More on games in education.

From the article: "... most game-based learning has been geared towards using a game as a host into which curricular content can be embedded. This approach can be problematic, however, because it too often builds upon the premise that learning is not fun and that games are, and that by introducing a game element, one can make learning fun. As we will argue, the processes involved in learning and play are often very similar, and the true potential of gaming in higher education may be realized in other ways. By allowing the learning process to become informed rather than supplemented by processes identified with successful gameplay, instructors can maintain consistency and coherence without relying on extrinsic motivational interventions."

Game-Informed Learning: Applying Computer Game Processes to Higher Education - Michael Begg, David Dewhurst, and Hamish Macleod, Innovate Online. Computer games have made a significant cultural, social, economic, political, and technological impact on society (Newman 2004). Given the widespread popularity of video games, their ability to sustain long-term player engagement with challenging tasks (G [Online Learning Update]

10:37:17 AM    

Ajax the Windows Killer.

"AJAX overcomes a severe limitation in traditional web interfaces, which must reload anytime they try to call up new data. By contrast, AJAX lets users manipulate data without clicking through to a new page, Dornfest said. That's putting an end to page refreshes and other interruptions that have handicapped web-based applications until now."

You Say You Want a Web Revolution. A programming technique called AJAX enables software developers to create powerful programs that function independently from the PC's operating system. Will it wipe out Windows? By Ryan Singel. [Wired News]

1:58:05 PM    

Reposted from Weblogg-ed News.

Moodle as EPortfolio. I'm becoming more and more enamored with Moodle the more I dig into it. And the discussion of late on the Moodle blogs forum has been nothing short of amazing, I think. (Here's the feed address if you want to follow it.) For instance, the idea that we could use Moodle as a platform for eportfolios has been making the rounds of late, and Eastern Kentucky University is doing just that. Here's a snippet of the conversation:

When trying to envision how to set-up an eportfolio for students from within Moodle, I kept running into problems until I stopped thinking about how to set this up for Moodle "students" and started thinking about setting it up for Moodle "teachers".

What we will be doing this Fall is creating a Moodle course for each of our students to use to create their eportfolio. We will make each student a "teacher" in his/her own course and will not enroll students...access to the eportfolios will be via guest access and each eportfolio owner can require an enrollment key or not to view their eportfolio. We are in the process of customizing the language files...renaming "course" to "eportfolio", "Teacher" to "Portfolio Owner", "Student" to "Portfolio Visitor" etc.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love the transparency of all of this early thinking about how we can use these tools in new and interesting ways? Way too much fun. [Weblogg-ed News]

1:54:20 PM    

Reposted from Weblogg-ed News.

The End of Textbooks. Jimmy Wales (the creator of Wikipedia) is guest posting over at Lawrence Lessig's blog on "Ten Things That Will Be Free." Today's installment is a free curriculum:

The second thing that will be free is a complete curriculum (in all languages) from Kindergarten through the University level. There are several projects underway to make this a reality, including our own Wikibooks project, but of course this is a much bigger job than the encyclopedia, and it will take much longer.

In the long run, it will be very difficult for proprietary textbook publishers to compete with freely licensed alternatives. An open project with dozens of professors adapting and refining a textbook on a particular subject will be a very difficult thing for a proprietary publisher to compete with. The point is: there are a huge number of people who are qualified to write these books, and the tools are being created to leave them to do that.

If you do read the whole post, make sure you read the discussion that follows as well. [Weblogg-ed News]

1:53:32 PM    

Improving Wikipedia's credibility.

One of the long-standing problems in wikis is vandalism. Here's what the mother of all wikis is doing about this problem.

Web's Wikipedia to tighten editorial rules-founder. Aim is to prevent vandalism, such as occurred following the election of the new Pope Benedict in April, when a user substituted the pontiff's photo on the Wikipedia site with that of the evil emperor from the Star Wars film series. [Computerworld News]

1:50:13 PM    

Are you looking for professional development online?

Distance Education: Avoid These Common Mistakes - American Public University System. More than 3 million adult learners will study online this fall -- maybe even you. How can you successfully finish your courses and continue to earn your degree? "There are common mistakes many students make -- whether they study online or attend tradition [Online Learning Update]

1:45:19 PM    

The shrinking world of e-Learning enterprises.

