Leading by Example

The Big Question

The Learning Circuits Big Question this month is about learning professionals, leadership, and literacies. Tony breaks it down as several questions, but the Learning Revolutionary summed all the questions up nicely:

Should learning professionals be leading the charge around new work literacies such as social media and informal learning?

Because I’m outside the corporate world, I’m going to look at this from the perspective of 21st century literacy skills rather than “work literacy.” Granted, I think there’s a lot of overlap between the work literacy ideas and the Framework for 21st Century Skills. I see this as similar goals but different contexts.

Let’s start with the idea that K-12 students should be supported in learning 21st century literacy skills. This should not be a controversial starting point; after all, 80% of American voters agree that the skills students need now aren’t the same as the skills needed in the past.

If students need to learn these skills, then their teachers need to have them too, right? Granted, some students will learn the skills outside the system, in spite of whatever the schools teach. But we’re looking at what we want to happen, and I want these skills to be supported by the schools. That means teachers need to have the skills. They have to be able to model the skills for students.

Where will the teachers learn the skills? I don’t think there’s a single answer here: professional learning communities, workshops, conferences, university courses, and mentoring all play a part. Since I work in the higher ed realm though, that’s where I’m going to focus. I think our instructors should have 21st century skills. These are the people who are teaching the teachers, who pride themselves on being the “best of the best” in the field of education. They’re the next group of people who need the skills.

But where are they going to learn? From me and the other people on our team. We have to lead by example for these skills. Our team is leading the charge, and we are making progress. It isn’t nearly as fast as I’d like, but when I look at how far we’ve come in our little corner of the world, it does give me hope.

I want the K-12 students to learn those 21st century skills, but I don’t have access to them directly. Therefore, my responsibility is to work on my own sphere of influence, starting with our online course development team leading by example for our facilitators. When the facilitators have strong 21st century skills, they’ll pass those skills on to the teachers, who in turn will be leaders for their students. If I want others to lead in these skills, I have to do my part to lead by example too. It would be hypocritical to ask them to teach technology skills without practicing what I preach (that is, after all, why I started this blog in the first place).

If I had to focus on one single skill, it would be lifelong learning. Perhaps this isn’t a skill so much as an attitude. It drives me crazy to see educators who think they’ve learned all they need to learn and aren’t willing to even try to learn anything new anymore. Cultivating a culture of learning, where people expect and enjoy continuous learning, is the underlying solution for everything else. We’re never going to get teachers to use technology if they’re determined they don’t need to learn anything anymore. Until they accept their role as learner as well as teacher, we won’t get the changes to happen. Creating a culture that supports lifelong learning needs to start with the professionals who lead by example.

If you had to focus on one skill for this leading by example, what would it be? What’s the underlying skill that supports all the rest, the one where you will concentrate your efforts first?

Technorati Tags: workliteracy, learning+circuits, leadership, changemanagement

Put Learning on Your To Do List

Image citation
To do list from beth77’s
photostream.

One of my SMEs mentioned today how she wants to learn more about Web 2.0 tools, but hasn’t made time for it. She knows she should; she knows it would help her do her job more effectively. But it hasn’t been a priority in her schedule.

She was surprised when I said that I have a recurring reminder on my to do list to set a goal for my own learning for the week. Having that reminder pop up every Monday morning means I always add some specific goal to my list for later in the week. Sometimes the “goal” is simply to attend a webinar; sometimes it’s to work on something in Captivate, Flash, or CSS. Sometimes it’s just to try out some new site or app. Last month, the Comment Challenge was my goal for each week. My blog reading is just part of my daily habits now, so I don’t count that towards this goal. I try to set a goal beyond my usual reading, commenting, and bookmarking.

I admit that I don’t always meet the goals I set for myself. Some weeks that goal just gets pushed back every day of the week until Friday afternoon, when I finally admit it won’t happen and postpone to the next week. But more often than not, I spend at least a half hour doing something specifically to improve my skills. Even if I don’t meet the goal, I’m thinking about what I want to learn next and looking for opportunities.

I started doing this at a previous job when I had my Franklin-Covey binder and followed those techniques to stay organized. I don’t follow it closely anymore, but the idea of “sharpening the saw” still influences how I plan my time for the week. I’ve been setting these goals for myself for several years, so it seems normal to me. I don’t think my SME had ever thought of it that way though, and I suspect I’m actually in the minority for setting aside the time each week.

