317 - Trump University Launched & Real Time Translations with Wikis

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - May 25, 2005.
#317 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
50,299 Readers - www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
Host of Learning 2005: Oct 30 - Nov 2 - Orlando, Florida.

1. Donald Trump Launches On-Line Trump University.
2. 604 Memorable Teachers: Can You Add Yours?
3. Wikis for Real Time Global Translation & Context


1. Donald Trump Launches On-Line Trump University: I was intrigued to hear about the latest on-line education venture: Trump University, launched by the "Donald". They are offering short business focused on-line courses and will also add educational consulting and live events, using both business school faculty and Donald himself. One of my long time colleagues and a pioneer in the world of corporate education, Roger Shank, has joined as Chief Learning Officer. It will be fascinating to see what the Trump brand can do to popularize retail offerings of on-line courses. Check them out at http://www.trumpuniversity.com

2. 604 Memorable Teachers: Can You Add Yours? We have received over 600 responses for our new free digital book: Most Memorable Teachers (or Trainers). Here is one that came in while I was writing today's TRENDS:

John Dixon of CIBC wrote about his Biology teacher:

"Mr. Bellamy took the world of science, and made it exciting. He helped me to look beyond the rote memorization of scientific terms, and made it real. He focused on teaching fundamentals, and then challenging us to extrapolate our knowledge into areas we hadn't yet covered. This made the learning more interesting and challenging, driving us to move our knowledge forward" He categorized his memorable traits as: Passionate, Inspiring, Committed, Creative, Knowledgeable and Caring

We would love to add your teacher to this research and free digital book. Can you take a few moments and go to:

http://www.masie.com/teachers/

3. Wikis for Real Time Global Translation & Context: Lately, we have been experimenting with the idea of using a Wiki (a multi-person blog) to allow for real-time globalization of content, including translation. The idea is simple. Headquarters creates a three panel display for content. The first panel has any graphics for the module. The second panel contains the content in a primary language (eg. English, Spanish or Mandarin). The third panel is a wiki, which allows any user to add content or change/edit content already in that box. Each country or region translates and localizes the 3rd panel in real time. Since the original content stays on the screen, subsequent readers can update, correct or improve the content or context. There could be a centralized desk that edits it, but in the right organization, it would be self-healing. An interesting shift in how content goes global at the speed of business.

Upcoming MASIE Center Events:
* Learning 2005: Oct 30 to Nov 2 - Orlando
* Extreme Learning: July 2005 - Saratoga Springs
Information & registration at http://www.masie.com

316 - Duration of Classes Decreasing; Blogs & Wikis in Learning

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - May 17, 2005.
#316 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
50,291 Readers - www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
Host of Learning 2005: Oct 30 - Nov 2 - Orlando, Florida.

1. Duration of Classes and Courses Decreasing.
2. Blogs and Wikis in Learning.
3. Be a Learner (and a Reader) at Learning 2005.

1. Duration of Classes and Courses Decreasing: The length of corporate classes is dropping dramatically! Over the past year, I have been conducting a survey of thousands training and learning directors attending the national conferences or user group events where I keynoted, checking on key trends:

* Five day programs are being evolved to three day programs, often with some on-line elements.
* Three day programs are being shortened to one day programs.
* One day programs are being pushed to live webclasses or 1/2 day classes.
* Reasons range from the speed of business, manager reluctance to lose employee for a long duration, employee frustration at being away from flow of work process and increased confidence in e-Learning and web seminars.
* Exceptions can be found in: Senior Executive Training, Certification Programs and Quality Courses (eg. Lean Manufacturing or Six-Sigma), but these are also being shortened in many organizations.

2. Blogs and Wikis in Learning: We are seeing more and more interest in the use of Blogs and Wikis as a collaborative and content component of learning offerings. If you want a good primer on the world of Blogs and Wikis, check out the recent great article of Business Week. They wrote the entire article in a Blog format:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_18/b3931001_mz001.htm

Here are a few ways in which The MASIE Center sees Blogs and Wikis impacting the learning world:

* Instructor Blogs to offer a more dynamic and personal perspective on the teacher's expertise and view of the context.
* Wiki Handouts that are launched by the instructor or instructional designer and then evolved by the various learners in the classroom or on-line programs.
* RSS Feeds from Blogs and Wikis that are linked to Compliance subjects. As the content changes, the learner receives a RSS feed linking them back to the Blog to receive an update and even take a Compliance Re-Check.
* Context Rich Wikis which are used as ways of making the role of Subject Matter Experts easier and more time efficient.

3. Be a Learner (and a Reader) at Learning 2005: A quick update on Learning 2005, our new event to be held in Orlando October 30 to November 2. We are building activities that will allow you to be an active learner at this very different event. These include two very cool ideas that came from TRENDS readers from around the world:

* Learning Zone: We are creating a space at Learning 2005 where you can learn something new and re-experience the role of learner. The topics will range from an artistic challenge (eg. pottery), mechanics (eg. changing oil in a car) or academic topics (eg. comparative religion). The goal is to have you spend an hour or two being a learner. This will be fun, interesting and also provide a basis for talking about what learners experience. The topics will be both classroom, self-service and simulation based.
* Learning 2005 Book Club: There will be five books in our first Learning 2005 Book Club. The goal is to provide you the option of reading one or more of these books and then sitting in our Cafes and talking about the implications for the field of Learning. One of the books that I have nominated is The World is Flat. We would love to get some of your nominations. Can you send me a title or two to emasie@masie.com

There are already 715 people registered for this event. We invite you to take advantage of the early registration discount. Go to http://www.learning2005.com for details.

Upcoming MASIE Center Events and Services:
* Extreme Learning Lab: We have added a second Extreme Lab from July 11-13, as the first one filled up rapidly. Go to http://www.masie.com for details and registration.

