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eLearn Magazine: Cog-Learn: An e-Learning Pattern Language for Web-based Learning Design

Phil Fenton — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:51:43 +0000

I found this article today on a new effort to create a standardized format for designing eLearnign courses. While many teachers and instructors are interested in creating eLearning courses many of us do not have the technical expertise or design experience to create an effective curriculum for a course. Cog-Learn looks to correct this problem by providing a pseudo code and standard for creating online courses and course material. The article is a little technical but it’s an interesting concept. This article was actually posted in August of this year and I don’t know how it’s been received or if it’s being implemented on any significant scale but still worth reading. http://bit.ly/TAMR1

ICE 2009 Blast-Off Event Presentation

staci — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:23:20 +0000

This is the presentation for my concurrent session on October 9 at the ICE Blast Off. Hope to see you in Indy!

Create Web Based Training Rapidly

learntoelearn — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 06:08:23 +0000

If any of you have been producing elearning for some time, you probably got used to doing things the hard way. That is to say, you created everything from scratch. Developing a course required knowledge of some type of complicated software and the actual creation of the course probably took months. And because of this, most companies had employees whose sole responsibility was creating these courses.

Well we are now at the dawn of a new era. Within the last few years, a new kind of authoring tool has been introduced into the market: the rapid development tool. These tools enable authors to create slick, professional looking web based training much faster than was ever imaginable. Authors can add complicated interactions and quizzes with only a few clicks of the mouse. These tools have made it so easy to create elearning that anyone who can use PowerPoint can create an online course.

The tool I would like to focus on today is called Articulate. Articulate is probably the easiest rapid development tool to learn. The reason is because it is simply an add-on to PowerPoint. Installing Articulate basically adds a new tab to PowerPoint and from that tab you can add voiceovers, create branching scenarios, add video and much more. And the beauty of it is that you need no programming experience whatsoever.

Articulate also allows you to deliver your content to anyone worldwide with the click of a button. Most companies spend thousands of dollars developing an LMS (learning management system) to maintain all of their courses. These LMS systems are hard to navigate and usually require a company to hire a specialist just to keep it working. But with Articulate Online you can track how employees, customers and prospects interact with your e-learning courses, assessments and presentations (and for fractions less than a traditional LMS).

Articulate also offers a suite of products that can greatly increase learner interaction and retention. Articulate Engage allows anyone to create dazzling interactions without knowing a lick of programming. You can create process flows, intricate timelines and full blown media tours in minutes. These are professional quality interactions that can be created in only a few minutes.

Quizmaker is another Articulate tool that allows you to create professional, custom Flash quizzes and surveys. And these quizzes easily integrate into your courses and assessments. They allow you to test from within the course and they also allow you to track passing and failing assessment scores using Articulate Online.

I have been developing elearning for over a decade now and I love Articulate. It allows me to create quality, learner centered courses in just days. If you would like to give it a test drive, Articulate offers you a 30 day free trial available from their website. If you are serious about creating web based training, I highly recommend that you try this product.

For more information regarding the creation of web based training, visit LearnToElearn.com.

New Web-based Training

Paige Menge — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:53:27 +0000

Need training but don’t have the travel budget? Can’t afford to miss an entire day or two from the o

E-learning in the workplace

hrclubsyd — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:16:21 +0000

E-learning involves things like online, electronic or web-based learning. Many Universities now offer distance education courses utilizing e-learning so that all the materials are available online, assessments are submitted electronically and there are online discussions with other students.

Generally the content is available anytime, anywhere and it’s personalized towards the individual via some form of technology.

The benefits of delivering education via e-learning include:

1) Cost- it’s inexpensive and travel costs (flights, accommodation) can be eliminated
2) It’s convenient because it is available anywhere, at anytime.
3) It is self-directed which means learners can work at their own pace and when they are ready to do so.
4) Its private and learners can study in an environment which is comfortable for them.
5) It is consistent- delivered the same way for each participant
6) It is easily updated- changes to legislation etc can be changed quickly and with minimal cost
7) It helps learners to developed solid computer literacy skills

I’ve had two experiences with e-learning. One good and one bad, and not just because of the way in which it was delivered via e-learning.

The first was my Masters in Adult Education with UTS. It was fantastic. I felt supported by my lecturers, I interacted with other students online and I really learned a lot. The systems were easy to use, easy to access, and it really suited me because I was working full-time and I could study when I had the time i.e. according to the peaks and troughs of my job. I knew what I needed to learn, and why I was learning it from the interaction with others in my program and the online conversations with the teaching staff.

