Connecting Learning Objects with RSS (Really Simple Syndication).

"The exisiting emphasis in LO management has been the building of repositories (metadata, tagging, central organziation), with less thought to the use of LOs. The metadata and repository paradigm is daunting, complex and expensive. The exhausting efforts of standards bodies notwithstanding, functionally most repositories are silos - XML-RPC and SOAP protocols have yet to cohere into a viable network."

This is a brief summary of RSS and how and why to use it to connect learning objects in repositories, with particular emphasis on the Canadian experience in CAREO and at Maricopa.

For the e-Learning entrepreneur, this could provide a path for clients to create their own repositories of reusable learning objects without the expense of an LMS or LCMS.  

[UBCWiki]

2:37:07 PM    

Nursing education on line.

Online education for nurses, respiratory technicians, physical therapists, and other medical professions is still being debated. Most educators feel that the most appropriate setting for training and practice in "hands-on" patient care is at the bedside or in clinical settings.

However, the idea is growing that some content areas may be appropriately presented online. The evoloving designs are blended learning: theory online, practical training on-site.

Here are some online examples:

Midwestern State University (Wichita Falls, Texas)

Texas Woman's University (Denton, Texas)

University of Texas at Arlington (Arlington, Texas)

El Centro Community College (Dallas, Texas)

Online nursing and health-care education represents a growing market for eLearning Entrepreneurs, in my opinion. Here is an example of one of the driving forces behing this growth.

[For more details, see the September, 2003 issue of Pulse: Monitoring the beat of the North Texas Health Care Industry, also available offline]

3:17:02 PM    

Developing a Creative Enterprise.

This article (Developing a Creative Practice) is interesting from two standpoints. For one, Wendy is talking about how to grow and thrive in an environment where creativity of solutions is not valued as much as economy of cost. In other words, where the perception of many practitioners is that low cost wins over high value. Is this true? In a way, it doesn't matter. What matters is how you build your business.

The other aspect to the article is the author's use of collaborative and constructivist techniques in teaching visual arts. Granted, this is not a field in which many readers of this weblog will be involved. But her approach to education is one that will clearly and relatively easily translate into e-Learning and into training a network marketing downline. What matters is how you get your learners to learn.

"When I go to a yoga class, or any exercise class, I expect to be told what to do. But the new yoga place I recently attended was clearly different. First of all, I couldn’t figure out who the teacher was. Second, no one was doing the same thing; any unison of movement was coincidental. I looked for someone—anyone!—to follow. After a while, one of the people (who, it turns out, was the 'teacher') came over to me and said, 'It’s best if you develop your own practice. That way you won’t have to depend on someone else to lead you, and you’ll be able to discover what you need.' As the class continued, I noticed that his interactions with others were individual corrections, not instructions.

I soon discovered that this was not an exercise class. The weekly meeting is one of the ways that each member bolsters the commitment to his or her own progress. It’s a time and place where people come together to support a self-directed and self-motivated practice."

(This entry is duplicated on the Home Page, in eLearning Entrepreneur, and in Network Marketing for Entrepreneurs. Normally I won't parallel post, but this article contains important insights and I don't want those who only subscribe to one category or the other to miss this.)

[Communication Arts]

2:44:35 PM    

Report: Feds have IT money to burn.

A recent report suggests that U.S. government agencies still have plenty of money to spend on information technology projects as they approach the end of the federal fiscal year. [CNET News.com]

The Federal fiscal year ends September 30. This might be a good time to check for opportunities related to e-Learning services.

4:52:48 PM    

Announcement.

This Weblog is being reorganized.

If you are interested in building your own business and operating it from home, this is where you can get tips, best practices, and news you can use.

I promise not to waste your time.

Subscribers will not be bombarded with ten daily posts (unless there are ten things worth your attention to report). The categories are also being reorganized, to allow for subscription to only those sections of interest to you. Comments and Trackback have been disabled, since the spammers have already moved from clogging e-mail with millions of net jamming junk messages to inserting their ugly effluvia into weblog comments and using Trackback to link the unsuspecting to porn sites and shady solicitations. Email sent to me via the Userland service from this weblog goes to a "throwaway" address, so be patient -- I do still check that address for legitimate communications.

Let's get rich together.

9:37:24 AM    

Introducing New Ideas Into Organizations.

Preliminary Version of the Patterns [MS-WORD] [PDF]
The book is due to be published in early 2004. It will include an introductory chapter, a complete version of the patterns and case studies that use the patterns.

If you have used and/or written patterns, you are most likely aware that this literary form, and its corresponding process and community support, is providing potential for capturing best practices and communicating them between people in organizations and throughout the software industry. However, it is also quite likely that you have experienced some difficulty convincing others in your organization of this potential.

The spark for patterns (or any new idea) in an organization most often begins with one or more enlightened individuals who has heard about or used patterns (or another new idea) and is intrigued over the potential. It then becomes the task of these individuals to enlighten the rest of the organization. It is likely to be an easier undertaking if one has an understanding of the problems that may be encountered along the way and what can be done to address these problems.

[Introducing Patterns]

Posted for consideration. This is not exactly from an e-Learning perspective, but it may be useful. These are rather large documents.

11:26:30 AM