While I was doing my webliography assignment, I came across this website at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT). MIT has opened its education to the public. That is, people can visit the MIT website, choose a course to pursue, then follow the course materials through presentations, power points, and lecture notes.

MIT makes sure not to mislead its potential learners though, by stating that the program does not: "
* grant degrees or certificates.
* provide access to MIT faculty.
* Materials may not reflect entire content of the course"

If you're not expecting to obtain a degree from MIT, but are interested in some of the courses they offer, you can still learn what those brainiacs are learning at your own pace!MIT Open CourseWare Webiste

Elearning for kids

http://www.e-learningforkids.org/


I may have missed this post when someone wrote something about it previously but this is a e-learning site just for kids. I didn't get too far into it but I think it's really cute and a great idea! I believe that a lot of people these days are afraid of moving away from their comfort zone and onto online training. I believe that if kids start learning when they are adults they will be more comfortable with technology changes. I also believe that it is up to people like us to enforce into our children to be appreciative of change and embrace it! Change can be negative but if looked at in a positive manner it can help a lot of people!

Bringing it Around Full Circle

The video clip below sorta sums up the basis for any concept, need, or rationale of/for elearning. (Hence, a need for an Elearning Concepts course.) Perhaps this could have (or should have) been an introductory video clip within this blog; rather than here at the end. Personally, I love when things come around full circle, so this seemed fitting - a little reminder of the existing need for learning via digital means.

Throughout this entire semester, I examined, read and used a variety of elearning type techniques and tools. Additionally, I had the opportunity to electronically explore what other peers were reading, researching or producing. We learned a lot of concepts that can enhance learning via current e-trends. And on top of that, we've learned about all these elearning concepts, electronically - first-hand - a solid example of elearning at it's best. Now, it's time to apply what was learned/gained in my own teaching on the secondary level. Realizing my mind has a tendency to be clouded with 10th-12th graders, it's exciting to consider the technology and tools available at the time of this IT program's completion. It's been a pleasure.

It’s OK when the kids forget their book the night of a test!!

Now that kids are so hooked on the internet, its ok they forget their text books to study for tests…they are online! So not only will they be doing their favorite pastime, they will be studying for school!!

The other night, it was time for my son to study for his science test. Guess what? He forgot his book. Well, with his book, the chapter reviews, the vocabulary and a quick quiz are online. It’s an overall study guide with a couple games to make it fun and it all is available online.

There is a quick e-glossary online that will list all the important words and you can also have them read to you. The web site is http://www.mhschool.com/science/2008/student/index.html

This online experience is motivating and provides multiple learning opportunities for young children. It also prepares them for a changing world.

-Lynn

eLearning and the environment?

Which educational model is better for the environment, eLearning or the traditional face to face?

eLearning requires more electronic devices to be on thus using more power than a face-to-face class that is not using electronics to a great extent.

A face-to-face class however requires many people to drive to class thus creating more CO2 emissions and large buildings that may not be very energy efficient.

I’m not sure which model is the better choice for the environment and I suppose I could find grant money to conduct a study but that would use a number of resources that would lead to even more pollution in the environment. A study like this would be of interest to me and most likely others with the focus on global warming and saving the planet. I would think however that no matter which model proved the better little would change as to educational offerings.

I guess I will just sit and wonder for I have no desire to learn the truth for as a face to face instructor at a high school and a instruction design student I would not want to put myself out of a job or future job.

If you have nay thoughts please add a comment.

I have to go I am getting tired riding this Bicycle to power my computer ☺.

A Day at the Opera

Okay this is the post that I have been trying to share but I have not been able to. I think I have typed this experience about 2 - 3 times! Anyway, after reading Lynn's posting about the Philadelphia orchestra I felt led to share my experience with the Metropolitan Opera. While I was in Santa Fe NM I had the pleasure of attending a live HDTV broadcast of Macbeth. At first I thought that I was not going to enjoy the experience because it was not a live show, yet with the realistic images provided by the HD screen I felt like I was right there. In addition to being able to enjoy the show the HD audience also had the pleasure of behind the scenes interviews during intermissions and between scenes. This was my first opera and I had a blast! So I guess you are wondering what this has to do with e-learning. Well the Met has given free live broadcasts for public schools in NY and California. During the broadcasts students are able to enjoy the show with subtitles and they also have the experience of operating their school auditorium as an opera house. The Met's website has a listing of all of the wonderful shows that are available. For the public each show can be about $24 or so. The Met started this program to get future generations interested in Opera. As a teacher I think that this could be a great teaching tool that can link history and English literature experiences. This was so awesome.

"To text or not to text..."

I know I just posted earlier this evening, but I was counting my blog entries and for some reason the numbers don't add up and I seemed to have missed one somewhere...not to mention that fact that I had a thought or two and wanted to share it.

Several of us have blogged during this semester about the technologies that are available for use by high school students...let's face it, it's out there...they've got it and they are using it. Yet for some reason (as I've noticed especially being involved in the review of our district's computer usage policy) school districts seem hesitant to embrace it. We tell the kids..."put away the cell phones...close the IM...take out the headphones...get out of the games...put away the iPods..." for me at least...this has become a daily litany

So as I was teaching what I consider to be one of my better lessons of the semester on color theory, I made one of my occassional random comments to see how many of the kids were actually listening to the words coming out of my mouth. Looking around, I saw, one kid with headphones in his ears, one texting under his desk where he thought I couldn't see him and several more playing games and IM'ing...interestingly, they all looked at me when I made the comment...most of them were actually listening...

