1. At ASTD Conference? Drop By For Learning Conversations!
2. Learning Themes for Learning in 2013.
3. Curiosity as Employment Criteria?

1. At ASTD Conference? Drop By For Learning Conversations!  I am heading to Dallas on Sunday to participate in ASTD’s annual ICE conference.  If any Learning TRENDS readers are planning to be there, I’d love to get together for a Learning CONVERSATION.  Drop by the MASIE Center/Learning 2013 booth #362.  I will be there all day on Monday and Tuesday.  Or, you can send me a note to emasie@masie.com

2. Learning Themes for Learning in 2013: Here are the themes that we have developed for our program and discussions:

- Learning Personalization.
- Learning Re-Branding.
- Learning Together: Social & Collaborative.
- Learning: Mobile & BYOD.
- Learning & Big Data.
- Learning Innovations & Hype.
- Learning On The Job.
- Learning Content: Smaller & Quicker.
- Learning for Leaders.
- Learning Roles, Governance & Structures.
- Learning & Connected Classrooms.
- Learning for Distributed Workers.
- Learning Designs – New Models.
- Learning Hack-A-Thon: Agile Innovation.

We are very excited about focusing on these diverse themes at Learning 2013 and in our programming.  Details at http://www.learning2013.com

3. Curiosity as Employment Criteria?  I am curious: do any of your organizations use “Curiosity” as an informal or overt criteria during employment interviewing?  Are you looking for workers who are demonstrating “Curiosity”?  And, if so, how do you describe that to your interviewers?  Send me a confidential email to emasie@masie.com and I will provide a summary in a future Learning TRENDS.

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

RE: The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton to Keynote Learning 2013

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the keynote speaker at Elliott Masie’s Learning 2013 conference on November 4th in Orlando, Florida.

Earlier as First Lady and U.S. Senator from New York, she traveled to more than 80 countries as a champion of human rights, democracy, and opportunities for women and girls. Clinton also worked to provide health care to millions of children, create jobs and opportunity, and support first responders who risked their lives at Ground Zero. Throughout her career, she has been a strong advocate for improving access to quality, affordable education.

“Former Secretary Clinton’s keynote presentation will set the stage for rich dialogues at Learning 2013,” says Elliot Masie, Host and Chair of The Learning CONSORTIUM

Learning 2013 will be held in Orlando, Florida from November 3 to 6, 2013.

For complete details, themes and online registration go to http://www.learning2013.com

Yours in learning,
Elliott Masie

1. Help! Defend Learning Field from Patent Suit!
2. Google Glass and Learning LAB Experiments.
3. Wow - 17 Tony Nominations on Broadway.

1. Help! Defend Learning Field from Patent Suit! The learning “patent trolls” are at it again. There is a company called IPLearn that has unfortunately successfully sued over a dozen learning management systems, claiming they have invented many of the core elements of technology delivered learning. Sure, they wrote several clever patents that claim to have created much of the field and, with an understaffed patent office it was approve although there were many prior learning and technology implementations. And, their strategy, which has worked, is to sue a company, get the discovery and legal costs up and up, and finally settle for a fee and stock shares: all without having invented, produced or created anything other than a few patent apps.

I have worked, without fee, against their efforts several times and now they are at it again. They have brought suits against several major LMS companies and I am asking Learning TRENDS readers to help gather any manuals, documents or other experiences you have had with these earlier corporate learning systems:

- Registrar,” by Silton-Bookman Systems.
- Learning Organization Information System (LOIS),” by KnowledgeSoft, Inc.
- Etude,” by Gerald Hollingsworth and GPU, Inc.
- Continuous Learning System (CLS),” by AT&T Global Information Solutions International, Inc.

The lawyers defending against the IPLearn suit would love to see any samples of anything that describes the operation or public availability of these systems. For example: user manuals, help files, demonstration videos, brochures, press releases, and actual program disks/CDs. 

If you can help, would you send a note to my office at emasie@masie.com and we will contact you back.  Many thanks!

