Like Nick, I missed the webinar, though the ensuing discussions here have captured my attention thoroughly.
As we work with people to help them learn - and as we work with ourselves to learn - we realise that each person has their own algorithmic pattern of learning. When I heard the word "footprint", I immediately thought "past learning" - already learned. It invoked a visual of tracking what had been learned. Useful if simplified into a constructive, easy to build personalised model (think app here) with simple learning layers defined and easy methodogy for understanding and assembly (think IKEA).
What this raised in my mind was a dynamic process (emergent and evolutionary learning) with a sense of present and future yet mindful of the footprint which could define strength or gap areas.
My work involves lots of visualisations - some happening live, some with fixed models, and almost all with high level engagement and interactivity. Gamification of processes could make the model building element easier for people.
What are we actually trying to achieve? Do we want to reveal each person's learning algorithm? Are we trying to capture what people have learned from us so that we can build on that? From my experience, qualifying the query process so that individuals can contribute to the HOW something gets built has been quite key to how they adopt it into practice.
Since I literally teach people how to build concepts - the frameworks, methodologies and organising systems are crucial. Metaphors are brilliant if they can be used constructively and systematically to tell the story.
As a physicist, mathematician and creative director (yes, crazy combo), my challenge is to help people find their own paths, starting places and define where they really want to go, and how to make the choices and cope with the transitions to get there...and visualise that in simple ways. This is why this discussion has captured my attention.
What about learning mindsets and their role in metaphors for learning? Complex is much easier than simplification so...how can we distill this complexity into an essence that captures each mindset and generates a simple basic working model that people could build on? Spreads the learning even further.
Anyway, thank you one and all for enriching my own thinking. Much appreciated!
Here's something to inspire your thinking: http://blog.clerestorylearning.com/patterns-learning-thinking-creating
