Three Questions; Why, How, and What?

• Why? – To Improve Learning So You Can Improve Your Decision Making.
• How? –  Use “Cloud-Based” “RESTFUL” Networks to Get Better Information.
• What? – @lantis® Learning Network (ALN)

Other Important Architecture Documents

• Database/Packet Structure
• Communication Architecture
• Communication Guide
• Learning Community Algorithm
• Learning Management System Architecture
• Learning Management System Standards

Why We Need 21st Century Learning Networks!

Question? – Why do we need Learning Networks?

Answer! – To help the Community get the best information!

In the old days, inquisitive minds, like Issac Newton and Ben Franklin, could conceivably have read all the important books on a particular subject.

That’s impossible today.  There is just too much information within easy reach of everyone.

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The Problem and the Solution of Getting Good Information

The Problem: Getting good information. Or, said differently, Getter better information than your competitors.

The Solution: Use 21st Century Learning Networks to improve the information available.

Blind Researchers Describing an Elephant

One way to describe both the Problem and the Solution of “Getting Good Information” is to use a classic old parable about blind researchers trying to describe an elephant.

This parable suggests that while each of the individual perspectives could be correct, it is only a part of the whole.  The correctness, or validity, of one perspective does not negate the correctness, or validity, of other perspectives.

The parable suggest that each of their realities are inherently bounded by the physical limitations of human perception.

And, I think, this problem, of really knowing “stuff,” is order of magnitudes worse today because there is so much more “stuff” available to us.

Yet, despite the hurdles it is still relatively easy to overcome some of our perceptual limitations.  The solution is more information.  I know that may seem counter-intuitive.  But, I truly believe, we overcome the problem, of too much information, by using the same tools that creates all this information in the first place. (Spoiler Alert! the tools are: Blockchain, A-keys, Tokens, and Meta-data)

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ALN Solution to Fix the Problem of Getting the Best Information: Learning Communities!

By using 21st Century information tools we can optimually manage all the information around us.

We propose a 3 step process to help manage all the information available and overcome the perceptual limitations of being human.

The fundamental problem to adjust for is: our ability to perceive reality is influenced by selective perception, motivated reasoning, confirmation bias, and cultural bias.  

One could actually experience “reality,” but that experience of “reality” does not rule out other experiences and other “realities.”  (See the Blind Men and the Elephant Parable above.)

Based on all of this, the first step to knowing stuff must be to understand our perceptual limitations. 

Summary

There is more information than any one person can optimally process.  So, we need a Learning Network to help us optimally manage all this information!

Learning Network Structure and Benefits – Key Features

Key Features

• Personalized Learn Plans
• Micro-Learning
• “Just-In-Time” information delivery

Personalized Learning Plans

Personal learning plans (or PLPs) are one of the three necessary foundational elements of a thriving Learning Netw. ork.

PLPs are critical to the Learning Network because the PLPs drive the “Filtering” and “Focusing” process.  

PLPs align the filtering and focusing algorithms to  By knowing the goals of the information receiver, information can be valued based on the likelihood it will promote the achievement of those goals.

PLPs need to be as long-term as possible.  There is no reason why everyone cannot have a PLP for their entire “life-long” educational journey. The key to maintaining a lifelong PLP is to continually update the plan as you and your environment change.

Personal learning plans are based on the belief that learners will be more motivated to learn, will achieve more, and will feel a stronger sense of ownership over their education if they decide what they want to learn, how they are going to learn it, when they are going to learn it, and why they need to learn it to achieve their personal goals.

The general goal of a personal learning plan is to bring greater coherence, focus, and purpose to the decisions we have to make as we face life in the 21st Century.

To help our network members develop personal learning plans, each individual learning community provides a number of Personal Learning Plan templates that help the learner map out the most appropriate learning plan.

Learning Plans are in a constant state of review and modification. Personal learning plans are continually revisited and modified to reflect changes in learning needs, interests, and aspirations.

Summary

I understand that skepticism and criticism may arise if it is perceived that personal learning plans are burdensome rather than useful tools for life management.

Personal learning plans may also be viewed negatively if they are poorly designed if they tend to be filed away and forgotten, if they are not acted upon, and if they are not meaningfully integrated into one’s life.

In other words, how personal learning plans are actually used or not used, and whether they produce the desired life improvement results, will likely determine how they are perceived.

