eel-learning

Where to work

Tony Karrer suggested some of my deliberations in the previous entry may be relevant to the Learning Circuits Big Question this month.

The question, and the article 101 reasons to be freelance, also prompted me to appreciate my current position. I have the relative security (all security is relative, hence the discussion that prompted the last post!) of a salaried position, but a lot of the benefits of working freelance: working from home, in a 'distributed' team, with a role that blends strategic direction for eLearning, instructional design, straightforward web design and hands-on coding. I love the variety. I'm also spared the routine meetings that come with being based in an office. The team of which I'm a member is seen as a group of mavericks and innovators, but our managers have the skill to ensure our contribution is recognised and, occasionally, to rein us in. It's like a company within a company, and we're all serious about learning how to do this well as we go along.

My learning - what should I learn?

Following a conversation in my team of 'what would you do if it all went belly up next week' I had think about what skills I should be developing.  My employer is quite generous and encouraging about self-directed learning and would probably help.  But what to study?

Various colleagues and websites I've looked at suggest as an elearning professional I should know about

°    Flash
°    HTML
°    XML
°    CSS
°    Javascript
°    SQL
°    Databases in general
°    SCORM
°    .net
°    ASP .net
°    game development
°    PHP
etc etc

8 Random Facts

Clive Shepherd has invited me to take on this meme of eight random facts.

1. Post these rules before you give your facts.
2. List 8 random facts about yourself.
3. At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them.
4. Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they've been tagged.

Here they are:

1. I can't ride a bike.
2. I once had a Supercar pilot's licence signed by Mike Mercury, convincing me that the puppet show Supercar was based on real people.
3. I was briefly detained in an Egyptian army camp in the desert.
4. I have webbed feet but am a crap swimmer.
5. I have mingled with rock superstardom: I tripped over a member of the Kinks (not Ray) who was drunk and comatose after a gig at Edinburgh University.
6. I come from Ayr 'Wham ne'er a toun surpasses, for honest men and bonnie lassies' (Burns)
7. I was adopted at birth and now have good relationships with both my birth parents.
8. I've never been Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was just a collective delusion.

Clive has already tagged almost everyone I 'know' on the elearning blog circuit so I'll post this in my other blog with the various music friends I'm tagging.