My next comment to them (all names have been changed) was, "Heck...I should stream my lesson through Joey's headphones, text it to Michael and IM it to Jessica and Susan and then I'd know you were all getting it." Suprisingly, they all laughed and said they thought that was a great idea...

hmmm........the possibilities are endless...but how on earth could you manage it ! Each year that goes by the kids get more and more tech savy (they found my story of how I had to manually load MS-DOS and Norton Textra onto the computers in college kind of amusing -- I know...I just dated myself there :) ) I am personally both very excited and very frightened at what my classroom is going to look like in another 10 years.

Who knows...I may be texting them their assignments in the near future (I'm actually getting better at it...I use both hands now :) )

"Junior Professionals of Instructional Technology"

I liked the terminology Dr. Kapp used at the Corporate Advisory Council (CAC) banquet, that we are all now "Junior Professionals". So I would like to first congratulate those of you whom have complete the RFP for Dr. Kapp’s class of Managing Multimedia Projects. Everyone looked outstanding in their Sunday’s best! The “learning exercise” was truly and outstanding and exhausting experience that went from dry research to adrenaline pumping competition.

For those who are in Dr. Byer’s class focused on grant writing, I hope the experience is as rewarding and as well, looking forward to the completion of the projects.

SECRET! No wait, anonymous!

I think the hardest part of any RFP or when writing a grant is how to quickly address the vague set of guidelines and goals atop of NOT KNOWING WHAT THE COMPETITION IS WORKING ON or as my colleague so wildly used, “secret”.

This week, Dr. Kapp had each team give a run through of their presentation of their proposed solution to see different perspectives and gain a better insight into the proposed solutions, something that is not practiced in "the real world" as it is so commonly referred to. Each team had similar types of solutions in the most basic sense focusing primarily on the evaluation of a Risk Management’s existing stand up training sessions. The challenge seemed to be how one team can stand apart from the others when we have all taken the same classes and been educated on similar models of evaluation. Furthermore, it is just as difficult to think “outside the box” on how to conduct evaluations or the methods used to collect the data and then present it in an exciting fashion to a group of Risk Management business representatives.

And the winner is.....

So, I would like to further congratulate team CLARUS consisting of Brian and Sara Boyce, Tony Blusius, Sara Peters and Hong Yan Yuan (hope I did not misspell any names) for their outstanding solution in regards to the RFP. I am perplexed as to how they were able to present this dynamic “roadmap” of evaluation in the limited twenty minute time line. It seems they took BARM members on a sales trip using a GPS, compass, map, tour guide and anything else under the sun. Their solution was well thought out focusing heavily on the conduction and delivery of evaluation as well as the validity of the data that was to be collected and reviewed. They included all of the essential elements of BARM’s request and even developed customized models of evaluation that seemed to focus evaluation of training to help the learner, something that many companies tend to over look. But team Clarus, where was the prototype??? (Just kidding!)

I would even further congratulate group representatives from DigiCore, Born Digital and of course my team members of eVoyage. For the sake of CAC, there must be winners and to sound as corny as I possibly can, there are no winners or losers. It is what we have all taken out of the class, good and bad. The friendships made with team members and class mates is the essence that truly make this more than just writing and speaking, it is the heart and soul of the IIT and Instructional Technology, networking and TEAMWORK!

McDonalds and e-Learning

The idea for this post was arrived at quite accidentally. I was on my way home from Harrisburg today and stopped with a van full of kids at a McDonald's. One of my kids started joking that his friend was going to work for McDonald's and that he was at least smart enough to run a fryer. I was drawing a blank on what to post on this blog when he made this remark and I started thinking that McDonald's probably would have a lot of e-learning opportunities for training employees on their equipment and probably had a variety of mandatory trainings on safety issues and the like. I went on Google and looked around (not for long), and I found this article that discusses the role of e-Learning in the McDonald's corporation.

http://www.raysvenson.com/articles/Integrating_elearning_in_McDonalds.pdf

Maybe not the most engaging of topics, but I found the article interesting.

The One Laptop Per Child Project

"The mission of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) movement is to ensure that all school-aged children in the developing world are able to engage effectively with their own personal laptop, networked to the world, so that they, their families and their communities can openly learn and learn about learning."

This is a bold and amazing project that aims to find the means to allow children in the developing world NOT to fall behind as the rest of the world advances technologically. The organization found a way to reduce the cost of producing very basic laptops (that are very durable) to about US $200. In its initial development phase, the laptop had a little crank on the side of it as a power source, but today that laptops are powered through an AC adapter.

"The origins of OLPC stretch back more than four decades to the primordial days of computing, when most machines were still the size of small dinosaurs and next to no one imagined they had any connection to children. Pioneer thinkers such as Seymour Papert dreamed they would be suitable for children, and time has proved the immense power of the personal computer as a learning tool."

The OLPC website also has a time line as well as information on the various ways people can participate!

The Wonder of Podcasting

I was wandering around the Internet a couple hours ago and I found myself at the website of one of my favorite authors, Jodi Picoult. I had just finished one of her books and I was looking for information on the one that just came out a couple of weeks ago. While I was perusing her website, I found a section where she had posted several podcasts.

