‘Mirror neurons’ track thoughts and intentions
This finding gives more reason for designing learning based on eliciting different perspectives and opinions. Guess that's why blogs are so 'mentally' engaging.
In research published in PLoS Biology, scientists led by Marco Iacoboni discovered that the brain's "mirror neurons" are active when we are trying to work out other people's thoughts and intentions.
'Mirror neurons' are a set of cells in the frontal lobe of the brain, named because as well as being active when we execute actions, they are also active when we observe the actions of someone else.
They discovered that part of the activity in the 'mirror neuron' system was specifically related to perceiving intentions, rather than watching actions in general.
Add tag Permalink | Wednesday, February 23, 2005
University of Phoenix puts technology at learning’s forefront
A behind the scenes look at how University of Phoenix uses simulations:
"... the university’s online simulations ask students to make decisions based on information provided to them in the simulation and on the knowledge they’ve gained through reading assignments and group electronic discussions. Each simulation has several pages of background information on a potential problem, often includes software that analyzes the potential effects of a student’s decisions, and walks students through a discussion of their decisions."
[thanks Stephen Downes]
Add tag Permalink | Wednesday, February 23, 2005
100 most influential works in cognitive science
The Center for Cognitive Sciences at the University of Minnesota has voted on the 100 most influential works in cognitive science from the 20th century.
[thanks Mind Hacks]
Add tag Permalink | Tuesday, February 22, 2005
KM as a Framework for Managing Knowledge Assets
Nice points on KM:
"To successfully understand and manage knowledge in an organization, we need to have a fundamental grasp of an organization’s origins and intent. Why it was founded and what it was supposed to achieve. What are the inputs and what is the planned output? Only humans can communicate those ideas that are the foundation for an organization. Ideas are clearly rooted in the knowledge of the founder. We can all agree that without ideas and the means to communicate, a founder’s knowledge could not be used or useful to an organization."
[thanks ColumnTwo]
knowledge management Add tag Permalink | Tuesday, February 22, 2005
BlogPulse on Tsunami Crisis
Intelliseek's BlogPulse has done some neat analytical work on how blogs covered the tsunami crisis. Some neat insights here.
Add tag Permalink | Monday, February 21, 2005
On Maneuvers With the Army’s Game Squad
This is true empathic design:
"America's Army, a video game developed as a Pentagon recruiting tool, has gained an avid following. Now the Army has put the game developers through a boot camp to acquaint them better with the soldier's world."
Add tag Permalink | Thursday, February 17, 2005
Improving Learning Through Understanding of Brain Science Research
I started reading Steven Johnson's Mind Wide Open. It's a wonderful book on the 'neuroscience of everyday life'. Johnson main objective in writing this book is to help us discover our inner-self by using neurofeedback gadgets like the one used to measure attention and focus. While reading these chapters I wondered about the value of neurofeedback in teaching and learning. And as the serendipity of the blogosphere would have it, George Siemens links to this paper which which talks about improving learning using brain science principles. Wonderful. Just perfect.
research, neuroscience Add tag Permalink | Thursday, February 17, 2005
A Problem Shared Is a Problem Solved
Nice thoughts on open-source innovation:- Innovation is not a department. Make sure it's job number 1 for everyone.
- Bring back the company suggestion box, but make it virtual and transparent.
- Don't just ask for ideas, clearly formulate the problem, and then ask for solutions.
- Seek out and attract enthusiasts for your product and collaborate with them.
- Give away your product for free to people that might help you to improve it.
innovation Add tag Permalink | Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Right before Your Eyes: Visual Recognition Begins with Categorization
This is a cool finding:"Take a moment and look at a picture near you. What did you see? How long did it take you to understand what was in the image, meaning how long did it take you to realize the green blob was a tree? Or that the orange circle was a piece of fruit? Most likely you assume that it took you no time at all, you just knew. Psychologists who study how we perceive images used to think that, before the process of object recognition and categorization could begin, the brain must first separate the figure in the imageAdd tag Permalink | Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Brute Force for Brain Teasers
This sounds like fun..."Clues to the first-ever national treasure hunt for $1 million in jewels are cleverly hidden in the pages of A Treasure's Trove a classically-written fairy tale by Michael Stadther... The tokens have been hidden throughout the continental USA in 12 separate locations, one located not more than a day's drive from where you live."Wired magazine reports that many are going online to solve the puzzle and are loving it there."Not everyone has the ability to physically participate in such a demanding nationwide search, but the book and the internet very easily allow them from almost anywhere in the world to mentally connect to this idea, to this excitement, and be a real part of the adventure and hype surrounding it."Add tag Permalink | Wednesday, February 16, 2005
A Theory of Fun for Game Design
Following a recommendation by Michael Feldstein I bought Raph Koster's A Theory of Fun for Game Design. It's a wonderful little book that opened up a fertile thinking ground for me. I agree with Michael that this book gives you more insights into the psychology of learning than on the mechanics of games. I recommend this book to every learning designer. HereAdd tag Permalink | Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Learning Organizations
I followed a link by George Siemens to this paper on Peter Senge's principles of the learning organization. It has a nice description of mental models and shows why they are so important.Add tag Permalink | Tuesday, February 15, 2005
The future is not in learning…
"The future is in how fast you are at unlearning." Cool stuff from this blog: Creating Passionate Users.
