Location-based Apps - Social Media Savvy CEO - I love this stuff!

So, it might take me a while to get the e-Learning m-Learning part of this, but just hang tight as I explain how I got this @ reply from the CEO of Wildflower Bread Co.

After introducing my kids to the concept of "checking in", I don't really need to think about it any more.  Any where we go my kids will say, "Dad, don't forget to check in", or "Dad, can I check in for you?". So I hand over the iPhone (the new iPhone 4.0 btw) and they go through all of my apps for checking in: Gowalla, Foursquare, mytown, Brightkite, and Yelp.

Checking in
The concept of checking in is a little scary to many, but if you set up the apps correctly there is nothing to worry about.

For the n00bs out there, "checking in" goes like this:
1) go to some some destination (store, restaurant, gas station, school...etc)
2) Take out your phone and open your favorite location-based social app.
3) Since your phone knows where you are it will show you all of the pre-listed locations you are "near".
4) Select your given location and CHECK IN.

Okay, that wasn't so hard.  Now what? Well...nothing really.  Depending on how you setup each app and if you have "friends" listed on the system a message will go out to the people you designate.  You can also take a picture and add that to the message that is sent along with a short text note.

I very rarely add text or an image.  Actually, last night was the first time I've ever added a picture to a checkin.
What prompted me to take a shot last night of all nights?  Well, actually, it was several things.  First and foremost, I just got the new iPhone and I'm always looking for an opportunity to try the camera.  Second, I was waiting for my food at WildFlower with my son and he was asking questions about the app..."oh look! does that button mean you can send a picture too?" And so I am now faced with a "tell or show" moment.  I prefer doing/showing vs. telling so we took a picture of the dessert case he had been eyeing since we walked in.  Check in complete...with my first checkin photo.  Cool!

Rewards in Gaming
Then my son says, "OH SWEET! You just became the Mayor of Wildflower, Dad!"  Now this is where I may lose some of you.  I can sense the eyes glaring at this page beginning to roll...if you haven't left already.

So, if you checkin enough times at a given location in Foursquare you will be given the title of Mayor...of that particular location.  Whoop de doo, right? Who cares.  Well, many people do.  In fact, I didn't think I did either until I started becoming the Mayor of a few places.  And just recently Starbucks started giving discounts to the store's Mayors.  I know there are other marketing deals with other companies in the works as well.  The marketing possibilities are endless limited only by your imagination.

Its a silly little reward to simply give a user a new title.  But its like winning!  Seriously, because there is also a LOSER.  The person that lost his/her crown gets a little msg that says, "you are no longer the mayor of __________."  And yes, there is a minor sense of "losing" when you get that little virtual pink slip.  You instantly feel the need to run out for another cup of coffee...or not.

Why Does the CEO care?
This morning I wake up and find the above @ reply from @WildflowerCEO.  Honestly, I don't know specifically what triggered the WildFlower's CEO to reach out.  But my guess is that the company monitors the status of it's store's Mayors.  I would! Wouldn't you?  Seriously, this is a no-brainer.  This is a direct line of contact with your customers that have proven themselves to be repeat customers.  And I don't care how important you are, when a company CEO sends you a message, it makes you feel good.  Of course, to you cynics out there, the thought did cross my mind that either this msg is automated or could have been created by the marketing department.  I prefer to think it truly was the CEO so don't burst my bubble here people ;-)

What if this CEO was a course facilitator monitoring students?  What if you were studying art and you were the Mayor of the local art museum, or gallery?  That might give you some serious street cred in the art community...maybe.  There is a lot to consider here.

Is there something to be learned here, Brent?
I hope you are seeing the learning potential here and the opportunity for creative instructional designers.  I see so many opportunities.  It all depends if people are willing to share their experiences.  But it also depends upon the instructional designers giving learners a reason to care about sharing their experiences.  This will be hard for anyone to grasp if their only reference point for learning is a classroom.  This is about sharing and learning together.  Its social.  It requires the free form exchange of ideas and social give and take.

Location based services and mobile apps are not going away.  These technologies are only in their infancy, but there is a powerful draw that enhances our already highly digital social experiences.  These apps, and services should be on your radar if you are serious about innovative e-Learning design.

DevLearn 2010 Conference and Expo - November - San Francisco, CA

micro-mobile vs. macro-mobile: mLearning Impacting Your eLearning Design

I was just responding to a comment on LinkedIn and I used the term micro and macro to describe my personal use-case for digital mobility...connectedness.  I have a MacBookPro, an iPad, and an iPhone.  Most likely many of your learners are not in this situation, but it feels like our digital lives are heading in this direction more and more.  With the iPad in hand, I can now very easily define my mobility as within my house - micro, and within the world - macro.

