It was only when I thought of writing about a simple set of principles called LIFTS, which I learned during the early days of my instructional design career, that I realized its nonexistence on the Internet. Just to confirm one of the aspects related to LIFTS, I thought of cross checking about it on the Web, and I was in for a surprise—there was not a single write-up about LIFTS on the Web. LIFTS is a simple set of rules that can be used for writing effectively for a given audience. It is an acronym that stands for Learner centric, Integrity, Flow, Transition, and Simplicity. This is what my grey cells recall. I would like to share whatever I can remember and I hope someone could correct me if I go wrong somewhere.
Let’s look at each of the elements of this principle or rule (I am not sure which categorization it fits into better) that can guide anyone to develop effective educational instructions for a specific audience or, in other words, learner.
L: Learner Centric
For any instruction to be effective (no matter at which level you are developing it: big, as in design phase of a learning project; or small, as in development phase of a learning project), it has to be learner centric. This principle affects multiple aspects of writing an instruction: what strategy you choose for designing the learning material (you would want to use different learning strategies for a drawing student vis-à-vis a busy, on-the-move technocrat); which examples or scenarios you select to teach the learner (they should be learner centric: the learner should be able to relate to them, they should be able to put themselves in the shoes of a person in the scenarios or examples that you develop for the learning); what kind of language you use to address the learner (I feel that addressing the learner as second person is effective while developing an educative instruction). Always consider the ultimate client for whom you develop the learning, the learner—everything else should revolve around this consideration.
I: Integrity
You cannot look London and talk Tokyo to the learner. All instructions that you include in learning should be integral to the overall goals of the learning. The objectives or goals should guide the assessments for the learning, and the assessments should guide the learning material. At all times, be relevant. You can teach a fashion student the impact of ineffective time management by taking an example based on an automobile company scenario; however, just think how relevant or related such content would it be vis-à-vis using a fashion company scenario to teach the same skill. Ensure that all learning instructions that you develop are directed to the learning goals and assisted by relevant examples.
F: Flow
The content of a learning should build logically as it progresses—from simple to complex, or from generic to specific, and not vice versa. This ensures that the learner is exposed to fundamentals before getting into the nuances of a subject—this is in sync with the natural and logical way of learning and developing schemas. While designing a learning, make sure that its topical outline reflects a seamless, progressive flow of subject knowhow. While developing a topic of a learning, make certain that all its subtopics follow a logical flow. Always arrange or organize your content to guarantee flow—it facilitates a smooth reading.
T: Transition
If Flow is macromanagement, Transition is micromanagement. Transition is how you move the learner from one topic or subtopic to the next one; how you relate the succeeding content to the preceding one; how you choose to tell the learner why a given content piece is important to be learned after a particular topic or subtopic. As a good practice, always include transitions for content chunks of all magnitudes such as paragraphs, subtopics, topics. Include a line or two sharing how a piece of content leads itself to the next piece of content, what is the importance of studying the forthcoming content, and so on. The idea is to interest the learner about what’s next, keep him or her aware of what to expect next, and let him or her know the reasons for the same.
S: Simplicity
Develop your instructions using simple language so that the learners can derive only one meaning out of it. The language should not be open to interpretations. Flowery language works well for fiction, not necessarily for imparting education and training. Use short, straightforward sentences; avoid convoluted structures in language.
Showing posts with label jagdeep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jagdeep. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Writing Effective Assignments
Although assignments appear at the end of each learning module, interestingly they are created before their preceding module content (text and media included).
After freezing the goals of a learning content, assignments are created, which is followed by the development of the reading content. Doing so ensures that (a) the assignments map to the goals or objectives of the learning content and (b) the reading content is streamlined and includes all the necessary information that the students need to be able to do the assignments.
For a content developer or an instructional designer, developing effective assignments ensures that the course goals are met and students develop competencies that the course promises. From my experience as an instructional designer, I feel the following guidelines can help you write effective assignments.
Work backward from the goals. While designing the assignment, remind yourself of the goals of the learning content. Think of the answers or solutions you would expect the students to produce in the assignment. Now think how to write the assignment so that the students are able to reach that answer or solution. Think what prerequisite(s) the students will need to perform the assignment in a manner that they get full grades for it---any information or job aid or sample, reasons of doing the assignment, where the assignment fits in the whole curriculum, what format to produce the assignment in, any word limits or length restrictions to the assignment, due date, grading criteria, and so forth. Include all these prerequisites as a part of the assignment. Working backwards from the goals ensures that (a) the assignment maps to the goals and (b) students are judged on the competencies that the course offers to develop.
Consider the skill level. When the course competencies and goals, say of an engineering-based course, are about enabling the students to apply (Bloom 3) the concepts of engineering in the field of robotics, you cannot put an assignment that asks students to create a robotic arm (Bloom 5) or write equations that govern the movement of a robotic arm (Bloom 1). Design the assignment so that it matches the desired skill level that a student is expected to achieve after going through the learning content.
Be specific: Writing vague, broad-ended (mind you not open-ended) questions would produce similar results. The students will respond likewise---with vague, broad, and varied answers. This not only makes the assessment of the assignment difficult, but also hampers the assignment mapping to the lesson goals or objectives.
Your assignment needs a precise direction---provide it yourself. Specify the students exactly what they need to do. For example,
Ineffective assignment: Comment on any one aspect of your choice in the Roman Empire.
Effective assignment: Identify four reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. Explain each of the reasons. Document your response in a word document of not more than 1000 words. The assignment is due on Day X.
