Abraham Lincoln on Education

Today we observe Abraham Lincoln's birthday. He is a source of inspiration for many, including our new president. I greatly admire President Lincoln as well. Here are some of his thoughts regarding education.

A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the [yet] unsolved ones.

Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in. That every man may receive at least, a moderate education, and thereby be enabled to read the histories of his own and other countries, by which he may duly appreciate the value of our free institutions, appears to be an object of vital importance, even on this account alone, to say nothing of the advantages and satisfaction to be derived from all being able to read the scriptures and other works, both of a religious and moral nature, for themselves. For my part, I desire to see the time when education, and by its means, morality, sobriety, enterprise and industry, shall become much more general than at present, and should be gratified to have it in my power to contribute something to the advancement of any measure which might have a tendency to accelerate the happy period.

Happy 200th, Mr. President.

Welcome 2009!

What do you know? What don't you know? What do you wonder about?

What would you like to learn this year? Make 2009 your year to discover something new.

Learn a new skill. Learn a new language. Learn some new software.

Seek out the new, the unknown. Go beyond the territory you know. Expand your vision.

Make 2009 the year you become more.

Happy New Year: Peace, prosperity, and learning.

Be Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving to all...

Let's take time to give thanks for our blessings.

Our country may be in hard times now, and it may be affecting you, but think on all the good things you enjoy in life.

It is not about turkey. Or parades. Or Black Friday.

It is about blessings, thankfulness, family, and a rich life.

Take care everyone.

Happy New Year

We begin the new year seeing a continuing increase in the availability of online education. In the U.S., 35% of educational institutions are now offering some form of online education, with 3.5 million people participating in it.

The importance of sound instructional design and the appropriate application of instructional technologies in creating these online learning experiences are more important than ever.


Our Learning Territory continues to expand...


Wishing you a year of health, peace, and learning.

Back to the Classroom and Integrating Technology

Here at Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC), my job is to provide consulting and training for Faculty who want to incorporate technology into their classrooms. Our Fall semester began on August 20, and we see students arriving on campus, expecting to see technology in place in the classroom. Whether it be offering enhanced or blended courses using Blackboard or supplementing learning with Podcasts, Faculty are being reminded by students that they want to have access to the technology. For the workshops that I provide, I've created learning content with Camtasia and posted it to our CMS, and the feedback is always positive. The opportunity to access content when and where the learner needs it is the new expectation in the learning environment.

Blackboard World '07 - Boston July 10 - 12

I recently attended the Blackboard World '07 Users Conference. It was the first combined users conference in North America for both Blackboard and former WebCT clients.



Over 2000 participants representing 850 institutions from 26 countries attended in Boston, MA.

One of the common threads I heard throughout the conference and the various sessions is the call to ensure that the instruction we are providing as instructional designers, educators, instructional technologists, etc. is first and foremost useable and relevant to the student.

Recall the early days of desktop publishing: we quickly learned that just because the software was easy to use, the final product produced often left much to be desired. We see a similar situation today; tools like Blackboard and WebCT make creating online instruction a relatively straightforward practice. But what is the instruction's inherent worth? Does it hold to the standards set forth that identify good, solid, effective instruction, whether traditional, or online?

It seems we can sum it up easily: Let's not worry about providing good e-learning; let's be sure we are providing good learning, period.

Games Coming to a Workplace Near You

This post is a continuation of my observation from this past Corporate Advisory Council at Bloomsburg University concerning generations and their different learning styles and expectations for how training is delivered.

Check out ASTD’s Buzz News (link: http://www.infoinc.com/astd/buzznews.html)

It provides a summary (Gaming Gets Down to Business; Toronto Globe & Mail (05/03/07) , P. B20; Scott, Graham F.) about the growing popularity and use of games and simulations in corporate training, and the observation that a different (more interactive) approach to training is wanted:

"They're (participants) going to corporate training courses and they find someone standing at the front with a PowerPoint show when they're used to being engaged in a different way."

PowerPoint has its place, and used properly remains a useful way of delivering information. But to avoid training that has become too static, we need to look at other delivery options as well. Gaming may be one avenue. Our “on-the-go” culture makes podcasting another strong contender for delivering information and instruction in a manner familiar to the present digital generation.

As information and knowledge continue to expand, learning-delivery methods will need to keep pace and provide the depth of content that is available for any subject, in order to give the learner the most complete exposure to the information available for that particular subject. Of course, the information needs to be presented (and made available after the training) in such a manner that the information is accessible and structured to avoid content overload and information not related to the subject under review.

Corporate Advisory Council at Bloomsburg University

Bloomsburg University's Department of Instructional Technology just completed its most recent Corporate Advisory Council (CAC) this past week. (For a great summary of the events, check out Karl Kapp's weblog at http://www.karlkapp.blogspot.com/.)

One word comes to my mind as I reflect on this spring CAC: Generations.

Some presentations focused on transferring knowledge from one generation to another, and what considerations we need to make as we design learning products and instructional solutions.

Learners come not only from varied backgrounds, but from different times: Traditionalists. Baby Boomers. Generation Xer's. Millennials. All have been influenced by the technologies and methodologies of their day. And all approach learning in different ways - and with different expectations.

How do you build learning solutions that will accommodate these different generations of learners?

How you answer that question will impact how (and how successfully) you recruit, retain, and train your workforce.

Welcome!

This Learning Altitude Blog is an extension of, and companion to, my website, LearningAltitude.com. The website, and this blog, focus on Instructional Design, Workforce Training, and Technical Communication. The common link among these three areas is the instructional technology that makes so much of it possible. I'm looking forward to the collaboration, networking, and discovery that these technologies make possible.