I pushed out of my comfort zone yesterday to learn something new. I’m pretty open to new things in my wheelhouse – I tend to feel pretty confident with new technologies or new recipes, things which stretch learning skills which are generally pretty well-toned. But this, this was a new physical challenge, and I
Randall Munroe’s XKCD cartoon today illustrates the power of a well-executed simulation. Kerbal Space Program is a game in which players create and manage their own space program. It came to our house this Christmas when my son, Jim, the logistics guy, gave it to my husband the wannabe astronaut. We had a merry night
We’re probably all seeing the heightened push for “gamification” in the learning space, along with some mumbled caveats about how it might not be a panacea and there are some situations in which it is the inappropriate approach. I think I’d like to raise the volume on those caveats, but first, a disclaimer. I’ve got
The blogs are all atwitter (can we say that these days?) with discussion about coaching. Who should receive coaching? Executives, or everybody? Under what circumstances? There are calls for a “coaching culture” in which everybody coaches everybody else, all the time. I admit, I’m attracted to that model. Except that if one is not already
The educational world is abuzz with the concept of flipping. I initially saw it in response to the K-12 modules made available at Kahn Academy. Teachers have been sufficiently impressed with the quality of the content presentation available at Kahn, that they have started “outsourcing” lecture to Kahn, and now spend class time helping their
If you’ve not been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard mention of the 70:20:10 model – the one which suggests 70% of workplace learning takes place from doing the job itself, another 20% from talking to people, and a mere 10% from course work and reading materials. Charles Jennings, in his recent article traces
To hear some Web 2.0 enthusiasts tell it, “training” is becoming an outmoded concept. These days, anybody who needs to know anything can find it on the web. It is a new dawn for the autonomous learner. It is true that the read-write web has brought us an unprecedented avalanche of instantly available information. If