Funny Blog Post

This is yet another blog that I read from the Common Craft.  I thought it was sort of funny.  Also someone posted a comment and a link to this article. I just thought that with the technology we have today, you'd think airport security would be a little tighter.  Check it out...but not if you're flying anywhere for the holidays!

More from Google Labs

When I logged into my google account this morning I saw a message that google labs had cooked up a couple of applications that I thought might benefit the group--at least anyone who uses a google account.

Their first offering is one that acts as a task function

Keep track of what you need to do with a lightweight task list right inside of Gmail. Just click and type to add new tasks, convert emails into tasks, and (most satisfyingly) check them off as you're done.

The second is pretty cool. It allows you to send SMS messages from your gmail account...

Send SMS text messages right from Gmail. You chat from your comfy computer and reach your friends on the go; they get your messages as texts and can peck out replies on their little keyboards.

sort of like twitter in reverse.

These quotes were taken from this announcement page.

Google Operating System on the way?

An article on the Boy Genius Report states that there are signs showing Google may be working on it's own operating system. Recent net traffic from Google headquarters shows about 1/3 of Google's employees are accessing the web with an operating system that has had it's identifiers removed. Whether this is a sign of Android coming to desktop, an all new OS or Google just playing with our minds remains to be seen.

Instructional Game vs Computer Game

I was working on the 10 blog posts required for the class with Dr.Kapp where i came across this interesting post about the comparison between a Computer Game to a Serious or an Instructional game.
When a designer or developer looks from the angle of the gaming, two formats of the game are meant for entertainment, but interesting debate would be does serious game has to compete with a computer game to make it more captivating and motivating? Certainly it would be a designer's dream to build an application that would be designed to perfection showing rich graphics and animation. But when analyzing this component one has to focus on certain factors like the time frame for the project, hardware used, learners, type of organization and the instruction itself.
Looking at these factors from a designer's perspective will certainly lock the components that can be used to make the prototype work. But certainly a designer has varying options to make the solution interesting and appealing for the client. Even the budget allocated for the project can lock the hands of the designer. But a good designer can figure out ways to create an attractive and working solution within the allocated budget. The key to achieve this goal, pretty much depends on the common sense, and the good or bad experience from the past projects. To be more precise its all the life experiences will make one grow perfect.
To sum up, instructional or serious games can take certain inputs from its elder brother(computer game) to build an interesting and attractive game to captivate and motivate the learners keeping without loosing the very purpose of instruction.
Please check this interesting post related to the current topic.
Learning circuits Blog

Keeping Employees Engaged - eLearning Alternatives

In the September/October 2008 issue of ELearning Magazine there was an article title Motivating Employees with Online Learning. The article focused on the low employee retention issue faced by FedEx Express with it's "frontline employees." The article mentions this issue was addressed in 2004 and continues on to discuss some of the key "factors" according to HR Development Manager Karl Guenther. The article then talks about the next steps taken, thenthe solution that was implemented, and finally the outcome as of 2006.

The "factors" that Karl Guenther points out in the article can be true for any large corporation. Because FedEx has over 290, 000 employees, it made recognizing and fixing those "factors" more challenging. The factors mentioned were:

• Productivity - Most employees were permenant part-timers and not eligible for "on the clock" training and if they weren't working they weren't productive.
• Motivation - This lack of eligibility caused employees to be less enthusiastic about self developing.
• Marketability - The current program only allowed for those with higher education more promotional chances or career opportunities.
• Resource Contraints - Because of the lack of finances and/or time availability, the employees didn't seek company educational opportunites.
• Low Awareness - Employees just didn't know about existing educational offerings such as "Skill soft" or "Tuition Reimbursement."

In the end, FedEx created the College Credit Consurtium, which works with 17 colleges and universities throughout the U.S. By creating this consurtium the program offers things like:

• Free college credits for sucessful completion of e-learning courses.
• Deferred billing.
• Ability to skip terms without penalty during peak work seasons.
• Flexible degree progams.
• Custom curriculum development.

According to the article this blended approach to employee education has shown an increase in employee participation and ultimately employee retention. In 2006 the article states that participation was up to "15,000 employees" which is about "75%" of the FedEx Express division. This out of the box approach to e-Learning should be a model for other midsized to large corporations to help retain the talent they have.

Second Life's Hype Cycle

This picture shows the Gartner Hype Cycle graph for 2008. I wanted to point out the position Second Life (and other public virtual worlds) is at in the cycle. This was the most recent depiction that I found with virtual worlds. It shows VWs (Virtual Worlds- not Volkswagens) past the Peak and heading into the Trough of Disillusionment. The basic idea is that VWs are at the make-or-break point right now. The near future will tell whether or not Second Life and other VWs will find their niche in the public sector. I'm curious to see what Linden and other VW companies will do to market their products as effective tools in order to be productive technologies/applications of technology.

The Debate on Instructional Design Models

I know I've mentioned this site in class, and I'm sure Dr. Nicholson has as well, but in case you haven't checked it out already, I thought I'd post a bit on Elliott Masie's LearningTown.

Elliott Masie is an instructional design guru-founder of the MASIE Center, and essentially the go to guy when it comes to cutting edge learning development and best practices.

