What’s the future hold? No matter what the answer to that question, active lifelong learners will be the ones best prepared to handle it.

That’s just one of the perspectives that emerges in a recent interview I did with futurist David Houle on the Learning Revolution podcast. David is the author Entering the Shift Age, a new book that discusses the major trends that are pushing humanity into a whole new era and provides a detailed vision of the future. He also happens to be the son of Cy Houle, one of the pioneering figures in adult lifelong learning, and he shares his father’s conviction that lifelong learning will be the central concept of education going forward.

You can listen to the interview here or subscribe on Tunes , but I also encourage you to check out the show notes and links on the Learning Revolution site.

Listen to the Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Subscribe on Tunes | Stitcher Radio

Other Great Interviews and Tools

If you are interested in creating podcasts and other Web-based learning experiences, be sure to check out the Learning Revolutionary’s Toolbox section on the Learning Revolution site. Also, here are some other podcast interviews that may be of interest:

• Easily Publish and Sell Online Courses – An Interview with Pathwright’s Paul Johnson
• How to Build a Passionate Community of Learners – A Conversation with Leo Babauta (Zen Habits)
• Are you ready to MOOC? A conversation with George Siemens
• Exploring How We Learn with Monisha Pasupathi (Teaching Company)
• Telling Ain’t Training with Harold Stolovitch

Enjoy!

Jeff

P.S. – The Learning Revolutionary’s Toolbox is Here!

Sign up for updates and get my eBook The Learning Revolutionary’s Toolbox – packed with info about essential tools for launching and growing your education business and/or educational content marketing efforts. tools.

But wait, that’s not all! – you’ll also get Chapter 1 from Leading the Learning Revolution!

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post Are you ready to enter the Shift Age? appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.

Over on the Learning Revolution site, I’m in the process of launching a new book. This one has more to do with the business side of lifelong learning – as in how to launch or grow an education/training business. My perspective is – get this – helping actual learning to take place is an important part of running a successful education business.

To that end, Dr. Monisha Pasupathi, a psychology professor at the University of Utah and star of the Teaching Company course How We Learn, was one of the people I interviewed as part of writing the book. I’m now turning my interviews into podcasts, and I thought this one would be of particular interest to Mission to Learn readers.

In our conversation we cover some common myths about learning, talk about how well prepared we are (or aren’t) to deal with a hyper-connected, information-flooded world, and consider the role of the lecture as a form of learning delivery. Have a listen, and be sure to comment and share your thoughts. (I’ve also posted show notes over on the Learning Revolution site.)

Listen to the Podcast

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | iTunes

P.S. – Leading the Learning Revolution: The Expert’s Guide to Capitalizing on the Exploding Market for Lifelong Education is available for purchase on Amazon. You can find out more about it at http://www.learningrevolution.net/book.

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post How We Learn – A Conversation with Monisha Pasupathi appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.

I’m very pleased to be joined by Jonathan Mead for this round of the Radio Free Learning podcast. Jonathan is an entrepreneur, author of the highly popular eBook Reclaim Your Dreams, and founder of the Illuminated Mind blog. He also writes frequently for Zen Habits, and in general, is a rising star of the self development world.

In the podcast, Jonathan and I discuss the path that led him to renounce the conventional world of 9 to 5, launch Illuminated Mind, and go on to reclaim his own dreams. We also touch on the concept of the zero hour work week -  the title of Jonathan’s latest free eBook. As you might expect, “learning” factors heavily into Jonathan’s story and into our discussion.

Here’s the MP3 file link (23:45) in case you do not see the audio player below (or, if viewing by e-mail or RSS reader, click through to the original blog post).

Subscribe to the Radio Free Learning podcast:

• Subscribe using RSS
• Subscribe using iTunes

The theme music for the podcast is The Information Age by Anthony Fiumano, available on the Podsafe Music Network

Jeff

P.S. – If you like the interview with Jonathan, you may also enjoy the Zen Learning Habits series here on Mission to Learn.

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post Iluminate Your Mind with Jonathan Mead – Podcast appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.

It’s time for another edition of the Radio Free Learning podcast here on Mission to Learn. In this episode, I talk with Farb Nivi, co-founder and CEO of Grockit.

I became intrigued with Grockit quite a while ago when the company was promoting itself as a collaborative, game-driven learning platform. Since that time, Grockit’s focus has turned towards the test preparation market and helping learners prepare, collaboratively, for big standardized tests like the SAT and the GMAT.

In this podcast, I talk with Farb about how the Grockit platform works, his views on teaching and learning, and where Grockit may be headed in the future. If you are interested at all in collaborative learning and adaptive learning systems, this podcast is for you.

