Convergence
The more I read about personal learning spaces, the latest information architecture, social networking, and education, the more it seems that these fields are converging around the same set of concepts: personalization, customization, self-expression, affirmation, socialization, and navigation.
LearnHub is a great example of how these concepts can be combined for learning. Featured in TechCrunch yesterday, LearnHub manages to both create community and cutomized learning. As users develop tests, videos, assessments, and posts, they can be categorized in a variety of ways that allow instructors to develop courses based around particular concepts and enable interaction among students. Of course, as with everything Web 2.0, each user has a profile and avatar. What’s particularly interesting is that the students also have their own workspace where they can organize their learning materials and contacts.
There are a few dozen schools participating in LearnHub and each school can offer lessons and tests through the system. What I wonder, though, is whether universities, who seek to increase enrollment in their degree programs would be willing to fully embrace the openness of this learning community. There is a way to charge for lessons, and perhaps this is the wave of the future: charging small amounts for small pieces of knowledge. Which university will be the first to allow students to assemble their degree from a variety of sources? Educational systems and standards will have to be reassessed.
One of TechCrunch’s criticisms of LearnHub is its initial information overload. Almost every piece of text is a link. However, my question is, information overload to whom? Jakob Nielsen, I know that you say all links must be colored, but as text becomes more and more just a gateway to more information, perhaps the new use of text will call for a new, more usable design (that won’t make every website awash with blue).
And speaking of design…
LearnHub calls their design a “mullet” - business in the front, party in the back. Brilliant! Perhaps this is why there’s so much information on the home page (which, by the way, is customizable, I hear) - there are many audiences to cater to. There it is again, a customizable web…
Anyway, go check out LearnHub - it seems like once it has some more usability testing and trims the mullet it’ll be a powerhouse of an education site. Its already a great example of how information design is changing on the web.
I think anything with depth, at first, can be an information overload. Once you dive in and become accustom to it, it becomes a resource of possibilities.
Great post!