Give in details. Your students should be able to understand the assignment completely without asking for much help around. Do not leave room for assumptions, interpretations, and intuition-work by the students. They should be told what to do (steps, format, and naming convention of the assignment), why to do (purpose of the assignment), when to do (deliverable date of the assignment), for whom to do (expected audiences for the assignment; e.g., they should know whether they need to create a memo for their manager or an editorial for their local newspaper), and the associated brownies (grades and their split-up). In addition, the context building, if needed, should be elaborate and guide the student towards a specific answer. Remember that a detailed assignment guides students to specific answers, which in turn enable them to earn appropriate grades for the assignment.
Build relevant context or scenario. Place the assignment in the context of a typical job setting that a student will encounter after taking the course. For a student of fashion retail management, an assignment revolving around Sears or Macy’s or Ann Taylor (for devising an ‘effective sales strategy for the next season merchandise’) will help the him or her get the real feel of on-the-job experience and therefore make the student more prepared for the life after school. If, for this student, you build the assignment in the scenario of an automobile company (for devising an ‘effective sales strategy for their next model’), it would be irrelevant. Although the skill that the student would exhibit under the two scenarios would be the same (devising an effective sales strategy for products), using the relevant scenario (a) places the student in the shoes of the person he or she will likely become after taking the course, (b) checks the relevance of competency developed after taking the course, and (c) addresses the goals of the course in a better way.
Spread a long assignment across weeks. If you plan to include a lengthy assignment, it is wiser to split it up across different weeks and ask the students to execute its subparts each week. Such an assignment works well if it is a build-on type of an assignment; for example, if the course is on ‘Business Plans’ and the course objective states that the students will be able to build their own Business Plan after taking the course, a good assignment will be to ask them create a Sample Business Plan for a specific business and need. The business plan has many parts to it and creating all of it in one assignment or week might be stressful for the students; therefore, such an assignment can be spread over the weeks. Each week the student can be asked to create different parts of the business plan and in the last week, the student can be asked to compile the work of all weeks and improve or finalize it to submit a completed Sample Business Plan. This way, a lengthy assignment can be retained and the student load can also be balanced.
Weigh and word the assignment grading carefully. For each task, sub-task, and sub-sub-task that a student is asked to perform in the assignment, there should be a corresponding grading criteria. In addition, the grading points associated with each grading criteria should consider the effort and understanding that the particular task demands. The sum of grading points of all grading criteria is the total grade point of an assignment. In addition, word the grading criteria so that it maps to the task listed in the assignment. The verbs used in the grading criteria should map to the verbs used to perform the tasks. For example, if a task in an assignment is to “Provide at least two reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with the statement ‘XYZ’.”, then the corresponding grading criteria can be worded as “The student should have provided at least two reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with the given statement.” All tasks in the assignments should have a respective grading criterion and vice versa---students should not be assessed on anything not mentioned in the assignment. Doing it ensures that the students know what to do to achieve what.
Write inclusive instructor or facilitator notes. Often, instructors or facilitators of a learning course are not subject matter experts. They might just be responsible for holding or conducting a class or learning session with a set of notes provided by the educational facility. Therefore, your instructor or facilitator notes should contain detailed answers to the assignments and reasons for every trivial question and subparts of the assignment. Do not presume that the facilitator will know most of the stuff for a simple subject---just write as if the facilitator is going to need a lot of your help and so provide it at once in abundance.
After freezing the goals of a learning content, assignments are created, which is followed by the development of the reading content. Doing so ensures that (a) the assignments map to the goals or objectives of the learning content and (b) the reading content is streamlined and includes all the necessary information that the students need to be able to do the assignments.
For a content developer or an instructional designer, developing effective assignments ensures that the course goals are met and students develop competencies that the course promises. From my experience as an instructional designer, I feel the following guidelines can help you write effective assignments.
Work backward from the goals. While designing the assignment, remind yourself of the goals of the learning content. Think of the answers or solutions you would expect the students to produce in the assignment. Now think how to write the assignment so that the students are able to reach that answer or solution. Think what prerequisite(s) the students will need to perform the assignment in a manner that they get full grades for it---any information or job aid or sample, reasons of doing the assignment, where the assignment fits in the whole curriculum, what format to produce the assignment in, any word limits or length restrictions to the assignment, due date, grading criteria, and so forth. Include all these prerequisites as a part of the assignment. Working backwards from the goals ensures that (a) the assignment maps to the goals and (b) students are judged on the competencies that the course offers to develop.
Consider the skill level. When the course competencies and goals, say of an engineering-based course, are about enabling the students to apply (Bloom 3) the concepts of engineering in the field of robotics, you cannot put an assignment that asks students to create a robotic arm (Bloom 5) or write equations that govern the movement of a robotic arm (Bloom 1). Design the assignment so that it matches the desired skill level that a student is expected to achieve after going through the learning content.
Be specific: Writing vague, broad-ended (mind you not open-ended) questions would produce similar results. The students will respond likewise---with vague, broad, and varied answers. This not only makes the assessment of the assignment difficult, but also hampers the assignment mapping to the lesson goals or objectives.
Your assignment needs a precise direction---provide it yourself. Specify the students exactly what they need to do. For example,
Ineffective assignment: Comment on any one aspect of your choice in the Roman Empire.
Effective assignment: Identify four reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. Explain each of the reasons. Document your response in a word document of not more than 1000 words. The assignment is due on Day X.
Give in details. Your students should be able to understand the assignment completely without asking for much help around. Do not leave room for assumptions, interpretations, and intuition-work by the students. They should be told what to do (steps, format, and naming convention of the assignment), why to do (purpose of the assignment), when to do (deliverable date of the assignment), for whom to do (expected audiences for the assignment; e.g., they should know whether they need to create a memo for their manager or an editorial for their local newspaper), and the associated brownies (grades and their split-up). In addition, the context building, if needed, should be elaborate and guide the student towards a specific answer. Remember that a detailed assignment guides students to specific answers, which in turn enable them to earn appropriate grades for the assignment.
