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Learning 2005 - Recap

Looking back over last week's conference, I have mixed emotions. On one hand, I'm disappointed with the sessions. They either didn't live up to my expectations or were "old news" for me. (I realize the technology was new to a lot of people there, but I was also hoping for a few, more advanced sessions.)
Some of the discussions were great. My very last session, on Wednesday morning, was on Blogs & Wikis. While I was ahead of the curve as far as the topic, the discussion on incorporating blogs and wikis into the corporate world was still well run with many participants and viewpoints.
A lot of sessions, as I may have mentioned before, were frustrating because they were product ads in disguise. I made a point NOT to attend any sponsor-sessions. But other sessions, including case studies and perspectives, ended up being ads for products as well. I believe that the session summaries were not wholly accurate and were sort of misleading.
I was thrilled with the keynote speakers. I really enjoyed Bob Pike, Malcolm Gladwell, and Steven Johnson and carried away new knowledge. However, a good portion of the general sessions I found sort of uninteresting. (I did enjoy listening to the gentleman from NAM though.)
I wasn't the only one to be disappointed in the conference. I ran into a lot of people who were disappointed. For me, this was a huge investment. I'm a small business and there were a lot of other things I could have done with that $1000 + travel expenses. I was very personally invested in this conference and came out sad (especially based on all the pre-conference hype).
On the other hand, I met a lot of great people and had some fantastic conversations. I also am really looking forward to the use of the tools we've been given, including the IBM messenger, the social networking system, and most importantly, the wiki. There is a fantastic opportunity for networking and discussion within the next few months and I can't wait to participate.
I don't know if it's worth it for me to attend next year's conference. My money might be better spent on an ASTD conference instead. We'll see if I use what I learned. In the meantime, I'm already spouting information I learned from Bob Pike's session in my current training classes.

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Learning 2005 - Tuesday

I attended several sessions, including Outsourcing Custom Content (Working with Vendors) and Painless Podcasting.
I didn't really learn anything new in the Podcasting session, but it was still interesting. The Custom Content session was interesting because I got to hear the perspective of my clients. It was good to learn certain things. The suppliers in the room were pretty amazed. From what we could tell, no one in the room had ever had a good vendor experience, and that's pretty sad. There must be some pretty poor suppliers out there. I was sitting in the room between Trivantis, and RWD. Both companies I have worked for and from whom I learned my own methodologies. So I can at least vouch for the three of us.
The general session with Malcolm Gladwell was fantastic and he said some incredible things about how our environment shapes our decisions. Change the environment - change the behavior. Steve Johnson also returned to the stage as a wonderful foil for Malcolm. Although I do love Malcolm's books, I find myself referring more to Steve's book. I think I can just relate to him more, so he was definitely my favorite speaker.
I've been sort of disappointed as to how many of the non-sponsor sessions I've attended that have devolved into ads for one software product or another. In a way, I feel a little decieved. This is supposed to be a conference without the Exhibition Hall. Yet there is a whole lot of selling going on sort of undercover. I'm also disappointed with Elliott's own lack of support for small businesses. He has the wonderful Learning Consortium for large firms who can afford to pay the large fee. But for those of us who made a significant investment to come to this conference, and there are many, there is little to no support. I think it would be wonderful if the Masie Center sponsored a community of small businesses involved in eLearning.
Finally, I think someone needs to define Rapid Development. For me, and many folks I talked to, Rapid Development is 2 - 4 weeks. I was in at least one session where it was defined as 8 - 12 weeks. How nice that would be ...
I've met an incredible number of people (usually who have skipped out of sessions that devolved into advertisements) and had some fantastic conversations. MGM was also a blast, despite the rain. I highly recommend the Tower of Terror tonite.
On Wednesday there is one last session (I'm hoping to attend the session on Blogs and Wikis) and then the Closing Session.