2. Google Glass and Learning LAB Experiments: We are starting to organize a Learning LAB at The MASIE Center that will look at how the upcoming Google Glass http://www.google.com/glass/ might have affordances for Workplace Learning. What if a learner wearing Google Glass had visual and eye movement controls over content and assistance? Hmmm! If you or your organization is interested in exploring Google Glass “Learning Apps”, please send a note to bob@masie.com We will contact you about some of the options for early experiments and collaboration on this project.
 
3. Wow - 17 Tony Nominations on Broadway! It was a great day for MASIE Productions on Monday. The nominations for the upcoming TONY Awards were announced and two of the plays that we are investors/producers in were nominated:

* 13 Awards for Kinky Boots!
* 4 Awards for Trip to Bountiful!

And, though it was not nominated, one of the best plays on Broadway is our Macbeth, a one-man show starring Alan Cumming.

We are celebrating! Details at http://www.masieproductions.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* TeleWork 2013 - June 23 to 25 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Learning Leadership Academy - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

1. Bring Your Parents to Work Day!
2. Big Data Expands: Maps of What Learners Aren’t Doing.
3. Right Handed Designer Bias in Usability.
4. Mobile Apps Monitor and Feedback on Word Usage.

1. Bring Your Parents to Work Day! After the success of “Bring Your Daughters to Work Day”, there is now a growing interest in “Bring Your Parents to Work Day”, pushed by both helicopter style parents and underutilized retired parents of workers.

“Bring Your Parents to Work Day” would allow highly involved and concerned parents to meet the colleagues and bosses of their kids.  Just as they did in K to 12 school settings, parents are often able to advocate for higher performance ratings once they meet their children’s evaluators.  Some parents might even help their children redecorate their work spaces or cubicles.

It will also be valuable for the older retired parents of some employees.  These parents can come in and be deployed as meaningful one-day assistants, leveraging their skills and experiences of decades of work.  In some instances, the retired parents can even be deployed while their children are on vacation, filling in for them on key assignments and committees.

Clearly, many organizations will find the “Bring Your Parents to Work Day” program challenging!  But, in an attempt to bridge generational differences and reach for new levels of Work/Life balance, it is being embraced by some companies with a passion.  Several underfunded Venture Startups have gone so far as experimenting with “Bring Your Parents to Work Week or Work Month”, in order to save compensation levels.  While State Labor Departments are concerned about the legality of these practices, few want to take on the ire of the newly engaged parents on this issue.

2. Big Data Expands: Maps of What Learners Aren’t Doing: Increased interest in “Big Data” has pushed several LMS companies to expand reporting capabilities to display patterns of Learner Non-Activity.  While traditional reports indicate which learners have met competency levels or participated in certain learning programs, the LMS was never pointed at massive and complex patterns of non-participation.  Now, managers can see 3D displays indicating:

* What Books or Articles Are Not Read by Workers?
* For Each Learner, What Activities Do They Never Do?
* Which Video Titles Draw the Fewest Workers?
* Which Presenter Send the Most Webinar Participants to Early Departure?
* Whose Emails Are Most Often Not Read?

Many learning analysts believe that tracking what learners Don’t Do is even more important than tracking their active participation.  One LMS company is experimenting with a gamification offering that would provide “points” to learners who most effectively skip the most content, while still meeting legal certification. These points can be traded in for a vacation day or lunchroom vouchers. Big Data can focus on what learners aren’t doing as great predictors of workforce participation patterns.  We might even issue a “Didn’t Do Transcript” for each learner in the future.