For the most part, they are short, averaging anywhere from 5-15 minutes each, but the ones I've listened to so far have been an amazing trip into her mind. She describes how she comes up with the ideas for her books, just talks about general things that are going on and gives honest tips to people who might want to be writers someday.

It was after the fourth one I listened to, that I got the idea to write about this in this weeks post. For all the technology that I use on a daily basis, it is these little nuggets that will always amaze me. Podcasts have allowed me the opportunity to listen to this author, in her own words, talk to me as though I had gone to a lecture or an appearance.

I think that podcasting is really an undervalued resource that should definitely be paid more attention to. Especially as many more colleges and universities seem to be embracing it as an emerging technology. High schools, however...not so much. That is going to be the subject of my next post :)

And by the way.......the podcasts I just spoke about are at www.jodipicoult.com

The Philadelphia Orchestra and e-Learning Technology

The Philadelphia Orchestra is offering a global concert series live and interactive using internet2. The Concert Series transmissions provide remote audiences with an up-close look at the musicians and conductor in views not seen in person. The concerts are captured using seven high definition cameras and broadcasted live via the Internet2 network.

These live concerts are offered to students at all levels, from music appreciation to music majors. These students have opportunities to participate in interviews with musicians and conductors through e-mail and text messaging. From classrooms to performance halls, the program has appeal for students, educators, administrators and the community.

The Orchestra has two additional transmissions scheduled for the remainder of the season on May 3rd and May 16th 2008.

Check out a four minute video at http://www.philorch.org/internet2_1.html. The video quality is amazing!!

--Lynn

IIT at BU

This week I would like to devote to blogging about the recent CAC experience at Bloomsburg University. I understand that most of the folks that read this blog are those who are either in the class or Dr. Nicholson. For those who view it and are in the professional field I hope that you learn a little about our experiences at BU. The opportunity that the Department gives to us is absoulutely outstanding!! We have recently had what we call CAC (Corporate Advisory Council) week at our university. This is a three day extravaganza with many opportunities for us to learn more about the eLearning field. The first day (sorry for those of you who know the process!) is where the professionals that attend present about projects or topics that they are working on in their jobs. The second day is when the students in the Managing Multimedia Projects class present their solution to the Request for Proposal. Following the presentation each group gets to hear feedback on the positives and areas for improvement on their presentation and written document. After each group has presented, all enter the room with all the members of the CAC. Just for clarification, the CAC members are comprised of folks that mostly work in the eLearning field but a large percentage of them are alumni from the program as well. The CAC then vote on winners from several caterogories as well as an overall winner.

After the winners are determined there is then a mingling period at the Technology center. This time is an AMAZING opportunity to talk with various members of the CAC and find out about their companies and their current positions. You also have this relaxing period after an emotionally draining morning. Immediately following the Technology center we dine at a local restaurant with the CAC. You are split up and may sit with CAC members, students in your class as well as professors. This is another phenominal opportunity to speak with others and get to know about their companies as well as opportunities in the field. The final day all students get to show off their projects that they have been working on all semester as well as interview with the CAC memebers for internships or job possibilities.

My main point of all this rambling is that we could not ask for a better opportunity to meet with all these amazing people in the field. This is such a great time for us to really get to know where we can possibly be headed after graduation and put our hard work from the program into use in the "real world." I had the opportunity to learn about companies that I never knew existed and talk to many experienced people in the field. I never realized just how many networks I could establish just in this three day period! Overall it was a great opportunity and thank you to all the Professors and CAC members for such a rewarding experience!!!

Internet2 Launches Muse, an internet Social Networking Site for Faculty, Administrators and Students

Internet2 K20 announced a new social networking site called Muse (http://k20.internet2.edu/) which promotes collaboration, information-sharing and technology opportunities for over 50,000 schools. The schools include K-12 schools, community colleges, libraries and museums in 38 US states. This is growing daily.

Muse is a social utility that connects you with Internet2 enabled technologies and educators in your neighborhood and around the globe. Muse will show you how next generation Internet applications are being used everyday to inspire educational excellence.

The national initiative brings together Internet2 member institutions and innovators from primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, libraries and museums to extend new technologies, applications, middleware, and content to all educational sectors, as quickly and connectedly as possible.

Some the most popular categories are video conferencing, collaboration, podcasting, distance learning, social networking, blogging and technology integration.

Within the short time since launching, the new site has already experienced significant uptake within the community. Currently, there are 798 people from 627 organizations enjoying the muse community.

--Lynn

Top 100 iPod to Learn/Study Resources

The Online Education Database developed this list of 100 Ways to use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better - perfect for this eLearning Concepts blog.

• http://oedb.org/library/beginning-online-learning/100-ways-to-use-your-ipod-to-learn-and-study-better

Items presented included tools like study guides, podcasts (of course), tutorials, applications, downloads, tools, and a bunch of other odds and ends. Some are free, some have minor fees. Some of the most interesting (at least to me) include:

• portable notes - a way to make it easy to review class notes and study guides even if you're away from your computer.
• mogopop - an online program to enhance iPod learning by adding notes, video and illustrations to audiobooks and study notes.
• iGadget - makes class notes, presentations, study guides and other materials iPod-friendly by using iGadget. Also allows you to move documents and files back and forth between your iPod and your computer easily and securely.
• iSquint - convert DVDs, TiVo, AVI, WMV and other video formats to iPod-friendly videos with iSquint (plus, if I were to be honest, I just like the name of it).

my first webcast

I was so excited last week. I started a new job and I had to attend a webcast during the first three days. Let me tell you, I was SO excited!!!

