I have posted a new article on Instructional Design in Elearning. More than any position in education, instructional designers have the ability to keep elearning focused on learning, not technology. Everyone in education, from administrators to instructors to IT departments, should have a some understanding of what instructional design (ID) is and why it is so important to the future success of elearning.
Email Newsletters
Quote: "The most significant finding from our recent usability testing of ten email newsletters is that users have highly emotional reactions to newsletters. This is in strong contrast to studies of website usability, where users are usually much more oriented towards functionality. Even a website that you visit daily will feel like a tool where you want to get in and get out as quickly as possible and not connect with the site."
Comment: Not sure of the interest this has for most people (unless they publish a newsletter), but I include it here to draw attention to the significant statement that "Newsletters feel personal because they arrive in your inbox; you have an ongoing relationship with them. In contrast, websites are things you glance at when you need to get something done or find the answer to a specific question."...this is very much like a blog - where a reader forms a relationship with the author. The use of blogs/newsletters in education is still in its infancy...but they'll continue to grow as instructors realize the increased personalization they afford (over strictly static content in an LMS).
Hey...remember me??? Yup, it's been a while since I jotted down a few thoughts in this column. I guess there are a number of reasons for my absence. My summer session course wore me out - there was so much writing involved, I couldn't face the thought of writing for pleasure for quite a while. As well, the new format of this newsletter has kind of thrown me for a loop. It used to be that George and I would gather up links once or twice a week and publish them. In this kind of environment, I would find interesting articles, group them together according to related topics, and then write some comments . Now with the daily publishing of links, by the time I actually get to looking at potentially interesting content, George has already listed the link and has moved on to other areas. Up until now, I've been reluctant to re-publish links, but I think that I will resume doing so, with the hope that the topical grouping and some of my comments will add a different dimension to what has already been said. At any rate, I'm willing to give it a try...oh well, onto the e-learning content!
I had the privilege of experiencing this year's Online Learning Conference in Anaheim. I thought I would share some thoughts and experiences, while they are fresh in my mind...
I've found this conference is an interesting reflection of the e-learning world. When I first attended four years ago, there were 5000 attendees and the event had an "in your face" type of energy - interestingly enough, the delegates were overwhelmingly American business people and trainers...not a lot of academics or Canadians. The next year, attendance ballooned to 8000 participants, which included a few more academics, and more non-Americans...I remember hearing a lot of German being spoken at that conference, as e-learning was beginning to wash up on the shores of Europe. Confident predictions that e-learning would continue to expand at a frantic pace for the next 3 to 5 years were heard everywhere. Last year's conference took place a couple of weeks after the tragic events of September 11 - attendance tanked! I heard there were 4000 attendees that year, but the exhuberance of the past couple of years had disappeared. This year's conference was also much lower-key, more so because of the economy than anything else. The official figure that I heard was 5000 attendees, but others have speculated that it was far lower than that.
The vendor expo was much smaller than the last few years as well. Given the economics of e-learning, that would not be much of a surprise since you would expect that a number of smaller players had been bought out or gone out of business. However, some of the missing players included Lotus, Blackboard, and Web CT! There were also definite rumblings against Blackboard and Web CT's new price structures, and the LMS vendors present were definitely trying to make some hay out of these developments.
One of the really great things about this year's conference was the HUGE Canadian presence. I don't know the exact number of Canadian participants, but it was mentioned that one out of every five participants was from outside the U.S. Vendor exhibits from New Brunswick, Quebec and British Columbia were very visible, and a significant percentage of companies were also Canadian. For a more detailed accounting, check out Canadian Companies Rock at Online Learning 2002.
The Online Learning Conference site contains a number of interesting resources, including pictures from the conference, a brief video collage of the opening keynote session, as well as handouts from a number of the sessions presented at the conference. Check out Online Learning 2002 for these options. Organizers have also promised to put up video from some of the other keynote sessions. You just might be able to listen to John Seely Brown (Growing Up Digital is an article that has been featured in here a couple of times in past issues) or Seth Godin (author of The Idea Virus - which you can download for free from this link!). I'll let you know if and when these resources start to appear on the site.
Of all the sessions that I attended, I enjoyed the two presented by Dr. Michael Allen the most. Dr. Allen is the inventor of Authorware - yes, THE Authorware software package that is sold by software giant MacroMedia. When he sold the software, he was poised for a comfortable life of retirement, but according to him, once he saw what people were creating using (misusing?) the software, he came out of retirement to show people what innovative and memorable resources could be made using this program. His demonstrations of how resources and activities could be structured to prevent "boring e-learning" were amazing to watch. To get an idea of the kinds of activities his company has created, check out Allen Interactions. Dr. Allen has also just written a book called Michael Allen's Guide to e-Learning. You can get more details and order the book on this site as well.
Another great learning activity to check out is Frog Guts. This was featured during the Usability Wrestlemania keynote by Vincent Flanders of Web Pages That Suck fame. This site uses Flash to allow students to virtually dissect a frog...it looks incredibly engaging (and I hear that 98% of the world's frog population endorses its use... :-) ).
Last, but not least, I have to share the following with you. Every time I've listened to people extol the virtues of reuseable learning objects, I've wondered about the extent of their actual usability. I think the following excerpt provides an interesting take on the whole idea of reusability and some of its pitfalls. I don't know how accurate this really is, but I found it quite amusing...
The reuse of some object-oriented code has caused tactical headaches for Australia's armed forces. As virtual reality simulators assume larger roles in helicopter combat training, programmers have gone to great lengths to increase the realism of their scenarios, including detailed landscapes and, in the case of the Northern Territory's Operation Phoenix, herds of kangaroos (since disturbed animals might well give away a helicopter's position).
The head of the Defense Science & Technology Organization's Land Operations/Simulation division reportedly instructed developers to model the local marsupials' movements and reactions to helicopters.
