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Clark Quinn’s Learnings about Learning

Archives for 2010

Big ‘L’ Learning

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We’ve been wrestling for a while about how to deal with the labeling problem. The problem is that when you mention learning to anyone but the L&D team, they immediately hear ‘training’ (and, frankly, too often so to does the L&D team). And, of course, really the issue is performance, but too often that can mean machine throughput or semi-conductor yield or something other than the output of the human brain. This has continued to be a barrier for having meaningful conversations.

I also want to address the broader suite of human brain outcomes: research, creativity, design, etc., as you’ll have read here before. The answers aren’t known, and this is likely to be the important work. Other than creating a portmanteau, or making up a new word entirely, however, I’ve been at a loss for a label.

Recently, I’ve started talking about “big L learning”. ‘Inspired’ by the fact that the Liberal party in Australia is really the conservative party (leave it to the Aussies :), so they have to distinguish between big L and little l liberal, I’ve decided that perhaps we can distinguish between little ‘l’ learning and big ‘L’ learning. If nothing else, it might get someone to ask what I mean and provide an opportunity to open up the discussion.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than open to an alternate suggestion, but in the interim, I’m going to keep playing with this. I’ve been wrestling with this for years, and haven’t come up with anything better. I welcome your feedback.

Higher^2 Education

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I have just been at my first WCET conference, which is focused on higher ed distance eLearning. Mostly, it’s focused on those in the trenches, that is those who are charged with making it happen. This is not a bad thing, as these are good folks trying to do good work. What is missing, however, is a way to address the next level, and the one above that, in a systematic and effective way. And, yet, we must.

Let’s start with President Obama’s recent call to raise the level of US higher education.   And, frankly, there are more countries that need to heed the call of reforming post-secondary education.     I’ve talked before about the needed changes in higher ed, but even the short term changes are hard to see happening.

There were some inspiring talks, including Mark Milliron of the Gates Foundation, and a ‘debate’ between Peter Smith of Kaplan (and author of a new book on the topic of higher education) and David Longanecker of WICHE (WCET’s ‘parent’).   What became clear to me is that the goal of seriously raising the number of higher education graduates – whether associate, baccalaureate, or higher degrees – isn’t going to happen through incremental change. The problem is multi-faceted: the degrees available increasingly have little appeal, the pedagogies aren’t aligned to success, and the approaches don’t scale.

While the for-profit schools are providing competition to drive more market-focused courses, the time taken to get a program approved, and an institution accredited, provide barriers to being truly market-driven. That is of course, not the only goal, but things are moving faster than programs can be expected to cope.

I have to admit that I was also somewhat dismayed by a lack of pedagogical focus that mirrors the problems we see in corporate settings.   There seemed to be little leeway to challenge faculty members to raise quality levels of learning experience beyond just the traditional content model.

Finally, the resources dispersed across institutions are not well-aligned with a goal of pervasive quality that can be replicated across the curriculum.   Most institutions, even the big for-profits, seem to have approaches aligned for efficiency at the sake of effectiveness.

I admit big change is hard, but the stated goals are big, the need is big, and the opportunities are likewise.   It would take a massive infusion of resources, however, to make a big change within the system. Which led me, naturally, to think of a big change outside the system.

I started thinking about curricula as a separate thing from the learning activities (content and more), from the products of learning generated, and from the mentoring. In particular, the varied mentoring that would go into vetting the curricula, the choice of learning activities, and the feedback on the products.   The quick question is whether these could be disentangled from the academy.

Could we, in fact, either crowd source curricula or support self-definition and approval? Could the choice of resources and activities be scrutinized separately, both for quality and as an opportunity for lessons in becoming a self-capable learner in a discipline? Even system-selected?   And could the feedback on products come from an appropriate suite of stakeholders?

That’s a relatively radical proposition, I recognize, but when you need transformative outcomes, you may need transformative approaches…

More prosaically, I remain dismayed by the continuing lack of strategic thinking in higher education, particularly the public sector.   Small elements, like recognizing that the overall quality of teaching impacts an institution’s reputation, that devolving responsibility to domains will undermine a unified effort, that a systemic consideration of learning technology provides efficiencies as well as opportunities for effectiveness, etc. remain as missed opportunities.

What’s missing from what I see is a unified quality approach. What if Steve Job’s took on higher education? My take is that we’d see something like:

•     We will deliver a totally killer learning experience

•     We will not only develop your knowledge and skills, but you as a learner and performer

•     We will be a partner in your success

That, to me, is the value proposition that we can, and should, deliver. If we are not aligned with that, we are not really offering the services that an education provider should be shooting for.   Or an organization, for that matter.