3. Right Handed Designer Bias in Usability: University of Brazio recently published a study focusing on the difference in eLearning designs created by left vs. right handed designers.  It seems that visual placement of content and buttons shifts dramatically based on the hand bias of the designer.  They looked at “directionality distinctions” in screen design and the impact on learning effectiveness.  Not surprisingly, they found that eLearning modules developed by left handed designers worked best with left handed learners.  Eye movement, mouse movement and logical flow of content was optimized better for left handed learners when design was done by designers of the same hand dominance. But, the least effective designs for both left and right handed learners resulted in design teams that had 1 left handed and 1 right handed designer.  “Collaboration in design often results in a mushy and fuzzy approach that underwhelms both types of users.” said Dr. Framer, head of their Hand Design Bias Lab.  The next study will look at allowing the learner to indicate their left or right hand preference - yielding a distinctly different design.  Even Google is considering moving their ads to the left side for users that more often place their mouse nearer to the Q, A or Z keys on their keyboards.

4. Mobile Apps Monitor and Provide Feedback on Word Usage: “How do I stop saying the word NO in my responses to employee questions?” or “I must remember to say ‘Service Contract’ to customers during sales conversations in the store!” These requests are not easy to implement as they both require a worker to alter their daily conversational habits.  But, now there is an App that links voice recognition with Performance Support to provide immediate feedback when you utter something on your NO or YES list.  For example, the App can monitor your use of the words: “NO”, “NO WAY” and “Never Happens” and provide you with a gentle buzz on your smartphone each time they are spoken.  If the frequency rises above a certain level, the buzz can be longer and you can even set it up to send you or your coach a direct reminder.  Or, it can be upgraded to provide a quiet whisper in the earpiece of an employee, via Bluetooth connection, when they forget to offer the highly profitable service agreement.

——-

Each year on April 1st in the United States, we celebrate April Fool’s Day with several TRENDS that may not be totally real, yet!  Hope you enjoyed and have a great April 1st. Feel free to send me a note to emasie@masie.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning Directions Seminar: Blended and in 6 Cities Globally.
* TeleWork 2013 - June 23 to 25 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Performance Support Seminar - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning Leadership Academy - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

1. Curation Learning Experiment - Sample It!
2. Learning Directions - London, Seattle and Cities Beyond.
3. Learning Marketplace Outreach Wanted!

1. Curation Learning Experiment - Sample It! The MASIE Center Learning LAB has been experimenting with “Curation” - using colleagues to locate, sort and collect emerging digital content. We have asked 8 members of our Learning CONSORTIUM, including learning leaders from Intel, Fidelity, White Lodging, Pioneer Natural Resources, Philips, Oracle, Allstate and Ken Blanchard Company, to act as “curators” of daily new learning content from popular and unknown digital sources. Each day, four of our “curators” will select and prioritize learning-focused articles, research papers, blogs and content. Anyone can access their curation (free of charge) at the Learning CONSORTIUM Content Curation Site:
http://curate.masie.com

We invite you to participate in this experiment as we explore ways in which learning designs can leverage open or structured curation of content. Send comments and thoughts to our CLO Bob Baker at bob@masie.com

2. Learning Directions - London, Seattle, Minneapolis, Washington and Chicago!  We have just completed our first city on the Learning Directions event tour and I am excited to be heading to London, Seattle and several other cities in the weeks ahead. During our first Learning Directions event, the conversations drilled deeply down into Learning Personalization, BYOD Learning - Beyond Mobile Learning Buzz, Social and Collaborative Design, Leadership Development and more. If you have any colleagues interested in attending, please send them to http://www.masie.com. We are honored to be presenting the London Learning Directions event on April 16th, in partnership with the Learning and Performance Institute.

3. Learning Marketplace Outreach Wanted!: As you may know, I have never been a big fan of “traditional” trade shows for the learning or training space. We are excited about building a set of very different models for Learning 2013 that will involve a Virtual Learning Marketplace, Colleague Hubs, Digital Learning News Releases and other activities. We are looking for a colleague with experience in the learning marketplace or sales area, who is interesting in a part time contract position, working with us on the Learning 2013 event. Please send a note with your background to emasie@masie.com. This role can be done remotely by a colleague with a sense of the world of change in the learning marketplace. It will be exciting to help create the future of our learning market.

