A scenic day at Al Asad Airbase, Iraq 2006
My selection of the following feeds was based on my past, present and, hopefully, future roles within a "corporate" training environment. I am not a teacher by trade, but have been exposed to a number of training environments within the military, the legal sector and law enforcement. I believe each of these feeds would be pertinent to me no matter what arena I should find myself.
1. Adult Education Quarterly
This feed provides articles and book reviews on the current trends in Adult Learning. I chose this feed because of its broad focus, covering issues across physical, gender, and age boundaries. Most of the students I encounter are above the age of consent and have a knowledge base beyond what is taught in the traditional classroom. I'm hoping to gain some insight on what makes teaching to an older audience so much more different or similar to teaching to a younger audience by following this feed.
2. American Society for Training and Development (ASTD)
In another life I worked for a law firm which was a member of ASTD and had the opportunity to sit in on some of their seminars on new technology tools within the legal field. As a Training Coordinator, this was a hot button item as my department would be responsible for rolling out whatever new software, update or system came out. This feed/organization is not exclusive to the legal community, its focus is on workplace training and performance so this is a great addition to my arsenal no matter what field I'm in.
3.eLearning Technology
I really enjoy this feed! It provides a one-stop shop for all things eLearning. Predictions about what features are slowly dying off and which ones are taking off are just a sample of what this feed provides. There are also articles regarding how to best serve your audience and what tools work best in specific areas. It takes an unbiased look at everything that's popular, not just one certain brand or company.
4.Online Training, Learning Management System, Blog. Litmos
Litmos is a Learning Management System (LMS) which provides eLearning. This feed talks about the great features of Litmos but also reviews other eLearning tools such as Articulate and Adobe Captivate. I chose this feed to get a foothold in the LMS arena, how to develop courses, to see what upgrades are available. LMS's will always be an enigma to me, it's the Rubic's cube that I must solve. Hopefully I'll be able to stay fresh with what's new in this field.
5. Virtual Environments
Last but not least, I chose a feed dealing with Virtual Environments as this type of platform is always lurking over the horizon but, in my opinion, hasn't gotten the attention or respect in the training world that it deserves. This feed looks at sites like Second Life and its role in education. Can students learn in a "game" world? Of course, and as a Soldier, I'm learning that this type of training will become commonplace in the military. Leaders are starting to pick up on the fact that current and future service members are the products of a gaming society which may change the total future of what we know as war.
Hi Dawn,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post on the different feeds that you can incorporate into your future of training. I particularly enjoyed your posting on Virtual Environments. I was new to virtual environments before I started this program. I have grown to really enjoy Second Life and feel that this tool can really take education to a new level. With students being emerged with technology at young ages, there are plenty of opportunities for them to grown and prosper from this application. Adults can benefit form it as well. With the use of Social Environments, adult learning can be fun and interactive. I know that I enjoy it!!!