Design 4 Learning - Side Tracks

People who are able to spend 20 percent or less of their time surfing the Internet at work are more productive than those who don't, according to research from the University of Melbourne. Small Internet breaks help workers focus better, though Internet addicts still have a problem. Workers are more productive when they are able to occasionally do non-work stuff online, researchers at the University of Melbourne have found. Dr. Brent Coker studied the habits of 300 workers and found that the large majority engaged in what he calls "Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing" (WILB)—surfing the Internet for personal reasons. But despite the common perception that such a behavior is a drain on employers, Coker says that these employees are able to focus better when performing tasks for work.

http://www.thejournal.com/articles/24180
 
 
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http://www.acer.edu.au/research_conferences/2003.html
 
 
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http://www.google.com/reader/i/?hl=en/#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2Fchristytucker
 
 
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http://amcult20.blogspot.com/2009/03/backchannel-engagement-in-classroom.html
 
 
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http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-microsoft-pulls-the-plug-on-msn-encarta/
 
But if you are a corporate executive clinging to old ideas, maybe technology will stop empowering people to make mass change. Or maybe not?

I wrote a post on my main blog last night about how educations obsession with firewalls and applying physical rules and old ideas is in effect locking themselves out of their own future.
 
As nearly all web2.0 applications such as twitter are blocked, the electinic resources being created by teachers and librarians cannot be claimed as systemic property. As teachers move, so do their resources and intellectual property. So in effect, the next generation of teachers will bring or take thier teaching tools with them.
 
This is not limited to schools, this is a great article from the irish times in the subject, and how buisnesses, like education departments, are actually firewalling their own futures.
 
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2009/0327/1224243534761.html
 
 
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http://onceateacher.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/a-teachers-guide-to-twitter/
 
 
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http://ryan2point0.wordpress.com/2009/03/24/workplace-learning-in-10-years/
 
 
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http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/thanks_ward_for_inventing_the_wiki_14_years_ago.php
 
 
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