Add tag Permalink | Friday, February 11, 2005
How to Manage Smart People
"After spending nine years at Microsoft managing some of the smartest people in the world, Scott has a few tips to share on the art of managing the best."
Add tag Permalink | Friday, February 11, 2005
From ivory tower to academic sweatshop
This is a fascinating account of the fears, uncertainties and doubts around distance education.
Add tag Permalink | Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Steal this bookmark!
Salon on social tags, a.k.a folksonomies. Same stuff, different perspective.
Add tag Permalink | Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Mind/Brain Learning Principles
Here are 12 learning principles involving the brain and learning. These can also be viewed as design principles. Here's one on the importance of the social aspect in learning.
"It is now clear that throughout our lives, our brain/minds change in response to their engagement with others - so much so that individuals must always be seen to be integral parts of larger social systems. Indeed, part of our identity depends on establishing community and finding ways to belong. Learning, therefore, is profoundly influenced by the nature of the social relationships within which people find themselves."Add tag Permalink | Monday, February 07, 2005
KM and Skimming
This is an interesting quote by David Weinberger and is presented in a KM context (the article is actually on Podcasting).
"This is a problem with many—nay, most—KM systems. They're devoted to the art of skimming. It starts at the system level: There is soooo much information in an organization that we should be able to skim it and present the cream. Then we should present the cream itself in skimmable form: I can check my KM portal and check the day's developments in mere seconds. If I see a headline that looks interesting, I can open it up and then skim the contents. Skimming is obviously hugely important. But sometimes you should swim, not just skate on the surface."knowledge management Add tag Permalink | Monday, February 07, 2005
Is Instructional Video Game an Oxymoron?
This NY Times article is about the rise of online instructional games "that public interest organizations, advocacy groups and government agencies say have become the best way to reach a generation of children and teenagers weaned on video games and the Web."
Interestingly, thanks to Educational Games Don’t Have to Stink!, I realize that the games mentioned in this article don't really 'teach', they just help to illustrate ideas.
instructional design Add tag Permalink | Friday, February 04, 2005
Senses special: The art of seeing without sight
This is a fascinating story of a man who is blind since birth but can draw and 'see' just like sighted people. The author proposes that our senses are more plastic than previously thought -- what information we interpret from our senses really depends on which senses we engage.
Add tag Permalink | Friday, February 04, 2005
Battle Lessons
This is interesting account of the nature of decision making by US soldiers in Iraq. Specifically it is about the change in the nature of learning, from being reactive to being proactive.
[BEFORE] The Army had so loaded training schedules with doctrinaire requirements and standardized procedures that unit commanders had no time—or need—to think for themselves. The service was encouraging “reactive instead of proactive thought, compliance instead of creativity, and adherence instead of audacity,” Wong wrote in his report. As one captain put it to him, “They’re giving me the egg and telling me how to suck it...
[NOW] The younger officers have another advantage over their superiors: they grew up with the Internet, and have created for themselves, in their spare time, a means of sharing with one another, online, information that the Army does not control. The 'slackers' in the junior-officer corps are turning out to be just what the Army needs in the chaos of Iraq. Instead of looking up to the Army for instructions, they are teaching themselves how to fight the war. The Army, to its credit, stays out of their way."[thanks blogkathleen]
instructional design Add tag Permalink | Friday, February 04, 2005
Educational Games Don’t Have to Stink!
Nice article on the misconceptions that link gameplay to teaching:
My heretical view is simply this: computer games don't teach. I think the idea that you can teach using computer games is based on a flawed analogy between gameplay and learning. Here's how the analogy goes. Players of games have to overcome obstacles in order to achieve victory. They do this by learning the weaknesses, or limitations, of the opponents they face. Similarly, students learn knowledge in order to pass tests. So learning a fact is equivalent to defeating an enemy, and passing a test is equivalent to achieving victory. And a great many educational games are created this way. This is a terrible way of learning! Why? Because in playing a game, the instant an enemy is dead, we forget him. We are only concerned with him for as long as it takes to beat him.
In short, it's my belief that games don't teach, they illustrate. That's an important distinction. Games are not useless in the educational process, but they're not good at teaching per se. Games are good at creating understanding of knowledge the student already has. And they're excellent at transforming abstract ideas into concrete experience. Games don't teach, but they can help people learn.Read the article for a list of suggestions for using games as teaching tools. [Caution: Irritating 'free' registration process awaits, if you are not a member already]. You can find more on gaming and learning here.
gaming Add tag Permalink | Thursday, February 03, 2005
Best Practices in E-learing
Stephen Downes points to this newsletter from the University of Calgary. Nice list of articles. But, where are the archives?
Add tag Permalink | Thursday, February 03, 2005
‘Zero intelligence’ trading closely mimics stock
This is so interesting:
A model that assumes stock market traders have zero intelligence has been found to mimic the behaviour of the London Stock Exchange very closely. However, the surprising result does not mean traders are actually just buying and selling at random, say researchers. Instead, it suggests that the movement of markets depend less on the strategic behaviour of traders and more on the structure and constraints of the trading system itself.[thanks UI Designer]
Add tag Permalink | Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Folksonomies Tap People Power
More on folksonomies:
"It's very much people tagging information so that they can come back to it themselves or so that others with the same vocabulary can find it."
True, but how many have the 'same' vocabulary?