Stonehenge dig update - for American viewers

[image courtesy BBC]

Some more info on the Stonehenge dig that may be more relevant to the American audience: the Smithsonian Channel are partnering with TimeWatch in coverage of the dig.

You can read and interact with Executive Producer of the Smithsonian Channel David Royle's live blog from Stonehenge here.

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Stonehenge dig on Timewatch

I don't spend all my time involved in learning and development. No no no. Among my interests is my probably slightly odd nevertheless very satisfying interest in the Neolithic, and particularly the culture of the Beaker People of Western Europe. One of the most famous monuments left behind by this enigmatic culture was Stonehenge, in the Wiltshire landscape near Avebury, Woodhenge and West Kennet.

BBC's flagship TimeWatch programme is documenting the once-in-a-lifetime archaeological dig at Stonehenge over the next few months and you can follow the dig online here.

[Image courtesy BBC]

Should be interesting to watch the story unfold.

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Creating a Research Design to evaluate the effectiveness of e-learning projects

In a previous blog entry, I mentioned the importance of data triangulation, particularly if you use a case study approach when evaluating an e-learning initiative. Another strategy I recommend is to collect data over a number of phases, using a number of techniques.

Case studies involve in-depth, descriptive data collection and analysis of a case, or a number of related instances of the same type within the case. In particular, the case study design is useful when answering “how” and “why” questions, and in understanding the particulars, and diversity of the case (Yin, 1994). As Yin asserted in his 1993 paper Applications of Case Study Research

the case study is the method of choice when the phenomenon under study is not readily distinguishable from its context.

(p.3)

The case study design (see Table 1) suited the conditions of this research project very well as it allowed naturalistic methods of enquiry such as individual interviews to be carried out, side-by-side with quantitative data gathering from surveys and archival records.

Table 1 Features of a case study (Russ-Eft & Preskill, 2001, pp.173-174)

Advantages	Disadvantages
Provides descriptive data	Results may not lead to scientific generalizability
Does not require control of participants or setting	Researcher bias may interfere with validity of the findings
Reports include verbatim quotes	May take too long to conduct
Leads to a greater understanding of the context of the evaluand	May produce more data than can be analysed in an effective manner
Gather data using multiple methods
Provides data that are rich in examples
Captures what is important to the participants
Portrays the multiplicity of causes that are associated with various outcomes
Embraces diversity of perspectives and experiences of participants
Allows the researcher to collect information on outcomes not known prior to the learning and performance initiative

As Robson points out, the flexibility of the case study approach allows the design to “emerge” (2002, p.89) during data collection and analysis. Similarly, the case study facilitates the application of other research designs within the case study design framework, enabling the learning professional to capture data during different phases of a project.

References:

Robson, C. (2002) Real World Research. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Russ-Eft, D. & Preskill H. (2001) Evaluation in Organizations: A Systematic Approach to Enhancing Learning, Performance and Change. New York, NY. Perseus Books.

Yin, R. K. (1993). Applications of Case Study Research. Newbury Park, CA. Sage.

Yin, R. K. (1994). Discovering the future of the case study method in evaluation research. Evaluation Practice [Internet] 15. Available from: http://aje.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/15/3/283 [Accessed 15th January 2008 subscription required]

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Evaluating e-learning programs: more on the Program Logic Model

In the context of evaluating e-learning programs, the logic model is useful for identifying elements of the programme that are most likely to yield useful evaluation data, and to identify an appropriate sequence for collecting data and measuring learning. In this way, the programme logic model can help you develop a research design, and provide guidance to relevant and appropriate data collection strategies within your case study. Figure 1 illustrates how I apply the Program Logic Model in my case studies.

Figure 1 Programme Logic Model applied to the Information Session non-formal learning initiative

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Top Ten Tools for E-learning in 2008

Jane Hart, founder of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (C4PT) site is compiling this year's list of Top 10 Tools for Learning. I think that it's a worthwhile exercise to contribute your list if you feel strongly, as I do, that the more exposure learning professionals have to the range of tools at our disposal, the more effectively we can develop effective learning solutions for our customers.

C4PT is a fantastic resource for those new to e-learning, as well as seasoned professionals looking to expand their content development toolkit. I recommend you drop over and have a look at what you can find there.

Michael's Top 10 Tools (in no particular order. Well, alphabetical.)