The second was a Cert 4 in Training and Assessment. It was delivered online in such an appalling way that I ended up withdrawing from the course. It was clunky, difficult to use (and I’m Gen Y and pretty good on the interwebs!) and not-interactive at all. I would read through the content and then it would ask me questions where I would just need to regurgitate the answer. Most of the time, I didn’t even know why I needed to know some of the content.

In thinking about how adults learn and Knowles theory of andragogy, I think there are a few basic principles that should be followed for e-learning:

Adults need to know why they are learning something, and this is enhanced when it is reinforced by dialogue with others
Learning should be an activity- not content to be ‘covered’ or ‘memorized’. The learning ‘experience’ is important
It should be self-directed and allow adults to discover or find out things on their own, but with support of others
Adults will be more interested when it is relevant to them- ‘what’s in it for me?’ – will it help me in my current job or help me get the next promotion?

What are your experiences with e-learning at University or in the workplace?

Want to Take Courses From MIT?

Plish — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:40:55 +0000

This is really cool and a great resource. MIT is providing lecture notes, exams and videos for many

Le Web et le futur de l'éducation

François — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:10:35 +0000

Le centre Hellenic Cosmos le soir

La relation entre le web et l’éducation peut et doit être une association à bénéfice réciproque. Julia Minguillon, du département informatique et médias de l’Université Libre de Catalogne, nous le démontre à travers l’histoire et le futur de la rencontre entre web et éducation.
L’UOC, université qui propose uniquement de l’enseignement à distance, compte en 2009 34 000 étudiants, et propose des enseignements en catalan, espagnol et anglais débouchant sur 20 diplômes différents. En 1994, elle ne comptait que 200 étudiants pour 2 diplômes. Ces chiffres reflètent les changements énormes qui ont eu lieu durant ces 15 dernières années.
Pendant longtemps, le e-learning a été vu comme un parent pauvre des systèmes d’éducation classiques. De moindre qualité, l’enseignement à distance permet ce “apprendre quand je veux, où je veux” ; l’étudiant classique a une quarantaine d’année, a un emploi. Il reçoit des contenus, mais il est isolé, et n’a pas d’interactions avec des professeurs ou d’autres étudiants.
Désormais, grâce à l’apparition du web 2.0, le statut du e-learning a changé. Il s’appelle désormais web-based learning. Les mots d’ordre en sont : personnalisation, abondance de contenu, liberté. L’interaction est placée au coeur de l’apprentissage. Cette direction est promue par le processus de Bologne (qui vise à créer une European Higher Education Area).
Dans le futur, les ressources pour l’éducation seront disponibles pour tous. L’apprentissage sera centré sur la capacité à créer des liens entre les objets (c’est le connectivisme). Le méta-apprentissage, c’est à dire l’ “apprendre à apprendre” deviendra essentiel. Et l’apprentissage devra se faire tout au long de la vie.

Minguillon mentionne (trop) rapidement le fait que c’est la technologie qui permet l’apparition de ces nouvelles formes d’apprentissage. Au delà de ce rôle passif de permission, je crois que la technologie est surtout une formidable force d’entraînement. C’est peut être l’observation de nouveaux usages sur internet (construction collaborative de savoirs et d’outils, vagabondage et sérendipité, évaluation collective des contenus) qui permet aujourd’hui la réactivation des théories sur l’”apprentissage actif” ou “métaapprentissage” (voir par exemple le knowledge building). Si l’on considère également les capacités d’accueil limitées des universités classiques, et l’afflux massif de nouveaux étudiants* dans les prochaines années dans les pays en développement, il devient évident que nous devons dès maintenant prendre un tournant radical et imaginer de nouvelles formes d’éducation utilisant à plein les possibilités du web.

* Un petit chiffre calculé à la louche : en France, d’après le ministère, environ 1.78 millions de personnes sont engagées dans des études supérieures (environ 1 habitant sur 40). En Inde, c’est le cas de seulement une personne sur 100 (il y a 10 millions d’étudiants Indiens répartis dans plus de 300 universités). Dans une vingtaine d’année, si l’Inde a atteint un niveau de développement comparable au nôtre, elle comptera 40 millions d’étudiants (1 sur 40 de ses 1.5 milliards d’habitants). Ce seront donc 30 millions de nouveaux étudiants auxquels l’Inde devra faire face. Si les systèmes d’éducation ne changent pas, alors l’Inde devra construire une université à la capacité d’accueil de 30000 étudiants toutes les semaines pendant les 20 prochaines années.

