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Looks like changes has always been challenging…
20 Essential Things to Know About the HTML5 Web Language – Application Development from eWeek via kwout
This slide show by Darrel K. Taft of eWeek explains that HTML5 which will enable a whole new class of Web applications that support multimedia content and offline capability without the need for proprietary plug-in technology.
A little glimpse into the future…Why is this important?
The functionality that will be necessary to move ebooks beyond passive screen readers will more than likely from HTML5.
In the blog post The future of learning is DIY Harold Jarche states:
With Google you can find most information that you need. YouTube is a quick and easy way to get “learning objects” to the world. Apple gives the essential tools for knowledge workers, and in a nice package. Wikipedia has shown that the wisdom of crowds is just as good as the wisdom of elites. Starbucks gives free-agents and road warriors a place to meet and work. These top brands provide the equivalent of the interstate highway system for the creative age. Jarche argues that the instead of trying to
He concludes with:
If you’re in the learning business, don’t try to build another LMS or portal. Instead, figure out ways that enable DIY. Believe it or not, learners can, and will, do the rest. They already are.
DIY learning is more commonly referred to as informal learning and there are some theorists who argue that over 80% of learning happens informally. Is this something that we as educators should concern ourselves about?
Consider the impact of the following:
There are billions of searches performed on Google each month (and this number is growing)—to whom were these questions addressed B.G. (Before Google)?
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In his book Leading Change, John Kotter provides the following diagram/list/rubric for creating change. He cautions that diagrams or lists tend to over simplify reality so reading the entire book is strongly recommended. Despite the caution the following list does provide a good overview of the process of creating change:
- Establish A Sense of Urgency
- Examining the market & competitive realities
- Identifying and discussing crisis, potential crisis or major opportunities.
- Creating the Guiding Coalition
- Putting together a group with enough power to lead the change.
- Getting the group to work together like a team.
- Developing a Vision and Strategy
- Creating a vision to help direct the change effort.
- Developing a strategy for achieving that vision.
- Communicating the Change Vision
- Using every vehicle possible to constantly communicate the new vision and strategies.
- Having the guiding coalition role model the behavior expected of employees.
- Empowering Broad Based Action
- Getting rid of obstacles.
- Changing systems or structures that undermine the change vision.
- Encouraging risk taking and nontraditional ideas, activities and actions.
- Generating Short-Term Wins
- Planning for visible improvements in performance, or “wins”.
- Creating those wins.
- Visibly recognizing and rewarding people who made the wins possible.
- Consolidating Gains & Producing More Change
- Using increased credibility to change all systems, structures, and policies that don’t fit together and don’t fit the transformation vision.
- Hiring, promoting, and developing people who can implement the change vision.
- Reinvigorating the process with new projects, themes, and change agents.
- Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture
- Creating better performance through customer and productivity-oriented behavior, more and better leadership, and more effective management.
- Articulating the connections between new behaviors and organizational success.
- Developing means to ensure leadership development and succession.
I consider myself a student of learning which means I MUST also be a student of innovation. I follow a Blog called Innovations and the archived post Six Things That Innovative Companies Do Well caught my eye. I have modified these six things to suite academia rather than business. Here is my take on the Six Things That Innovative Universities Do Well:
- Question Everything – I agree with article’s author, that this is the most important factor in innovation and the most difficult to embrace. Like corporations, Institutions create big political and organizational impediments to change, making any challenge to the status quo a risky proposition. Innovative [institutions], on the other hand, reward challenges to conventional wisdom and take pains to position change as a positive part of the [institutional]/corporate culture.
- Accept failure — Without the willingness to be wrong or to even fail innovation will never happen.
- Don’t leave the innovation to the engineers/consultants – simplicity is often the best option for meeting the needs of learners. Engineers/consultants/specialists are great at designing elegant solutions to complex problems but these solutions often lack the elegance of simplicity. Faculty have the closest contact with the learner and will most ofen have the best solutions.
- Learn constantly – If you don’t prepare people to do their work/teach/learn differently, they’ll never change. It’s human nature for people to avoid situations that may embarrass or humiliate them. Businesses [Institutions] that ask people to embrace change without preparing them to handle it set themselves up for failure at best, revolt at worst.
- Try, try again – Institutions too often bail out of good ideas because they don’t succeed quickly.
- Be wary of market research – Innovative institutions are in touch with their learners. Use research on the desires of the learner to validate your assumptions, but not to create your courses and services. The consumerist attitude of the learner should NOT drive the learning environment development but is should influence how we communicate with learners.