That conversation has me wondering: What do you do to make time for learning in your schedule? Do you set goals for yourself or put it on your to do list? Does it just naturally happen as part of your job? Do you have a system that works for you? Do you focus just on formal learning, or do you consciously think about your informal learning too?

Please share what you do and how it works for you. I’m curious to hear other ideas.

Learning from Great Comments

I know that I said I’d do Task 17 of the Comment Challenge, the Five in Five. I’ve tried twice to do this task this week. Unfortunately, both times I’ve failed to prove I was human to the Captchas and lost my first comment. No way I can do 5 comments in 5 minutes if I have to rewrite an entire comment. I really wanted to try to push myself, but I’m giving up on this task now. Maybe after the challenge is officially over I’ll make another attempt.

Day 19: Respond to a Commenter on Your Own Blog

Those of you who have commented here before know that I’m pretty good about replying, usually within 48 hours. Check that one off the list.

Day 20: Three Links Out

Here’s the directions for this task:

This task is based an idea by Dave Ferguson that he calls “Three Links Out” or “Three Clicks Out.” It’s a way to find and explore blogs that aren’t as familiar to you.

1. Go to one of the blogs you regularly read and follow a link to another blog. This link could be in the blogroll or in a post.
2. From that blog, follow a second link to a new blog.
3. From that location, follow a third link to somewhere new.

From Michele Martin’s blog, I went to Rob O.’s blog because I thought his definition of “constructive comments” was good. From there, I found an interesting post on multitasking on Doug Johnson’s Blue Skunk blog.

Day 21: Make a Recommendation

I doubled up on the last task: when I commented on Doug Johnson’s blog, I included a link to the Eide Neurolearning blog and some research on dual-tasking. The relevant quote from this post is “…at least in some cases, less brain work is used for solving two tasks at once, then the two tasks separately (underadditivity).” If you’re interested in seeing actual research on multitasking, do check out their blog, including the related posts at the bottom of the one I quoted.

Day 22: Highlight a Favorite Comment

Britt Watwood asked a question which prompted my post on Community Size & Connection Strength. That post, in turn, generated some great comments. Here’s some snippets:

Britt described Clay Shirky’s model of groups:

It is the smaller networks within the larger ones that maintain coherence and connection amidst the larger group (what he calls the “small world theory”). These “small world” clusters work as amplifiers and filters within the larger network, just as your strong connections work across multiple larger networks.

Suz talked about how different technology facilitates different group sizes:

I think it also depends what you mean by ‘manage’, and what ‘venue’ the community uses. I cannot imagine, for example, how people manage large twitter networks. The fragmented nature of the information makes it hard to follow, and I find it easier if I know a little about the person, to give context.

Bonnie viewed group dynamics from the lens of the comment challenge (plus she paid me a wonderful compliment):

I had my original small circle and most recently I went beyond my comfort zone with the Slices Challenge and now here and it’s comforting to open a strange blog and find a friendly face.

Looking from the perspective of teaching, Ken Allen wrote about managing students and lurkers in an online environment. He made this interesting observation:

Of course, with a larger, manageable group, the tendency is for the teacher to apply strategies to encourage participation by those who tended to take a back seat. The paradox with this technique is that the activity of the group starts tending towards the unmanageable zone and eventually has to be divided into smaller groups.

Day 23: What Makes a Great Comment?

Like most bloggers, I appreciate every non-spam comment I get. Any interaction is good. That said, I especially like comments that move the conversation forward by doing any of the following:

• Asking good questions (like Britt’s above)
• Sharing resources (like Ken’s above)
• Sharing personal experiences & how something applies in their life (like Bonnie’s above)
• Revealing a different perspective, approach, or way of looking at something (like Suz’s above)
• Disagreeing & making me think

These types of comments are especially helpful in my personal learning, and I really do appreciate these gifts from the blogosphere. Thanks to everyone who comments and shares their personal wisdom!

Technorati Tags: comment08, Comment+Challenge

Comment Challenge Catch-Up

I’m slowly catching up on the comment challenge. I’d planned to do a bit more over the weekend. My husband and I went to the bookstore after lunch Saturday, then spent the rest of the afternoon in bed reading. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the time offline.

