The Architecture of Actualization
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The past 30 years of online network activity has been built around content. In our physical lives, we only rarely construct our understanding of the world around content. Most of our understanding is constructed around people, places and shared experiences. We are extending the Internet, and more specifically the standards and technologies that we employ, to accomodate this constructivist model and it has broad implications around learning, work, play and identity.
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The Architecture of Actualization
- 2. The Architecture of Actualization Aaron E. Silvers, Advanced Distributed Learning June 3, 2010 Innovations in eLearning Symposium 2 / 41
- 3. What’s my problem? 3 / 41
- 4. What’s my problem? We’re stuck on metaphors older than millennials. 3 / 41
- 5. What’s my problem? Our metaphors aren’t particularly cuddly. 3 / 41
- 6. What’s my problem? We’re becoming less cuddly as a result. 3 / 41
- 7. What’s my problem? We should connect with each other online the way we want to connect with each other offline 3 / 41
- 8. The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great. 4 / 41
- 9. The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great. We are augmented with persistent access to info. 4 / 41
- 10. The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great. Virtual information sources are good, not great. 4 / 41
- 11. The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great. Automated, at-hand knowledge isn’t always and/ or exactly what we need. 4 / 41
- 12. The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great. We have opportunities to become better because/ in spite of technology. 4 / 41
- 13. My job? To reach out through friends, colleagues, collaborators, networks to help with people’s biggest learning tech challenges. 5 / 41
- 14. SCORM (maybe you heard of it?) 6 / 41
- 15. SCORM (like Hootie & the Blowfish?) 6 / 41
- 16. SCORM (I used AltaVista!) 6 / 41
- 17. SCORM (We stalked old friends on Classmates.com) 6 / 41
- 18. SCORM (Texting was only big in Europe) 6 / 41
- 19. SCORM (You could buy GPS units in Walmart, go figure!) 6 / 41
- 20. SCORM (GameCube FTW!!!!) 6 / 41
- 21. SCORM (People actually thought RealPlayer was decent!) 6 / 41
- 22. SCORM (Don’t get me started on the Newton) 6 / 41
- 23. My friend, Kristen 37 years-old, looking to reboot her career in learning technology, friend of mine for 20 years (Lord help her). 7 / 41
- 24. What will be useful for the next ten-to- twenty years? 8 / 41
- 25. 9 / 41
- 26. • Game Theory 9 / 41
- 27. • Game Theory • Computational Linguistics 9 / 41
- 28. • Game Theory • Computational Linguistics • General Semantics 9 / 41
- 29. • Game Theory • Computational Linguistics • General Semantics • Modeling & Simulation 9 / 41
- 30. • Game Theory • Computational Linguistics • General Semantics • Modeling & Simulation • Narrative Environments 9 / 41
- 31. • Game Theory • Computational Linguistics • General Semantics • Modeling & Simulation • Narrative Environments • Knowledge Space 9 / 41
- 32. • Game Theory • Computational Linguistics • General Semantics • Modeling & Simulation • Narrative Environments • Knowledge Space • Organizational Change 9 / 41
- 33. • Game Theory • Computational Linguistics • General Semantics • Modeling & Simulation • Narrative Environments • Knowledge Space • Organizational Change • Cultural Anthropology 9 / 41
- 34. 10 / 41
- 35. WTF? 10 / 41
- 36. Game Theory Unified Field Theory: Your success is dependent on other people’s successes. 11 / 41
- 37. Computational Linguistics Teach computers to communicate with people, because friendly software should listen and speak. 12 / 41
- 38. General Semantics “The map is not the field.” 13 / 41
- 39. Modeling & Simulation Models are simplified representations of actual systems intended to promote understanding. 14 / 41
- 40. Narrative Environments Tell stories that engage all senses of an audience. Use the experience to build better narratives. 15 / 41
- 41. Knowledge Space The possible states of what a learner knows. 16 / 41
- 42. Organizational Change Harness change to create, innovate and grow, balancing organizational strategy and social responsibility. 17 / 41
- 43. Cultural Anthropology Useful tools for inquiry and evaluation around knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, customs, habits. 18 / 41
- 44. These are onramps. There are other onramps to the next 20 years, too. 19 / 41
- 45. segue what about the whole fancy “Architecture of Actualization” title? 20 / 41
- 46. Architecture is a discipline that deals with design and construction of structures and environments with consideration for aesthetic effect. 21 / 41
- 47. Actualization, loosely defined, is the full realization of one’s potential. 22 / 41
- 48. People who self-actualize... 23 / 41
- 49. People who self-actualize... •Embrace reality and facts 23 / 41
- 50. People who self-actualize... •Embrace reality and facts •Are spontaneous 23 / 41
- 51. People who self-actualize... •Embrace reality and facts •Are spontaneous •Solve problems 23 / 41
- 52. People who self-actualize... •Embrace reality and facts •Are spontaneous •Solve problems •Accept and evaluate others, lacking prejudice. 23 / 41
- 53. 24 / 41
- 54. Doing stuff? Or getting stuff done? 24 / 41
- 55. 25 / 41
- 56. ^l Al 25 / 41
- 57. Social Learning is the learning evidenced from vicarious activity shared through near- peer relationships. 26 / 41
- 58. Inertia: people at rest stay at rest unless acted upon by other forces. 27 / 41
- 59. GPS for Learning Push vs. Pull 28 / 41
- 60. Metadata Breaks like peanut brittle, not as tasty and a lot harder. 29 / 41
- 61. Paradata describes how something is experienced by you. 30 / 41
- 62. Aggregations of paradata provide context. 31 / 41
- 63. Metaparadata is a link between you and what you’re looking for. 32 / 41
- 64. Metadata Paradata Context Metaparadata Describes An The link A capture of one aspect aggregation between you what a piece of how a of different and what of content is piece of pieces of you’re about. content is paradata. looking for. used. 33 / 41
- 65. GPS for Learning 34 / 41
- 66. GPS for Learning Without direction, we learn without purpose. 34 / 41
- 67. GPS for Learning People and tools will help nudge us. 34 / 41
- 68. Live tweeting is feedback that makes one pervasively aware of their performance. #GeneralSemantics 35 / 41
- 69. Trust #CulturalAnthropology 36 / 41
- 70. Trusted Brokers #OrganizationalChange 37 / 41
- 71. Near-peers are people who know a little bit more than me in a given Knowledge Space. 38 / 41
- 72. 39 / 41
- 73. Wrapping up... aaron.silvers.ctr@adlnet.gov @mrch0mp3rs notes.aaronsilvers.com 40 / 41
- 74. / 41
Editor's Notes
- I am going to spend the next hour engaging you in ideas I've pursued over the last year.  My goal is to recruit you to help in solving a large, but definable, problem space.
