e-Clippings (Learning As Art)

The Innovations in e-Learning Conference - Smashing!

 So when have you ever paid a couple hundred dollar registration fee to hang out in a fairly intimate setting with the likes of Will Wright, Brenda Brathwaite, and Vint Cerf not to EVEN mention hanging with the likes of @rasebastian, @mrch0mp3ers, @oxala75, @busynessgirll, @quinnovator, @peterasmith, @mkfrie, @koreenolbrish, @smartinx, @RVAfoodie, @spydeesense and @wwickha1? (sorry if I am missing people - and I know I am)

Well the Innovations in e-Learning conference really delivered. Super awesome shout out to @chrisstjohn  for his UNBELIEVABLE work in getting truly world-class speakers. The Twitter back channel was also in full effect and be sure to check out #iel09 for the archive of tweets.

There are a number of really good blog posts already summarizing the conference and I'll link to those below, I did want to pass along some of my general impressions though:

• Wow, what an engaged audience. Really. Even if this conference didn't have the largest percentage of people Tweeting (that award probably goes to 3DTLC), it was an incredibly engaged and interested audience.
• Great speakers. Seriously, when Vint Cerf got to the part in his talk when he mentioned that in his  free time he was working on re-building TCP/IP so that it would work at interplanetary distances or when Will Wright blew threw his keynote, explaining his game design process, at an insane pace-shattering the Twitter API along the way-this was classic stuff.
• Great logistics - Kelley Shillingburg and the George Mason Team had it all working from WiFi access to food/drink to parking...never underestimate the power of those details to wreck an otherwise great time.
• No selling. Now I'm not talking about an expo floor, I actually like those..I'm talking about the fact that I can't remember seeing one speaker that I came away from their talk thinking "well at least I know what their company sells" as the main point. 
•   At least one pre-con workshop that actually produced something. Mine didn't but that's my fault not my attendees.Brenda Brathwaite's workshop actually produced game design storyboards that were then put out for a popular vote but also a "critic's choice" judged by Brenda, Alicia Sanchez and Will Wright. I love this idea of actually producing something. I made the mistake of not making sure that everyone coming to my workshop knew to bring their computers so we could actually walk people thru some Social Media exercises - my bad, will re-configure that for next year.
• An informal talk at the GMU coffee shop also resulted in the creation of the Black Swan Society (stop by and join!)  - dedicated to the sharing of ideas around Black Swans that can impact our learning world. Thanks truckloads to my brother from another mother Aaron Silvers (@mrch0mp3ers) for setting this up.
• Also kudos to the attendees like @koreenolbrish who weren't afraid to go up to Robert Scoble  after his session and say thanks but maybe you missed the mark a bit with that one...he knew it and was gracious about getting less than positive feedback (the guy is some kind of bizarre carbon-based information processing machine)...and yes, hi Peter (@peterasmith)!

So that's it, a great conference for not a lot of money, great conversations (still ongoing) and some amazing interactions with people you never think you're going to meet (did you know Will Wright and I are both from Atlanta?).  Well done DAU and well done GMU.

Blog posts (please help me and add others in the comments):

IEL09: 12 take-aways
In the Middle of the Curve: Wendy did AMAZING work live blogging much of the conference!
My Conference Recap: Innovations in e-Learning

Meeting your Idols
Conferencing Reflections

This (how to present while people are twittering) is going to become a CRITICAL skill

Olivia Mitchell does a great job laying out what more and more presenters are going to face - if you're not already. You get to see the tops of heads and the clack of keyboards...IF..that is..the conference organizers have figured out some way to supply WiFi to the audience. WHICH THEY SHOULD!!!!

Now here's the thing. I figure its going to hard enough for presenters to adapt to a living, breathing back channel - like that smoke monster from LOST - but what about trainers? Teachers?

Anybody up for figuring out how a vibrant backchannel figures into instructional design?

Now I'm starting to get that the whole discussion that we're having about reconfiguring conferences is converging in my mind at least, with a larger discussion about re-designing instructional design. Look at our confernces. The issues that we are bring up - how the info is presented (lecture style) - how vapid the typical assessment is (did the speaker know what they were talking about?) - is it too far of a reach to see these criticisms applied to our classes? Our training?

Changing the Genetic Code of Conferences

So there is a wonderful conversation getting underway at Spaces of Interaction: An Online Conversation about Improving Traditional Conferences. As someone who goes to a lot of conferences, this really interests me. As part of looking around on that topic, I found this article about Webstock 2009, a conference that just wrapped up in Wellington, NZ.

The post that caught my eye was one in which people were putting together the business case for attending the conference. I thought they had some nice ideas like (Oh, and keep in mind that my comments aren't directed at Webstock, which I assume is awesome but rather at us in the learning/training field and our conferences):

• Webstock is an unparalleled training opportunity: that's a great claim - what do we think it would take to change it to a metric?
• You’ll be better at your job: again - that's awesome - what's the best way to achieve that?
• The speakers are some of the best in the world - but they should bring relevant messages as well or else they're just marketing fodder. I'll never forget being at one conference where Rudy Giuliani was a speaker - before he was a candidate - not only was he one of the most wooden and dreadful speakers I've ever seen but he also failed to adjust his pitch one whit to map to the audience in front of him.
• You’ll come back better networked - this is awesome but is the conference actually deploying tools. technologies, opportunities to achieve this? Here is a crazy idea - offer a couple of stations set up using something like a CardScan business card scanner - now offer to let people use this station to scan in all the biz cards they collect and email themselves electronic copies of them before they even leave the conference. That is facilitating networking. 
• Webstock is run by people who care: Again, that's great and might sound superficial but there could be something deeper here as well. What if instead of having companies who's biz model is driving attendance to shows and selling booth space - we actually had conferences run by people who may have those elements as part of their model but who at base, care about the industry?

