Conference 2009 >
Track 1
| Future learning: how technology will open up access
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Seb Schmoller, Chief Executive, Association for Learning Technology (ALT) |
Why do we sometimes get it so very wrong when predicting the future, even when some underlying trends are well known? For example, Moore's law stating that integrated circuits' power doubles about every two years is likely to have massive implications for the world of technology-supported learning, but is usually ignored. In this presentation, Seb Schmoller asks us to consider how far and how well ahead we look, and contemplates the effect on learning.
- What changes as the cost of processing drops
- The likely impact of widely available internet-accessing devices
- The role of open source and open content
- How ubiquitous broadband access may change learning
- The 'snake-oil' problem, and how to stop it
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| Under the radar: great technologies that you could be using
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Jay Cross, CEO, The Internet Time Group |
What bubbling-under learning technologies will learning professionals need to be aware of over the next 12 months? With so many to choose from, where do you start? Jay Cross, who advises on these technologies as well as using them extensively himself, shares his thoughts. If 'direct-to-cloud video' and 'Scribd for docs' are alien concepts, then join Jay as he rummages through his tool kit and examines:
- Analytic tools that show your web-based successes and failures
- Extensions (that's for Skype as well as for Firefox)
- Have tagging and bookmarking finally come of age?
- Searching: getting beyond Google.com
- Handy utilities that just make life easier |
| Virtual worlds: beyond the hype
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Steve Prentice, VP & Gartner Fellow, Gartner |
After the hype around Second Life and other virtual worlds, the predictable slump has come. The press now features stories of corporate leaving abandoned ghost towns empty of avatars. But quietly in the background, virtual worlds continue to grow in use, particularly for learning, with dozens of available worlds, and hundreds of organisations offering training through them. What are these organisations doing right, and how is learning now being delivered in these environments?
- Just how many virtual worlds are there?
- ...and which ones are any good for learning?
- What changes in a virtual world - and what doesn't
- What can we learn from academia?
- Jumping off points to get you started |
| Enhancing learning in virtual environments
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Ron Edwards, CEO, Ambient Performance |
Virtual worlds are excellent places for simulation and classroom training, but they can also be used for other sorts of learning as Ron Edwards shows in this presentation and live demo with dozens of role players. Increasingly, argues Ron, virtual worlds are being used for group projects, where the learning takes place in the doing - particularly in practicing tasks before they are carried out in the real world. The ultimate destination: virtual worlds as performance support systems.
- Asynchronous e-learning in virtual worlds
- The power of private virtual worlds
- Effective workplace collaboration online
- Playing back session recordings for learning
- ntegrating virtual worlds with e-learning
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| Putting the social media pieces together
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Jane Hart, Social Media and Learning Consultant, Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies |
Social media tools are changing the way we work and learn, with boundaries between work and learning blurring to produce 'embedded workflow learning' so that people learn almost without noticing it. Using networking tools and collaborative communities to bring people together makes this work, but of course, it's not about the technology. Making social media sing is about pulling together the right tools with the right best practices. In this session Jane Hart suggests how to make it a success.
- Which social media tools work together - and which don't
- Helping learners grow comfortable with social media
- Microblogging as part of the community
- Aggregating news feeds and more
- Getting started |
| Collaborative learning at work
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Andy Tedd, e-Learning and Social Media Consultant |
When the BBC's Creativity & Audiences Training designed its web presence, it moved delivery away from didactic to user-driven, to make the best use of web 2.0 technologies. In particular, it aimed to make best use of the BBC's strong tradition of informal learning through the habits of social networking. Now the BBC's online College of Journalism is applying the lessons learned in the next iteration of its online presence:
- Producing a Delicious, Facebook and YouTube like platform
- Breaking down tribal barriers
- Why 25 year olds share readily and 50 year olds are more reluctant
- Turning content web-friendly
- How to market something that learners don't want marketed |