- We’ve spent over 30 years building our Internet, and wrapped human systems around abstract file structures. >>The desktop, file-system metaphors we’ve used have >>transformed how we learn and how we interact with each other to the extent that the online behaviors and customs for interacting and learning with/by/through each other are carrying through >>into offline everyday life.  I believe as people we inherently, maybe instinctively, interpret the world differently.  >>I believe we make sense of the world based on people, places and our shared experiences. There is a way to approach connectedness, through networks, that enables richer augmentation of our experiences and interactions in ways that enable us to learn and grow more holistically, but there is much work to do. [twitter]What’s my problem? We’re stuck on metaphors older than millennials. http://beard.it/42[/twitter]
- We’ve spent over 30 years building our Internet, and wrapped human systems around abstract file structures. >>The desktop, file-system metaphors we’ve used have >>transformed how we learn and how we interact with each other to the extent that the online behaviors and customs for interacting and learning with/by/through each other are carrying through >>into offline everyday life.  I believe as people we inherently, maybe instinctively, interpret the world differently.  >>I believe we make sense of the world based on people, places and our shared experiences. There is a way to approach connectedness, through networks, that enables richer augmentation of our experiences and interactions in ways that enable us to learn and grow more holistically, but there is much work to do. [twitter]What’s my problem? We’re stuck on metaphors older than millennials. http://beard.it/42[/twitter]
- We’ve spent over 30 years building our Internet, and wrapped human systems around abstract file structures. >>The desktop, file-system metaphors we’ve used have >>transformed how we learn and how we interact with each other to the extent that the online behaviors and customs for interacting and learning with/by/through each other are carrying through >>into offline everyday life.  I believe as people we inherently, maybe instinctively, interpret the world differently.  >>I believe we make sense of the world based on people, places and our shared experiences. There is a way to approach connectedness, through networks, that enables richer augmentation of our experiences and interactions in ways that enable us to learn and grow more holistically, but there is much work to do. [twitter]What’s my problem? We’re stuck on metaphors older than millennials. http://beard.it/42[/twitter]
- We’ve spent over 30 years building our Internet, and wrapped human systems around abstract file structures. >>The desktop, file-system metaphors we’ve used have >>transformed how we learn and how we interact with each other to the extent that the online behaviors and customs for interacting and learning with/by/through each other are carrying through >>into offline everyday life.  I believe as people we inherently, maybe instinctively, interpret the world differently.  >>I believe we make sense of the world based on people, places and our shared experiences. There is a way to approach connectedness, through networks, that enables richer augmentation of our experiences and interactions in ways that enable us to learn and grow more holistically, but there is much work to do. [twitter]What’s my problem? We’re stuck on metaphors older than millennials. http://beard.it/42[/twitter]
- We’ve spent over 30 years building our Internet, and wrapped human systems around abstract file structures. >>The desktop, file-system metaphors we’ve used have >>transformed how we learn and how we interact with each other to the extent that the online behaviors and customs for interacting and learning with/by/through each other are carrying through >>into offline everyday life.  I believe as people we inherently, maybe instinctively, interpret the world differently.  >>I believe we make sense of the world based on people, places and our shared experiences. There is a way to approach connectedness, through networks, that enables richer augmentation of our experiences and interactions in ways that enable us to learn and grow more holistically, but there is much work to do. [twitter]What’s my problem? We’re stuck on metaphors older than millennials. http://beard.it/42[/twitter]
- We’ve spent over 30 years building our Internet, and wrapped human systems around abstract file structures. >>The desktop, file-system metaphors we’ve used have >>transformed how we learn and how we interact with each other to the extent that the online behaviors and customs for interacting and learning with/by/through each other are carrying through >>into offline everyday life.  I believe as people we inherently, maybe instinctively, interpret the world differently.  >>I believe we make sense of the world based on people, places and our shared experiences. There is a way to approach connectedness, through networks, that enables richer augmentation of our experiences and interactions in ways that enable us to learn and grow more holistically, but there is much work to do. [twitter]What’s my problem? We’re stuck on metaphors older than millennials. http://beard.it/42[/twitter]
- We’ve spent over 30 years building our Internet, and wrapped human systems around abstract file structures. >>The desktop, file-system metaphors we’ve used have >>transformed how we learn and how we interact with each other to the extent that the online behaviors and customs for interacting and learning with/by/through each other are carrying through >>into offline everyday life.  I believe as people we inherently, maybe instinctively, interpret the world differently.  >>I believe we make sense of the world based on people, places and our shared experiences. There is a way to approach connectedness, through networks, that enables richer augmentation of our experiences and interactions in ways that enable us to learn and grow more holistically, but there is much work to do. [twitter]What’s my problem? We’re stuck on metaphors older than millennials. http://beard.it/42[/twitter]