A comparison of the linguistic and interactional features of language learning websites and textbooks

Callier Library — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:48:10 +0000

Self-study is playing an increasingly important role in the learning and instruction of many subjects, including second and foreign languages. With the rapid development of the internet, language websites for self-study are flourishing. While the language of print-based teaching materials has received some attention, the linguistic and interactional features of websites are largely ignored by educationists, and online learning materials are regarded as simply duplicates of their print-based counterparts. This is far from satisfactory because web-based and print-based materials are very different tools with which participants negotiate their learning activities. This paper examines the linguistic and interactional features of English learning websites in terms of (1) their lexical density/clause length; (2) referential cohesion, particularly the use of personal pronouns; and (3) the presence of involvement strategies and other interactional features. These features are compared with those in textbooks to examine how websites deviate from traditional instructional texts. It is found that both clause and lexical density are greater on websites than in traditional textbooks. Websites make more use of the personal pronouns ‘I’ and ‘you’, whereas textbooks make more use of the authoritative ‘we’. Websites are also more interactional in terms of their use of involvement strategies, imperative structures and modals. These findings highlight the different contexts of textbooks and websites, particularly the different nature of the two channels and their credibility as information sources. This has practical implications for the design of appropriate online instructional resources.

from Computer Assisted Language Learning

Samples of Web 2.0 technologies

mariaebner — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 15:40:15 +0000

1. Wiki Software: http://www.wikispaces.com/ http://pbwiki.com/academic.wiki http://www.wetpaint.com

Web-Based Learning

thinktep — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:46:00 +0000

Web-Based Learning solusi distance and individual learning web-based learning|1 Web atau sering dise

Web-based Learning

mariaebner — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:48:23 +0000

Facilitator: Maria Ebner, Graduate Teaching Fellow Session 2, 2:30-3:45 Register for this ses

A Vision of Students Today (& What Teachers MUST do)

mariaebner — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:58:00 +0000

When I stumbled upon the video below some weeks ago I started seriously thinking about how technolog

E-Learning

brookeshields56 — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:42:02 +0000

E-Learning has become very popular with high fuel costs and limited employee time. Many companies today have turned to web based learning for education and training of their workforce. With advances in new web application tools, video blogs, corporate training via the Internet is a must have for companies competing in a rapidly changing global environment.

TrainingPro provides E-Learning courses compliance to the loan and mortgage industry. Using the web provides the business with an information hungry market that wants to learn any place and anytime. IDC forecast the E-Learning market to reach 14 billion this year of 2008.

From Assessment to Practice is now available for your review in the archives

jdondoyle — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:23:44 +0000

Advancing Health Literacy: Meeting the Needs of Adult Learners

The original event was broadcast on:
Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Time: 1:00 PM EDT
Duration: Approximately 2 1/2 hours

http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=119081&s=1&k=A39B69F8A12955226EB4BD098E4945EA

Three Fee-Free Library Webinars from MaintainIT: Laptops, Training, and Gaming

jdondoyle — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:21:29 +0000

From the LIS blog: Join us for these free webinars. Attend this session from your library, no travel needed!

Complete info at: http://lisnews.org/three_fee_free_library_webinars_maintainit_laptops_training_and_gaming

Distance Education and E-Learning - Past, Present and Future

alexcreatorseo — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:35:26 +0000

Buzzwords in education have been in existence since the on-set of formal education as we know it today. Many of these terms come and go based on their usage and their context but some terminologies have withstood the test of time. Let us take a look at some of the common terms along with the chronology of how they evolved.

Although often used interchangeably, there is distinction between distance education and distance learning. Distance education takes place using print-based and electronic learning resources. Learners are connected to resources, instructors, and to other learners, and they tend to be separated by time and/or geographic/physical distance. Distance learning on the other hand is the actual system and the process, which connects a group of learners with the distributed learning resources. Learning takes place in various different forms but in general learners, instructors, and the necessary resources are separated by time and space.

Distance learning has over the years transitioned to online distance learning. It tends to utilize synchronous and asynchronous tools, and learning and communication methods. Synchronous learning uses electronically delivered teaching and learning with participants simultaneously and directly connected and communicating. On the other hand asynchronous learning is characterized by a time lag in communication.

