Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address

Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

Designing e-learning for maximum motivation

What follows is a series of notes from a Designing e-Learning for Maximum Motivation webinar by Ethan Edwards of Allen Interactions.

Introduction

“The goal of e-learning is to create meaningful performance change in the learner.”

Organisations choose e-learning for other reasons (cost, access etc.), but Learning Designers should remain focused on the performance change.

Learner motivation

Most learners aren’t intrinsically motivated.

• Media/animation isn’t enough.
• Learners want the shortest, least painful way through a course. They look for shortcuts.
• Traditional path: read text without purpose, unhelpful feedback, memorise trivia, long unbroken narratives.
• “Expedited” path: Hit next without thinking, random actions, guessing without consequence. Most people will pick this path in traditional e-learning.

LDs need to create experiences where learners won’t aim for the expedited path. We want active involvement in meaningful tasks (task-oriented, not content-oriented). We need tasks that require attention, where guesses are unproductive, and failure leads to a dead end rather than default completion.

Six rules to create motivation

1. Just say less

• Learners are motivated by tasks, not being recipients of lectures
• We need formal objectives, but we don’t need to tell learners what they are
• Make content-heavy resources available, but only when users choose
• Don’t include things just because they matter to the SME

2. Make it more challenging

• Include achievable challenges with appropriate risks
• This isn’t just about making it harder, but providing something that makes the learner think
• Withhold information until learner asks for it; ambiguity isn’t always bad

3. Delay judgment

• Contrary to what we usually think, give learners time to think and correct before providing feedback e.g. include an “I’m ready” button

4. Content-rich feedback

• Wait until they are engaged and interacting before providing content
• Put content in feedback instead of up front e.g. to see the consequences of their actions
• Naturally chunks content based on actions
• Safe failure – learners are most motivated when they’ve just made a mistake. Interest is high after you make a wrong choice; you want to know where you went wrong

5. Create levels of difficulty

• Increase challenges as their skills develop
• Vary how much help is provided
• Learners need a sense of accomplishment

6. Give more control to learners

• Prevents the feeling that learners are the “victims”
• Give learners responsibility - pace, sequence, help, choose when to be tested etc.

10 relevant facts about the brain

Connie Malamed’s top ten facts about the human brain to keep in mind when designing any learning event:

Top Ten

1. Our perceptions are influenced by what we know, what we expect and what we want to achieve.
2. Our brains like to organise perceptions into meaningful units and patterns.
3. Events in our brain happen rapidly and are measured in milliseconds.
4. We can quickly shift our attention to whatever is most important in the environment.
5. We pay attention to information that is meaningful and disregard what is not meaningful.
6. Working memory is our online space for figuring things out in the moment.
7. Because working memory can manipulate 3 to 5 items at one time, and because it has a short duration, it is considered a bottleneck in the learning process.
8. The advantage of a limited working memory is that it gives us the flexibility to quickly shift the focus of our attention and information processing.
9. Long-term memory is essentially infinite. No one knows its limits.
10. The knowledge, skills and experiences stored in long-term memory can be retrieved with the appropriate cues. Without the right retrieval cues, the information is difficult or impossible to access.

The Top 10 “Top 10”

In his blog, Inspire 2 Learn, Richard Watson has created a top ten “Top 10″ list regarding learning and development topics.

1. Top 10 things you should NOT DO when designing e-learning
2. Top 10 tips for new trainers
3. Top 10 qualities of an instructional designer
4. Top 10 trends for 2010
5. Top 10 steps for boosting creativity
6. Top 10 tips for distance learning success
7. Top 10 ways to engage digital learners
8. Top 10 ways social media will impact employee development
9. Top 10 visual design ideas
10. Top 10 things to consider before choosing a LMS

Practical guides for digital learning content

On his Onlignment blog, Clive Shepherd has been posting a series of practical guides for digital learning content designers:

1. Podcasts
2. Slide shows
3. Screencasts
4. Learning scenarios
5. Learning videos
6. Learning tutorials

Also in the pipeline are guides to creating quizzes and reference documentation.

All of these guides are also available as PDFs to download.

The guides will ultimately find a home in a book due for release later this year called Digital Learning Content: A Designer's Guide.

The future of learning & technology

A 25-minute presentation on the future of learning and technology posted by Nick Shackleton-Jones.

