More from Jonathan Levy

Published by in digitalstorytelling, edtech, workshops on October 25th, 2005

Bonus session, demos from Jonathan on actual next-generation eLearning resources for CISCO
eLearn2005 presentation

Key idea for design: present as little information as possible, and then let the learner decide what else they need and want

think of blended learning from being much-changed definition of today
- not just some F2F, some online
- this is blended to the square of itself
- an inherent part of their

CISCO is rolling this demo out to over 30K people worldwide who work with marketing
- can view text quotes of phrase being spoken at the moment for accessibility

For each section, have
- introduction
- core concepts
- practice case
- examples and insights
- tools

Each of these are 8-10 hours of content, for each of 11 modules

This model was developed collaborative between the Harvard Business School and Stanford University

This product is designed for the real world that is filled with distractions
- you have to engage them and be more charming than any of the other distractions “out there” in the real world
- demo has narrative, images, text
- what is going on here is STORYTELLING

Think of this like a movie that starts with an old man telling you want happened, you get a flashback of the last 30 years, this is all about storytelling like a good movie
- learner can stop, go back, go forward, go out at any time– skip dynamically to any subsection
- this is unlike most corporate training which is very linearly based in design
- feedback constantly orients the learner to let them know WHERE THEY ARE

People are interacting to create circuit links and getting fireworks eventually (visually) when they connect the dots properly…

This is entirely FLASH based

There are 18 monitor experts embedded in this project
- are embedding carbon forms in the silicon: have “live” experts available

Usability studies have shown there are 2 types of users for this type of content
1- people who figure it out for themselves, “the chess players”
2- people who are in a rush, don’t want to take time to figure it out, just give them the content and answers

In core concepts section, the system provides option for user type #2 to just get the answers

Entire system is designed to try and help people succeed and pass, not to fail anyone

View of assessment
- key is performance on the job
- because some people with the old mindset / model are demanding assessment, the Monitor Group has developed offline measures for assessment not included with the online product

Timeline to develop this entire CISCO eLearning environment

Used core team of 8 people in Cambridge (project managers, developers), outsourced some of the Flash work to India, some to Mexico, some to Canada

After content modules are finished, it is assumed that you know the material and are ready to apply it
- users are put into scenarios, meet with a team
- this is designed to be done by a group of people sitting in a room– do core concepts at home but in the classroom do small group work in multiple rooms, with people in the same room or separated by space in different countries even

Scenario is recursive
- as you go over each segment, the system keeps track of what parts you have seen
- personalities of these team members are maintained throughout the 11 modules
- in some scenarios users are team members, in others they are the boss

The simulation allows you to choose different pathways, but there is a cost (the calendar marches on) to keep things realistic and time sensitive

Project pedagogy is designed with an “XML cooker” that lets companies decide how much of their actual context / situation can be embedded within the system
- terminology can be changed, look and feel, etc.

Survival level knowledge
- platform developed with Stanford
- article called “The Knowledge Warriors” describes the demo we are about to see

to understand this you sit on the shoulder of the user
- every link is meta-tagged back to the knowledge map

This was developed as part of Harvard Manage Mentor and Stanford Online Coach
- push content to the user that is specific to their context

The “well” is in the middle
- everything is part of the taxonomy in the site
- because everything is part of the taxonomy, the engine knows the relations between information located within the well and external to it

multiple ways to explore the content
- knowledge map
- learning modules
- performance tools
- collaboration
- assessments and feedback
- research and reference
- events

Allows people / users to conduct self-assesments to identify their own areas that need more work

Harvard Manage Mentor has 37 different subjects, one of them is negotiation
- is a tool called the Best Alternative to a Negotiating A….. (BATNA)

Users can drill up and out to get context

Meansbusiness has their own tool, book is “The Negotiation Tool Kit”

Revolutionary educational model being used now with success in South Africa: teach people what they need to know to work on the job, 1 day a time
- very different from an old model that said, you need all this training up front (that takes a long time) in order to just start this job

My last question to Jonathan: what should higher education institutions do to remain relevant and move in the directions he has described?

his answer was 2 part, and this is my summary / paraphrase:
1- Universities should collaboratively build content structures (I think of this as a new CMS model) that provides the multiple pathways of content access, interaction and assessment he demoed in this CISCO solution. Different universities could create different knowlege products / resources that could be embedded and sued in different contexts.