1. Audacity - I recommend this open source tools to subject matter experts who wish to create podcasts and / or software demos when using a Rapid E-Learning approach. It's easy to install and use and enables SMEs and training professionals to create high quality audio quickly and efficiently.

2. Adobe Acrobat Connect Enterprise - I could have picked any from the range of Adobe Flash-based content development tools, but I chose this application because of it's multifunctionality, and because it manifests what Flash, Presenter, Dreamweaver etc can do. Enables collaboration, content storage, management, distribution, and (a certain degree of) tracking. A powerful platform to enable learning professionals and organisations to distribute informational and training content effectively.

3. Adobe Captivate - A SERIOUS authoring tool for demos, simulations, evaluation, and scenarios-based learning

4. Blogs - The platform doesn't matter, but the concept of providing a means to create, share, and deliver content is the basis for a new way of learning.

5. Del.icio.us - Personal bookmarking at its best. If, like me you work on a number of machines in a number of locations, it is useful to access stored links and documents from a browser regardless of where you happen to be, once you have an internet connection.

6. MindJet Mind Manager Pro - I built the framework for my Master's thesis in Mind Manager. A powerful intermediary in developing ideas, concepts, and course design.

7. Moodle - Already an institution in institutions! Martin Dougimas's erstwhile thesis project continues to meet the learning management requirements of a range of organisations. I just love the idea of framing Social Constructivism in such an useful environment.

8. PageRank - A technology that has its critics, but provides us with the ability to carry out a search in Google, MSN, Yahoo! etc safe in the knowledge that the returned results are not just an undifferentiated list of keyword hits, thus enhancing the relevance of the search.

9. Sony Vegas Video - Easier to use than Premiere, more powerful than MovieMaker; Vegas is my post-production "weapon of choice" for 90% of the video elements that appears in courseware developed in my organisation. Whether you're just "topping and tailing" a piece of video or creating the elements for a sophisticated soft skills course, Vegas is a must.

10. TextPad - I would have chosen pen and paper, but decided to keep this list digital; TextPad is an advanced text editor that enables users to create and edit text documents, XML, JavaScript and other interpreted content without the extraneous "bloat" of word-processing applications. I find it useful to develop content in this stripped-down environment before transferring to Word, PowerPoint, Blogger or some other application for final enhancement and publishing (this list was created in TextPad, for example).

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Evaluating Non-formal e-learning initatives: the Program Logic Model

In undertaking a case study when evaluating any e-learning initiative, it is essential that the data collected in the research is relevant and appropriate to the task of evaluating the impact of the intervention on the audience.

According to Wright & Ross (2001), the Program Logic Model

offers a conceptual and practical framework for this exacting work. At its core it is a simplified picture of a programme, initiative or project. In much the same way that a software developer would employ a use case, the logic model shows the relationships among the resources that are invested, the intervention or the activities that take place, and the outcomes that result from the project. Essentially, it is a tool to guide critical thinking.

(p.153).

Figure 1 The Program Logic Model

This model great utility to the e-learning practitioner, specifically in orienting the research and ensuring their learning evaluation methodology aligns to the investigation being undertaken. As Cooksy, Gill and Kelly discuss in their article The Program Logic Model as an Integrative Framework for a Multimethod Evaluation, “program theory guides an evaluation by identifying key program elements and articulating how these elements are expected to relate to each other” (p.109).

As illustrated in Figure 1 above, there are five components to the Program Logic Model: each component has a range of characteristics associated with it. These are described by Paul McCawley (1997):

1. The situation statement provides an opportunity to communicate the relevance of the project. This establishes a baseline for comparison at the close of a project and provides a way to determine whether change has occurred. Describing who is affected by the initiative allows assessment of who has benefitted.
2. Inputs include those things that we invest in a programme or project such as knowledge, skills, or expertise. Describing the inputs needed for a project provides an opportunity to communicate the quality of the programme.
3. Outputs are “those things that we do” (p.4) - providing deliverables, products - and the people we reach - intended audience. Describing the outputs establishes linkages between the problem (situation) and the impact of the project (intended outcomes).
4. In terms of program or project outcomes, these can be short-term, intermediate-term, or long-term, Outcomes answer the question “What happened as a result of the program?”