LearningTown is a huge online forum that brings together people from all walks of the instructional design and technology industry. Members have individual profile pages and use the site to network, participate in threaded discussions, message each other, share resources, and join groups of like minded professionals. As part of a class activity in Dr. N's eLearning Concepts and Techniques course, we all joined the site and did some perusing and investigating.

There are tons of interesting discussions on nearly any topic related to instructional design and technology you can think of, but the one that stuck with me the most was a question posed by Elliott Masie himself: Do We Need A New Instructional Design Model?
Follow the link to follow the discussion.

Various professionals talk here about the "real world" of instructional and course design, what works, what doesn't, and how the industry is changing. It's a great way for students and professionals to keep a finger on the pulse of the industry, pose questions to a large community, or just read a lot of interesting opinions and resources.

Holiday E-Cards

It is that time of year, and I have not found a more fun site than http://www.elfyourself.com/. After I picked myself up off the floor from laughing, I had made a card of my kids and I dancing in elf suits. OK, maybe I've been hitting the holiday e nog to hard, but this was funny, I don't care who you are. give it a try and I"m sure you will be the hit at your next get together.
Enjoy,
Bill

Class Information for the week of Dec. 1st

Hi everyone!

Wow - just 2 weeks left in the semester!  I do want to talk about the final activities and schedule for our class.  I've been sending emails to everyone today with information but thought I would post on this blog as well.

• We will definitely meet in Centra this Thursday with Heather, Zakia, Carl, and Eric presenting.
  
• We will definitely meet in Centra next Thursday for the One Slide - One Minute presentations. 
  

So speaking of One Slide - One Minute, here is the specific information for this activity:

1. I would like for you to create one PowerPoint slide that is a summary of what you have created and learned in this class.  You may use any design and include any information you like.  During our last class on Thursday, Dec. 11th, each person will have one minute to talk about their one slide.
2. Please submit your one PowerPoint slide via Blackboard, in the Assignments area by Wednesday, Dec. 10th, at 8:00 pm.  (Yes, I really do mean Wednesday because I need some time to collect the slides and create the Agenda file for class on Thursday).
   

Now, about the Summary Paper.  Yes Virginia, there is a summary paper due!  Here is the information:

1. Basically I would like for you to respond to the statement:  What I learned about online teaching and what I would do differently next time".  This paper is truly a reflection of your experiences and what you have learned about online teaching - the technology, design, and implementation.  Please be specific citing examples and stories to support your thoughts and ideas.  And be sure to address both synchronous and asynchronous online teaching formats.
2. I would like for you to consider and address three areas as you write your final paper:
   

• Technology - What have you experienced and learned about the role, influence, and impact technology has on the success of an elearning environment?
  
• Design - What have you experiences and learned about writing and designing online materials?  What did you learn about creating and delivering synchronous presentations?  What is important when designing recorded presentations?  Be sure to address the design of the course or presentation framework, lessons, and interactive activities.
  
• Implementation - What have you experienced and learned about actually implementing an eLearning presentation and course?  What does it require in terms of communication, time management, record keeping, and scheduling?

Submit your Summary Paper via Blackboard in the Assignments area by Thursday, Dec. 11th, at 5:59:59 pm.

Looking forward to reading the papers and seeing the slides!

Talk to you all this Thursday!

Cheers, Dr. N

Sony Playstation Home

This week I was given the privilege of beta testing Home for Sony Playstation 3. It is very similar to Second life, the characters are customizable and the overall feel of the community is the same.

The MAJOR differences are the PS3 has HIGH QUALITY graphics and SECURITY that comes with Home existing on a protected game platform.

I have not used either platform enough to say who the winner will be. I think that this could be a more protected environment that schools could take advantage of in the future.

http://www.us.playstation.com/PSN/Home

Alternative to Photoshop

Paint.net

So this blog could have come about two or three weeks ago for the purpose of our Blackboard project. For me, I had trouble coming up with a course banner, and even something for the group Wiki project. I don't have Adobe Photoshop and have no idea on how to use it (I hear its difficult). Adobe Photoshop is not free, but Paint.net is! It is compared to Photoshop and Microsoft Paint and considered the free alternative. "It is a powerful editor with support for layers, blending, transparency, and plugins." (from Wikipedia) There are tutorials that show you how to create excellent graphics. I watched the tutorial on how to create a collage. Check it out! (here is a snapshot of the interface)

instructables.com = Greatest. Site. Ever.

I recently stumbled upon the site of instructables.com, and it may very well be the greatest stumble I have ever had.

instructables.com is a site where you can learn to make just about anything... And I do mean anything. There is a step by step tutorial for making such necessities as "Build the Starship Enterprise from useless office supplies" or "build a (somewhat) historically accurate Viking Costume " or "how to make a Universal bike light battery out of a Parmesan cheese container."
I eprsanlylam excited to try the USB Batman Spotlight, where you can make the bat signal out of a USB lamp.

This site is like the Red Green show on steroids.

Instructables

What's the Best CMS?

Having just created a course in Joomla, I am curious about the other content management systems. This CMS was difficult to work with mostly because I had a lack of training. From the way it sounds, udutu would have been much easier to work with. Joomla also had several templates from which to choose and start. Changing things around did not so much require knowledge of programming languages, but rather an understanding of the infrastructure. There are so many interactive things I wanted to incorporate but did not know how and could not have learned on my own in a timely manner. So, this post is more or less to pose a few questions: Which content management systems you have used and which have been easy to work with? Which ones were best for interactivity?