Build relevant context or scenario. Place the assignment in the context of a typical job setting that a student will encounter after taking the course. For a student of fashion retail management, an assignment revolving around Sears or Macy’s or Ann Taylor (for devising an ‘effective sales strategy for the next season merchandise’) will help the him or her get the real feel of on-the-job experience and therefore make the student more prepared for the life after school. If, for this student, you build the assignment in the scenario of an automobile company (for devising an ‘effective sales strategy for their next model’), it would be irrelevant. Although the skill that the student would exhibit under the two scenarios would be the same (devising an effective sales strategy for products), using the relevant scenario (a) places the student in the shoes of the person he or she will likely become after taking the course, (b) checks the relevance of competency developed after taking the course, and (c) addresses the goals of the course in a better way.
Spread a long assignment across weeks. If you plan to include a lengthy assignment, it is wiser to split it up across different weeks and ask the students to execute its subparts each week. Such an assignment works well if it is a build-on type of an assignment; for example, if the course is on ‘Business Plans’ and the course objective states that the students will be able to build their own Business Plan after taking the course, a good assignment will be to ask them create a Sample Business Plan for a specific business and need. The business plan has many parts to it and creating all of it in one assignment or week might be stressful for the students; therefore, such an assignment can be spread over the weeks. Each week the student can be asked to create different parts of the business plan and in the last week, the student can be asked to compile the work of all weeks and improve or finalize it to submit a completed Sample Business Plan. This way, a lengthy assignment can be retained and the student load can also be balanced.
Weigh and word the assignment grading carefully. For each task, sub-task, and sub-sub-task that a student is asked to perform in the assignment, there should be a corresponding grading criteria. In addition, the grading points associated with each grading criteria should consider the effort and understanding that the particular task demands. The sum of grading points of all grading criteria is the total grade point of an assignment. In addition, word the grading criteria so that it maps to the task listed in the assignment. The verbs used in the grading criteria should map to the verbs used to perform the tasks. For example, if a task in an assignment is to “Provide at least two reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with the statement ‘XYZ’.”, then the corresponding grading criteria can be worded as “The student should have provided at least two reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with the given statement.” All tasks in the assignments should have a respective grading criterion and vice versa---students should not be assessed on anything not mentioned in the assignment. Doing it ensures that the students know what to do to achieve what.
Write inclusive instructor or facilitator notes. Often, instructors or facilitators of a learning course are not subject matter experts. They might just be responsible for holding or conducting a class or learning session with a set of notes provided by the educational facility. Therefore, your instructor or facilitator notes should contain detailed answers to the assignments and reasons for every trivial question and subparts of the assignment. Do not presume that the facilitator will know most of the stuff for a simple subject---just write as if the facilitator is going to need a lot of your help and so provide it at once in abundance.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Creative Writing
After writing a couple of articles with a technical bend, I thought writing on a topic that would involve lesser technicalities to it. I chose ‘Creative writing’ as it drew my attention a couple of months back and ever since this is the one non-technical article I wished to write on.
Often, instructional designing and content development jobs call for ‘creative writing’ as one of the skills. This, I think, is probably so because (a) creative writing can be a yardstick to identify a good writer (prerequisite for a sound content writer and instructional designer) and (b) a content writer is expected, many a times, to base the learning around a context, a theme, or a narrative---such part of learning can be effectively created if the content writer is a good raconteur. With this moderate understanding, I thought of delving more into the subject of ‘creative writing’ and share my improved understanding with you.
So, what is creative writing? It is any kind of writing (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, travel, music, and so on) that is not academic, professional, or journalistic in nature. It is the kind of writing that an author does to express thoughts, feelings, and imagination and not to merely represent facts and figures. Creative writing is the first step to improve the skill of writing---writing, which is the basic element of content development and instructional designing.
The major chunk of creative writing is about writing a story, a narrative. Creative writing is something that all fiction writers invariably do. In a typical piece of creative writing, there are some seven basic elements of narrative that often appear: plot, characters, dialogue, setting, point of view, theme, and style. Let’s learn a bit about them.
Elements of Creative Writing
Plot: It is the sequence of events that govern the direction that the piece of art (narrative) takes. Chances are that a good plot will be able to save not-so-good writing however vice versa is considerably tough---a poor plot cannot be camouflaged by a well-written narrative. Usually, a plot will unfold the events and turns of the story in a chronological manner; you can however use flashbacks as well to treat your narrative differently. The climax that yields an addressing (one that binds and resolves the different angles of the plot) end to a progressive narrative makes an interesting read.
Characters: These are the human and non-human entities that play different roles in the plot. Introducing the characters early in the narrative is better---the main character earlier than the other characters. Chances are that if your reader can identify with one or more characters in the plot, the reader gets more glued to the narrative. So, check your characters in a manner that your readers can identify with.
Dialogue: It includes the sentences and phrases that are used as a part of the conversation between the characters of the narrative. The more dialogues a character has, the more important the character becomes. So, give your lead characters dialogues in a manner that the reader spends more time hearing to those characters. The main character should be given more dialogues and to the rest, as the plot demands. This was about the quantity, now let’s understand the quality. Each character is identified by the kind of language (dialogue) that he or she uses and also when he or she chooses to use these dialogues. Therefore, the dialogues should convey the feel of the character to the reader. It is better that the author does not pen down the character as sketched in his or her mind---the dialogues and accompanying expressions written by the author should hint toward the character. The narrator should present rather than spoon feed the characters to the readers. The judgment about a character should be the prerogative of the reader.
