A New Future

So, last month I posted my own reaction to the Future of eLearning post at eLearn Magazine. In it, I made a prediction that I would be on a different journey from others in the eLearning world:

My thought is that we will always have some form of traditional eLearning. Corporations and other more conservative entities will take a long time to let go of the traditional way of doing eLearning.

But there will be places where change is welcomed; where the traditional way just won't work anymore. I guess that's where I'll be headed when the time comes, whenever and wherever that may be.

Well, it looks like that time may be coming sooner rather than later. The contract I was working on has not been renewed, no great surprise in this economy, but disappointing none-the-less. Especially since we did support business goals and did provide a service that would have the potential to draw in more customers, meaning we did have the potential to make an impact on the bottom line. The groups we worked with knew that, but the decision-makers didn't get that far. They just saw "contract training group" and that was that. So be it. It is the way of the consultant to be the first to go.

Now it's time to look more closely at the options, become even more involved in where I want to go and see where I wind up. It's still pretty scary, like jumping off a bridge scary, but sometimes you have to take big risks to get where you need to go. So, with some trepidation, but also some anticipation, I look forward to what I'll find in the next few weeks, because those of us that look to the future already know...

The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet.
- William Gibson

Search - what you probably never knew about Searching, but should

I was reading Tony Karrer's blog the other day. He had written a post on using Search and ways to improve your search techniques. In this post he shared some of his tips on how to use search, especially those times that you need information and need more than what Google can provide. It was part of his Tool Set series, which includes several other great posts, but I found this post to be the most helpful to me out of all of them.

In it he discusses what you can find with Google, and why you might need to use other search engines based on what you're looking for. I won't spoil it for you as he does a much better job of writing about it than I could on rehashing what he said. However, what I will say is that if you only use one search engine (probably Google), that's fine for most searches, but you should get more skilled at using Google and consider using other search engines as well. For a great listing of alternative search engines, check out the Digital Research Tools Wiki, specifically, the Data Visualization and Visual Search Tools pages. There are a lot of other resources listed here as well, so worth checking out.

I have some learning to do now, because I, like most people, am generally a pretty lazy internet search user and could use more practice on how to be more efficient and effective when I do a search.

Future of eLearning?

The future of eLearning is a question I've been pondering for a while now, definitely in the last few weeks as the prospect of being a consultant with lots of free time on my hands was looking like a very real reality. How would I market myself? My business? I don't do traditional eLearning. I did some in my master's classes, but my work experience has been a much different adventure.

Therefore, Lisa Neal Gualtieri's article for eLearn Magazine really struck as me as serendipitous in it's timing and content. It brings together the predictions of 30 different experts in the field from around the world on what eLearning will look like in 2009. There's a whole range of opinions from one extreme to the other. If you are involved in eLearning in any way, go read this now.

Of course, with so many opinions that are so diverse, it didn't do much for answering my question, but it gave my thoughts more clarity. It was good to know that non-traditional methods of learning are starting to gain ground. It was also good to know that there will be a large number of instructional designers staying in traditional eLearning. Jay Cross had an interesting comment at the end that I think helped set in my mind where I stand. My thought is that we will always have some form of traditional eLearning. Corporations and other more conservative entities will take a long time to let go of the traditional way of doing eLearning.

But there will be places where change is welcomed; where the traditional way just won't work anymore. I guess that's where I'll be headed when the time comes, whenever and wherever that may be. Maybe it's helping educate the developing countries with content that's available over their cell phones. Or maybe it's doing what I do right now, tutorials of just-in-time content that get people what they need, when they need it and nothing more. Maybe it's something else completely, in some new social network, web 2.? world.

It can be scary looking over the edge to see what's on the horizon, especially in this economy, but, on the other hand, there's also a rush that comes from trying something new, learning something new and being a bit of a pioneer in our own small way. I now see myself leaning over the edge, looking for where I fit in to that "something new" part. My guess is that it won't be easy trying to explain the "something new" to those who don't want to know about changes in eLearning, but judging from some of the experts in the article, there are more places now where "something new" will be just what they are looking for.

So what about you? If you are in instructional design or in eLearning, where do you see yourself in the future of eLearning? There are no wrong answers to this question, just different areas of the spectrum.

Twitter Newbie!

Yes, I am a Twitter newbie. You would think that I would have tried this a long time ago, and I will admit that I was tempted, but due to an old mobile phone and not really understanding it, I didn't actually start using it for quite some time.

I finally started trying to use it at the DevLearn08 conference, since I had upgraded to an iPhone earlier this year. I managed OK, but found there was quite a bit I didn't know. So I dropped off for a while, but I am trying again and have been searching for some reliable resources to get more information.

For those that are interested, here's what I've found:

• The Twitter Fan wiki has a good section for Newbies, including etiquette - a nice touch.
• Sue Waters (an Edublogger with lots of web 2.0 experience) wiki on Personal Learning Networks has a nice Twitter page with links to good apps to use as well as good ideas about how to be professional in using Twitter. Since she writes for educators who want to use Twitter in their classes, it's probably good enough for all us other professionals as well!
• For those of you in the instructional design realm, you may want to check out the Social Learning Question of the Day and follow the SLQOTD group on Twitter. It's been a good way for me to get enough tweets to start figuring out how to use it best, and it's been interesting as well!
• Use an app like Twitterific or Twinkle on your phone. I'm trying both out on my iPhone, but am leaning towards Twitterific (somewhat easier to use), although both are very good apps and both have a free version. I'm also using Twitterific on my mac, much easier than trying to use the Twitter website to keep up with things during the day. (Note: there are many good apps out there now, so pick one you like and start using it!)
  

I hope that with my new apps to play with and having some interesting tweets to track, I'll soon be getting better at this! And if you're interested, you can find me on Twitter too!