Pretty cool chart from Clark Aldrich. However, I'm willing to bet that there's a big blind spot here. Change is always coming, and by definition it is not coming from the established players. Look for disruptive technologies that will blow these organizations away.

Elearning industry consolidations (via Learning Circuits) - a graphic portraying the consolidation of elearning (in US) dating back to 1997. A handful of big players are emerging...

1:43:51 PM    

Fools like Blackboard.

Blackboard Ruins College. Andrew Patterson offers an on-campus view of Blackboard. Apparently it works a little too well for his taste. [The Motley Fool]

5:14:18 PM    

m-Learning platform: Microsoft Windows Mobile dominates PDA shipments.

If you are a developer interested in m-Learning on PDAs, the operating system figures in this article will likely be of more interest to you than the number of units shipped. It's Microsoft, RIM, and then Palm in last place. Of course, Palm is encouraging its users to upgrade to Treo, rather than to the LifeDrive, and will probably ship more Treos than PDAs this year --- so watch for the figures on mobile phone operating systems (will it be Palm? will it be EPOC? who knows?).

PDA Shipments Hit Record Levels (NewsFactor). NewsFactor - Depending on which analyst group one credits, recent PDA shipments are destined for the record books or are dropping like rocks. According to a report from Gartner (NYSE: IT) released this week, PDAs shipped over the last three months jumped 32 percent over last year's figures. [Yahoo! News: Technology News]

10:45:50 AM    

"Cognitive fitness": The next craze?

Here's a trend for you. But consider what one researcher ponders in the article: "She wonders whether workbooks that ask adults to do pages of math problems to get their brains in gear might be unnecessarily torturing people in their twilight years."

Brain Workouts May Tone Memory. Keeping your gray matter in great shape won't prevent age-related cognitive disorders like Alzheimer's. But proponents of 'cognitive fitness' say mental exercises can reduce the likelihood of such diseases. By Joanna Glasner. [Wired News]

10:31:47 AM    

Accessibility: More than technology, more than Section 508.

This is an article with pretty wide scope. It addresses all of the problems in design, information technology, and assistive technology that get in the way of online learning. For example, talking about "learning styles" (a theory I personally am very skeptical about), the authors found:

"We had originally assumed that extroverted students would report preferring Internet courses, citing the chat and discussion boards as great places to interact. However, we found instead that most of the extraverts did NOT prefer online courses ... Contrary to this finding, was the preference of introverts for the discussion board and virtual chat. We received many reports saying things like: “I’m usually too shy to join discussions, but on the Internet I do it much better.”

Another interesting finding was that the learning styles and personality preferences of most of the course participants were the opposite of my own. We would need to look again at this course, re-developing it with more concreteness, and more sequentially arranged directions. We also needed to re-think student interaction assignments to make them more meaningful to the extroverts."

This could really help shape your thinking about design. 

Addressing On-line Accessibility Issues at East Carolina University - Melissa D. Engleman, Campus Technologies. Like many universities, East Carolina University (ECU) has seen an overwhelming increase in demand for online courses.... First, there was the accessibility of current technology to our faculty and students. We found that we would implement some really wo [Online Learning Update]

10:18:50 AM    

Points to think about as you plan your marketing.

RSS poses not so simple problems for online ads.

This article really hits a number of key points right on the head. Not only does this Deborah Branscum seem to truly understand the mechanics behind RSS, but she also sees the inherent problems with current attempts at attaching advertising to it as well….

Direct and Related Links for 'RSS poses not so simple problems for online ads'

10:10:42 AM    

Financing Firefox.

Mozilla Goes Corporate (PC World). PC World - Foundation's corporate arm will fund Firefox development and promote open source. [Yahoo! News: Technology News]

11:38:56 AM    

Are your readers deleting cookies?

According to this article, 60 percent of internet users delete cookies from their primary computers. Since cookies are a common means of tracking e-Learning progress, how can you be sure that your application will still work? If part of your marketing strategy relies on cookies, might you want to re-think how you are marketing?

[Globe and Mail]

11:36:15 AM    

The Semantic Web.

"Whereas the web is now set up to help users find documents that may have the information you want, the Semantic Web would catalogue important data indicating the type of information, enabling a new dimension of archiving and search."

