1. Vision and theoretical perspectives
2. Design perspectives
3. Resource perspectives
4. Strategic perspectives

2:19:29 PM    

"Open source software communities are one of the most successful -and least understood- examples of high-performance collaboration and community-building on the Internet today. Other types of communities could benefit enormously ..."

Interesting report with some data on the nature of open source software development communities, including both demographics and the results of a survey that asked the "Reasons to Join an Open Source Community" (top answer: "Learn and develop new skills") and the "Most Important Benefits of Participation" (top answer: "Increased personal knowledge base").

Written by Eugene Eric Kim at Blue Oxen Associates,  the report also presents some interesting metrics on collaboration in two largish projects (through the analysis of discussion forums and email) and offers these three guidelines to building collaboration learned from the open source community:

- Evolve the Community
-  Lead by Example
- Let Users Talk to Developers

- via [carvingCode]

7:06:19 PM    

This links to a page I've built which aggregates RSS feeds from all of the LORs that I know of that produce them.

There's been a lot flying around recently concerning the use of RSS to syndicate RLOs. I've been trying to wrap my head around the implications but haven't fully managed to. This list, rather than being an attempt to create some sort of authoritative resource on the subject, is instead a way for me to see with my own eyes, all in one place, the results of current efforts to match RSS technology with LORs/RLOs. I need to do this because when the topics get this complex, my brain seems to need to work at the problem from both ends - both by trying to construct a theoretical model of the problem based on my understanding of the issues, the technologies and concepts at play, and also by literally looking at examples of what exists or what a solution could look like and then trying to bring these two together into some fit. In any case, that's my motivation for throwing this together. - SWL

7:04:50 PM    

The Lab That Fell to Earth. Once the center of the technology research universe, the storied MIT Media Lab is teetering on the brink of breakup -- or worse, irrelevance. By Brendan I. Koerner from Wired magazine. [Wired News]

Wow, does this make me feel old!

8:41:00 AM    

This looks great. A conference about the proliferation and use of Wi-Fi in the academic world. They are streaming some of the sessions. The only problem is that their website is confusing and I can't figure out how to watch archived videos. Maybe they haven't put the videos up yet. I'm definitely planning to return to this conference website. I think that the use of wireless networks in an academic setting points to how wireless networks will be deployed at meetings, conferences and tradeshows.

Academic Wi-Fi Conference. Conference looks at wireless and academia: If you had any question about how much money is being spent at college campuses and elsewhere to install wireless networks (cell and 802.11), just look at the list of sponors on the conference's home page. They're streaming video from the event, which runs through Friday. The topic list is fascinating, as it deals with the social, technical, and security implications of overlaying ubiquitous networks on a campus. [via TechDirt]... [Wi-Fi Networking News]

8:35:25 AM    

Excellent article, "Teaching in the Wireless Cloud: Students with mobile devices are slowly redefining some fundamental campus rules," by Bryan Alexander in TheFeature.

Teaching in the Wireless Cloud. Students equipped with mobile and wireless devices are reshaping the classroom environment. Spaces structured by static rows of computer desks, with screens or bulky monitors blocking views, are increasingly obsolete. Instead students can sit where they like, depending on the instructor's flexibility. A class can change quickly from a lecture to a small group discussion or lab format, while retaining the full powers of computer-mediated communication. Instructors project notes on a wall, talking through a sequence of points, then break the class up to pursue team projects or discussions. In my experience, learners quickly arrange themselves in ways conducive to their comfortable conversation and writing, rather than following the dictates of pre-arranged furniture (which is often hostile to the best learning).

As educational spaces change, so does learning time. The traditional class works on a two-step information access schedule, alternating between an isolated classroom and an out-of-class connection to the full world of information via libraries and the internet. Always-on connectivity allows learners to blur those two modes, hitting the internet on demand or in mid-discussion, texting classmates (and instructors) at any time. [Smart Mobs]

8:33:50 AM    

Webby Award nominees announced. The 7th annual Webby Award nominees were announced late Tuesday. Here's the list of nominees. You can vote in the People's Choice Awards through May 23. Lots of good, obscure sites here. The ceremony -- which has lost much of... [JD's New Media Musings]

[Marc's Voice]

8:32:00 AM    

Smart Mobs blogger Bryan Alexander -- an educational practitioner as well as a commentator on what is being called "m-learning" -- has written an article for TheFeature on the subject of Teaching in the Wireless Cloud

10:37:33 PM    

Learning Circuits piece on e-Learning ROI

Paul Harris writes: "As companies look to e-learning to help meet their strategic goals, they’re seeking ROI analysis. Some of the most valuable measurements can be hard to capture, but we’re closing in. In most departments within a corporation, determining the return on a given investment is a straightforward accounting exercise that produces a factual and typically uncontested result. But when it comes to e-learning, computing ROI suddenly becomes a complicated procedure requiring thoughtful chinstroking, serious seminar time, and earnest input from consultants and vendors. Why is that?" [Learning Circuits]

From February 18 of this year. Supports the idea of ROI, tosses in the formula for ARR (calls it "the standard" - it's not), cites vendor white papers, gives a couple of examples from real companies. Glad mine is done. Will post a summary version here after publication on Monday the 14th of April. Those who want the whole thing (including the parts nobody else covers -- HOW) will have to join the Guild (which they should be doing anyway).

6:49:58 PM    

e-Learning ROI

What a day! and what a night! But the article on e-Learning ROI is finished and on its way to the Journal. Now to get to work on the examples and on the taxes.