- The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great.   How many of us have a cell phone with us right now? Raise your hand if you use your phone to search for information on the Internet? Please keep them up. Raise your hand if you use your phone to call or text someone to get information you need when/where you need it? This is what I mean by augmented people -- we are all augmented with tools and persistent access to virtual information that isn’t physically available to us. The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great.  >>Our virtual information is good, not great. Many of us assume that Google is good enough and are happy with what Google and other search engines provide, but "good enough" is not the same as "great."  >>It may be available and at our fingertips, but it's like fast food -- the information is certainly convenient, but it may not be the best information for our every concern; it's not necessarily what we need. I believe the needs we have are greater than any one of us, or any one group of us, can solve for.  >>Even if you're skeptical about the feasibility of accessing truly great, high quality knowledge, I have to believe we can and must strive for something better. I intend to share with you my thoughts about this problem space and the opportunities we have to become a better people because of (and concurrently in spite of) the technologies we leverage to work, play and learn.lay and learn. [twitter]The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great. http://beard.it/44 [/twitter]
- The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great.   How many of us have a cell phone with us right now? Raise your hand if you use your phone to search for information on the Internet? Please keep them up. Raise your hand if you use your phone to call or text someone to get information you need when/where you need it? This is what I mean by augmented people -- we are all augmented with tools and persistent access to virtual information that isn’t physically available to us. The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great.  >>Our virtual information is good, not great. Many of us assume that Google is good enough and are happy with what Google and other search engines provide, but "good enough" is not the same as "great."  >>It may be available and at our fingertips, but it's like fast food -- the information is certainly convenient, but it may not be the best information for our every concern; it's not necessarily what we need. I believe the needs we have are greater than any one of us, or any one group of us, can solve for.  >>Even if you're skeptical about the feasibility of accessing truly great, high quality knowledge, I have to believe we can and must strive for something better. I intend to share with you my thoughts about this problem space and the opportunities we have to become a better people because of (and concurrently in spite of) the technologies we leverage to work, play and learn.lay and learn. [twitter]The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great. http://beard.it/44 [/twitter]
- The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great.   How many of us have a cell phone with us right now? Raise your hand if you use your phone to search for information on the Internet? Please keep them up. Raise your hand if you use your phone to call or text someone to get information you need when/where you need it? This is what I mean by augmented people -- we are all augmented with tools and persistent access to virtual information that isn’t physically available to us. The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great.  >>Our virtual information is good, not great. Many of us assume that Google is good enough and are happy with what Google and other search engines provide, but "good enough" is not the same as "great."  >>It may be available and at our fingertips, but it's like fast food -- the information is certainly convenient, but it may not be the best information for our every concern; it's not necessarily what we need. I believe the needs we have are greater than any one of us, or any one group of us, can solve for.  >>Even if you're skeptical about the feasibility of accessing truly great, high quality knowledge, I have to believe we can and must strive for something better. I intend to share with you my thoughts about this problem space and the opportunities we have to become a better people because of (and concurrently in spite of) the technologies we leverage to work, play and learn.lay and learn. [twitter]The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great. http://beard.it/44 [/twitter]
- The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great.   How many of us have a cell phone with us right now? Raise your hand if you use your phone to search for information on the Internet? Please keep them up. Raise your hand if you use your phone to call or text someone to get information you need when/where you need it? This is what I mean by augmented people -- we are all augmented with tools and persistent access to virtual information that isn’t physically available to us. The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great.  >>Our virtual information is good, not great. Many of us assume that Google is good enough and are happy with what Google and other search engines provide, but "good enough" is not the same as "great."  >>It may be available and at our fingertips, but it's like fast food -- the information is certainly convenient, but it may not be the best information for our every concern; it's not necessarily what we need. I believe the needs we have are greater than any one of us, or any one group of us, can solve for.  >>Even if you're skeptical about the feasibility of accessing truly great, high quality knowledge, I have to believe we can and must strive for something better. I intend to share with you my thoughts about this problem space and the opportunities we have to become a better people because of (and concurrently in spite of) the technologies we leverage to work, play and learn.lay and learn. [twitter]The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great. http://beard.it/44 [/twitter]
- The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great.   How many of us have a cell phone with us right now? Raise your hand if you use your phone to search for information on the Internet? Please keep them up. Raise your hand if you use your phone to call or text someone to get information you need when/where you need it? This is what I mean by augmented people -- we are all augmented with tools and persistent access to virtual information that isn’t physically available to us. The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great.  >>Our virtual information is good, not great. Many of us assume that Google is good enough and are happy with what Google and other search engines provide, but "good enough" is not the same as "great."  >>It may be available and at our fingertips, but it's like fast food -- the information is certainly convenient, but it may not be the best information for our every concern; it's not necessarily what we need. I believe the needs we have are greater than any one of us, or any one group of us, can solve for.  >>Even if you're skeptical about the feasibility of accessing truly great, high quality knowledge, I have to believe we can and must strive for something better. I intend to share with you my thoughts about this problem space and the opportunities we have to become a better people because of (and concurrently in spite of) the technologies we leverage to work, play and learn.lay and learn. [twitter]The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great. http://beard.it/44 [/twitter]