The 6 Ps of a mobile strategy

Float Mobile Learning has posted a set of 6 articles on the process of developing a mobile technology strategy:

• Part 1 – Platforms
• Part 2 – Procurement
• Part 3 – Policies
• Part 4 – Provisioning
• Part 5 – Publishing
• Part 6 – Procedures

BBC Learning Design Toolkit

The overall aims of the BBC Learning Design Toolkit are to encourage success by:

1. Building confidence - supporting learners, ensuring they are well equipped, have a clear sense of purpose, and feel nurtured and valued throughout.
2. Stimulating creativity - connecting learners to inspirational people and experiences, curating best practice, and inspiring innovative thinking to maximise the potential of learners.

Social Media @ Work

A social media video from Red Sky Vision.

Social Media @ Work from Red Sky Vision on Vimeo.

Social Media Revolution 2011

Social media statistics for 2011, based on the well known video by Erik Qualman.

7 story types

Some people argue that only 7 types of story exist in all literature.

1. Rags to riches

The central, poor downtrodden character rises from nothing into greatness. They must defeat a foe of some kind to keep their new found status. E.g. Aladdin, Cinderella.

2. Quest

The central character takes a journey in search of something, with obstacles trying to stop him/her on the way. E.g. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings.

3. Overcoming a monster

The protagonist must defeat an evil being that threatens. E.g. Star Wars, James Bond.

4. Rebirth

The protagonist's imprisonment is derived from something within his own psyche. His liberation can only be achieved through the actions of other good forces. E.g. Snow White, A Christmas Carol.

5. Journey of discovery

The hero travels to another world, learning things along the way that give him/her a deeper understanding of himself and the world around him. E.g. Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland.

6. Tragedy

The central character goes through a series of actions and decisions that unwittingly brings about their own downfall (unless it's a Hollywood movie). E.g. Hamlet.

7. Comedy

Not necessarily funny. Some kind of misunderstanding is created that keeps parties apart until it resolved and they are brought back together. E.g. Bridget Jones Diary.

Designing games through human survival instinct

In his article, Westwood College faculty member and trained architect Christopher Totten explores how human psychology is understood by architects, how that can apply to level design, and explores games that use these techniques effectively.

This article is about the spatial dangers or elements of space that create the impression of danger for players. The other concepts describe elements of the pleasures that follow, and other methods for training players.

The article concludes by pointing point out that there is pleasure in overcoming dangerous situations, a principle they say is one of the most basic ideas of game design. When levels are engaging, players know, even if they cannot verbalise what makes them so pleasurable. Some modern texts on level design only teach readers to model environmental models and scenery, but the levels designed by learning from these books have no way of engaging the player and provide no discernable amount of experience so level designers have to look to other sources for inspiration. The alternative is creating the experience boredom or frustration for players, which is counterintuitive to the goal of making a "fun" game.

Level designers can take the concept of "pleasure from overcoming danger" to heart by utilising the human survival instinct to create dramatic environments that play with the comfort levels of people interacting with them in a way that is motivated by creating pleasure. As stated previously, utilising these spatial survival concepts to create levels gives players opportunities to not only interact with the game on a functional button-pressing manner, but also on a cognitive one that speaks to the instincts that help make video games fun in the first place.

Also, while these concepts are incredibly important to the practice of level design, they are but part of an expansive whole. Concepts such as Operant Conditioning and the articulation of short and long-term goals were mentioned among others. Again, pleasure is derived from overcoming danger.

Native Apps vs. Web Apps

Should you make a web app that works on all phones or design a device-specific native app?

As stated in Upside Learning, both types of solutions have their advantages and disadvantages:

Web Apps

1. Platform independent development, so you can reach a wider audience.
2. Fast development and low maintenance.
3. High-end applications can be developed with HTML5/CSS3, which also enable use of audio, video and animation.
4. Lower performance and dependent on web access.
5. The app can be delivered instantaneously as there are no intermediate delivery platforms like an app store.

Native Apps

1. Works on targeted smartphones only.
2. Increased development time and maintenance overheads.
3. Lets you access the device’s features like camera, accelerometer and data, like an address book.
4. Superior performance and user experience.
5. The app has to be deployed through an app store, which can be a time-consuming process.

The choice really depends on the richness of your mobile learning solution (user experience, performance and features) and the audience (or smartphones) you are targeting.

