Books

Book reviews

How Computer Games Help Children Learn – Review

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Will Richardson commented on my recent post where I referred to the book, How Computer Games Help Children Learn:

The thing I find so much more effective about the network learning I do is that it’s asynchronous and done on my time. And yet IM and Skype and others make synchronous discussion imminently possible when needed or necessary. And all of that is what to me at least poses such a challenge to the traditional work of classrooms where we are all expected to learn the same things at the same time.

This is an excellent book for anyone interested in learning and education, but the title is a bit misleading. It’s more about the theory and practice of authentic learning experiences than specific computer games. Many of games mentioned in the book, like the debating game, are not computer-based, but could be computer enhanced. David Williamson Shaffer’s book is really about epistemic games, or “games that are fundamentally about learning to think in innovative ways”.

He begins by showing the fundamental weaknesses of our Industrial School System, itself a game:

Not surprisingly, the epistemology of School is the epistemology of the Industrial Revolution – of creating wealth through mass production of standardized goods. School is a game about thinking like a factory worker. It is a game with an epistemology of right and wrong answers in which Students are supposed to follow instructions, whether they make sense in the moment or not. Truth is whatever the teacher says is the right answer, and actions are justified based on appeal to authority. School is a game in which what it means to know something is to be able to answer specific kinds of questions on specific kinds of tests.

Shaffer shows the need for teaching how to think and how to be creative, instead of how to memorize, and lays the argument for the use of games in learning. Most of his examples are outside of the classroom because it is obvious that these kinds of epistemic games would disrupt classes and the curriculum. The games that are discussed are called monument games, or exemplars of good practice. None of the games is available “out of the box” but the ideas and concepts are critical for anyone who wants to use games in learning, not just playing bingo and using words or figures out of context. The latter does not help learning.

The use of epistemic games is an approach that resembles cognitive apprenticeship. As our society moves from a linear print-based medium of knowledge creation to a networked and computer-assisted medium, we need new, post-industrial learning models:

As the late Jim Kaput and I have argued, if written symbols led to a theoretic culture based on external symbolic of storage, then computers are in the process of creating a digital or virtual culture based on the externalization of symbolic processing. This is the kind of change that has happened three of four times in the course of human evolution – a change of similar magnitude to the development of the printing press and the development of writing and language itself. What it means is that being “literate” in the digital age is not about reading and writing but about solving problems using simulations. What matters in the digital age is not learning to do things a computer can do for you but learning to use the computer to do things that neither you nor it could do alone.

I have emphasized what I see as the core argument of the book. We need to do things differently because the world has changed.

I highly recommend “How Computer Games Help Children Learn”.

Other books I recommend.

Reading iWoz

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I’m currently reading Steve Wozniak’s autobiography, iWoz. Wozniak was the co-founder of Apple Computers and is an engineer by profession. It’s not my usual reading, but he will be at our local university in two weeks, as part of the Wilford Jonah Lecture Series.

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The other reviews of the book are quite mixed but what I’ve found interesting about his early years is the importance of positive reinforcement and the key roles of a few people at critical times. One or two teachers, as well as his father, provided the right amount of encouragement at the right time. Wozniak went on to become what many claim to be “the inventor” of the personal computer.

As Yeats said, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

Update:

After reading the book, I find that it is a personal account of how Woz learned about computers, electronics and engineering. The book is partially about Apple Computers, but I would not call this a business book. Woz says he wrote the book to set the record straight on several statements that appear in the press or other published books. He also seems to have written this book as inspiration for young people who may wish to become inventors.

I found the book interesting, but not overly inspirational, but then I’m not a fan of autobiographies. I would recommend it for computer engineers, techies or high school students who may be looking at their options in life.

Gracian on Learning

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I dusted off the cover of a book I bought many years ago, and found some words of wisdom. The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracian (1601-1658) to be exact. I found several that relate to informal learning in organisations.

Advice is sometimes transmitted more successfully through a joke than through grave teaching.

The wisdom passed along in conversation has meant more to some than the seven arts, no matter how liberal.