• Short-term outcomes of educational programmes may include changes in:
• Awareness – customers recognise the problem or issue
• Knowledge – customers understand the causes and potential solutions
• Skills – customers possess the skills needed to resolve the situation
• Motivation – customers have the desire to effect change
• Intermediate-term outcomes include changes that follow the short-term outcomes, such as changes in:
• Practices used by participants
• Behaviours exhibited by people or organisations
• Long-term outcomes follow intermediate-term outcomes when changed behaviours result in changed conditions or processes.

References:

Cooksy, L. J. Gill, P. & Kelly. P. A. (2001) The Program Logic Model as an Integrative Framework for a Multimethod Evaluation. Evaluation and Program Planning [Internet] 24(2). Available from: http://www.hsrd.houston.med.va.gov/AdamKelly/Logic.html [Accessed 21st October, 2006]

McCawley, P. F. (1997) The Logic Model for Program Planning and Evaluation. University of Idaho Extension [Internet] Available from: http://www.uidaho.edu/extension/LogicModel.pdf [Accessed 18th January 2007]

Wright, L. & Ross, J. W. (2001) The Logic Model: An A-to-Z Guide to Training Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. Association of the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA). [Internet] Available from: http://calswec.berkeley.edu/CalSWEC/2001_08Ross.pdf [Accessed 10th January 2007]

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Evaluating Non-formal Learning: Establishing validity in your research

As discussed in a previous post, to assist in understanding the “parallel criteria” (1989, p.233) relationship between these test of rigour and the scientific terms for validity, Guba and Lincoln provide the following table (1981, p.104):

Table 1 Relationship between parallel criteria

Aspect	Scientific Term	Naturalistic Term
Truth Value	Internal Validity	Credibility
Applicability	External Validity	Fittingness/transferability
Consistency	Reliability	Dependability/auditability
Neutrality	Objectivity	Confirmability

When considering appropriate research designs to evaluate the effectiveness of learning initiatives, it's important to consider the types of data that you have access to, particularly in the context of the issues evaluating a non-formal learning initiative at Kirkpatrick’s Levels 3 and 4 (Shelton. & Alliger, 1993, pp.43-46, Horton, 2006, p.109), I feel it is essential to ensure validity of the naturalistic information by capturing a range of supporting quantitative data.

To assist evaluators understand and provide a context for the analysis of the information collected in the final, qualitative phase of the study, Russ-Eft and Preskill (2001, pp.155-156) describe a number of useful techniques for establishing the validity of quantitative and qualitative data, among them accuracy checking in data recording and encoding, persistent participant observation and member checking.

As the resultant evaluation will use a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods as well as data collected from multiple sources, use I recommend that you use data triangulation used as a strategy to enhance the rigour and validity of you evaluation.

The term triangulation originated in cartography where two or more reference points are used to locate an exact position.

Knowing a single landmark only locates you somewhere along a line in a direction from the landmark, whereas with two landmarks you can take bearings in two directions and locate yourself at their intersection.

(Patton, 1990, p.187).

Denzin (1988) has identified four types of triangulation – data triangulation, methodological triangulation, investigator triangulation, and theory triangulation; the I use these three triangulation techniques were used to evaluate the effectiveness of non-formal learning initiatives:

Table 2 Denzin's (1988) Definition of triangulation methods

Triangulation method	Definition
Data triangulation	Collecting data from a variety of sources. For example, in evaluating the transfer of learning from a three-hour workshop, the evaluator collects information from the learners, their managers, and their peers. In this case, three different sources have been queried.
Methodological triangulation	Using more than one method to collect data. For example, we may interview 20 per cent of a department’s employees and survey the remaining 80 per cent. By using two methods, the weaknesses of one may be compensated fro by the other.
Theory triangulation	Using different theoretical perspectives to interpret the same data. By applying different theories to make sense of the data, it is possible to see how different assumptions and beliefs influence one’s interpretations. By making these explicit, stakeholders can see how their assumptions might influence various actions taken because of the findings.

References:

Denzin, N. K. (1988) The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods. 3^rd Ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Guba, E.G. & Lincoln, Y.S. (1981) Effective Evaluation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Horton, W. (2006) So how is elearning different? IN: Kirkpatrick, P. & Kirkpatrick, J. Evaluating Training Programs. 3rd ed. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Patton, M. Q. (1990) Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods. 2^nd Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage

Russ-Eft, D. & Preskill H. (2001) Evaluation in Organizations: A Systematic Approach to Enhancing Learning, Performance and Change. New York, NY. Perseus Books.