Day 13: Write a Blog Post Using Comments

Although the Telecommute Instructional Design Jobs
post wasn’t actually from a standard public comment, I still think it counts. (This came from my Ask A Question page, where readers can submit questions privately, but give me the right to republish.) After all, the point of this seems to be about interacting with the readers. The Ask A Question just gives them another way to do so.

Community Size & Connection Strength is another post based on comments.

Day 14: Turn Your Blog Over to Your Readers

I just did this one today, asking for help answering a reader question in Instructional Design Training Programs. This probably isn’t the most compelling question; maybe I’ll try this one again sometime. Usually when I post a really deep question to readers, it’s after I’ve already written a full post. I do ask questions for tips and help sometimes, and I’ve been very happy with the wonderful responses from the community. I don’t usually let go of control enough to let my readers write the post in the comments though, not at the level of Chris Brogan anyway.

Day 15: Give a Comment Award

I’m copping out of this one. I just can’t imagine picking one person out of all the wonderful commenters I have here. Thank you to everyone who has ever left a non-spammy comment on my blog.

Day 16: Go Back and Catch Up on Something

I’m only three days late on my catch-up day. Not bad, huh?

Day 17: Five in Five

I’m putting this one off for tonight; I’ll come back to it later.

Day 18: Analyze the Comments on Your Own Blog

I wrote up this task partly because I was interested in doing it myself.

Which of your posts have generated the most comments?

I’ve had nine posts which generated 10 comments or more:

# of Comments	Post	Date
18	Do Instructional Designers Really Need Technology Skills?	06/05/07
16	Social Networking as LMS: Problems and Opportunities	08/18/07
13	Technology Skills for Instructional Designers	06/04/07
12	Diigo or Delicious for Beginners?	03/29/08
12	Is instructional design the right career?	06/20/07
11	Facebook as LMS?	08/16/07
11	Atmosphere for Commenting	05/17/08
11	First Experience with Usability Testing	03/11/08
10	Firefox Extensions	08/21/07

Dates in the table above are American style (MM/DD/YY).

Which has generated the best conversation? (The last question is about quantity; this one is about quality.)

I loved the debate about whether instructional designers need technology skills or not. I am so happy that Cammy Bean came here and disagreed with me. First of all, it meant that I found another instructional designer and blogger who I’ve learned lots from over the last year. But the conversation was great because she was able to share a perspective and experience that were quite different from my own. Her initial comments led me to write two other posts, one of which is at the top of the list above. I’ve had other good conversations, but I still think this one was the best. It certainly was very eye-opening for me.

Are there any patterns to the commenting on your own blog? Do certain types of posts generate more comments than others?

I see a couple of trends:

• Three of these posts were from my series on instructional design careers in June 2007.
• My two posts about Facebook and other social networking sites as LMS (Learning Management Systems) were also popular.
• Two are about the tools I use: Diigo and Firefox.
• Posts that have gotten the most views aren’t necessarily the ones with the most discussion. For example, the post with the most comments has only gotten 500 views total. My all-time top post, Instructional Design Skills, is approaching 2000 views, but doesn’t have a single comment. That post gets lots of search engine traffic, hence a high number of views, but has never started a discussion.

Information about instructional design careers does seem to be a popular topic. In fact, that’s part of why I chose to do the posts on telecommute jobs and training programs; people are looking for this information.

The best discussions were posts where I took a stand on something a bit controversial: the need for technology skills and Facebook/social networking as LMS. When I can find that balance where I make a statement that not everyone agrees with but still make it open for people to discuss and debate, I get great conversations.

If you do see a pattern or commonality between posts that generate good comments, what can you do to increase those qualities in other posts?

Even after doing all this analysis, I’m not sure what to do to increase these qualities in other posts. Certainly, I’ll continue to write more about instructional design careers and just about instructional design in general. The topics that I’m passionate about are more likely to be interesting reads and therefore generate more comments.

Do you see a pattern in what generates good conversation, either on your own blog or here? What makes you not just comment once, but come back to comment again?

Technorati Tags: comment08, comment+challenge, Cammy+Bean

Atmosphere for Commenting

Rather than posting for every day of the 31 Day Comment Challenge, I’m summarizing multiple tasks into one post as I did for tasks 2 through 8. Tasks 9 through 12 all seem to be about the atmosphere for commenting on your blog, so I’m combining these into one post.