Inventor of the Web Explains Next-Gen 'Semantic Web'. Tim Berners-Lee, "inventor of the World Wide Web," speaks about the launch of the next generation of his creation, the Semantic Web, in an interview run by MarketingProfs. Whereas the web is now set... [MarketingVOX - The Voice of Online Marketing]

11:19:00 AM    

Video game technology in education.

Note: the focus here is on K-12 education.

Innovate.

The August/September issue of Innovate focuses on "the role of video game technology in current and future educational settings."

11:16:21 AM    

Getting past ROI.

Godfrey Parkin makes a number of excellent points in this post. Unfortunately, he doesn't say much about solutions. My own bias is to use the Balanced Scorecard approach, which is a well-accepted means of justifying projects in many companies. Even CFOs understand the Balanced Scorecard.

"One of my frequent recommendations is that training departments learn something about data collection from their marketing colleagues, and set up the ability to run surveys and focus groups, to investigate learner satisfaction, customer attitudes, job impacts, attitudes, and manager perceptions. This skill is often absent in training departments, which is a pity because these methods can produce great insights and save money and time."

[Parkin's Lot]

11:04:54 AM    

Critical thinking tools.

'... much of the current interest in teaching thinking skills is prompted by technology-driven changes in the nature of work'. - Rupert Wegerif

Critical Thinking.

Useful listing of critical thinking resources. I find that it's increasingly important to acknowledge not only the construct of logical/critical thinking...but to provide a balancing anchor that reflects the influence of emotions on creating cognitive constructs.

10:57:34 AM    

Podcast marketing.

PodCast Radio Show - Tuesday, August 2, 2005.

In today's PodCast Radio Show, Live from the PodCast Marketing Promenade we look deeper into PodCast Marketing and today's Internet Marketing Tip, Workplace and Workspace Disillusionment' with our guest, 'The Vocational Shrink', John Schaefer.  We enjoy another 97 Second Internet Marketers Marketing Update, 'Sending Press Releases To Wrong Person and Place' with Randall Blaum.

[PodCast Radio Show - PodCast Marketing from the PodCast Promenade]

10:55:37 AM    

Apple's new mouse.

"The design itself is similar to that of the current Mac mouse, with the white plastic case not immediately revealing itself to have multiple buttons. Touch sensors, rather than actual buttons, can detect a right or left click. As for the other changes, the small trackball peeks out the top, and two other, slightly grayish buttons can be squeezed on the side of the mouse. The side buttons can be programmed to get one-click access to 10.4.2 Tiger operating system features such as Spotlight and Dashboard, the company said."

Apple's mouse goes Mighty. New device lets people scroll vertically, horizontally and even diagonally, and has four programmable buttons.
Photos: Mighty Mouse [CNET News.com]

10:52:50 AM    

Robin Good's Official Guide to Web Conferencing and Live Presentation Tools.

Online Version - updated to June 2005. Free access to preview, guide access provided for a fee.

10:30:04 AM    

Best screen sharing tools.

Another great review by Robin Good.

[Kolabora]

10:23:44 AM    

Another great resource for tool information.

Online Powerpoint Presentation Tools - Best of Class: June 2005 by Robin Good. Link is to Kolabora.

"To effectively deliver a PowerPoint presentation or screen recording on the Web, the traditional means of converting individual slides to GIF and JPG image files is not effective anymore.

In about 35 mins. of effective audio visual show, I can give you a good roundup of the best rich-media web presentation tools that are available out there."

10:20:37 AM    

Macromedia Captivate vs. Qarbon Viewletbuilder Pro.

Everyone is always interested in comparisons between functionally similar products. This comparison was published in January 2005, but I've just come across it.

Comparison is in [The Distant Librarian], which has a category on tutorials that you should take a look at as well.

10:14:45 AM    

Something to think about as you develop your marketing plan.

Boomers Spend More Money Online. Baby boomers (born between 1945 and 1964) tend to spend more money online than other online users, even if they don't make more money, according to a new Jupiter study, reports Internet Retailer.... [MarketingVOX - The Voice of Online Marketing]

10:15:23 AM    

Content management through weblogs.