Mobile devices in the workplace

Upside Learning is of the opinion that there are 3 primary types of usage for mobile devices in the context of learning:

1. Used as part of a blend

• Pre-class micro-course (5-10 minutes)
• Post-class follow-up (summaries, scenarios) that help learners apply what they have learnt
• Quizzes

We’re aware that learners probably don’t retain much 2-3 days after a training program – especially in the absence of an opportunity to apply what they have learnt. Mobile device based follow-up could increase retention and aid application of knowledge and skills.

2. To access information

Learning happens most often when we are stuck with a problem or have made a mistake, so our mind is most receptive to new information and willing to learn in those moments. Mobiles are excellent devices to help retrieve information like ‘how to’ manuals or videos, or to simply search for answers on Google or the company’s intranet which in itself is fast turning into a social environment. This has great potential and needs to be exploited by organizations – by providing the ability to access information in moments of need.

3. Performance support

Performance support could range from simple calculators to complex procedural information that helps makes decisions. The link between performance support and the performance itself is very often direct and the results are immediate.

Mobile Learning Environment

The following video shows where the US military is focusing their MoLE (Mobile Learning Environment) research project – mainly in areas of conflict or natural disaster.

This video represents the vision of the MoLE research project: a platform independent set of tools aimed at learning collaboration and information sharing on mobile devices.

About MoLE.

An interview with Charles Jennings

Charles Jennings is the MD of Duntroon Associates and was formerly Chief Learning Officer for Thomson Reuters. In 2008 he was honoured with an ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Learning Industry’ award in recognition of his work on ‘just-in-time’ and informal learning.

Here’s my summary of cofacio's interview with Charles on the future of learning. The important points to learn about are:

1. Ebbinghaus and his Forgetting Curve
2. The 70/20/10 model
3. ePSS (electronic performance support systems)

In the past, learning was all about helping people acquire knowledge and traditional learning approaches were focused on transfer of content. You would be provided with the content, a chance to practise that content (if you’re lucky), and an assessment at the end to see whether you have retained that content. Now we know that the idea of people retaining knowledge by taking an assessment at the end of the course doesn’t really work. Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting Curve states that it’s impossible to remember everything and that we tend to forget what we’re told very quickly unless we consciously review it.

Now, learning is about behaviour change, and providing the right tools to help people ‘do’ things better. The amount of information being created is increasing exponentially. We can’t remember it all; the skill is being able to find it. The role of learning professionals is changing from content delivery to a facilitator and curator of knowledge sources, and a provider of information.

The economy has had an impact and it will continue to be a driver over the next few years, but this should mean different training rather than less. We know people learn more in the workplace than in a classroom and there is a push to move in to informal learning. Financial constraints are going to make it easier to make that move. If you can do things cheaper, that’s a good incentive to do it.

70/20/10 is a really good learning model. It is based on the principles that adults learn about 70% of what they need to know by doing their jobs; 20% through other people, their colleagues, asking the right questions, and informal coaching and mentoring; and about 10% through formal structured learning. It’s a really good framework for thinking about how workplace development happens. In other words, don’t spend all your time, money, and focus on the 10%; instead start to think about the tools you need to help people in the workplace. Remember though: it’s a framework, not a recipe.

ePSS, or performance support for short, is about just-in-time learning; learning at the point-of-need.

When we look at particular areas of training, particularly around systems and processes and product training, all the evidence says people simply don’t remember what they were taught maybe a month or more earlier. When they actually have to use it, the first thing they do is ask a colleague (the easiest route), try trial and error, or call a help desk (if there’s one available). So, what was the point of the training? Instead, we could take that training budget and think about how we could support people at the point-of-need – ePSS technology, access to stores of information, or links to the right people. We could reduce the formal course to explaining the change, and what it’s going to mean, but replace the content with a list of FAQs or job aids, which could be far more useful. Knowledge isn’t power; access to it is. Essentially, we learn through experience, practise, conversation, and reflection. We should allow learners to practise (to ‘do’) and provide the relevant support until they don’t need it.

New employees (digital natives) have grown up in the Internet age and social media age. That’s the way their generation works, continually interacting with friends and colleagues on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc. Organisations need to think about how they can support this. Staff will be frustrated where they don’t have connectivity, where they don’t have access to their tools.

Control is not through technical control, filtering out access, because you can’t – the majority of people are probably carrying smartphones anyway. Control is through process and a policy of acceptable use – don’t expose organisation to litigation. Organisations need to trust their employees.

