Imported from Diigo

When you think of yourself as a learner, you begin to act as one, and suddenly all the potential of networks and online information begins to make sense

<img src="http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/images/socialfluency.jpg" title="" alt="social fluency" />

Change has to start with an identified need, not with a good idea. Generally, we only change when we must. Listen for needs.

Change, like great research, begins with asking important questions, and provoking respondents to self-change instead of trying to persuade or impose it.

Experiment. The best, profound changes come from masses of iterative learning and exploration of possibilities.

This is exactly what has happened to instructional design, and could by <a href="http://effectivedesign.org/2008/02/11/instructional-design-in-academia-where-theory-and-practice-rarely-meet/">why theory and practice don’t meet</a>. <strong>So much theory has been introduced that we can no longer see how instruction is actually designed.</strong> That’s why I think many times it has become easier for novice (in this case non-academically trained) designers can do it so often. They are not encumbered by the fog of theory.

<p>I believe that the roles &nbsp;of the Instructional Designer and Teacher are changing and must change in the face of the ever-increasing onslaught of information every human being faces today.&nbsp; Those roles must merge into the Sharer, who shows new technologies and connections to information to others while always keeping in mind his/her own role as perpetual student.&nbsp;</p> <p>To do this, the Sharer must, at least in some respects, plant the environment for others, set up what may grow into connections and give opportunity for emergence in ways even the Sharer may not envision yet, but in a reasonably “safe” environment for exploration.</p>

The Teacher/Sharer, parents and student collaborate on ensuring that whatever method the student is using is assisting in wayfinding toward those goals.&nbsp; If more connections are made, so much the better.&nbsp; But along the path, like signposts, each of the connections (parents, Teacher/Sharers) and&nbsp;each tool (video, Second Life, writing, drawing, blog, podcast,&nbsp; etc.) used&nbsp;to connect&nbsp;to people&nbsp;will prompt the student for responses (dates, opinions, responses to readings) of the set curriculum, but framed in the context best suited for that student.&nbsp;A&nbsp;record of the waypoints shows how the student connected and which connections seemed to spark the most activity and best learning.&nbsp; If the student misses a certain number of waypoints, the direction of the connections is adjusted until success is achieved.

<b>PRINCIPLE:</b> Under fair use, educators using the concepts and techniques of media literacy can choose illustrative material from the full range of copyrighted sources and make them available to learners, in class, in workshops, in informal mentoring and teaching settings, and on school-related Web sites.

Now how do you make this open source and still pay the bills. One way would be to make the training content truly open like MIT. To recover costs, the manufacture or the training provider could charge for certification exam, access to mentors, discussion groups, and access the training equipment. So if certification credentials are import to the customer, then this model works.

or example, I have already explained how the customer can build dynamic content around their features, but a customer could also using Wiki-like features, go in and upload their system schematics, photos, maps, or IP addresses and then have the content repository publish a unique document for the requestor. The automotive industry is already moving in this direction creating unique user manuals for each customer based on the features selected at the time of purchase.

We can't "create" learning<br>- We can design environments conducive to learning.<br>- We design learning experiences.

Don't design CONTENT, design EXPERIENCES<br>- Design the "Flow".<br>- Start bringing in emotions and the actions they take

<p>Some critics of distance learning say face-to-face classes give students a better learning environment, but a recent Indiana University study found that online learners reported deeper approaches to learning than classroom-based learners.</p> <p>Deep learning, researchers said,&nbsp;is a type of learning that goes beyond rote memorization and focuses on reflection, integrative learning, and higher-order thinking--analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.</p>

According to the survey results, 37 percent of first-year online learners and 45 percent of seniors said they participated in course activities that challenged them intellectually "very often," compared to only 24 percent of first-year classroom-based learners and 35 percent of seniors. The survey also found that online learners reported slightly more deep approaches to learning in their coursework.

Survey results showed that 58 percent of first-year students taking most of their classes online reported using higher-order thinking in their coursework, compared to 55 percent of classroom-based learners. Results also showed that 69 percent of first-year students taking most of their classes online reported using integrative thinking in their coursework, compared to 67 percent of classroom-based learners. Additionally, 62 percent of first-year students taking most of their classes online reported using reflective learning in their coursework, compared to 59 percent of classroom-based learners.

So basically when you blog, you have to think about what you have read, how that compares to what you already know or what you have experienced, and that comparison helps you to construct new mental models that you articulate in written form (your blog).

How will your students communicate when they leave school? How will they gather information? How will they say what they need to say?

The thing about toolbelts though, is that no two people ever really need the same one.

So the trick to tool use is to learn to evaluate tasks and environments and your skills and the tools themselves as they change and determine what works best for you. I call this the "TEST" - <span style="font-weight: bold;">T</span>ask - <span style="font-weight: bold;">E</span>nvironment - <span style="font-weight: bold;">S</span>kills - <span style="font-weight: bold;">T</span>ools, a specifically ordered reframing of <a href="http://sweb.uky.edu/%7Ejszaba0/JoyZabala.html">Joy Zabala</a>'s "<a href="http://www.ode.state.or.us/initiatives/elearning/nasdse/settintrogeneric2005.pdf">SETT</a>" protocol. A specifically ordered reframing designed for self-determination.

And on top of this, the tools most schools are devoted to are antiques which serve few functions anywhere outside of school. It is as if you were learning to build homes but were allowed to use only tools invented before 1940. You'd be close to unemployable when you finished that training.

The only way to allow students to assemble this essential toolbelt for information and communication is to to throw open your classroom and let the world in. How will your students know which calendar works for them - the one on their phone, Google Calendar with SMS appointment texting, Microsoft Outlook, or any of a dozen paper systems unless you allow them to try them out?