ProNet: "Blog software has set me free". PC Magazine's Bill Machrone has published a great new column entitled I Blog/I Do Not Blog. In it, Bill examines how blog tools in general, and Movable Type in particular, can function as extremely powerful and flexible content management systems,... By anil@sixapart.com (Anil Dash). [Six Apart News]

10:13:32 AM    

e-Learning for revenue in higher education.

Are We Making Money? - Judith V. Boettcher, Campus Technologies. The next wave of the eLearning innovation is in progress and, according to some, is succeeding in paying its own way. Programs portending the potential for a boom in online learning within traditional institutions of higher learning are those at Boston Un [Online Learning Update]

10:10:40 AM    

Tagging pro and con: a wrinkle you hadn't thought about.

Social Bookmarking for Educators. In keeping with the "Read/Write Web Software for Educators" meme, seems Todd Slater is developing scuttlEDU.

ScuttlEDU is different in that it is designed to make tagging easier for educators. When you register for the service, you are asked to provide your grade level and subject area. When you add a bookmark, these two pieces of information become tags. You have the option of not using these tags as well.

He's looking for test drivers, and I just volunteered. Another step toward some more teacher friendly tools for those who aren't comfortable with the current offerings. [Weblogg-ed News]

Sounds good, right? Not so fast!

Om Malik: "By tagging I am helping these scumbags..."

 via [Scripting News]

10:00:11 AM    

Creativity in online learning design.

Online Classes Offer Virtual Dissection, but Gym Still Takes Sweat. As public schools rush to reconfigure courses so students can take them via the Internet, one of the unlikely new offerings in this vast experiment is online gym. By SAM DILLON. [NYT > Technology]

10:35:56 PM    

RSS use questioned.

Only 2 Percent Use RSS?.

Latest Forrerster Research study claims that only 2 percent of all online households in America are using RSS. Highly contradictory to other research from companies like Jupiter Research …

Direct and Related Links for 'Only 2 Percent Use RSS?'

10:26:37 PM    

Take your broadband with you.

This is said to be for students, but the prices are high for that audience, and the services seem skimpy (to me anyway).

BellSouth launches wireless broadband.

(InfoWorld) - SAN FRANCISCO - BellSouth Corp. on Monday launched a commercial wireless broadband service designed to travel with subscribers as they move from place to place. The service debuted in the university community of Athens, Georgia.

The service comes in two versions: one offers a top speed of 384K bps (bits per second) downstream and 128K bps upstream for US$29.95 per month, while the other provides as much as 1.5M bps downstream and 256K bps upstream for $39.95 per month. Both come with five e-mail accounts, 10M bytes of Web hosting space and 20 hours per month of dial-up Internet access as a backup, Randall said. BellSouth charges $99.99 for the modem.

10:24:30 PM    

WebEx hangs in there.

WebEx to buy Intranets.com for $45 million.

(InfoWorld) - NEW YORK - WebEx Communications Inc. said Monday it has agreed to buy collaboration software developer Intranets.com Inc. for $45 million in cash. The deal allows WebEx to take out a rival that had aggressively chased the smaller end of WebEx's core market, Web conferencing services.

[InfoWorld: Top News]

10:18:50 PM    

Breeze-ing up.

Macromedia offers Breeze conferencing package. Company has bundled Breeze 5 with other offerings, established an "event service team" and introduced a promotional rate for the package. [CNET News.com]

10:14:55 PM    

Edu Blog Hosting.

So the good news is that there finally seems to be some options for teachers wanting to implement Weblogs in thier classrooms in ways that are safe and effective. I'm in the process of putting together an overview of four of them that will be included in the book:

2:29:47 PM    

Is 2006 the year of the e-Book?

"The e-book market still has three uncertainties. The first is suitable devices. The second is publishers releasing books, and the third is library lending. Before e-books can take off, these issues need resolution."

[TeleRead]

11:15:46 AM    

Pocket PCs displaying e-textbooks in Kenyan experiment.

Dubbed “e-slates,” Pocket PCs are serving as textbook-substitutes in an experiment in Kenya, the work of a nonprofit called Eduvision.

Not everyone approves of the experiment. Among the concerns is lack of electricity for the machines, which need recharging.

[TeleRead]

11:23:14 PM