Much of our lives is spent gathering information. We see few things for ourselves, and live trusting others.

A shortcut to becoming a true person: put the right people beside you.

Nothing bewitches like service to others, and the best way to win friends is to act like one. The most and best we have depends on others.

The art of conversation is the measure of a true person. No human activity calls for so much discretion, for none is more common. It is here that we win or lose.

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Informal economy; informal learning

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I’ve read most of the Toffler’s books over the years, including Future Shock, The Third Wave and Powershift; and have yet to read Revolutionary Wealth. I agree with Lawrence Fisher (S+B) that the value in their work is not crystal ball gazing but making sense of various patterns:

In retrospect, Mr. Toffler was less a reliable prophet than a brilliant synthesist. Future Shock and its successors, The Third Wave (Morrow, 1980) and Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth, and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century (Bantam, 1990) were at their best not when predicting what would happen, but when drawing from a vast array of disciplines – science, technology, sociology, and religion – to explain the circumstances of the world at large.

Their latest book says that we are seeing huge growth in the informal economy, “According to the Tofflers, countless other industries and institutions face waves of “prosumers”, who produce and consume products and services outside the monetary economy. This is a historic change in the way wealth is created, the Tofflers write, spearheaded (for now, at least) by the United States.”

Here are some thoughts on education from the interview:

S+B: In the book, you write of education’s failure to move from the industrial age to the knowledge economy. Is homeschooling a prosumer response to this crisis?
TOFFLER: Yes, now that you mention it. It is an important and growing form of prosuming. The parents do it themselves, because the market does not supply what they want or need, or for that matter what the market needs.

Think about how we learned to use personal computers. PC use went from zero to hundreds of millions of people who know and use PCs routinely, and nobody went to school to learn how.

Instead, chances are you found a guru, and a guru was anyone who bought his PC a week before you bought yours. And there were user groups – volunteers passing valuable knowledge back and forth. If you agree that the PC has had an impact on productivity in the money economy, then the fact that people taught each other how to use this thing without money changing hands is another example of what a big impact prosumers can have on the money economy. Add these things together — homeschooling, teaching how to use PCs, Linux, etc. – and you begin to understand this big invisible economic force. People have written about each of these pieces, but haven’t seen them as part of a huge nonmoney economy interacting with the money economy.

It’s not just parents, but knowledge workers inside and outside of organisations, who are taking learning into their own hands. As the non-money economy is affecting the measured economy, informal learning is affecting education. More and more, we can do it ourselves, whether it be printing our own photographs or learning a new skill. Homeschooling is getting easier with the Internet and so is learning for yourself. Formal training and education (one size fits nobody) can’t react quick enough to our changing needs and expanding fields knowledge.

That’s where I see the importance of understanding informal learning within organisations. It’s happening anyway, and at an accelerating rate. Organisations should look at tapping informal learning, not controlling it. The more free-thinkers and independent learners that an organisation has, the more resilient it will be in times of change. This of course is subversive thinking for any command and control organisation, so perhaps we really need new organisational models. The film crew is an example.

Formal education exploded as we moved into the industrial age one hundred years ago, with larger organisations demanding Taylorist job functions. As the industrial age gives way to a networked age, there is less need for well-defined, cookie-cutter jobs. With fewer standardized jobs, why do we need standardized education, or even standardized training? [I know that there are exceptions to this statement, but they are becoming fewer]

Getting to Maybe – Review

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I’ve just finished reading Getting to Maybe. This is a book about social innovation in complex environments (our world). It covers the stories of many social innovators and discusses the various parts of a common path that many take. This is a path with no map and no destination. Getting to maybe, or “if only …”, starts with the first step of realising that here and now is the best and only place to start. A chapter is dedicated to each identified step, but these are more like checkpoints than actual steps in a process.