Another very vital point to remember is that you (the writer) should use dialogues purposefully---either to build the characters or to move the plot ahead or both. Dialogues that do not have a purpose or would not make difference to the plot if taken out are better left out.
Setting: It is the era or time, place, and backdrop in which the narrative happens. The setting sets the context in which the plot runs. Also, the dialogues and sketch of characters are often influenced by it. For a basic narrative, usually there is one setting to the whole plot. In other narratives, however, there might be multiple settings and it is better that the narrator introduces every setting before the respective (sub)plot begins.
Point of view: This is how the narrator sees that characters. Now, with that said, the point of view can be of various types: (a) first person point of view allows the main character to be the narrator or a secondary character to be the narrator for the main character (In this case, the narrator gives intimacy to the story however this can be limiting for the reader because the reader will be able to view the character through the narrator’s eyes.); (b) third person point of view gives the allowance that the narrator be (i) objective (just tell the story as is without telling the emotions and feelings that characters experience---describe only the actions) or (ii) omniscient (tell the story with actions as well as the inner feelings and emotions of the characters ).
It is wise that narrator does not impose his or her take on the characters; however, he or she should state the facts that led him or her to take that view point. The judgments should not be passed from the narrator’s words; the readers should be given space to make their own judgments.
Theme: It is the meaning and flavor that your narrative carries. The events that happen in the narrative will add and build its theme. Theme cannot be conveyed by words alone in the narrative; it builds with different incidents that happen in the plot.
Style: It is how you use the language to express yourself. A consistent style, in a narrative, is always way more impressive than the idea to have different, fancy styles in one piece of literary art. It is good to have a good hold on English; however, it is better to use precise, specific, and short words to express rather than to use long, convoluted, poetic, and flamboyant language. Remember to move the story ahead using the language rather than have emphasis on language and leave the plot on the fate of words. The string that holds a good story is the plot; and the style ensures that the string looks beautiful.
Tips for Creative Writing
Happy Writing!!!
Often, instructional designing and content development jobs call for ‘creative writing’ as one of the skills. This, I think, is probably so because (a) creative writing can be a yardstick to identify a good writer (prerequisite for a sound content writer and instructional designer) and (b) a content writer is expected, many a times, to base the learning around a context, a theme, or a narrative---such part of learning can be effectively created if the content writer is a good raconteur. With this moderate understanding, I thought of delving more into the subject of ‘creative writing’ and share my improved understanding with you.
So, what is creative writing? It is any kind of writing (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, travel, music, and so on) that is not academic, professional, or journalistic in nature. It is the kind of writing that an author does to express thoughts, feelings, and imagination and not to merely represent facts and figures. Creative writing is the first step to improve the skill of writing---writing, which is the basic element of content development and instructional designing.
The major chunk of creative writing is about writing a story, a narrative. Creative writing is something that all fiction writers invariably do. In a typical piece of creative writing, there are some seven basic elements of narrative that often appear: plot, characters, dialogue, setting, point of view, theme, and style. Let’s learn a bit about them.
Elements of Creative Writing
Plot: It is the sequence of events that govern the direction that the piece of art (narrative) takes. Chances are that a good plot will be able to save not-so-good writing however vice versa is considerably tough---a poor plot cannot be camouflaged by a well-written narrative. Usually, a plot will unfold the events and turns of the story in a chronological manner; you can however use flashbacks as well to treat your narrative differently. The climax that yields an addressing (one that binds and resolves the different angles of the plot) end to a progressive narrative makes an interesting read.
Characters: These are the human and non-human entities that play different roles in the plot. Introducing the characters early in the narrative is better---the main character earlier than the other characters. Chances are that if your reader can identify with one or more characters in the plot, the reader gets more glued to the narrative. So, check your characters in a manner that your readers can identify with.
Dialogue: It includes the sentences and phrases that are used as a part of the conversation between the characters of the narrative. The more dialogues a character has, the more important the character becomes. So, give your lead characters dialogues in a manner that the reader spends more time hearing to those characters. The main character should be given more dialogues and to the rest, as the plot demands. This was about the quantity, now let’s understand the quality. Each character is identified by the kind of language (dialogue) that he or she uses and also when he or she chooses to use these dialogues. Therefore, the dialogues should convey the feel of the character to the reader. It is better that the author does not pen down the character as sketched in his or her mind---the dialogues and accompanying expressions written by the author should hint toward the character. The narrator should present rather than spoon feed the characters to the readers. The judgment about a character should be the prerogative of the reader.
Another very vital point to remember is that you (the writer) should use dialogues purposefully---either to build the characters or to move the plot ahead or both. Dialogues that do not have a purpose or would not make difference to the plot if taken out are better left out.
Setting: It is the era or time, place, and backdrop in which the narrative happens. The setting sets the context in which the plot runs. Also, the dialogues and sketch of characters are often influenced by it. For a basic narrative, usually there is one setting to the whole plot. In other narratives, however, there might be multiple settings and it is better that the narrator introduces every setting before the respective (sub)plot begins.
Point of view: This is how the narrator sees that characters. Now, with that said, the point of view can be of various types: (a) first person point of view allows the main character to be the narrator or a secondary character to be the narrator for the main character (In this case, the narrator gives intimacy to the story however this can be limiting for the reader because the reader will be able to view the character through the narrator’s eyes.); (b) third person point of view gives the allowance that the narrator be (i) objective (just tell the story as is without telling the emotions and feelings that characters experience---describe only the actions) or (ii) omniscient (tell the story with actions as well as the inner feelings and emotions of the characters ).
It is wise that narrator does not impose his or her take on the characters; however, he or she should state the facts that led him or her to take that view point. The judgments should not be passed from the narrator’s words; the readers should be given space to make their own judgments.
