Beth Kanter's blog is a definite read. Today's posting is "Brain Rules for Presenters" with a embedded slide show entitled "Takeaways and Quotes from Dr John Medina's Brain Rules: What all Presenters Need to know". John Medina's website is at http://www.johnmedina.com/.
One point John Medina makes is attention span drops off sharply after 10 minutes, so every ten minutes, break up your presentation with a story, exercise, etc. Pretty much in harmony with the Age +2 approach (although that would make each block 20 minutes for adults) and the Pecha Kucha approach of about 6.5 minutes.
I do like the idea of the fixed time format of Pecha Kucha although I haven't tried to incorporate it into my classes yet. Sad to say I'm still bludgeoning with PowerPoint and waaay too many bullet points. It is important to remember that the format was designed not so much for teaching but as a way of limiting time so multiple presenters would have a chance to show their stuff and consists of 20 images displayed for 20 seconds each.
So if we average 6.5, 10 and 20 we get a little over 12 minutes per unit and given the normal 50 minute class time there would be time for 3 or 4 units depending on how long the "change gears" section lasts.
He also talks about exercise as good for the brain as well as the rest of the body, and the use of images in presentations. All designed to get attention, keep attention, and stimulate the potential to recall information. Kathy Sierra, who sadly no longer blogs, called it "getting past the brain's crap filter". There is a wonderful archived post called "Crash Course in Learning Theory" at http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/01/crash_course_in.html.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
More on grasshopper minds and a few resources to check more closely
My daughter in law replied to the posting on "Grasshopper Minds" and the reference to "age +2". She said:
"The "age plus 2" is based on Sousa's research on the primacy/recency effect of memory. The following link has information regarding this. Centre for Teaching and Educational Technologies".
A few days ago I received the latest issue of Techology in Education from Edutopia. There was a article entitled. "Multimodal Learning Through Media" with a link to a white paper by Cisco Systems called "Multimodal Learning Through Media: What the Research Says". One of the major points of the paper was clarification of the Cone of Experience Theory (we retain "10 percent of what we read, 20 percent of what we hear, 30 percent of what we see, 50 percent of what we hear and see, 70 percent of what we say or write, and 90 percent of what we say as we do a thing"). Incorporating interactive elements are more important when addressing applied skills than with basic information. How many times have we seen interactivity thrown into a class (academic or workplace related) that seemed to be rather useless as tool or means to reinforce learning?
I was led to a 2001 article on "Information Literacy in the Workplace" by Jan Oman from eLearning Technology . There is a quote from the article defining information literacy:
"The definition that is most widely accepted, and that forms the basis of subsequent definitions, comes from the Final Report of the American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, 1989 ([Online] Available: http://www.ala.org/acrl/nili/ilit1st.html.):
"To be information literate an individual must recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the information needed. Ultimately, information literate people are those who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how information is organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. They are people prepared for lifelong learning, because they always find the information needed for any task or decision at hand." "
Sounds to me like an excellent reason to develop a Personal Learning Environment!
"The "age plus 2" is based on Sousa's research on the primacy/recency effect of memory. The following link has information regarding this. Centre for Teaching and Educational Technologies".
A few days ago I received the latest issue of Techology in Education from Edutopia. There was a article entitled. "Multimodal Learning Through Media" with a link to a white paper by Cisco Systems called "Multimodal Learning Through Media: What the Research Says". One of the major points of the paper was clarification of the Cone of Experience Theory (we retain "10 percent of what we read, 20 percent of what we hear, 30 percent of what we see, 50 percent of what we hear and see, 70 percent of what we say or write, and 90 percent of what we say as we do a thing"). Incorporating interactive elements are more important when addressing applied skills than with basic information. How many times have we seen interactivity thrown into a class (academic or workplace related) that seemed to be rather useless as tool or means to reinforce learning?
I was led to a 2001 article on "Information Literacy in the Workplace" by Jan Oman from eLearning Technology . There is a quote from the article defining information literacy:
"The definition that is most widely accepted, and that forms the basis of subsequent definitions, comes from the Final Report of the American Library Association Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, 1989 ([Online] Available: http://www.ala.org/acrl/nili/ilit1st.html.):
"To be information literate an individual must recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate and use effectively the information needed. Ultimately, information literate people are those who have learned how to learn. They know how to learn because they know how information is organized, how to find information, and how to use information in such a way that others can learn from them. They are people prepared for lifelong learning, because they always find the information needed for any task or decision at hand." "
Sounds to me like an excellent reason to develop a Personal Learning Environment!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
New EBP book for nurses
Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses
I heard about this yesterday at: http://http://www.healthcare411.org/
It can be ordered in print, CD or is entirely online at http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nurseshdbk/
I heard about this yesterday at: http://http://www.healthcare411.org/
It can be ordered in print, CD or is entirely online at http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nurseshdbk/
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Grasshopper minds
A colleague sent me the link to a wonderful article from ReadWriteWeb called "Why Gen Y Is Going to Change the Web" at http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why_gen_y_is_going_to_change_the_web.php
I especially like the line
>No more long boring text! Thanks to constant media input, Gen Y has shorter attention spans and their "grasshopper minds" leap quickly from topic to topic.