So, are you aiming high enough? The time is now.

Engineering both the front- and back-end

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I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Glushko a couple of weeks ago, and finally had a chance to dig into a couple of papers if his (as well as scan his book Document Engineering). He’s definitely one that you would call ‘wicked’ smart, having built several companies and now having sold one, he’s only hanging around doing cutting edge information science because he wants to.

The core of what he’s on about is structuring data, as documents, to facilitate transactions that for the basis of services. He focuses on the term ‘document’ rather than data to help emphasize the variety of forms in which they manifest, the human component, and most of all the nature of combining data to facilitate business interactions. At the heart is something I’ve been excited about, what I call content models, but he takes much further to support a more generic and comprehensive capability.

He makes a useful distinction between ‘front-end’ and ‘back-end’ services to help highlight the need to take the total service-delivery system into account. The front end provides the customer-facing experience, while the back end ensures efficiency and scalability. It can be difficult to reconcile these two, and yet both are necessary.

This is important in learning experience design as well. Having served on either side, both, and as the mediator between, I know the tension that can result from the caring designer crossing swords with the focused developer.

I have talked before about the potential of web 3.0, system-generated content, and that’s what this approach really enables. Yes, there are necessary efficiencies and effectiveness enough to justify this approach in your learning experience system design, but the potential for smart adaptive experiences is the new opportunity.

If you’re building more than just content, but also delivery systems and business engines, you owe it to yourself to get into Document Engineering. If you’re going further (and you should), you really need to get into the whole services and information science area.

There are exciting advancements in technologies, going beyond just XML to learning focused structures on top, and solid concept engineering behind these that are the key to the next generation of learning systems (and, of course, more).

On the road, again

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The eLearning Guild‘s DevLearn was a blast, as always.   I was so involved that I hardly got to see any sessions, but had great conversations.   And afterward the Internet Time Alliance really solidified our plans.   Exciting times ahead.

And there’s quite a bit of travel coming up.   On Wed I depart to La Jolla to attend WCET’s conference, where I’ll be talking on mobile learning.   Then on Sunday I head to Phoenix for the Virtual School Symposium.

This precedes the Online Educa in Berlin December 1-3, where I again talk mobile.

On Dec 13-14, we’ll be running an ITA event in Maastricht, and then on the 16th, we’ll have one in London.   If you’re interested in working smarter and the future of organizational learning, and you’re in Europe, you should try to hit one.

In between, I   may have some free time, so let me know if you’re interested.

Early in the new year, I’ll be running the mobile design workshop in San Jose for ASTD’s TechKnowledge conference.

Further ahead, I’ll be at Sydney for the Australasian Talent Conference in May, and Wisconsin for the the Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning in August.   For both of those, the topic is more the bigger picture of how learning can be facilitated with technology.

I’d welcome seeing you at any of the events.   If you attend, make sure to say hi!

the Power of Pull

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John Seely Brown has given the leading keynote to the DevLearn conference with an inspiring talk about how the world needs to move to scalable capacity building using collaboration (we’re totally in synch!)

John Seely Brown Keynote Power of Pull

Beyond Reason

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Night before last, I had my ITA colleagues over for dinner.   We’ve been conversing for close on two years, but other than Jay, I’d met each only once: Jane, I’d met last year when she was here, and Harold and Charles I’d each met several years ago briefly.   I don’t think Harold and Charles had met before.

So how was it that if felt like old friends getting together? Quite simply, the varied conversations we’d had had created something more than just intellectual convergence.

Now, you have to understand, we have pretty typically met once a week, via voice or video conferencing during that time. We also have a Skype chat we keep open and there are conversations that continue most every day.   We’ve also had one on one conversations by phone when needed or wanted.   We share our travels, interests, issues, concerns, and more.

This is a friendship, built virtually but still connected by all the elements that make friendships: trust, authenticity, shared concerns, and mutual goals. And, yet, we still wrestle with, and advance, our understandings of the work we’re trying to do as well.   We coordinate events, and gigs, working together as well as helping one another.

I mention this to reinforce the point that real communities can be built with virtual tools. With the right emotional connections, environment, and commitment, our cognitive commitments are effectively met , and perhaps even augmented, relative to meeting face to face.   Sure, we’ll have a couple of days of face to face work to take care of some stuff that we’ve been working on, but we’ve built the relationships and done useful work as well, and it will continue.

To me, that is the power that’s on tap, the offer we must seize to the benefits of our organizations, and society.   We welcome you to join us.

