In this issue
	What's New? IEEE's Learning Technology Newsletter Good to Great We've moved!!! LearningEdge Update - New Toronto Date

IEEE's Learning Technology Newsletter

In last May's issue of the Muse I reviewed the April 2003 issue IEEE's Learning Technology Newsletter. This outlined how some upcoming wireless and mobile communication technologies are being used to extend the possibilities of e-learning. The January 2004 issue of the Learning Technology Newsletter contains a handful of articles looking at learning communities and comunities of practice. Some of the articles are very technical in nature, but don't be put off, I think it's worth a quick browse. Michael Castaneda's article, Developing an On-Line Learning Community: Four Essential Guidelines, gives an interesting student's view of blended learning at Pepperdine University. He summarizes by saying "Creating and maintaining an on-line learning community requires a social closeness, common ideals, beliefs, and professional nurturing." In the short article, Learning Teams in Online Courses, Muhammad Betz discusses how the University of Pheonix Online makes use of Learning Teams in its online courses. The team success factors mentioned are team size, orientation to team working, a sense of followership (in contrast to leadership). Individual characteristics that are mentioned as being important are integrity, ownership, versatility and accountability. I think all of this will resonate with those of us with experience of working with online teams. I'm certainly very excited to hear that one of the fastest growing online universities is buying into some well established values. On reflection, there are not many new ideas in these articles. However, we're seeing these ideas now being explored by for-profit institutions as well as the e-learning technology community. I'm sure this is a good omen for the future and that we'll soon see more e-learning platforms with better community development support structures. IEEE's Learning Technology Newsletter - January 2004 »

Good to Great

I (Tammy) must thank two colleagues, Diane MacDonald and Claire Abbott for leading me to Good to Great. I forget the exact order now, but Claire kept telling me how I must read Good to Great by Jim Collins and then I won the book from Diane when she launched her new website. It's funny how important books find their way into our lives ... Together with colleagues, Claire Abbott and Tony Williams, I've just now finished working with the concepts in the MBA in Leadership program at Royal Roads University for the second year in a row. As with any great piece of research (which Jim Collins' work is) or any great book (which it also is!), continuing to work with the ideas deepens the insight. I will highlight two in this article. The hedgehog knows one thing best ... how to eat. Collins suggest that companies that move from good to great figure out what their "best one thing (hedgehog)" is and stick with it. The hedgehog is made up of three interacting circles - what drives your economic engine, what you are most passionate about, and what you can be the best in the world at. The other great insight comes from his ideas on "facing the brutal facts." An action that flows out of this idea is to create a "STOP DOING" list. Once you know your hedgehog, you need to stop doing some things that don't actually contribute to it. I cannot tell you how liberating it is to stop doing things that actually don't make a difference but keep us incredibly busy and distracted! Visit Jim Collin's website »

We've moved!!!

We have now officially moved to Victoria, British Columbia! After months of paperwork, Dave has now officially become a permanent Canadian resident. Our address is: Suite 151, 1581H Hillside Ave Victoria, BC, V8T 2C1 (250) 213-6236 Because we are now permanently based in western Canada, we look forward to chatting with you about any e-learning or organizational development work your organization might be contemplating. We are especially keen to work with Future Search.

LearningEdge Update - New Toronto Date

LearningEdge is a set of tools and processes that bring together learning strategy and business goals in a participatory, practical and easy-to-apply manner. If you are interesting in your organization becoming a learning organization, LearningEdge provides the map to get there. Calliope Learning is the only company that is licensed to train and certify people in the use of the LearningEdge toolset in North America. Toronto Workshop, March 10-12 There are still spaces available for this session. Click here to register now!. Other 2004 Dates Location Early Bird Cut Off Registration Deadline May 17, 18, 19 Calgary April 5 April 19 June 21, 22, 23 Vancouver May 10 May 24 October 18, 19, 20 Victoria September 6 September 20 November 29, 30, December 1 Toronto October 18 November 1 The cost is $2400 (plus GST), regular rate and $2200 early bird rate. Click here to register. Certification Sponsorship Opportunities Call us today at (250) 213 6239 or email info@calliopelearning.com if you are interested in taking the LearningEdge Certification but need some help financially. We've tried to come up with a creative solution that could be especially attractive to independent consultants. More about LearningEdge »