Why are sites/services like Coursera, edX, Udacity, Academic Earth, TED-Ed and Khan Academy (feel free to comment and add all the ones that I've left out) really important?
World-changing content? Maybe.
Stunning new technology? Um, no.
Then what is it?
They are cracks in the dam. They are canaries in the mine. Clay Shirky in Here Comes Everybody, wrote in part, "...We are plainly witnessing a restructuring of the music and newspaper businesses, but their suffering isn’t unique, it’s prophetic." Spot on Clay. Higher education, take note, its your turn. Oh, to all the folks in corporate learning and training who just breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't their turn...you need to keep reading.
Ever hear of Common Craft? Lynda.com or Stormwind? How about Bloomfire? Code Academy? Quora? Snapguide? Instructables? Open Sesame? No? Look 'em up. Why? Well, I talk a lot about how we can look to the consumer market for features that will be included in our enterprise systems in the future....well look to the consumer market for new business models and production models too.
Do you remember Fletch? Of course you do. Everyone loves that movie. Remember the scene in the doctor's office? No, not that part, the part where the dialog goes like this:
Dr. Joseph Dolan: You know, it's a shame about Ed.
Fletch: Oh, it was. Yeah, it was really a shame. To go so suddenly like that.
Dr. Joseph Dolan: Ahh, he was dying for years.
Fletch: Sure, but... the end was really... very sudden.
Dr. Joseph Dolan: He was in intensive care for eight weeks!
Fletch: Yeah, but I mean the very end, when he actually died. That was extremely sudden.
That's what where we are headed. Everyone keeps cranking out instructional content based on seat time and levels of interactivity EXCEPT anyone not already in the industry. Those folks are the ones finding alternative models. Why? I believe its because the logic that once held that system together is breaking down.
Waaaaay back in 2005, Bill Gates gave a speech to the National Governor's Association. Part of what he said was:
America’s high schools are obsolete.
By obsolete, I don’t just mean that our high schools are broken, flawed, and under-funded – though a case could be made for every one of those points.
By obsolete, I mean that our high schools – even when they’re working exactly as designed – cannot teach our kids what they need to know today.
Training the workforce of tomorrow with the high schools of today is like trying to teach kids about today’s computers on a 50-year-old mainframe. It’s the wrong tool for the times.
Our high schools were designed fifty years ago to meet the needs of another age. Until we design them to meet the needs of the 21st century, we will keep limiting – even ruining – the lives of millions of Americans every year.
I believe he was spot on. Summers off? Built for an agricultural society. Desks in rows and columns? A factory model of control and surveilance not education. You can't fix it though because it's not broken. Its an outdated design.
Wonder why all the companies I mentioned above are popping up? Why institutions like Harvard, MIT, Stanford and so on are even experimenting? They feel the problems in the model. Do we? We keep pushing ADDIE like its some kind of magic charm. What happens though when we deploy a social media system first - that would make the "I" first...and we do that before any analysis because you can't analyze something that you have no data for...and then we tweak the design...whoa...now we're all out of order. I don't know if ADDIE is right or wrong but I know its too rigid. We don't operate in linear fashion we operate in a realm of simultaneity. Now what's your design concept look like? 30, 60 90, days to develop an hour of instruction? Really?
I'm sure the folks at the Rocky Mountain News, which started in 1859, thought they would continue on forever too. I'm not here with all the answers, just trying to remind people that we need to be asking these questions now.
This is what FASCISM looks like.False rhetoric to ilntisl the foundation of a government take over of the private sector.And people have always asked, How could the educated and fairly bright nation of Germans in 1930 have fallen for such socialist garbage to destroy their once proud nation at the hands of an obvious fascist dictator, with delusions of grandeaur?I think we are experiencing that answer. The only difference is we have a number of delusionist's at the helm, Pelosi is just one of many in the Democrat party willing to sacrifice America to their idealism and goal of servitude to the state, since they so aptly broke the bank.This is a Socialist Party take over and forced mandate to the state. The very state that wrote the laws that formed the instability in financial institutions that were burdened with social mandates forcing financial risk upon even the most frugal institutions. Th every state that lied to protect Fannie Mae, the very state that repealed the Glass/Steagal act giving banks more power and allowing more risk. The very state that pays an organization, acorn to harass lending institutes to risk capital on bad risk homes and people.This very state, that has allowed the printing of money to reduce the value of every American to protect its mistake, is now promising to gradually destroy capitalism with a generous but slow upheaval of private enterprise that they claim will do no harm???Like everything else they have done, we can trust them in only one way; that they will destroy America to protect themselves and their privileged existence over us.
Posted by: Harry | August 05, 2012 at 01:20 AM
probably the most easiest is from alerbt king. since he's known for using the alerbt king box . it's shape from one of the pentatonic scale patterns. it's not that hard he mostly plays around 2-3 notes for his soloing. not that tough, check out tutorials on youtube. but be warned alerbt king uses a lot of bends. definitely B.B King and Freddie King as well but alerbt king is probably the easiest from what i know.
Posted by: Katakroker | August 04, 2012 at 07:40 PM
I agree with you so much Mark. I, too, have been pointing people to the consumer models of learning and content creation for many years, and still things don't seem to be changing in the industry.
I think a lot comes down to measurement. Until we can demonstrate better learning analytics (that measure changes in behaviour) rather than the current input measurements, then things won't change.
That's why I think the changes are possibly going to come from the Operational side of the business, who aren't fussed about learning per se, but they do want to know that their systems and processes are working most effectively.
The other barrier is intellectual property protectionism. For some reason, everyone seems to think that knowledge is a valuable property. Of course, in today's world, the value in a company isn't in the knowledge itself, but in what you do with it - how you treat your customers, how current you remain with customer needs etc.
Once we get that idea into people's heads, then many of the barriers to a much more open approach to learning will be possible.
At least, that's my current thinking.... ;-)
Mark
Posted by: Mark Berthelemy | July 31, 2012 at 05:02 AM
The writing is certainly on the walls. I'm trying to figure out how to spread the word that there is an ice berg ahead. But I often feel like the warnings fall on deaf ears. Remember when you and I met for the first time...2005 maybe? On that phone call you and I were having the same conversation. Are you as tired as I am?
Posted by: Brent Schlenker | July 23, 2012 at 05:48 PM