e-nough

Reports from OnLine Learning 2000 and TechLearn.

Hackers!

Internet Time Group attends Defcon, the annual hacker convention.

No, they're not criminals. Yes, you should be concerned about the security of your networks.

No more classes? Only software?

In high schools of the future, "Software is going to replace classes as we know them," said Dr. Schank, director of the Institute for Learning Sciences at Northwestern University in an article in the New York Times.

The Times reports that "Dr. Schank is marketing his courses to universities and believes they will be attracted by the potential savings and by the program's academic pedigree. In May, Cognitive Arts announced it would join with Columbia University to develop 80 software-based courses that correspond directly to existing Columbia courses. In June, Harvard Business School said it would begin offering pre-enrollment software courses designed by Cognitive Arts to students who had been accepted for enrollment."

Continuing, the Times writes, "But many academics dismiss Dr. Schank's prediction that traditional teaching methods will soon become obsolete and question software learning's pedagogic value. 'Education depends on relationships between people,' said David F. Noble, a history professor at York University in Toronto and a critic of online learning. 'Interactive is not the same as interpersonal. What Schank doesn't recognize is that teaching is not just about relaying knowledge.'"

"Bald, bearded and powerfully built, Dr. Schank's appearance and demeanor suggest Marlon Brando in the movie 'Apocalypse Now.'"

Update: At OnLine Learning 2000 in Denver, Roger Schank gave a compelling presentation entitled Educational Outrage. His focus on learning by doing works for me. It's certainly better than lectures & textbooks.

The Zine to Screen

A feisty new zine edited by Marcia Conner reads like Fast Company minus the Tom Peters rah-rah elements. LiNE Zine is free but the quality of its content towers over most of the ones you have to pay for. An excerpt from the LiNE Zine Manifesto (yes, in-your-face, like the Cluetrain Manifesto):

Learning is the premium core process at the heart of what the New Economy is about: performing to the max, going faster, and breaking old rules. The New Economy is also about reinventing community, building talent, searching for meaning in the workplace, and combining the professional with the personal. It’s the paradox of values and innovation, and also one of technology and social relationships.

Knowledge is power. There is no time to cling to our outmoded metaphors of the classroom, school ma’rms, or the Gutenberg Bible. It’s time for a new dawn—and some fundamental challenges to the status quo.

eLearning and Executives:
Oil & Water or Magic Elixir for Prosperity in the New Economy?

PowerPoint and notes from our presentation, along with Kent Vickery, at the May 2000 meeting of the Silicon Valley eLearning Network at SRI.

Boring? Wired News has published an article, Report: Online Training 'Boring,' that summarizes a Forrester study entitled "Online Learning Needs to Get Back on Course." Interviews with 40 training managers found that (1) if you don't measure what you're doing, you won't know what's going on, and (2) reading page after page of text on the screen is not an effective way to learn.

Forrester does go on to draw some on-target conclusions: learning is not just for employees, relevance motivates, interaction beats statis, organizations are demanding results, and things are getting better all the time. Didn't we already know this?

Check out Stan Malcolm's take on this, Stating the Obvious: Most Training is Boring, Ineffective, or Both.

I hope these guys have good attorneys. Their web site points out, "notHarvard.com by definition is NOT Harvard and is in no way associated with Harvard University. In no way does our name intend to convey any association with Harvard University."

Update: notHarvard changed its name to Powered, Inc. Sept 19, 2000. Power-Ed, get it?

Into the Future

Here is the web version of the vision paper Wayne Hodgins presented to the Commission on Technology and Adult Learning in Q1/2000. Our goal was to take the members of the Commission far enough into a future of learning for them to shape tomorrow's policies unfettered with by today's constraints.

WR Hambrecht & Co. released a 90-page look at eLearning in March 2000. Conny Weggen's "Characteristics of a Complete e-Learning Solution" is right on target.