The 12 Elements of Great Managing

To identify the elements of worker engagement, Gallup conducted thousands of interviews in all kinds of organisations, at all levels, in must industries, and in many countries. These 12 statements emerged as those that best predict employee and workgroup performance:

1. I know what is expected of me at work.
2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last 6 months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

Clark Quinn on Designing Mobile Learning

Cammy Bean’s interview with Clark Quinn.

Mobile Learning: Which Device?

Here’s a forecast from Gartner about how the smart phone market could look like in 2015:

As Amit Garg mentioned in his blog Upside Learning, we should take this with a pinch of salt, but key points to take away are:

1. There will probably be 3-4 platforms to target, no more than it is now.
2. iPhone will NOT be the device to target. Android will have the largest market share.
3. Windows Phone 7 (with better phones and the tie-up with Nokia) will grow fastest in next 2-3 years and will be the platform to watch out for. Windows could have a unique advantage in terms of seamless integration with PCs.
4. Symbian is as good as dead. 

Mobile Learning: A SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis of mobile learning from Upside Learning:

Strengths

• No longer just a buzzword or science fiction.
• Practical, affordable devices available that enable learning on mobile.
• Devices are getting faster and better, with increasing memory and storage capacity.
• One of the most relevant tools (currently) for performance support.
• Internet connectivity on phones not restricted to WiFi alone. Options like EDGE, 3G, 4G and even WAP exist. SMS and Voice can also be used for learning tools on mobile.
• Development platforms for mobile are easy-to-use and do not involve most of the complications associated with desktop or system software.
• Both ‘Push’ and ‘Pull’ strategies can be mixed for best results.

Weaknesses

• Myriad number of operating platforms, device types and variations in supported technologies make it difficult (and at times impractical) to create a unified solution which works well across the board.
• Still fast moving in terms of technologies making it challenging to keep up both at consumer’s end and at the vendor’s end.
• While the development platforms and tools are easy-to-use, using such tools to design effective learning solutions is another matter altogether. It requires a skill-set that includes instructional and media design competencies for mobile device, and interface & user experience design skills.
• Concerns still revolve around basic device security and data security. Lack of common standards for mobiles adds to the confusion.
• Lack of tools to create engaging mobile learning content due to lack of Flash.

Opportunities

• One of the best ways to offer quick, real-time, on-demand performance support. More than pushing training on to a mobile device, designing mobile performance support solutions would be the greatest opportunity.
• Front end or middle layer for the LMS. This allows enterprises to extend a part of the LMS environment on to the mobile devices thus allowing an integrated approach. This covers traditional training components – training schedule, notifications, performance support – and even social learning and collaboration components – friends sharing content (even generating content like photo and video using the mobile device).

Threats

• Early stage technology curve.
• Lack of standards for learning on mobile, and even general use of technology on mobiles.
• Lack of vendor focus. Not many vendors have been able to innovate and come up with relevant solutions. Vendor mindsets may still be revolving around LMS, PMS, etc.
• Multiple platforms and varied technical frameworks. Adds to complexity in terms of design and development, especially when the need is to build native apps which can utilise the true potential of the mobile platform.

Getting Started With Mobile Learning?

Mobile learning is in the air. It’s the buzz word these days and you can’t escape all the noise surrounding it.

In their latest post, Upside Learning presents some of their own posts in an organised, sequential fashion.

1. What is mobile learning?
2. Why mobile learning?
3. How/Where can you use mobile learning?
4. How to create a mobile learning strategy?

Is Mobile Learning a Reality Now?

In his blog for Upside Learning, Simon Meager asks whether mobile learning has become a reality rather than a prediction.

There does seem to have been a shift in favour of performance support. Mobile devices have become tools for providing access to information at the point of need. For example, Ford is delivering support to front line sales teams via iPhones and iPads.

From an instructional design perspective, we still need to determine the context and apply the method that best suits the need of a project. Referring to Gottfredson’s Five Moments of Learning Need, mobiles may perform better as learning aids rather than learning for the first time, but it is clear that this is not a passing fad and mobile devices have become a valuable addition to the learning space.

Mobile App Usage

Is this glass 26% empty or 26% full? A study released by Localytics shows that there are as many potential loyal mobile app customers as there are those that are fickle.

Here are the figures:

• 61.5 million smartphone users in the US (Q4 2010)
• 400,000 iPhone/iPad apps
• 200,00 Android apps
• 10 billion downloads from iTunes store

Part 1 of the study showed that 26% of the time users downloaded an app, used it once, and never used it again.

