In a recent entry on his Learnlets blog, Clark Quinn muses about the overlap between Vgotsky's Zone of Proximal Development and Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of Flow. He says that they are essentially the same and questions whether learning happens within either of them since they lack the characteristic of relfection, which he considers necessary for learning to occur.

Right, Clark?

Not to sound like an egghead (though given the above sentence, I guess it's too late), but poppycock.

The zone of proximal development is supposed to be exactly where learning happens, insofar that it is a smidge above your current knowledge comfort zone and thus requires a bit of cognitive stretching. The flow state is not a learning state but the interface of optimal productivivity and creativity. Time collapses and distraction fade to oblivion. Not the same thing at all.

As for reflection being required for learning, Quinn doesn't cite any research at all, though a quick google search brings up the following on Brock University's website: "Reflection is not a superficial process of introspection. Rather, it is an evidence-based, integrative, analytical, capacity-building process that serves to generate, deepen, critique, and document learning. Additionally, the development of reflective skills is central to students’ academic and professional development within a discipline. The ability to reflect on one’s practice when confronted by a novel, unusual, or complex situation distinguishes expert practitioners from novices (Schön, 1983)."

Cognitively, there are two perspectives here: one has a lot in common with rehearsal, while the other is more amorphous but related. Many studies have shown that "sleeping on" a problem is a shortcut to solving it, and that kind of unstructured unfocused cogitation is a significant element in the learning journey.

The ability to reflect also shows up in the wisdom literature as one of the distinguishing features of a wise person.

But... just because it's a facet of learning doesn't make it necessary. Vgotsky's theory relies on the same kind of unconscious reaching involved in the "sleeping on it" example above, but in this case the brain is stimulated to produce new neural connections by making new intellectual connections, trying to stitch new unfamiliar knowledge into the existing cranial quilt. That's a different task than reflection, but there's no support, in my opinion, for the argument that therefore learning is precluded.

I don't know exactly to what lengths I'm willing to take this argument (as if anybody's reading anyway), but I do hereby invite Mr. Quinn to get drunk someday post-covid and we can duke it out if need be.

Mitch
aka The Cogsci Pugilist

Today's cartoon is inspired by some comments I encountered on Articulates's Elearning Heroes site while looking for some information on eLearning RFPs and where to find them.

I landed on a piece by Richard Watson of Bridgehill Learning Solutions called, "Freelancer Tips: Everything You Need to Know about Responding to RFPs." It sounded quite promising until I got to the comments.

Nancy Woinoski of Pinched Head (Hi, Kevin McDonald) wrote: I don't actively pursue RFPs and have decided not to bid on them when invited. For the most part, I find that the elearning RFPs lack enough information to make a proper bid or they ask you to jump through hoops just to get to an interview stage.

Richard chimed in: I often receive requests to submit RFPs from vendors who have found me either here in the Elearning Heroes forums or via my social media presence. Many times, as Nancy states, the RFPs are very limited in the information they provide... I have been approached to bid on government and academic projects (via my contact form on my website)  but sometimes, the hoops you have to jump through may not be worth the time you'll need to invest in them...   Some agencies must issue RFPs as a formality. In other words, they've already chosen a contractor. So, make sure you do some research on the company issuing the RFP to see what type of track record they have in place.

And that's from the author! Tracy Caroll added: I used to ask for clarification, to see if it would be possible for them to provide further (basic) information, but I've found that to be a huge waste of time.

To which Richard replied: Yes, the world of RFPs is not for those of us who value their time and patience (highlight mine). I know I've invested my fair share of time on some projects only for the vendor to cancel them and retract the bid.

Sheesh!

Richard also says that the average indie ID may be better off subcontracting from a big firm that applies for RFPs, which is what I've been doing all along. I've seen some of their proposals after the fact and often wondered at how they got the job when they were so vague and salesy. But, I guess that's what wins projects when the client doesn't really know what they want. The details are worked out once the job is awarded--a scary prospect when you have to include a quote.

How do you get eLearning projects? Do you bid on RFPs, and if so, where do you find them?

Let's make this interactive: comment away!

Mitch

P.S. Further research (i.e., Nancy's website) shows that being an Elearning Heroes contributor is another way for clients to find you. Hmm, maybe they can use a cartoon...

P.P.S. And lo and behold, Richard has a book, “Marketing Yourself and Finding Great Clients”. The free preview (yes, I'm too cheap to spend five bucks) shows a lot of emphasis on branding and getting yourself out there on social media, such as tweet-sharing 2 to 5 times a day. But you know, if I wanted to be a salesperson I could have made more money in real estate..

Sigh. Sometimes I miss the 20th century.

There's excitement in the online learning wold about elearning. Hey, we can get them more involved! It will improve attention and retention! They can communicate with each other and boost the learning experience! Yay!

But on the student side, the response is often a united GROAN.

They want us to do stuff? To take part? To spend more time on their course than we absolutely have to? Yeah, right.

Of course, there are the keeners. The ones who ask lots of questions in chat and make funny comments. They help the instructor to ignore the fact that the other 90% of the students are on their phones. Or if the session is on their phone, they're listening to music and checking in.

An overlooked factor in the design of live interactive instruction is the extent that the learners manage their own involvement. Should instructors insist that learners show up for class?

Or should we make sure the materials are there, including recorded classes/lectures, to let students succeed regardless of personal contact?

Should student monitoring apps be used to make sure learners pay attention in real time or should the responsibility for making of use of learning resources be turned over to them?

In short, is online learning simply the classroom in another guise or an opportunity to release advanced students from the tutorial teat?

Discuss.
- Mitch

P.S. if you're still with me: I've been doing some reading about how social media (facebook, twitter) is being used for eLearning, and they're mainly as support avenues or for learning management. But no one mentions the live broadcast apps, such as facebook Live or Periscope. These tools let you talk to your students and have them react with hearts, emojis and text in real time, not just on a side tool like chat but in the main screen. It's a totally different experience than a zoom call that is maybe more like a performance than some instructors will be comfortable with, but which also has the same kind of involvement as a performance, as compared with a talk. And the sessions are recorded. If we really want to make students feel involved in a lecure--even more so than in a real life classroom--more people should be exploring this.

1. Ever wonder why so many blogs have numbers in the title? Social Media marketers tell us this is what people like to click on.

2. .. which reflects the fact that blogs are all about marketing, really, rather than sharing info with peers. When did that happen?

3. Even so-called "mommy bloggers" will sell their space to plug products and cut and paste PR materials to give their "review."

4. If mommies are corruptible, what next?

5. The fact is, any web design consultant will tell you that people don't read websites. They scroll to see the pictures and find things to click on so they don't read that, as well.

6. The exception to this is infomercial sites. They are very text heavy, but each sentence is it's own profound message, and so has lots of white space around it. The white space gets people to scroll down until they can end the suffering by clicking on whatever is being sold. It's called Zombie Marketing.

6. I just made that up.

7. If this is point 7, no one is reading any more... that is, if they got past point 1. (Actually, there are two 6's so it's point 8.)

8. Hi, Sudipta!

9. No one is writing this, it's all AI. The gost has taken over the machine.

10. If you take the number of blogs posted every day and multiply it by the total number of "ways" and "tips" and "hints" and "super recipes" in each one, you get pi.

11. I will divulge a mathematical proof of the above point for one hundred thousand dollars sent in an unmarked box filled with bitcoins.

12. If the medium is the message and the message is massaged, is the medium the massage?

13. Unlucky to end here.

14. I refuse to be constrained by bourgeois numbering systems.

15. Did Biden win yet?