- The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great.   How many of us have a cell phone with us right now? Raise your hand if you use your phone to search for information on the Internet? Please keep them up. Raise your hand if you use your phone to call or text someone to get information you need when/where you need it? This is what I mean by augmented people -- we are all augmented with tools and persistent access to virtual information that isn’t physically available to us. The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great.  >>Our virtual information is good, not great. Many of us assume that Google is good enough and are happy with what Google and other search engines provide, but "good enough" is not the same as "great."  >>It may be available and at our fingertips, but it's like fast food -- the information is certainly convenient, but it may not be the best information for our every concern; it's not necessarily what we need. I believe the needs we have are greater than any one of us, or any one group of us, can solve for.  >>Even if you're skeptical about the feasibility of accessing truly great, high quality knowledge, I have to believe we can and must strive for something better. I intend to share with you my thoughts about this problem space and the opportunities we have to become a better people because of (and concurrently in spite of) the technologies we leverage to work, play and learn.lay and learn. [twitter]The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great. http://beard.it/44 [/twitter]
- The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great.   How many of us have a cell phone with us right now? Raise your hand if you use your phone to search for information on the Internet? Please keep them up. Raise your hand if you use your phone to call or text someone to get information you need when/where you need it? This is what I mean by augmented people -- we are all augmented with tools and persistent access to virtual information that isn’t physically available to us. The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great.  >>Our virtual information is good, not great. Many of us assume that Google is good enough and are happy with what Google and other search engines provide, but "good enough" is not the same as "great."  >>It may be available and at our fingertips, but it's like fast food -- the information is certainly convenient, but it may not be the best information for our every concern; it's not necessarily what we need. I believe the needs we have are greater than any one of us, or any one group of us, can solve for.  >>Even if you're skeptical about the feasibility of accessing truly great, high quality knowledge, I have to believe we can and must strive for something better. I intend to share with you my thoughts about this problem space and the opportunities we have to become a better people because of (and concurrently in spite of) the technologies we leverage to work, play and learn.lay and learn. [twitter]The challenges we face as augmented people in an as-yet crudely augmented world are great. http://beard.it/44 [/twitter]
- A few weeks ago, a long-time friend of mine and I got into a discussion about my job. I work for Advanced Distributed Learning, which is an initiative out of the US Department of Defense, or DoD.  My job is to reach out across the Internet through a network of friends, colleagues and collaborators to help with people’s biggest challenges in terms of using technology for learning purposes.  It has taken me years of effort to cultivate my relationships and interests into this job.  It took dozens of people over the span of the last ten years to guide me on what I should read, what technologies I should try, what kinds of failures I should experience to reach this point. My coworkers and people like you who connect with me at events like this (and online) push me to become a better researcher, a better public servant and a better person. I am humbled that I have turned a career of making new friends and colleagues and sharing the cool things other people are doing into an actual job for an organization that wishes to both learn from the best practices of others and help advance those ideas as we might. [twitter]A little bit about my job. http://beard.it/46 [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- >> Clearly, the biggest outcome of ADL has been the technical work called SCORM, which you may have heard of. It was designed to solve a problem in the late 1990s, when there was no consistent way of getting learning content to work, technically, across different systems.  These web-based systems used custom approaches to track learners.  ADL helped to introduce standards into an emerging market for learning management systems, and helped broker the adoption by vendors and software developers. This was of primary use to the US Government -- and then was adopted by pretty much everyone else. SCORM today at its core is not very different from what it was in 2001. >> SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the late 90s, when the project began.  Many things about the Internet have changed since then.  It’s hard to imagine it now, but when SCORM first hit big, >> it was released into a world where Google was an upstart, >> where there were no social networks like Facebook or even MySpace.  >> It was a world without smartphones.  >> Unless you flew a high-end aircraft or sea vessel, there was no GPS.  >> It was a world without the Wii. >> There was no iPod, let alone iPhone, let alone iPad. >> And arguably, the most cutting edge mobile device was the Palm Pilot, which didn't connect easily to the Internet with it's monochrome LCD screen. [twitter]SCORM is an artifact of the Internet as it was in the 90s when the project began. http://beard.it/4a [/twitter]
- I don’t need to describe the world today for you, because we’re all living in it.  My friend, Kristen, is living in it, too.  She’s 37 years-old, she wants to be involved in the learning field and she’s willing to go back to school for a Master’s degree.  Kristen is a creative writer, but she’s one of my few friends from back in the day that gets what I'm saying when I talk about learning theories and technologies and standards. So, since she keeps up with my blogging and I drop ideas on her from time to time, she asked me what she should study if she were to go back to school in order to jump into our learning field that many of you are researching and building and working in already.