Day 9: Should We Be Commenting on Blogs?

I think if the goal of the blog is learning, then yes, we should be commenting on blogs and allowing comments on our own. Allowing and even encouraging comments doesn’t prevent other forms of conversations (like linked blog posts) from happening. It does, however, allow people who don’t have a blog to participate in the conversations. I think commenting can also encourage interaction outside our usual niches. For example, one of my friends is a web programmer. He has his own site, but it’s very much focused on what he does. He has commented here before when he felt he could add to the conversation. However, his comment wouldn’t have fit with the content of his own site.

For purposes of learning, I think leaving it open to comments is very valuable. However, I do understand that people use blogs for other purposes where commenting wouldn’t make as much sense. Just because this is what’s best for me doesn’t mean it’s best for others. People are entitled to create a different atmosphere on their own blogs; it’s their space!

Day 10: Do a Comment Audit on Your Own Blog

In this task, we’re asked to look at six reasons why people might not comment on your blog.

1. You sound like a press release.

Nope, I don’t think I do this one. I certainly have seen it though. Blogs that sound like press releases don’t just discourage me from commenting, they discourage me from even subscribing.

2. You sound like an infomercial.

In my normal posts, no, I don’t think I sound like an infomercial. Sometimes when I’m excited about a tool I wonder if I do sound that way though. What do you think–do posts like Diigo’s New Release or my Synergy feature overview sound too much like a sales pitch?

3. You sound like a know-it-all.

This is something I know I do sometimes in real life, so it’s the one thing on this list that most concerns me. Michele noted that she gets more comments when she gives incomplete answers and asks questions. I’m looking forward to Task 18 where we try to look for patterns in what generates comments because I wonder if I’ll see the same thing. Without actually doing the analysis yet, my guess (or at least my hope) is that I sounded more know-it-all early in my blog writing. I’m much more comfortable blogging now, and that makes it easier to ask questions and put half-formed thoughts out there.

4. You haven’t showed them how.

I hadn’t done this until today. I copied Tony Karrer’s First Time Visitor’s Guide idea and included some directions there. It will be interesting to see if I get more comments that way. That idea worked really well for our team blog, where most of our audience (other employees in the company) isn’t familiar with blogs. After six months, the guide is still the most popular page.

5. You haven’t created the right atmosphere.

This is something I think I’ve improved over time, although maybe it’s just the issue of a blog needing time to build up readers and a community. I didn’t participate in the 31 Day Build a Better Blog challenge, but I did pick up tips from others who did complete it. One of those was emailing new commenters. That technique alone has done wonders for improving conversations and getting people to comment more than once.

6. You just don’t seem that into it.

Nope, not a problem. I think people can see that I’m a geek and that I enjoy all of this without any trouble.

What do you think?

For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while and those of you who have just recently discovered it, how do you think I’m doing in these six areas? Have I been honest in my self-assessment?

Day 11: Write a Blog Comment Policy

Done, and included in my new First Time Visitor’s Guide.

Day 12: Make Sure Your Blog Technology is “Comment Friendly”

No captcha, no moderation. Akismet is pretty terrific at picking up the spam, so I don’t need it. It does occasionally flag things as spam that aren’t, usually because a comment has too many links. I do ask for email addresses, but I use those to contact new commenters.

Technorati Tags: comment08, Comment+Challenge, Michele+Martin, Tony+Karrer, conversation, learning

Comment Challenge Days 2 through 8

I’m catching up a bit on the Comment Challenge. I don’t plan to write a post every day; I’m aiming for a reflection about once a week.

Day 2: Comment on a Blog You’ve Never Commented on Before

Since the challenge started, I’ve commented on a number of blogs outside my usual circle. I don’t read that many blogs from practicing K-12 educators, so these were all new to me.

• Kevin’s Meandering Mind
• Learning Mosaics
• BLK
• Miss W. and her Smartboard

Day 3: Sign up for a Comment Tracking Service

I’ve been using co.mments since last August; it works great. Here’s all my conversations, if you’re interested.