Theme: It is the meaning and flavor that your narrative carries. The events that happen in the narrative will add and build its theme. Theme cannot be conveyed by words alone in the narrative; it builds with different incidents that happen in the plot.
Style: It is how you use the language to express yourself. A consistent style, in a narrative, is always way more impressive than the idea to have different, fancy styles in one piece of literary art. It is good to have a good hold on English; however, it is better to use precise, specific, and short words to express rather than to use long, convoluted, poetic, and flamboyant language. Remember to move the story ahead using the language rather than have emphasis on language and leave the plot on the fate of words. The string that holds a good story is the plot; and the style ensures that the string looks beautiful.
Tips for Creative Writing
- Give your readers at least one character they can identify with. Readers are quick and glad to recognize a character that they can identify with: themselves, a relative, a friend, or a neighbor, and so on. It adds to the zest of reading.
- Start as close to the beginning as possible. There is nothing more exciting than to read a piece that is fast moving and lets its readers know that the end is about to approach. If your readers experience the adrenaline rush by the fast paced treatment of your narrative, consider your story an interesting read.
- Use your sentences wisely to communicate more information with fewer words. Your sentences should yield information about characters and move the story forward in a word-efficient manner. Remove redundancy and make your story a crisp read.
- Try drawing most of your characters from the real life---from your family, friends, relatives, neighbors, your grocery store person, your librarian, your professor, your manager, your colleague, your subordinate. Take ideas from their lives, actions, and behavior to give your characters different dimensions.
- Do not spare your characters. Put your characters in difficult and unusual circumstances, no matter how ideal or nice they are. Give every character a meaning. Remember that your readers will remember the characters who were in difficult situations and went through making tough choices.
- Be alert. Be open to the ideas that run through your mind while you hear people talking in train, bus, parties, and other events.
- Identify your writing time. Get to know the time when you are at your creative best---some people write the best in the morning, while some prefer the night time. Once you know the time you give your best to writing, ensure that you write daily; it does not matter if it is only one small paragraph.
- Be yourself. Write the way you feel like not the way you think you should. Write without imposing any style on your individual style.
- Be a devil’s advocate. Do see your narrative from a non-author view point. Wear a critic’s hat after writing the first draft and correct all the loopholes in the story. Looking from a different view point certainly helps---mistakes that you do not see in your baby might become evident from someone else’s eyes. If you fail to do that, show your narrative to a friend or a colleague who you know will read the story from a different/second pair of eyes.
- Do it now. If you feel you can write a good story and wait for that opportune moment when your creative juices will flow, trust me that day will be as distant as it is today. The right time to start writing is now. Start writing and continue it. After some time of writing, you might feel that you need a break and you might just take it; however, that break might just keep extending. To avoid falling in the dark pit of non-return to writing, think of writing as a job and continue writing even on days you feel you cannot write. A trash-like written paper can be improved however an empty paper cannot be filled for a time gone by.
Happy Writing!!!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Web 3.0: Future of the Internet
Web 3.0 marks the third generation of Internet that is supposed to coincide with the third decade of Web browsing and usage (2010-2020). After Web 1.0 (Internet prior to 2000) and Web 2.0 (2000-2010), the expectations from the Web and its possibilities are growing. Researchers, professionals, and entrepreneurs are looking at Web to give more, including better search results. In today’s world of Web 2.0, if you want to plan a vacation for 4 days with 3 friends within a budget of 60K, you will probably run some Google searches on hotels, resorts, eating joints, tourists places, travel agents; read reviews on almost most of them; and then, choose a place that fits your budget and your idea of a vacation with friends. In the whole process, you will most likely browse not less than, say a dozen or two dozen Web sites. Now, think that you key in “Vacation options for three people within a budget of 60,000 INR, in India, for 4 days.” and your search engine gives you planned packages that include exactly where all you can go within the stipulated budget. It means getting a planned package as meticulously done as would be by a travel agent. That is not it. Imagine the more you use this Web browser to carry out your searches, the more the browser knows about your choices, and the less specific you need to be with your search, meaning that even a simple search such as “Where do I go for a vacation with my friends” can yield satisfactory results. You think that is a dream. Then, let me share that the time to live that dream is about to come. Yes, Web 3.0 works on such standards that allow Web to think like you do and make intelligent decisions.
Web 3.0 will enable browsers to read, understand, analyze, and deliver results as humans do. This is the basis of a Semantic Web---a concept that many take synonymous to Web 3.0. Web 3.0, however, encompasses much more than Semantic Web vision (a vision that contemplates that machines will read information on Web like humans do). Let’s see what all Web 3.0 will be capable of?
Web 3.0 will be able to carry out natural language searches. Today, when you key in phrases like “Indian Lion”, the Internet does not recognize difference between the searches as “Lions in India” or “Indian Lion” and throws up all kinds of results. Web 3.0 will understand the language as we humans understand it and deliver results in that manner, specific to what we are asking.
In addition, the 3.0 version is postulated to be mediacentric. It means that no longer you need to depend on wordy keywords to execute a search. You can post media, such as images, to get the desired search results. For example, you can post the image of a flower and get the related results on where you can get, buy, or learn more about that particular flower. Awesome! Isn’t it? An extension of this search is also being tried out with the audio files.
Adding to its claim, Web 3.0 will be pervasive in nature---it will be everywhere. These days, reach of Web has extended from desktops and laptops to mobile phones and handhelds. Web 3.0; however, plans to take another step forward and you can make Web a part of your watches, jewelry, window panes, and bathroom mirrors. Imagine your boring toothbrush routine turning into news time as you could turn your Web-connected bathroom mirror to a Web screen. This is not all. Many researchers are working on enabling the Web to control opening and closing of your lobby windows depending on the temperature and weather at your location.