Got me to wondering whether the "Pecha Kucha" approach might be a useful teaching tool?
I especially like the line
>No more long boring text! Thanks to constant media input, Gen Y has shorter attention spans and their "grasshopper minds" leap quickly from topic to topic.
Got me to wondering whether the "Pecha Kucha" approach might be a useful teaching tool?
- http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog//2008/04/a-primer-on-pec.html
- http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-09/st_pechakucha
One of my sons was a commercial radio DJ and said they divide up their ratings blocks into 15 minute segments to meet listener attention spans. His wife, a Jr High School science teacher, said there is a teaching technique called "age +2" (they don't go higher than age 18) to determine approximate didactic time before switching to discussion, break, funny story, assignment, etc. The goal is to adapt teaching time to meet optimum attention span. A typical hour long class might have 2 or 3 shorter blocks interspersed with an alternate activity.
Might be a worthwhile approach for both academic as well as workplace presentations.
Finding Flakes
The default Pageflakes page has a dozen "flakes" or predefined containers for content:
1. Local Weather
2. Local News
3. "Pageflakes Central"
4. Local Flickr photos
5. Video feeds
6. "Mother of all Podcast feeds"
7. Local TV listing
8. Local events
9. Calendar
10. Local movies
11. To do list
12. Email viewer
If you are looking at Pageflakes as a potential container for your PLE, you might consider replacing/adding or creating a new page (and I believe you can create unlimited new pages) with the following flakes:
1. RSS feeds - You can add multiple rss feeds.
2. Box.net - Provides 1 Gig of free online storage for files.
3. Notepad - A place for ongoing notes.
4. Blog - Have your own blog based in Pageflakes
5. Bookmarks - You can add multiple bookmark flakes.
6. "Anything flake" - Allows you to enter your own html or use the embedded wysiwyg editor.
Search the flakes and pagecasts section. Pageflakes pages can be personal or shared. A pagecast is a shared Pageflakes page. There is one by "mlx" (a staff trainer according to her profile page with a special interest in librarianship) with the title "Personal Learning Environments" at http://www.pageflakes.com/mlx/14579658
1. Local Weather
2. Local News
3. "Pageflakes Central"
4. Local Flickr photos
5. Video feeds
6. "Mother of all Podcast feeds"
7. Local TV listing
8. Local events
9. Calendar
10. Local movies
11. To do list
12. Email viewer
If you are looking at Pageflakes as a potential container for your PLE, you might consider replacing/adding or creating a new page (and I believe you can create unlimited new pages) with the following flakes:
1. RSS feeds - You can add multiple rss feeds.
2. Box.net - Provides 1 Gig of free online storage for files.
3. Notepad - A place for ongoing notes.
4. Blog - Have your own blog based in Pageflakes
5. Bookmarks - You can add multiple bookmark flakes.
6. "Anything flake" - Allows you to enter your own html or use the embedded wysiwyg editor.
Search the flakes and pagecasts section. Pageflakes pages can be personal or shared. A pagecast is a shared Pageflakes page. There is one by "mlx" (a staff trainer according to her profile page with a special interest in librarianship) with the title "Personal Learning Environments" at http://www.pageflakes.com/mlx/14579658
Sunday, May 11, 2008
My PLE Presentation
This is the working presentation I'll be delivering at the Rutgers Twenty-Sixth Annual International Nursing Computer and Technology Conference in June.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
PLE Resources
Here are some of the resources I've used so far in investigating PLEs. There are many, many more, but these have been an introduction and stimulus as to how I can use them personally and introduce them to health care colleagues.