- I rattled off a list of possibilities to Kristen.  I told her that any one of these would be a gateway that would converge with other fields.  Some of the things I'll rattle off are things you can get a degree in. Others are specializations within psychology, education, computer science, mathematics, etc. This is not all-inclusive but was offered as a guide to the kinds of things I see as being useful in the next 10-to-20 years:
- These areas include >> Game Theory >> Computational Linguistics >> General Semantics  >> Modeling & Simulation >> Narrative Environments >> Knowledge Space >> Organizational Change >> Cultural Anthropology I gave my good friend of 20 years this list of possibilities.  I think any one of them would challenge her intellectually.   [twitter]Fields I think will be important for the next 10-20yrs for learning. http://beard.it/4h [/twitter]
- These areas include >> Game Theory >> Computational Linguistics >> General Semantics  >> Modeling & Simulation >> Narrative Environments >> Knowledge Space >> Organizational Change >> Cultural Anthropology I gave my good friend of 20 years this list of possibilities.  I think any one of them would challenge her intellectually.   [twitter]Fields I think will be important for the next 10-20yrs for learning. http://beard.it/4h [/twitter]
- These areas include >> Game Theory >> Computational Linguistics >> General Semantics  >> Modeling & Simulation >> Narrative Environments >> Knowledge Space >> Organizational Change >> Cultural Anthropology I gave my good friend of 20 years this list of possibilities.  I think any one of them would challenge her intellectually.   [twitter]Fields I think will be important for the next 10-20yrs for learning. http://beard.it/4h [/twitter]
- These areas include >> Game Theory >> Computational Linguistics >> General Semantics  >> Modeling & Simulation >> Narrative Environments >> Knowledge Space >> Organizational Change >> Cultural Anthropology I gave my good friend of 20 years this list of possibilities.  I think any one of them would challenge her intellectually.   [twitter]Fields I think will be important for the next 10-20yrs for learning. http://beard.it/4h [/twitter]
- These areas include >> Game Theory >> Computational Linguistics >> General Semantics  >> Modeling & Simulation >> Narrative Environments >> Knowledge Space >> Organizational Change >> Cultural Anthropology I gave my good friend of 20 years this list of possibilities.  I think any one of them would challenge her intellectually.   [twitter]Fields I think will be important for the next 10-20yrs for learning. http://beard.it/4h [/twitter]
- These areas include >> Game Theory >> Computational Linguistics >> General Semantics  >> Modeling & Simulation >> Narrative Environments >> Knowledge Space >> Organizational Change >> Cultural Anthropology I gave my good friend of 20 years this list of possibilities.  I think any one of them would challenge her intellectually.   [twitter]Fields I think will be important for the next 10-20yrs for learning. http://beard.it/4h [/twitter]
- These areas include >> Game Theory >> Computational Linguistics >> General Semantics  >> Modeling & Simulation >> Narrative Environments >> Knowledge Space >> Organizational Change >> Cultural Anthropology I gave my good friend of 20 years this list of possibilities.  I think any one of them would challenge her intellectually.   [twitter]Fields I think will be important for the next 10-20yrs for learning. http://beard.it/4h [/twitter]
- These areas include >> Game Theory >> Computational Linguistics >> General Semantics  >> Modeling & Simulation >> Narrative Environments >> Knowledge Space >> Organizational Change >> Cultural Anthropology I gave my good friend of 20 years this list of possibilities.  I think any one of them would challenge her intellectually.   [twitter]Fields I think will be important for the next 10-20yrs for learning. http://beard.it/4h [/twitter]
- After rattling off these topics late on a Thursday night after two pitchers of mojitos, Kristen looked at me much the same way you might be looking at me now.  She said to me, “Aaron, I don’t know what any of that means, and I certainly don't understand how they fit together.” So I broke down this list at a very high level.  Mind you, I’m not an expert in these fields. I read a lot and tools, like Evernote, to augment my memory and help make connections from one interest to another. I'm going to highlight the fields I mentioned and, suggest how they might converge.
- Game theory is applied to capture behavior where a person's success in making choices depends on the choices of others. Game theory used to apply mainly in scarcity models, which were competitions, i.e. one person does better at another's expense. Nowadays, Game Theory is expanded to include abundance models where one person’s success is dependent on another’s success. This kind of game theory is often talked about as another term, 'unified field' theory; it has a specific focus on social science, where 'social' doesn't mean Social Media so much as how interacts with other humans as well as NPCs: non-player characters, like computers, animals, robots, zombies, vikings, etc. [twitter]Game Theory: Success is dependent on the successes of others. http://beard.it/4i [/twitter]
- Computational Linguistics is like an overlap of cognitive science and artificial intelligence.  Human language is dynamic, which makes it exciting (if you’re a word nerd like me). If you like math, you could develop models that simulate certain aspects of language and implement them as computer programs. If you’re more into psychology, computational psycholinguistics examines cognitive processes that constitute human language use. This comes into play if you want to do language engineering. A reason we might want to teach computers to communicate with people, because friendly software should listen and speak as an interface for people. Having systems that understand humans and can talk to humans in more acceptable ways is a big help. [twitter]Computational Linguistics: CogSci meets AI. http://beard.it/4j [/twitter]
- General Semantics is a field created by Alfred Korzybski. Korzybski was Polish, and the majority of his work was developed prior to World War II. People who practice General Semantics work to avoid ideational traps built into their everyday assumptions.  The point of General Semantics is to develop a consciousness of abstraction -- an awareness of how information gets distorted (or disappears entirely) in the words and sentences we use.  The basic argument presented by General Semantics is that "the map is not the field." In other words, we use language to describe things in our lives but the language we use is in essence a metaphor, or substitution, for something that clearly exists. The more we focus on the language, the further detached we become from the things we describe. We become far more preoccupied or distracted by the communication and the differences in our descriptions, failing to recognize that we're often talking about the same things. [twitter]General Semantics: “The map is not the field.” http://beard.it/4k [/twitter]
- Modeling & Simulation arguably more approachable for people with a background in eLearning because we have some tools for making system simulations. As an applied field, we use Modeling & Simulation to develop an understanding of the interaction of the parts of a system and of a system as a whole.  Models are simplified representations of actual systems intended to promote understanding -- they’re all simplifications of reality so there’s a trade-off as to what levels of details are included.  Too many details and the model is too complicated and precludes the development of understanding; too few details and you risk missing relevant interactions, which also precludes understanding. Simulations are used to study the implications of defined interactions.  [twitter]Modeling & Simulation: simplified representations to promote understanding. http://beard.it/4l [/twitter]
