Posted 7:06 PM by George Siemens
Making a Timeless User Experience
Quote: "Providing good user experience takes more than drawing handsome icons for people who don't read. One has to think in all directions to properly define smart user-centric design, then, apply those decisions in a timeless fashion."
Comment: Amusing analogy in the article about a customer trying to get record player fixed that doesn't play CDs (or an 8-track that doesn't play cassettes)...translate that to the experience of a new student in the online environment...trying to use new tools with existing mindsets. Frustrating. The role of elearning design and instruction should anticipate the user's (learner's) experience and design for it. "Provide guidance; advance and age with grace; make things as self-explanatory as possible."

Posted 6:43 PM by George Siemens
Give it a Break
Quote: "In its most rudimentary form, my inbox review is a kind of knowledge management system. I sift through material looking for snippets of relevance that I can turn into some kind of useful information for myself or colleagues.
Companies and organizations that utilize Knowledge Management are doing much the same thing, albeit on a larger and more sophisticated scale. They collect tons of data, review it, process it, disseminate it, all in the name of making smarter decisions about products, customers and markets. What companies don't want to do is slow to a trickle the amount of information they take in. Indeed, with all the technologies now available to collect and massage data, the emphasis among many KM circles is to cast as wide a corporate information net as possible. The more information, the argument goes, the better the knowledge. "
Comment: Information means absolutely nothing if it is unorganized and inaccessible. This is one of the defining presumptions about the need for KM - too much info, must organize it. Reality is, much of that information will never turn into knowledge - the info is useless and has a short "shelf-life". Great statement: "Keep taking in ever more data, and it becomes harder to turn it into knowledge."

Posted 3:16 PM by George Siemens
Moving Past Time as the Criteria: The Application of Capabilities-Based Educational Equivalency Units in Education via Internettime Blog
Quote: "For nearly a century, the standard for determining the equivalency of academic courses and degrees has relied on time in the classroom as the primary indicator. Though widely accepted and convenient, time as the standard (i.e., the Carnegie unit) offers little utility for today's institutions of higher education. With the introduction and proliferation of instructional technologies and distance education, equivalency based on time in the classroom is of minimal relevance to students and instructors who supplement educational opportunities through technology (e.g., asynchronous online discussions, computer-based instruction). Unfortunately, proposed alternative models of equivalency that merely build complex relationships between new delivery systems and the conventional standard (e.g., two hours of interactive chat equals one hour in the classroom) will only continue to strengthen the misperception that time-in-the-classroom or time-on-the-Internet is the goal of instruction (Watkins & Schlosser, 2000a)."
Comment: The introduction alone is reason enough to read this article. As Jay Cross has stated before: we've moved from measuring "butts in seats" to "page hits". Neither of these are an indication of learning...yet they are typically the standard used to measure educational success.

Posted 3:03 PM by George Siemens
Distance Learning Universal Design, Universal Access via OLDaily
Quote: "Distance learning courses offer opportunities for education and career enhancement for those who have access to the technologies they employ. However, many people find themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide that separates those with access to new technologies and those without. Even if they have access to these technologies, some people with disabilities find themselves on the wrong side of a second digital divide that is caused by the inaccessible design of coursework."
Comment: Good overview of developing a policy for accessibility is listed at the end of the article.