315 - Reflections on a Same Digit Birthday

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - May 13, 2005.
#315 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
50,287 Readers - www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
Host of Learning 2005: Oct 30 - Nov 2 - Orlando, Florida

Reflections on a Same Digit Birthday

Pardon a few words of personal "blogging" as I celebrate a very enjoyable birthday. The birthday calendar turns 55 today for me and for some reason I have always loved same digit birthdays (11, 22, 33, 44 and now 55).

The day started out with a Learning gift from my wife. I have always
wanted to learn how to ride a Zamboni, that cool vehicle that slides over and smooth out the ice. I can't wait to learn how to make it take a controlled skid.

And, there are some great things that I am looking forward to in the next few decades of the Learning world:

* Evolution of our "field" from a focus on training and delivery to true impacts on business processes and a much more personalized access to knowledge and learning.

* Increasing the intensity of learning experiences. From newer models of classroom engagement to adding the power of gaming and simulation to the learning process.

* Globalizing our awareness of knowledge and learning. Let's incorporate the learning widsom of our international colleagues

* Let's add elders and brand new hires to our learning departments and listen carefully to their perspectives.

Personally, I feel great at 55. Learning every day is a blast. I have the honor of hearing from hundreds of TRENDS readers with ideas, best practices and professionals learnings. I am so excited about the new, out of box event that we are organizing, Learning 2005. And, to celebrate my birthday, I gave the staff at the MASIE Center the day off. (Which means that I can take more of it off myself).

So, off I go to New Orleans to play on my same digit birthday. Thanks for listening and thanks for being my colleague.

Yours in learning,


Elliott
emasie@masie.com

314 - Syndicating Content and Games for Non-Gamers

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - May 2, 2005.
#314 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
50,247 Readers - www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
Host of Learning 2005: Oct 30 - Nov 2 - Orlando, Florida.

1. Syndicating Content - TRENDS via RSS.
2. Games For Non-Gamers.
3. Learning 2005: Some Updates.

1. Syndicating Content - TRENDS via RSS: The MASIE Center is convinced that one of the major forces that will impact the creation and use of Learning content will be Syndication and Aggregation. Syndicating Content will be explored in several of our future TRENDS articles. But, let's start with a small example and working demonstration.

You can take content that is published on a website or a blog and authorize it for easy syndication. The content will be in XML format and the phrase that describe its readiness for syndication is RSS. Imagine if you could basically subscribe to any number of content places (sites, blogs, collections or wikis) that were of interest to you -- and when any changes were made to those sites the actual content flowed to you.

It would flow into a RSS Reader, a special webpage or even into your email program like Outlook. This would create automatic updates and feeds of learning or knowledge content. We think that this is a provocative element in the evolution of the world of content distribution.

You can experiment with it by using our new Feed of Learning Trends. You can view the archive of Learning TRENDS articles at http://trends.masie.com But, more interestingly, go get one of free RSS readers like http://www.rssreader.com and install it and then use the SUBSCRIBE feature to point to http://trends.masie.com/index.rdf

We will explore new models of using Content Syndication over the next few months in Learning TRENDS. Stay tuned.

2. Games For Non-Gamers: I spent several hours on Saturday shopping for new games for my Sony Portable Playstation. I was struck by how limited the vision was of the gaming industry. The bulk of the games were aimed at people who loved Sports, Racing or Battles. None of these really rock my boat. Yet, I would spend serious money for games that were more intellectually focused, aimed at business challenges, real world simulations, political conflicts or even shopping for a good deal on a product.

As gaming grows and as we explore how Gaming for Learning may play a part in our knowledge chain, I hope the game developers and investors understand the HUGE market that resides outside of the traditional younger male focused games. Think of the types of games that would appeal to senior citizens, women and other underserved, high spending populations.

3. Learning 2005 - Some Updates: We have been hard at work on the design and development of our new event, Learning 2005, which will be held in Orlando, Florida from October 28 to November 2nd. We already have almost 600 registrations and are building a wide range of new content and activities for this "UN-CONFERENCE". Here are a few highlights:

* Profiles in Learning: Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former Lt. Governor of Maryland and daughter of Robert Kennedy, will lead a section focused on how successful and famous leaders approach learning. Modeled after the "Profiles in Courage" book by her uncle, she will conduct interviews (live and video) with a range of leaders on their personal approaches to learning.

* Across The River: Shared Lessons from Higher Education & Corporate Learning: Frank Mayadas, Director of the Sloan Foundation's Consortium of higher education institutions, will explore how Corporate Training and Higher Education On-Line Learning efforts can share best practices, research and methodologies.

* Health/Medicine/Pharma Learning Community: My friend and colleague, John Abele, the founder and Chairman of Boston Scientific, has agreed to head this Learning Community that will look at how employee and patient education will take place in the wide world of health care. This is just one of dozens of Learning Communities that you can join at Learning 2005.

* Learning Posters: There will be hundreds of Learning Posters at the event. Every participating organization can create a simple poster that is a case study of a method, approach, technology, need or even a failed project in Learning.

* Extreme Learning Lab: We will build a huge Extreme Learning Lab at the event for you to explore gaming, simulation, mobile, wireless and other new models of workplace learning.

* New Models for Leadership Development: We are going to take a fresh look at how leaders are grown and retained in our organizations. Starting with a clean slate, groups of your colleagues will create and debate new models of leadership development.

We invite you to take advantage of our Early Registration rates for Learning 2005. Go to the website at: http://www.learning2005.com for information and on-line registration

Upcoming MASIE Center Events:
* Extreme Learning Lab - June - Saratoga Springs, NY
* Learning 2005 - Orlando, Florida
Info at http://www.masie.com