eLearning Innovation 2010 – Top 30

I had an interesting conversation the other day about whether there’s that much new going on in eLearning here in 2010.  The general sentiment around the room was that many workplace learning organizations were focused on nuts-and-bolts training, and that there was little innovation.

I’m probably not the best judge of whether there’s innovation going on because:

• People call me when they want to do something innovative.  I tend to work on things that are a bit leading edge like Data Driven performance solutions or eLearning Startups or the next great idea that someone has.
• In the world of eLearning, I generally pay attention to other innovators.  These are often bloggers as exemplified by the great bloggers found via eLearning Learning.  I also might be talking to people I’m talking to in conversations who are thinking about something innovative.

So, I’m afraid that I’ve a skewed perspective.

That said – I’m still under the impression that my central eLearning Predictions for 2010 is going to come true.  At the end of the year, we will be saying:

“Wow, 2010 was a crazy year!”

I was asked for some specifics and at the time I didn’t come up with really good answers.  I suggested that they review my predictions – which is a pretty good indicator of where I see some more interesting innovations coming.

But I also thought I’d cheat and use what eLearning Learning is telling me the hotter topics are for the first 3 months of 2010.  What are these?  These are topics that are coming up in the participating blogs more during this time than they have in the past and that have good social signals.  So, I pulled the top 30 terms.  I’ve grouped them and commented on what I’m seeing.

So, here’s what we are already seeing this year.

Google Buzz, Google Wave and PKM

PKM stands for Personal Knowledge Management, which is a definite passion of mine (see Work Literacy and Social Media for Knowledge Workers).  Interesting to me to see that these pop to the top.

1. PKM in a nutshell, March 22, 2010
2. PKM in 2010, January 27, 2010 
3. Google Buzz in eLearning, February 11, 2010
4. Seven (Possible) Ways to Use Google Buzz for Education by Jeremy Vest, February 17, 2010
5. Google Wave: 100 tips & tricks, January 25, 2010
6. New Features Added to Google Wave: More useful for e-Learning by Bill Brandon, January 26, 2010

iPad, Mobile Learning, iPhone

The iPad and other mobile solutions offer something pretty interesting.  Retail, restaurants, construction – great stuff!

1. Making Sense Of The iPad For Online Learning, February 8, 2010
2. Apple's iPad: What does it offer for e-Learning? by Bill Brandon, January 27, 2010
3. The iPad and its impact on m-learning., February 22, 2010
4. Tools For Mobile Learning Development, March 21, 2010
5. Five Mobile Learning Implementation Tips, March 1, 2010
6. The Advent of Mobile Learning Technology, January 7, 2010

Video

Interesting to see this up this high.  But it makes sense.  Do you remember when you couldn’t do video because the network didn’t support it?  And when it took too long to shoot the video and put it up?  That was probably only two years ago for most of us.  And now that’s pretty radically changed!

1. Planning A Video Production, January 8, 2010
2. Instructional Design for Videos, January 22, 2010
3. 25 places to find instructional videos, February 8, 2010

Social Learning,  Social Media,  Twitter, Facebook

Not a surprise to see that there’s lots of discussion of social learning and specific social media tools for social learning.

1. Twitter for Learning – 55 Great Articles, March 24, 2010
2. Social Learning Strategies Checklist, January 11, 2010
3. How to use Twitter for Social Learning, March 20, 2010
4. Checklist of Social Learning Strategies, January 12, 2010

Virtual World

The tools are starting to get there where simulations in 3D worlds makes sense. 

1. Eight 3D Virtual World Design Principles, March 8, 2010
2. Virtual Immersive Environments: From Theory to Practice, February 7, 2010
3. Instructional Design for Virtual Worlds, January 22, 2010

Nuts-and-Bolts Topics

Here are other topics that come up.  I’d suggest that these would argue in favor of nuts-and-bolts.  But you can be the judge of that.

• Organizational Learning
• Webinar
• Instructional Design
• Compliance
• LCMS
• Course
• Learning Management System
• LMS
• Content
• Camera
• Templates
• eLearning Strategy
• Cost
• Classroom
• Flash

Not Sure

Here are the final two.  Not sure how to categorize these things.

• Effectiveness
• Informal Learning

Reaction?

I’d be curious your thoughts?

BTW – did I miss anything that you see as a big discussion topic already this year?

And I’m curious if you think that 2010 is so far a year of nuts-and-bolts or if you are seeing innovation?