One other note – I’ve introduced “Show Notes” with this podcast to help give you an idea of how the conversation flows.

Here’s the MP3 file link (19:24 for content only/25:23 with extended theme music) in case you do not see the audio player below (or, if viewing by e-mail or RSS reader, click through to the original blog post).

Subscribe to the Radio Free Learning podcast:

• Subscribe using RSS
• Subscribe using iTunes

Grockit Podcast Show Notes

01:14 – Farb gives overview of what Grockit does

01:20 – Peers are a resource “left on the table” in most learning environments

01:45 – A million and a half kids take the SAT annually – a great resource to each student is other students

02:36 – System adapts to learners- whether working on their own, with a group, or with an expert. Applies algorithms to optimize environment

03:48 – Learning platform in multiple senses – people go there to learn, but the environment also learns about them and responds

04:22 – Discussion of gaming as a form of learning, starting with “Game mechanics are human mechanics,” just slightly more defined and immediate

06:30 – Discussion of standardized tests. Is Grockit sticking up for them?

08:38 – Discussion of our current educational system – and where it is falling short

09:36 – Teachers used to be facilitators of a design that had students learning from each other

11:35 – When you are forced to teach others, your own learning amplifies quite a bit

12:30 – Reference to the Cluetrain Manifesto. “Markets are conversations” – old idea made new again. Similar phenomenon occurring in education.

13:25 – Farb’s influences – Peter Senge, Edward Tufte, Russell Ackoff, etc. – and background

15:15 – The future vision for Grockit and the collaborative learning platform – beyond test prep

17:07 – Origin of the name Grockit

17:55 – What Farb has learned in building Grockit as a company

19:24 – Roll The Information Age by Anthony Fiumano, available on the Podsafe Music Network

Jeff

P.S. – Interested in collaborative learning? I encourage you to check out 15 Free Online Collaboration Tools and Apps .

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post Collaborative Learning with Grockit – Podcast appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.

This is the second installment of a Radio Free Learning podcast with Dr. Fiona McPherson, author of The Memory Key and curator of the About Memory Web site. In the first installment we discussed some of the keys to memory and why most memory courses don’t result in long-term memory improvement. In this second episode we discuss the brain training craze, how the brain changes as we age, and why effective note-taking (the topic of a recent book by Fiona) is so important.

Here’s the MP3 file link (17:29 minutes long) in case you do not see the audio player below (or click through to the original blog post).

Subscribe to the Radio Free Learning podcast:

• Subscribe using RSS
• Subscribe using iTunes

I also encourage you to check out other posts on brain science and the human mind here on Mission to Learn.

Jeff

P.S. – Follow Mission to Learn on Twitter at http://twitter.com/missiontolearn

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post About Memory, Part II – Podcast with Fiona McPherson appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.

In this episode of the Radio Free Learning podcast, I talk with Dr. Fiona McPherson, author of The Memory Key and curator of the About Memory Web site. I came across Fiona’s work recently when I was writing 5 Key Paths to Improving Memory, and found her Web site to be one of the most thorough, well organized sites on memory out there. So, naturally, I contacted her to see if she would share some of her expertise with listeners here.

Our conversation lasted long enough that I decided to break it into two episodes. In this first one, we find out a little about Fiona’s background and what sparked her deep interest in memory. We then talk about some of the keys to memory and why most memory courses don’t result in long-term memory improvement. In the second episode (out later this week) we discuss topics like the brain training craze and why effective note-taking (the topic of a recent book by Fiona) is so important.

Here’s the MP3 file link (19:17 minutes long) in case you do not see the audio player below (or click through to the original blog post).

Subscribe to the Radio Free Learning podcast:

• Subscribe using RSS
• Subscribe using iTunes

I also encourage you to check out other posts on brain science and the human mind here on Mission to Learn.

Jeff

P.S. – Follow Mission to Learn on Twitter at http://twitter.com/missiontolearn

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post About Memory, Part I – Podcast with Fiona McPherson appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.

The World is Open

The World is Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education, a new book from Jossey Bass, offers one of the most comprehensive overviews I have seen to date of how open education and Web 2.0 technologies are transforming our world. Recently I had the opportunity to talk with the book’s author, Curtis Bonk, and capture some his insights about how things have changed and what the long term on impact on humanity is likely to be.

This interview is a bit longer than earlier podcasts (around 30 minutes), but it is well worth the time. Here’s the MP3 file link (29:47) in case you do not see the audio player below (or click through to the original blog post).

