Learning 2012 Conference - Day 1

Today's the first day of the Learning 2012 conference put on by Elliot Masie and it's the first time I'm attending. I am going to share some of what I am learning and also consider what all of this means to myself as a learning professional and also for the organization that I work for right now.

So tonight's opening presentation had 1600 people all together and came in 4 main parts that I found interesting.  Here's what I liked.

Part 1: Richard Cullata, Director Educational Technology, US Dept Education

Richard was called an "edupunk" by Elliott and enjoyed the moniker. His take on edupunks, or eduhackers, was to think of himself as a person largely concerned with using technology as a disruptive force to increase learning. He sees the largest changes in learning will come with the ability to analyse 'big data' and says thst this will change the way we deliver learning. We will be able to see where people are really learning (and where they're guessing for example) to be able to build a better system that gives agency to learners to control their own experiences. Perhaps, he mused, learners will be able to take control of their learning to such an extent that they will be able to demonstrate competency and earn badges rather than take courses and get paper certificates.

Richard is looking to  find 'educational entrepreneurs' who will be able to see the hole end-to-end picture, make learning that is scalable, flexible and functional for these newly activated learners.

Part 2: Lisa Pedrogo - CNN

And now for something completely different! Lisa works for CNN and apparently has been working with the learning consortium for a couple of years. Anyway, they did a piece on creating video for learning and the main rules go something like this:

1. Keep it simple. You probably can only fit about 2 1/2 minutes of video into someone's head at a time so don't feel you have to get too fancy.
2. Plan your storyboard and shots before you get out the camera. This means:

• Figure out what your learners really need to know
• Create a realistic storyboard that captures the essential elements using visuals and sound
• Create your content script and gather images

2. Shoot, but before you tear down, check your shots against your storyboard

3. Edit!!!

You could also use this a start for immersive eLearning and simulations... or really great presentations. You could go here to experience it yourself: 

Nancy Duarte at TED