Notes from DevLearn08: Work Literacy Session

This was a session presented by Dr. Tony Karrer on Work Literacy

A brief intro into what is meant by Work Literacy from the About page:

Work Literacy is based on the beliefs that:

• With the growth of new technologies, explosion of new information, and accessibility of experts around the world, there’s a growing gap between the work practices and skills that most knowledge workers possess and the resources available to them.
• As knowledge workers we need practical skills, methods and tools that will improve our effectiveness and help us stay on top of our game.
• This is an issue that’s evolving quickly and we need a way to start discussing the implications, sharing ideas and learning how to better manage our work and learning.

Again, I found this session very interesting, so my notes are not in perfect English, but I think this is something any instructional designer looking to the future should be looking into.

Memory:
Cognition <-> Working memory <-> Memory

• Metacognition, metamemory: tools, methods - the way gen x and boomers learned
• Millenials have google, pdas, computers, and infinite ways to search for information that would have been impossible to find using a card catalog and a microfiche reader

Information Overload:

• amount of info available now is like 18th century person being bombarded with the NY times, which has more info in one week than in their entire lifetime
• brain likes finding new info and craves it like a drug, so info overload had negative affect because we aren't adapting well
• skills are not keeping up with the changes - Example: "~" operator in Google = "like" so searches synonyms - almost no one knows what this is and doesn't use it, so they are now building it into the search itself. Just shows how many people don't keep up with new technology.
  

To find information you can search Google but you don't have validation on the information. Can also use tool like Linked In to search for experts (can select degrees away to make sure you get people that will talk to you) that can give you validation on what you find in Google search.

To become more productive:

• Using tools like del.icio.us to tag bookmarks and can find almost anything you've been to now with desktop search and Google search history
• Blogging is another way of taking notes and putting down what's important to you
• RSS feeds allow you to keep up with all the blogs and news updates
• Online apps (ex: google spreadsheets) allow for online editing by multiple people

21st Century: Concept Workers

• A Whole New Mind, Daniel H. Pink
• Most valuable people in an organization
• eLearning 2.0 - shifting to learner-centered collaborative informal learning
• tools include blogs, wikis, social bookmarking
• use tools, including blogging, to become expert and evangelist for adoption
  

**wikipatterns site and book** - tools to help spur adoption of a wiki and helping it grow to be a flourishing community

If you are interested in seeing the handout for this session, let me know and I will send you the pdf file.