The 2008 Top 3 Semi-Learning Related Books

Posted by Karl Kapp on December 18, 2008

Here are some great reads to take you into 2009 and to get you to think about technology, learning and games from a new perspective. They’d make great stocking stuffers for the geeky person on your Christmas list as well.

Number 3: Mastering the Hype Cycle: How to Choose the Right Innovation at the Right Time (Gartner) by Jackie Fenn and Mark Raskino

This book describes how a technology enters the collective awareness of everyone (read learning professionals) and then gets overhyped and then crashes and no one likes it any more but the small group of people who continue to plod along find the technology aids productivity. The learning and development industry seems particularly vulnerable to Hype Cycles. I’ve written about the concept in The Metaverse Hype, Decline and Realism Cycle–We’ve Seen It Before

Number 2: Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies (Forrester Research) by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

If you want to understand how Social Media or Web 2.0 or Informal Learning is impacting organizations and moving the power into the hands of individuals, this book is for you. It doesn’t approach the topic from a learning perspective, instead it provides a much broader view and does a good job of explaining the impact these technologies are already having on organizations. My entry Pedia Palooza hits on some of the same issues by providing links to all types of social media articles.

Number 1: The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses by Jesse Schell

This book approaches the concept of game design by asking the reader to look at designing a game through a number of different lenes. In the book the author describes the activity of game design in a staight forward, enjoyable manner. What struck me about the book is how many of the concepts can be applied to almost any type of instructional design process. I also really like his list of 15 “Nitty-Gritty” brainstorming tips. Applicable for any brainstorming operation.

So there you have it, the 2008 Top 3 Semi-Learning Related books for you to read before 2009. 🙂

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