And then it started...

SO NOT LIKE CENTRA :o)
Ok, if you've never experienced a webcast, think of Dr. N. doing a presentation in Centra, but without the smileys or being able to participate on the screen at all. Also, there's no text chat box. So you have to sit and watch on the computer screen, while listening on the phone (as a conference call). And if you have a question, there's no way to "raise your hand" you simply say "excuse me, i have a question" then you have to verbally identify yourself, cause no one knows who's actually talking, except the trainer (and you only recognize his voice because he's doing most of the talking). That's the long and short of it.

My experience was......interesting. For one thing, one of the callers put the conference call on hold, so there was elevator music in the background. The good thing was that the trainer/presenter had the option to mute all. So he muted the lot of us, and you had to unmute yourself if you wanted to or if you wanted to talk.

The other thing was that the whole thing was boring. There was absolutely no learner interaction or feedback. Yes, you got the opportunity to ask questions and you could interrupt at anytime, but there was nothing checking that the "listeners" were actually listening or learning something. I'll be objective and say that it was only my 3rd day and I probably had no clue what was goind on, but............still!

Let's see. The only other thing was that even though the trainer tried to review different parts of the software updates, there were so many holes that there would be no way to know what you really knew until you went to work in the software yourself.

There were some good points. It didn't matter if any of the learners actually had the software. All you needed was a phone line to do the conference call, and an internet connection to view the demonstration. I think that this was a great option if you have people uning in from all over the world. You'd just have to be careful of the time changes. We were 1 hour early because we forgot the presenter was in a different time zone.

It didn't take a lot of time to log in and get started. You had the option of getting your question answered right there and then. (Even if that meant that the instructor didn't know the answer).And you could get everyone in one "place" at the same time.

Well. Have any of you ever been in a webcast? Do you have any comments to add to mine?

Note: Next week there will be two more. And the following week, the entire office will be in full fledge training!! So I really get some first hand learner experience :o) I'm excited.

New music eLearning?

Would you like to learn to play the piano in your home and not have a live instructor well that is possible thanks to Yamaha.
The piano connects to the internet and can download lessons. It has a built in computer and screen and can be used as just a player piano.

It is very expensive however starting at $42,000 and climbing to $150,000.

If you are interested read more at David Pogue's website on the topic.

freerice.com

A PSSA improvement technique that has been implimented at "my" high school this school year is the "Word of the Day." Each week, we are magically supplied (via email) a list of words which are math, science, or reading related. Then, throughout the course of the day, teachers are supposed to review or go over the particular word for that day. Students hear the definition and the word, at least, four times a day.

freerice.com is a site which can enable students to gain some practice with PSSA type vocab words and also contribute rice to the UN World Food Program. What I was kind of surprised to learn was within the FAQ portion. It starts out with easier terms (of course) and then varies according to how you do. Interesting...and slightly addicting.

Fun Physics

Every week when we are to post a blog I look through the technology news to find something I feel is interesting to talk about. This week I found a topic that I find to be very interesting. If you take a look at other departments on campus at Bloomsburg University, most professors do the traditional classroom lectures and don't really have variety from that. The only professors who like to challenge themselves and push limits of technology are those in the IT department. Well a Netherlands born professor at Cambrige developed a series of lectures that he puts online. His name is Walter Lewin and he is a physics professor. His lectures are interesting but complex for those of us who aren't so inclined in the physics field. Below you will find the link to the article. If you have some time take a look at the video that is on there as well. It's quite interesting... the one minor set back is he is doing a voice interview over his lecture so you can't hear everything, but none the less it's different!

http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/e-learning/2008/01/10/a-new-physics-superstar.html

elearning and religion

During this past semester my husband has been attending seminary while I am taking IT courses online here at Bloomsburg. During a conversation a few weeks ago one of my husband's colleages asked what I was in school for. I told her about the great program I am in at Bloomsburg. My husband commented that he would have liked to have had the opportunity to take a few courses online. Immediately the colleague says that seminary courses should not be online. Basically because it would be hard to teach the topics without seeing and feeling the emotion of the rest of the class. This led me to ponder the debate topic of whether or not there are some courses or training that should not be taught online. This also led me to explore some of the ways ministers and churches may be using elearning tools to teach bible study and church membership classes. One of the neatest things that I found was a church in Second Life! At the virtual church users are able to listen to a sermon, attend bible study, and even play musical instruments. Another source I saw was Godtube. This is a Christian version of Youtube where pastors and churches can post bible studies and info. about their church. At crosswalk.com I found a self paced bible study course as well as various bible study tools. While reviewing some of these resources my husband and I have decided to put together a presentation of some of the elearning resources ministers can use. Hopefully he will be able to present this in class and open some of his colleagues up to the idea of using elearning tools as a resource for church members and themselves.