Day 4: Ask a Question in a Blog Comment

Well, I’m the one who came up with the idea for this task, so I probably should do it. My comment on Wendy’s blog had a lot of my own thoughts about the purpose Facebook, but I did turn it back around as a question to her. That discussion has prompted a second post on the topic, with more great comments.

Day 5: Comment on a Blog Post You Don’t Agree With
Day 6: Engage another Commenter in Discussion

Nothing has come across my reader in the last week that prompted me to disagree, so I postponed this task. I’m bending the rules a bit and combining tasks 5 & 6. Someone linked to a post by Kristin Hokanson about copyright confusion from a Diigo conversation. I replied to a comment where someone argued that students should be taught to ask permission to use any material, even if it’s under a Creative Commons license. That defeats much of the purpose of Creative Commons in my mind.

I also responded to two other commenters on Wendy’s second Facebook post, so I guess I did #6 twice.

Day 7: Reflect on What You’ve Learned so Far

What have I learned?

• I comment to agree or ask questions much more often than I comment to disagree.
• I have a hard time limiting myself to really short comments because I don’t usually take the time to edit them down after I write.
• Rambling comments can still be beneficial though, if they let me mentally process something. That’s what happened with my Facebook comment on Wendy’s blog; I used her space to “think out loud” and reflect.

Day 8: Comment on a blog outside of your niche

I knew this one was coming, so when I saw this meme on Musical Perceptions, I jumped in with the few songs I could identify off the top of my head. This is one of the blogs I read that is totally unrelated to my current professional life. This is for the band nerd in me, not the instructional designer.

Technorati Tags: comment08, Michele+Martin, Wendy+Wickham, conversation, Comment+Challenge

Commenting Self-Audit

Like many others, I’m participating in the 31-Day Comment Challenge. The first task is a commenting self-audit.

How often do you comment on other blogs during a typical week?

Looking at my tracked comments & conversations, I’ve tracked 147 comments since I started using co.mments last August. That works out to about 4 comment conversations per week, or a little more than 1 every other day. That number doesn’t include conversations where I comment more than once though, so it’s probably a little higher than that.

Do you track your blog comments? How? What do you do with your tracking?

Obviously, yes, I track my comments. There’s no way I’d comment as much as I do if I wasn’t tracking them. Before I knew there were such tools, I really didn’t comment much because I never remembered to go back to the sites and see the responses. With tracking and an RSS feed, I can keep track of it all much more easily.

Do you tend to comment at the same blogs or do you try to comment on at least one new blog per week?

I do tend to comment on a lot of the same blogs over time. That commenting helps build and maintain relationships with other bloggers, so I do see value in that. I don’t have a set goal about commenting on new blogs, but I do try to check out new blogs, especially when they link to me. If someone links to me, I try to go at least thank them for the link, even if I don’t leave a substantive comment.

The second part of this task is looking at the suggestions in Gina Trapani’s guide to comments. I’ve broken all of those at one point or another, but I think I actually do pretty well usually. I can certainly work on being more succinct in both my comments and posts though. For example, this comment I left on our team blog for work was absurdly long. Normally I’d move something that long into a post instead of a comment, but we have a set posting schedule and topics for that blog.

As a whole, I think I’m about average for my commenting. I comment pretty regularly. I gravitate towards certain blogs where I comment more regularly, but I try to branch out. I consider myself a decent online citizen, and I think I’ve been able to disagree with people without being too disagreeable. I can do more to reach out to new blogs and to really make sure I’m adding value to the conversation when I do. I’ve been trying to do more to interact with other commenters and not just the blog author, but I’m sure I can do better in that area too.

More than anything else, what I’m hoping to get out of this challenge is just becoming more aware of my commenting. Much of it just happens out of habit for me, so I hope that a bit of self-examination will help me be more deliberate and thoughtful of what I’m doing.

Technorati Tags: comment08, conversation, blogging, comments

Formal or Informal Masters for Instructional Designers?

In his recent post We Need a Degree in Instructional Design, Karl Kapp argues that simply practicing instructional design isn’t enough; anyone who calls themselves an instructional designer should have a degree in it. He’s added a great image from Kathy Sierra that says “I’d make a good brain surgeon, because I HAD brain surgery.”

