Little ol’ me on a big, big stage Down Under

I am thrilled and humbled to share the news that I have accepted an invitation to speak at the 2015 EduTECH congress in Brisbane, AU, in June.

To say that I am floored and in a little bit of shock would be like describing Arthur C. Clarke as a guy who “wrote a little”.

This event is different from most L&D gatherings in that the speakers all use a TED-style format for their talks, and this is definitely terra incognita for me. So, I’m going to engage in a little ‘working out loud’ as I share some of my preparations and thoughts as I get ready for this “talk of a lifetime”.  That said, I am especially looking forward to meeting Ryan Tracey at this event, and hopefully Helen Blunden as well.

This kind of reward is not a singular one. I thank my friends, colleagues, my PLN, and my wife, for their support, encouragement, and inspiration. I will be standing on the shoulders of giants as I take that stage.

Brain Research on use of Smartphones

I came across this interesting article on the Toronto Star this morning.  Participants who used smartphones and more traditional mobile phones were compared using EEG (electroencephalogram).  The results were interesting, but researchers say that it’s far too early to tell if the changes observed are good or bad for us in the long run.

I wonder what the implications are for L&D and whether or not we should harness the changes without knowing the longer-term effects?

Enjoy the read!

http://www.thestar.com/life/2014/12/23/smartphone_usage_leads_to_different_brain_activity_study.html

 

New name, same goodness! Welcome, tom.spiglanin.com!

Tom Spiglanin

For those playing along at home…my friend and L&D colleague, Tom Spiglanin, has just launched his new domain name to go with his blog.

So, please go and visit tom.spiglanin.com. While you’re there, check out the story of John Andrew Rankin. He’s pretty cool, too.

A shout-out to Working out Loud!

Lots of changes and lots of updates, but the short version is that I’ve moved on from my engagement with the RCAF and I’m now working very close to home for a really great people services firm, Northern Lights Canada.

My big win this week was getting the OK from the CEO to engage in some #workoutloud and #showyourwork activities, so I can actively share some of the work I have going on. Leading and stewarding the transformation of Learning & Development is my major focus right now so I’m genuinely excited to shed some light on this work.

Watch this space for updates and examples of what’s going on behind the scenes on the first project: revamping the onboarding program for new hires.

Au clair de la Lune

Like many others, I was sad to learn of the passing of Neil Armstrong.

The Apollo missions and all they represented were a key part of my childhood, even as a Canadian. While I was only 14 months old when Apollo 11 touched down in the Sea of Tranquility, I remained captivated by the accomplishments of NASA and even the Soviet Space Program. Those were heady times, and I even remember watching the “handshake in space” live on TV.

Tonight as I look at a half moon still visible in the late summer sky, I think about those days when man walked the moon, and I’m saddened that we’ve not left Earth orbit for similar missions in the 40 years since.

Godspeed, Neil Armstrong. Your quiet courage and humble outlook were examples to us all. Tonight I give the moon a wink, just for you.

Simplifying Learning – From Jane Hart

This Mind map is from Jane’s June 4 chat about simplifying learning. Very interesting to explore and look at the things I’m already aware of as well as the ones that I need to take a much closer look at.

Sadly, I can’t get the map to embed properly, so the link will have to suffice.

iBooks2/iBook Author Update

It’s nice to know that even some of the tech giants can listen to post-launch reaction and make some adjustments on the fly.

Apple received some pretty scathing commentary from a lot of folks with regard to their seemingly restrictive EULA, namely the extortionate rather steep cut of each sold offering (30%), an apparent loss of author copyright, and the distribution limitation of any iBA output to the iTunes Store.  I even offered a few thoughts on the matter.

However, according to Mashable, there’s been a change afoot in the EULA.

In a nutshell, Apple has clarified the restrictions on distribution such that the only place you will find a .ibooks file is through iTunes.  Other output formats can be distributed elsewhere.  Oh yeah, and you don’t give up any of your rights as the author/creator.

It’s a start.  The still need to sort out their end/output file size and the cost of doing business with Apple, but I’m sure some folks are starting to breathe easier.

Guest Blog – OpenSesame

I’m very happy to share that I will be writing another guest blog for the good folks at OpenSesame.

This opportunity came about because of a Twitter exchange today. I saw a great list of recommendations for making your e-learning a “best seller”. The focus of the article was more about external efforts and I though that there was a good basis for similar recommendations for internally-developed resources.

Long story short, I’ll be putting my writing hat on and the good folks at OpenSesame will generously give me a space for my words yet again.

>A little dusty in here *koff, koff*

>

Well, after a very enlightening session on Personal Knowledge Management with Harold Jarche, he reminded me that getting all these ideas out of my head and – as someone said – “taking them for a spin” isn’t such a bad thing, so I’ll blow the dust off this blog and start plunking down some more ideas.

I dunno what I’ll talk about first, but if nothing else, I’ve taken the Defibrilator Paddles to this thing and can hopefully bring it back to life and get some of my various technical/industry/theoretical/educational/knowledge thoughts in order.