Next is standing still, which is the requirement to reflect and listen, now that you’ve got the fire burning for some decisive action. The tension between reflection and action is a major theme of the book. Powerful strangers are those who can suddenly help you and your cause, now that you have started the journey and have opened your mind. Some time during the journey you get into the groove and “let it find you”, playing part of a cast, as in a jazz ensemble. The worst point is cold heaven, when you feel hopeless, as the authors say:

“Those who struggle to make a difference have to face two paradoxes. The first is that success is not a fixed address. The second is that failure can open the way to success.”

From cold heaven may come a chance to have hope as well as a pragmatic understanding of the realities of the world, or to “catch the moment when hope and history rhyme”. This is the time to ensure that whatever has been created does not stagnate and may even call for creative destruction as the environmental landscape changes. Finally, the door opens and the end of one social innovation can lead to the beginning of another.

There are no answers in this book but I think that it may be an inspiration for many who are on the journey of social innovation and need to know that they are not alone.

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Cappuccino U

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I love those serendipitous moments on the Web. I happened across Helge Scherlund’s blog via Technorati and noticed a post recommending the e-book, Cappuccino U, available from Spotted Cow Press. This short, CC-licensed book is by Jerome Martin, of Edmonton, Alberta and it is a pleasant flow of a read that discusses formal education, personal learning and the role of third-spaces. It’s a great introduction to learning for the 21st century:

This e-book is about a new style of learning in which innovative people have combined new information technology with traditional ways of learning to develop a new, personally-driven approach to learning. It happens predominantly in “the third place”, a location that is neither home nor office. The third place is usually a coffee house, one which is designed to serve this particular audience.

People gather in their favourite third places to work, relax, visit and learn. They work independently and in groups. Some of them use computers which may or may not be linked to the web. Some are taking courses online; others are writing books like this one.

This is Cappuccino U.

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A few good books

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One of my first posts when I started this blog was a number of Book Reviews. Later that year, I listed some Books I would like to read, but I never got around to reading a single one of these. I did read several others, and wrote about this as Worthwhile Reading at the end of that year.

Bookshelf

Here is an updated list of books I’ve read and would recommend:

Seeing What’s Next by Christensen et al – if you haven’t read the innovator’s Dilemma or The Innovators Solution, you can jump right in to this book. It’s an excellent strategic perspective for start-up businesses.

The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki. This is the bible if you are starting any kind of new enterprise, for profit or not.

Nine Shift by William Draves & Julie Coates. A look at the parallels between the beginning of the last century and this one. A fascinating read on what could happen as we transition to the Internet Age.

Solving Tough Problems by Adam Kahane. Short but powerful book on working with complex issues.
The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford. Economics for average folks. A fun read with plenty of insights on “why the rich are rich, the poor are poor – and why you can never buy a decent used care”.

A Whole New Mind by Dan Pink. Definitely one to read if you haven’t picked this one up yet. Pink’s book shows the importance of creativity and empathy as critical skills for future success in life. It may have you reconsider your child’s higher education options.

I’m currently reading Ideas, based on the CBC radio program and have just ordered read The Wealth of Networks [The most comprehensive analysis on our change to a networked digital economy. This is not light reading, but is a required resource for anyone seriously considering the implications of the internet age on our economy, our governance and our society.]

Update 2007

The Upside of Down by Thomas Homer-Dixon. Much of the book is dedicated to an explanation of the five tectonic stresses that we face as a civilization – population; energy; environmental; climate and economic. The main message of the book is that in times of crisis and destruction come opportunities for regeneration. This requires a “prospective mind” that can anticipate crises and prepare for them. Homer-Dixon encourages building resilience into our communities and economies, so that we are not dependent on tightly coupled global supply chains.

Informal Learning by Jay Cross. Even though I read several of the manuscripts, the book is much better. It’s synthesized, flows and has great graphics. I am a huge proponent of the importance of informal learning for our society and Jay covers a lot of ground in his book. This is a book that you can use as an introduction to the subject or as a reference. Highly recommended.

Getting to Maybe by Westley, Zimmerman & Patton. This is a book about social innovation in complex environments (our world). It covers the stories of many social innovators and discusses the various parts of a common path that many take. This is a path with no map and no destination. Getting to maybe, or “if only …”, starts with the first step of realising that here and now is the best and only place to start. A chapter is dedicated to each identified step, but these are more like checkpoints than actual steps in a process. There are no answers in this book but I think that it may be an inspiration for many who are on the journey of social innovation and need to know that they are not alone.

