knowledge and Learning In The News - 6/24/2006

June 24, 2006

The Three Worlds of Knowledge - Learning Circuits
One of the most popular epistemology models (except in the behavioral sciences) is Sir Karl Popper's writtings on the Three Worlds of Knowledge. The knowledge/learning/management professions seem to prefer and stay within the realm of Michael Polanyi's concept of personal and tacit knowledge. However, Polanyi's epistemology is narrower and has a limited basis for understanding knowledge as compared to Popper’s work, which provides a broader epistemological foundation.

Why Minimal Guidance during Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching - Educational Psychologist
We are skilful in an area because our long-term memory contains huge amounts of information concerning the area. That information permits us to quickly recognize the characteristics of a situation and indicates to us, often unconsciously, what to do and when to do it.

What are knowledge behaviors - Knowledge Jolt with Jack
Behaviors associated with the idea of knowledge appearing in the interaction between people: sharing, helping, discussing, seeking, .... There are also knowledge behaviors aligned with the individual.

Knowledge-Based Economy Already Here? Academics wondering how much is too much theory - Ohmy News
The so-called "knowledge-based economy" would be a world of smart people, in smart jobs, doing smart things, in smart ways, for smart money, increasingly open to all rather than a few, according to researchers at the United Kingdom's Lancaster Institute of Advanced Studies.

Neuroscience Resources - elearnspace
A useful collection of neuroscience resources.

knowledge and Learning In The News - 6/20/2006

Eye movement, visual memory, and peanut butter sandwiches - Cognitive Daily
Experiments on change blindness have revealed striking limitations in visual memory. Yet new research shows that perhaps visual memory isn't as limited as once was thought.

The Weblog Project
The first open-source movie documentary about blogs and bloggers.

Colleges fail to tap training dollars - Columbus Dispatch
U.S. public and private em- ployers spend about $80 billion a year providing their employees with job-related training, Eduventures said. Private companies account for more than $50 billion of that, and spend about $13.3 billion on outside providers, it said. Colleges could meet the demand by customizing courses and marketing them more aggressively, Eduventures said.

Cubicle Culture: How brainstorming works best - Post Gazette
Some brainstorming sessions get off to a shaky start because the participants subscribe to a tenet that is provably false: "There's no such thing as a bad idea."

knowledge and Learning In The News - 6/13/2006

Gates: 'Information overload' is overblown - ZD Net
"I'd say in all of these cases, we are really dealing with information underload," Gates said in his talk, which kicked off Microsoft's annual CEO Summit. "We still want a lot of information."

On "Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism" By Jaron Lanier - Edge
When Jaron Lanier's piece on "Digital Maoism" first went out on Edge, I knew he'd be generating hundreds of responses all over the net. After talking to John Brockman, we decided to try to capture some of the best responses here.

Some Educators Fear Pull Results in 'a La Carte' Learning - Red Orbit
John Seely Brown, national consultant, co-founder of the Institute for Research on Learning and former chief scientist of Xerox Corporation, comments that, "Maybe the time has come to take a bold move and ask, could we radically rethink what schooling, formal learning and informal learning, could be all about."

Intranet 2.0: Collaboration, Self-Publishing And Tools Mash-up New Driving Forces - Robin Good
The internet is evolving from a channel for content distribution to a platform for collaboration, sharing and innovation – the so-called Web 2.0.

Intentions - The Sift Everything Expiriment
Creating art and creating dreams can be a long, tedious, intentional process. But both art and dreams require a set of intentions instead of a series of responses.

knowledge and Learning In The News - 6/11/2006

Connectivism and the nature of learning - Albert Ip
With the advent of communication and digital technology, we interact with more people beyond the immediate physical reach. We simultaneously participate in many communities.

The Art Of Motivation - Business Week
At Nucor the art of motivation is about an unblinking focus on the people on the front line of the business. It's about talking to them, listening to them, taking a risk on their ideas, and accepting the occasional failure.

Communities of practice: legitimate peripheral participation and lurking - Joitske Hulsebosch
Legitimate peripheral participation is an analytical perspective (LPP) that has to do with opening the practice to someone who is not a core member and who has something if not a lot to learn about the practice.

Wiki's -- Failure or Boon of Online Collectivism? - Will at Work Learning
My main concern with wiki's is that information from real experts can be stupified to the mediocre averaging of above-average minds.

The Next Big Thing: Spreadsheets? - Business Week
It's kind of funny that the original killer app for the PC is returning as a key service for the Web--by one of the guys who originated it, no less. Also, see Jay Cross' post on spreadsheets. And don't forget Dan Bricklin.

knowledge and Learning In The News - 6/04/2006

A Dialog with Thomas Gilbert - Learning Circuits
In the great cult of behavior, the appeal is to control or affect behavior in some way.

Reshaping Reality - Forbes
Reality is changing. Cheap, widely distributed bandwidth and advanced networking technologies are divorcing an ever-growing segment of the population from traditionally "real" constraints like geography and socio-economic status.

iWriter - Talking Panda
Incorporate text and audio files to create innovative learning programs.

Biased Myers-Briggs (MBTI) Research Wanted
CPP, Inc., known formerly as Consulting Psychologists Press, announces that it is offering research grants for research on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

DIGITAL MAOISM: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism
The problem is in the way the Wikipedia has come to be regarded and used; how it's been elevated to such importance so quickly. A core belief of the wiki world is that whatever problems exist in the wiki will be incrementally corrected as the process unfolds.