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Host, TeleWork 2013 and Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning Directions Seminar: Blended and in 6 Cities Globally.
* TeleWork 2013 - June 23 to 25 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Performance Support Seminar - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning Leadership Academy - May 2013 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

Special Note: “Not Yahoo! about Yahoo’s Telework Policy”

Response to Yahoo’s No Teleworking Decision: Most of our readers have heard reports about Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer decision to have teleworking colleagues shift to working at the office.  The comments from HR director Jackie Reses included the statement “speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home”.  I have been contacted by many learning colleagues and members of the media for a reaction to Yahoo’s decision and what it said about the future of Teleworking.  Here is summary of our thoughts:

“Not Yahoo! About Yahoo’s Telework Policy”
By Elliott Masie, Chair, The Learning CONSORTIUM and Host of TeleWork 2013

Teleworking got a major news infusion when an employee leaked a policy shift from Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer to eliminate teleworking or working from home options. 

I am not thrilled or yelling at Yahoo! about the news stories — but not because it might be a threat to teleworking; rather, it is not fully clear how Yahoo’s decision maps back to changes that CEO Mayer wants to make in the culture of her organization.

Teleworking is an evolving process.  Many organizations now have 17% to 60% of white collar employees working from home.  Many organizations have shifted customer service, sales and other jobs to a 100% teleworking level.  And, we are tracking a 3% annual growth in teleworking.

So, what is the impact of teleworking on culture and employee performance? That is a complex question and is based primarily on the skills of the organization, the teleworkers themselves and managers/leaders in the organization. If handled well, teleworking can be a major plus for both employees and organizations. It can expand the pool of talent that can be hired, lower the transportation or office costs and in some instances provide a more lifestyle and workstyle positive environment for workers. But, if handled poorly, teleworkers can be and feel isolated, left out of key conversations and less bonded to the organization. Telework, like other organizational configurations, needs to be DESIGNED well and have evidence-based measures of impact.

I wish that Yahoo’s statement was not just a loud boom about the end of teleworking but rather laid out a continuum of when and how office-based, telework-based or blended location made sense. I wish that the conversation was really about culture and collaboration - not about location or commuting.  And, I wish that it was not leaked from an employee, but rather posed as a collaborative process to maximize Yahoo and the employees.

Why are we shifting to teleworking? The reasons range from a desire to hire the best employees (regardless of location) to a desire to reduce office and commuting expenses to lifestyle benefits for employees who can work effectively from a private space at home and still have “presence” for an older parent who is living with them. Many of our Learning CONSORTIUM members have made teleworking the default - hiring people who will work either from their home or from a remote satellite office.  And, the technology of collaboration - from easy access to video conferencing to digital collaboration - can bring together a dispersed team if done well.

Teleworking also comes in many sizes and flavors. For example:

- Organization Continuity Telework: The U.S. Federal Government has asked agencies to prepare most employees to be able to telework with remote and secure computer access in case of a storm or other emergency. In other words, if the organization has to shut down the office, work can continue.
- Personal Contingency Telework: An employee is not feeling well or for some reason can’t come to work on Tuesday. Telework options allow the organization to have them continue to work from home without contaminating their fellow team members or missing a key meeting.
- Blended Telework: Many workers are blending time in the office with time at home for work. They may select those times that team face-to-face meetings are scheduled or shift to a less distracting home-based setting for writing or quieter work tasks.
- Distributed/Remote Telework: Hire the best employee for a job, regardless of their location. Shift the hiring conversation from “when can we relocate you” to “how can we set you up for successful telework and schedule occasional time at the office.”
- Telework Choice: Some organizations have given employees the choice of telework, blended or office-based location and many workers in every generation are choosing telework, assuming they can hit performance goals and be an active part of the team culture.
- Telework Mandated: Many organizations have shifted entire functions (e.g. field sales, customer support, development roles) to a 100% telework basis.

The reality is that organizations and employees will make choices amongst these options and will increasingly learn how to shift, adjust and develop new competencies or leverage new technologies to support all types of telework.