How Computer Games Help Children Learn by David Williamson Shaffer. This is an excellent book for anyone interested in learning and education, but the title is a bit misleading. It’s more about the theory and practice of authentic learning experiences than specific computer games. Many of games mentioned in the book, like the debating game, are not computer-based, but could be computer enhanced. Shaffer’s book is really about epistemic games, or games that are fundamentally about learning to think in innovative ways.

Solving Tough Problems

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Solving Tough Problems by Adam Kahane is a short book with a powerful message. It is a series of stories about Kahane’s progress from an analytical researcher with a degree in physics to an internationally-recognized facilitator of participatory problem solving. I picked up this book in Montreal last week and later noticed that Kahane is originally from Montreal. He tells the story of his early work with Shell and the likes of Peter Senge and then the eye-opening Mont Fleur sessions in South Africa just prior to the end of apartheid. A major theme in the book is how to overcome ‘apartheid thinking’:

“My analysis also allowed me to recognize a widespread “apartheid syndrome”. By this I mean trying to solve a highly complex problem using a piecemeal, backward-looking, and authoritarian process that is suitable only for solving simple problems. In this syndrome, people at the top of a complex system try to manage its development through a divide-and-conquer strategy: through compartmentalization – the Africaans word apartheid means “apartness” – and command and control. Because the people at the bottom resist these commands, the syndrome either becomes stuck, or ends up becoming unstuck by force.”

At just under 150 pages, this is a short book but one that I will read many times over. The main lesson for me so far is that it is necessary to focus on listening, and that many answers are already there; we just have to relax and let them come to us. I see learning in the same way – when the learner is ready, the teacher will appear. As Kahane says, “If we want to help resolve complex situations, we have to get out of the way of situations that are resolving themselves”.

This way of approaching complex problems has worked, but requires a shift in approach, much like Dan Pink’s A Whole New Mind. This is where we don’t actually let go of our so-called ‘left brain’ analytical processes, but park them in order to open up our ‘right brain’ conceptualization and feeling abilities. Here is some advice from Kahane’s colleague at Shell, Alain Wouters:

There is not “a” problem out there that we can react to and fix. There is a “problem situation” of which each of us is a part, the way an organ is part of a body. We can’t see the situation objectively: we can just appreciate it subjectively. We affect the situation and it affects us. The best we can do is to engage with it from multiple persectives, and try, in action-learning mode, to improve it. It’s more like unfolding a marriage than it is like fixing a car.”

I strongly recommend this book for anyone working in groups, meetings, committees, or any other form of social organisation.

Book Reviews

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One of the advantages of owning my own business is that I can buy books from my local bookstore, as part of my business operations. I’ll keep adding to this list, and would appreciate any comments.

Human Performance Technology

Analyzing Performance Problems by R. Mager & P. Pipe (ISBN 1879618176)
This is the classic on how to analyze what people are doing within organizations. It covers the performance analysis and cause analysis portions of the HPT model. Highly recommended.

From Training to Performance Improvement by J. Fuller & J. Farrington (ISBN 0787911208)
A good book for those in the training business who want to move into performance improvement, or HPT.

Learning & Education

e-learning by M. Rosenberg (ISBN 0071362681)
This is a good introduction to elearning which includes general explanations of knowledge management and performance support as well.

The Educated Mind: How cognitive tool shape our understanding by K. Egan (ISBN 0226190366)
This is a wonderful book that proposes a theory on education that no one else has tried to do. Egan says that Western education is based on three conflicting premises which compete for dominance. These three premises are – education as socialization; education as a quest for truth; and education as the realization of individual potential. No one premise can dominate without precluding the others, so we continue to have conflict in our education systems. Egan then goes on to formulate a model of cognitive tool development, which can put this traditional conflict to rest. All educators should read this book.