Shelton, S. & Alliger, G. (1993) Who's Afraid of Level 4 Evaluation? A Practical Approach. Training & Development. [Internet] 41 (3). Available from: http://www.afc-ispi.org/Repository/
Approaches%20for%20Assessing%20Outcomes%20ROI.doc [Accessed 24th March 2007]

Evaluating Non-formal Learning: Using "tests of rigor" to validate findings

Without rigour, research is worthless, becomes fiction, and loses its utility. Hence, a great deal of attention is applied to reliability and validity in all research methods.

(Morse et al, 2002, p.1)

Morse and his colleagues develop their position by asserting that the challenges to rigour in qualitative inquiry paralleled the growth of statistical packages and the development of computing systems in quantitative research: without “the certainty of hard numbers and p values, qualitative inquiry expressed a crisis of confidence” (Morse et al, 2002, p.2).

A number of leading qualitative researchers (Leininger, 1994, Altheide & Johnson, 1998) argued that the two approaches are not compatible and that they should not be combined, due to the fundamental differences between the two methods in the context of the nature of knowledge, the relationship between researcher and the object of the research, and the means of generating data.

My personal view aligns with the criteria suggested by Guba & Lincoln (1981) and Yin (1994) to determine reliability, and validity, and thus ensuring rigour, in qualitative research. Reliability and validity relate to the degree of confidence we have that the data are representing the participants’ reality or “truth” (Russ-Eft & Preskill, 2001, p.153). How can we define the truth (or even the accuracy) of participants’ responses in the subjective domain of qualitative research? Guba and Lincoln (1981) propose that researchers use so-called “tests of rigour” to establish validity through the naturalistic concept of “trustworthiness,” containing four aspects: credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability, that align to parallel scientific terms associated with the quantitative method.

Table 1 Definition of naturalistic terms (Russ-Eft & Preskill, 2001, pp153-155)

Naturalistic Term	Definition
Credibility	The scientific paradigm asserts that there is one reality and that information is valid when all relevant variables can be controlled; a naturalistic paradigm assumes that multiple realities exist in the minds of individuals. Hence when using qualitative methods, the research seeks to establish the credibility of individuals’ responses. The study must be believable by providing a detailed depiction of the multiple perspectives that exist can enhance the data’s credibility. For example, learner satisfaction surveys, along with interviews with training managers and instructors would provide a more holistic picture of the learning experience.
Fittingness/transferability	How transferable the findings are to another setting is called generalisability in the empirical context. The goal of qualitative methods is to provide richly detailed description to help the reader relate certain findings to their own experience. We often think of these as “lessons learned.” For example, as a stakeholder reads an evaluation report, they realise that something very similar has occurred in their organisation and sees where the findings can be used. Although the entire set of findings may not be applicable in their context, some issues identified may have applicability in other contexts.
Dependability/auditability	In the scientific paradigm, the notion of consistency is called reliability where a study’s consistency, predictability or stability is measured. Since reliability is necessary for validity, it is critical that data of any kind be reliable. Instead of considering data unreliable if it is inconsistent, evaluators using qualitative methods look for reasons that cause the data to appear unstable (inconsistent). For example, an interviewee may give an opinion one day, and when asked again the following week might say something slightly different. What would be important to understand and capture are the reasons for this change in perception. Such inconsistencies may stem from respondent error, an increase in available information, or changes in the situation. An audit trail that includes collecting documents and interview notes and a daily journal of how things are proceeding can help to uncover some of the reasons for such inconsistencies.
Confirmability	Objectivity is often viewed as the goal of most evaluation and research studies. Evaluators and researchers who use qualitative methods don’t necessarily believe that true objectivity can ever be fully achieved, rather that it is impossible to completely separate the evaluator from the method. Instead of trying to ensure that the data are free from the evaluator’s biases, the goal is to determine the extent to which the data provide confirming evidence. “This means that data (constructions, assertions, facts and so on) can be tracked to their sources, and that the logic used to assemble the interpretations into structurally coherent and corroborating wholes is both explicit and implicit” (Guba & Lincoln, 1989, p.243). Establishing confirmability, like consistency, often takes the form of auditing.

