It's Time for Elegance in eLearning - Like Jimmy Choo's Shoes

Is the concept of elegance and fashion as known in the fashion industry more relevant today in elearning and training design and systems?

A previous client, Neiman Marcus, reminds me of hyper change. Design in aesthetics, beauty, touch and feel do rapidly change with the season, trends and even sources of materials and technology. What persists is "elegance."




Jimmy Choo's Shoes

Elegance is the fusion of function, style and value.

Elegance is about refinements.

Where do we find elegance in elearning, learning and training?

We should find them in content, software and thinking. Do we have a convergence?

• In content - usefulness of content
• In software – simplicity, singleness of use
• In thinking - enriching self-learning

Is there a convergence of elegance in content, software and thinking? I have seen many examples, but the elegance do not seem to converge.
Please share with me examples as you this convergence.

I theorize that the convergence may be studied with these illustrations.

Elegance in software:

Twitter, Storybird and Prezi are elegant because of its simplicity and singleness of purpose. (There are probably thousands more out there with similar attributes.) But I ask where and how do they help in the elegant convergence with content and thinking?

Elegance in content:

As a student of eLearning, I have followed Tony Karrer's Blog and eLearning Learning for years now. Tony amazes me with his imagination and technical prowess. When I need content quickly, the sites always help me - an elegant aspect. The deep hyperlinks make the sites extremely valuable and useful. Where is the elegance converging with software and thinking? I am sure Tony can offer insights. Tony offers a lot of "thinking anchors" through his questions and provocations.

Elegance in thinking:

Web 2.0-like tools and aggregation and distribution of content and provocations and thought anchors of leaders are independently and separately elegant solutions. But where do we find the elegance in the thinking processes that leads to enhanced self-learning?

I begin to wander and wonder where and how might we use studies of cognitive neurosciences or new findings on how our brain and behaviors work. I am of course bordering outside the domain of eLearning as a technology. However, eLearning to be successful requires thinking processes within learners.

My curiosity lies with this question: if software and content can be elegant, where and how can we find elegance in in thinking processes? And how can one cause a convergence with software and content?

Aiming for elegance

My questions might be elementary which others might have answered. I am however, in search of this fusion.

When I get the email from Neiman Marcus urging me to buy something for my wife, I am constantly reminded that "there's got to be fashion, elegance, in eLearning and training."

Please share your thoughts and discoveries.

Ray Jimenez, PhD

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