From DSC: A couple of interesting/recent quotes jumped out at me as being very true:

  1. From a webinar that I just learned about which is later tonight entitled “New Learning Communities: Theoretical Frameworks”:
    A landscape of new tools has lead to entirely new forms of communication. Learning itself is a ‘mashup.’ Teaching and communicating using online tools creates a conversation that takes place in a cloud. New learning skills and styles emerge. This presentation will introduce three concepts especially relevant to teaching and learning in this potentially overwhelming context: learning ecosystems, organizational biomimicry, and connectivism. This is a concise introduction to what’s new in learning and communication and is meant to provide the background knowledge to support changes in practice.
  2. From Mark Berthelemy’s Reflections on Learning Technologies 2010
    We like our systems. I like systems. They help us feel in control of things. Sometimes they’re even useful. The trouble is, the individual process of learning just doesn’t fit nicely in systems. Learning is messy. It happens at the oddest times, for the strangest reasons. Trying to systemise learning is like trying to pick up milk in your hands. Yes, some of it might stick, but that will be the exception rather than the rule.

From DSC:
“Learning itself is a ‘mashup.'” “Learning is messy”. After the numerous learning theories I’ve seen, and the myriad of perspectives regarding what works in education, I’m beginning to agree with these statements. There’s just as much art in teaching & learning as there is science. If someone can prove me wrong here, I’d love it. Give us a clean picture of how people are learning today and it would really help.

I’m wondering if we could create a system that would allow an educator to input which models of learning they believe in, for which subject, and ask them to input some other parameters, and the system/database would recommend some possible learning plans/ideas for them (based upon how they wanted to relay a topic). Hmmm…not sure though…

Anyway, from the items I mentioned above — as well as from my studies in my “Instructional Design for Online Learning” Masters program — I’m just not seeing any kind of silver bullets out there! 🙂