Graham Atwell
George Siemens:
Graham Atwell
- http://www.slideshare.net/GrahamAttwell/personal-learning-environments-46423/
- Personal Learning Environments - the future of eLearning?
http://www.elearningpapers.eu/index.php?page=doc&vol=2&doc_id=8553&doclng=6
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Downes
- Stephen’s Web
http://www.downes.ca/ - Stephen Downes on Personal Learning
http://educationaltechnology.ca/couros/813
- Personal learning environments: what they are and how to implement them
http://www.masternewmedia.org/learning_educational_technologies/learning-environments/PLE-personal-learning-environments-present-future-20070615.htm
- Exploring Personal Learning Environments
http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog/exploring-personal-learni.html - The Personal Learning Environment Starter Pack--What Would You Include?
http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog//2008/02/the-personal-le.html - 5 Uses for a Wiki at Work
http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog/2007/06/5_uses_for_a_wi.html - Seven Strategies for Supporting Personal Learning Environments at Work
http://michelemartin.typepad.com/thebambooprojectblog/2007/08/supporting-pers.html
George Siemens:
- Connectivism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectivism - Connectivism: A learning theory for today’s learner
http://www.connectivism.ca/ - Connectivism: Rethinking learning in a digital age
http://www.elearnspace.org/media/connectivism_Web_2/player.html
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Potential Information Sources for my PLE
Made with MindMeister (http://www.mindmeister.com) a free web mindmapping tool.
(click the image for a larger view)
(click the image for a larger view)
Friday, May 2, 2008
Notes to date
Personal Learning Environments (PLE)
Information R/evolution by Michael Wesch-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CV05HyAbM
“This video explores the changes in the way we find, store, create, critique, and share information. This video was created as a conversation starter, and works especially well when brainstorming with people about the near future and the skills needed in order to harness, evaluate, and create information effectively.” http://mediatedcultures.net/mediatedculture.htm
Knowledge is constantly growing and evolving
- no single repository
- no single best medium
- resides in multiple human and electronic networks
- expert is becoming blurred - individual vs consensus
Meet Charlene by Janet Clarey - http://www.slideshare.net/jclarey/meetcharlene
Slide presentation of a Web 2.0 learner working in an Enterprise 1.0 environment.
Janet Clary is a Senior Researcher at Brandon Hall Research.
http://brandon-hall.com/janetclarey/
Continuing professional development/workplace learning
- more electronic resources
- electronic tools
- searching
- synchronous/asynchronous communication/collaboration
- learning is an ongoing process to recognize, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate patterns from multiple sources
- how can organizations facilitate this learning style
Because information is changing rapidly and located in so many places, the ability to find, collect, connect and sort information among a multitude of sources and networks is a critical skill.
Technology is a reason for information proliferation AND an information management tool.
What tools and techniques can we provide users to achieve this goal?
What is a Personal Learning Environment?
A PLE is not
- a specific software application
- a substitute for institutional or regulatory agency required documentation of education/training compliance
- a method for creating e-learning applications
A PLE is a concept rather than specific software; a group of techniques and a variety of tools.
to gather information
- explore/develop relationships between pieces of information
- browser based (potentially)
A PLE helps a learner to:
- view the subject as a landscape as well as individual pieces of information
- create a personal repository(s) of materials and relationships clustered around a unifying topic or concept
- document, reflect, communicate, collaborate
A PLE supports adult learning characteristics
- autonomy
- practicality
- relevancy
- building on prior knowledge
- goal directed
Key attribute is a central container or map (whether defined or conceptual) for files, links, notes, documents, and connections. Could be Internet based, Intranet based or stand alone.
Sources of Information – potential content for your PLE:
Non-electronic
- Books & journals
- Classroom based courses
- Professional meetings
- Live interaction with colleagues & contacts
Electronic
- Locally produced files & notes
- Internet/Intranet
- E-Learning courses
- Reference” sites
- Text, audio, video, graphics files
- Shared presentations
- RSS Feeds
- Blogs
- Journals
- Communication/Collaboration
- Discussion boards and email lists
- Social networking sites
- Social bookmarking sites
- Blogs
- Wikis
Personal Start Pages are a useful tool for consolidating Information sources into a single web based application.
- Pageflakes http://www.pageflakes.com, iGoogle http://www.google.com/ig
Tools to consider
- Blogs
Tumblr - microblog http://www.tumblr.com, Blogger http://www.blogger.com/ - Ecto Learning - http://www.ectolearning.com/ecto2/Default.aspx
- Diagrams - Gliffy http://www.gliffy.com
- Mind Maps
Mindmeister http://www.mindmeister.com, Mindomo http://www.mindomo.com - Multiple tool sites
Zoho http://www.zoho.com, Google Docs http://docs.google.com - RSS readers
Google Reader http://reader.google.com, Bloglines http://www.bloglines.com/ - Social bookmarking - http://del.icio.us
- Social networking - http://facebook.com/
- Shared presentations - http://slideshare.net
- Wikis
WetPaint http://www.wetpaint.com, Wikispaces http://www.wikispaces.com
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