees are putting those words into practice--using new online tools to make a huge company relate one a one-to-one level. Would your company or department benefit from doing something similar? What could your employees learn from your customers? What improvements could be made in your products or sales strategies or workers' productivity with an open conversation like this?
(NOTE: Apparently Channel 9 is run with the blessings of Bill Gates. He just endorsed blogs as business tools in his CEO Summit, says the BBC News. More than 700 Microsoft employees use blogs to update people on their projects, although it's not clear whether the readers are co-workers or customers or a combination of the two.)
1. SmallPiecesLooselyJoined at New Media Consortium (NMC 2004) conference
How can new social software tools be used in learning; how can educators "deploy, connect, de-connect them in useful and interesting ways"?
The SmallPiecesLooselyJoined presentation by Brian Lamb, Alan Levine, and D'Arcy Norman on June 17th at the University of British Columbia will include an activity done not only by the people at the NMC conference, but also by online contributors around the world.
Before, during, and after the conference, there will be three groups of people taking three different stances on educational technologies for the sake of discussion and learning. The groups are decentralist, centralist, and fence-sitter. Each group will have its own Weblog with RSS feed as well as a wiki.
Read this article to understand the how and why of the experiment--they can explain it a lot better than I can. It sounds fascinating; these three guys always seem to be on the cutting edge. I referenced their presentation on RSS, learning objects, and Trackback in my Learning Circuits RSS article.
2. Learning from your customers: Microsoft's Channel 9
Thanks to Bev Ferrell who pointed out on the trdev listserv a new offering by Microsoft, Channel 9. It's not a new software suite; rather it's a portal that combines online and new social software tools to open up conversation and learning between a group of Microsoft employees and customers.
Using tools like a blog, a discussion forum, a wiki, RSS feeds, video clips, and more, the site is a way for software developers to listen in to the creative process of five Microsoft workers. Their "Who We Are" page says:
"Welcome to Channel 9. We are five guys at Microsoft who want a new level of communication between Microsoft and developers. We believe that we will all benefit from a little dialogue these days. This is our first attempt to move beyond the newsgroup, the blog, and the press release to talk with each other, human to human."
The response has been very positive, judging from the comments on the site.
This is a daring move for any company. Making its processes transparent and its employees constantly accessible? Many organizations, especially large corporations, would run away from that idea. But I think a free exchange of information and learning, going both ways between employees and customers, can only be good.
What is it that the Cluetrain Manifesto says? "Markets are nothing more than conversations...We are key to the subject, but we're missing in action after working in secret for years. Our only hope is to talk. Starting now."
and, "...listen to these conversations coming from inside, outside, over, and above even the hardest-shelled companies that still think marketing means lobbing messages into crowds. Here is the sound our ancestors heard in those ancient marketplaces, where people spoke for themselves about what mattered to them."
The five Microsoft employees are putting those words into practice--using new online tools to make a huge company relate one a one-to-one level. Would your company or department benefit from doing something similar? What could your employees learn from your customers? What improvements could be made in your products or sales strategies or workers' productivity with an open conversation like this?
(NOTE: Apparently Channel 9 is run with the blessings of Bill Gates. He just endorsed blogs as business tools in his CEO Summit, says the BBC News. More than 700 Microsoft employees use blogs to update people on their projects, although it's not clear whether the readers are co-workers or customers or a combination of the two.)
Trackback added
There's a new addition to this blog's template: Trackback. It will, theoretically, let you see if other blogs or Websites have linked to my posts.
Since I'm not a programmer and am just cutting and pasting code from the kind folks who offer it for free (in this case, Haloscan), I'll be holding my breath to see if it works properly.
I know this is long overdue, but Blogger (who makes the software this blog is run off of) just started offering a comments feature and doesn't yet offer Trackback. So I had to find a way to jimmy it.
There's a new addition to this blog's template: Trackback. It will, theoretically, let you see if other blogs or Websites have linked to my posts.
Since I'm not a programmer and am just cutting and pasting code from the kind folks who offer it for free (in this case, Haloscan), I'll be holding my breath to see if it works properly.
I know this is long overdue, but Blogger (who makes the software this blog is run off of) just started offering a comments feature and doesn't yet offer Trackback. So I had to find a way to jimmy it.
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Simulations and homeland security training
A recent article in BusinessWeek talks about simulation software and its use in homeland security training. The article notes that in the past, drama students have been used in counterterrorism exercises but that the costs were prohibitive and the exercises took a lot of time.