Virtual Congress

This topic was discussed on the blog already by edayis titled "Second Life on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: "It's Official, Congress has Given Up on the Actual World". If you have not read anything about this hearing do so and by all means take a look at John Stewarts clip is is funny! I already had typed this up in word before seeing edayis post.

On April 1st the U.S. Congress held a hearing on virtual worlds and the effect these worlds are having on a number of things i.e. Economy, Children and terrorism. The meeting was held in both a virtual world in Second Life and in the real world.

This appears to have been a real event even though it did take place on April fools day.

Search on the topic and read for yourself. If you do not want to search I have included a few links to some articles. The last one is for fun. Jon Stewart of the Daily Show had this article during his broadcast.




http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2008/04/us-congressiona.html

http://usefularts.us/2008/04/08/congressional-hearing-on-second-life-airs-standard-new-tech-concerns/

http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Real_Congressional_Hearing_On_Second_Life_Limits_And_Dangers_15847.html

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=165604&title=avatar-heroes

What the Heck is a Chumby?

While completing the article 10 summary on new trends in elearning I remember reading about companies wanting to use a new technology called a chumby. As I read I sat and wondered what the heck is a chumby. I wrote down the term and decided to come back and research it later. Yet, in class tonight while exploring the learning town website I saw it... a video called what the heck is a chumby! After watching this video I realized that a chumby is kind of like an Internet alarm clock. Using Wifi users can wake up to the Internet at their fingers. Users can easily review stocks, weather, traffic, and news just as quickly and as simply as they would look for the time on a clock. I reviewed the website www.chumby.com and found that the device is actually pretty well priced with free shipping and handling. In terms of using the device for elearning I honestly have trouble seeing someone using a chumby for class. I don't know, maybe I am just conditioned to believe that elearning and classes should be on a computer. I honestly even have trouble thinking about someone using a phone for training or a class. Yet, who knows... in a few years etraining and elearning will become more associated with cell phones and even possibly the chumby!

Training and Fruit Loops

I really should stop waiting until after class to do my posting because I never end up posting about what I start with. I had planned to post about the free Photoshop that is now being offered, but when I was exploring LearningTown, I came across this article that I just had to comment on.

The article was titled "Organizational Training and Fruit Loops." I've included a link to the article below.

The article discusses how training / eLearning should be designed exclusively with the end user in mind. The gist of the Fruit Loops argument (without retyping it all here) was that most companies say that unless you make training mandatory, people won't want to do it. But if you apply that reasoning to Fruit Loops what would happen if you made eating Fruit Loops mandatory? I laughed at that one. It's so true though...why do people eat Fruit Loops?...it's because they're colorful and they taste good...

As a teacher, I daily find myself on the receiving end of the mindless stares of my students regardless of what feats of acrobatics I've chosen for that day to try to entertain them. Yes...I did say entertain. When I was in high school (and I went to Catholic school with nuns trained by the gestapo) we sat there with our hands folded eyes front giving our teachers our undivided attention...but what about our learners today?...as teachers today we are competing with the Internet, games, iPods, psp, cell phones, just to name a few.

It made me think about a memo we got about a year ago outlining the district's new video policy. The one line that always sticks out in my mind is "We are here to educate, not entertain." We say that on one hand and then on the other, we are giving the kids all of this stuff (technology) to try to motivate them.

I really think that if we want kids to learn, we need to give them Fruit Loops. (As the article says), they meet nutritional (educational) standards and people want to eat them. If not, we're just giving them Bran Flakes and honestly...would you choose Bran Flakes if you had a choice?????

Sidenote...how many of you read this post because it had "Fruit Loops" in the title !!

Article Link:
http://digitalinteractivegroup.wordpress.com/2007/11/28/organizational-training-and-fruit-loops/

More schools jump on the iPhone bandwagon

Here are a few short clips of other schools that are actively promoting eLearning. I shared about the university that was giving out iPhones to its incoming freshmen. Well there are other type of initiatives that are being taken to maximize a successful use of technology in the classroom.

• Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. released a version of its Web site's home page specially designed for the iPhone. http://www.convergemag.com/story.php?catid=421&storyid=107029
• Elementary schools in at least seven cities are piloting an innovative handheld computer that costs only $50 and can be used to help teach reading and math. The “teachermate” handheld computer, as the device is called, features a 2.5-inch color screen, 512 megabytes of internal memory, an SD slot for expandability, a built-in microphone and speaker, and a battery life of four hours. In addition to the rollout in Chicago, schools in New York City, Detroit, New Orleans, San Antonio, Phoenix, and the Denver area are piloting the device. http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=53093;_hbguid=fc2b6af0-33eb-4063-95c4-81824cbb071e&d=top-news

Have you seen any others?

e-Learning for Kids

As a secondary school teacher, I'm always looking for some cool sites that have games for kids that can help make their instruction a little more fun--some games they can play during down time or built-in differentiation time to continue their learning. I found the following site that contains some well done Flash games that have some rich content that is displayed in an interesting way.

http://www.e-learningforkids.org/courses.html

The site calls the games courses, but these are not really courses at all. I thought these games would work well with F2F instruction and supplement the concepts. The math and language arts games are good, but the health games are phenomenal.

