What did you learn this year?

This has been my first whole school year working as a District Instructional Technologist for the Winston-Salem, Forsyth County school district. I enjoy learning about and sharing instructional resources with teachers on a regular basis. There are times when my excitement about learning something new can be a bit overwhelming for those around me. I write blog posts for several blogs sharing what I learn and when I figure out how to do different things with the tools/sites I learned about previously. I like to share tidbits of information in tweets on Twitter (I like to retweet great ideas and opportunities for learning as well). Talking to teachers in groups and even one-on-one conversations (using Skype or face-to-face) are also ways that I enjoy sharing the things I have learned.

Steven W. Anderson (@web20classroom on twitter) and I have been recording a weekly podcast (WSFCS DIT Unplugged) this school year sharing things we have learned about instructional technology, sites we like, things we have found on twitter, and having special guests speak about their individual projects. Since the schools in our school system get out for the summer this week, we are going to move to a summer schedule for our podcasts (maybe every other week instead of each week).

In Episode 20 of our Instructional Technology Podcast, all the members of the WSFCS Instructional Technology Department shared the best thing we learned this year.(We post the podcasts on a podcast page from our SchoolWires Website that all WSFCS teachers could do too) Now several of us had a difficult time picking just one. I challenge you to listen to what we have learned and think about what you have learned. If you hear something you would like to know more about, we would be glad to help you learn more about it. You could even go check it out yourself.

Please leave a comment about what you think is the best thing you have learned about this year ... I will even let you choose more than one thing!

Just remember, you don't have to stop learning just because it is summer. If you have heard about something that you would like to know more about, use some time this summer to go out and learn more about it!

image created using Wordle.net with words from this blog post

Ambient-Learning Project

What if you could learn anything, anytime and anywhere? How about being provided information tailored to your interest and needs? What would be the business potential of context-sensitive information being provided to the consumer?

Many people recognize the personal and social benefits of lifelong learning but because of family commitments and lack of time very few people pursue lifelong learning. The Ambient-Learning Project looked at those obstacles to lifelong learning and decided their main objective would be to provide easy-to-use eLearning services providing people anytime, anywhere access that was personalized with high quality learning content. In order to validate the marketability of the Ambient Learning service four European regions were chosen – Italy, Germany, Greece and the UK.

Here is a basic outline of the project taken from the Ambient-Learning Project: http://www.ambientlearning.net/ambient/download/Files/AMBIENT_LEARNING_FINAL_REPORT.pdf

Users created a profile and chose areas of interests centered on their work or areas of interests. Any information available that pertained to those interests was made available to the user. Here’s an example – the user is in their office reading a document but doesn’t have time to finish, the user can request an audio version of that document. The user can then access the audio version of that document through a Smartphone, MP3-compatible device or mobile phone and continue the document as they are driving or moving about. Upon returning to the office the user will again access the document online and can now add notes to the document.

This is just a basic overview of the project and the possibilities for eLearning and lifelong learning for adults. At the end of the project users were given a questionnaire and one of the responses was: “E-Learning is the wrong term to sell the system . . . Personalized Management Information System is better.”

As the content and delivery of education changes I found myself thinking about all the possibilities and ways students will be learning in the future. Personalized Education for all students, all interests and all needs – provided anytime, anywhere, in written, visual and/or audio formats - is this possible? As I do an online search for 21st Century Learning, technology in education, eSchool News online, George Lucas Educational Foundation (Edutopia) or E-Learning for kids and many other sites I find some of the possibilities for how students are learning now and will be learning in the future. I think it’s an exciting time in technology and education and I’m glad to be a part of this future for all students and education.

To read more about the Ambient-Learning Project to see how the future of information can be tailored and personalized check out their site: http://www.ambientlearning.net/ambient/.