But new simulation and modeling software will help in homeland security training without the huge investments of time and money. This is what I was talking about in my April 30th blog entry on augmented reality. Although the BusinessWeek article talks mainly about simulations in which the person must be in front of a computer, I predict the next wave will be augmented reality-type simulations, which will expand the benefits of simulations even further.
The article does touch on some virtual reality uses. VR and augmented reality will really make simulations take off, I think. When people aren't tied down to a computer to access a simulation, simulations will have their day in the sun. Maybe homeland security training will provide the push for development of some really cool solutions.
In the meantime, if I were an e-learning supplier, I'd jump on this simulations and homeland security thing. This is going to be big.
A recent article in BusinessWeek talks about simulation software and its use in homeland security training. The article notes that in the past, drama students have been used in counterterrorism exercises but that the costs were prohibitive and the exercises took a lot of time.
But new simulation and modeling software will help in homeland security training without the huge investments of time and money. This is what I was talking about in my April 30th blog entry on augmented reality. Although the BusinessWeek article talks mainly about simulations in which the person must be in front of a computer, I predict the next wave will be augmented reality-type simulations, which will expand the benefits of simulations even further.
The article does touch on some virtual reality uses. VR and augmented reality will really make simulations take off, I think. When people aren't tied down to a computer to access a simulation, simulations will have their day in the sun. Maybe homeland security training will provide the push for development of some really cool solutions.
In the meantime, if I were an e-learning supplier, I'd jump on this simulations and homeland security thing. This is going to be big.
Friday, May 28, 2004
Teaching robots
This article from MIT's Technology Review discusses how robots are being taught using artificial neural networks and the process of natural selection/survival of the fittest. Very interesting stuff with important implications for the future.
I'm on my way out for the long weekend, looking forward to some rest.
This article from MIT's Technology Review discusses how robots are being taught using artificial neural networks and the process of natural selection/survival of the fittest. Very interesting stuff with important implications for the future.
I'm on my way out for the long weekend, looking forward to some rest.
Conference musings
So our conference is over, and it was a great success. I'm not just saying that because I work for ASTD. As I wrote articles for the conference daily newspaper, worked in the bookstore, and just generally talked to people, I heard great feedback.
Exhibitors in the expo were pleased with the amount of traffic and that people are starting to buy again. I guess that means the economy really is beginning to rebound. Bookstore sales uphold that hypothesis.
Attendees were enthusiastic and excited. It was nice for me to get out and interact with people who are reading our content. Often writing articles (or even blog entries) is like dropping words into a big black hole--we often don't know how they're received. Every once in a while we get feedback that an article was really helpful or that someone didn't like an article, but responses of both types are somewhat rare. (Although I'm happy to say we do get a lot more of the first than the second.)
The conference daily newspaper, resurrected this year, was a big hit. I'm guessing we'll be doing it again next year, although I don't know that for sure.
I can't say too much about sessions since I was mainly working on the paper or in the bookstore, but one that I did go to and enjoy was Sam Adkins's on "Patterns and Pioneers of Innovation: Advanced Learning Technology Today and Tomorrow." Adkins, senior director of research for the Workflow Institute, has written quite a bit for T+D magazine and Learning Circuits; he's a true visionary.
Adkins discussed artificial intelligence, service-oriented architecture (SOA), multi-dimensional learning (including affective learning), Web services and their use in learning, "portlets," new workflow tools, and more.
The presentation is available on the conference Website. Adkins's articles are available on the T+D Website in the June 2003, November 2003, and February 2004 issues and in Learning Circuits (search the LC archives with Adkins's last name to get a complete list).
If you missed the conference this year, consider attending and/or presenting in 2005. The deadline to submit presentation proposals is next Friday. Go here for more information.
So our conference is over, and it was a great success. I'm not just saying that because I work for ASTD. As I wrote articles for the conference daily newspaper, worked in the bookstore, and just generally talked to people, I heard great feedback.
Exhibitors in the expo were pleased with the amount of traffic and that people are starting to buy again. I guess that means the economy really is beginning to rebound. Bookstore sales uphold that hypothesis.
Attendees were enthusiastic and excited. It was nice for me to get out and interact with people who are reading our content. Often writing articles (or even blog entries) is like dropping words into a big black hole--we often don't know how they're received. Every once in a while we get feedback that an article was really helpful or that someone didn't like an article, but responses of both types are somewhat rare. (Although I'm happy to say we do get a lot more of the first than the second.)