GA Projects, III

Concluding these posts about the graduate assistant projects at the Institute for Interactive Technologies at BU I will discuss the remaining projects with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry and with Kawneer. In my previous sessions I wrote about the Kellogg's and Black & Decker projects that are underway for the spring semester of 2008 as well as the Marketing campaign for the MSIT intended to attract the top 20% of undergraduate seniors to our program.

Building a Skilled Workforce

The Client

Ernest Cherry, Amanada Bradley and Nicole Clark are the GAs working under the tutelage of Instructional Designer Pam Berman on the ongoing grant project awarded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Department of Labor & Industry. The Industry Partnership Worker Training Grant is geared at Information and Communication Technology (ICT) employees in Centre, Clinton, Columbia, Lycoming, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder and Union counties here in eastern Pennsylvania.

The Need

In today's economy, businesses need highly skilled works; the commonwealth and its economic regions need top quality companies and workers. The target audience is ICT employees in manufacturing, finance, and heath care industries. The aim is training, education, and workforce development programs to higher skill jobs in demand by industry, thereby enhancing the competitive position of the industry cluster and providing long term earnings and career opportunities for employees.

The Solution

The development of this year's training are Web Development, E-Commerce, and Managing IT employees. The stand alone training courses will be hosted on the IIT Department's LMS (Adobe Connect). The Web Development module is complete and work is progressing for the E-Commerce and Management of IT employees training. The ICT employees are free to utilize the training to achieve the designed goals outlined by their institution, company and the commonwealth.

Troubleshooting for Engineers

The Client

Jason Ramos under the guidance of Instructional Designer Vince Basil are working with fine engineering staff at Kawneer, now a division of Alcoa. The Kawnner plant of Bloomsburg fabricates aluminum doors and frame-sets.

The Need

Recently, a large machine designed in Germany has been installed in the Kawneer plant here in Bloomsburg. This complex door and frame automation fabrication system has translation discrepancies in the instructions leaving their system operation instructors thrown at times. The company has trained their workers to acceptable standards for normal operations however when a problem occurs, the workers may be unfamiliar with the given issue.

The Solution

Instructions & troubleshooting guides for the fabrication system's top dilemmas. Troubleshooting training development has been underway and continues as the team works at odd hours and with highly skilled subject matter experts to properly record the correct sequence of steps necessary to solve a given issue. These guides are being developed and saved as hyper-link active PDF formats as well as additional monitors installed at each work station so the operators can have quick access to the recovery procedures.

Cheers to the hardworking Graduate Assistants in the IIT for the MSIT. I look forward to the upcoming projects and to hear continued success stories being shared by everyone.

Thank you to the Instructional Design Team working so diligently with the students and the staff making the IIT the highly reputable name that it is.

Facebook and their new feature!!!!!!

As we all know Facebook is the new social network that is being used throughout the world, whether your in schools, colleges in the work place or just using it for fun. Right now they have 69 million users, which is constantly growing, and now with the advancement in there system to incorporate a ‘chat’ interface this can only advance their numbers even more.

Is this now something that once it spreads will take over the other online chat mechanisms, like AOL, Google, Myspace and MSN?

I think this is a great tool that will definitely make a major impact on the Facebook application as well as become a major competitor with the other chat interfaces. Its amazing to see how many people from around the world use these chat interfaces. For instance AOL estimates 80 million users, Facebook's rival MySpace, purported to have about 110 million users, already has an instant message system called MySpaceIM and Google Talk are supposed to also have over 50 million users.

Looking at these numbers you can see it’s a huge market, so will Facebook now join this online chat industry?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/08/facebook.chat/index.html

Second Life on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: "It's Official, Congress has Given Up on the Actual World"

I was watching the Daily Show to unwind after a long day of instructional design projects and RFP class, and low and behold I realized I wasn't free to escape the world of IT just yet. . . In a short clip, Stewart offered a glimpse of the the US Congress Subcomittee on Telecommunications and the Internet's hearing on "Virtual Worlds".

In true form, Stewart offered a satirical commentary on Congress' new found interest in Second Life. Take a look at the video, and decide for yourself if Second Life in government is plausible or not. . .

Ride and learn

http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/e-learning/2008/01/10/this-bus-is-plugged-in.html

I found an awesome article online about school buses that are set up with wi-fi. These buses allow students in Arkansas to connect online and take classes on their way to school. For most of these students the commute to school is a long ride. The students who connect can solving math and science problems with teachers and university professors on their way to school. This was an idea that came from a man who wanted to turn a bus into classrooms after seeing how bored children were on their long commutes to school. I personally really like this idea and I think if the funding is there it will really pay off. Based on the article, one of the students said that they enjoyed it and that it was fun. So if these younger kids are getting a joy out of school before school, this is a phenominal idea!

dtv2009

while at the gym last week, i saw a commercial for the digital tv transition that is going to occur in february 2009. and again, while watching some good quality reality tv over the weekend, there were several more commercials and even text scrolling at the top of the tv screen about the digital tv initiative for 2009. both were directing the public to dtv2009.gov.

according to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23456326/ - "The changeover has members of Congress and the FCC worried that irate viewers with no picture will direct their anger at Washington." in fact, my own father had been very vocal about the money he would have to shell out for converter boxes for this transition - until one of my best friends (with family in the cable business) corrected him. here's a example of a consumer who needed a bit more education in this arena (as well as myself, i have to admit.)