Another significant development that is expected to happen in Web 3.0 environment is development of more sophisticated 3D applications. A similar example that can be experienced these days is the Second Life, an environment in which the users can live a virtual life in the form of any Avtar that the user wishes to choose. The user can communicate/interact with other members in the virtual community. This, with Web 3.0, can be taken to another level, wherein you can move in your neighborhood or an unseen foreign city, look at the location of other households or shops, and decide where you want to roam around or think of buying land. Say, your virtual Avtar can roam within a radius of 10-kilometes around Jaipur airport where the land is on sale, read the details of the plots up for sale, and decide where you want to invest your money.
Too futuristic, as it may sound, however, you will begin to see the changes soon. Many companies like Ojos and Polar Rose are working on developing the mediacentric version of Web. HP, Yahoo, and Radar Networks are adopting the Semantic Web standards. Microsoft and Google are researching on 3D. In addition, IBM and Oracle are using and developing structures and technologies that closely resemble the Web 3.0.
How Will Web 3.0 Impact E-learning?
Web 3.0 promises to be a Web of data that will read your response, search the Internet for possible options, and then intelligently evaluate the best result for you to throw up in your search.
I would like to think aloud here. Imagine that E-learning companies offer their training modules through Web, with no third party involvement. Suppose an E-learning company posts, on the Web, the overviews, costs, and time conditions of professional courses on different skill sets. So, a person who searches for the courses that he or she needs to undertake to reach a particular position in the industry, a short write-up about the appropriate course might appear, including link to take the course. This way a learner can buy the course directly from an e-learning organization removing all third parties involved.
Another point that I would like to make is that e-Learning consultants might find Web 3.0 as a competitor as well as a great help to their profession. Which part will weigh more, I cannot say. When Web 3.0 comes into picture, anyone can run a search reading “Best strategy for time management (soft skill) course for professionals with 0 to 1 year of experience” or “Problem solving course for professionals with 0 to 1 year of experience” will turn up results for best strategy or rather the course itself. Think about it. Is that possible? I think it is although I am not sure how soon. With such results, however, consultants might find their job a bit replaceable.
Imagine if a Program Manager needs to buy an LMS, they can run the search and see which one suits their needs and requirements the best, without needing to browse through a dozen odd sites.
With intelligent searches, students will be able to search for courses, colleges, and universities that will best fit their priorities. Web will be able to help them make better career decisions.
The information is all out there however it is still in the unstructured form. With Web 3.0, the information will get structured and we can expect intelligent computing wherein computers will (almost) think like humans to make decisions on financial planning, retirement planning for a couple, education planning for a kid considering the financial needs of the family, market research that big organizations want to carry out. It is nebulous to say if artificial intelligence will be more of a cause or an effect of Web 3.0, however, one thing that I am sure of is that this new version of Web, once in place, will ease many tasks, give better computing results, and save our time. It will however demand a lot of research into hardware, software, infrastructure, platforms, and so on, before coming into the big picture.
Web 3.0 will enable browsers to read, understand, analyze, and deliver results as humans do. This is the basis of a Semantic Web---a concept that many take synonymous to Web 3.0. Web 3.0, however, encompasses much more than Semantic Web vision (a vision that contemplates that machines will read information on Web like humans do). Let’s see what all Web 3.0 will be capable of?
Web 3.0 will be able to carry out natural language searches. Today, when you key in phrases like “Indian Lion”, the Internet does not recognize difference between the searches as “Lions in India” or “Indian Lion” and throws up all kinds of results. Web 3.0 will understand the language as we humans understand it and deliver results in that manner, specific to what we are asking.
In addition, the 3.0 version is postulated to be mediacentric. It means that no longer you need to depend on wordy keywords to execute a search. You can post media, such as images, to get the desired search results. For example, you can post the image of a flower and get the related results on where you can get, buy, or learn more about that particular flower. Awesome! Isn’t it? An extension of this search is also being tried out with the audio files.
Adding to its claim, Web 3.0 will be pervasive in nature---it will be everywhere. These days, reach of Web has extended from desktops and laptops to mobile phones and handhelds. Web 3.0; however, plans to take another step forward and you can make Web a part of your watches, jewelry, window panes, and bathroom mirrors. Imagine your boring toothbrush routine turning into news time as you could turn your Web-connected bathroom mirror to a Web screen. This is not all. Many researchers are working on enabling the Web to control opening and closing of your lobby windows depending on the temperature and weather at your location.
Another significant development that is expected to happen in Web 3.0 environment is development of more sophisticated 3D applications. A similar example that can be experienced these days is the Second Life, an environment in which the users can live a virtual life in the form of any Avtar that the user wishes to choose. The user can communicate/interact with other members in the virtual community. This, with Web 3.0, can be taken to another level, wherein you can move in your neighborhood or an unseen foreign city, look at the location of other households or shops, and decide where you want to roam around or think of buying land. Say, your virtual Avtar can roam within a radius of 10-kilometes around Jaipur airport where the land is on sale, read the details of the plots up for sale, and decide where you want to invest your money.
Too futuristic, as it may sound, however, you will begin to see the changes soon. Many companies like Ojos and Polar Rose are working on developing the mediacentric version of Web. HP, Yahoo, and Radar Networks are adopting the Semantic Web standards. Microsoft and Google are researching on 3D. In addition, IBM and Oracle are using and developing structures and technologies that closely resemble the Web 3.0.
How Will Web 3.0 Impact E-learning?
