griff richards :: Blog

this is just a test blogg from Japan 

Just back from Berlin and the final UNFOLD Community of Practice on Learning Design that was organized by Dai Griffiths. I think it is great to see the amount of progress that has come from this group in spreading far and wide the word on Learning Design and collecting people together to discuss practical applications.

Language is a big issue - "Learning Design" can refer to at least 4 things - the concept, the IMS Spec, a single learning design that's articulated in the spec, or an instructional plan that's drafted using LD language. The time scope of a unit of learning is also difficult to deal with - it is not difficult to do a detailed Learning Design for say a 4 month course or a 3 week activity, or an intensive hour of interactive multimedia, but it can be very diffficult to compare them with any bit of sanity. Where we already have a fairly good common language e.g. in the Cooperative Learning Patterns, it is easier to have success.

I've been getting a fair amount of interest lately on the work my group has been doing linking ELGG sites together - we're still testing the early links, but in theory if we can use a common linking protocol, then we should be able to link and search almost any kind of resource. The main outcomes I hope to see are 1. finding dynamic discussion resources and 2. allowing participants in social networks to participate in other social networks without having to completely establish a new identity and blog space. The more flexible the spaces become, the more likely they will be used...

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This is a play to see how much html i can use to:

add emphasis

look foolish

show off my ignorance

it would be great to have an html editor right HERE.

With so many people joining elgg the time has come to put in search and sort features so I can actually search for a friend, or I can sort the way my friends show up {alphabet, recency, frequency, keyword...}
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I noticed Ben had communities working in elgg - I tossed some ideas into his comments area about community creation, governance and inheritance (since a really good community will probably outgrow or outlast the founder). I will try top spawn a community of my own now to see how it goes. The semantic linking of the communities via their keyword is interesting, but I can see a date when the good keywords have all been taken, so it will be necessary to also select some other related keywords when creating a community - this semantic linking will be very powerful...
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I think Dave & I made some progress adressing some elgg usability issues on Saturday - I had just finished a usability study of a number of open source ePortfolio Systems, and was a bit disheartened with the findings. Without going into the details or identifying the systems examined, let me just say that we learned a lot about the abilities of learners and instructors, and how different eP systems coming from different design beliefs will either accommodate or frustrate the users in completing the tasks. We observed the great divide betwen Prensky's digital natives (<30 yrs) and digital immigrants (>30 yrs). Indeed I think the main factors in determining the success of an eP project might be instructors having a clear idea of the pedagogical rationale to even have an eP system, alignment of the software with that rationale, and familiarity of the instructors with the software.

The key is alignment. Given that many learners may be more astute with "the technology" than their instructors it is important that the system chosen be sufficiently flexible to accommodate the creative needs of the learners. Form filling systems not only stifle creativity, but according o Tom Lewis (U Washington) the learners begin to perceive eP as a form-filling exercise - an administrative task rather than a communication task - fill in the blanks and move on.

A couple of the systems we looked at were disasters from the usability point of view. To quote one subject, "After 15 minutes of frustration I just quit." Too many buttons, too many choices, poor articulation of the design model - it just wasn't clear what to do or how to get started. Worse, there were version control problems, and no way to retrieve forgotten passwords. It seems the more collaborators involved in a project, the less consistent the design, and the more cluttered the screen. There is a lot to be said for the KISS principle.