860 - Tech After Holidays: 4K Learning, Cardboard VR, Tesla and iBeacons

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - December 28, 2014.
#860 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
56,789 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: Learning Innovations Retreat LAB - Jan 7 to 9, 2015.

Tech After The Holidays - High and Low Tech Aha’s!
1. 4K Learning - High Definition Curved Images.
2. Cardboard VR - Folding Paper, Phone & Virtual Reality.
3. Tesla Electric Disruption - A Driving Science Project.
4. Beacons Discovery - Oh, There You Are, Learner!

Tech After The Holidays - High and Low Tech Aha’s: After Christmas and Chanukah, many people explore the technology from their presents. I am now in our Learning LAB in Saratoga exploring low and high tech that might have implications for learning in the future. Here are some quick notes from Elliott the Learning Geek - with more to follow in January:

1. 4K Learning - High Definition Curved Images: We just opened up a new 65” Curved Screen, 4K Ultra Definition TV in our LAB. It is pretty amazing to see video played in Ultra 4K style, especially on a High Def Curved Screen. I have been experimenting with using the new screen - and a 4K camera - to bring images and experiences to new depths for a learner. For example, I watched a mountain climber show how she scaled the rocks using grips and ropes. The intensity of the images made it very different for me as a learner. Netflix and others are starting to stream 4K movies at a slight up charge. I can’t wait to make some trial video segments for learning. Here is a sample of the screen in our LAB: http://www.samsung.com/us/video/tvs/UN65HU9000FXZA

2. Cardboard VR - Folding Paper, Phone & Virtual Reality: While we have the new Oculus Virtual Reality prototype now owned by Facebook, I was looking for a much lower cost and accessible option for Learning TRENDS readers. So, we wandered into the CARDBOARD world of Cardboard - a special project from Google. Take a formatted cardboard outline - purchased for just a few dollars or printed from a PDF - and fold it up to make a viewer that holds an Android or iPhone. You can view really powerful Virtual Images! This is an open source project and there are some wild experiments that include a concert by Paul McCartney where you change the view by moving your head. Imagine if this were a simulation for new store employees or technical training modules. Check it out at: https://www.google.com/get/cardboard/

3. Tesla Electric Disruption - A Driving Science Project: I am enjoying my holiday present of a TESLA, the all electrical vehicle from Elon Musk. It is an amazing and disruptive piece of technology. It charges up to give a 260 mile range in a car that is OMG fast and high performance. It goes from 0 to 60 in just a few seconds and is a combo of a sports car and active science experiment. The dashboard includes a 17” screen with Big and Small Data for the driver. Owning this car turns me into a daily learner. For a holiday trip, we picked a hotel with a free high powered charger in the lot to get ready for another 200 miles.  The car’s technology is also quite disruptive as it regularly goes online and gets a complete upgrade that adds new driving features every few weeks. Imagine if our LMSs were that good at upgrading for new learning requirements! A fun “aha” yesterday was to discover that Nick Howe, the Chief Learning Officer for Hitachi, has written the leading book on owning a TESLA. Here is a picture of the battery deck of a TESLA: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Tesla_Motors_Model_S_base.JPG

4. iBeacons Discovery - Oh, There You Are, Learner! On the table are a dozen small devices, each about 2 inches long and 1/4 inch high. They are very cool “iBeacons” that can have an engagement role in learning and development. Each beacon is programmed to be detected by the users in your organization or just customers walking by. Their smartphones, if enabled with Smart Bluetooth and an appropriate app, can detect the beacons’ presence and send a note, picture, video or text message that would alert or remind users of a fact, content element or opportunity. I am setting these beacons up to alert our LAB participants of a piece of technology that is nearby or to link them to a Performance Support page that explains something new. The beacons can be set up for variable proximity and specific types of learners. We are excited to explore how these low cost beacons could assist a learning project. Here is a page on iBeacons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBeacon

So, what is Elliott the tech and learning kid discovering in the LAB with these technologies? 

- Learning Implications: New tech developers rarely start by thinking of the world of learning. We must be experimenters and lab creatures to take something new like 4K or iBeacon and think how it might be evolved for learning.
- Cool Things Can Be Inexpensive: While some tech is pretty expensive, let’s look at some that might be only $1.99 a learner or even open source.
- Technology Isn’t Affordances: In other words, some things that are cool, like Second Life, may not pan out or may never find a route to workplace learning.
- Share Your Tech: Set up an area in the workplace for fellow colleagues to experiment and “play” with new technologies. Great ideas await!