Web 3.0 promises to be a Web of data that will read your response, search the Internet for possible options, and then intelligently evaluate the best result for you to throw up in your search.
I would like to think aloud here. Imagine that E-learning companies offer their training modules through Web, with no third party involvement. Suppose an E-learning company posts, on the Web, the overviews, costs, and time conditions of professional courses on different skill sets. So, a person who searches for the courses that he or she needs to undertake to reach a particular position in the industry, a short write-up about the appropriate course might appear, including link to take the course. This way a learner can buy the course directly from an e-learning organization removing all third parties involved.
Another point that I would like to make is that e-Learning consultants might find Web 3.0 as a competitor as well as a great help to their profession. Which part will weigh more, I cannot say. When Web 3.0 comes into picture, anyone can run a search reading “Best strategy for time management (soft skill) course for professionals with 0 to 1 year of experience” or “Problem solving course for professionals with 0 to 1 year of experience” will turn up results for best strategy or rather the course itself. Think about it. Is that possible? I think it is although I am not sure how soon. With such results, however, consultants might find their job a bit replaceable.
Imagine if a Program Manager needs to buy an LMS, they can run the search and see which one suits their needs and requirements the best, without needing to browse through a dozen odd sites.
With intelligent searches, students will be able to search for courses, colleges, and universities that will best fit their priorities. Web will be able to help them make better career decisions.
The information is all out there however it is still in the unstructured form. With Web 3.0, the information will get structured and we can expect intelligent computing wherein computers will (almost) think like humans to make decisions on financial planning, retirement planning for a couple, education planning for a kid considering the financial needs of the family, market research that big organizations want to carry out. It is nebulous to say if artificial intelligence will be more of a cause or an effect of Web 3.0, however, one thing that I am sure of is that this new version of Web, once in place, will ease many tasks, give better computing results, and save our time. It will however demand a lot of research into hardware, software, infrastructure, platforms, and so on, before coming into the big picture.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Accessibility: Fancy Philanthropic Effort or More?
Accessibility refers to making the products and services accessible to all, including people with disabilities (PwD) and a lot has been talked about it as a social, philanthropic effort, almost so much so that it sounds like a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative. Do u really think that big companies, such as IBM, Microsoft, and Cisco, are continuously improving their products, services, and processes w.r.t. accessibility to accommodate only a social cause? Well, I do not think so. Addressing social needs might be one reason…one small reason I would say, however, there is more to such an initiative.
Big companies are claiming to make the outputs of their businesses, such as products (phones, laptops, computerized kiosks), documentation, and services (learning solutions, Web sites), accessible or available almost equally to all, be it a professional, or an older person, or a PwD. And, the reason given for such a move, most of the times, is to provide equal opportunities to all. That, in my opinion, is only partly true.
It Means Business
An important reason for implementing accessibility is the big money involved. As far as the statistics goes, 6% of world population is suffering from disabilities, and around 19% of the U.S. population contributes to this number. Now, these people are customers with special needs who need accessible products and services to make the transactions that other people make. Also, PwD are all the more dependent on Internet and technologically advanced solutions to make their day-to-day operations a bit smoother. Technology can assist them, like other non-disabled people, right from paying off their bills sitting at home to controlling their businesses from a location of their choice. However, PwD need these services more and the reason is obvious. Therefore, if companies are implementing accessibility in their products and services, they are very well capturing a new customer set (PwD) for their products that others did not even consider.
In addition to the customers that companies can capture and satisfy with their accessible solutions, companies can also hire and retain employees who are good at work however did not get hired because the company lacked accessible products and services. Apart from PwD, some people face disabilities because of age—many old people develop certain disabilities with age and if the companies do not retain them as employees just because of their recently acquired disability, companies lose on the expertise that these people have earned through their experience. And this population of aged people is above and beyond the 6% (PwD, worldwide) and 19% (PwD, U.S.) statistics.
Now, think of the revenue that a company can earn by making new customers, catering to them, and retaining diverse employees. And then, philanthropy just becomes one of the peripheral advantages that emerge out of this business need called accessibility.
So, when IBM introduces shortcuts/special buttons on this Think Pad (for people with locomotor disability), or Cisco launches accessible phones (that converts speech to text) for hearing-impaired people, or Microsoft releases Windows Speech Recognition in its Windows Vista (to enable people with locomotor disability to interact with heir PCs by their voice), I think there is more than a social cause to it---it all translates to wider customer base and therefore more business.
Competition Demands It
Another important reason of implementing accessibility is that in these times of severe competition, you cannot and rather would not like to be left behind. All big organizations are involved in addressing needs of PwD, be it visual, auditory, speech, locomotor, neurological, or cognitive disabilities. IBM and Microsoft are actively involved in implementing accessibility in their products since early 1980s. And now Cisco is also joining the bandwagon by having an Accessibility Unit for the organization that takes care of accessibility needs for the organization on whole. When the top-notch players are competing in providing accessible solutions, other companies are bound to follow the suit.
Clients Demand It
Many companies, such as Cisco, have U.S. federal government and other U.S. state governments, as their clients. For these companies, with such clients, it becomes a stated requirement to make their deliverables accessible because they need to comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (in U.S.). This act requires all products and services to be accessible to all in the public. With more states and clients asking for accessible solutions, be it in learning or product domain or otherwise, the demand of accessible solutions will rise and an organization can only be ignorant to not proactively learn more about it.
Pleasing Customer
Making the products and services accessible to PwD makes things easier for the other lot too, i.e., people who do not have disabilities. If an organization like Microsoft allows the flexibility to use the IE7 browser in a way that best suits customer’s needs and preferences, it benefits the PwD and others alike. It becomes a comfort for all to be able to customize text, style it, and color it; use keyboard shortcuts; use the zoom in and zoom out functionality for the Web content, and so on. This makes a customer of your product happy and the more customers you please; the more you make your business grow. After all, customer is God.
