Technology Lesson

Monday, March 2, 2015

Informal Learning 3 Free Chapters Jay Cross

Link to Informal Learning Book (chapters 1-3 are free. More soon?)
Informal Learning Blog

JAY CROSS?
Jay Cross has challenged conventional wisdom about how adults learn since designing the first business degree program offered by the University of Phoenix thirty years ago. "I am dedicated to making people more effective in their jobs and happy in their lives," says Jay. "My calling is to change the world by helping people learn to learn."

Jay coined the term eLearning. He co-authored Implementing eLearning, founded Internet Time Group, served as CEO of eLearning Forum for its first five years, and writes a column on effectiveness for CLO magazine. An internationally acclaimed strategist, speaker, and designer of corporate learning and performance systems, Jay is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School (Source).

INFORMAL LEARNING?

MORE JUICE?
Explore his book entitled "Informal Learning: Rediscovering the Natural Pathways That Inspire Innovation and Performance". Wait a second! Before you consider buying his book, perhaps you should download the first three chapters for FREE and learn informally (PDF format):

Chapter 1: Out of Time.
Chapter 2: A Natural Way of Learning.
Chapter 3: Show Me The Money

If you really like what you are learning, you can always read some of his great articles:

Informal Learning - Low Hanging Fruit
Informal Learning: A Sound Investment
Not Without Purpose
Web 2.0 and the Evolution of Instructional Design
Knowledge Flows
The Learning Mixer
Changes Ahead
Learning in the Real World
Informal Learning research findings, presentation

Now, if you are still hungry to learn more from Jay Crosss expertise and wisdom, I suppose you should consider buying his book :)

I Have Bragging Rights Because I Am Part 2

Part 1 - Teaching Habits That Inspire You Out of Learning?
Link to ZaidLearns Del.icio.us Teaching Links

"If you done it, it aint bragging." - Walt Whitman"Its not bragging if you can back it up." - Muhammad Ali

“He who is humble is confident and wise. He who brags is insecure and lacking.” - Lisa Edmondson

In the last episode, we got a taste of a lecturer that only had time to engage the whiteboard, so that he could complete his syllabus. This time around, I will have to put on my student experience goggles and transport myself back to an undergraduate psychology course (Deviant Behavior) I took in the previous millennium. For the identity protection sake, we will name this lecturer Dr. Brag.

DEVIANT BEHAVIOR
Dr. Brag was not an ordinary lecturer. No, he was an extraordinary lecturer! I used to enjoy coming to his classes, and occasionally he practiced what he preached, too. So, why are you writing about Dr. Brag? Lets begin!

Although, I admired his expertise, experience and knowledge, it got kind of frustrating listening to him brag (boastful statements/arrogant talk) about all his amazing achievements every class. By the end of the course, we probably knew more about him and his familys achievements than the subject matter itself. Every class, we would hear one self-glory ego-boosting story after another, covering his greatness in sports, politics, work, family and education. Yes, he was also writing more than 10 books concurrently at that time. My best friend was assisting him in editing these books, and that must have been reasonably challenging. I wonder if Dr. Brag ever finished writing any of those amazing books.

I have to feel sorry for the guy, too. He had high blood pressure and was a diabetic in a country like Malaysia. Now, that is a bad combination, especially when the classroom is hot and humid with many students who are mentally on holiday. Or sleeping with their eyes open!

Anyway, I was there! Since I had already developed the habit of sitting in the front row and asking questions, the classes got quite lively at times. Although, he bragged a lot, I loved the fact that he would always challenge us. The one bragging challenge that really got to me, was that he was happy to claim that, "No student in my class has ever gotten an A!" I am not sure if that is something a lecturer should be proud of, but strangely some are.

That was a challenge too good to resist. I didnt get that many As during my undergraduate days, but somehow this particular challenge inspired me to get one. And I am really proud to share with you all that I was the first student at the University to achieve an A with him (Am I bragging or what! I hope he was actually telling the truth!). The glory was short lived though, as I heard that others got As with him in the following semesters. Well, I am proud to be the first one at least (Bragging again!).

I suppose Deviant Behavior was a course that came naturally to me, so I should not think so highly of my success. It is also no surprise that I also scored an A in Abnormal Psychology (Oh man, can you stop bragging!). Some students scores As all the way, some score As in only subjects they like, and some dont get a single one. Nothing to worry about, if you believe in yourself and work hard, I am pretty sure you can succeed anyway. Also, scoring As is probably not the best indicator to predict future success in life. Though, it does help to get a few As on your scroll, because it could at least help you to get an interview with a top company. Why didnt I think of that earlier!

REFLECTION

Some argue that Teachers or lecturers join the academic world (of theory), because they are failures in the real (practical) world. Such statements often drive academic staff nuts (even if it is sometimes true!), and brings laughter to students. Anyway, we dont need to go into this discussion here, because it will probably lead to no constructive alignment.

