Association eLearning

ASC's First Official Podcast - State of the Industry 2005

Click on this link to listen to a 4:55 minute podcast on Amy's take on 2005.

Download 11-22-05.mp3

We explore the decrease in costs for learning management systems and the increase in case studies in the eLearning space!

Why Wikis Matter to Association Educators

Not sure why I'm so excited about wikis and their potential for the association education community? Still not sure what a wiki even is?  Let's see if we can answer those two questions for you.

What is a wiki? If you visit the largest wiki in the world, www.wikipedia.com, you'll view what appears to be a website with millions of pieces of information.  That in itself isn't too exciting, but how that content got their, and how the content is maintained, is amazing.  Content is developed by ANYONE on this planet with an Internet connection.  The site is completely run, managed, edited, and content contributed by volunteers; not highly paid academics, although some of those folks may choose to contribute as well.  Volunteers can add and edit content anywhere on the page at any time.  This basic premise has amazing opportunity in several different ways for association educators.  Click the link below to get more info...

Amy Smith to Interview Elliott Masie

A quick announcement - I am working with The Center for Association Leadership and KRM Information Services, Inc. to develop a series of three virtual seminars over the next several months.

The first event will be Monday, December 19, 2005 from 2:00 - 3:30 pm.  This virtual seminar will include an interview with Elliott Masie and a panel of association executives to discuss the recent Learning 2005 conference.  Our primary objective is to glean the lessons learned from The Masie Center to find out what worked well for them in hosting a conference supported by significant education technology efforts.  This is a session you will not want to miss.

To register, check out www.centeronline.org starting in mid-November!

Live Wiki Postings!

My final post from Learning2005 before I head back to DC...

This morning we had a session on Association Learning.  During the session I took notes for the group and posted them (live) to the conference wiki page.  Notes from the session can be found at http://www.learningwiki.com/916.

I created the resources and notes session in hopes that participants will go in and add to the page or post their comments.

The conference wiki (learningwiki.com) is open for the year and is open to the public - so I strongly encourage you to check it out.  What an amazing resource.  Masie is going to morph the Learning2005 wiki into the Learning2006 event... how cool is that!

So in a nutshell --- as a participant of the session, I took "live notes" and had them instantly posted on the conference site.  Just imagine how is this going to change the way associations host conferences and build knowledge capacity for the organization.  It is mind-blowing to think about all of the opportunity that is available using this technology and format.

It also turns the role of presenter completed on its head - which is actually a good thing.  Much, much more to come on the use of wikis!

LearningLand

What is LearningLand?  Well, it is a ballroom at the convention hotel set up to relax, eat, check email, surf the web, ponder, meet other participants, and most importantly, play.  There are vendor resources on a big table in the back of this room, but other than that, this is a no-sales pitch area!

Some associations are starting to play with this type of open space.  My recommendation is to keep this type of space open all day.  You never know when learning will take place :)

To view photos of the LearningLand, click below for a continuation of this topic.

Wikis for Learning

So what are wikis and how do they relate to learning?  This is a great question that you and at least 1,500 participants here at Learning2005 are trying to determine.  Click here to view the definition.

The largest example of a wiki (a Hawaiian word meaning "quick") would be Wikipedia - a completely free and participant driven web site where anyone (and I mean anyone) can go to the site and author content.  It has been touted as the largest encyclopedia in the world.  What amazing impact Wikipedia has had on the world of data collection...and it's pretty accurate at that.

So wikis raise the question about how associations (the hubs of professional and industry content) can rapidly create "the resource" for your industry/profession's knowledge.

What would happen if your organization created a wiki and you let your members author away?