References:

Altheide, D., & Johnson, J. M. C. (1998). Criteria for assessing interpretive validity in qualitative research. IN: Denzin N. K. & Lincoln Y. S. (Eds.), Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Guba, E.G. & Lincoln, Y.S. (1981) Effective Evaluation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Leininger, M. (1994). Evaluation criteria and critique of qualitative research studies. In J. M. Morse (Ed.), Critical Issues in Qualitative Research Methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Morse, J. M., Barrett, M., Mayan, M., Olson, K., & Spiers, J. (2002). Verification strategies for establishing reliability and validity in qualitative research. [Internet] International Journal of Qualitative Methods 1 (2), Article 2. Available from: http://www.ualberta.ca/~ijqm/ [Accessed 14th March 2008]

Russ-Eft, D. & Preskill H. (2001) Evaluation in Organizations: A Systematic Approach to Enhancing Learning, Performance and Change. New York, NY. Perseus Books.

Yin, R. K. (1994). Discovering the future of the case study method in evaluation research. Evaluation Practice [Internet] 15. Available from: http://aje.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/15/3/283 [Accessed 15th January 2007]

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Using a Case Study approach to evaluate Non-Formal Learning

I consider a case study methodology to be the most effective strategy to use when evaluating non-formal learning because this approach provides the means to develop a rich description of the non-formal learning (NFL) initiative.

This assists in providing a context, and helps define the NFL initiative's value to the learners and to the organisation. An added benefit of the case study approach is that it enables the learning practitioner to employ a number of different data collection methodologies: participant observation, archive data collection, surveys, and interviews to answer the questions outlined in Table 1. The main purpose of using a number of data collection methodologies was to capture a range of quantitative and qualitative data, and to establish a means of triangulating that data to enhance validity and “trustworthiness” (Russ-Eft & Preskill, 2001, p.153).

Table 1 Questions the case study approach attempts to answer

Quantitative Data	Qualitative Data
Who attends live “in situ” the learning event? (dept., role, skill level, location)	Description and chronology of a the learning event
Who views synchronous live stream of the learning event? (dept., role, skill level, location)	Transfer of new knowledge to the job (Kirkpatrick - Level 3)
Who views asynchronous on-demand version of the learning event? (dept., role, skill level, location)	Does the pedagogical approach used in the learning event fulfil participants’ needs?
Who requests asynchronous DVD version of the learning event? (dept., role, skill level, location)	Do non-formal learning event enhance individuals' and organisation performance? (Kirkpatrick - Level 3)
Participants satisfaction with the learning event? (Kirkpatrick - Level 1)	What is the Business Impact of the the learning event or series of events over time (Kirkpatrick - Level 4)
What do attendees know that they didn’t know before? (Kirkpatrick - Level 2)

References:

Russ-Eft, D. & Preskill H. (2001) Evaluation in Organizations: A Systematic Approach to Enhancing Learning, Performance and Change. New York, NY. Perseus Books.

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Martin Dougiamas says: Moodle 1.9 now released! Hurrah!!

Like the man in the title said, Moodle 1.9 has been released.
Headline features include:

• Gradebook - Completely rewritten from scratch for speed and flexibility. The new gradebook consists of plugins for reports, imports and exports. There are a number of standard reports which are useful for graders, students etc. The grader report allows you to treat the gradebook much more like a spreadsheet with manual editing, calculations, aggregations, weighting, locking, hiding, textual notes and so on.
  
  
• Outcomes - You can also now develop a list of expected outcomes (competencies) and connect these to courses and activities. You can even grade against multiple outcomes at once (i.e. Rubrics).
  
  
• Events API - The new Events API provides a way for any code to "hook" into events in a clean, loosely coupled way. A lot of events in Moodle (such as adding a user or a course) now trigger events that developers can hook into.
  
  
• Scalability and performance improvements - A complete overhaul of the Roles implementation for correctness and scalability. Large sites with thousands of courses and users now load quickly and behave well under heavy traffic, thanks to reworked code for Roles. Additional boost for sites using PHP pre-compilers and significant improvements in the database access code for all databases. Many other parts of Moodle have been optimised to cope better with large numbers of courses and students. Overall performance is very noticeably increased.
  
  
• Moodle Network - Moodle 1.9 and Mahara E-portfolio v0.9 now do transparent Single Sign On - one to one, one to many, many to many. Students can maintain their personal E-portfolios in Mahara.
  
  
• Tags - Allows users to describe their own interests in terms of tags, which creates interest pages around those tags, bringing information together from a variety of sources (Blogs, Flickr, Youtube etc)
  
  
• Improved question bank - Allows questions to be shared by the whole site, a course category, a single course, or be kept private to a single module. More control over who can do what to each question. Improved file management for files linked to by questions.
  