I am not “Yahoo!” about Yahoo’s teleworking decision because it overly simplifies the issue of how we work in a distributed, connected and agile world with a changing labor market and work/life balances. I respect Yahoo’s CEO Mayer for her leadership of the company and would hope that she shifts the conversation to the CULTURE rather than a locational issue. And, there are clearly times when telework will not work for a team, employee or total organization. But, I doubt that Yahoo will ban teleworkers in the long term.

I am both a teleworker and the CEO of a company that employs teleworkers. 

It is critical for me to blend my own and other team members’ presences. I have a 72 inch screen in my office to Skype with team members in Virginia, Shanghai and India. And, there are certain key roles that would not be optimized as telework based at The MASIE Center. However, we could not operate a global company with a slim staff and over 230 Learning CONSORTIUM members if we did not leverage teleworking, video conferencing, digital collaboration and ongoing adjustment of our culture to make it work.

Recently, a seven year employee gave birth to her first child. As we were negotiating her maternity leave benefits - and more importantly the culture adjustments for her as she left and will return to the office - we both saw telework as a key mutual benefit. We will provide an opportunity for her to spend more time at home but start to engage at the level that works for her via a flexible telework culture.

Telework is going to be a major component of our work lives going forward, whether or not we or our CEO’s like it. The issue is not “To Telework or Not to Telework”; rather it is “How do we create the best culture for all employees, regardless of location and teleworking options?  We will use data to watch how we succeed or fail in our hiring, our retention, our customer satisfaction, our agility and our work/life culture.”

I invite organizations to leverage Yahoo’s discussion to have a serious conversation about the options, skills, competencies and culture shifts we want in our organizations that are leveraging telework. Let’s have the audacity to experiment, evaluate and even openly talk about failures as we continue the evolution of our workplaces and work lives.

I’d love to hear from you on this topic. Send me a note to emasie@masie.com

Yours in learning (and telework),

Elliott Masie
Host, TeleWork 2013 and Learning 2013

email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning Directions Seminar: Blended and in 6 Cities Globally.
* TeleWork 2013 - June 23 to 25 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

RE: 7 Minute Survey on Learning Directions & Shifts!

Can you please take 7 minutes to respond to our 2013 Learning Directions “Pulse” Survey, gathering global data on how organizations are shifting (or not shifting) their Learning Directions or approaches?  Are we doing more/less/same levels of classroom, eLearning, mobile, social learning and even supporting learning for teleworkers?

Go to: http://www.masie.com/pulse2013

We will publish these results shortly at this site - hosted by our Learning CONSORTIUM.

Thanks for your participation!

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
http://www.masie.com

1. Personalization of Learning: A Key Learning Direction!
2. Simple App: Less is More :)
3. TeleWork Legal Issues:

1. Personalization of Learning - A Key Learning Direction! The learner is growing in his/her assumptions of Personalization choices and actions as they approach workplace learning. Personalization is one of the major Learning Directions that The MASIE Center is tracking in 2013.

Personalization of Learning has several key dimensions that are altering both learner behaviors and organizational approaches to design:

* Scope and Sequence Choices! Traditional instructional design placed scope (the range of content delivered) and sequence (the order of content) to the designer. The 2013 Learner has a growing desire to make minor or major changes in the scope or sequence of their learning content. Some want to go directly to the Step by Step details while other learners want to start with a framework or conceptual blast. Likewise, some learners stay focused on the detailed curriculum while others will find and consume non-designed content from internal or external sources. Design must increasingly add a Personalization component to the articulation of a course.
* Leverage and Index Previous Knowledge: Our learners want the learning function to acknowledge and leverage their already existing knowledge on the targeted content. Personalizing the content for these learners would increase their ability to either “test out” of a module they already know or link the language of a new procedure to a process they learned in a previous situation. Malcolm Knowles always referred to the adult learner as a student that wants their previous knowledge continually acknowledged.
* Learning Systems & Personalization: Learning Officers are asking deeper questions of their LMS and LCMS to add Personalization to their approaches to learning delivery and tracking. How do we shift the LMS to add personalized content choices and sequences to the students in a program?

