Enciclomedia: Mexican Classrooms go hi-tech

Found via Slashdot, this BBC News article on the use of Enciclomedia in Mexican classrooms.

In a world where video game consoles, computers and television are already integral parts of young peoples lives, it was only a matter of time before someone harnessed them all in the classroom. This, is the world's first digitally-educated generation.

Obviously, this completely changes the role of the teacher in the classroom.

Video Games & Retirees

Interesting article in today's New York Times by Seth Schiesel about the increasing acceptance of video games among retirees/baby booomers, especially older women. Some of this due to the introduction of the Wii. Think Nintendo bowling league for seniors.

I think NYTs links don't last too long, so I'll quote some key nuggets here in case you can't get to the article later:

...the women of St. Mary are actually part of a vast and growing community of video-game-playing baby boomers and their parents, especially women.

Anxious about the mental cost of aging, older people are turning to games that rely on quick thinking to stimulate brain activity.

It turns out that older users not only play video games more often than their younger counterparts but also spend more time playing per session.

“Women come for the games, but they stay for the community. Women like to chat, and these games online are a way to do that. It’s kind of a MySpace for seniors.”

Blogging & Boundaries in the Professional Sphere

Karyn Romeis' recent post echoed stuff that's been rolling around in my mind about blogging, professionalism, sharing, confidentiality, roles, boundaries, etc. etc.

So first -- why have I started blogging about e-Learning with, not a vengence, but at least with some passion? Why am I blogging about e-Learning, and not about my kids or gardening?

• To share thoughts, to learn, to grow: professional development (for free!)
• To belong to a community -- to network -- to connect.
• To create credibility and market value for myself -- on a professional level as an active member of the e-Learning industry. I want to stay relevant.
• Because other people who's thoughts and ideas I admire are doing it. And I want to be just like all of you.
• To work out my thoughts and ideas (hey, I'm an extrovert -- I need to talk about what's going on in my head in order to process it and take it to the next level).
• Some amount of distraction, I'll admit. (I'm a new blogger -- not fully evolved). See Tom Haskins for a whole slew of posts on blog categorizations.

I am blogging as an individual. Out here, I represent me. But I also represent the company for which I work. By default. Can we really separate these spheres when blogging on a professional level? This brings up issues of confidentiality: not wanting to give away our secrets; not wanting to lose competitive advantage. By association, I should create more credibility for my company. At least, I would hope that's what I'm doing.

From the perspective of my company, I need to be honest about why I am blogging:

• Create credibility for my company by association
• To learn about industry trends as I help my organization determine our future direction and approach to the products and services we deliver
• To stay current so I can innovate for my clients
• All of the above so I can ensure that my company survives and thrives (and that I get to keep my job and do well)

Karyn wrote about her conference experience,

So I stopped being just me and started being a representative of my employer.

Ideally, we'd all be in the position to believe in the companies for which we work so that there won't be a huge disconnect. The reality is, this ain't always so. Plenty of people just do their jobs and tow the party line so they can get their paycheck.

In a comment to Karyn, Harold Jarche writes,

[C]onsider your employer as your primary client[...]Then ask yourself how you could best serve your client, while maintaining your own professionalism and market value. I would see no difficulty in sharing ideas with your contact, while maintaining client confidentiality.

This is great advice. I'll try to keep it in mind.

I will be attending the upcoming eLearning Guild Annual Event in a couple of weeks. I'm trembling with excitement (perhaps naively so), having never had the opportunity to attend an industry-related trade show. I'm excited to meet people whose blogs I have been reading. I'm excited to learn from all these thought leaders. I'm excited to ask questions in order to Be an Insanely Great Conference Attendee per Tony Karrer. I'm excited to be a part of this community, to become a better designer, to learn more about the new technologies.

But I'm also going to be working my booth. I want feedback on our product offerings. I want to learn what we should be doing differently in order to be the solution that companies want to buy. And I want people to want what we offer. I want us to get some new clients. I want us to look good.

Does that mean I have to stop being me?

It's a fuzzy line.

Games vs. Gaming

The topic that kept me thinking late last night: the difference between games and gaming; between people who play computer games and so-called gamers. Maybe this is an obvious distinction for those who have been long immersed in the immersive learning simulations discussion.

Here's my novice view on the differences between games and gaming:

Games are short, finite experiences. A game can be used as a simple distraction to pass some time; to cleanse the intellectual palate between tasks at work. Tetris. Solitare. Advancing to the next level usually means an increase in speed (the tetris blocks fall faster); the environment doesn't generally change although the degree of difficulty may. They can be immersive, in the sense of addictive. I've said before how occasionally I like to play Counterfeit when in need of distraction and the chance to view a beautiful work of art. Just one more time and then I'll get back to work...