Review: Gary Woodill’s The Mobile Learning Edge

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In the context of having my own book on mobile learning in press, I’m well-primed to review Gary Woodill’s The Mobile Learning Edge: Tools and Technologies for Developing Your Teams. It could be awkward as well, as I could be considered to be a competitor, with no vested interest in helping.   So, accept the potential for bias, but I feel, fortunately, this is not a problem.

For context, the time is clearly right for mobile learning, what with the increasing prevalence of mobile devices, particularly smartphones, the increasing availability of tools, and an increasingly mobile workforce. As a consequence, there is a clear opportunity to provide guidance.

Gary Woodill’s book, as you might imagine for a senior analyst (his title at Brandon Hall Research), is exhaustively researched.   The book is full of quotes about mobile learning, has a variety of examples, and points to a suite of sources of information.   It is also, not surprisingly, well-written, with a business focus.

Which raises the question of the audience.   This book is clearly written for managers and executives who either are considering a mobile strategy for their employees or as a business.   While covering more prosaic issues like development tools and design approaches, with guest chapters on business and content strategy, this is clearly aimed higher in the organization.

And this brings up the differences between our two books.   When Gary found out we were both doing mobile books (for different publishers), he astutely reached out, and we discussed our approaches and recognized we were shooting for different audiences.   Compared to Gary’s focus, I am instead mostly addressing those who will be charged with executing the actual design.   Yes, his book addresses design, and yes, mine addresses strategy, but they have relatively different emphases. For example, his book has a much greater span of the history of mobile devices, while I’ve tried to focus on the relevant recent past. He also has a current snapshot of tools, while I’ve tried to write in a way that isn’t constrained by changes in the environment.

Overall, I think the books complement each other well. I think if you’re contemplating a mobile business plan, his is the way to go.   If you’re looking for guidance in how to take advantage of mobile to empower your employees, I’ve designed mine to be the one you should choose.   Mine is for people who are thinking about, want to, or have to do mobile.  Gary’s is for those who have to decide about it. To put it another way, Gary’s is the one that should be in the research library and on the executive shelf, and hopefully mine is the one that should be on the shelf of the designer and manager.

This is a very good book; readable, valuable, and interesting.   If you’re interested in mobile, you should definitely give it a look.

The role of the university?

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Unhappy in many ways with the current status of education, particularly here in the US, I’ve been thinking a lot about what would make sense. What’s the role of K12, and then what’s the role of a university?   Some thoughts recently coalesced that I thought I’d put out and see what reaction I get.

The issue, to me, covers several things.   Now, I talked some time ago about my ongoing search for wisdom, and the notion of a wise curriculum coupled with a wise pedagogy very much permeate my thinking. However, I’m probably going to be a bit more mundane here.   I just want to think what we might want to cover, and how.

Let me start with the premise that what needs to be learned to be a productive member of society needs to be learned before university, as not everyone goes further.   If we truly believe (and we should) that 21st Century skills of learning, research, communication, leadership, etc, are skills everyone needs, then those are K12 goals. Naturally, of course, we also include literacy of many sorts (not just reading and writing), and ideally, thinking like a mathematician and scientist (not science and math).

However, if those are accomplished in K12 (when I’ve previously argued learning how to think might be the role of the university, and now think it’s got to be before then), then what is the role of university?   Given that the half-life of knowledge is less than four years, focusing on preparing for a lifetime of performance is out of the question.   Similarly, pursuing one fixed course of study won’t make sense anymore, as the fields are beginning to change, and the arbitrary categorizations won’t make sense. So what then?

I’m thinking of going back to the original Oxbridge model.   In the old days, you were assigned a tutor (and advisor), and you met with that person regularly. They’d have a discussion with you, recommend some activities (read X, solve Y), and send you on your way. It was a customized solution.   Since then, for a variety of reasons (scale, mostly), the model’s turned into a mass-production model.   However, we now have the power of technology.

What if we moved to a system where individuals could spend some time exploring particular areas (like the first two years or so of college), and then put together a proposal of what they wanted to do, and how they’d pursue it, and the proposal would be vetted. Once approved, there’d be regular updates. Sure, there’d likely be some templates around for learning, but it’d be more self-directed, customizable, and put the appropriate responsibility on the learner.

I may be biased, as I designed my own major (UCSD’s Muir campus had a mechanism to design your own degree, and as they didn’t have a learning technology program…) as an undergraduate, and again you propose your research as a PhD candidate, but I think there’s a lot to recommend a learner taking responsibility for what they’re going to study and why. Granted, universities don’t do a good enough job of articulating why a program sequence has particular courses in it, but I think it’s even better if a learner at least has to review and defend it, if not choose it themselves.