Have a very Happy New Year and I look forward to more Learning TRENDS in 2015.

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Chair, The Learning CONSORTIUM

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
- Learning Innovations Retreat at Elliot Masie LAB. - Jan 7 to 9, Saratoga Springs.
- On The Job Learning & Performance Support = Agile Learning - Jan 20 to 22, Saratoga Springs.
- Video & Learning LAB - Feb 10 to 12, Saratoga Springs.
- Learning 2015 - Nov 1 to 4 - Orlando, Florida.
Upcoming:
- Gamification and Learning Summit.
- MOOCs and Corporate Learning LAB.
- Learning Strategies LAB with Doug Lynch.

Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

859 - Aging Simulator; Ads in eLearning Modules or MOOCs

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - December 16, 2014.
#859 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
56,774 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: Learning Innovations Retreat LAB - Jan 7 to 9th.

1. Simulation for Aging Impacts.
2. Ads in eLearning or MOOCs?

1. Simulation for Aging Impacts: I am a huge fan of using simulation technology to provide people with an in-depth immersion from new perspectives. So, I was really fascinated with a technology developed by MIT’s AgeLab.

They have created AGNES, a suit worn by students, product developers, designers, engineers, marketing professionals, planners, architects, packaging engineers, and others to better understand the physical challenges associated with aging. Developed by AgeLab researchers and students, AGNES has been calibrated to approximate the motor, visual, flexibility, dexterity and strength of a person in their mid-70s. AGNES has been used in retail, public transportation, home, community, automobile, workplace and other environments.

Check it out at: http://agelab.mit.edu/agnes-age-gain-now-empathy-system

We will have an increasingly larger number of simulation options for learners to take a virtual deep-dive into new or future realities.

2. Ads in eLearning or MOOCs? This month, I have had multiple conversations with learning product designers about the use of and reaction to revenue ads placed in eLearning or MOOCs. 

Let’s say a company would like to offer a high-end, intensive leadership program to rising executives.  One option being considered is to provide small ads on the side of the screen, ala a Google or Bing search. The advertising could be screened and also targeted to this learning user cohort. 

Likewise, a MOOC could be offered free of charge to users, financed by embedded ads from Yahoo or other digital ad suppliers.

Assuming the ads were appropriate and non-intrusive, what would your reaction be as a learner and as a learning provider? Send me a note to emasie@masie.com

I will publish results in a future TRENDS. 

Note: Learning LABS in 2015: We are pleased to announce 3 Learning LABS for Learning Professionals that will be hosted at The MASIE Center in Saratoga Springs in 2015:

- Learning Innovations Retreat & LAB: January 7 - 9, 2015.  (Only 6 spaces left. Register ASAP.)
- On The Job Learning & Performance Support LAB: January 20 - 22, 2015.
- Video & Learning LAB: February 10 - 12, 2015.

We have had many registrations for these programs already and space is quite limited. They are hands-on and roll-up-your-sleeves LABS. Check out the content and online registration at http://www.masie.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Chair, The Learning CONSORTIUM

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
- Learning Innovations Retreat at Elliot Masie LAB. - Jan 7 to 9, Saratoga Springs.
- On The Job Learning & Performance Support = Agile Learning - Jan 20 to 22, Saratoga Springs.
- Video & Learning LAB - Feb 10 to 12, Saratoga Springs.
- Learning 2015 - Nov 1 to 4 - Orlando, Florida.
Upcoming:
- Gamification and Learning LAB.
- MOOCs and Corporate Learning LAB.
- Learning Strategy & Learning Leadership.
- Leadership Development Evolves

Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

858 - Digital Trust?? Producing: Process and Details

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - December 11, 2014.
#858 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
56,769 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: Learning Innovations Retreat LAB - Jan 7 to 9th.

1. Digital Trust?
2. Producing: Process & Details.

1. Digital Trust? A new project that The MASIE Center will be focusing on:

“Digital Trust”

How does the process of trust change, shift, shrink, expand or evolve as we connect, collaborate and know colleagues (and friends) digitally?

How does a new employee at a 10,000 person company trust (or perhaps not trust) colleagues that they meet through a corporate collaboration vehicle such as Jive, SharePoint or Intranet?

