For years I’ve thought about a central repository like the one you mention and then realize that’s what so many social networks are aiming to create. Now if they could only centralize enough for us to at least be able to search against topics. Hopefully we’ll look back on this time and think, “remember when we didn’t have something like this?” I remember days when we hoped for a way to search across the Internet.

I agree the Kindle Highlights opens a great new avenue of collaborative learning.  Amazon also has the most highlighted passages of all time. https://kindle.amazon.com/most_popular  I’m surprised there isn’t a wiki site that extracts all the Kindle highlights into a great knowledge network.  

The key will be when E2.0 tools are able to integrate these features into corporate reports, articles, presentations, etc to organize and share a company or enterprise’s collective knowledge.  

I wrote a post on Kindle Highlights and Collective Intelligence that you and your readers may enjoy.  http://digitalpentagon.com/2011/12/01/kindle-highlights-and-collective-intelligence/

If every day people took the time to add the knowledge they gained to a central online repository, it would instantly become a company’s most valuable resource. 

Pete

Thank you for this. This is exactly the way I feel about the learning styles arguments and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone. To me it’s about practicality of application. I’m a little cautious about issuing a single assessment early on as this can present bias that turns into lasting belief. Beliefs are strong medicine — or poison. If folks self-assess and take the results with a grain of salt that triggers introspection and reflection – then it’s simply a tool for the individual. 

There are many tools I’ve experienced that don’t seem to produce a lasting positive outcome. MBTI is one of those tools, in my opinion. That doesn’t mean the experience of using and discussing differences is a waste of time. 

Tempered and responsible use of assessment tools can reveal things (both productive and unproductive) to individuals. That’s where learning styles should stay. Not as a design consideration.

Thanks for your comment and I was hoping to have my follow-up post ready for you … and I’m still writing. The short answer is we need to change the old model students, instructor, and lesson. The new model disintermediates the learning, and enables much greater access for everyone – students to lessons, students to students, and students to facilitators / mentors / coaches.

To make the model work I needed to go back to scratch and replace ADDIE. From that point, since an map from 1839 will not get you where you need to go tomorrow, the other pieces of the instructional puzzle were easier to fit. At the center is the student / learner.

One goal was to make the virtual time together as valuable as possible for both learner and facilitator. This includes placing the virtual class online, creating an active Community of Learners for the class, enabling a growing Community of Practice to emerge from the class, designing ‘homework’ to be interactive with peers, facilitators and a circle of Mentors (some from previous classes), and more. It’s a work-in-progress and I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

Thanks!