  
• Notes - Detailed notes can be kept about individual users (for example teachers might want to keep and share notes about students in their class).
  
  
• Bulk user actions - Administrators can perform bulk user actions, such as the mass deletion of user accounts. Extended features in the bulk user upload script to allow generation of user fields based on templates.
  
  
• Custom corners theme - Beautiful and curvy (in all browsers).

Find out more here [links to Moodle.org]

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LCBBQ: The Long Tail, the 80:20 Rule and the role of learning professionals

This month's Learning Circuits Blog Big Question is:

"What is the Scope of our Responsibility as Learning Professionals?"

Since Peter Drucker coined the term "knowledge worker", learning professionals have been moving away from the silo of the training department and have become more integral to the broader ongoing development of the primary assets organisations possess: its people and their expertise.

In 1959 Peter Drucker coined the term “knowledge worker” to describe

one who works primarily with information or one who develops and uses knowledge in the workplace. It is performed by subject-matter specialists in all areas of an organisation;

(1973, p.839)

their tools are the knowledge assets they use in an organisation. It is “generally accepted” (Drucker, 2006, p.165) that the knowledge workers’ expertise in their role is the starting point for enhancing productivity, quality of work, and performance. If knowledge workers are to continue contributing to an organisation, their knowledge must remain up-to-date.

With the range of learning technologies and content delivery channels now available, learning professionals are meeting the needs of learners more successfully than ever before. They have done so adapting to the changing nature of organisations, which has meant increasing the breadth and depth of the functions undertaken by learning professionals.

My belief is that the responsibility of learning professionals encompasses these areas:

Knowledge Management

• Information Repository Development (Formal CMS solutions as well as non-formal wikis, blogs & podcasts)
• Content Management / Architecture Leadership
• Communities of Practise
• Knowledge Networks
• Experts & Expertise

Formal Instruction

• E-Learning
• Instructor-led Training
• Online Mentoring
• Certification

Organisational Development

• Workplace Learning & Support
• Performance Support
• Informal Learning Environments
• Non-formal Learning (InfoSession-type events)
• Formal Instruction (Classroom-based / Web-based)

Performance

• Ongoing workplace-related development

...and growing.

Interestingly, these domains of expertise align closely to Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Evaluation, where (for example) Formal Instruction in the categories I've detailed here equates with Level 2 (Learning) and Level 4 (Results) with Performance.

But we're here to talk about the Long Tail, which I think is an interesting concept to apply to learning & development, but I'm struggling with seeing how to apply it as a rule or axiom in the learning world; I would assert that there is no evidence to support the view that learning professionals / departments specifically have to support Long Tail learning as distinct from all the other modalities of learning within their sphere of influence, except in a certain context.

That context is this: as more and more digital learning content has been developed and distributed using networked channels, online learning has moved from being a net consumer of educational resources to a net producer of learning materials. As such, more types of information / knowledge / learning resources are now available than heretofore. The very existence and availability of these resources to learners ensures their continued, low-level usage over time. Very much like the odd consumer searching for that obscure title on Amazon.com, some (diminishing) number of learners (over time) will continue to access rarely-use or more likely, out-of-date learning materials. I can give you a good example of this; content developed for an earlier version of an application (i.e. Macromedia FlashMX) will still have an audience, but not a very large one; yet the content still remains available for you to find if you so wish to use it.

However, as John Hager points out in Paying Attention what "we know at any point in time has diminishing value." Taking this truism into account I would suggest that a more appropriate model to apply is the Pareto Principle upon which the Long Tail is based.

The Pareto Principle is more commonly known as the "80:20 Rule" and was originally devised as a means of quantifying distribution of income and wealth among a population (20% of a population own 80% of the wealth).

It is reasonable to say that that knowledge is a form of wealth, and knowledge workers, experts, and "More Knowledgeable Others" exemplify the distribution of knowledge in an organisation. To extend the analogy, learning professionals are the "bankers" or economists of knowledge and the role and responsibility of the learning professional should extend to distributing the acquired skills, expertise and knowledge of workers to others within the organisation. The methods and means of this scope are, like all things, reliant on the nature of the organisation the learning professional is in.

