Picture this….

I can’t draw. I blame my parents – my sister got the art genes and I got the math genes. It never really bothered me until I started becoming more involved with the visual aspects of the courses I design.

When I struggle to represent my ideas visually, how can I expect an artist to interpret my words correctly? I can’t.

So I’m exploring how to use my mastery of the stick figure to enhance the visual representation of my ideas. I started with David Armano’s Thinking Visually SlideShare.

I pulled two things from this presentation that made a difference to me:

1. See the world as a child – I’m reading this to mean simplify the visual to represent the idea, not to be an explicit, complete thought. I tend to get caught up in the details of a picture I’m trying to create, rather than looking at the concept.

2. Make it tangible, make it stick – it’s not enough for it to be pretty. It has to be relevant to the audience and memorable for the audience… huh… very much like learning does.

hello epiphany

Tools I use as an ID

I should probably start by rephrasing that… I use the tools below “as an ID” because that’s what I do with 90% of my daily work. I don’t necessarily use these tools to design though… just to make it easier to do my job.

I regularly get the “what tools do you use???” question from my peers & managers. I usually answer with a standard “oh you know… the usual – blogs, wikis, email, SameTime (instant messaging).” But for some reason, I thought about it a little more this time…. and actually made a list.

The tools I use every day include:

• Twitter via TwitterFox
• Feed reader –> I use an internal IBM product so that I can track our internal blogs as well.
• Pass It Along –> Peer-to-peer learning tool
• Tommy! –> Firefox extension internal to IBM that displays a pop-up of the IBMer’s corporate directory profile
• Quickr –> An internal IBM team collaboration space with “connectors” that actually let me use the web-based tool directly from MS Office, my task bar, and Lotus Notes

Most of what I use is within the IBM firewall… why? Because I work for IBM. The tools I use help me work not only with my clients but also with my colleagues.

When I was explaining my list to my colleague, I realized that pretty much everything I use is embedded in something else. I’ve slowly passed over the tools that don’t enable me to work more efficiently for those that help me seamlessly.

Rapid eLearning … Am I too late?

At my practice lead’s request, I’m doing some research this week on rapid elearning and content conversion. Similarities. Differences. Best (better) practices. Tools. Reading Tom Kuhlmann’s blog is fabulous. It also makes me cringe and look over my shoulder … I once strongly believed all five of his myths about rapid elearning.

I’m big enough to admit when I’m wrong. I’m running after the train ready to jump on… hope I’m not too late!

I’m getting it. I’m seeing the benefits to rapid elearning and how it can complement an overall learing solution. I’m also wondering how it compares to a “traditional” interactive elearning course and where it’s an improvement on straight-up content conversion.

And… I’m excited… back to the research!

Predictions for Learning in 2009

This month’s big question is on predictions…. appropriate for the start of a new year. We’re being asked:

• What are your biggest challenges for this upcoming year?
• What are your major plans for the year?
• What predictions do you have for the year?

Such hard questions so early in the year.

Challenge: Same as always – challenging clients, SMEs with a lack of confidence in their learners, fear, difficult content, technology + the current state of the economy and all that brings us

Plans: I’m excited about this year. I’m going to tackle the challenges the same way I always do… one day at a time, one challenge at a time. I am planning on immersing myself in virtual worlds again… after stepping sideways from that for a year. And, I’d like to start getting my peers engaged in the possibilities of social learning.

Predictions: I don’t really like making predictions. I prefer plans. I can act on a plan. That’s my prediction for the year I guess… a lot of plans

Social Learning Question of the Day

Kevin Jones has started a nice little experiment he’s coined SLQOTD – the social learning question of the day. It’s essentially a conversation in twitter – with a new topic each day.

Kevin’s kindly summarized the December conversations in a downloadable e-book.