Micro-Learning

I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.”- Winston Churchill

Click Here for a much more detailed description of Micro-LearningMicro-Learning is based on Small (3 – 7 Minutes) Learning Packets (called “nuggets”) designed to be easily digested and managed.  This is directly opposed to the traditional approach of learning through hour-long, day-long, or semester-long courses.

Learning Packets are connected to an individual’s learning activity through an individual’s Personalized Learn Plan and the Meta-Tags associated with the Learning Packet.

Three key features of Micro-learning

• Brevity: Microlearning events are short, though there is no defined duration.
• Granularity: Due to their brevity and purpose, microlearning focuses on a narrow topic, concept or idea.
• Variety: Microlearning content can be in the form of a presentation, activity, game, discussion, video, quiz, book chapter, or any other format from which someone learns.

Micro-learning, blended with mobile and “Cloud” technologies, enhances learning effectiveness by making learning contextually personalized and dynamically up-to-date.

By integrating mobile devices and the “Cloud,” Micro-learning becomes device, time, and location agnostic.  Also, making learning mobile helps integrate learning into the daily flow of life, which encourages “continuous learning.”

Micro-learning, combined with the power of emerging technologies, makes learning more powerful and natural.

Why Mico-Learning works today:

• Information changes quickly
• People find it difficult to keep up with things
• Resources are freely available online
• Newer technologies support it

Based on Cognitive Science

Microlearning works within the constraints of the human brain with respect to our 3 – 7 minute attention span.

Microlearning aligns with research that proves we learn better when engaged in short, focused sessions, rather than long sessions that can easily result in information overload.

Microlearning is not a newly invented approach but rather a realization of 30 years of fMRI research into how the human brain is wired to learn.

Highly Successful Examples of Micro-Learning

•  youtube.com
• TED Talk
• Grovo: Teaches professional skills with 60-second videos
• Coursmos: Platform that supports micro courses
• Daily Bits Of: Short courses delivered by emai

Summary

Microlearning is going to be the future of learning.

It is all set to transform how we learn both for our personal as well as our professional needs.

I can easily see micro-learning tools evolving into an essential component of any enterprise learning toolbox.

“Just in Time” Learning

Click here for a much more detailed description of “Just-in-time” Learning

We live in an Information Age.  Finding the “Information Sweet Spot” is one of today’s most important skills to master.

The reality is that everyone perceives information through their “nature and nurture” created lenses.  The challenge then is finding your unique information sweet spot.   Of course, finding your own unique information sweet spot for every life situation becomes more difficult as we acquire new information.   Because not only do we have to store and access all the stuff we already know, but we also have to optimally incorporate the mountains of new information being created constantly.

One way the @lantis® family of learning communities helps find the information sweet spot is by giving the learner the tools to help filter and focus on the most important information.  Also, the @lantis® family of learning communities employ a Learning Management System that uses device and location-independent, self-guided micro-learning, and context-sensitive databases intended to help learners filter out noise and focus on the critical “nuggets” of information needed to perform specific tasks and solve problems at the best time to solve those problems.

A Learning Community makes obsolete the traditional class where learners are expected to waste a lot of time sitting through traditional classroom courses.

The mind-set of just-in-time learning is: “As soon as I have this little piece (of information), I’m out of here,” explains Heinrich Koenen, vice president and dean of The Masie Center, a learning and technology think tank in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Just-in-time learning incorporates Internet/Cloud-based applications as well as physical CDs, Satellite channels, and traditional publishers.

The benefits of Just-in-time learning are manyfold.  Perhaps one of the best benefits is the reduction of travel and education costs.  The other big benefit is that learners like the just-in-time approach because they can train at their own pace, using the most convenient device, wherever, and whenever they like.

Couple just-in-time learning with Micro-Learning, Learners constantly customize their training to fit their needs and engage in online collaborative learning communities, where they can exchange experiences and access the latest opinions from around the world.

Examples of Just-in-time Learning

IBM

Electronic learning is big at IBM. The company saved $200 million in internal training costs related to traditional training sessions and time away from work, according to Rick Horton, general manager of IBM Global Services’ Learning Services group.

IBM provides its 6,000 business partners with 10 satellite channels of partner and product information. The system was set up because IBM partners said they weren’t getting information fast enough to sell IBM products, says Horton.

