Many people have asked me what I want to do with my Masters degree once I have it. I orginally thought that I wanted to be an independent, solo e-learning developer. I later realised that while I enjoy tinkering around with websites, creating cool image with photoshop and whizzy animations in Flash, to do it full time AND design the instruction too would be too much and frankly too detailed for me. My strength is communication and organisation (though you wouldn't think so looking at my cupboards). So I now think that I can help companies that are branching into the world of e-learning. I can be the one to unravel the mysteries of the IMM world.
Today I found a posting on the E-learning Guild website that kind of sums it up:
'From: nbird
Nbird@rwd.com
Nov 29 2004 11:22AM
Go to Subject
Hello, I actually worked as a one person shop for over a year and I know what you mean. I was responsible for HTML, Flash, and Authorware development. I also had to use tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, FreeHand, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Discreet Cleaner XL, Snag-It, etc... You name it I probably had it. No one person can do all this work and quite frankly no one person wants to. The number of skill sets that this tasks encompasses is large. I serve on the program committe for the E-Learning Guild as well as for TechLearn and I can tell you we are seeing growing numbers of one person shops these days. There is a balance between productivity and quality you must accept. To turn things around in a timely manner requires a one person shop to keep things simple. To get detailed takes time. Now that I am on the services side of the world I am seeing many of our clients leverage our development services to fill the gaps as with so many other third party content providers. As a one person shop I got countless calls from companies in the US and abroad, mostly abroad from India. More companies are "outsourcing", "outtasking", or whatever you want to call it. Basically they find it is more cost effective to pay a company that specializes in content design and development to build their programs then to do it in house. It is because of the challenges and diverse skill sets needed to be able to produce highly interactive SCORM/AICC conformant content. My advice would be to consider the value of outsourcing portions of the work to increase productivity and focus on the quality. There is a lot of talk from folks like Elliott Masie about the end of SMEs. I could see the one person shop individual becoming the individual that represents their companies interests as a project manager. Their purpose changes from a person who does all the work to the person that manages vendor relationships and makes sure all the work is done on time, within budget, and is relevant to the business. I think any management team that has no budget for outsourcing domestically or abroad has not been shown the value of the concept. Someone sees outsourcing as taking someones job away and not as paying for improved ROI, increased productivity, and more effective learning. There are too many major corporations and CLOs that believe strongly in the value of partnering with development companies to fill skill gaps rather than paying for the help. The cost of inneffective training is far greater than the cost of outsourcing. Thanks, Nick'
Must get in touch and get some more ideas
Friday, August 12, 2005
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
I hate subtitles
When I watch a French film subtitled in English, I make a conscious effort to avoid the subtitles as I find them distracting and feel that they impair my appreciation of the film. My husband, who has a slightly inferior command of the language, finds it helpful to refer to the translation occasionally. If he were to watch the same film again however, he would be as distracted by the subtitles as I am.
Reading Kalyuga's (2000) article, 'When using sound with a text or a picture is not beneficial for learning' I found parallels with the subtitle story.
Stepping back for a second, the theory of cognitive overload states that too much of the same sensory input is too much for the brain to handle and results in negative learning outcome. Similarly, simultaneous input to two different senses has the same effect - cognitive overload. One technique to overcome this is to follow a visual with an auditory explanation.
My reference to the subtitles becomes relevant when one considers an experienced learner as compared to a novice learner. The latter has been shown to respond well to visuals with accompanying text while the former finds them distracting and prefers visuals only.
Justification for ongoing value of an e-learning module often includes reference to the ability to use a module as an ongoing reference or job aid. It would be worth considering this in the design stage and providing the ability to not only disable any audio (even when it follows the visual) but also provide accompanying text that can be disabled for the returning experienced learner.
The challenge then becomes one of 'navigation and interactivity' but that's tomorrow's reading.
Reading Kalyuga's (2000) article, 'When using sound with a text or a picture is not beneficial for learning' I found parallels with the subtitle story.
Stepping back for a second, the theory of cognitive overload states that too much of the same sensory input is too much for the brain to handle and results in negative learning outcome. Similarly, simultaneous input to two different senses has the same effect - cognitive overload. One technique to overcome this is to follow a visual with an auditory explanation.
My reference to the subtitles becomes relevant when one considers an experienced learner as compared to a novice learner. The latter has been shown to respond well to visuals with accompanying text while the former finds them distracting and prefers visuals only.