The Main Machine - Desktops and Laptops
I use my laptop more like a desktop these days.  Basically, it sits on my desk all day.  So, I'm actually thinking about going back to an iMac because you get more bang for your buck.  The only time I find myself truly NEEDING my laptop is when I give an event, or corporate presentation.  I like having a "clicker" in my hand and so swiping through my presentation on my iPad is just not an option for me.  Everything else revolves around this main machine and in regards to this blog post the distance from this machine.

Micro-mobility - iPads and Tablet PCs
Since I work out of my home, micro-mobility is easily define within my house.  But more generically, I would define it as within walking distance of your main computer.  The iPad, or any new tablet, fits nicely into this mobile space.  It turns on quickly.  You can pick it up and go.  This micro-mobility is great for times when your job calls for lots of reading.  You don't want to do it at your desk and so you grab the iPad and move to a comfy chair near better natural lighting...for example.

Macro-mobility - Smartphones, and other small devices
Some may not like this use of micro and macro because I'm not using it to refer to the size of the device.  They would be right, I'm not.  I'm always thinking about the learner.  The smaller the device the more likely it is to be used for MACRO-mobility: long distances away from the main machine.  Since my iPhone fits nicely in my pocket, I know I have all I need when I leave the house.  If I plan ahead and know that I will be sitting for a long period of time or I'm meeting a business colleague then the iPad comes along for the ride...just in case.  But honestly, taking the iPad anywhere is still very counterproductive since I ALWAYS get asked by strangers how I like it.

So, are we thinking about micro v. macro mobility when we talk about designing mLearning?  Despite the shiny newness of mobile devices we are still needing to design with the LEARNER in mind first, device second.  This is where e-Learning development needs to catch up.  We need to be considering the learning environment as existing on a main machine, accessible from the web(any machine), and accessible on a mobile device.  And NO, that does not mean that you create ONE eLearning course and demand that it plays exactly the same way on an iMac, an iPad, and an iPhone.  It means that as designers we MUST start designing experiences around content that are uniquely created for each CONTEXT.  Its time to start being creative and re-thinking our design options.

 DevLearn 2010 Conference and Expo - November - San Francisco, CA

mLearnCon Helps Redefine Mobile Learning

I truly LOVE my job!  Technology, Learning, and GREAT people make for an amazing gathering.  eLearning Guild events are always energized and intense experiences. But it seems the more focused the topic, the more energized and intense it gets.  I know first hand how much goes into events behind the scenes to make this happen, but its the attendees, and the speakers, that take the energy to whole new level.  mLearnCon definitely put a stake in the ground as the biggest, and best mobile learning event thanks to our amazing attendees!  Mobile Learning is without question the biggest opportunity currently available to training organizations to make significant business impact.

2 Major Themes Surface at mLearnCon
The event was filled with every type of mobile learning solution you can imagine, but there were two main themes that just kept re-occurring...over, and over again: People, and SMS.  Its very clear that designing m-Learning is more about the user and less about the technology.  I've heard these conversations at e-Learning events as well but certainly not as loud and clear as it was at mLearnCon.  And AFTER you understand your learner, and their mobility, you look towards technology.  And no other technology surfaced as strongly as SMS, text messaging.  Every phone has SMS capabilities, and nearly everyone on the planet has a mobile phone and they know how to send/receive text messages.

1 Thing You NEED to know!
And of course, in a not so close 3rd place (regarding major themes as I saw them), we all agreed that simply miniaturizing our existing e-Learning courses to fit on tiny mobile screens was an immediate #FAIL.  mLearning requires completely rethinking how a mobile learner can stay connected to learning content before, during, and after other learning events have occurred.

Rethinking your corporate learning strategy to include mobile learning is not as easy as it sounds.  There are many of your learning colleagues out there doing great work and offering their services.  Find them.  Engage them.  And learn how your strategy NEEDS to support the mobility of your learners.

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A quick collection of resources from an mLearnCon google search:

The Future Of E-learning Is Mobile – mLearnCon

http://www.upsidelearning.com/blog/index.php/2010/06/10/the-future-of-e-learning-is-mobile-mlearncon/

Mobile Learning – SMS Can Get You Started

http://www.upsidelearning.com/blog/index.php/2010/06/18/mobile-learning-sms-can-get-you-started/

The now famous keynote mind maps of Quinnovator: 

Mimi Ito

http://blog.learnlets.com/?p=1605

Tomi Ahonen

http://blog.learnlets.com/?p=1603

Inge De Warde took in a pre-conference workshop as well as the mLearnCon event.

preconference workshop during mlearncon: android 101 She is a prolific blogger and so I won't list ALL the great posts she made during the event.  Check out her blog at http://ignatiawebs.blogspot.com/

Here are a couple direct links...

http://ignatiawebs.blogspot.com/2010/06/preconference-workshop-during-mlearncon.html

http://ignatiawebs.blogspot.com/2010/06/tomi-ahonen-mobile-in-learning-lessons.html

iPhone App

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAOqqx4c3Yw&feature=related

Slideshare

http://www.slideshare.net/ignatia/mlc10-802-mlearnconcarloskiyaningedewaard05

http://www.slideshare.net/bjschone/20-mlearning-tools-in-60-minutes-mlearncon-2010

http://www.slideshare.net/visualrinse/design-approaches-for-adapting-content-for-mlearning

http://www.slideshare.net/robhennigar/m-learncon-2010

http://www.slideshare.net/jhaag75/scorm-implementation-strategies-for-mobile

 DevLearn 2010 Conference and Expo - November - San Francisco, CA

Innovations in e-Learning

I was invited to speak at the Innovations in eLearning conference last Thursday. This event is put on by a partnership between George Mason University and the Defense Acquisition University.  Both organizations are top notch.  Who actually even knows that there even IS a University in the department of defense devoted to teaching the military how to buy stuff? I certainly didn't...until a few years ago. Both organizations take eLearning very seriously and so it's always a pleasure to hang out with all of the very smart people I'm happy to call my eLearning colleagues ... and friends... and as Aaron Silvers calls us, his "near-peers".

Aaron Silvers - @mrch0mp3rs

Unfortunately, Aaron was in the last session block of the day and since I had to catch my flight I was not there.  However, I had an early preview of some of his ideas which totally blew my mind.  And then, I followed the Twitter stream in the cab on my iPad and it was obvious that he was melting brains. I was bummed to not be there to catch it all.  Thankfully, Aaron will be hosting the Mobile Future Zone at mLearnCon in 2 weeks.

Dr. Alan Kay

I was able to attend the 2 keynotes on Wednesday:  Dr. Alan Kay, John Romero.  Alan is one of the smartest people on the planet.  I loved his talk but need to review his slides as I could not commit it all to memory.  Actually the technology used to give the presentation was what I remember the most:  etoys (part of Squeakland.org). Download win/Mac/Linux - It's an amazing app that does not distinguish between an edit mode and a display mode as say, PowerPoint does...or just about every other media creation tool I know.
The programming, or logic, is available to the user at all times.  Alan drew 2 circles on the screen, one smaller than the other and called it a bug. He opened a popup that, basically by completing a sentence, gave the "bug" instructions to follow.  He closed the popup and the bug followed its instructions until it had gone off the screen. It was very cool, and took all of about 30 secs.

I remember playing with Squeak a few years ago and loved the simplistic nature of the tool.  I often wonder why these are not brought into the corporate training world.  Instead we insist on complications of ActionScript, or C++, or any of the others.  If the reasoning is that perhaps Squeak and etoy are not polished enough then why doesn't someone buff 'em up a little and get 'em ready for prime time...or at least create a tool that is as easy to use.

John Romero

John Romero is a legend in the world of gaming design/creation. You can simply Google his name to see his the many years of innovation he has pioneered in gaming.  I'm certain some of the more traditional learning designers wonder why some of us find kindred spirits in the likes of game designers.  The simple answer is that because game developers are able to do what learning developers have not been able to do: utilize technology to engage, involve, and immerse a learner.  Make no mistake, ALL games are about learning.  Actually they are about rules, but as Raph Koster would say, "the learning is the drug."  Rumor has it that John Romero's next project will be an attempt to bring our worlds (learning design and game design) together into a commercial quality game.  I hope the rumors are true.

I spent the rest of my time networking with peers and working on my own presentation. I had the pleasure of meeting Brenda Brathwaite (her blog).  She is also a brilliant, passionate, game designer.  Check out her wikipedia entry if you want to learn more. I was traveling during the first day of workshops.  But I was following the tweet stream of attendees (like Aaron Silvers) and they raved about it.  So, I'm inviting her to DevLearn2010 to do a game design workshop for e-Learning designers.  I'm making it my mission to do everything I can to bring our two industries closer together.

I'll save my review of my own session for another blog post.  Everyone was nice and said they enjoyed it, but I just can't shake the feeling that I was preaching to the choir.  I suppose, if nothing else, the Journey bit always gets a good laugh ;-)

See you in San Diego at mLearnCon!    

mLearnCon - Mobile Learning Conference and Expo- June 15-17 - San Diego, CA
DevLearn 2010 Conference and Expo - November 3-5 - San Francisco, CA