here's an example where the government needs to (and has been working to) create consumer awareness using a variety of eLearning type formats. see below:

• Presents statistics about how consumer awareness has increased since 2006. www.apts.org/news/govfailinggrade.cfm
  
  
• "Our survey results show the joint educational efforts of government and the private sector are working, and the digital television transition will be a success. CEA's research revealed that the top sources consumers are using to learn about the transition include television (72%), family and friends (39%) and the Internet (26%)." This article also presents the very components of their plans, and the media being utilized to educate on this analog-digital transition. reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS168548+07-Feb-2008+BW20080207
  
  
• This article argues that consumers are not as aware of all the details as the government statistics reveal. One example given to back up the statement includes the fact many consumers believe they need to go out and buy new HDTVs at this financially tigher-type time. businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2008/tc20080128_135558_page_2.htm
  
  
• The following article outlines the awareness plan that will be implemented throughout 2008. From broadcasting promotions in both English & Spanish, to providing specific steps consumers are to take to prepare for this transition. - www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/news/20080225_dtvtransition.html

iTunes U

I know that iTunes U has already been mentioned on the blog but here is an interesting article that was on ABC nightly news as to who is using iTunes U. You may be surprised by those that download the lectures regularly. eLearning is everywhere now I guess.

Link: ABC News iTune U and take a look at the Big Brains Ride the Roads video.

Job Security for Public School Teachers?

My school district asked its teachers to read "The World Is Flat," by Thomas Friedman, which, while not directly about e-Learning, it talks about the ever-increasing globalization of not only corporations but more directly, the educational system. The premise of the book is that the playing field of world economics and opportunity is being made flatter by the Internet, workflow software, outsourcing and opensourcing of jobs and other factors that I didn't find important to include in this blog entry. The point of reading it as a school district is to open the eyes of its teachers to dramatic changes our students must be equipped to deal with as well as teachers realizing that our "cushy" and tenured jobs are not as steadfast as once thought. For those of you with alot of time to kill (you could use this book to block your car's tires), it goes into several concepts we have looked at in this class--wikis, blogs, and other software--that allows training, instruction, and work to be done at great distances and how those tools are creating more opportunities for whole populations of the world that could never keep up with countries like the United States in global economics. I would include the link to the author's site, but currently it is not up and running, but I think this book helped to solidify the importance of alot of the concepts we've discussed so far in this class.

Gaming--Guitar Hero on the Go!!

Since we talked about gaming this week, I thought I would stay on topic for the blog.

Guitar Hero III is now mobile. You can now rock to Guitar Hero on your cell phone. Verizon Wireless customers can purchase Guitar Hero III for $11.99 unlimited usage. Guitar Hero is available on an array of phones.

Sometime this month, the nation’s top four mobile carriers will also release this game. The game has already broke mobile records. Who doesn’t love this game??

The game comes with 15 tracks from the console series and every month three new songs will be released. After a year, players will be able to access over 50 songs in all three levels (easy, medium and expert).

The game has gotten a little easier with the reduction from 5 keys on the console game guitar to three keys on the phone. It still is fun.

I couldn't find a good video on utube, but I found this one. It’s more of an informational video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBSTVQ70TEY&feature=related

Is your phone ready to rock??

--Lynn

Practical Use for Google Docs and trying new technology

This weekend while working on a project in another course my teammates and I had to figure out how we were going to share our written portions of the project and work in collaboration. The first idea was to email one another our documents and make up dates via email. After discussing this option we reviewed the idea of using Googledocs to post all of our written documents and then sharing them with one another. Some of the group met the idea with hesitation and negativity and thought that it would not work. Others decided to go ahead and learn a new technology. The group decided to go ahead and try the new technology and decide if we wanted to continue using it for the duration of the project. At the last group meeting we all decided that we loved using Googledocs as a tool for writing our project collaboratively. While researching for my webliography I also found a few other document sharing ideas on the internet. Some of these included Workzone http://www.trichys.com/document-sharing/document-sharing.vm, 4shared.com http://www.4shared.com/share_document.jsp, and Netit http://www.net-it.com/Document-Sharing.htm. So the next time you are in a group and thinking about how to work on a report or paper collaboratively don't be hesitant to try and use some of the technology we have been learning about in our courses. Although, I don't blame my fellow group members for being hesitant I am sure they were worried about having to learn a new technology while also working to meet a deadline. Yet, googledocs and some of these other document sharing sites are so easy to use this will not be an issue!

How dependant we are getting of a portable device!!!

Well i have to say that this is a real shock to see the figures towards Blackberry sales. Apparently according to the makers of the Blackberry device they have more than doubled there customer base in recent months. They now have a staggering 14 million users and they believe this influx due to the introduction of the 'Smart Phone Market' which was truly publicized with the introduction of the IPhone.

Its amazing to think that we have 14 million people out there that really push the limits of their phone capabilities!!!! What do you think? I know i have Internet and things on my phone but i wouldn't dream of using it.

I can understand for business purposes, and the practicality of being able to do things will on the move but are you telling me there is that bigger demand for these smart phones?

I will leave you with another figure which may shock you :

For the quarter ended March 1, the company earned $412.5 million, or 72 cents a share, up from a profit of $187.4 million, or 33 cents a share, in the period a year earlier.

Its fascinating to thing what will come next!!!!!!

