Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Why a Learning Systems Architect?

So I was prodded into making a defense for my new role of Learning Systems Architect… Here is my rant of a response, enjoy.

Nobody apparently needs!?! Everybody needs! They just aren’t aware of it yet. But they should be, and will be. What sort of organization? Any organization engaged in the knowledge based economy and want to encourage their employees to self construct knowledge and thrive within their organization. See John Seely Brown; http://www.johnseelybrown.com/speeches.html#digitalage The organizations internal pain would be
  1. employees seeking more interesting opportunities elsewhere, 
  2. a general erosion of an organizations ability to identify and create new knowledge at an ever increasing rate… 
  3. let your mind wonder…
A Learning Systems Architect works as the implementer and technical eyes / expert for the Chief Learning Officer. The Chief Learning Officer makes sure the organization has everything (politics, budget, infrastructure, knowledge, etc) in place to be a learning organization. Otherwise, the organization dies… The World 2.0 is here, knowledge doubles every 18 months, 1.3 billion youth will emerge from the developing world in the next 10 years to fill an estimated 380 million new jobs, only 130 million university seats exist today in the developed world, where will the 130 million (10% of the 1.3 billion) of the developing world students get their education? When all the seats are occupied by developed world students? Answer: the learning organization with a learning infrastructure built by a Learning Systems Architect…

Thanks again for prodding me to clarify… Please, prod me again. This is known as socio-constructivist learning. It is a core theory that a Learning Systems Architect builds a learning eco-system…

Monday, February 05, 2007

Learning Systems Architect

Learning Systems Architects perform some or all of the following duties:
  • Collect and document user’s requirements and develop logical and physical specifications
  • Liaise with clients, product managers and senior management regarding the feasability and design of product development
  • Research, evaluate and synthesize technical information to design, develop and test computer-based learning and instructional systems
  • Develop data, process and network models to optimize architecture and to evaluate the performance and reliability of designs
  • Ensure that performance, scalability and extensibility requirements of the product are gathered and met
  • Plan, design and co-ordinate the development, installation, integration and operation of computer-based learning and instructional systems
  • Assess, test, troubleshoot, document, upgrade and develop maintenance procedures for operating systems, communications environments and applications software
  • May lead and co-ordinate teams of information systems professionals, interactive media developers and instructional designers in the development of courseware and integrated information systems
  • May research and evaluate a variety of learning management systems, interactive media software products and software frameworks.
Employment requirements
  • A bachelor’s degree, usually in computer science, computer systems engineering, software engineering or mathematics
  • Post-secondary education and experience in education and learning theory within K12, adult and life long learning.
  • A master’s or doctoral degree in a related discipline(s) may be required.
  • Experience as a computer programmer and software designer is usually required.