3:47:17 PM    

This web analysis and mapping software is interesting to me for 2 reasons:

- it's one of the best values for money (when combined with its companion product FunnelWeb Analyzer) in the web log analysis and site management tools field that I have seen. IMHO it blows products like WebTrends out of the water (note it needs to be used in conjunction with its companion product Analyzer to really be a true comparison). The part of the application that I particularly like is the Webmap - it produces a webmap of your site by crawling it (like many do) but then allows you to overlay your traffic statistics visually on this map - all of a sudden the main paths that people take through you site, where they enter and exit, jump out at you. Extremely powerful for visualizing how people actually use your site. I haven't seen a lot of software in it's price range (we payed under $1000) that does this.

- from a learning perspective, the tutorial that accompanies the 'info map' part of the software is for me a great example of how to communicate abstract concepts using relevant (to that individual user) content. The infomaps present keyword and traffic analyses of your site displayed as contour maps. Instead of using some abstract example that has no meaning to the user, the tutorial helps you understand how to interpret the info map by using the map you just produced on your own site, so that when it  points to the highest peaks and explains these are the most used terms on the site, they are in fact the most used terms on your own site. This is not unimpressive - the tutorial software is intelligent enough to present concepts linked to a dynamic analysis of the map - produce a new map and run the tutorial again, and the examples it uses are from the new map.

Well worth a look - a 30 day free trial is available from there site. - SWL

3:44:20 PM    

From the good folks at Half-Baked Software Inc. (based in my hometown at the University of Victoria, B.C., Canada), the people who brought you the semi-famous quiz software 'Hot Potatoes' comes Quandry. It is "an application for creating Web-based Action Mazes. An Action Maze is a kind of interactive case-study; the user is presented with a situation, and a number of choices as to a course of action to deal with it. On choosing one of the options, the resulting situation is then presented, again with a set of options. Working through this branching tree is like negotiating a maze, hence the name 'Action Maze'"

Version 2 is in beta and should be in full release later this month. In essense, one each page the software prompts you to create a set of questions or actions that result in different branches, allowing you to easily create simple HTML-based role playing simulations.  - SWL

[EdTechPost]

I could never get Hot Potatoes to work acceptably, but the idea was a good one. In the 70's we built lots of Action Mazes for various Navy training programs and I have used them occasionally since. I'm glad to see someone thinking about them again. What next? Programmed Instruction makes a comeback? Oh, wait, that's what e-Learning is supposed to be ...

4:46:36 PM    

Macromedia - Flash Player for Pocket PC. This seemed not insignificant when it comes to delivering rich media educational objects to handhelds. Somewhat quietly (at least to my ears) the folks at Macromedia have been assembling their own elearning strategy and tools. One to watch, if there past results are any indication. - SWL  [EdTechPost]

I want to figure out how to add the Macromedia site to this weblog - if they don't offer an RSS feed, I will put them in the navigation links.

4:42:59 PM    

Via a seemingly small reference in David Wiley's blog, Autounfocus, comes mention of this application being developed by David and others in the Department of Instructional Technology at Utah State, that hints at where learning object repositories and object browsers need to go and seem to be going - towards more direct integration with authoring tools and tools that help instructors apply instructional design principles in (re)assembling objects.

(But isn't this already the promise in large part of LCMSes within the scope of the training industry? I wonder what will end up being the difference between existing authoring tools aimed at industry [either ones like IBM's Knowledge Producer, DazzlerMax, Avaltus Jupiter Studio or Cisco's Virtuoso, or else any of the ones being bundled or built directly in enterprise LCMSes] and the ones being built in post-secondary institutions and for that market? I can guess but I expect some analysis of this would be useful for a continuing elucidation of the need for a CMS product-type separate from LMS/LCMS offerings and why LORs are evolving the way they are.) - SWL

1:46:39 PM    

A powerpoint presentation by Jean Adams and Gareth Morgan (from the elearning content comapny NewMindsets- it's Canadian!) that describes the shift to learning object just-in-time training as being '2nd generation elearning, for what it''s worth. - SWL 

- via [carvingCode]

1:06:08 PM    

At some point in the not-so-distant-future I may well have to start looking for work again (funding and other circumstances are currently uncertain at best.) So I have been doing some thinking and some searching about what is it I can do, what I have done before and what is it I want to do.

Which lead me to this helpful little document by the folks at Sage Learning Systems. While I've worked more in higher ed and its focus is more on industry training, much of the job types and skills seemed relevant. I'm sure there are lots more of these types of documents out there (anyone have other references) but this at least seemed like a place to start. - SWL

1:04:03 PM    

"SciQ just went live. It's a K-12 theme for CAREO that is being used to push learning objects into the classroom in Alberta."

Go see the one of the products of D'Arcy's (and many others at U of Calgary) long hours of work and an actual implementation of learning object respository software! Exciting stuff! - SWL

- from [D'Arcy Norman's Learning Commons Weblog]

1:01:56 PM    

"Kevin Kruse writes an open letter to Click2learn CEO Kevin Oakes in response to the latter's contention that enterprise software providers (such as, say, SAP or PeopleSoft) will not make major inroads into the learning management system market. With a few telling points, Kruse outlines some probable scenarios where this could be exactly what happens. His main advice to LMS vendors? Well, not in so many words, but: bail." - comment and link reposted from [OLDaily]

I think the truth lies somewhere between these two positions, and one would certainly be naive not to be paying attention to a few of these behemoth enterprise players.

12:58:53 PM    

Everybody is writing about e-Learning ROI all of a sudden. Bryan Chapman is the latest. My article in the next eLearning Developers' Journal (April 14) will add to the glut. I can't go along with Jay Cross on this one, and I think most of what I see online is either superficial or misses the point entirely. Forget about the online calculators, too.

ROI is a serious topic. It isn't the be-all and end-all, but it isn't irrelevant either. Join the Guild to see my point of view, and to find out how to *really* handle ROI.

10:16:07 AM