2- Universities will stop their evolutionary growth toward becoming more trade schools as corporate America continues to take on more training on the job, academe will get back to its aristocratic roots: preparing individuals to be well rounded and prepared for societal leadership roles. Less job specific preparation, more core curriculum / critical thinking / collaborative team sort of preparation.

Very interesting session overall. Best yet at eLearn2005 for me!

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4 Comments »
  • http://thinklab.typepad.com Christian Long

    Wesley: Thanks for sharing info re: Levy’s recent presentation, and the notes you took throughout his session. Fascinating ideas at play. I was struck by 2 concepts: 1) It struck me that the ‘school of the future’ should not be distinguished by whether or not it is ‘corporate’ or ‘academic’, but it should co-mingle the big picture with the real skills/experiences required by the learner (or ‘subject matter expert’ as Levy calls them). Everything he talked about feel powerful when placed within the context of the traditional school as well…and the need to separate learning via the type of institution rather than the innate process itself seems a backward step, although a forward step for business if they follow his lead. 2) I was struck by what you put in this post when he suggested that if business does make this shift, that universities (and schools) can let go of the ‘training’ aspect and go back to their roots. Just when I thought I saw some daylight in his ideas for education as a whole, it strikes me that he’s only speaking on behalf of one group…without any cross-over to the student before he enters a business/organization. Again, while I see that Levy is making a point to a specific audience, I truly believe that he is missing an opportunity to let go of the us vs. them concept. Instead, I think his arguements are most valuable when they are levied against ALL forms of learning, regardless of setting. It is my true conviction that the relevance of school or training on any level will increase over time as learning itself is seen as an “anytime/anyplace/customized content” placed within a larger context experience. I think Levy is onto something. I just wish he hadn’t rebuilt a wall that schools and all learners need so desperately take down.

  • http://www.wesfryer.com Wesley Fryer

    I have still not sorted out my responses to Levy’s presentations, they certainly WERE thought provoking. The eLearning solution that he demoed from the Monitor Group that they just completed for CISCO was so over the top in terms of its complexity and content that it really left me (and I think many other attendees) feeling overwhelmed and intimidated. Yes, corporate America can do that, when you have the resources of a company like CISCO, but what about the rest of us? Unfortunately he did not address this.

    I found the part about universities possibly leaving their training perspectives behind very thought provoking as well. We certainly do much more preparation “just in case” rather than “just in time” at the university level. That is the nature of the beast, however– and maybe he is right that this is what will continue to differentiate corporate from higher education training. I don’t know. I agree with you that education can and probably should be viewed more holistically rather than as “us” and “them.” Resource issues definitely contribute to this. The interaction versus content debate for corporate DE solutions was very interesting too. This fits in with what I have written elsewhere about authentic education, and goes with theories espoused by John Dewey, Paulo Freire, and others. Education doesn’t become “ours” until we hook it to our existing schemata and experiences. So the interactive element in any potentially educational experience is vital. This is true in both corporate arenas and in higher ed. The needs in both areas are closer than what Levy might portray, but I think he is accurate in observing the wide gap which exists between those worlds currently. Maybe we’ll all build more bridges between them in the months and years to come.

  • http://www.JonathonLevy.com Jonathon Levy

    Nice series of posts. With regard to the academy, I spent twenty years at Cornell and four at Harvard. I know that the academy needs to start thinking and behaving the same way that corporate America does. I have written on the academic change theme (see my website http://www.JonathonLevy.com). The same model also applies to economic empowerment, especially in developing nations. But I have also learned that it is easier pull a rope than to push one. Corporations know they need to change to survive; universities and governkments resist change. You can’t boil the ocean. I believe that once the model is fully employed in the corporate world others will follow.

  • http://www.wesfryer.com Wesley Fryer

    I think education should follow the lead of business in some ways, but not in all. Politicians seem to assume that if technology makes educational experiences as the transmission of content from the mouth of the teacher into the mind of the learner more efficient, then success will have been achieved. In order for an educational experience to be authentic and valuable, I think it has to be much more than merely efficient. I do agree with the idea that we need more communication and dialog between business and education. I am concerned the business community is not understanding what the emphasis on high stakes testing is doing to the development of 21st century literacy skills, however. I think many in business think they can get both when they harp on testing, but my experiences in our public schools have suggested otherwise.

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