Subscribe to the Radio Free Learning podcast:

• Subscribe using RSS
• Subscribe using iTunes

Note also that in the podcast we refer to a set “openers” defined in the book – the 10 major shifts that have opened up the world of education. In the book, Curt organizes these into a framework – WE-ALL-LEARN – that serves as a mnemonic device for remembering the openers. The ten openers are below. I also encourage you to visit the Web site for the book, worldisopen.com to learn more about the openers and to access other resources – including a free eBook coming soon.

Ten Openers: (WE-ALL-LEARN)
1. Web Searching in the World of e-Books
2. E-Learning and Blended Learning
3. Availability of Open Source and Free Software
4. Leveraged Resources and OpenCourseWare
5. Learning Object Repositories and Portals
6. Learner Participation in Open Information Communities
7. Electronic Collaboration
8. Alternate Reality Learning
9. Real-Time Mobility and Portability
10. Networks of Personalized Learning

Jeff Cobb
Mission to Learn

P.S. If you enjoy what you read here on Mission to Learn, I encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feed or use the e-mail subscription form at the top right side of this page.

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post Open Education, Open World – Podcast with Curtis Bonk appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.

Nearly two years ago a friend introduced me to Jason Reneau, who at the time was in the process of getting his new company, MindBites, off the ground. Since then, I’ve watched as MindBites and a number of other “teach-learn-share” sites, as I tend to think of them, have sprouted and grown. Some of these sites are free. Some -as is the case with MindBites – offer a commercial marketplace where teachers and learners connect. Nearly all of of them, in my opinion, are great examples of how increased bandwidth, the tools of the social Web, and more usable, affordable authoring tools have revolutionized access to learning.

Recently, I dropped Jason a line to see if he would be willing to chat on the Radio Free Learning podcast. In our conversation we talk about what MindBites offers, but more importantly, we talk about some of the ways in which the Web has changed how we approach lifelong learning.

Here’s the MP3 file link in case you do not see the audio player below (or click through to the original blog post).

Download MP3 file (25.48 minutes/11.8 MB)

And be sure to check out the Baby Sign Language series with Laura Berg that Jason refers to in the interview

Transcript coming soon

Subscribe to the Radio Free Learning podcast:

• Subscribe using RSS
• Subscribe using iTunes

Jeff Cobb
Mission to Learn

P.S. If you enjoy what you read here on Mission to Learn, I encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feed or use the e-mail subscription form at the top right side of this page.

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post Podcast with Mindbites’ Jason Reneau appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.

I recently caught up with Bill Draves, co-founder of the Learning Resources Network (LERN) to discuss his perspectives on lifelong learning in a 2.0 world.  Aside from serving as the president of LERN, Bill is the author of Teaching Online and of How to Teach Adults – which I believe has sold north of 100,000 copies – and he is co-author of a book called Nine Shift, which paints a provocative picture for the coming decade. In the interview, we focus on some of the trends identified in Nine Shift as well as on what it means to be a lifelong learner.

Here’s the MP3 file link in case you do not see the audio player below (or click through to the original blog post).

Download MP3 file (23.35)

Transcript coming soon

Subscribe to the Radio Free Learning podcast:

• Subscribe using RSS
• Subscribe using iTunes

Jeff Cobb
Mission to Learn

P.S. If you enjoy what you read here on Mission to Learn, I encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feed or use the e-mail subscription form at the top right side of this page.

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post Podcast: Lifelong Learning With Bill Draves appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.

I had the pleasure of speaking recently with virtual community pioneer Howard Rheingold about the new Social Media Classroom platform he has launched. Anyone who has read Howard’s work or heard him speak before knows that he always has interesting things to say. This is no exception. Listen in to find out what’s up with the Social Media Classroom platform (built on the open source CMS Drupal) and also to hear Howard’s thoughts on the current state of “media literacy” in the world.

Here’s the MP3 file link in case you do not see the audio player below (or click through to the original blog post).

Download MP3 file (18:48)

Howard Rheingold Transcript (PDF)

Subscribe to the Radio Free Learning podcast:

• Subscribe using RSS
• Subscribe using iTunes

Jeff Cobb
Mission to Learn

P.S. If you enjoy what you read here on Mission to Learn, I encourage you to subscribe to the RSS feed or use the e-mail subscription form at the top right side of this page.

Looking for the perfect holiday gift for the lifelong learners in your life? Be sure to also check out 10 Ways to Be a Better Learner from Mission to Learn founder Jeff Cobb. The post Howard Rheingold – Social Media Classroom appeared first on Mission to Learn - Lifelong Learning Blog.