Instead, we could ask ourselves, "why do we like to brag about our achievements?" Do you brag? I certainly do, but I usually feel kind of stupid when I realize it. But then again, we forget fast, because it is always nice to feel appreciated and important. The best thing is when someone else praises us about our work. But if none do, we could always do it ourselves.

The best thing about teaching and bragging, is that we are guaranteed an audience, which will probably just look in shock and awe (some will already be sleeping!). I mean, no sane student is going to stand up, and tell the lecturer, "Give us a break from your pathetic achievements, and please get on with the class!" And unless one or a few students make it clear sooner or later, the lecturer will probably continue semester after semester, year after year. Interestingly, the stories will become more amazing and exciting every time they are told. There might even be 2-3 new versions every semester, especially if the lecturer is teaching more than one section.

Certainly, lecturers that have a lot of experiences relevant to the topic discussed should share them with the class. However, we should also ask ourselves whether we are doing it to assist our students to understand the learning content better, or emphasize an important point, or are we doing it to boost our ego. Perhaps we do it for both reasons.

If you think that your achievements are so great, perhaps you should watch a few TED Talks to put your achievements in a global perspective (do a bit of benchmarking, please!).

In my opinion, the greatness of a lecturer does not lie in what he (or she) has personally achieved. Instead, a great lecturer is a person who is able to consistently facilitate AHA-moments in students (Oh, now I understand!) and inspire (or trigger) them to explore and discover their true potential.

To sum up, Dr. Brag was actually a very knowledgeable and experienced lecturer, but his habit of bragging was something that was in my opinion more destructive than constructive in motivating students and facilitating learning.

Do you brag in class (or at work)? Has it become a habit beyond control? Think about it! It doesnt take much effort to change. I am trying, but I want to be appreciated and feel important! Unless I tell them, they will never respect me, recognize my amazing talent, and look up to me. What was the agenda again?

"Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success." - Dale Carnegie

5-PART SERIES

Part 1 - Whiteboard And I Are One!
Part 2 - I Have Bragging Rights, Because I Am …
Part 3 - Is PowerPoint Evil?
Part 4 - No Stupid Questions! I am Serious!
Part 5 - Show Up to Throw Up! 21st Century Thinking?

Three Principles Of Effective Online Pedagogy by Bill Pelz

Link to article
The three principles of effective online pedagogy:

Let the students do (most of) the work - Student led discussions, student find and discuss web resources, students help each other learn (Peer assistance), students grade their own homework assignments , and case study analysis.
Interactivity is the heart and soul of effective asynchronous learning - Collaborative research paper and research proposal team project.
Strive for presence - Discussion responses that add value to a discussion fall into one or more of three categories: Social Presence, Cognitive Presence, or Teaching Presence.

"There are two ways that the professor and the students can add teaching presence to a discussion:

By facilitating the discussion: a) Identifying areas of agreement and disagreement, b) Seeking to reach consensus / understanding, c) Encouraging, acknowledging and reinforcing student contributions, d) Setting a climate for learning, e) Drawing in participants / prompting discussion, f) Assessing the efficacy of the process
By direct instruction: a) Presenting content and questions, b) Focusing the discussion, c) Summarizing the discussion, d) Confirming understanding, e) Diagnosing misperceptions, f) Injecting knowledge from diverse sources, g) Responding to technical concerns "

An interesting and in-depth article showing many examples of effective online learning. If you are facilitator or lecturer involved in online learning, this paper will give you many ideas on how to improve the online teaching and learning environment. If you are not involved in online learning, then you should read it anyway . Students should also read it, so that they can enlighten their facilitator or lecturer with some juicy tips, if the class is boring and not enjoyable.

Google’s autonomous car gets a ‘B’ in driving test Not great but better than most of us

Self-driving cars have come under increased scrutiny in the past week, as newly uncovered documents show that a 2012 road test for one of Google’s self-driving cars resulted in a pass very much without flying colors. The data in question come from government documents acquired through Freedom of Information laws, and show that on its Nevada driving test Google’s car had its share of small problems, and that it was never exposed to some difficult situations like railroad crossings, roundabouts, and school zones. There’s also some question as to whether Google was unfairly involved in designing the test, and that the Google team set the car’s route beforehand and specifically avoided troubling weather conditions. Additionally, at several trouble points the car decided it was incapable of proceeding safely and turned control over to its human occupants — and the irony of that limitation was simply too good for most media outlets to pass up.

Still, this latest “exposé” is not nearly as damning as some are framing it to be. To me, the interesting thing about self-driving cars is not the amount of trust that people are willing to put in self-driven vehicles, but rather the amount of trust that they are willing to put in human-driven vehicles. Most people’s reaction to driving algorithms involves questions such as, “What if there was a bug?” or, “What if you got hacked?” Such questions are best answered with a counter-question: What if your taxi driver had a seizure? What if your bus driver panicked in an unexpected situation? What if the trucker coming from the other direction simply fell asleep at the wheel?