The conference daily newspaper, resurrected this year, was a big hit. I'm guessing we'll be doing it again next year, although I don't know that for sure.
I can't say too much about sessions since I was mainly working on the paper or in the bookstore, but one that I did go to and enjoy was Sam Adkins's on "Patterns and Pioneers of Innovation: Advanced Learning Technology Today and Tomorrow." Adkins, senior director of research for the Workflow Institute, has written quite a bit for T+D magazine and Learning Circuits; he's a true visionary.
Adkins discussed artificial intelligence, service-oriented architecture (SOA), multi-dimensional learning (including affective learning), Web services and their use in learning, "portlets," new workflow tools, and more.
The presentation is available on the conference Website. Adkins's articles are available on the T+D Website in the June 2003, November 2003, and February 2004 issues and in Learning Circuits (search the LC archives with Adkins's last name to get a complete list).
If you missed the conference this year, consider attending and/or presenting in 2005. The deadline to submit presentation proposals is next Friday. Go here for more information.
Monday, May 24, 2004
On the expo floor
Today I visited the expo at our ASTD International Conference and Exposition, where 340 booths represent a wide range of companies from all over the world. I talked with a handful of them but at least glanced at all of them.
The booth that's drawing the most attention is an oxygen bar. You can inhale oxygen mixed with aromatherapy (orange and peppermint, lavender and tangerine, cranberry, or mountain berry) to feel energized and to detoxify. I'm not sure how well it worked on me--I mainly felt a tickling feeling in my nose as the oxygen went in. But it was fun to try because I'd heard of oxygen bars but never experienced one.
The same company also offers a live animated character, "Dr. D", who interacts with attendees via a flat-panel screen and wireless camera. He is created by a "virtual puppeteer," a human with electrodes on his face to register his expressions.
Giveaways are always popular at expos. This year's favorites are Gillegan's Island bobbleheads ("your e-learning data won't be lost on a three-hour tour"); green sponge dinosaurs("don't buy a dinosaur--go ASP"); and blinky smiley faces and squishy brains. There is also a lot of candy offered, as usual.
New or different offerings or booths I noticed on my rapid tour of the expo floor:
-- interactive whiteboards (you can project images from your computer and then write on them)
-- experiential training through drumming
-- interactive training games for PowerPoint using remote controls
-- an ergonomic flipchart/whiteboard that moves up and down, has pockets for pens and other materials, and has no rounded edges
-- corporate space camp!
Today I visited the expo at our ASTD International Conference and Exposition, where 340 booths represent a wide range of companies from all over the world. I talked with a handful of them but at least glanced at all of them.
The booth that's drawing the most attention is an oxygen bar. You can inhale oxygen mixed with aromatherapy (orange and peppermint, lavender and tangerine, cranberry, or mountain berry) to feel energized and to detoxify. I'm not sure how well it worked on me--I mainly felt a tickling feeling in my nose as the oxygen went in. But it was fun to try because I'd heard of oxygen bars but never experienced one.
The same company also offers a live animated character, "Dr. D", who interacts with attendees via a flat-panel screen and wireless camera. He is created by a "virtual puppeteer," a human with electrodes on his face to register his expressions.
Giveaways are always popular at expos. This year's favorites are Gillegan's Island bobbleheads ("your e-learning data won't be lost on a three-hour tour"); green sponge dinosaurs("don't buy a dinosaur--go ASP"); and blinky smiley faces and squishy brains. There is also a lot of candy offered, as usual.
New or different offerings or booths I noticed on my rapid tour of the expo floor:
-- interactive whiteboards (you can project images from your computer and then write on them)
-- experiential training through drumming
-- interactive training games for PowerPoint using remote controls
-- an ergonomic flipchart/whiteboard that moves up and down, has pockets for pens and other materials, and has no rounded edges
-- corporate space camp!
Saturday, May 22, 2004
Twenty-five thousand books
The number is almost inconceivable. But I can picture exactly what that looks like, having helped to unpack, inventory, and shelve a portion of those yesterday at the ASTD bookstore for our International Conference and Exposition. As I mentioned yesterday, there are also 10,000 Infolines, 1000 audio recordings, and 3000 logo items.
It takes two days to set up the bookstore and half a day to break it down. Picture a Barnes and Noble bookstore being completely created in two days and you have a good idea of how this works. At 17,000 square feet, the size is about the same.