I am a person who occasionally plays computer games. I am not a gamer.

Gaming involves a plot and storyline. Character development. Virtual worlds. Advancement to the next level -- which may be a new environment in that world. Examples are games like World of Warcraft, Zelda, Turok (those limited few to which I have had any exposure). Gaming requires a real time commitment; it might takes weeks of concentrated play to get through an entire game world and finally kill the boss monster and save the world. And a gamer is someone who is willing and able to spend that amount of time. Building gaming games requires a vast amount of resources.

So in the corporate training world, can we ever hope -- and is this even a worthy goal? -- to build a gaming game? Or should e-Learning designers be focusing instead on just trying to build some really good and addictive and immersive games that teach the required topic and enhance the learning experience? I wonder if some of the resistance about using games/serious games/ILS into the corporate training environment stems from the perception that ILS = gaming.

Immersive = Addictive

A couple of weeks ago, I participated in the eLearning Guild online presentation of their 360 Report on Immersive Learning Simulations hosted by Steve Wexler and Mark Oehlert. The conversation was initially focused on defining just what ILS is. I was of the naive mindset that ILS = dragons and virtual worlds and high-end 3D graphics and enormous budgets. Something that will be out of range for most organizations, at least for now.

Mark tried to set me straight on this point. By "immersive", what we actually mean is "addictive." A game that you don't want to stop playing. This could be tetris or solitare. Low-end on the graphic scale, but addictive nonetheless.

Lots of us e-Learning designers have built plenty of games into courses: crossword puzzles; mini-jeopardy; drag and drop. I often find the use of these kinds of games to be somewhat gratuitous. Look, we made a game! Aren't we fun? Aren't we creative? The client asked for a game, and, boy, did we deliver.

I suppose these types of games may actually add to the learning experience by providing repetition of learning points, but to call these games immersive or addictive? Learning designers will have to get a lot more creative in order to take these kinds of games to the next level....perhaps Patrick Dunn can provide us with some pointers on that. Karl Kapp often links to good examples of educational games, although these are typically created for the K-12 environment.

The Auditory Advantage

Patrick Dunn, in his latest rant, Games are not an alternative vision has this to say:

The huge array of tools, techniques and approaches that games producers have developed with the benefit of their consumer-sized budgets are largely available to medium and low-end e-learning producers, if they would just apply their imagination. Here are a few things that I’ve tried in the last couple of years that I’ve pinched directly from my years in front of the Playstation:

• The use of music to change emotional state; to bypass conscious processing of
  information. Have a look at Lozanov’s research on this.

I'll stop there. The use of music in e-Learning? Hmmm...

I looked at the Lozanov entry on Wikipedia and found some useful nuggets there. But I'm always in search of practical advice. How has this been implemented successfully? Who's really used music in e-Learning to good effect?

I think my resistance to using music in courses may have something to do with the notion of music not being taken seriously in a learning environment. Similar to that whole corporate resistance to games -- excuse me, I meant to say "immersive learning simulations". Because face it -- music, if incorporated poorly, can be so darn cheesy.

Back in the mid- to late-90s when we were designing rich, multimedia courses that were delivered via CD, we used a lot of video (talking head) and audio. Music? Well, I recall browsing our stock music CDs to find just the right music clip to fade up as the narrator/host launched into the course introduction. We might use the same clip as the course faded out to great dramatic effect. But did it actually enhance the learning experience? Don't think so. Of course, we also used sound effects -- ping if the user answered correctly, a deep "egggh" if the user answered incorrectly.... but you never wanted to overuse sound effects for fear of it being labeled as "gratuitous use".

On Learning Circuits site I found an article called The Auditory Advantage written by Lenn Millbower from January 2003. I thought this article gave some useful examples of how one might use music to good effect in an e-Learning program.

But I'd still like to be pointed in the direction of real life examples -- where music is used without being incredibly cheesy.

How Does Gender Matter in the e-Learning Brain?

A post at the Eide Neurolearning blog on Gender Matters in the Learning Brain.

Studies of students show that boys and girls and men and women tend to differ in terms of intrinsic motivation, study strategies, and learning strategies - females tend to prefer cooperation, note-taking, and task mastery, whereas men are more likely to prefer competition and independent work, and challenge, and avoid note-taking as a study strategy.

Another important reason to understand your audience when developing e-Learning, even along gender lines.

I'm wondering if any e-Learning designers out there consider these differences when creating courses. I know I've asked the question about gender split, but I can honestly say I've never designed a course with a specific gender in mind.

I may have the opportunity soon to do some design for a strictly-female audience, and I'm just starting to think about different tactics to take....suggestions?