- The field of Narrative Environments is another straightforward, interdisciplinary study for people who work to integrate objects, text, sound, images and film into spatial environments.  The purpose is, as the name would imply, to tell stories that engage all senses of an audience.  By creating and developing such environments for different applications, people who create Narrative Environments develop a critical aesthetic which, when examining and challenging the existing conventions, enables them to further refine own craft. [twitter]Narrative Environments: tell stories that engage all senses of an audience. http://beard.it/4m [/twitter]
- Knowledge Space is an interesting field in mathematical psychology. It describes the possible states of what a learner knows.  If I asked several experts how to fix the knocking in my car engine, I would ask them a sequence of simple questions and map their answers.  The range of their answers would define a “knowledge space” I could use to build a tutoring system.  To have a tutoring service that could talk “with” you instead of “to” you or “at” you is kinda interesting. [twitter]Knowledge Space: the possible states of what a learner knows. http://beard.it/4n [/twitter]
- Organizational Change overlaps business and education, focusing people on how to ethically lead and facilitate change in a wide-range of dynamic experiences.  I subscribe to the notion that change is constant and it’s unavoidable. Org Change people harness change as an opportunity to create, innovate and grow, balancing organizational strategies and social responsibilities.  When you are an instrument of change in an organization, a background in this field prepares you for a pervasive awareness that the ground on which your change efforts are built is dynamic, because the act of changing things also changes the environment in which you're based. [twitter]Org Change: harness change to create, innovate and grow. http://beard.it/4o [/twitter]
- Cultural Anthropology is the study of variation among people.  Anthropologists situate themselves into the population, even among the subjects of their fieldwork, performing observation, interview, surveys and other forms of research.  This focuses on things like knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, customs and other habits acquired by people as members of their society. Cultural Anthropologists are pretty cool because they have a set of tools for inquiry that I feel are really good for evaluation and reflection, which cultivates feedback that can drive cognitive growth. A key concept in Cultural Anthropology is the understanding that we cannot separate ourselves from the cultural context in which we form our own heuristics, our constructed understanding of how the world exists and functions. Cultural context -- this invariably influences how we experience and understand other cultures. Earlier I asserted that we inherently interpret the world differently because of technology. That's me sounding like a Cultural Anthropologist. [twitter]Cultural Anthropology: useful tools for inquiry and evaluation. http://beard.it/4p [/twitter]
- To sum it up, these are fields of study that I believe will be relevant for the next twenty years.  Twenty years. The next ten years will be building tools, systems and technical architectures that apply these fields and others, and the ten years after will be spent building a bridge to whatever happens as a result.   Now, to bring it back to my friend Kristen, she is not sure what she wants to do next in her career, and I offered her this list of possible fields of study because with her background in creative writing, her general ability to grasp the abstract and because she's not a techie; which means she's not going to build code. I wanted to nudge her, open her up to some possibilities, much like what I want to do for you today. I want to highlight possible onramps to get her, and by proxy, you on a road to the next twenty years.  No matter which onramp she chooses, I believe each path eventually converges onto the same road.
- Now, this is a good time to have a segue.  You may be wondering why the title of this talk is called the Architecture of Actualization, when I’ve spent the last twenty-plus minutes without any mention of architecture or actualization.
- Let’s address architecture, first.  Architecture is a discipline that deals with design and construction of structures and environments with consideration for aesthetic effect.  What I’ve shared with you so far today, are not just topics you can major in or ideas you can research.  They are pillars with which to build something that enable self and group actualization. [twitter]Architecture: deals with design + construction of structures/environments w/ consideration for effect. http://beard.it/4q [/twitter]
- Now, let’s talk a little bit about what actualization is, because that’s a pretty loaded word. Abraham Maslow and Kurt Goldstein talk about “self-actualization.” Maslow is arguably more well known and if you’ve heard this term before, you probably recognize it from the top of Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs.” It’s loosely defined as “the full realization of one’s potential.”  [twitter]Actualization, loosely defined, is the full realization of one’s potential. http://beard.it/4r [/twitter] An actual quote from Maslow highlights a part of Self-Actualization that is more nuanced and less talked about: “He possesses an unusual ability to detect the spurious, the fake, the dishonest in personality and in general judge the people correctly and efficiently...”
- In other words, people who “actualize” >> Embrace reality and facts >> Are spontaneous >> Solve problems >> Accept and evaluates others, lacking prejudice.
- In other words, people who “actualize” >> Embrace reality and facts >> Are spontaneous >> Solve problems >> Accept and evaluates others, lacking prejudice.
- In other words, people who “actualize” >> Embrace reality and facts >> Are spontaneous >> Solve problems >> Accept and evaluates others, lacking prejudice.
- In other words, people who “actualize” >> Embrace reality and facts >> Are spontaneous >> Solve problems >> Accept and evaluates others, lacking prejudice.
- If you’re into personal productivity, you're no doubt familiar with David Allen and GTD -- Getting Things Done. Well, I believe that people do stuff all the time, but people who “get things done” are actualizing.   There is plentiful research and study on self-actualization. Strangely, though, with all the interest around social networking and “social learning” there’s almost nothing I could find in the last year of doing active investigation on group actualization.  In other words, there’s support across multiple discourses for an individual to achieve their fullest potential, but there’s appears to be a lack of support for groups to achieve their fullest potential. [twitter]Does GTD = self-actualization? http://beard.it/4s[/twitter]
- The US Army used to advertise to me, “Be all you can be.”  But emergent patterns of behavior alone can’t make the US Army be all it can be as a group. >>So, how do we enable groups to actualize?  Earlier I mentioned to you that it took dozens of people to guide me on what I should read, what technologies I should try, what kinds of failures I should experience to reach this point in my career.  Through a lot of vicarious exchanges, people have helped me to learn and grow.  