Story of Stuff

I would like to finalize my last post on the IIT projects that our hardworking Graduate Assistants are working on but there is some additional information that may be included and so I will delay that post.



Instead, I will share a very interesting and informative piece of web based interactive multimedia designed to educate Americans about the underside of our production and consumption patterns - Story of Stuff

You can watch a short preview of the video to see if it interests you.

Produced by Free Range Studios and narrated by Annie Leonard, this video
exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

The short movie is just that, a fact-filled video that teaches the viewer through the use of great design utilizing audio, video and animation.

From an instructional design stand point, the website was well designed for educational value and holds some more great content for learning about the topics brought up in the movie.

• The movie has a great navigation sequence for short clips of the major issues.
• A user can sign up for email notifications for more information.
• There is a blog that Annie posts about issues and feedback on these issues in which readers can post comments directly to Annie.
• There is a additional resources for in-depth details about topics that were presented.
• Volunteers can host screening of the movie as an introduction to the topic. The page also includes down loadable PDF's for everything needed to organize an event.
• Also, there is a download section for people to publish the information and content onto their own sites, blogs allowing for maximum web penetration.

This combination of features is a great strategy for quickly and effectively conveying the goals of the organization as well as give us great insight into all the stuff in our lives that affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. It is great work and I hope you can watch and enjoy the movie.

"The Single Most Important Word in Your eLearning Arsenal"

In one of the Rapid eLearning Blog articles a few weeks back, there was an article that focused on asking the right questions for the most effective course design. The "golden" word. Nope, not please, in this case. It's. . . . WHY?

What amazed me the most were the 24 comments for that one entry from designers out there in the industry. One of the comments mentioned that asking the right kinds of questions can be the only way to work through a problem with very little information to work with.



Here's a pretty good example of asking the right questions (from the article):

The granite at the Jefferson Memorial was crumbling. However, none of the other memorials had the same problem. So the question was, "Why?"

* Why is the granite crumbling? It is hosed off more than the other memorials.
* Why is it hosed off more than the other memorials? It has more bird dung.
* Why does it have more bird dung? It has more birds.
* Why does it have more birds? There are more spiders to eat.
* Why are there more spiders? It has more flying insects for spiders to eat.
* Why are there more insects? The lights are turned on too soon at the Jefferson Memorial, thus attracting the insects.

Solution: The lights were turned on later and the granite stopped crumbling.

View the Jefferson Memorial Case Study (Designed using Articulate)

This was a really good article, that reminds designers that assessing the problem is perhaps the most important part of any solution. Read the entire blog post

"How to cheat in 2008"

Check out this video



It's a well known concern that as technology evolves there are instructors who are wary about the negative impact that it will have on learning, primarily cheating on exams. So there's warnings about turning your cell phone off while in class, and not allowing any digital devices in exam rooms. And that's all well and good, but to think that that's a solution would be fooling one's self.

The further technology goes, the harder it is to outright cheat your way through. But that also means that it will make cheaters have come up with more elaborate methods. Like the coke bottle-cheat sheet. LOL it's so clever it's funny.

Think of how much further this could go. A shirt with an underlining of an iron-on cheat sheet. A fake tatoo. Maybe even a pen with a cheat sheet taped to it. A watch that's actually a calculator? Pretty soon exam rooms will have to be treated like doctor visits. You'll have to strip at the door and put on a gown while you take the exam, using their pencil! LMAO


Here is the video's direct link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpQZDJ2fGnI

location-aware tools for mobile technology

just read about this SMS-based mobile technology available in japan (which is currently moving into switzerland). don't know too much about it, but it's new to me and interesting; hence, a blog update. i'll define it in the following paragraphs, but perhaps it's a technology that may be utilized futuristically as a potential collaboration tool. another chance at learning from others, and discussion, as others enter your physical proximity.

info - http://www.imahima.com/ihcorpv3/press/20020311_m.html

the scoop...create a profile with imahima.com (which stand for "Are you free now?" in Japanese. the profile allows you to log friends/buddies, keywords and interests. then, when you are in proximity with somebody else who has similar interests defined in their profile (or a listed buddy/friend), a text is sent letting participants know that someone that matches with your location-aware profile (common interest, keywords, buddy, friend) is nearby.

from there, you can meet up with your friend since you know his/her location and are in close proximity. OR, if the other person was pulled up based on interests or keywords and is not somebody you really know, you can opt to send a short message to introduce yourself, find out more, initiate a conversation or a meeting place to discuss the interest area in common.

Second life and Autism

After Dr. Kapp's presentation on Second life, I had the pleasure of reading some more into the other field's that Second life is being used in. I then became aware of Second Life being used to help those with Autism. A 22 year old from England suffering from Aspergers has created a Second Life island to help those who are autistic. In this island od Second Life called 'Naughty Auties.' This allows those who usually have difficulty interacting with other individuals on a normal basis. They can create the avatars into basically any time of personality they want. They can all gather in this common place and have a unique way to interact with one another. This island isn't only for those with autism but their families as well. I think this is such a fabulous avenue for these individuals to reach out to one another and interact in a comfortable environment.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/28/sl.autism.irpt/index.html
This is the link to an article on yahoo that discusses this specific Second life island. There will be more upcoming research in looking to establish more environments such as these for individuals with other disorders like autism.