Karl makes several points that I agree with (this is my summary, not his):

• There’s too much bad instructional design out there.
• Instructional designers should be able to apply multiple instructional strategies, according to the needs of the situation.
• Instructional designers should be able to articulate why they make the decisions they make, backing it up with research.
• Understanding the theories and the research will help improve instructional design.
• Everyone can always learn more about learning and instructional design.

Although I agree with all these points, I’m not convinced by the conclusion he draws from these points:

I have to say that in my extremely biased opinion…a degree is not only needed, it should be required!

I don’t see graduate school as the only way for individuals to meet the goal of becoming better instructional designers. Shouldn’t people who design learning for others also be able to design their own learning paths? Is formal education the only option, or is it possible to do an “informal masters” on your own?

This is not to say that there’s no value in a masters degree; I’ve certainly heard from lots of people who have found it to be very beneficial. I have every reason to believe that I personally would learn a great deal in a well-designed program. I’m also not claiming that people who have that formal education can’t and don’t gain from the informal methods too. Karl’s a great example of this. He’s out there learning in public even though he has his terminal degree; he clearly sees learning as a lifelong process.

My disagreement is with these formulas.

• Masters Degree = Good Instructional Design
• No Masters Degree = Bad Instructional Design

It isn’t that simple. I’ve seen atrocious design from people with the credentials, and I’ve seen people like Cammy Bean and Cathy Moore who do fabulous work but don’t have the degrees.

Clark Quinn’s explanation falls more in the middle, rather than having an either/or formula. Being a “reflective practitioner” can give motivated people the background and knowledge of that “informal masters” and achieve many of the goals from Karl’s post.

The benefit of the Master’s is the chance to get to know the theories (depending on the program and instructor). The pedagogy for the course should include applying the theories to pragmatic design, not just reciting back the contents (I used to use RFP’s asking for designs or redesigns using the theories). It’s not the only way, but being familiar enough with the underlying principles to be able to adapt the design to match the circumstances is important…

Note that Cammy is a ‘reflective practitioner’ to use Schön’s term, as she reads and reflects on what she does. That’s why she’s effectively done her own ‘masters’ in learning/ISD. So, I’m not comfortable with trusting experience over time to yield competent results, I think it takes someone being an ongoing learner. That’s easier in a well-designed program, though the caveat is that all programs are not necessarily well-designed.

The above image is from Kathy Sierra’s post Does College Matter? but the quote I want to close with is from her Ten Tips for Trainers.

But with that out of the way, nobody needs a PhD (or in most cases — any degree at all) in education or learning theory to be a good teacher. Just as there are plenty of great software developers and programmers without a CompSci degree. People can be self-taught, and do a fabulous job, for a fraction of the cost of a formal education, but they have to be motivated and they have to appreciate why it’s important.

Let the debate continue!

Update: Read all my posts about Instructional Design Careers here.

Technorati Tags: Karl+Kapp, Clark+Quinn, Kathy+Sierra, Cammy+Bean, Cathy+Moore, instructionaldesign, masters, education, informal

Top Ten Tools: 2008 Update

Image citation
Pixel mon amour
from poluz’s photostream.

Jane Hart has asked a number of people to update their lists of favorite tools, for either e-learning or personal learning and working. I haven’t changed too much from last year’s list, but I have made a few adjustments.

1. Firefox:
Firefox is the first application I start in the morning, and it stays open basically all day. It’s the way I access most of the rest of the tools on this list.

2. Google Reader:
Google Reader is my RSS reader of choice. Last month I wrote about how RSS is one of my primary personal learning tools. Reading RSS feeds gives me a constant flow of information to absorb and a route to interact with so many great people in the blogosphere.

3. WordPress:
WordPress.com is my blogging platform and therefore another important tool for personal learning. What I learned about learning in 2007 is how much RSS and blogging really have enhanced my own lifelong learning efforts.

4. Gmail:
Gmail is a productivity tool for me more than a learning tool, but it is one of my favorites and I use it constantly.

5. Google Docs & Spreadsheets:
Google Docs is one of the main tools for collaborating with SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) during the course development process.

6. Dreamweaver:
Dreamweaver is where nearly all of the final content I develop for courses is created. The content from the Google Docs with SMEs is put into webpages, then those webpages are used within our LMS. It’s not the typical process flow, but it works for our instructor-led graduate courses.