However, Part 2 showed that 26% of users became loyal, repeat customers using a new application more than 10 times (and many of those went on to use the application hundreds of times).

Encouraging user retention and getting users to return more than once (using in-app purchases, subscriptions that deliver new content, notifications, and updates) should be the top priority for developers.

Top 10 E-learning Mistakes

Nick Shackleton-Jones’ summary of the top 10 mistakes people make in designing e-learning solutions:

1. Overlooking the implementation

It is perfectly possible to create a mediocre course and achieve 100% completion, or a fantastic course and achieve 5% completion rates. It’s all in the implementation.

2. Building courses

Instead of courses, build a kit of flexible resources that can be recombined as required e.g. interviews, conceptual animations, scenarios, drama, best-practice case-studies. They may be used in advance of an event, as part of a comms or awareness-raising exercise, in classroom sessions, or by line managers in discussion with their teams.

3. Dumping information

Our job is not merely to summarise information, but to construct experiences which make it clear why anyone should care enough to invest their precious time in learning. Think ‘Story-Scenario-Simulation’.

4. Ignoring the audience

Understand the particular organisational sub-culture, what calls them to learn, what challenges they face, what they like and who they respect.

5. Not making use of informal learning

It is not enough merely to try to create and control an informal learning space: most attempts at social media for learning fail through insufficient consideration of content-generation-strategies. Here, again learning professionals used to more formal roles have an invaluable part to play in creating an informal experience.

6. Failure to challenge

Learners want us to provide them with situations in which it is safe to fail. Learning happens as a result of failing at these challenges, and not because we say ‘FAIL!’ but because we demonstrate the consequences of decisions that the learner takes and provide additional feedback.

7. Not considering the emotional landscape

90% of courses open with something moderately entertaining (e.g. a video) then flat-line for the remaining 30 minutes. If you had to draw a line representing the emotional landscape of your course, what would this look like?

8. Outsourcing it

A well-formed online strategy is a three-tiered triangle. At the top are online resources best built by highly capable e-learning suppliers. At the bottom are resources generated by learning staff and employees and shared between peers. But the middle tier should be a healthy chunk of learning content created by the organisation itself, using rapid development tools and techniques.

The future of learning professionals should be a sound grasp of the techniques and tools that can be used in creating learning content – such as video skills, for example.

9. Shoddy visual design

Although it can be misleading, users will get a sense of the quality of an online course from its visual design in much the same way as they get a sense of the quality of a face-to-face course from the venue.

10. Poor content management techniques

Don’t build some inscrutable tangle of flash files that we have no way of editing when the text changes or updating when our branding moves on.

Are We Wired For Mobile Learning?

An interesting infographic from the Voxy Blog.

Because of the proliferation of new technologies, the younger generation today is outgrowing traditional forms of education – remember pencils, chalkboards, textbooks and graphing calculators? Whether we are in the car, on the train, at work, or in a classroom, mobile technology in particular is giving us the ability to learn on-the-go. See the infographic below to learn why we are wired for mobile learning, and how we can use mobile technologies to educate ourselves.

Upside’s Learning Design Philosophy

Find out more about Upside’s learning design here.

Jane Hart's 2011 Reading List

These are Jane's recommended reads month-by-month:

http://c4lpt.co.uk/ReadingLists/2011.html

HTML5 & Cross-Platform Development

As the mobile application space continues to explode, developers are increasingly using HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3 to aid in the creation of web apps and native mobile apps. This process is especially useful when dealing with cross-platform development.

In this article, Mashable looks at how some of the best HTML5-centric, cross-platform mobile frameworks (including PhoneGap) are being used to help deliver native app experiences on a variety of devices.

Mobile Learning Design

Deloitte estimates that global Smartphone market sales will touch 375 million by the end of 2011.

Upside Learning looks at the limitations of mobile hardware and the design conventions we need to adhere to in order to make our mobile applications a success:

Limitations

• Usage Pattern: When people use an application on their Smartphone, it’s most likely that they have a particular task in mind. Chances are that they’re also on the move while accessing the application on their phone. They would want to complete the task as quickly as possible and don’t want to navigate through pages of content to get to it. Any mobile learning solution that we design needs to be easy to use even when our target audience is on the move. Interaction areas need to be easy to tap and important text should be large enough to read from a distance of 24 inches/ 2 feet.
• Slow Connections: Our mobile learning solutions should be able to work effectively on slow networks. That means that our designs need to be graphically light.
• Small Screen Size: Smaller screens mean less real estate available to work with. Our mobile learning solutions need to be designed in a way that’s optimized for a Smartphone screen resolution, and does not require the learners to zoom or scroll.