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Learning 2005 - Monday

I am still trying to get my thoughts together and there may very well be another post today. I had to talk about a couple of things while they are still fresh in my sieve-like memory.  Don't worry - I'm taking tons of notes!
I went to an incredible session today by Bob Pike called Add Pizzazz to Classroom & eLearning. He never actually said that though. What was fantastic about this session is that we learned by experiencing as opposed to just hearing about the experiences. It was incredibly high-energy. I have many notes I need to transpose, but suffice it to say that I will be applying a lot of what I learned in my December training classes.
I was also incredibly impressed by Vice Admiral Moran, who recieved an award for the US Navy Training during the morning general session. He said some really thought-provoking things about training in both the military and corporations. Plus, he had an incredible stage presence. I would love to sit through one of his classes just to see his training style.
Elliott also brought on stage a gentleman from the Manufacturing Institute. I won't attempt to spell his name, as I'll get it wrong. He talked about, among other things, how Lean Manufacturing (Toyota Production System - TPS) is making a return. Just-in-time training is necessary, and TPS applies in many ways. As a student of TPS myself (I even try to apply it in my everyday life - it just makes sense), I readily agreed with what he had to say. I'm going to look into more details on applying TPS to Instructional Design.
So there are my thoughts - for the moment - on what I've seen so far. This afternoon I'm going to a session on AICC, or maybe simulations (I haven't decided - so many choices!), and we have the General Session. Steven Johnson is the guest at this next general session, and I just finished - and enjoyed - his book.

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Learning 2005 - Sunday

Well, I arrived at Learning 2005. I tried to take notes through the Opening Session, but to be honest, they lost me about halfway through and picked me back up at the end. It's all about attention span.
Here's what Elliott talked about:

• All the Radar Screen sessions (such as LMSs, Instructional Design, and so forth) will be broadcast via video on the Learning Wiki!
• We used the Learning Beam, which is a fascinating and scary piece of hardware. Fascinating because your class can interact with you, personalizing the learning experience based on your learner's needs. Scary because it can track who voted what, making privacy a very bit issue.
• Avery Learner (get it?) is a virtual animated head. He's live, though, so someone in that vast conference room was voicing the animated head. He is supposedly the ultimate learner and will pop up throughout the conference.
• No jargon. This conference is jargon-free, although I'll believe ti when I hear it.
• Extreme Learning is the focus of the conference. Extreme Learning recognizes that these are high velocity time. Everything happens fast - from content to development and delivery.  (Use PPT cautiously because it keeps you from personalizing the learning.) eLearning is now a traditional method of delivery. (Not sure if I agree with that.)
• Our tuition from this conference will help fund eLearning for Kids (links to come later) and the Tiger Woods Learning Center.
• There was an interview with a guy from Boston Scientific but it was rather long and dull for the opening night.
• Great band - the Porch Dogs. True Cajun sound from New Orleans.

That's the wrap-up from the Opening Session. See you tomorrow once the conference is in full swing! And if I get this much from just the Opening Session, imagine the brain overload and sheer information after a whole day ...

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Blogging @ Learning 2005

I'm sure I'll only be one of many. I'm not a fan of live-blogging (I always miss things when I try it), I will be posting nightly recaps of my adventures at Learning 2005, starting on Sunday night. I'll try to post not only some of the great knowledge I'll pick up, but also my thoughts and feelings on the whole experience. Since it's a different kind of conference, it deserves a different kind of recap. So watch for that Sunday night.
Every Learning 2005 post I create will have a Technorati tag in the bottom corner. If you want to read what other people are saying, you can click on it and view other blogs. I also recommend visiting del.icio.us to find more updates on the conference as it happens.

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Learning 2005 Blogs & Podcasts

Even if you don't have an opportunity to attend Learning 2005 in a few weeks, you can still access some of the content. Elliott Masie and The MASIE Center have several public, themed blogs with attached podcasts. Several of the Podcasts have associated PDFs to read instead of listen. (By the way, you don't need an iPod to listen to Podcasts. You only need a computer, a program such as Windows Media Player, and working speakers.)

Channel 1: Learning 2005 University
Channel 2: Learning Authors Interviews
Channel 3: Learning Rants, Raves, & Reflections
Channel 4: Learning Research Conversations
Channel 5: Learning Notes from Other Fields

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Learning 2005

This year seems to be about eLearning conferences. I have all but committed to attend Elliott Masie's Learning 2005 conference in Orlando this fall. As far as conferences go, I'm rather fascinated by the format. There is to be no Expo (no vendors!) and no true seminars. Everything is learn by doing. It also tackles not just eLearning, but instructor-led training and blended learning, as well as the Instructional Design behind it all. There are simulations and learning labs and a Iron ISD Challenge. It should be very interesting.

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