So what do you think? Any hope of changing conferences at a genetic level? What would it take?

Thoughts on Tech Knowledge 2009 and Conferences in General

So I just got back from ASTD's Tech Knowledge 2009 in guess where? The usual suspects did their usual great jobs (Brent Schlenker, Tony Karrer, Michelle Lentz) - I'm not trying to slight any other speakers - just don't want to name the whole program. (FYI - I did upload my slides here.) (Double FYI - You can also look at the slides for the ILS Design Challenge that I mentioned here).

I also think that Linda David at ASTD is probably one of the hardest workers in this industry and that Bob Mosher, et al served bravely on the conference committee. ASTD also stepped up and took a brave swing at extending the actual conference by having an ASTD Virtual Conference .

That's actually further than a lot of conferences go. They also had Michelle Lentz (@writetechnology) pushing hard for a Twitter presence for the conference. You can go here and check out the associated Tweets. 

I am also excited about the upcoming eLearning Guild's Annual Gathering and Game Developers Conference - both of which have been tremendously valuable experiences in the past and both of which I assume will be greatly valuable this year as well. I think I am just really beginning to want more out of my conferences. Here's a short list:

• Social media should be the default and should kick in as soon as I register and continue past the conference
• I should have the option to NOT get a printed guide that weighs 10 LBs. I know why you do it, for the ads not for the attendees - figure out an alternative model and save some trees - get creative w/ an iPhone app or a Flash app or something.
• Whether or not I'm a speaker or an attendee, I want input into what will be session outcomes. Asking me to pay, go to a session and then fill out an eval so that NEXT YEAR will be better is a little backward isn't it?
• FIGURE OUT WIRELESS!!!! I don't give a rat's ass how you do it, just freaking do it. Do you understand the good will and PR you will reap? Do you? I know this diff between simple and easy - this one might not be easy but it sure is simple - get it done.
• Keep the Expos. I actually like them. Do the vendors feel like they are getting value though? I don't know.
• Consider NOT holding a 'cutting-edge conference' on how we'll all learn in the future with everyone seated theater style or at rounds for 45, 60 or 90 minutes. Try some difference configurations - not all will work - jettison the ones that don't and use the ones that do to re-shape the face-to-face experience. 
• I'm also going to risk some wrath here and say NO to Vegas as a location. I'd actually rather be in Chicago or New York or San Francisco or Atlanta - if you want to hold a conference somewhere that has tourist appeal, then hold it somewhere with broader tourist appeal.

Let's see that's all for now...so kudos to ASTD and eLearning Guild and GDC for doing some really hard work to pull off these incredibly complicated logistical events...I just want it all.

Me, Tim O'Reilly and Mark Sylvester @ DevLearn

That's me, that's Tim O'Reilly and that's Mark Sylvester, CEO of introNetworks.

Below, that me looking like I'm arguing with Tim O'Reilly...I wasn't I swear....(and huge thanks to Jay Cross for taking the shots!)

Get Social, Get Game and Get Learning! eLearning Guild's Summer Seminar Series

<insert shameless plug here>

Just wanted to let everyone know, so you can all run out and sign up now! now! now! - that Brent Schlenker and I are doing an eLearning Guild Summer Seminar Series that is focused on all things "2.0" and how they can be used to create powerful ,collaborative, learning environments. An outline for our session is available here - but I should also point out that Clark Quinn and Jeff Johannigman are doing their session on serious games aka Immersive Learning Simulations, immediately following ours - so stay for both!

Register Now for DevLearn 08 and save Millions! (or probably less than that but still cheaper)

(DevLearn Link) ...c'mon, San Jose, great sessions, Tim O'Reilly is keynoting...that dude invented  "Web 2.0".. :-) ...what more do ya want?

sid final

"we do the research after the game is finished"... it ever gets out that this is educational sales will drop by half..."find the fun"....what are the interesting decisions that you have to make in any given domain/situation, re cheat codes-don't like them, I've failed as a game designer if you want to play some other game and not mine...

more Sid

huh, game desigers care about UI...diff climes equal diff racial types...barbarian villages now have resources...I keep thinking how much attention has been paid to what kind of experience is bring created for the gamer/learner.

"get your mind churning about the possibilities"...multiple paths to victory...can there be multiple paths to the same learning objective?

Liveblogging Sid Meier 2.....

<Turn the music down AV Guy>

talking about creating sense of anticpation in learner/gamer..."we can never let the learner even imagine that they are being educated".....keep the production values high - people expect it....gaming keeps everything positive...you just did a cool thing and here is the next cool thing...don't waste time...haven't even played yet but have been shown things that will happen further down the road...interesting idea for learning - revealing the full course of what can happen...<damn battery....down to 39 minutes at 1:32 PM>

...the player has the choice, even in the tutorial...use visual icons as powerful instructional touchstones...refers to the "Happy Song" from CIV4...new "Tech Planner" looks cool...interesting thougt...clickable visual guide to what or how the knowledge from this course ties into other, as yet un revealed concepts.....wanted to put links into Civlopedia to relevant articles on Wikipedia etc but had some MSFT limitation....more from iPhone.....