This was my first experience helping out at the ASTD bookstore and I have to give mammoth kudos to the staff who do this every year. Especially this year, when the bookstore has doubled in size. If you're at the conference, stop by and see the store and the result of everyone's hard work. You won't be disappointed at the offerings!
The number is almost inconceivable. But I can picture exactly what that looks like, having helped to unpack, inventory, and shelve a portion of those yesterday at the ASTD bookstore for our International Conference and Exposition. As I mentioned yesterday, there are also 10,000 Infolines, 1000 audio recordings, and 3000 logo items.
It takes two days to set up the bookstore and half a day to break it down. Picture a Barnes and Noble bookstore being completely created in two days and you have a good idea of how this works. At 17,000 square feet, the size is about the same.
This was my first experience helping out at the ASTD bookstore and I have to give mammoth kudos to the staff who do this every year. Especially this year, when the bookstore has doubled in size. If you're at the conference, stop by and see the store and the result of everyone's hard work. You won't be disappointed at the offerings!
Thursday, May 20, 2004
A backstage peek at the hustle and bustle
Here at ASTD we're in the final countdown for the 2004 International Conference and Exposition, taking place this Sunday through next Thursday (May 23-27th) at the Washington, D.C., Convention Center. (For anyone interested, walk-on registration is available.)
I thought I'd give you all a little backstage peek at what goes into putting together this conference, which brings thousands of workplace learning and performance professionals together for 300 sessions in 9 tracks, plus 18 preconference workshops, 6 conferences-within-a-conference, 88 author signings and chat sessions, the largest EXPO floor in the industry (55,400 square feet), and the ASTD store that has nearly doubled in size from last year (17,000 square feet this year).
To give you a visual image of how large this all is--in the store, there will be 25,000 books from the ASTD Press and other publishers, 10,000 Infoline issues, 1000 audio recordings of conference sessions and books on tape, and 3000 logo items. The EXPO will have 340 companies to visit, 130 of which are new this year.
As you can imagine, things have been a bit frenetic for the past few weeks. All of the ASTD staff have been hard at work getting their piece of the puzzle ready. From where I sit, I have a view of the hard-working store staff who have been receiving, unpacking, inventorying, and repacking the contents of scores of boxes--not to mention wrapping and labeling the contents. Some of us in the content department helped out with a little of that--but our assistance was just a small part of a process that's been going on for weeks.
Between the store staff and the education department gathering the binders, books, and papers for various educational offerings, the halls of the sixth floor have been filled with boxes piled higher than I am--so high that you couldn't see the staff member whose desk was behind them. Most of the boxes are now cleared out, having been loaded earlier this week into the truck that took them to the D.C. Convention Center.
I and the other members of the T+D magazine staff have transformed for the conference into newspaper reporters. This year there will be a conference daily newspaper each day that will provide feature articles about speakers, awards, the ASTD 60th anniversary celebration, the EXPO, the launch of the ASTD Competency Study, and more. In addition, the paper will include program updates, D.C. tourist info, attendee interviews, puzzles and trivia, and more.
I'll be scurrying around working on the daily, attending sessions, and meeting with suppliers, so I won't have a whole lot of time to blog, but I'll try to post at least one entry from on site and one wrap-up when I return. I know Jay Cross will most likely be covering the conference as well on his Internet Time blog.
If any blog readers are at the conference, please do come up and say hi. I'll be wearing an ASTD name tag. And if you're interested in getting published in an ASTD book, T+D magazine, Learning Circuits, or Infoline, make sure to attend the sunrise session on Sunday at 7:30 a.m. to find out how.
Here at ASTD we're in the final countdown for the 2004 International Conference and Exposition, taking place this Sunday through next Thursday (May 23-27th) at the Washington, D.C., Convention Center. (For anyone interested, walk-on registration is available.)
I thought I'd give you all a little backstage peek at what goes into putting together this conference, which brings thousands of workplace learning and performance professionals together for 300 sessions in 9 tracks, plus 18 preconference workshops, 6 conferences-within-a-conference, 88 author signings and chat sessions, the largest EXPO floor in the industry (55,400 square feet), and the ASTD store that has nearly doubled in size from last year (17,000 square feet this year).
To give you a visual image of how large this all is--in the store, there will be 25,000 books from the ASTD Press and other publishers, 10,000 Infoline issues, 1000 audio recordings of conference sessions and books on tape, and 3000 logo items. The EXPO will have 340 companies to visit, 130 of which are new this year.
