Not that I’ve stopped blogging, in fact I’m writing more than ever on my technology learning blog, thoughtshots. The goal of thoughshots and its accompanying YouTube channel is to present really well made instructional content for newbies. There’s loads (and I mean loads) of information about technology on the web. The problem that I’ve noticed is that very little of it is focused on teaching you how to solve a problem or do something with that technology – there’s far more content (probably because it’s more easy to monetize) that is focused on reviews, previews, and spyshots of the latest gadget. When there is content that shows you how to do something, it’s usually a post on some obscure forum, or a video by a 14 year old who starts every sentence with “uhh.. this is pretty cool.”

Not that I’m hating on fourms or 14 year olds making tech videos, but sometimes when you want to know how to do something, you don’t necessarily want to spend an afternoon wading through them. When there is really great technology learning content, it’s generally held back behind a paywall or a registration – some of the best examples of these come from lynda.com, Don McCallister’s Screencasts Online, and the Goodwill’s GCFLearnFree.org. These sites offer incredibly in-depth content on certain technology topics, but hold them back from the casual knowledge-seeker (I should be clear that these sites have been an inspiration for this project, so I’m not hating on them, either).

So how does thoughtshots solve these problems?

It’s free. I’ve got ads on the site in the hopes that I can one day monetize it, but I do not plan on ever charging anyone to look at any of the content produced for this site.

It provides just-in-time training. So if you type a technology related problem into your favorite search engine, it’s my hope that thoughtshots will have a solution for you within a few minutes (obviously a very long term goal).

It won’t waste your time. This means no unnecessary information, and things are kept brief. Also, there’s no lengthy time commitment – you won’t have to wade through a graduate course’s worth of material to get what you need.

It’s not intimidating. I’m focused on helping the beginner, so I’ll be going through things in detail and keeping it jargon-free.

It’s not annoying. My videos are “ah” and “um” free. The site is free of popup and click through advertising.

The messy style is a bit of a change of pace for me, but it’s in line with my idea of this blog as a dumping ground for projects and ideas.

That’s a video from Penn State professor Christopher Long (via Cole Camplese). Nothing new, but it efficiently sums up everything there is to know about the use of blogging as a teaching tool.

I’ve read multitudes of blogs for years, but the motivation for doing one myself came out of a Distance Learning course I took several years ago. If nothing else, I’m grateful to have learned that the web is a powerful medium for not only consumption, but also creation.

“…there’s the athleticism… and the way that strength and intelligence have to combine. It allows players to look beautiful and balletic in a way that some sports do not: a perfectly-timed diving header, or a perfectly-struck volley, allow the body to achieve a poise and grace that some sportsmen can never exhibit.”

(I would add to that list the last-second clearing of the ball off the line, an amazing feat that Bacary Sagna performed in yesterday’s game – a clip of which can be viewed here.)

Fever Pitch is, however, very un-bloglike in that it’s incredibly accessible, even for someone not so interested in soccer (like most Americans). In stark contrast, I don’t think any casual reader could make heads or tails of Arseblog or Gunnerblog. I think this speaks volumes about the value of both old (book) and new (blog) media and how both can coexist.

What Coke didn’t realize is that nobody drinks their soda under the same conditions as the taste tests were conducted – comparisons of sips from unmarked cups. The problem is nobody drinks sips of two different types of soda in the normal world. Additionally, all the associated emotions that come with your choice of soda are not taken into account. There’s a certain comfort that comes with certain brands – particularly ones as old as Coke.

Cole Camplese had a post a couple of weeks ago that reminded me of this issue of comfort. Students in his class had a negative reaction to the level of organization in the class, possibly because the course materials were placed on a blog instead of an LMS, or the class structure was more open and grounded in constructivism.

For all the talk by edu-theorists and edu-bloggers about open learning and constructivism/connectivism/whateverism, I wonder if the issue of discomfort will slow both learners and educators from moving in these directions. After all, it has taken nearly a decade for the LMS-based system for learning to gain widespread acceptance. God knows why, as I have found the Blackboard interface at USF to be terribly outdated and confusing. About two-thirds of the links lead to nothing, and categories are vague and frequently overlap. Yet when I look back at my graduate education, I’ll think fond thoughts about that useless dark green navigation bar on left hand side.

It’s comforting.

Malcolm Gladwell photo courtesy of niallkennedy.