Accessibility has already gained a lot of momentum within big companies and the medium sized companies as well are catching up with it. The management in the latter should consider proposing accessibility as a part of the solutioning for the client. Because if your product is good and the client intends to use it for long, it might not be very far that the client comes back to you saying he wants to make it accessible and then turning back the wheel would be a tedious process. So, treating accessibility as a solution that a business can offer to make better products and services for PwD and otherwise is a wise thing to do---a wiser business proposal than a philanthropic effort.
Big companies are claiming to make the outputs of their businesses, such as products (phones, laptops, computerized kiosks), documentation, and services (learning solutions, Web sites), accessible or available almost equally to all, be it a professional, or an older person, or a PwD. And, the reason given for such a move, most of the times, is to provide equal opportunities to all. That, in my opinion, is only partly true.
It Means Business
An important reason for implementing accessibility is the big money involved. As far as the statistics goes, 6% of world population is suffering from disabilities, and around 19% of the U.S. population contributes to this number. Now, these people are customers with special needs who need accessible products and services to make the transactions that other people make. Also, PwD are all the more dependent on Internet and technologically advanced solutions to make their day-to-day operations a bit smoother. Technology can assist them, like other non-disabled people, right from paying off their bills sitting at home to controlling their businesses from a location of their choice. However, PwD need these services more and the reason is obvious. Therefore, if companies are implementing accessibility in their products and services, they are very well capturing a new customer set (PwD) for their products that others did not even consider.
In addition to the customers that companies can capture and satisfy with their accessible solutions, companies can also hire and retain employees who are good at work however did not get hired because the company lacked accessible products and services. Apart from PwD, some people face disabilities because of age—many old people develop certain disabilities with age and if the companies do not retain them as employees just because of their recently acquired disability, companies lose on the expertise that these people have earned through their experience. And this population of aged people is above and beyond the 6% (PwD, worldwide) and 19% (PwD, U.S.) statistics.
Now, think of the revenue that a company can earn by making new customers, catering to them, and retaining diverse employees. And then, philanthropy just becomes one of the peripheral advantages that emerge out of this business need called accessibility.
So, when IBM introduces shortcuts/special buttons on this Think Pad (for people with locomotor disability), or Cisco launches accessible phones (that converts speech to text) for hearing-impaired people, or Microsoft releases Windows Speech Recognition in its Windows Vista (to enable people with locomotor disability to interact with heir PCs by their voice), I think there is more than a social cause to it---it all translates to wider customer base and therefore more business.
Competition Demands It
Another important reason of implementing accessibility is that in these times of severe competition, you cannot and rather would not like to be left behind. All big organizations are involved in addressing needs of PwD, be it visual, auditory, speech, locomotor, neurological, or cognitive disabilities. IBM and Microsoft are actively involved in implementing accessibility in their products since early 1980s. And now Cisco is also joining the bandwagon by having an Accessibility Unit for the organization that takes care of accessibility needs for the organization on whole. When the top-notch players are competing in providing accessible solutions, other companies are bound to follow the suit.
Clients Demand It
Many companies, such as Cisco, have U.S. federal government and other U.S. state governments, as their clients. For these companies, with such clients, it becomes a stated requirement to make their deliverables accessible because they need to comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (in U.S.). This act requires all products and services to be accessible to all in the public. With more states and clients asking for accessible solutions, be it in learning or product domain or otherwise, the demand of accessible solutions will rise and an organization can only be ignorant to not proactively learn more about it.
Pleasing Customer
Making the products and services accessible to PwD makes things easier for the other lot too, i.e., people who do not have disabilities. If an organization like Microsoft allows the flexibility to use the IE7 browser in a way that best suits customer’s needs and preferences, it benefits the PwD and others alike. It becomes a comfort for all to be able to customize text, style it, and color it; use keyboard shortcuts; use the zoom in and zoom out functionality for the Web content, and so on. This makes a customer of your product happy and the more customers you please; the more you make your business grow. After all, customer is God.
Accessibility has already gained a lot of momentum within big companies and the medium sized companies as well are catching up with it. The management in the latter should consider proposing accessibility as a part of the solutioning for the client. Because if your product is good and the client intends to use it for long, it might not be very far that the client comes back to you saying he wants to make it accessible and then turning back the wheel would be a tedious process. So, treating accessibility as a solution that a business can offer to make better products and services for PwD and otherwise is a wise thing to do---a wiser business proposal than a philanthropic effort.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Instructional Design – What Is It?
Instructional design is all about delivering information to a known learner in the most effective manner. It is about managing learning by creating effective instructions. Instructional designing is a field that leverages the human art of teaching/facilitating learning by studying the difference between the current (present) and ultimate (desired) skill/knowledge set of a learner. It revolves around bridging the difference between the two. Simple as it might sound and so it is; however, to say this, you need to understand it. As I understand it, instructional deigning is keeping yourself in the shoe of a learner and (1) imagining how you would learn best---by what means, by which content, by which delivery medium, and so on, and (2) developing and delivering content that fulfils that imagination.
Like any other field of science, instructional design owes its present state of understanding to various theories, models, and scientists (mostly psychologists and behaviorists). Apart from talking about the most significant contributions that all of them have made to instructional designing, this blog will present and discuss the new and emerging changes in this field.
Like any other field of science, instructional design owes its present state of understanding to various theories, models, and scientists (mostly psychologists and behaviorists). Apart from talking about the most significant contributions that all of them have made to instructional designing, this blog will present and discuss the new and emerging changes in this field.
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