References:

Drucker, P. F. (1973) Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. New York, Harper & Row

Drucker, P. F. (2006) Classic Drucker. Boston, MA. Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation

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E-Learning a second language

As it's nearly St. Patrick's Day...
There's an American-Irish comedian (yes that's correct - a Bronx native who's emigrated to Ireland) called Des Bishop who decided to learn to speak the Irish language. More about his encounter with learning Irish and the context for e-learning and language teaching later.

Now read on.

For non-Irish people - apparently there are approximately two people in the world who don't claim Irish roots - here's some context:

Modern Irish is very different from the other languages discussed ... in that it is not a language which suffers from poor support: questions on the Irish census about Irish language universally show a strong positive reaction to the revival movement. Nor does the language lack official status; it is, according to the constitution of the Republic of Ireland, the “first language” of the country. There is also widespread political and economic support for the revival effort. The numbers of its speakers is not as low as the number of speakers of many languages; the official estimate of native Irish speakers hovers around the 80,000 mark. It also cannot be said of Irish that there has been a lack of a revival effort. The Irish language revival movement dates back to the beginning of the home-rule movement in the middle of the last century. Finally, it is not a language that is lacking in linguistic description or dictionaries. It is, however, a language which is perhaps at the most critical stage in its history and may very well not survive more than another generation or two.

(Modern Irish: A Case Study in Language Revival Failure, p.1)

The most well-known Irish Revival movement began when Irish writers such as Lady Gregory, Percy French, George Russell ("Æ"), Oliver St John Gogarty, Padraic Colum, Edward Martyn, Edward Plunkett and William Butler Yeats stimulated a new appreciation of traditional Irish literature and Irish poetry in the late 19th and early 20th century. For a wide range of (mainly socio-political) reasons, in the mid- to late 20th century, the Irish language was firmly shackled within the constraints and agenda of "Official Ireland" - the structures of government and state, the philosphy of Irish Nationalism, the aspirations of the constitution, and so on.

All the while, the citizens of Ireland went about their English-speaking ways, probably like myself with a vague and romantic affection for the notion of Irish. As a nation we knew full well that to thrive in North America, the UK, and Australia, where Irish emigrants traditionally settled, we needed to focus our not inconsiderable linguistic skills (Ireland's total population is about the same as the city of Los Angeles in the US or Birmingham in the UK; there have been four Irish Nobel Prize for Literature laureates - an extraordinarily high figure of awards per capita) on the English language. So, how do you fail to teach a native tongue to a linguistically sophisticated, geographically isolated, culturally homogeneous, and relatively small populace?

Perhaps the highest blame that can be assigned for the failure of the language and its revival can be firmly placed with the language revivalists themselves. Despite obvious good intentions, some remarkably bad policy decisions have been made. Probably the biggest problem for the revival movement has been in putting the burden on the educational system, rather than in promoting the usefulness of the language in everyday life. Children were expected to learn Irish in school, and this was supposed to revive the language. Not only did this create widespread resentment towards the language, it is a remarkably naïve view of language learning, as first noted by Slomanson (1994). It equates language learning to the learning of math or geography or history. As linguists, we know that this is simply not the case. Language is not a “subject” that can be taught formally in an hour a day. Rather, language learning is a subconscious cognitive system that requires maturation and constant and consistent input. We as linguists know, but the revivalists in Ireland did not, that language is acquired, rather than learned. This naïveté with respect to what constitutes how we acquire language was compounded over and over again by the systematically poor pedagogical methods and materials that were used to “teach” the language. Lessons in Irish consisted, until quite recently, of translation exercises and reading of texts. Little or no work was put into conversation language practice and use. It is no wonder, then, that the emphasis on schooling in the language was an abject failure.

(p.17)

Which brings us back to Des Bishop. As an US-born person who moved to Ireland aged 14 years, Des was "exempt" from taking compulsory Irish in school, but decided in his early 30's to learn the language. He brings what anthropologists call an etic perspective to the culture and the process of attempting to educate individuals in Irish. His experiences (documented in a series called In the Name of the Fada* on Irish state broadcaster RTÉ) reinforce the failure that formal educational approaches have had in learning the language, and how he succeeded in learning Irish experientially; “the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (Kolb, 1984, p.41).

And now here's the e-learning angle: as a recent learner of the language, Des advocates the use of e-learning as a medium to develop language skills: you can try your hand at the course Abhair Leat by clicking on this link or the image below.



Now, I have to confess that I haven't had an opportunity to evaluate the courseware yet - I'll submit a future post on the topic when I have had the chance to check it out properly.

