Archive for October, 2009

Just had to post this….

Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Politicians win prizes every time (good humour)
John  was in the fertilized egg business.
He had several hundred young layers  (hens), called 'pullets,'
and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs.
He  kept records, and any rooster not performing
went into the soup pot and was  replaced.
This took a lot of time, so he bought some tiny bells
and  attached them to his roosters.
Each bell had a different tone, so he  could tell from a distance,
which rooster was performing.
Now, he  could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report
by just listening  to the bells.
John's favourite rooster, Barry, was a very fine  specimen,
but this morning he noticed Barry's bell hadn't rung at  all!
When he went to investigate, he saw the other roosters  were  busy chasing
pullets, bells-a-ringing, but the pullets, hearing the  roosters coming, could run for
cover.
To John's amazement, Barry had  his bell in his beak, so it couldn't
ring.
He'd sneak up on a  pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one.
John was so proud of Barry,  he entered him in the Renfrew County Fair
and he became an overnight  sensation among the judges.

The result was the judges not only awarded  Barry the No Bell Piece

Prize but they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise  as well.

Clearly, Barry was a politician in the making.


Who else but  a politician could figure out how to win two of the                
most  highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at                
sneaking  up on the populace and screwing them when they weren't paying  attention.

Vote carefully, the bells are not always  audible.

How many tweets make overload?

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

I’ve been looking at Twitter as a learning tool. Convinced that there is some way we really can make this tool work for us and not just as a noise that gets in the way.

This morning a well know US pundit started to follow me after a post I made that they obviously liked. I was astonished to see they were following over 3000 others.

So I started to look at everyone and how many they were following, was I lacking in playing this game, not following enough and therefore missing something?

Some stats!

British gurus seem to follow far less than our US peers.

The average guru here follows less that 200 people, in the USA it averages at almost 1000.

I saw 127 tweets in the last 24 hours and I follow 60 people. So my hypothesis is that there is a 2:1 ratio of how many tweets you see to how many people you follow. Love to know if anyone can confirm this!

With that in mind, the guru following 3200 people must see 6400 tweets every 24 hours. Whoa!

I spend about 15 minutes, 4 times a day looking at twitter and following the odd link I find interesting. 1 hour a day. So another off the wall calculation says 1 minute per person being followed per day?

So for the guru following 3200 people they need to spend 53 hours a day to get the same level of information as I do from Twitter.

Some others I looked at!

Donald Clark, following 47. 47 minutes very manageable.

David Wilson following 162, does David spend 2.5 hours a day on Twitter?

Clive Shepherd follows 190. 3 hours a day? Maybe!

At what level does it get to be unmanageable? How many is too many to be able to see all of the information?

And, if we just skim the information, what do we miss and/or learn incorrectly!

If we want to use tools like Twitter in the workplace, can we limit the number of people our staff follow.

My crazy calculations would suggest an 8 hour day is equal to following 480 people and doing no work!

Have I got it wrong….

New slogans for eLearning

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Q. What is the difference between a consultant who is 18 years old and one who is 55?

A. The older consultant ‘probably’ has more experience.

Q. What is the difference between a consultant who charges £250/day and one who charges £1850/ day?

A. Probably going to get much better quality and experience at the higher price.

Q. Do you choose a product that just released? Or has been around for 10 years?

A. Often the one with the track record. You think it will work better and have less chance of going wrong.

Q. Would you pick up the box that contained instructions for use? Or the one that said no instructions included?

A. Be honest in your answer there. Even if you were not going to read the instructions, there is something comforting in knowing they exist.

None of the above were about eLearning.

In eLearning for some crazy reason we throw these rules out the window and caution to the wind.

Some want latest technology and untested.
Some want quick without regard of quality.
Some want cheap, without thought of cost effective.
Some don’t care if there are no rules or instructions for use (Twitter etc)
Some want ‘sexy’ because the young consultant made it sound great , and it looks fab in the brochure, and look how fast he used it. ‘They even won a shoot out you know’

But if course I am not talking about you. Am I?

New slogans. Actually old slogans. Apply to eLearning purchases.

Try before you buy
Think before you cross
Watch out, there is a thief about