Being efficient programmers, they just re-appropriated some code originally used to model infantry detachment reactions under the same stimuli, changed the mapped icon from a soldier to a kangaroo, and increased the figures' speed of movement.
Eager to demonstrate their flying skills for some visiting American pilots, the hotshot Aussies "buzzed" the virtual kangaroos in low flight during a simulation. The kangaroos scattered, as predicted, and the visiting Americans nodded appreciatively... then did a double-take as the kangaroos reappeared from behind a hill and launched a barrage of Stinger missiles at the hapless helicopter. Apparently the programmers had forgotten to remove that part of the infantry coding.)
The lesson? Objects are defined with certain attributes, and any new object defined in terms of an old one inherits all the attributes. The embarrassed programmers had learned to be careful when reusing object-oriented code, and the Yanks left with a newfound respect for Australian wildlife.
Simulator supervisors report that pilots from that point onward have strictly avoided kangaroos, just as they were meant to.
From June 15, 1999 Defense Science and Technology Organization - Lecture Series, Melbourne, Australia, and staff reports
Why Process Capture is Difficult
Quote: "A favourite method for capturing knowledge, especially when an employee is about to leave, is to have them write in detail all the process knowledge they have...They apply experience, tricks and other shortcuts to the job - but these are relevant to them. Their work is also often built upon years of training and learning which their replacement may not have."
Comment: This article is about knowledge management...but forget that perspective - look for its relevance in elearning. Aren't most tests and course evaluations like "process capture"? We sit students down and tell them to write what they know (aka - a test). This does provide one perspective, but it is not complete. To accurately assess what a student knows, we need alternative forms of assessment. Tests/essays are too one-dimensional to reveal the breadth of a learner's understanding..the author lists options for process capture that work more effectively: "Other strategies must be employed. These include story writing, interviews and so on."
Questions Information Architects Ask (Part I)
Quote: "In June 2002, Margaret Hanley and I asked our Nielsen Norman seminar attendees to list their burning information architecture questions. Not surprisingly, we found that information architects are people with a lot of questions. The list below comes from our San Francisco attendees; a week from now I'll put up a similar list from our Sydney attendees."
Who Does What
From the date on the site, this has been around since February...first I've seen of it. Very helpful listing of "who does what" in standards. Bookmark it! This was posted by Scott Wilson on the elearningleaders group...and he makes a very interesting statement - SCORM is not for higher education. Not sure why...but that's what he says - and he should know...he's the Assistant Director at CETIS...I'll see if I can explore this further.
Paracite
Quote: "ParaCite is an experimental service, being designed at the University of Southampton, for the location of articles from raw references. When a reference is passed to the service, it is split into its component parts (e.g. author, title, year), and transferred to the search resource. Based on the subject area, and the data provided, a set of resources is presented that the system believes have the highest probability of providing the full text article at no charge."
Being Wireless
Quote: "EVERYTHING you assumed about telecommunications is about to change. Large wired and wireless telephone companies will be replaced by micro-operators, millions of which can be woven into a global fabric of broadband connectivity."
Comment: Introduces a new concept to me: "viral telecommunications" - basically where users build their own wireless structures, and the entire system is connected via "loose agreements". The author uses the analogy of water lilies to communictate the individual, but overlapping nature of these systems...and then states that these structures will become "a major force of human development, transforming everything from education to entertainment, hospitals to hiring halls."
Measures of Learning in Higher Education
Quote: "Comprehensive review processes inevitably entail the examination and restatement of evaluation/assessment regimes, as it is through these that instituitions demonstrate accountability to stakeholders - that they are in fact making a difference in terms of learning outcomes and the greater good.
This week in Web Tools Newsletter we look at some of the ways in which institutions of higher education respond to current expectations through innovative review processes and an array of evaluation and assessment strategies."
Comment: Great listing...lots of links and resources. Just a quick note - Web Tools has a habit of leaving a space at the end of links - resulting in "not found" error messages...just backspace over %20 at the end of the URL in the browser window and hit enter.
Flash to .pdf
Neat tool that "converts pdf files into swf files and makes them browsable and printable."...all you need is Flash player to view .pdf's online (and much smaller size than .pdf)
Digital Dashboards, Dirty Dishes, Messy Desk, Workspaces and Web Logs
Quote: "I find it helpful to look locally when trying to understand and define design goals for use when creating "everyday software". I look at the way we handle information in our house. The information on my refrigerator door is different from the information I retrieve looking out my kitchen window and different from what kind of exchanges I get at the dinner table. In every day life we aim to weave our information seeking activities to many different single starting places."
Comment: This short (disjointed) article offers some good perspectives on how we aggregate and use information. Well worth the read...
Freedom Under Threat at Cambridge? via FOS News
Quote: "Freedoms at Cambridge University are under threat. A policy change proposed by the University's Vice-Chancellor will have a number of serious consequences for academics, for the student body and for the wider community.
Previously, the copyrights and other intellectual property rights in academic work at the University belonged (with a few narrow exceptions) to the people who did the work. The Vice-Chancellor's proposals will turn that round completely:"
Comment: Rights seems to be the cry of education/entertainment these days. Seems to be at odds with much of what the Internet is about. Sharing and building resources together is (from my perspective) far more effective than having one person do it all. However, even then, I guess someone has to own it. Seems whacked that institution and instructor can't work out an arrangement that acknowledges each other's rights/needs (sort of like joint copyright).
Simple Starts with Technology
Integrating technology and curriculum does not need to be an overwhelming, daunting task. Integration happens at the user level (i.e. instructor/student), so it is important that the process reflects the needs of these users. The real challenge is to allow teachers to remain teachers...not convert them to second-rate technologists - which seems to be the current trend in many elearning implementations. What is needed for this to happen? Concepts like low threshold applications ("Don't raise unrealistic expectations, don't add to the hype; LOWER THE THRESHOLDS!") can help instructors move into technology use efficiently. With that in mind, here is a simple list of ideas that I consider to be simple starts with technology:
Instructors and administrators need to let go of the desire to control and dominate the learning cycle (as evidenced by LMS being viewed as being the backbone of elearning). Learning is simply a communication process with an intended outcome/goal. Software tools can facilitate this process...and it need not be a complex start.