How does an individual assess - from a trust perspective - content, context or opinions from people they have never met face to face?

How does an individual build the personal and professional competency of Digital Trust?

In the next few months, I will be publishing a digital book on Digital Trust, bringing together learning and HR leaders from various organizations to explore the dimensions of Digital Trust and more.

If you are intrigued by this topic, please send me an email to emasie@masie.com  We believe that the issues of trust, as explored by Steven MR Covey and others, are even more important and perhaps elusive in the digital world. So, send me a note to emasie@masie.com and let’s explore this intriguing topic.

2. Producing - Process & Details: I am writing this Learning TRENDS as I leave Paris for New York, after we just opened a new Broadway show, “An American in Paris”.

This is an exciting new show that combines amazing dance, sets, music from Gershwin, political themes and an incredible cast. MASIE Productions is honored to be one of the Production Partners for this show, which opened in Paris and will move to Broadway in March 2015. You can scan stories and video from the show at: http://www.anamericaninparisbroadway.com/

I wanted to share some perspectives about “producing” that are wonderfully connected to our worlds of learning.

The process of creating a Broadway show, especially a hit, takes years of collaboration, work, labs, demonstrations, casting, fund raising, disagreements, shifts and marketing magic.

What we watched in Paris was an amazing point (but not the finish line) of the production and creation process for “An American in Paris”.

Director Christopher Wheeldon takes the cast and creative team through a daily process of experimentation, rehearsal, feedback and coaching. The leads of the show, accomplished ballet dancers, have been coached in singing and acting, and supported to expand their craft to this new format.

Our opening in Paris was received with over 12 minutes of standing ovations - from a Paris blended audience - and the dozens of producing partners traveled to France to both celebrate and learn.

We gave a spare ticket to a 21 year old woman who was passing out arts newsletters outside.  We surprised her a few minutes before the sold out show with a free ticket (in an upper balcony) and just asked her to send me a message after she got out with feedback. Here are a few lines from her (Virginie Bénévent):

“I love theater and this show blends everything: songs, dancing and acting. It reminds me of Gene Kelly, a genius and master of dance. Plus, it echoes many events of our history in Paris.

The props and the setting are perfectly designed - these details are crucial. This a trip in this beautiful story between 2 worlds of art: France and America.

The show lasted almost 3 hours but it seemed so short. The final dance was amazing. Elliott, in three words: wonderful, efficient and free.”

Production is about 360 degree feedback. It is about the ability to listen to the cares and angles of every segment of the audience. It is about creating more than a good show - but rather a GREAT show - and that takes time, risk and discipline as well as agility as artists and producers.

When you see an awesome piece of theater, it reflects the works of dozens or even hundreds of artists over years. We never rush being “done” as great theater comes from circles of experimentation and feedback.

So, as I fly back from Paris I am thrilled and honored. And, I am making a list of dozens of micro elements of “An American in Paris” that could evolve and stretch in the months ahead. I will share elements of the process with Learning TRENDS readers and hopefully you can see it on Broadway or when we go on tour in a few years.

Note: Learning LABS in 2015: We are pleased to announce 3 Learning LABS for Learning Professionals that will be hosted at The MASIE Center in Saratoga Springs in 2015:

- Learning Innovations Retreat & LAB: January 7 - 9, 2015.
- On The Job Learning & Performance Support LAB: January 20 - 22, 2015.
- Video & Learning LAB: February 10 - 12, 2015.

We have had many registrations for these programs already and space is quite limited. They are hands-on and roll-up-your-sleeve LABS. Check out the content and online registration at http://www.masie.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Chair, The Learning CONSORTIUM

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
- Learning Innovations Retreat at Elliot Masie’s LAB. - Jan 7 - 9, Saratoga Springs.
- On-The-Job Learning & Performance Support = Agile Learning - Jan 20 - 22, Saratoga Springs.
- Video & Learning LAB - Feb 10 - 12, Saratoga Springs.
- Learning 2015 - Nov 1 to 4th - Orlando, Florida.
Upcoming:
- Gamification and Learning LAB.
- MOOCs and Corporate Learning LAB.
- Learning Strategy & Learning Leadership.
- Leadership Development Evolves.

Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie

857 - Middle East Learning Report; Courses in the Air; LABs for Learning Professionals

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - December 2, 2014.
#857 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
56,763 Readers - www.masie.com - twitter: emasie - The MASIE Center.
Host: Learning Innovations Retreat - Jan 7 to 9th.