Mobile Learning Tips – Abhijit Kadle

• Keep it short and simple: This is significant in light of the nature of mobile devices and the situations in which they tend to be used. There can be frequent interruptions and learner attention to the device tends to be of a short span.
• Low information density: Don’t try to duplicate the length and information density of eLearning modules. The situations and devices with which the content is accessed warrants use of lower density information.
• Easy with multimedia: There is a cost associated with the development and access of such content.
• Include elements of collaboration: When used a part of a blended program, mobile devices can be used to facilitate interaction between peers, experts, mentors, etc.
• Provide tools and not just content: Mobiles’ ability to compute and display, combined with their personal and intimate nature, presents with lots of possibilities – geo location-based tools, networking tools, access to search and information databases, games, and simulations.

70:20:10

Mark Berthelemy’s blog on the changing face of learning and development…

Over the past 40 years, research has consistently indicated that:

• 70% of learning & development activity takes place from real-life and on-the-job experiences, tasks and problem-solving.
• 20% comes from feedback and from observing and working with role models.
• 10% comes from formal training.

See: Princeton University's Learning Philosophy

On-the-job

In a rapidly changing work environment, employees need a range of tactics to help them adapt to different situations.

These will often include:

• Asking someone who might know “the answer”
• Searching for (and finding!) information that will help them work out “the answer” – both from internal and external resources. (There is a strong relationship here with a knowledge management function)
• Trial-and-error
• Using a job-aid that has been prepared for this situation

Learning from other people

Employees will maintain a network of peers, who can provide answers to questions, feedback and modelling of best behaviours.

These may include their managers in a coaching relationship, but, more likely will be their direct peers, and, more often these days, will be people both inside and outside the organisation, with whom they have a virtual relationship.

Formal training

The goal of all formal training is to change behaviours to match the organisation’s stated values. Here there is a strong relationship with internal communication and external marketing – to ensure that the messages going out to clients and shareholders match the reality of how the organisation works.

Formal training may include:

• Classroom workshops
• Lectures
• Online webinars
• Direct communications from “the centre”
• Designed learning experiences, such as simulations and tutorials
• Assessed activities

Instructional Design And The Six Thinking Hats

Upside Learning reviews Edward de Bono’s book, Six Thinking Hats – a thinking process with the aim of  improving communication and reducing meeting times.

White Hat Thinking: Data, facts, information known or needed.

First and foremost, focus on the input content provided to you. Identify what information is available, what is needed, and what information is missing.

Black Hat Thinking: Difficulties, potential problems. Why something may not work.

Think critically, complete a thorough risk assessment, and identify ‘worst-case scenarios’.

Red Hat Thinking: Feelings, hunches, gut instinct, and intuition.

Express your gut feelings about the instructional approach that you believe should be taken. Don’t try to justify yourself. Just go all out.

Green Hat Thinking: Creativity – possibilities, alternatives, solutions, new ideas.

Move forward; seek new ideas and modify your existing ideas if required.

Yellow Hat Thinking: Values and benefits. Why something may work.

Justify your approach by listing down its benefits and why you think your approach will work.

Blue Hat Thinking: Manage the thinking process, focus, next steps, action plans.

Summarise your thoughts and conclude by formulating a plan of action. List out next steps and assign responsibility centres.

Instructional Design for Beginners – What Motivates People To Learn?

A blog from Upside Learning to demystify one theory every beginner Instructional Designer should know – John Keller’s ARCS model of Motivational Design:

• Attention
• Relevance
• Confidence
• Satisfaction

Directory of Learning Tools 2011

Jane Hart’s Directory of Learning Tools 2011 with over 2000 tools for learning and working in education and the workplace:

http://c4lpt.co.uk/Directory/index.html

The Horizon Report 2011

The Horizon Report describes areas of emerging technology that will have significant impact on education over the next years.

The areas of emerging technology cited for 2011 are:

Within 1 year:

• Electronic books
• Mobiles

2 – 3 years:

• Augmented reality – layering information over view of real world
• Game-based learning

4 – 5 years:

• Gesture-based computing – e.g. Kinect
• Learning analytics – revising curriculum in real time

The Horizon Report 2011