I believe that the Irish experience points to a a much larger development in language learning. Look at the great migrations of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, particularly the number of native Spanish speakers in the US, as well as the likely linguistic impact of migration within the European Union (there are over one million Poles now living in the UK, for example).

Consider the role language plays in bilingual states like Canada and Belgium, and polyglot nations like China and India. As this century progresses, possibly the only way that large numbers of people will successfully acquire the language skills needed to function in a globalized economy will be through e-learning, and in this light, the experience of Irish is a lesson that should be well learnt.

Beannachtai Na Féile Pádraig.

Footnotes:

The acute accent, or síneadh fada (´), serves to lengthen the sound of the vowels and in some cases also changes their quality.

References:

Carnie, A. (1996) Modern Irish: A Case Study in Language Revival Failure [Internet] Available from: http://dingo.sbs.arizona.edu/~carnie/publications/PDF/Endangered.pdf [Accessed 15 March 2008]

Kolb, D. A. (1984) Experiential Learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Prentice Hall
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EdTech 2008 Conference - still a chance to submit a paper

EdTech 2008 Conference

The Irish Learning Technology Association (ILTA) hosts EdTech 2008, the Ninth Annual Irish Educational Technology Users’ Conference at Dundalk Institute of Technology on 22nd-23rd May, 2008.

EdTech is Ireland’s largest gathering of practitioners (academic and in industry) interested in the application of information technology in education.

The conference theme is Breaking the Barriers.
Sub-themes include:

• Open Source to Open Content
• New Frontiers
• Transforming Learning from Practice

Call for Submissions is open is open until 20th March 2008.

Find out more at ILTA's web site.
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Times Square and Knowledge Squared

Imagine...

Each of us had the facility to access a personalised version of the types and diversity of information and knowledge on display in Times Square, NY. Is this the ultimate immersive learning environment?

Ten years ago, who would have though you could "Broadcast Yourself" a la YouTube? There is a booth on W44th St that allows you, for a few dollars, to add your own video imagery and text message content to one of the jumbotrons on the Square; is this the beginnings of Times Square as a wiki?


[Click on image to view full-size]
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Still more on evaluating non-formal learning...

Well now. Back from NY and totally energised by my trip to Manhattan. Where were we...? Oh yes -

The methodology I'll be describing is a generalised account of the type work I carry out when developing and implementing non-formal learning initiatives in organisations - I invite you to argue, discuss, praise etc. as appropriate.

Typically, I consult for small- to mid-sized enterprises in Ireland. The type of learning interventions being discussed here are what I call 'Information Sessions.' Information Sessions are learning events designed to disseminate a broad range of knowledge and information about an organisation and its products. The title 'Information Session' is carefully chosen: these events are not formal training (see this blog entry), nor are they informal learning; they are informational by definition and design, though they are developed according to a strong instructional design process. The Info Session events are hosted as synchronous, SME-led presentations. The content is repurposed post-event for asynchronous distribution on-demand over the Web, as well as being distributed to learners on DVD-ROM. Information Sessions are distributed in the following formats:

Table 1 Information Sessions format

Synchronous Asynchronous Live audience in situ at Information Session event location (i.e. learners' office or other facility) On-demand post-live event delivery over the Web Streamed live over the web DVDs available to learners. Each DVD contains one series of Information Session presentations

In the first phase of data collection, quantitative data are collected on every attendee participating in both the live in situ and the synchronous and asynchronous distribution of the events. An E-learning Readiness Survey in the second phase of research is distributed to internal experts who fall under the aegis of what William Horton (2006, p.107) describes as “those who should know” - managers, learning and knowledge professionals, and key stakeholders in the organisation. A representative sample (proportionate to staff numbers) of employees participate in Phase III of the research design. Informed consent is obtained from each contributor by asking them to complete a sign-off statement form in the questionnaire (we'll get back to the questionnaire) and asking their assent to use their responses before follow-up interviews are conducted.

Note: As the research design follows a case study approach and is based on a learning initiative in a single organisation, I am cognisant of the fact that the potential exists for “individuals’ interests to be affected” (Robson, 2002, p.501) by participating in the research, particularly if their opinion deviates from the corporate policy.

References:

Horton, W. (2006) So how is elearning different? IN: Kirkpatrick, P. & Kirkpatrick, J. Evaluating Training Programs. 3rd ed. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Robson, C. (2002) Real World Research. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

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