As you can imagine, things have been a bit frenetic for the past few weeks. All of the ASTD staff have been hard at work getting their piece of the puzzle ready. From where I sit, I have a view of the hard-working store staff who have been receiving, unpacking, inventorying, and repacking the contents of scores of boxes--not to mention wrapping and labeling the contents. Some of us in the content department helped out with a little of that--but our assistance was just a small part of a process that's been going on for weeks.
Between the store staff and the education department gathering the binders, books, and papers for various educational offerings, the halls of the sixth floor have been filled with boxes piled higher than I am--so high that you couldn't see the staff member whose desk was behind them. Most of the boxes are now cleared out, having been loaded earlier this week into the truck that took them to the D.C. Convention Center.
I and the other members of the T+D magazine staff have transformed for the conference into newspaper reporters. This year there will be a conference daily newspaper each day that will provide feature articles about speakers, awards, the ASTD 60th anniversary celebration, the EXPO, the launch of the ASTD Competency Study, and more. In addition, the paper will include program updates, D.C. tourist info, attendee interviews, puzzles and trivia, and more.
I'll be scurrying around working on the daily, attending sessions, and meeting with suppliers, so I won't have a whole lot of time to blog, but I'll try to post at least one entry from on site and one wrap-up when I return. I know Jay Cross will most likely be covering the conference as well on his Internet Time blog.
If any blog readers are at the conference, please do come up and say hi. I'll be wearing an ASTD name tag. And if you're interested in getting published in an ASTD book, T+D magazine, Learning Circuits, or Infoline, make sure to attend the sunrise session on Sunday at 7:30 a.m. to find out how.
Get fit, do more
From Shape magazine: As people's fitness improves, so does the quantity of work they perform. So said a recent study of people in a variety of occupations. "Physical activity is important to overall psychological and physical health," says Mark Roberts (M.D., Ph.D.) of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine in Arlington Heights, Illinois. "It makes sense that active people would be better equipped to meet the challenges of their workday."
I know I get a boost of energy when I actually make it to the gym. The study is a good argument for companies to offer health benefits such as onsite gyms or discounted gym memberships. And for me to get back to regular workouts. Fortunately, Roberts says in the Shape article that "being active doesn't have to mean running marathons. It can be anything you do to increase your heart rate."
From Shape magazine: As people's fitness improves, so does the quantity of work they perform. So said a recent study of people in a variety of occupations. "Physical activity is important to overall psychological and physical health," says Mark Roberts (M.D., Ph.D.) of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine in Arlington Heights, Illinois. "It makes sense that active people would be better equipped to meet the challenges of their workday."
I know I get a boost of energy when I actually make it to the gym. The study is a good argument for companies to offer health benefits such as onsite gyms or discounted gym memberships. And for me to get back to regular workouts. Fortunately, Roberts says in the Shape article that "being active doesn't have to mean running marathons. It can be anything you do to increase your heart rate."
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Calming computer messages boost users' problem-solving performance
Are your learners frustrated with computer-based training and online learning? Software glitches, slow-loading Webpages, and other technical issues can make learners wish for a traditional classroom. Of course you want to fix the technical issues as quickly as possible, but in the meantime the computer could help soothe your learners--and might get them to perform better on computer-based or online assessments.
A study performed at the University of Tampere in Finland found that when computer users who experienced software delays were given positive messages via the computer's speech synthesizer, the users not only smiled more but also did better on problem-solving exercises they were then given. (The study was written about in the April 2004 issue of Interacting with Computers and reported in MIT's Technology Review.)
Users were asked to solve a color puzzle using a mouse, and the computer choreographed periodic delays in the mouse movements. Users received positive messages such as "The problem will soon be happily over" (rough translation from Finnish), negative messages such as "This is annoying," or no message at all. When users received positive messages, their performance was better than with negative or no messages. It's unclear whether the results would've been the same if the messages were given via text rather than audio.
Some Websites do already give users reassuring messages when a page is loading slowly--this doesn't take much sophisticated technical expertise beyond what is needed to design a page. It doesn't seem much harder to program a virtual classroom program, for instance, to provide a reassuring message if it suddenly quits or boots a user out for no apparent reason.
In fact, why not make all computer messages positive and reassuring, so that people can perform better on all their tasks? "This application has unexpectedly quit" could turn into "We know software glitches are frustrating and we regret that one just happened. But it will be okay. Restart the application and everything should work just fine."
Somehow I don't see Microsoft embracing this type of change.
