My Wish List.

Lots of web sites and web logs include a link to a Wish List or a "buy me stuff" inventory. Well, here are some things that money can't buy, but that all of us in learning/training/e-Learning/hpt/term-du-jour really desperately need. Some of these are things that we have needed for years. First two items (potential for a rant is quite high): - See update at bottom of post -

• We need a better way to measure learning/training results than the tried-and-failed Kirkpatrick "4 Levels." In this post-industrial, post-individual, knowledge and information age, the Kirkpatrick Levels are worse than meaningless.  In my opinion, they can be misleading, in that a high (say) Level 3 measurement - if you can design a meaningful Level 3 metric - is not necessarily an indicator of success and may be an indicator of dysfunction. Not to mention how worthless a Level 1 "smile sheet" measurement is (and always has been). Kirkpatrick Levels 1, 2, and 3 by and large focus on memory/retention views of learning, not on performance or on accomplishment. The Scorecard method may be ok at the business level, since it includes non-numeric assessment. But what do we do to measure results at the group level and at the individual level, where the meaningful, valued outcome is often not quantifiable? And shouldn't we have flexible measurements to apply where the outcome IS quantifiable?
• We need online systems and software that will facilitate collaboration, identify expertise, and provide quality/reliability information or feedback (think e-Bay and Amazon) with or about individuals in a learning group (which may be larger than a temporary cadre or "the group taking this course right now in the current context"), from WITHIN learning applications. "Social software" as now delivered doesn't do this. Neither does "collaborative software." The answer should function without requiring a huge FOAF file for each individual, and without requiring that we download the entireity of that FOAF file everytime we look someone up. We could also benefit by knowing something (subject to privacy concerns) about a person's other collaborations (past and present) and the character of those collaborations (were they hobby, professional, work, avocation, accidental, etc.)? 

That's it for today. My birthday is June 17. These would make lovely presents.

UPDATE: If you can read German, see "Is Kirkpatrick Obsolete?" I don't know that this is the answer, but we're thinking along the same lines.

4:45:22 PM    

Another Learning Object Repository listing.

Learning Object Repositories list that turned up indirectly through my referrers' listing. Not sure, this may be from McGee's Musings. Thanks to whomever is keeping this, anyway.

2:25:05 PM