Videomail
"Recently I've been experimenting with various simple approaches to multimedia messaging. Ever since I began working with Flash Communication Server MX, I had an itch to create a simple utility for easily sending videomail. So here it is."
How to make e-learning interesting
Quote: "E-learning courseware and interface design is still in its infancy, struggling with static Web-based technologies not designed for the purpose. Now companies are also facing legal obligations to provide access for the sight, hearing and dexterity-impaired, too. Are your content development and programming tools up to the task?"
Comment: Good suggestions: invent exercises to present information, structure in layered fashion - rather than linear (allows for greater exploration)...but that's it. After that it turns into an advertisement for Macromedia.
Random thoughts: I was in a planning meeting this week...focused on creating recommendations for the technology/learning integration at Red River College. The committee basically reviewed and updated an existing technology plan. Very interesting to see how things have changed in only a few years. The original document was heavily centered on creating capacity for technology adoption...and on making technology available to faculty/college staff. The revisions suggested focused more on the use of technology...content management, knowledge management, development model, instructor support, etc.
In a span of several years, the focus shifted from technology availability to application of technology...from making resources available to early adopters to making resources available for majority users...next: student focus? simplification of technology? learning focus?
Ready or Not--PDAs in the Classroom via Stephen's Web
Quote: "And so it seems that regular old mobile computing isn't mobile enough. Now we have an explosion of devices that promise to be even more mobile than our mobile computers-they promise to be supermobile. The business world has seen the evolution of small, special-purpose computing, from personal information managers (PIMs) to personal digital assistants (PDAs), which have now grown into the nearly full-featured PocketPC. This evolution of mobile technology from organizers to supermobile computers has led many educators to begin thinking about how to put them to use in the classroom."
Comment: No doubt PDA's will be huge in education...and that developments in wireless will push the trend. Screen size, however, is still the biggest concern...the size, portability, "always have it with you" convenience overcome this obstacle for most people. Personally, I still like a larger screen and a larger typing surface.
We are experimenting with PDAs in our department...(well, once the PDAs arrive we will be). In particular, to evaluate their use in testing and information sharing among students. As a laptop department, our students pay a technology fee that is always a concern for students. Making education more affordable may be a benefit of PDAs...but, affordability and effectiveness of a tool need to be balanced. Anyway, I'll keep you posted as the project unfolds.
Learn for free online
Quote: "Like almost every organisation in the US, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology spent the late 1990s struggling with the question of how to take advantage of the internet. Many other colleges launched online degree courses aimed at anyone with a modem and a big wallet.
But MIT has taken a completely different direction with a project called OpenCourseWare (OCW) that could stop the trend of commercialising online education dead in its tracks. The first group of courses are set to be published on the internet on 30 September, including subjects like anthropology, biology, chemistry and computer science.
Comment:The hype of this will continue to build over the next week...but the implications will last much longer. Basically MIT is going against some recent trends of charging for content on the Internet. Instead they are using the Internet for "what it's good for" - connection people and information. Major education content providers should be concerned about this...why would a school pay for content (unless, of course, they have to buy content from certain providers in order to work in their proprietary course management systems...but that's another story...). The value of content is happening in all Internet circles - how are newspapers/magazines going to make money? Educators? Google, for example, just started a news aggregation service: Google News...run by algorithms...not people. It's a changing world...and what comes down the "pipe" has less value than the pipe itself...
Audio Blogging
Quote: "Blogging today is essentially a text based medium. As a form of personal or professional communications, it works. But often human communications is enriched by auditory or visual emotion expressed with audio and video. Voice audio is simple and low-bandwidth, and will work for any consumer; it's also more accessible for the visually impaired."
Comment: ...mentioned this a few weeks ago...looks cool. Jeremy Allaire has created a simple tool to get prospective audio bloggers started: Audio Blog. Accessibility (visually impaired) and dialogue/debates are the first two thoughts for me...followed by - it's so much easier to scan than it is to listen - not sure how much I/others would use this tool. Flip side: it moves blogging to the realm of amateur DJ's...so it may find a market there.
study faults entertainment companies' focus on piracy
Quote: "Media companies must put less emphasis on protecting digital content and instead find ways to make money from digital music and movies if they hope to beat back copyright pirates who threaten their businesses, according to a study released Wednesday from KPMG."
Comment: Gee...someone gets it...too bad it's not the media/content providers. Again - this will spill over into education circles
Linux: It's Growing More Popular, But Can It Do Windows?
Quote: "Linux, the computer operating system developed in the 1990s by a college student in Finland, is unlikely to dethrone Microsoft's Windows as the ubiquitous operating system on desktop PCs anytime soon. But Wharton faculty and a Linux supporter say that Linux will gradually become more attractive to consumers as more applications are developed for it."
Comment: Aside from stating the extreme obvious, this article does make the point that future growth of Linux will come through companies/organizations that are focused on cost-savings. I'm surprised that Linux is not more popular in cash-strapped education circles...open source, cost savings and education - isn't that almost like mom's apple pie?...:).
KM Czar
Quote: "Knowledge management efforts that create significant return on investment (ROI) cannot have a bottom-up focus. This is not to say that popular bottom-up KM concepts such as fostering communities of practice are necessarily detrimental. It's just that they just will not generate significant ROI."
Comment: At first read, I disagreed with this article...cold ROI calculations often overlook the improved capacity of employees to better perform their work...or i improved innovations in an organizations that allow it to meet new challenges.
However, on second read...I agree that organizations need a global focus to truly leverage ROI (the insurance example in the article explains this well). This global focus needs to come from commitment higher up in an organization...i.e. an elearning/KM initiative needs a leader who is in a position to mobilize corporate-wide resources. With that said, the innovate project in need of a leader is one that is developed at a grassroots level. Don't expect innovation from upper management...expect implementation of innovation from them. Innovation in organization always happens in small fringe groups...find the fringe groups and give them room to play.
