Throughout 2011 we will be publishing extracts from The New Learning Architect. We move on to the first part of chapter 4: Every context is a learning context, whether we are at work or play. We are born as learning machines and continue to learn until the day we die. We may not always be consciously learning, but learning is taking place whether we are aware of it or not, as we strive to make sense of and adapt to the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Four contexts. Non-formal : Non-formal learning is ‘learning to’ with a more relaxed timeframe. Two perspectives. MORE >>

We’re always keen to include more useful giveaways, and today we’ve added an articles page to the resources section of the site. To kick things off we’ve added a series of three articles on getting started with social media and learning, which were originally published in Inside Learning Technologies magazine between November 2010 and January 2011. You can download the articles  here. MORE >>

Part 1. Why do we use questions in e-learning? It might be to let the user check their own understanding or mastery of what they have been learning, or it might be to prod them into thinking about a subject before exploring it in more detail. We also use questions to direct learners along branches so that learning can be modular and truly individualised. Instead of providing answers, you let the user’s response take them to another part of the training. If you do not have a ckear reason for using a question, then don’t include one! Pre-test or not. Make it cover a real objective. Pizza. MORE >>

Throughout 2011 we will be publishing extracts from The New Learning Architect. We start as you would expect at the beginning, with the first part of chapter 1: Architects as we usually know them. An architect is someone who creates the plans from which others build. An architect of buildings designs environments for living. Only rarely will they be designing an environment in which they themselves will be living. More typically they will be responding to a very specific brief that reflects very particular requirements. What functions must this building perform? What are these people like? MORE >>

Online learning content can perform many different functions, depending on the learning strategy which you are employing. To make this point, I’ve adapted the descriptions of different approaches to learning as described by Ruth Clark and Merlin Wittrock in Psychological Principles of Training, published in Training and Retraining, Macmillan Reference USA (2001): 1. Exposition. By exposition we mean the delivery of learning content to the learner with little or nothing in the way of interaction. Structured instruction. Guided discovery. Exploration. Thus we come full circle.  . MORE >>