Making Sense of Adult Learning by D. MacKeracher (ISBN 0921472269)
Everything you want to know about adult learning under one cover. This is not about technology at all. The book covers a wide spectrum including cognitive, physical and spiritual aspects of learning. It’s also well-written and easy to read.

Systems & Technology in Society

Systems Thinking: Managing chaos and complexity by J. Gharajedaghi (ISBN 0750671637)
This book takes a lot of brainpower, and throws you a new concept on almost every page. It is like Einstein’s theory of relativity for business systems. A must read if you design systems that involve people.

The Human Factor: Revolutionizing the way people live with technology by K. Vicente (ISBN 0676974899)
This is a great read, particularly if you are interested in human computer interaction, usability or human centred design. Vicente is a scientist who thinks like an artist, and sees what happens when the mechanistic model goes awry.

Learning in Chaos by J. Hite (ISBN 0884154270)
A heavy and theoretical book that covers classical and technical chaos theories. The best part is Part 4, which you could read without wading through the rest. Borrow this book, unless you are really into chaos theory.

Strategic Planning for Success: Aligning people, performance and payoffs by R. Kaufman et al (ISBN 0787965030)
Based on Kaufman’s Organizational Elements Model (OEM), but I prefer it over a lot of other IT-focused strategic planning models. I don’t know if you would ever follow all of the steps, and stay on budget. A good reference book if you don’t have another strategic planning model that you like.

Business and Organizations

Natural Capitalism: Creating the next industrial revolution by P. Hawken, A. Lovins & L. Hunter Lovins (ISBN 0316353167)
A good read that gives a new macro perspective on how capitalism should take into account the measurement of natural capital. It comes with a lot of concrete suggestions from the Rocky Mountain Institute. This perspective fits in well with Kaufman’s (see previous entry) Macro perspective for Strategic Planning.

McLuhan for Managers by M. Federman & D. deKerkhove (ISBN 0670043710)
Having read most of Marshall McLuhan’s own work, I find this book a good synthesis of these books. The authors provide a a solid methodology for using the Laws of Media to develop scenarios. A must read for anyone interested in McLuhan.

Managing in the Next Society by P. Drucker (ISBN 031232320116)
This book is a series of articles written at different times that look at how changes in knowledge work are changing the corporation as we know it. Drucker even predicts the end of the corporation. Since Peter Drucker is in his 90’s he has seen it all. For instance, he was working for an American firm in Europe during the crash of 1929. The articles are easy to read and provide lots of food for thought.

The E-Myth Revisited by M. Gerber (ISBN 0887307280)
At first I thought that this book was a “how to” on building a franchise. It’s not. Gerber clearly shows how all small businesses have to develop their processes, and what happens if they don’t. This is a must read for all small business owners. The “E” stands for entrepreneur.

Free Agent Nation: The future of working for yourself by D. Pink (ISBN 0446678791)
This book helped me when I stepped out on my own. It’s focused on the US environment, but there is a lot of information for those of us in other countries. I like the idea of the Free Agent Nation (FAN) club so much that I’m starting a similar one here, called the Sackville SOHO Society.

The Cluetrain Manifesto by R. Levin, C. Locke, D. Searls & D. Weinberger (ISBN 0738204315)
After having read the manifesto online, in bits and pieces, over the past few years, I went out and purchased the book. It’s now in paperback, so not too expensive. It was a great read again, and even though the authors state that it is not a business book, it provides a good lens though which to view our networked world. I don’t agree with all that is said, and the rant style can get on your nerves, but the book is still worth it. What I remember most from this book is the first of the 95 theses, that “Markets are conversations.”

One of my favourite paragraphs is in the last chapter:
“Fact is, we don’t care about business — per se, per diem, au gratin. Given half a chance, we’d burn the whole constellation of obsolete business concepts to the waterline. Cost of sales and bottom lines and profit margins — if you’re a company, that’s your problem. But if you think of yourself as a company, you’ve got much bigger worries. We strongly suggest you repeat the following mantra as often as possible until you feel better: “I am not a company. I am a human being.”