Personalizing Pedagogy
Quote: "Doesn't it seem reasonable that the best education would result from choosing teaching/learning/technology (TLT) options that best fit the individual needs and capabilities of BOTH the learners and the teachers?"
Comment: Good, short list...
Several weeks ago, I detailed an elearning noncourse. Basically, they intent of the course is to evaluate the effectiveness of non-traditional approaches to learning. This course doesn't have any content...the content is generated through the interaction of participants.
We just finished week one. Here is a summary of the content generated through discussions: Elearning vs. Classrooms.
After one week, I'm surprised by how quickly content can be generated...and the difficulty of learning in different ways. All of us learn constantly...often without even being aware. Yet, when someone says "learning" or "course", there is an immediate gravitation toward traditional roles and behaviours. For example...some days, discussion in the course would be "soft"...and immediately I was tempted to play the instructor role - throw out content/answers etc.
The usual metrics of "is learning happening" change in collaborative learning - and it's disorienting (regular elearning with fixed content is one thing...but true exploratory learning - i.e. content is created through interaction, is more difficult than I anticipated). Amount of content read, volume of discussion, production of essays, etc. are not adequate measures of learning. What is? Relationships formed? Depth of concepts explored? Amount of content generated? Learner confidence?
You know those Nigerian email scams? Ever wonder if anyone actually falls for them? Read and weep: Woman falls for Nigerian scam, steals $2.1m from law firm
11 Commandments for Controlling Your Email
Quote: "Do you use e-mail effectively? What is the proper etiquette? Three years ago, the Harvard Management Communication Letter issued the ten commandments of e-mail. This article revisits the topic-and adds a new rule."
Comment: Good list...mostly common sense.
Guides to elearning in the Workplace - eCLIPSE
Quote: "Want to find out about e-learning, but haven't got time to go on a course?
Want to study the material in your own time and at your own pace - but can only want to tackle a short amount each day?
Want a guide to some of the best e-learning resources available?
Want a more informal approach to learning?
Then sign up for one of our Guides to e-Learning. This will provide you with a daily "dose" of learning (15-30 minutes) that will bring you to up to speed in e-learning in a continuous and immersive manner."
Comment: Some trial versions are free...not sure how long. Great concept...learning provided according to the needs of today's learners.
Media future: Risk of monopoly?
Quote: "While there appears to be diversity on the surface, they note that a handful of corporations already control the national broadcast media and more than half the cable systems in the United States...In radio, where consolidation has gone furthest, 66.6 percent of people who listen to news listen to stations that are owned by four companies."
Comment: Monopolies in media are a significant concern - after all, many people actually believe what they see on TV...:). I'm curious, however, to see how blogs (as a decentralized forms of journalism) will impact the future media monopolies. For instance, in areas relating to elearning, by the time an issue is covered in "formal media" (i.e. magazines/newspapers) - it's usually been hashed around the blog circuit for several weeks. Traditional media (radio, newspapers, TV) are ripe for monopolies - because the channel of distribution can be owned. This is not the case on the Internet (yet).
Towards the end of the article, a statement is made that is worth emphasizing: "Critics contend that's one reason why radio listenership is now at a 27-year low. "More and more people are complaining that radio formats are too bland and aren't serving particular needs,"...well duh. If a media format is not meeting the needs of its users, it deserves to fail. Why is file sharing so huge?...because the entertainment industry completely lost sight of the needs of its market. If the market wants bite-sized media, (on their terms), the path to success is not to regulate and legislate. Give the consumer what he/she wants!...or they look elsewhere. I wonder if educators are getting this message...
Invisible keyboard
Quote: San Jose-based Canesta claimed on Wednesday that it had developed the world's first fully integrated projection keyboard for mobile and wireless devices. The technology enables a keyboard to be projected onto a flat surface using a beam of light, which can then be typed on."
Stamp out technology virginity via Kairosnews
Quote: "You find technology virgins everywhere: Teachers who insist on getting detailed training for every new piece of technology that shows up; librarians who refuse to figure out the Internet text searching tools; doctors who won't use computer technology because it is beneath them; managers who deny their employees access to the Internet. Common to them all is that they are severely middle-aged -- in soul, if not necessarily in body -- and still think of PCs and the Internet as something new and extraneous to their jobs and lives, something they can choose not to be involved with."
Comment: Great article exploring some of the concerns with lack of understanding (and lack of willingness to understand) technology. The author makes the point that true comprehension of technology comes from experience...and reflection. Many people have only a theoretical understanding - and what is needed is hands-on experience. Educationally, this is a significant concern. How does an organization make technology use a part of the daily activities of faculty, administration, support staff?...or for that matter - should they? In many cases, there is a strong disconnect between "instruction" and "technology"...and this is evident organizationally. For example - each new elearning project is specially funded... technology is treated as a add-on activity to regular work.
If all that you have is a hammer, everything looks like a browser.
Quotes: "The concept [digital dashboards] is compelling: We all feel, intuitively, as though we're overwhelmed by an inflow of information, notifications, requests, solicitations. We're involved in online conversations, transactions, and workflows. We need to stay on top of things: if only it could all be aggregated in one place, life would be better.
Only one problem, with all due respect: Unless you do very little work online, the concept of weaving all of your activity into a single web page couldn't be more misguided - from an efficiency and effectiveness standpoint...history has shown that most every attempt to combine different modes of interaction into a single interface has failed."
Comment: Ray Ozzie continues his not-so-subtle promotion of Groove-like technologies as the future of interaction. He does make a very valid point: "In an era where we do more and more and more of our communications and work with others online, we need tools that help us to get that work done faster and more effectively. That means creative, innovative software, hardware, and systems. That means leveraging the power of technology with effective human and inter-human interface as the #1 goal."