Naturally, some domain-specific learning skills would emerge, but this would provide a more flexible system to match how specializations are changing so dynamically, serve as a model for life, and put the responsibility of faculty members more to mentorship and less to lecture. It would necessitate a change in pedagogy as well.

I think, in the long term, this sort of model has to be adopted.   In the short term, it will wreak havoc with things like accreditation, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, given the flaws we’re beginning to see in the existing system, both non- and for-profit.   I reckon the for-profits might be able to move quicker, but there will be battles.   And, of course, changing faculty minds reminds me of the old joke: “How many academics does it take to change a lightbulb?”   “Change?” (And I *was* one!)

Naturally, this has implications for K12 too, as many have articulately argued that the pedagogy needs to change there as well, following the learners’ interests.   Likewise the notion of educational publishing (where is that iPad replacement for my kid’s texts?).   Those are topics for another day.

So, does this make sense? What am I missing?

ITA and DevLearn!

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I’m excited to say that all the Internet Time Alliance (Jay, Jane, Harold, Charles, & myself) are all going to be at DevLearn this year.   I’m excited because I’m looking forward to having us all together, given that normally Jane & Charles are in the UK, Harold’s hangs out above the east coast of Baja Canada, and Jay and I populate the west coast.   At least, when we’re home.   While we’re in touch every day, and have gotten together in subgroups, we never have we been together in one place!   Practicing what we preach…

Of course, I’m also excited because DevLearn is always a great conference, and this year is shaping up to be the best yet.   The eLearning Guild team (Brent, Heidi, David and the rest) continue to improve on the excellent job they always do, the exhibit hall is sold out, I’m sure the attendance will be high, and some of the folks who I’ve most been looking to meet will be there (Jane Bozarth, I’m looking at you ;).   And, of course, my friends from previous conferences, Aaron, Marcia, Mark, Koreen, the list goes on.   The keynotes look great (JSB, Marcia!), and the lineup of other speakers reads like a who’s who of elearning.

Given that the ITA will be together, we’ll be mind-melding for a couple of days afterwards.   To that end, I strongly encourage you to find us and talk to us, individually or collectively, and let us know what you’re thinking, what your concerns are, what barriers you are facing, and so forth.   We’ll be attending each others’ sessions, and others, as well as in all the usual places (expo halls, watering holes,…).   Please give us a chance to meet you and hear from you.

Jane Hart will be speaking at 10:45 on Wed the 3rd, on The State of Learning in the Workplace Today (session 110).   Jay Cross will be speaking at 4 PM on Working Smarter: Learning is the REAL Work! (session 310).   Finally, I’ll be speaking on Thursday the 4th at 10:45 on Rethinking eLearning: Performer Augmentation (session 410). I reckon we’ll all be at each of our sessions. I will also be part of the Mobile Learning Jam at 3PM on Wed, speaking with Paul Clothier and Rovy Brannon on An ISD Discussion of Mobile Learning (though I don’t necessarily expect my ITA colleagues to be there for that session).

And, of course, please just do say hello.   I look forward to meeting you or seeing you again!

Co-Curation

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In a presentation yesterday by Dr. Deborah Everhart, talking about Web 2.0 and the future of teaching and learning at Berkeley’s new Center of Next Generation of Teaching and Learning, she used the familiar mechanism of transitions from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0.     One of the transitions she described, from Buying to Self-Publishing sparked a thought. This was very much in the context of higher education, but it extends further.

For context, realize that we’re being inundated with knowledge.   One of the roles of our personal learning networks is to follow people who sort through the memes coming along and reframe them into new ideas, posts and more. People like my ITA colleagues and many others (e.g. #lrnchat instigators) are worth following (virtual mentorships) because they are essentially serving as curators for knowledge.

So these people are self-publishing.   In higher education, we think of authors of textbooks, although in a sense they’re curating knowledge as well. And we’re seeing movements where teams are beginning to author texts, not just for publishers but in open access contexts as well.   If we extend this, communities are, increasingly, similarly curating information.

And, really, they’re co-curating. Wikipedia ends up being the ultimate co-curated body of knowledge.   It’s co-creation, but because it’s pulling together bits of knowledge from other places. In the case of innovation, where experts are solving new problems, that’s co-creation, but capturing resources around topics and combining them is a combination of curation and creation, co-curation.

I note that this is not a new term, as librarians have been apparently using it for a while, but I think it’s an important concept in the overall context of learning together; co-creating libraries (have you ever received a request for the books you think are most critical for X :) of resources and references.   It’s a part of the larger picture of creating personal learning environments, personal learning networks, and personal knowledge management.

When I reflect on the fabulous learning that comes from my networks (such as those listed above and ITFORUM), I am really really grateful to those who contribute so that we all learn together. Thanks!