Justification for ongoing value of an e-learning module often includes reference to the ability to use a module as an ongoing reference or job aid. It would be worth considering this in the design stage and providing the ability to not only disable any audio (even when it follows the visual) but also provide accompanying text that can be disabled for the returning experienced learner.
The challenge then becomes one of 'navigation and interactivity' but that's tomorrow's reading.
Nursery Rhymes
Consider the first two lines of a favourite nursery rhyme:
'Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey'.
Even I, subjective and adoring mother that I am, have to recognise that although Luc can recite these lines word perfect, he has absolutely no idea what the words mean.
In his article 'Does technology present a new way of learning?', Leamson (2001) explains how, firstly, Luc can memorise so effortlessly and, secondly, how as parents we can help to nurture his potential as he grows up.
It's all to do with the physiology of the brain. While the brain is physically larger in adults, the actual number of synapses is far greater in infants. 'The profusion of synapses in the child's brain does not indicate knowledge , only a vast potential for learning'. In adults, the bulk of the brain comes from the continuous growth of axons. Axons are projections that grow from neurons when the brain makes connections i.e. when something suddenly makes sense.
So I now have evidence that even very young children can have 'memory without understanding'. As he grows, we can help in the knowledge that 'something is learned when it is both understood and remembered'.
Implications for technology are twofold: Don't let the technology divert the adult learner's attention away from the subject and, conversely, if the student is initially attracted by the technology, gradually divert his attention towards the subject to be learned.
Right, I'm off to find out what the hell 'curds and whey' are!
'Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet
Eating her curds and whey'.
Even I, subjective and adoring mother that I am, have to recognise that although Luc can recite these lines word perfect, he has absolutely no idea what the words mean.
In his article 'Does technology present a new way of learning?', Leamson (2001) explains how, firstly, Luc can memorise so effortlessly and, secondly, how as parents we can help to nurture his potential as he grows up.
It's all to do with the physiology of the brain. While the brain is physically larger in adults, the actual number of synapses is far greater in infants. 'The profusion of synapses in the child's brain does not indicate knowledge , only a vast potential for learning'. In adults, the bulk of the brain comes from the continuous growth of axons. Axons are projections that grow from neurons when the brain makes connections i.e. when something suddenly makes sense.
So I now have evidence that even very young children can have 'memory without understanding'. As he grows, we can help in the knowledge that 'something is learned when it is both understood and remembered'.
Implications for technology are twofold: Don't let the technology divert the adult learner's attention away from the subject and, conversely, if the student is initially attracted by the technology, gradually divert his attention towards the subject to be learned.
Right, I'm off to find out what the hell 'curds and whey' are!
Monday, August 01, 2005
Born in the wrong decade?
At university, and even before for that matter, I always believed that I was a 'bad student'. I now realise that this was not necessarily the case but that my particular learning style was not suited to the way my subjects were delivered. As I read now about new ways educators challenge their students, I find myself almost wishing that I could turn back the clock.
I always needed to 'internalise' a concept internally for longer than others before understanding set in and I felt able to contribute to a meaningful discussion. My current asynchronous online study environment allows me to do just that without feeling 'slow' to catch on.
The lectures that stick in my memory are ones that made use of multimedia (albeit rudimentary) such as the Modern Linguistic class that had us listen to tapes of accents from Alsace and compare to accents from Provence. We also had to study the written phonetics of the accents but this multichannel approach was a success.
Although the balance has perhaps not yet been reached between correct use of multimedia and cognitive overlad creation, I wonder whether we would all have done better with a more interactive approach to our education.
The 'O' Level generation was always very proud to have attained lofty levels of parrot like fact repetition but I wonder whether a school leaver today is in fact equiped with a better approach to learning (both academic and social) than we were.
I always needed to 'internalise' a concept internally for longer than others before understanding set in and I felt able to contribute to a meaningful discussion. My current asynchronous online study environment allows me to do just that without feeling 'slow' to catch on.
The lectures that stick in my memory are ones that made use of multimedia (albeit rudimentary) such as the Modern Linguistic class that had us listen to tapes of accents from Alsace and compare to accents from Provence. We also had to study the written phonetics of the accents but this multichannel approach was a success.
Although the balance has perhaps not yet been reached between correct use of multimedia and cognitive overlad creation, I wonder whether we would all have done better with a more interactive approach to our education.
The 'O' Level generation was always very proud to have attained lofty levels of parrot like fact repetition but I wonder whether a school leaver today is in fact equiped with a better approach to learning (both academic and social) than we were.
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