We Don't Need CyberLaws
Quote: "But when it comes to legislating our way to Internet nirvana, Sorkin remains a skeptic. In fact, he says the law governing the offline world is equipped to handle most online disputes, and cautions that attempts to address Internet problems such as spam are only going to make matters worse."
" Rajesh has a mock-up of a digital dashboard available. You can see where this is going. A portal of one. All data on the desktop. Simple, easy to customize, and powerful." (John Robb's Radio Weblog)
Comment: I had a look at a digital dashboard put together by Computer Services at RRC. Excellent...much potential. Essentially, in one screen, a user has access to the information they most often use - email, weather, news, documents, etc. Each component is treated as a "web part" and inserted into a web page. An institution can create a digital dashboard by department that is the same for all students - course info, access to learning management system (LMS), etc are all integrated into one page.
I made a brief (but unsuccessful) attempt to promote the concept of a student learning digital dashboard - LMS, instant messaging, content links, whiteboard, streaming media - all integrated into one page. No need to open several applications to achieve various learning tasks. I still think the integrated learning interface has potential...as a learner, I know I would use it. However, socially, the interface can be overwhelming to people not comfortable with technology.
I posted a new article: A Learning Development Model For Today's Students and Organizations. I'd appreciate any thoughts/comments.
Basically, what I try to communicate (in my convoluted way):
Knowledge Management in Instructional Design via Column Two
Quote: "Instructional designers engage in activities related to the planning and implementation of instructional and performance support solutions. Available tools and technologies influence the way in which instructional designers accomplish their tasks. Knowledge management represents a technology that is changing how instructional design professionals work. This article will review what instructional designers do, describe knowledge management, and indicate how knowledge management is influencing instructional design."
Comment: Certain articles, like this one, are valuable just for the title (and how they open doors to new perspectives). Unfortunately, the authors don't go into enough detail, and basically state: instructional design is often poorly structured, knowledge management is structured, though they use similar concepts...so they need each other.
Rubric for Online Instruction via Distance-Educator.com
Quote: "The Committee for the Evaluation of Exemplary Online Courses (CEEOC) was formed to address the need for demonstrating quality in online instruction, and for setting some guidelines for developers of online teaching. The committee reviewed best practices, learning styles, and standards to develop a rubric for evaluating online courses or course components at Chico State."
Comment: A good basic rubric detailing: organization and design, instructional design and delivery, assessment and evaluation, appropriate use of technology, learner support.
Webcast and Online Seminar Usage Behavior Study
Comment: Registration information is required to access the .pdf document. Geared to corporate/IT. Some interesting findings: most people prefer archived sessions over scheduled, most use online seminars in order to stay current, about 80% state that it is difficult to find online seminars, and 67% access them at least monthly.
Technology adoption - at the instructor level - is the key to elearning's growth. Yet often, instructors are under served in the development and planning process. I've heard numerous accounts of instructors teaching their first online course...without a clue of what the environment is all about. The assumption seems to be: a good classroom instructor = a good online instructor. This is wrong. Success in elearning is linked to proper preparation, planning, and student focus...not to skills acquired in a classroom.
A few guidelines for instructors new to the online world:
This goes on record as being one of the most frustrating computer stories I've heard: Shifted Librarian - On Being the Digital Job ...I'll have to print that out and post it for new students who complain about technology...:). It can always get worse...
Enhanced Thumbnails
Quote: "Enhanced Thumbnails is a proprietary visualization technique that makes it easier to find relevant content quickly within documents and document collections."
Comment: Has potential. I would love to have this feature when I'm searching through documents on my hard drive :)..try the demo...only takes a few minutes. "The study showed that people using Enhanced Thumbnails found the answers to their queries 29% faster than when they used text summaries, and 22% faster than when they used plain thumbnails."
Learning content. Theirs, yours, mine and ours.
Quote: "Though far from a run course, we pretty much know what form elearning content will take: learning objects. While the debate about the term's exact definition continues to rage, it is clear that chunks of content smaller than a complete module or course, but still large enough to be more or less self-contained will be easiest to insert into any specific course. This is what makes them re-useable in other courses. The trickier question is where the learning objects come from in the first place, and who is allowed to re-use it."
Comment: Another article on learning objects that focuses on reusability. Forget reusability (well, not completely)...think personalized instruction - that is the real value of learning objects. With that said, the author raises the issue of how learning objects will be handled in terms of ownership - a very relevant concern in education systems where value is derived from "content owned".
Virtual Teleportation? Next Generation Internet is Coming to a Cubicle Near You
Quotes: "There is a new Internet already operating at 100 times the speed of the Internet most people are used to. Called Internet2 in North America, Geant in Europe and Next Generation Internet (NGI) generally, it is being developed and deployed by universities and research centres globally...NGI provides ubiquitous connectivity at such high rates of speed that entirely new forms of work are possible. This promises to change how people will learn, interact and collaborate via networks."
Technology adoption - at the instructor level - is the key to elearning's growth. Yet often, instructors are under served in the development and planning process. I've heard numerous accounts of instructors teaching their first online course...without a clue of what the environment is all about. The assumption seems to be: a good classroom instructor = a good online instructor. This is wrong. Success in elearning is linked to proper preparation, planning, and student focus...not to skills acquired in a classroom.
A few guidelines for instructors new to the online world:
Metaphors for Social Computing
Quote: "In fact, when told about new software for communications and collaboration most people respond with the classic examples --- chat rooms, instant messaging, whiteboards, etc. But our metaphors for social computing are under-developed. The common examples on the Internet today lack depth and creativity, and reflect the fact that real-time computing is essentially a new, uncharted world."
E-Learning on the College Campus
Quote: "While the potential rewards and benefits of distance learning are exciting, many question if college students are really benefiting from online courses. Many of these fears aren't even focused on the end result but on students' expectations before they take their first online course. For example, do students view online courses as an easy way to obtain credit? Do they believe that less work will be required of them? Will they be able to hide behind their monitors and not have to participate actively as they would in a traditional course?"