Are your learners frustrated with computer-based training and online learning? Software glitches, slow-loading Webpages, and other technical issues can make learners wish for a traditional classroom. Of course you want to fix the technical issues as quickly as possible, but in the meantime the computer could help soothe your learners--and might get them to perform better on computer-based or online assessments.
A study performed at the University of Tampere in Finland found that when computer users who experienced software delays were given positive messages via the computer's speech synthesizer, the users not only smiled more but also did better on problem-solving exercises they were then given. (The study was written about in the April 2004 issue of Interacting with Computers and reported in MIT's Technology Review.)
Users were asked to solve a color puzzle using a mouse, and the computer choreographed periodic delays in the mouse movements. Users received positive messages such as "The problem will soon be happily over" (rough translation from Finnish), negative messages such as "This is annoying," or no message at all. When users received positive messages, their performance was better than with negative or no messages. It's unclear whether the results would've been the same if the messages were given via text rather than audio.
Some Websites do already give users reassuring messages when a page is loading slowly--this doesn't take much sophisticated technical expertise beyond what is needed to design a page. It doesn't seem much harder to program a virtual classroom program, for instance, to provide a reassuring message if it suddenly quits or boots a user out for no apparent reason.
In fact, why not make all computer messages positive and reassuring, so that people can perform better on all their tasks? "This application has unexpectedly quit" could turn into "We know software glitches are frustrating and we regret that one just happened. But it will be okay. Restart the application and everything should work just fine."
Somehow I don't see Microsoft embracing this type of change.
Friday, May 14, 2004
E-Learning Extravaganza
Here are various e-learning tidbits I've collected this week.
● What to look for in live e-learning. Are you looking to license a virtual classroom or Web-conferencing solution? Brandon-hall.com conducted an online survey asking people what they thought were the most important features in a live e-learning solution. The top five answers were:
* ease of use
* application sharing
* interactivity (polling, hand raising)
* good speed in low bandwidth
* VoIP
● Guide to Distributed Learning Environments. This Web reference from the University of Alberta is chock-full of information. The guide looks at instructional design, project management, and evaluation. Specific topics include analysis and design, development, production, implementation, and more. There's a lot of text to read, so you might want to print it out rather than straining your eyes to read it all on-screen.
● Update on MIT's OpenCourseWare program. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology launched its groundbreaking OpenCourseWare project four years ago, letting people around the world access course materials online for free. Since 2001, MIT has received more than 20,000 emails thanking the school for promoting the free spread of knowledge. And the project has become a model for other institutions interested in doing the same thing.
● Bad news about bogus degrees. In March, I wrote about online diploma mills that churn out fake degrees for money and how to tell whether an institution wasn't up on the up-and-up (click on the March archive on the sidebar and go to March 24th). Well, according to Federal Computer Week, hundreds of U.S. federal employees have received degrees from diploma mills, and have used government money to do so. Yikes! I don't want those people running my government!
Here are various e-learning tidbits I've collected this week.
● What to look for in live e-learning. Are you looking to license a virtual classroom or Web-conferencing solution? Brandon-hall.com conducted an online survey asking people what they thought were the most important features in a live e-learning solution. The top five answers were:
* ease of use
* application sharing
* interactivity (polling, hand raising)
* good speed in low bandwidth
* VoIP
● Guide to Distributed Learning Environments. This Web reference from the University of Alberta is chock-full of information. The guide looks at instructional design, project management, and evaluation. Specific topics include analysis and design, development, production, implementation, and more. There's a lot of text to read, so you might want to print it out rather than straining your eyes to read it all on-screen.
● Update on MIT's OpenCourseWare program. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology launched its groundbreaking OpenCourseWare project four years ago, letting people around the world access course materials online for free. Since 2001, MIT has received more than 20,000 emails thanking the school for promoting the free spread of knowledge. And the project has become a model for other institutions interested in doing the same thing.
● Bad news about bogus degrees. In March, I wrote about online diploma mills that churn out fake degrees for money and how to tell whether an institution wasn't up on the up-and-up (click on the March archive on the sidebar and go to March 24th). Well, according to Federal Computer Week, hundreds of U.S. federal employees have received degrees from diploma mills, and have used government money to do so. Yikes! I don't want those people running my government!
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Quote of the day
In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find
themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
-- Eric Hoffer
Thanks to HeartMath's daily quotes for this one.
In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find
themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.
-- Eric Hoffer
Thanks to HeartMath's daily quotes for this one.
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