WonderGeek emerges: amazement and frustration

What a day so far. I became totally enamored of the cleverly headlined "An Odyssey Through the Brain, Illuminated by a Rainbow" by Dr. Abigail Zuger.  Solid writing and the slide shows and video interview of author Carl Schoonover were fine. Boggles the mind what scientists and technicians have wrought.

In seeing all this, however, my elearning soul yearned for MORE. More explanation, more detail, more pointing out of what each filament category did, how it functions, etc. Schoonover got me. I wanted to learn more.

Now go see it!!  and then come back. 

Wow. Think of how one could use these images, and the videos that scientists are now producing of cell activity in motion, to stimulate the imagination, and yes the desire for More, in say 10 year olds, 4th graders...and 6th graders, 8th, etc.!!!  And hey, even 60ers in their middle age!

Sitting here in Peru, I'm thinking why don't the Education Ministers of the Andean spine countries, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia...even Chile,.. get together, form a lobbying org and persuade authors, book companies, scientist organizations, aid funders to help make knowledge like this available to the undereducated poor. I.e. make it accessible physically, but also mentally by constructing courselets by at least three education levels: kids, teens, adults. Let them share in the wonder of modern science, modern knowledge, for their own betterment.

And take a look just at this diagram. You could do a whole mp3 talk with it to go along just with it printed out. [I tried to insert it here, but Blogger resists.]

And hey, not only here in Peru, but really in the US as well it'd be great to make online learning available to all.

This stuff can be SO exciting, so enticing, so profoundly interesting, memorable, and unforgettable. And therefore it would stimulate kids to want to know more, study with attention and intention, and maybe follow a career line they never thought of before.

Now isn't that a great goal for learning??!!

Can you now see how "wonder" can lead to making the most out of life, excitement, yearning, on and on and on.  That's why I'm going to now consider myself a WonderGeek and give myself permission to not only have Ballmer moments, but also Wonder moments as well:-) 

Perspective: eLearning boredom can change

Consider:
"As we develop learning solutions for our customers, we encounter an ever-increasing resistance to LMS-based eLearning. Learners are tired of sitting through 160 slides of content. Managers are tired of people taking eLearning and not having skills to do their job. Business owners are beginning to relegate eLearning to simple compliance (“so we can say we did it”)
courses.
They have valid complaints. The vast majority of eLearning is not designed to drive performance improvement. The reason for this is simple: Most eLearning replicates the worst practices of education electronically: lecture and multiple choice tests."
http://www.q2learning.com/collateral/WP-Beyond-LMS-20091202bb.pdf  -----------------

eLearning can and will be a fantastic learning tool especially for under-developed countries with masses of people without any recourse, i.e. money, for higher education...or even education on how to just use the internet for their own benefit.

But... as the old saw goes, back to basics. Back to thinking from the USER'S POINT OF VIEW!! Happily, that's where CocoLoco began. I'm more and more confident it will soon find a home.