Comment: Basic attempt to evaluate classroom vs. online learning...end result (according to the author): marks were similar between the two groups. Here's my cynicism: conclusions in this study communicate nothing. No indication of how learning was evaluated...or the greater effect of learning - changed behaviour.
Electronic Student Portfolios/ Webfolios
Quote: "Student portfolios are recognised as formative reflections of progress, and also play an increasingly important role in summative assessment procedures.
The systematic compilation and presentation of teachers' observations and student artefacts across the gamut of media ensures a high degree of student involvement and invokes a more richly textured portrayal of individual student achievement than that available through more traditional forms of assessment."
Comment: I took a course this last summer on assessment and evaluation. The emphasis was heavily on utilizing alternative forms of assessment (authentic). While the course was directed to classroom instructors, I found that the concept of authenticity in evaluation transferred nicely to the online environment. Plagiarism is a significant concern in elearning...and much of it could be prevented/discouraged through effective evaluation techniques...like webfolios...
No Significant Difference
Quote: "There are many ways we can examine differences between distance education and face-to-face instruction, but using the idea of no significant difference is probably a mis-directed approach...It is not whether we can meet the same learning outcomes with technology, but how do we use the technologies to enrich the experience, to go beyond what can be done in the face-to-face or other delivery environment."
Information architecture
Quote: "One of the most important decisions you will make is deciding on the classification options you require. Remember, the beauty of web-based classification is that you can multiple-classify. This allows the reader a variety of navigation options so that they can find the content they need just the way they want to find it."
Comment: As I stated several weeks ago...information architecture and content management will become significant concerns in elearning. Specifically content management - our department has an incredible amount of digital resources...but the organization (and retrieval) is ineffective.
Moving the Camera
Quote: "The evolution of the film industry is worth noting because parallels can be drawn between the moving pictures of the early 1900s and e-learning. For many years, the camera remained fixed while the actors, speakers, and scenes moved in front of it. People were used to watching theater actors move about before them while they sat motionless in their seats. When the new medium appeared, what did everyone do? They took the old ideas they were accustomed to and put a camera in front of them. Only years later did some imaginative individual think, "Hey, let's try moving the camera as well!" Wow, what a concept."
Comment: This is a good article, simply because it highlights a critical concern in elearning resources development - the desire to squeeze a new medium into an existing medium. Resources cannot simply be transferred...they must be transformed. A course that builds on the unique strengths of the Internet is far more effective than one that duplicates classroom content and activities.
Here's a link to information forwarded by Larry Danielson: Teaching Learners to be Self-Directed...looks good!
NYTimes.com Tests Paid Content Sales, Here's What They Learned
Quote: Together these equaled just over a million in sales in 2000. These numbers made the business team begin to wonder if they could turn slices of the Times' extensive library into even more
easy-win digital products.
Deputy General Manager & Director of Operations Stephen Newman says, "We knew we had a tremendous asset in our archives, and we knew we could monetize that archive.""
Comment: Is there a revenue model for online content? NYTimes experimented with selling crosswords, archives, editor's picks, topics in-depth, and "Times Talks" (featuring celebrities). This article seems to allude to it...or at least suggests that NYTimes is on to something. None of it seems to be pure "content"...it's value injected content. It is worth noting that a lesson learned relates to "excellent customer service" and the experience of the user...
Unplugged U via Kairosnews
Quote: Josh McHugh joins the wireless revolution at Dartmouth, where today's campus life is the prototype of tomorrow's network society...The network is subtly but profoundly altering teaching techniques, social interaction, study habits, and personal security.
Advice for Predicting Market Demand: Don't Be Too Sure
Quote: "Truly smart people fingered video-on-demand as a big market. But they didn't imagine it would come about in this helter-skelter, every-consumer-for-himself fashion.
In so doing, they taught us all a lesson. The prophets of video-on-demand overlooked something about "demand" -- namely, whose demand it really is. You don't create demand; you obey it. You can lead demand to water, but you can't make it drink."
Comment: Very interesting perspective on how predictions come "true"...just not in the way that most expect. This concept has strong implications for elearning. We may be focusing on the right concepts - but we need to be careful to not make the concept the final focus - we need disorganized progress. Elearning predictions (end of courses, personalized, student-centered, interactive, engaging, etc) may all materialize - just by a very different path than we are trying to create.
It's nice to see projects come together (or to a close!). The "Teaching Online" course that we've been working on over the summer is close to pilot stage. I always have far more energy at the start of a project than I do during the "monotonous middle". Hit that stage some time in August...
The course covers nine areas:
Is PC Through as Key Technology Driver?
Quotes: "The personal computer's role as the primary driver of semiconductor technology is finished...So just what will drive semiconductor technology next? "The grid -- the Internet -- is the backbone of future computing,""
Semantic What?
Quote: "The web was successful by decentralizing data on a very large scale. As with any buzzword, the exact meaning of the Semantic Web is not exactly defined, my view is that the Semantic Web is the attempt to replicate the forward-leap of the web by decentralizing metadata (data about data) on the same very large scale, with all the benefits of having a lot of machine-processable and data-minable data."
Comment: Quick read - brings up the role of taxonomies (and its limitations... came across an interesting quote this week - taxonomies kill creativity). Offers the concept of "personalized information filtering" as a solution.
Evolution trumps usability guidelines
Comment: Focuses on web design...but offers great advice to elearning development. Guidelines result in canned work. Evolution and situation specific approaches offer a more practical model. I love the concept of mutations - I've used the word spiraling in the past to describe the concept of "I develop something, you add to it, someone else does the same"
I've been thinking about learning objects. Not quite sure what to make of them yet. Learning objects have a variety of definitions - ranging from a simple Word document to a learning task that includes an objective, content and evaluation. Learning objects have their background in object oriented programming...the reuse of snippets of code to accelerate software development.
