Means, motive and opportunity might be necessary if you are to convince a jury to convict in a trial, but they also apply in a wide variety of other circumstances, not least whether or not learning technologies make sense for a particular population: Means Learners need the means to engage with technology, in particular the IT literacy. While not so long ago this was a major obstacle, even in developed economies, the problem is fast reducing. Just about every electronic gadget we use - a telephone, a tablet, a TV, a DVD player, a games console - is at heart a computer and works like one. MORE >>

In my quest for new learning metaphors I have to pay attention to cased based learning (CBL) or Scenario based learning (SBL). It is not new, but it is very powerful. The great thing about it is that it approaches learning for the learners perspective, based on real world problems. It is great to use it in combination with the principles of action mapping , because these cases are always about a situation where you have to do things. It’s not about learning but it is about applying what you have learned and about learning while doing that. It is not used as much as it should be. MORE >>

Excerpts from an article by CLO’s Deanna Hartley : Determining Relevance: Tangible vs. Intangible . Starting with a business goal or problem to be solved around corporate culture, knowledge management or even systematic training can eliminate a narrow measurement focus, or as Jay Cross, CEO of the Internet Time Alliance, a knowledge exchange organization, explained it, getting hung up “on doing that part right rather than asking again and again: ‘Is this improving the business?’ Is this helping us attain our current objectives?’ Is this delighting our customers?’ How did you learn it?’ MORE >>

I thought I'd write a series of posts articulating my current thinking on different types of internet based tools and their use within education. My expertise in this area is largely based around finding things, playing with them and assessing their potential for teaching and learning. My last few posts have been based around this subject in some way or another. However, I've not done much about specific types of tools. Firstly, backchannels. This is a where you use a micro-blogging or chat based tool to facilitate a text-based dialogue within a live session. But why do this? MORE >>

A couple of months ago I blogged about and gave some tips on how to move from classroom to e-learning. This is Part II of the series. see a lot of requests from people who are interested in working with us. Some people sabotage their chances of joining the team before I ever talk to them! you ask? Personal sabotage occurs when people don’t present themselves as someone who pays attention to details–often as early as their introductory email. Someone new to e-learning might not realize how important attention to detail is in the industry. Programmers need to create courses that work! MORE >>