7. Captivate:
Captivate is how I develop self-paced e-learning content that is embedded within the instructor-led courses. Sometimes this is as simple as a graphic or flow chart with rollovers or hotspots; sometimes it’s a complex branching scenario. Captivate’s a good tool for all of it.

8. Diigo:
Diigo is my primary social bookmarking tool and how I generate my daily bookmark posts for my blog. I do so much online research for both the courses I develop and for my own personal learning; a good system to track all the resources I find is indispensable. Diigo’s also improved a lot since I started using it, and they’ve learned to take user feedback seriously.

9. Skype:
Working from home, Skype is one of my connecting lines to the world. I use it to chat with and call SMEs as well as the other members of the online course development team.

10. Toodledo:
I track everything I need to do for developing courses and personal tasks in Toodledo. The ability to sort tasks into contexts (work, home, blog, etc.) as well as folders (one for each course or project) means I can stay organized without getting overwhelmed. This is my personal project management tool.

Technorati Tags: e-learning, tools, firefox, gmail, google+reader, wordpress, google+docs, dreamweaver, skype, captivate, toodledo, diigo, jane+hart

Predictions for E-Learning in 2008

January’s Learning Circuits Big Question is about predicting what might happen this year in learning. Several of my predictions are pretty general and safe, but I did put a few specific ones in for good measure.

Blogging as Professional Development

I think (and hope) we’ll continue to see more individuals taking control of their own learning by creating and using blogs. We’ll see a number of new e-learning professionals starting blogs and joining the conversations. I expect to hear of at least one or two learning professionals who get new jobs through their blogs too, as Wendy Wickham and others have.

Online Conferences, Webinars, and Backchannel Discussions

Much of my personal professional development in 2007 was through online conferences and webinars. This included the Online Connectivism Conference and the Future of Education conference, both free and organized by George Siemens. I also attended a paid (but very reasonable) online conference called Technology, Colleges, and Community. The online conferences were great. Innovate, Elluminate, and Adobe put on a number of webinars; I expect more organizations will follow their lead in 2008.

I also think that more of these synchronous learning events will include backchannel chat discussions, with more people figuring out how to use them successfully as both participants and presenters. I hope that this will be part of how Clive Shepherd’s 8th prediction happens; backchannel chats could be part of what helps synchronous chat move to a more collaborative pedagogical model.

Sneaky Innovation

As it has been in the past, a lot of the innovation in organizations and schools with technology will happen because people are sneaky about it. Lots of people will try out web applications, social network tools, open source software, and other tools on their own, regardless of whether it’s officially sanctioned or not. This isn’t something new; we’ve had conversations about this before. Janet Clarey’s post Do it now, apologize later generated great conversations; I think her ideas really resonated, and this trend will continue.

Conversation Tracking

One technology that I feel is lacking with reading blogs is a really effective way to track blog conversations across multiple blogs. Several options work for tracking comments on a specific post, but what happens when someone continues the conversation on their own blog, and it isn’t one you regularly read? Keyword-based search options are a possibility, but it would be nice to have a way to visually track the history of a conversation or meme. It might be just wishful thinking, but I’m predicting that this year we’ll see at least one new tool that lets you effectively track any conversation thread across multiple blogs.

E-Learning 2.0

I agree with Tony Karrer that e-learning 2.0 will continue to grow, but that we won’t see anything drastically change. Lots of small changes will happen, and we’ll continue to make the organizational culture changes needed to integrate Web 2.0 tools more fully.

Instructional Design

Like with e-learning 2.0, I don’t see a great revolution in store for 2008 about the role of instructional designers. However, I do think we’ll continue to have questions and discussions about what our role really is, especially as we move away from developing structured course content to helping create Personal Learning Environments and less formal learning.

Privacy Concerns

This isn’t strictly e-learning related, but generally related to technology and social networking. I think we’ll see several companies make privacy goofs in 2008, like 2007’s Facebook Beacon and Google Reader sharing items with chat contacts. Most of these companies will realize their mistake and backtrack fast enough to minimize the damage (as both Facebook and Google did in December). However, I think at least one company will push the privacy limits too far and won’t correct the problem fast enough to avoid losing huge numbers of users.

Final Prediction

My final prediction is that when I revisit these at the end of the year that I’ll discover that I was wrong on a bunch of things that that I missed several big trends and events in the field.

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