- When people nudge you and help you along your cognitive growth, however informally, this is what I see as “social learning.”  More clearly, let me share a definition: [twitter]“Social Learning” is the learning evidenced from vicarious activity shared through near-peer relationships. http://beard.it/4t [/twitter] Now, let me share a personal example of social learning in this context.  I started out my career as a 7th & 8th grade Math and Drama teacher.  Back in 1997, I didn’t have a plan to be where I am today, working for ADL and speaking to you.  I was nudged onto this path without any real goals other than bringing home a salary that would support my wife and I.   In my first year of teaching, my mentor teacher told me that I was too ambitious to stay in teaching; that I needed to go back to school to do something else. Now, for some additional background on me, it took me five and a half years to get out of college with a BA in Elementary Education. I stumbled into it because teaching's just in my blood. My path to becoming a classroom teacher was pretty much the furthest from ambition I could get. So imagine how I took this statement from a mentor. All the work it took me just to become a teacher was just nullified, because I was told I should be doing something else. It wasn't something I wanted to hear, yet I trusted him to tell things to me straight, because he was my mentor.  So, I took his suggestion and enrolled at UW-Madison for a degree in Educational Communications and Technology. Quite frankly, without much more ambition than previously demonstrated, I thought it would be the easiest way to get a Master’s Degree.  I never expected to *use it*; I simply expected my pay as a teacher to improve. As I studied, I found myself drawn to the readings and the ideas presented.  The program taught me how to “think” in a different way -- a way that I have leaned on ever since. And once I started thinking in different ways than I had as a teacher, I realized that I couldn’t stay in the classroom much longer.  I had ideas that were bigger than my job could afford; bigger than my classroom. I had the encouragement of family and friends and peers and mentoring figures to pursue those big ideas.  Have I been lucky? Absolutely! This has been the story of my journey from job to job, waypoint to waypoint, until a year ago, when I finally realized what it was I was put on Earth to do.  As it turned out, all of my life’s experiences came into focus -- a bigger context in which every experience I had started to make sense. I could understand an implicit purpose that threaded things together.
- Sometimes, getting on (or getting back on) a path to reaching your biggest goal (or even figuring out what your biggest goal is), requires someone nudging you. Sometimes it requires a lot of nudging from people or sources you can trust, even if you don’t particularly like them.
- How many of you use some form of GPS to get around town, or to travel? GPS systems that guide us to where we want to go, physically.  While we use a GPS, we are all working very diligently to manage the growing amount of information around us already with pulling tools, like your phone; your GPS is largely a pushing tool. I instruct my GPS I want to get from point A to point B, but I don't want to compute the path myself. I want the tool to instruct me on where to go. So, too, is it with the notion of a GPS for learning.
- We pull on search engines to find “stuff” we think we’re looking for, but finding stuff depends on popularity and metadata.  Popularity, in terms of the number of links to a web page (this is crudely how Google’s “page rank” is determined); Metadata, in terms of some capture of what that page is actually about.  There are challenges that we often don’t think about with both of these dependencies.  Just because everybody else goes to a web page doesn’t mean it’s the right web page (this goes back to your mother nagging at you about if everyone jumped off a cliff would you).  Metadata, as anyone with experience in developing elearning can tell you, is brittle.  Metadata is brittle.  It is largely useful in a certain timeframe, and then it’s no longer useful without updating it.  Metadata, especially learning metadata, is incredibly burdensome, so even if it’s accurate at the time of capture, keeping it up to date is a gruesome, burdensome task. [twitter]Metadata is brittle. http://beard.it/4v [/twitter]
- Search engines are only starting to hint at the context of what you’re pulling.  Sites like Digg and Facebook are crude beginnings of collecting paradata. Paradata describes an aspect of how a piece of content is used.  It could be the physical location of where you used a piece of content.  It could be the rating of the content that you gave it (that’s a popular piece of paradata).  You might notice when you go to a page in Facebook, for example that it might list how many of your friends “like” that page -- the particular page is simply content, but the listing of all your friends who like that page is paradata. [twitter]Paradata: describes how something is experienced by you. http://beard.it/4w [/twitter]
- Putting all this paradata on a piece of content together would give you context.  It would describe the narrative environment of how content was used. There are links that can be made between what you’re looking for, and what you finally decide is what you’ve been looking for.  Those links are very important because it matches up a piece of content with the context of how you want to use it.  In order for the context to make sense to search engines, they need to know a bit about you and how you define things and search for things to make their search engines better. [twitter]Context is the aggregation of all the paradata you can collect on a given piece of content. http://beard.it/4x [/twitter]
- These linkages are a second-order of paradata -- they’re metaparadata.  This part becomes incredibly important because in order to guide you or direct you to what you’re looking for (or, in a learning sense, what you might need), these links between who you are, what you’re looking for and what turns out to be the right content have to be understood and abstracted to help other people find what they need, which may not necessarily be what they’re looking for. [twitter]Metaparadata: the link between you and what you’re looking for. http://beard.it/4y [/twitter]
- It’s important that you get the differences between metadata, paradata and metaparadata because we cannot build a GPS for learning without each of these concepts. The vocabulary, one more time… Metadata is a capture of what a piece of content is about, like a summary or overview with keywords. Paradata describes one aspect of how a piece of content is used. Context is an aggregation of different pieces of paradata, fully describing how content was used. Metaparadata is a capture of the link between you, what you're looking for and your evaluation of the content. [twitter]Metadata, Paradata, Context and Metaparadata - definitions: http://beard.it/4z [/twitter]
- More and more of us use GPS to navigate, spatially, from one location to another location.  In life, in our cognitive development, at any one point in our learning, we have opportunities to grow, but more and more of us face challenges in figuring out what to learn next.  If we know what we want to be when we grow up, we could use directions on how to get there.  If we don’t know what we want to be when we grow up, we need to at least get suggestions we can trust on what to learn next.   >> We’re all lifelong learners -- we’ve bought into this notion, but without any direction, we learn without purpose.   We need a GPS for learning; >> a system of people and tools that can help us individually and collectively surmise where we’re at, where we’ve been, and provide directions on the different paths we can go in and, if we can identify waypoints in our growth, take us on the paths that travel through there. [twitter]GPS for Learning: people and tools will help us get to where we want to go. http://beard.it/50 [/twitter]