Personalization of Learning is one of the top themes that we will be exploring in depth at our Learning Directions sessions to be offered in March and April across the US and in the UK. Details at www.masie.com

2. Simple App: Less is More :) We have been studying simplicity in the design of mobile apps at The MASIE Center. One that I started to use recently is a weather alert app for my iPhone called Dark Sky.  This app uses GPS to determine my location and, when pressed, shows me in large type what the weather is RIGHT NOW and in ONE HOUR. In other words, before heading out, I can check and in a glance see if is raining, snowing or storming in real time. Another click shows me the predicted weather for each segment of the next 12 hours or allows me to see real time and predicted radar screen pictures for this area. 

The simplicity of Dark Sky shows a usability approach to the presentation of data to the user. Getting to a one glance visual is often key. Other weather apps are loaded with more data and content, but is more really less? And, is less really more? We need more simplicity in performance based learning.

3. TeleWork Legal Issues: As we roll out our TeleWork 2013 event, the legal issues that increased teleworking raises is fascinating. For example:

* How does the employment contract for a teleworking employee differ from an office-present employee? Do we specify total hours worked and with what flexibly?
* What are the legal dimensions of evolving the teleworking choices for an employee on maternity leave? How do these conform or conflict with disability regulations?
* Seating and safety for teleworkers is also a “hot” issue. What are employer liabilities for any injuries resulting from bad furniture purchased and used by employees?
* Selection for learning, collaboration or promotion will be analyzed for home based vs. office based employees! Are there differences in your practices?

Take advantage of our early registration discount rate for TeleWork 2013, June 23 to 25 in Saratoga Springs, NY.  Details and registration at http://www.telework2013.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning Directions Seminar: Blended and in 6 Cities Globally.
* TeleWork 2013 - June 23 to 25 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

1. TeleWork 2013 Announced by MASIE Center.
2. Arch Lustberg Passes - Great Motivator.
3. McKinley Belle Boughton Arrives - Congrats to Lauren.

1. TeleWork 2013 Announced by MASIE Center: We are proud to announce a new global event, sponsored by The MASIE Center, focused on the growing phenomena of workers working from home:

TeleWork 2013.
Focus: TeleWork & HR, Talent, Technology, Legal, Learning and Lifestyles.
June 23 to June 25, 2013.
Saratoga Springs, New York, USA.
http://www.telework2013.com

Increasingly, when we hire someone new, the conversation is shifting from “When can you move?” to “When can you start from your home?”

We are very excited about this new event, co-hosted by The Learning CONSORTIUM and facilitated by Elliott Masie and Hunter Arnold.

Check it out at: http://www.telework2013.com

2. Arch Lustberg Passes - Great Motivator: One of my favorite speakers, who keynoted at several of our Learning events, passed away - Arch Lustberg. He taught thousands the art of presenting and communicating in an authentic and persuasive manner. Here is a video of me interviewing Arch about facial expressions of political candidates: http://www.masie.com/Videos/arch-lustberg.html

Arch Lustberg lived every year with passion and he will be sorely missed!

3. McKinley Belle Boughton Arrives - Congrats to Lauren: Life has a balance. This morning, Lauren Boughton, the Producer of The MASIE Center (along with her husband Luke) brought their first daughter, McKinley Belle Boughton, into the world. I guarantee McKinley will be hiking mountains and designing on her iPad before she is 1. Congrats!

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning Directions Seminar: Blended and in 6 Cities Globally.
* TeleWork 2013 - June 23 to 25 - Saratoga Springs, NY.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

1. OK, I Binge! - Shifts in Media Consumption.
2. Logitech Business Camera - Skype for the Classroom!
3. Learning CONSORTIUM Memberships Available.

