Scamper is a brainstorm mind-map technique to collect new ideas related to a focus question. For instance, a focus question could be  “How to improve a web page?” To answer the question one has to collect ideas that are categorized  by 7 questions. What need to be …?

• substituted?
• combined?
• added?
• modified?
• put to other uses?Elim
•  eliminated?
• rearranged?

In the collection phase quantity has preference over quality, i.e., collect as many ideas as possible. Quality assessment comes into play in the next phase. Participants are asked to mark important ideas by bullets (e.g., by red points). The more points the higher the priority of an idea. This way, a quick approach to come up with a schedule of work tasks can be delivered.

I’m wondering if there is a software tool around that provides such a collaborative function and implements the idea of Scamper. Probably, MindManager is a good candidate.

Stephen Downs wrote a very nice overview paper about E-Learning 2.0 and its trends. In that, he describes the evolution of Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 and maps the process to the evolution of e-learning by identifying Web 2.0 patterns and explaining how to use them in e-learning. Here are few nice quotes:

•  ”People in networked markets have figured out that they get far better information and support from one another than from vendors.”
• “… the structures and organization that characterized life prior to the Internet are breaking down.”
• ” … the Web itself was being transformed from what was called “the Read Web” to the “Read-Write Web,” in accordance with Tim Berners-Lee’s original vision.”
• “In a nutshell, what was happening was that the Web was shifting from being a medium, in which information was transmitted and consumed, into being a platform, in which content was created, shared, remixed, repurposed, and passed along.”
• “… Web 2.0 is not a technological revolution, it is a social revolution. [...] Web 2.0 is an attitude not a technology. It’s about enabling and encouraging participation through open applications and services. By open I mean technically open with appropriate APIs but also, more importantly, socially open, with rights granted to use the content in new and exciting contexts.”
• “… online learning software ceases to be a type of content-consumption tool, where learning is delivered, and becomes more like a content-authoring tool, where learning is created
• “It also begins to look like a personal portfolio tool.”
• “… e-learning content is syndicated …”
• In a ubiquitous computing world, we expect to “have learning available no matter what we are doing.”