For background information on learning objects see:
elearnspace Learning Objects
Learning Objects - Downes
Learning Content Management System
Specifications and Standards
As learning objects develop and increase in popularity, repositories like Merlot and POOL offer valuable services of connecting developers of learning objects with potential users. This brings in additional concerns of validating learning object quality, finding them, negotiating price, etc. Essentially, it is the economic and procedural redevelopment of the existing publishing industry.
So far, no problem, I like learning objects...however, once we get to the use stage that my confusion increases. Two statements I've recently heard: "Educational facilities will begin to share and collaborate at the learning object level"..."the reuse of learning objects is a fairy tale. You don't expect a great movie to be made up of recycled bits and pieces; the great ones are made from scratch. We want engagement. Why expect reuse?" (from Internettime...hmm both provocative (irreconcilable?) statements.
The first benefit of learning objects is usually listed as "reducing cost of future development". Ok...I'll buy that. In object oriented programming, costs are reduced by using bits of code (e.g. drop down menu in a software application) across many design stages. The same piece of code is not rewritten every time - it's reused. This is the premise of learning objects. BUT...computers process objects the same way every time. People do not. This is a significant liability of learning objects (mind you, an argument could be made that a textbook is the same every time, and it is the instructors task to make learning come alive through interaction...so online, it is the instructors task of creating interaction around LO's).
I don't think reusability is a myth...I think the type of reusability currently being pursued by educational facilities is mislead. Learning objects have their greatest value in creating personalized learning...not in reusing objects developed by others. For example, our current notion of a "course" will change significantly over the next few years. Learning will be more closely linked to need or task - more like training with a scalpel versus our current machete model. In this environment, a student will go through an assessment stage, and (based on the needs determined by the assessment), content will be dynamically generated to create a personalized "course". This process requires learning objects...and I think this is where they ultimately will (should) find their greatest adoption. Why this model? It makes sense...and it is learning based. Uses of learning objects that serve institutional purposes (i.e. reduce expenses) overlooks the centricity of tomorrows' student in the learning process.
Knowledge repositories are not the driving problem in knowledge management ...great quote from H.G. Wells: "An immense and ever-increasing wealth of knowledge is scattered about the world today; knowledge that would probably suffice to solve all the mighty difficulties of our age, but it is dispersed and unorganized. We need a sort of mental clearing house for the mind: a depot where knowledge and ideas are received, sorted, summarized, digested, clarified and compared."
Doonesbury - Blogging saw this in the comics on the weekend...and Kairosnews linked to the digital version. Check it out...
An interesting article on blogs
Quote: "A larger problem in a business environment is the amount of time people will spend on the blogs they feel compelled to monitor, and worse, create. How long will it be before people are E-mailing us hyperlinks to their blogs? As it is, we spend a large part of our day wading through stuff to find the achingly infrequent important messages. It's gotten so bad that I sometimes think the two worst inventions of the past hundred years are E-mail and the Xerox machine. To badly paraphrase Winston Churchill, never in the field of human endeavor have so many wasted so much to obtain so little."
M-commerce bust?
Quote: Despite the much-touted benefits of "m-commerce"--such as buying goods or completing financial transactions via cell phones or other handheld devices--several large companies are quietly shutting down their wireless services, and more are expected to follow, analysts say."
Comment:Sucks when a trend doesn't live up to it's over-hyped media image...:). It's always nice when these "waves of the future" crash...it clears the way for useful, results based initiatives - and I think in the mobile world it will be mobile learning and electronic performance support. For example, repairing complex equipment won't need a manual - all that is needed is a PDA to connect with equipment manuals and other technicians. Far more effective. Elearning is great for learning...wireless is great for performance support and knowledge management.
Interesting to note the differences in North American use of wireless - we use it mainly for phone calls. Europeans and Asians use wireless differently "Going online to shop or send an e-mail in Europe and Asia means reaching for your cell phone, not firing up a personal computer."
In May, Stephen Downes made the statement: "The browser is dead". Apparently, Ray Ozzie agrees with him..."Servers and browsers are like two peas in a pod, and the Web has largely run its course. In terms of the value that we can get from our own personal computers and the Internet, however, we're still at the dawn of a new era. An era in which software matters, and architecture matters."
Cool...check it out: Audioblogs. I'll have to try this...saves time typing - collect my thoughts digitally as I drive to work...upload...and voila! What's next? Video blogs? (I shouldn't say that...they probably exist somewhere already - and why not? The Internet is a rich medium.)
Lately, I've been intrigued by the need and role of content management systems (CMS). I'm convinced that CMS' have a huge role in the future of academic institutions (any organization, really). Yet almost all development and discussion of CMS comes from corporate or media associations. Picture a college without a library - all books are just kept in a room and you go find what you want. Ludicrous...but that is what is happening with digital content - no structure, no organizational awareness of what exists. Anyway, good article (a bit tech heavy) From Chaos to Control
Internettime Search...mark this as a resource to refer to...one stop search of major elearning sites
Here is a great example of elearning that doesn't require proprietary courseware (Blackboard/WebCT):Writing About Digital Culture. The course is maintained by Charles Lowe site administrator for Kairosnews. Take a few minutes...explore some possibilities. The site is done with PostNuke
Interesting to note that most technology used in learning is for the benefit of instructors or administrators...not students. The greatest strength of course management systems is to track and manage students and course enrollments. How does that help with learning? No wonder elearning has high attrition rates...the current model is built on tools that help manage students (whatever that means). We need something that assists learning...oh, wait, we have it - it's simple - blogging, email, discussion questions, collaborative software (like Groove), programs like PostNuke, instant messaging - basically anything that enhances (and opens) communication. After all, isn't learning really only choreographed communication?