1. OK, I Binge! - Shifts in Media Consumption: Yes, I will publicly admit that I binge! I binge view TV shows.

In the “old days” I would wait each week for the next episode of a favorite TV show and watch it at the designated time. I have fond memories of anticipating the arrival of the next “West Wing”, “Hill Street Blues” or “Mary Tyler Moore Show”. It was both fun and frustrating when the show had a deep mystery element  and there was at least a week to ponder who did it or what was next.

Now, I binge! Using on-demand video, I will consume an entire season of a TV series in a very short time frame.  Once, when I was home alone for the weekend, I watched an entire season of 24 with just occasional breaks for food. Or, my binging might be stretched over a few days or weeks, but the compression factor is sometimes very attractive to me as a viewer. The TV series becomes a 15 hour marathon that the compulsive Elliott thrives upon. I have even gone back and done a binge consumption of an entire season of “Car 54 Where Are You”, a goofy comedy that I watched as a kid.

It is fascinating to see how binge viewing is growing. At the same time as we are consuming 3 minute short video spots on YouTube, there is also an occasional appetite for binge viewing. Just today, Netflix, which has started to produce TV shows as well as stream them, announced a binge viewing decision. In a departure from television tradition, the entire season of “House of Cards” — all 13 episodes, nearly 13 hours of tense Capitol Hill drama — will be available at once, with the click of a button.

There may be an impact on the world of corporate learning as well. A number of longer online programs have been historically offered over a “semester” or at least a few weeks. The assumption was that the learner would stretch his or her engagement over time. We are now seeing the trend of learners who want to take a more “binge learning” model, transforming the intensive weekend boot camp type experience into a 15 to 20 hour binge learning experience. This is not for everyone or for every topic, but part of “Learning Personalization” will be increased demand and delivery of agile schedules.

As we explore the concept of “binging”, or perhaps it’s better to say “intensity”, of learning, our designs have to adapt for learning processing, focusing time, assessment, feedback, social/collaborative interaction and more. We have never called 3 days in a management classroom a binge so why not see a learner take 3 days in a cafe or home-based office for a highly intensive, digitally connected learning experience? We can’t lower the competency bar, but this will be an interesting arena for design innovation.

As you try out video binging (from on-demand or a DVD) for entertainment, start to consider when an intensive 10 to 12 hours of learning might also be attractive, enhancing and extending your knowledge gain. The MASIE Center’s Learning LAB, in association with our Learning CONSORTIUM, will be conducting experiments in the coming months on “knowledge binges”. Stay tuned!

2. Logitech Business Camera - Skype for the Classroom! I almost never endorse or highlight a product, as Learning TRENDS is vendor-neutral, but we have been on a quest for a simple technology that has finally arrived.

We wanted a camera with High Definition capability that could be remotely Pointed, Titled and Zoomed (PTZ) and also work perfectly with Skype and Gmail Video as well as be a capture camera for content.  Why? In all of our classrooms, we have multiple large Plasma/LCD Screens and want to add cameras for video conferencing, class capture and knowledge clips. While we could mount a nice single-focus camera, the PTZ capability was missing.

Logitech BCC950 Conference Cam Video Conferencing Camera is perfect! We have tested it in multiple settings and are delighted with the focus, quality and ease of use in a classroom or meeting room. It has extensions that allow it to be mounted apart from the base and it would be ideal to add video capacity to a classroom - in our effort to evolve to the “connected classroom”. The price is around $220 and we have purchased several for our Center. Here is one supplier: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/877890-REG/Logitech_960_000866_BCC950_ConferenceCam_Video_Conferencing.html

3. Learning CONSORTIUM Memberships Available: We have several spots available for membership in the MASIE Center’s Learning CONSORTIUM. Join over 230 global companies in ongoing Learning LAB experiments, work on emerging learning issues and participate in a collaborative to design the future of workplace learning. Currently we have LAB’s underway in “Big” Learning Data, Kiosks as Learning Resources, eBooks and other key topics. Details at http://www.masie.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
email: emasie@masie.com
twitter: @emasie

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Learning Directions Seminar: Blended and in 6 Cities Globally.
* Learning 2013 - November 2013 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie