Education, Innovation and Inspiration : Lonn

Allow Myself to Introduce...Myself.

benlower — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:42:56 GMT

So Lonn's prior post really put the pressure on:

How does one live up to that? Fun and Interesting? Wow. I'll do my best.

Who Am I?

I was a software developer (VB, ASP, C#, ASP.NET, SQL Server) for about five years. I then went back to school and graduated from the University of Washington last June. During the summer of 2006, I had the privilege of doing an internship on the Courseware team at Microsoft Learning (MSL). I returned to MSL in July of 2007.

What Would You Say Ya Do Here?

I am the Product Manager for the Courseware Library (CWLib). The CWLib is the manifestation of the work I did during my internship. As an intern I was asked to propose a solution that would enable us to take advantage of all the content that exists in the world (internally at Microsoft and externally as well) on Microsoft's products and technologies.

Why Blog?

I've always had mixed feelings about blogs. To me they've always seemed part self-promotion and part information. My goals for this blog are:

Share information - I want to share about MSL's Courseware business, our vision, new features, thinking, etc.
Create a forum to connect in meaningful ways - I'm hoping that over time, this blog will enable us to connect with our Partners, MCTs, and students. This won't be the only way in which we connect, but I think this can provide a forum that offers different value than email, mailers, conference calls, or presentations.
Gather feedback - We have some ideas about where we want to take our business but we can't do it without feedback.

Cheers

Ben

Just like the Terminator said...

Lonn — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:59:00 GMT

"I'll be back."...

And here I am. The Terminator reference is in honour of the new Terminator TV Series (Sarah Connor Chronicles) which I've been watching, and have enjoyed thus far. As the writers strike drags on, I've been spending a lot of time on Hulu.com with my beta account. Great stuff there... Anyways, I digress.

I'm back and ready to blog to the world about the following things:

1. Microsoft courseware. Everything from MOC to Courseware Library, MODL to the MCT Download Center and everything in-between.
2. Interesting tidbits about how people learn and innovations in the training industry. Some may be new to you, some may be old, but anything that I find interesting enough to discuss may find a paragraph or two in an upcoming post.
3. Life in general at Microsoft Learning and insights about how it feels to be the Product Manager for facilitated training products that reach close to 1 Million of the world's brightest minds via our network of super smart Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) and experienced CPLS Partners.

<Tangent>I love MCTs. These guys are as passionate and knowledgeable about technology as they come and I spend a lot of my time working with them within Microsoft as well as throughout the CPLS channel. I'll have a chance to address them in person at the upcoming Redmond MCT Summit in early Feb and look forward to a lively chat about all the things we're doing around MOC, both in the short and long term.</Tangent>

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Microsoft wide Learning and Technology Forum. Hats off the organizers for the terrific event that brought the top minds at Microsoft together for a day full of expert speakers and knowledge sharing. The keynote was delivered by Will Thalheimer, who is known for his expertise in training measurement. If you haven't already, you might want to check out his blog http://www.willatworklearning.com/. Another great presentation was delivered by my teammate and soon to be blogger Ben Lower, who talked about the innovative Courseware Library and the plans going forward.

I'll let Ben introduce himself shortly, but I guarantee that he'll be a fun and interesting read. He's a guy that everyone likes having around and is the life of the party... that being said, he's got great insights on the facilitated learning industry and I will enjoy posting along side of him.

Feels good to back. Have a great day.

"Hasta la vista, baby." ;)

Lonn

Multitasking impairs ability to learn

Lonn — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 01:50:00 GMT

How Multitasking Affects Human Learning - Interview with UCLA Psycology Professor, Russel Poldrack

Using an MRI they monitored people's brain activity to see which areas of their brains were being used when they were only focused on the lesson v.s. when they were multitasking. They found that when we focus on learning something, the area of the brain that is active is the hippocampus (where we store rich concious memories). In contrast, when we multitask, the area of the brain that is active is the basal ganglia (where we store habits and more subconcious memories). Their conclusion was that learning is severely impaired when you are trying to do multiple things at once.

Personally, I feel that this is something that most people know already. It's tough because it is so tempting to try and write a quick email while taking an online training course, or watch tv while studying for your upcoming certification exam (okay, maybe I'm a bad example. :). One would think that with more information around, we'd be more knowledgeable. As we continue to be bombarded by information, which divides our attention, will the end result be that because we can never focus, we end up retaining a lot less?

My opinion is we're moving away from a 'storage' based society. Gone are the days where you were smart because you 'knew everything'. We have moved into the 'network' based society where you are smart if you know 'how to get to everything you need to know' using the tools and technology around you. Last night, I went with a group of my friends to a trivia night at a local bar, after our final dodgeball finals (we lost), and felt very useless without my internet connection (I did have my smartphone but didn't want to cheat ;). Sometimes it feels as though I put a ton of information in RAM but it never gets written to my HD.

I think this is an interesting topic because although we have entered this new information age, a lot of the techniques and tools that we employ in the classroom haven't changed very much. Do we run the risk of increasing the gap between the real world and the classroom? Our team is currently investigating ways to evolve our current products to keep ahead of the curve, but it's a big task!