I'm fortunate to teach in a laptop program. Yesterday, I conducted an orientation session (classroom) to introduce a group of students to online learning. The course will be taught online over the next 12 weeks. These are year 2 students...I was surprised at how technologically illiterate some were (forget all that nonsense about students exceeding instructors in technology...must be a rumor started by students to make a mockery of teachers :)...students and teachers can be equally illiterate). Half a dozen students didn't know how to send me an email (seriously)...What have you been doing for two years with a laptop?!? As one student put it (hear this often) "I hate computers" (also popular "I hate technology").
End result: Technology is terribly under utilized in education. I don't think we need a computer for every student - we need a use for every piece of technology. Why is technology so poorly used? Two potential explanations:
Knowledge tools need to be personal, not personalized
Quote: "Vendors are always trying to use personalization to brand their technologies with the word "my." But personalized is not the same as personal. We have no sense of ownership or stewardship for the technology. If a tool is useful, it's "my tool." Otherwise we think of them as 'the system' imposed on us by management."
Comment: Excellent point made: tools, not technology, should be the basis for selecting appropriate items needed to complete our work - "While the information and communication tools that we use are vital to maintain our productivity, they also have a lot to do with maintaining our passion.
Have we gone too far distinguishing knowledge work from manual labor, so that we disconnect knowledge workers from the tools of their trade-and in doing so disrupt their sense of identity?"
Think of this in an online course - use tools that work for what students need. Perhaps an expensive LMS isn't the tool needed...email may be just fine. In fact, large, well-funded, complex elearning initiatives may fail simply because they are focused on technology...not tools. Elearning should achieve learner/organizational objectives...technology plays a utilitarian role.
Not a good day for the file swapping world - Music's finally over for Napster, Record companies win injunction against Madster...or for eBay: Patent suit could sting eBay. What does all that mean to educators? Not much now...but the developments in the copyright field may blindside educators. It seems that there is an overwhelming march (unabated) to restrict and control information/content. Educators need to discuss the impact of this.
Random questions: Why does the word "copyright" conjurs up negative images of restriction...instead of proper protection of content creators? Educators are probably the largest group of "content" users...yet the most silent - why? Why are organizations (like RIAAthe most vocal supporters of increased copyright protection...and not the individual artists/producers? Has copyright moved out of the realm of protecting a creator's rights...and into the realm of business interests? Does that last question even need to be asked?
I've harped about authenticity in teaching (primarily from a perspective of evaluation)...this link focuses on authentic activities...short, quick read. At the top of the same page - interesting thoughts about games:
Technologies for Education: Potential, Parameters and Prospects
Quote: "To "tech" or not to "tech" education is not the question. The real question is how to harvest the power of technology to meet the the challenges of the 21st century and make education relevant, responsive, and effective for anyone, anywhere,anytime"
Comment: Links to .pdf download of 212 page book on various issues in adopting information and communication technologies. Skimmed the first chapter - looks good.
New site/publication: Chief Learning Officer via Stephen's Web
Off-Site, Online
Quote: "Indeed, Paul Hastings' experience reflects the state of wireless these days-one big holding pattern. The optimism of a year ago hasn't evaporated, it's just more cautious. Analysts still give rosy forecasts, but those forecasts are looking farther into the future."
Comment: Seems to be much uncertainty about how wireless will unfold...so development is tentative. The real question, however, is not "if", but "when". This is a good overview article of wireless implementation issues - up to 50% deployment failures, network compatibility, users - "With wireless, you live or die on your users' experiences," etc. Good read.
Whatever Happened to Virtual Reality? via Techno-News Blog
Quote: "Less than a dozen years ago, it seemed as though virtual reality was poised to be the next major technology , though actual implementations were mainly being put to use in arcades. Then, as quickly as it arose amid much hype, the field seemed to disappear."
Comment: Interesting to see how technologies with much potential (virtual reality (VR)) fizzle, and concepts like blogging and instant messaging blind-side organizations and become huge. Why? Simplicity...adoption at a user level. Great ideas and products don't always succeed...rather, it's the ideas that are easily adapted to the daily lives of intended users that succeed. There's a very important lesson in this for developers and managers of elearning.
The Next Killer App in Education
Quote: "...what knowledge do we have about teaching and learning that we need to use in creating the next killer app? We have to create a tool that does more for each individual student than current applications do. It is not enough for students to be able to see their assignments. The next killer app must have other features that, for instance, will identify visual learners and offer them links that demonstrate visual approaches as well as literal and analytical approaches to learning to provide them with the richest possible learning experience."
Comment: The next "killer application" ("A killer app is a ubiquitous tool that faculty, students, and support staff use in instruction, research, and learning within the university setting") is misleading. The focus here is more on making improvements to elearning. For example, the next killer app, according to the article, is based on wireless, anytime anywhere (WINWINI "what I need when I need it") access to learning resources...and the resources themselves are created to allow for maximum learning. Those aren't killer apps. Those are trends. A killer app (like email, instant messaging, soon to be blogging) is a tool (not trends) that receives widespread adoption and use - transforming organizations and processes.
Extending the Pedagogy of Threaded-Topic Discussions
Quote: "What we need is an online environment in which multiple messages and responses are put into single scrollable files. Such a structure would enable the user to view all related items together and in context, making them ready for scanning by both students and teachers. Creating online messages in the form of user-friendly shared ("community") documents would greatly enhance communication in online education."
Comment: Excellent point. Threaded discussions are very useful in online learning (currently, one of the most valuable (and easy to use) tools)...but as this article points out - it's disjointed, context is lacking, and integration with multiple posts/articles is not "allowed". Collaborative tools, like Groove are far more effective. However, everytime I try and set up a Groove space with a group to collaborate and dialogue...nothing happens - no one contributes, and the idea dies a slow death. Collaboration is a great idea in concept...but it is still too foreign to most of our work happens to receive wide spread adoption.
Technological Applications in Faculty Development
Quote: "Colleges and universities have recently shown a strong interest in faculty development because their faculty members now face more pressure than ever before to change their teaching styles. The purpose of this paper is to provide examples of how information technology can support faculty development programs, particularly those programs designed to assist faculty members in the use of such technology to improve their instruction."