After reviewing the introduction course to Lynda.com suggested by John in another post, I completed my first course in Lynda.com called “Neuroscience of Learning”.
While the technology support for the video presentation of the course is high quality, the presentation does not include facilitator support beyond a welcome, expert knowledge presented with slides, and encouragement to apply the knowledge in the learner’s context.
As a motivated learner, the course met my learning needs to know more about the topic. I’m motivated to see that Bloom’s levels of learning still describe how we learn. Additional content provided new concepts that apply well when designing online courses, related to remembering and actually “doing” what is learned.
For less motivated learners or learners seeking to apply the learning in collaboration, PSA has the potential to build in the missing Social Learning Construct (SLC) necessary that integrates research based learning with high quality technology tools.
This is one of the “shorter” lynda courses in my experience. And not quite the same as trying to learn complex powerhouse software such as Dreamweaver or Final Cut Pro.
Lynda tends to start with the basic intro course, and then all manner of “more in depth topics” for the same subject matter show up….the advanced level, and then the more obscure stuff that experts know etc.
Their model of heavy video clip use is likely to be core for much if not all learning going forward, and once the internet bandwidth got fast enough to support video streaming for many, their business took off.
However, it is bare bones compared to what it could be, and what in future it will need to be, to compete with other “learning” online models. TED talks do some things better in their TED studio…but again, no learner participation or DiY like YouTube….and no SLC or DLP etc
That’s coming.