We all learn like children, and it's not usually through training! via @rogerschank

1 min read

Education Outrage: Pragmatic Learning: It's not "fun"

With this simple idea, I have told you all you need to know about training. Because we can build “on-demand online training” we can change the world of training significantly. This is what we have to do:

1. We need to anticipate the needs of trainees
2. We need to provide a way for them to satisfy those needs
3. We need to provide people for them to discuss things with

Lecturing and training are rarely the right way for people to learn. People are motivated to learn when they need to know or do something in the moment. Providing just-in-time information, mentors and colleagues for conversation, and short, digestible resources are key.

Only ask if the responses will change your behavior

1 min read

Seth's Blog: Survey questions

Are you asking questions capable of making change happen? After the survey is over, can you say to the bosses, "83% of our customer base agrees with answer A, which means we should change our policy on this issue."

It feels like it's cheap to add one more question, easy to make the question a bit banal, simple to cover one more issue. But, if the answers aren't going to make a difference internally, what is the question for?

Reading scientific papers is a skill that needs to be developed through practice

1 min read

jtleek/readingpapers: A guide to reading scientific papers

The academic paper is still the primary way of distributing new knowledge to the world. There are other ways too, with code, or blogs, or twitter. But academic papers are still the gold standard and where the vast majority of new scientific discoveries are reported.

 I like that this is published on GitHub - if the author got something wrong or missed something, fork it and issue a pull request!

via @kjeannette - What's stopping communities from developing in your organization. #netlit

1 min read

Six Obstacles To Building Communities In Organizations

I've encountered, or been a part of, all six obstacles described in this article:

1. Proliferating Platforms
2. The “Bottom-Up” Approach
3. Policy-Driven Paralysis
4. Collaboration Conundrum
5. Leadership Detachment
6. Dearth of Digital Skills

My sense is that people just want a tool (a magic wand) to drive collaboration within the organization, without understanding the change in mindset and culture that is necessary for success.

My response to: How does Ask an Expert Stack Up against Stack Exchange - #netlit

2 min read

How does Ask an Expert Stack Up against Stack Exchange—A Crowdsourcing Approach to Answering Questions and Solving Problems – eXtension

Unfortunately, Wordpress wouldn't accept my comment in response to Heidi Rader's excellent post contrasting the Ask an Expert system with Stack Exchange. Therefore, I'm going to post it here:

"Heidi, I think you are on target in asking this question. As a web developer, I frequently use Stack Exchange / OverFlow, mostly to ask or see answered questions, but also to contribute answers when I can. I do think there is an issue with Extension professionals seeing these kinds of open platforms as a threat to their expertise, or inviting the possibility of non research-based answers being given. In my opinion, this damages our relevance, since we are not participating in discussions where they are occurring, rather expecting people to come to us when they want an answer.

As an aside, I was at one of the eXtension meetings before it was fully-formed, and most of the IT folks present mentioned or supported a site similar to Slashdot (which was then in its heyday) as a way for our constituents to vote up or down content and provide feedback. There was some resistance along intellectual property lines, as well as the trepidation about inaccurate information appearing alongside Extension information.

The change that made some Ask an Expert questions public is helpful, but I don't think it has resulted in a vibrant platform where users and experts (whether from Extension or not) can freely interact, build reputation, and exchange ideas.

A similar pitch could be made for why Extension professionals should be Wikipedians."

It is my belief that Extension can't afford to wait for people to seek us out - we must be present in the communities (online or real-world) where the discussions and questions are occurring.

On collaboration

1 min read

How UX Professionals Collaborate on Deliverables

Collaboration is beneficial not only for design deliverables like wireframes, prototypes, and comps, but also for user-research deliverables, such as reports, presentations, and data analyses.   Collaborating on these latter artifacts leads to more ideas, fewer blind spots, and a smaller workload.

Who?

1 min read

Was watching Brain Games with my 12-year old last night. They were showing some magic tricks, and then asked, "Who are you going to trust?" and showed a clip of Richard Nixon. I paused it and asked my son if he knew who it was or why they were showing the clip - Nope!

Information is a commodity! #netlit #coopext

1 min read

The Case for a Paradigm Shift in Extension from Information-Centric to Community-Centric Programming

Clients are more interested in the development of communities than passive dissemination of information from traditional Extension programs. Numerous studies support this idea that producers learn from other producers or users of a technology (Brashear, Hollis, & Wheeler, 2000; Gaul, Hochmuth, Israel, & Treadwell, 2009; Miller & Cox, 2006; Vergot III, Israel, & Mayo E., 2005). Additionally, as evidenced by the producer who used her smartphone to access technical information, the way people access information has changed, and Extension personnel are not the first choice if at all. An important question arises from these observations: How can the current information-centric paradigm of Extension programming shift to better meet the needs and desires of its constituents?

In this day and age, information is a commodity, not a scarce resource that Extension can build it's value upon. We need to be connectors, conveners, facilitators, and network weavers. While we do have this in our tradition (think of farm kitchen table meetings), many of us still emphasize our role in disseminating reasearch-based information. We need to shift our emphasis.

Pink Flamingos, versatility, and adaptability

1 min read

Black Swans and Pink Flamingos: Five Principles for Force Design

Versatility is dependent upon adequate training resources and the time to absorb a wide array of scenarios. [...]

Adaptability is based on the capacity to adjust current competencies or generate entirely new skills in reaction to an adversary or to unanticipated circumstances.

Interesting thoughts on pink flamingos ("known knowns" which are ignored because of institutional biases) and the difference between versatility and adaptability (will we have months to allow for adaptation?)

[Applied to the climate change context by Judith Curry]

My anecdote of the broken healthcare market

2 min read

At work, I've elected to use a Health Savings Account and high-deductible insurance for our family health coverage. It doesn't particularly save money, but I like the idea that it makes me more conscious of our healthcare spending, and has the potential to accumulate over time.

My wife was recently told she needed an MRI, and was scheduled to get one at an outpatient clinic - the cost: $2,592. I called Tandem Care, an independent service contracted for by the University System of NH, that will do price comparisons for outpatient procedures.

They found an imaging center, closer to our home, where the cost for the same MRI is $430! By rescheduling the procedure for there, we also are given a $300 cash cost-savings reward. In talking to the Tandem representative, I learned that the same procedure can cost as much as $4,500 at a local hospital.

Until people have a vested interest in the money they spend on healthcare, there is little hope that market forces will have a sufficient impact on healthcare costs. In this case, it's my money, not the insurance company's, that would be spent, so I cared enough to shop around for what's a standard procedure.

This was also discussed in length in a recent Planet Money episode - "Pay Patients, Save Money."