1. Middle East Learning Report & Perspectives.
2. Idea: Courses in the Air.
3. Learning LABS in 2015.

1. Middle East Learning Report & Perspectives. I had the honor of keynoting at two Middle East Learning and Development gatherings in the past 3 days.

First, I was one of the keynoters at the Middle East Organizational Learning gathering. We had the WOW experience of holding this meeting with senior learning leaders from the UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and other countries in the Parliament Chamber of the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi.  (It was the equivalent of holding a national learning conference on the floor of the U.S. Congress). Right before I spoke, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia addressed the role that learning must play in developing economies.

Last night, I was interviewed at a special dinner in Dubai for Learning Leaders. My interviewer Syed Sherazi spent an hour drilling me with questions about the state of learning changes. We then had an interactive dinner conversation with colleagues from a wide range of companies, government agencies and other countries in the region.

My takeaway from both experiences is the intense role that learning plays, and more importantly WILL PLAY, in developing countries. A few notes and observations:

- Learning Personalization is key. They see personalization assisted through choices and adaptions by learners, designers, their managers and ultimately with Big Learning Data.
- Global Learning Means Divergence. Sometimes “global” means a single message in a single style. But, it is key that global learning honor the traditions, cultures and earlier-in-life learning experiences of each segment of the workforce. We need to find a deeper way to embrace and sustain divergent approaches to learning.
- Granularity is Key. Learners and designers want shorter segments of content, more focused social/collaborative formats, and a more adaptive approach to curriculum.
- Assessment - Deeper and More Difficult. There was a clear sense that learning assessment, particularly in the eLearning area, is too broad and too easy. They wanted assessments that would give learners a more precise “Score Card” of their readiness on dozens of micro-topics. And, to make assessments more difficult with the expectation that a learner might want to take a test several times before achieving success.
- Emotional Intelligence!!! The same conversation was had with the CLOs in the rooms as we have had with CLOs and government leaders in the US. Skills must be mapped to emotional intelligence with the latter being key to long term employment success.
- Mobile is the Only Option. They view mobile not as an enhancement but rather as the first and often only access that workers may have to online assets. They want Mobile Learning Apps and more.

I will post links to the various conversations from these conferences when they are online, in a few weeks. On a personal note, it was amazing to meet two colleagues who each had been reading Learning TRENDS from Egypt and Abu Dhabi since 1988. While it was the first time we met face to face, we have had many shared mind-to-mind moments and interactions over the years.

2. Idea - Courses in the Air: There were representatives from airlines, Aviation Authorities and even Panasonic, which makes the interactive movie and TV systems on long distance airplanes. So, I rolled out one of my “aha ideas” that I would love to see invented sometime: Courses in the Air.

What if a passenger could choose to take a mini-course on a 4 to 14 hour flight? It would be a MOOC in the Sky with video, reading and interactive elements, and someday might even include a real time video chat function as well. The learner could strive to earn a “badge” or roll several badges up into a certificate or degree program that they pursued over several years of flights. It would be an intriguing element to add to international travel.

3. Learning LABS in 2015: We are pleased to announce 3 Learning LABS for Learning Professionals that will be hosted at The MASIE Center in Saratoga Springs in 2015:

- Learning Innovations Retreat & LAB: January 7 - 9, 2015.
- On The Job Learning & Performance Support LAB: January 20 - 22, 2015.
- Video & Learning LAB: February 10 - 12, 2015.

We have had many registrations for these programs already and space is quite limited. They are hands-on and roll-up-your-sleeve LABS. Check out the content and online registration at http://www.masie.com

Yours in learning,

Elliott Masie
Chair, The Learning CONSORTIUM

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
- Learning Innovations Retreat at Elliot Masie’s LAB - Jan 7 - 9, Saratoga Springs.
- On The Job Learning & Performance Support = Agile Learning - Jan 20 - 22, Saratoga Springs.
- Video & Learning LAB - Feb 10 - 12, Saratoga Springs.
- Learning 2015 - Nov 1 – 4, Orlando, Florida.
Upcoming:
- Gamification and Learning LAB.
- MOOCs and Corporate Learning LAB.
- Learning Strategy & Learning Leadership.
- Leadership Development Evolves.

Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com - twitter: emasie