- More and more of us use GPS to navigate, spatially, from one location to another location.  In life, in our cognitive development, at any one point in our learning, we have opportunities to grow, but more and more of us face challenges in figuring out what to learn next.  If we know what we want to be when we grow up, we could use directions on how to get there.  If we don’t know what we want to be when we grow up, we need to at least get suggestions we can trust on what to learn next.   >> We’re all lifelong learners -- we’ve bought into this notion, but without any direction, we learn without purpose.   We need a GPS for learning; >> a system of people and tools that can help us individually and collectively surmise where we’re at, where we’ve been, and provide directions on the different paths we can go in and, if we can identify waypoints in our growth, take us on the paths that travel through there. [twitter]GPS for Learning: people and tools will help us get to where we want to go. http://beard.it/50 [/twitter]
- More and more of us use GPS to navigate, spatially, from one location to another location.  In life, in our cognitive development, at any one point in our learning, we have opportunities to grow, but more and more of us face challenges in figuring out what to learn next.  If we know what we want to be when we grow up, we could use directions on how to get there.  If we don’t know what we want to be when we grow up, we need to at least get suggestions we can trust on what to learn next.   >> We’re all lifelong learners -- we’ve bought into this notion, but without any direction, we learn without purpose.   We need a GPS for learning; >> a system of people and tools that can help us individually and collectively surmise where we’re at, where we’ve been, and provide directions on the different paths we can go in and, if we can identify waypoints in our growth, take us on the paths that travel through there. [twitter]GPS for Learning: people and tools will help us get to where we want to go. http://beard.it/50 [/twitter]
- This is what I want your help with. We already have the people and the tools in place; the system that brings them together is just not at all refined.  I’m standing here in an audience of highly augmented people.  If you’re live-tweeting this talk, for example, your feedback could guide me in real time.  I could be pervasively aware of my performance and if I could make sense of the live tweets, I could adjust it to make this talk a better one. Your feedback, especially the constructive criticisms that might come across as harsh, would be especially instructive. That nudging by people like you is exactly what a learner/performer like me needs. I see a connection between Pervasive Awareness is related to General Semantics, which I mentioned earlier.  This is already with us, but for the most part such pervasive awareness either happens or it’s manufactured to happen. We want authenticity. [twitter]Pervasive Awareness: captures/exchanges information about/for users semi-autonomously. http://beard.it/51 [/twitter]
- Let’s say, though, that the notion of having a GPS for Learning strikes enough of a reaction in people to tweet about it, in this one channel that I’m looking at called Twitter.  For me to use that feedback constructively through Pervasive Awareness, there needs to be trust.  I don’t necessarily need to trust you to accept your criticism or feedback -- I need to trust that what you have to share is valid.  I need to trust that even critical feedback is being shared in a context that is helpful.  If Twitter was the only option for such real-time feedback, I would know who’s saying what.  Knowing who the sources of feedback are has a lot of uses, but there are other uses where we all might be better off if one or both of us didn’t know who was providing feedback.
- Consider, for a moment, how suggestion engines currently work.  Suggestion engines, which are at their core collaborative filtering systems, are the closest thing we have to the kind of system I’m talking about.  You create an account on Amazon or Facebook and once you get past your name and contact information, you’re immediately asked a bunch of questions.  If there was a network for learning, the initial profile you complete might address these questions: What are your interests? Who do you know? What do you know? What do you want to know? From such information, you could keep all your personal information (name, phone numbers, email addresses, location, etc) separated from the information in these bigger questions, and other, more specific questions could yield the opportunities for specific connections to people you might not know already, but whom you might benefit from their input.  You could attend a conference, and you might be interested in knowing who else in this hypothetical learning network is also attending the conference.  You might have an idea for a serious game, and you might want to know who at this conference could help you turn your idea into a reality. [twitter]Brokers: anonymize without loss of knowledge value and/or utility. http://beard.it/52 [/twitter]
- Trust in such a system would requires Knowledge Spaces to restate this feedback, to help anonymize it and maintain the context needed to connect me to others I could help, or could help me.  These are my near-peers: the people who know a little bit more than me in a domain of knowledge and can guide me to improve; they might also know a little bit less than me in other areas, and it provides me the opportunity to cement what I know by sharing what I know. Thus we develop together. [twitter]Near-peers: people who know a little bit more or less in a domain of knowledge. http://beard.it/53 [/twitter]
- Trust in such a system requires something else: ultimately, I think that people have to own the data they, themselves, create. Trust, personal, group and systemic accountability are key to making such a system work. I don't think this can be proprietary, though I do think proprietary networks can leverage such a system. My point is there have to be many ways to interface with a GPS for Learning network. The interfaces for such a system are more than just what’s appropriate for a computer or tablet device or smartphone; the interfaces could be games, simulations, augmented reality applications and virtual worlds as well as the social networks and content-heavy structures of the web we have today.  This is where the fields of modeling and simulation, game theory and narrative environments are very helpful.  These fields all have mathematical and linguistic hooks that can tie the information about us, the information we’re looking for and the ways we connect with them together.
- This idea of a GPS for Learning is but one possible outcome of combining these fields.  There are several ways the future can still evolve, and thus change how we will learn and exchange knowledge with each other.  There are other fields of study that might be helpful but haven’t been brought up today.  Again, my goal today was to recruit you to help in solving a very very large, but eventually definable, problem space.