Satellite receivers can be installed at any location, and for $1,500 per year, users get access to the most recent product-specific news and partner-related announcements. IBM also set up a Web-based application to supplement the satellite system.

Sales Compass

Another initiative, called Sales Compass, a Web-based application that gives IBM salespeople the latest information about their customers prior to making sales calls, helps salespeople make effective pitches, says Horton.

Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab & Co.’s electronic brokerage unit launched an interactive Web-based learning center in December to provide free investment education to prospective and existing customers.  Although the brokerage expects that a reduction in customer information requests will cut costs, “that wasn’t the driver,” says Janet Lecuyer, vice president of electronic learning at Schwab’s electronic brokerage unit.  Educating customers reduces their fears about investing and “moves them along in making a decision to invest,” she explains.

Schwab’s online learning center, which offers courses in the fundamentals of investing and will later offer material for more advanced investors, was set up so customers can go through an entire course sequentially or choose only topics of interest.

The Schwab learning center is designed to be convenient to use because customers said they “didn’t have time to commit to a specific curriculum,” Lecuyer notes. “They wanted to be in control.”

Putting It All Together

The key here is that the “Learning Communication” that flows between the various @lantis Learning Communities should be as “transparent” as possible so that each Learning Community can value that information optimally for themselves.

 Click here for a detailed description of @lantis Learning Community Communication Standards (ALCCS).

How to Build Learning Networks

At one time a Classroom with a few basic books and a teacher was sufficient for any community.  One teacher could teach all the necessary stuff a student would need.

But, as the number and diversity of students increased and the quantity of information and the ability to access information exploded having one large class was no longer optimal.

The evolution from first single room schools to classes divided by subject and level and then to  “Learning Communities” follows the same evolutionary path as telescopes and Cellular Networks.

Rather than having one large learning institution, we need to break learning into a lot of small communities.  Each one can then focus on much more narrow interests.

The challenge for learning networks is the same as the challenges for cellular networks and telescopes in that the challenge is linking all these communities together optimually.

Again, this is where the telescope and the cell networks are informative.  The way both of these technologies accomplished this linkage is through a communication “Standard.”  Once the “Standard” is defined, the number of “cells” or “learning communities” that can be linked together become quite large.  (It may even be infinite.)

So, just as the telescope and mobile networks found that breaking down the information processing to small cells and linking the cells together, so to, can learning be improved by breaking the learning down into small communities of interest and then linking those communities together.

The Learning Network Architecture is made up of three fundamental activities:

• Filtering & Focusing – Concentrating on the important stuff and blocking out the noise
• Dynamic Course Updates – Improving the course continually
• Defined Meta-data – Standardizing the way people share information

While traditional education uses these same activities, it is the use of 21st Century “Electronic Tools” that sets the Learning Network apart from traditional education structures.

Using 21st Century tools allow the community to implement this new educational paradigm. 

Filtering and Focusing help us sift through all the information available to find the nuggets of actionable information.  Much like a miner filters and focuses the mining efforts to create a new end product, filtering and focusing information helps a learner create new learning.

Dynamic Course Updates is the process where the benefits of the filtering and focusing are stored and paid forward to the next class by updating the course real time as each learner contributes to the class. In the past, a class would be created and taught to successive classes virtually unchanged.  Any learning that might have accrued is lost the moment that learner leaves the class. Rather than seeing individual learning as the end product of a class, a Learning Community sees the end product as the overall learning of the Community.

In a Learning Community a learner and teacher are both contributing to the entire educational process.  The goal of the learner is not only learn for themselves, but also to contribute to the learning of all other community members that come after them.

Defined Meta-Data are the specific “Meta-Communication” codes used by the Learning Community to move bits of information between learners.  In order for optimal learning to occur the members of a Learning Community are better served if they use an agreed upon method of communication, which includes syntactic, semantic, and cultural codes.  This is exactly why scientists use the Scientific Method.

Summary

The Learning Community is set up to seek out new knowledge and add that knowledge to the total accumulated knowledge of the community. Every learner is encouraged to, not only find new learning that helps them personally, but also find new learning that helps the entire community.

In this way classes are dynamic in the extreme.  Every new learner taking a class should be able to add value to the next learner taking that class.

The idea that learning exists only in a classroom and disappears as soon as the class ends is anathema to a Learning Community.