Bear in mind that some maddeningly large portion of human drivers also don’t know how to deal with roundabouts, rail crossings, and similar situations, but that they have too much ego and self-interest to admit this fact and avoid a particular intersection. We accredit these people to drive because, a) the economy must continue to function even if most people are uncoordinated and easily distracted, and b) because we understand that licensing someone to drive is about telling whether or not they are good enough to drive. Every tiny mistake, from a missed shoulder check to an improper turning angle, could easily result in a death, so the point is not whether a driver could hypothetically make a fatal mistake, but how likely such a mistake is to occur.

Autopilot in planes, while less complex,
has improved the safety of air travel.

Additionally, most drivers can’t be usefully
trained how to react to things like aquaplaning or brake failure, and even if they have been trained they’ll often panic and take the wrong action. Self-driving vehicles, by contrast, can be given vicarious training on the level of a population — new research on how to handle ice can be distributed and perfectly internalized by every auto-car on the road, regardless of age. I can’t even get my grandpa to yield to buses! There seems to be something deeply welded into the human psyche, an impulse to be less fearful of dangers we understand. I can understand and empathize with my grandpa’s crusty stubbornness with regard to transit vehicles, and thus his dangerous driving is less distressing to me than the exact same behavior unconsciously executed by some faceless software construct.

When people point to the early-stage limitations of self-driving software as an attack on its chance of success, they are also making a second, more strident statement: that self-driving vehicles don’t just have problems, but that those problems are in fact more dangerous than the problems with human drivers. I don’t have to cite a glut of horrifying driving statistics to point out how absurd such an idea is, do I? The extreme fallibility (and physical limitations) of human drivers are in fact pushing self-driving technology forward, as industry sees a chance to reduce liability; if you don’t trust the public-safety motivations of government overseers, then trust the profit incentives pushing corporations like Walmart away from accident-prone mammalian car-pilots.

A self-driving Prius much like the one that took the Nevada road test

Imperfection in a self-driving system is fixable — a self-driving mistake that leads to a fatality can be used to prevent all such mistakes from happening again in the future. As such, bugs in software ought to distress us far less than similar or identical bugs in human ability. The safety of a road with even one human driver is dictated by the worst moment of the worst human driver in the area, while the safety of a totally self-driven roadway is dictated by the pinnacle of human mastery of software and multi-variable kinetics.

This test shows not that self-driving cars are as bad as a middling driver, but that they are as good as one. That’s better than any highway-driving population on Earth could ever hope to collectively deliver. Remember: it’s not about the car being better than you. It’s about you being worse than the car.

The iPhone 6 features you probably missed

Beyond the borked keynote live cast, frustrating pre-order process and Android cult members saying iPhone 6 is like the Nexus 4, Apples thinner, lighter, faster and larger iPhone model is here, confirming almost every credible expectation listed here and here. Heres this weeks collection of little-known iPhone 6 facts.

Notice the power button

Did you notice Apple moved the power button in iPhone 6? This has always sat at the right on top the phone, but has now been moved to the top on the right side of the device.

Phase detection

These are the first phones in the world to be equipped with phase detection autofocusing, so youre going to get pro-quality automatic focusing while shooting videos or taking a picture. No other smartphone has this.

Focus Pixels

Focus Pixel improves exposure control in the 8-megapixel camera twice as fast as the iPhone 5S. Optical (previously digital) image stabilization, the capacity to shoot Full HD video at up to 60fps, 240fps slow motion (with 3x zoom) and a larger f2.2 aperture allows in up to 81% more light for better quality snaps.

Dual-domain

Apple has used dual-domain pixels inside the very bright (500cd/m2) displays on the new iPhones, so you can expect much better viewing angles even in uneven lighting conditions -- though black tones may seem slightly purple if the pixels are incorrectly arranged, so well see how that goes in manufacturing.

Much faster LTE/4G

Apple has radically improved the 4G/LTE support in this model. The iPhone 6 is capable of 4G download speds up to 150Mbps and will handle HD voice calling over 4G (which carriers want to turn us all onto). And it supports 20 LTE bands -- more than anyone else right now.

Wi-Fi wonder

Wi-Fi support is far, far better. You can look forward to Wi-Fi speeds up to three times faster than was possible on the previous generation iPhone thanks to its support for 802.11ac. This report explains why this matters. Support for VoLTE is a big deal.

Siri is aware

Apple has tweaked iPhones intelligent voice assistant, Siri; you no longer need to press the home button to call up the voice assistant, you only need to say "Hey Siri" and it activates for you.