Comments on: 180 seconds to an online "scrapbook" (or, "On the importance of simplicity")

By: Greg R.

Greg R. — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:40:23 +0000

Wow, Scott. I’m not sure what’s cooler: that your 8-year old has a tumblelog or that his musical tastes are better than most adults I know. Not so excited about Green Day, but kudos to Calum for turning me on to the LCD Soundsystem song at http://calum.tumblr.com/post/28956939!! That song kicks butt. Go Calum!

By: Alan Levine

Alan Levine — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 04:59:48 +0000

Also a bullet is that simple design is not simple to do. The bloated crapware we suffer with is an expression of laziness to the human experience.

I love Calum’s tumblr and the pure joy it exudes. The other piece not mentioned is that this self expression is important to him.

I alo love the use of ACDC, though I would opt for
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1iR2Wi3u5o

and I’ve made the trek to pay tribute to Bon Scott’s grave in Perth

By: word of the day « explorations in the ed tech world

word of the day « explorations in the ed tech world — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 21:59:16 +0000

[...] These kinds of experiences (and a recent post over at EdTechPost) remind me of the aggravation that instructors invariably face when they’re trying to use technology for teaching, hence the inspiration for the 2 minute tools workshops that I started doing last year. Obviously we’d like instructors to feel empowered by technology, not intimidated. And while FOI concerns are often being cited as reasons not to use some of the good 2.0 stuff out there that really can be learned in 2 minutes or less, what else do we have, and can we afford not to? Why would institutions really want to keep investing in questionable tools whose threshold is too high and therefore attracts less users or requires more support? I’ve taught workshops to instructors on how to use gliffy, google docs, and zoho wiki in less than 2 minutes (sometimes they’ve timed me) and the reaction is so gratifying–instructors who never dreamed of having even a simple web page are amazed that they can do it in the same amount of time it takes for the barrista to make their latte. [...]

By: iterating toward openness - Simple Wins

iterating toward openness - Simple Wins — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:34:21 +0000

[...] Wired and then Scott reiterate. Found these via Stephen. [...]

By: admin

admin — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:03:19 +0000

Gary, this idea of a “guru link” is intriguing. I wouldn’t call it that myself (I am still searching for my guru and would despair at finding her as easily as clicking on a link) but the idea, of “instant distributed help” is interesting. Indeed recently at Northern Voice I was talking with someone who was trying to create an online community of non-technologist about my own “community” acting as distributed micro-tech support (in that case the model was to use twitter to ask for help) to support them. At the end of the day, I think part of what being an online learner is is knowing how to access all support that already exists, but there is likely lots of room for making it easier for people to access tiny 30 second coaching sessions too.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:13:13 +0000

Thanks Brian. In part this is one small step in my road to recovering from complicated, unfriendly tools. And as part of step 10, I need to confess that it took me a long time (even though I was a blogger myself) to appreciate the message that yourself, Jim, D’Arcy and others were preaching, that simplicity really mattered and that these free and easy blogging tools offered a powerful but simple way for educators and students to create content. I knew it but I didn’t know it. Now I do. Or at least I think I do. I will probably make the mistake another dozen times, as I am a slow learner, but then as the old Zen master used to say, “you’ll do it until you don’t need to do it anymore.”

By: Gary Lewis

Gary Lewis — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:01:56 +0000

Thanks, Scott. Nice post. As you say, simple and easy is critical. As a design principle, it makes huge sense. What would technology look like if things were designed foundationally for the most-difficult-to-serve populations? In my case I think of my parents who are both in their upper eighties. Their apartment, in a retirement community, contains many examples of technology that is just unreasonably complicated. My favorite example is the shower that no one can figure out how to turn on. The phone is a close second (my Dad often speaks into the earpiece).

As design principles for learning technologies, the characteristics of Christensen’s disruptive technologies make lots of sense. Simple, customized, inexpensive, and convenient.

The other critical piece in your story is the learning community. In your son’s case, he only needed to turn to his Dad. The ease and naturalness of this interaction makes a big difference in the quality of the learning.

Doesn’t it seem likely that combining simple, customized, inexpensive, convenient, and a guru-link would immeasurably enhance the social and institutional impact of elearning?

Gary Lewis

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 01:17:42 +0000

I could think of about twenty people that I wish I could force to read and digest this post.

Last two posts here, both are really great stuff.