A while back, along came e-learning! Electronic learning (e-learning) is defined as the delivery of instructional content using electronic means such as the Internet, intranets, audio and video equipment, web conferencing, virtual classrooms, CD-ROM, and more recently Web 2.0 tools. Simply put, e-learning is another mode of technology-aided teaching and learning. In the last few years, it has come to replace terms such as audio-visual learning, computer-based learning, web-based learning, online learning, and other buzz terms of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

E-learning is moving toward total automation of teaching and learning processes using software known as Learning Management Systems (LMS). To facilitate the development of courses that utilize Internet-based technologies, more and more colleges, universities, and businesses have embraced both open source and proprietary LMS tools. A growing trend in e-learning is the use of “hybrid” or “blended” or “multimodal” instructional approaches that replace or supplement partial in-class instruction with technologically enabled teaching and learning, which in many cases utilizes many tools bundled in the LMS.

Along the same lines many students engaged in e-learning may not be geographically distanced from the institution. For example, learners may be traditional learners living on campus or nearby yet taking course partially or fully online. This is often linked to the need for flexibility in personal (family) responsibilities and work schedules. Taking advantage of e-learning adds an extra layer of flexibility. In fact some people see distance learning as not being synonymous with e-learning, argue the point that distance learning is a generic term that presently happens to use the Internet as a vehicle. Thus, the position presented is that while distance education and e-learning do overlap, they are not identical but complementary.

E-learning is growing rapidly and is often associated with the Internet. There are however other modes of learning that are growing at a considerable rate too. Mobile learning (m-learning) for instance, is a rapidly growing innovation that has the advantage of allowing learners to be “on the move while learning. In other words, multi-tasking, for example jogging or listening to recorded lectures while driving to work. Therefore, m-learning is an extension of e-learning, which uses mobile (cell) phones, Personal digital assistants (PDA), and MP3 players (with iPods and podcasting being the mostly widely used). In places where bandwidth is limited m-learning is growing at a rapid rate.

As the technology gets more affordable and readily available, educational options will continue to expand. For those looking for flexibility due to family and work commitments, e-learning and m-learning may be an option to consider. For organizations and institutions looking to train employees without having to trade-off on productivity, time, cost, or hiring a consultant, this is also an option to consider.

Education Goes Online: 25 Free Online Education Resources

bedoin — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:10:31 +0000

We learned on Friday that you can now select a YouTube-related course
through Pitzer College. But while a course about YouTube is surprising
to some, the web is actually a treasure trove of education-related
resources, including lots of video lectures, educational wikis and
podcasts. The key sites for modern, web-based learning are outlined
below – feel free to add more in the comments.

—-

Courses From Organizations

Annenberg Media

ArsDigita University

BBC Learning – Online courses from the British Broadcasting Corporation.

BruinCast – UCLA course lectures.

Chinese University Lectures – Hundreds of lectures from fourteen well known Chinese universities.

iTunes U – Huge repository of course podcasts from well known universities.

Learning from YouTube – Pitzer College lectures on YouTube (read more here).

MIT OpenCourseWare – Classes on anything from history to urban studies, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

MIT World – Tons of lectures from different speakers at MIT.

MITE AP Courses – Free Montrey Institute AP courses.

Open Learning Initiative – Learn engineering, reasoning, chemistry, and much more from Carnegie Mellon University.

Project Gutenberg – Thousands of free eBooks, including many course textbooks.

Sofia – Take CC-licensed courses from small colleges.

SWTC CourseCasts – Lectures on everything from debt to microbiology, from Southwest Wisconsin Technical College.

The Open University OpenLearn – Great Britain’s first open learning university offers free courses from health care to William Wilberforce.

UC Berkley Webcasts – Get audio and video netcasts from one of the best known universities in the country.

UChannel – Princeton-sponsored online lectures.

Utah State University OpenCourseWare – Learn everything from theatre production to cattle management from Utah State University.

W3Schools – Tons of free online web developer tutorials.

Western Kentucky University Distance Learning Podcasts & VODcasts – Read, listen to, and watch lectures from WKU.

Link to This Post

Página Principal

eamontero — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 13:22:05 +0000

La gradual adaptación del sistema universitario español al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior requerirá de los profesores universitarios un aumento de su repertorio docente, dado el mayor número de actividades docentes que computarán en la valoración del trabajo desarrollado por los estudiantes. Además, se hace necesario que la actividad docente se enfoque hacia aquellas habilidades y conocimientos que sean relevantes en la vida profesional de los titulados. Esto es especialmente importante en la formación de los ingenieros, pues la tecnología y los modos de organización empresarial cambian tan rápidamente que exigen una formación de base bien fundamentada que tenga vigencia durante mucho tiempo.

Entre este tipo de innovaciones docentes figuran el aprendizaje colaborativo y el aprendizaje basado en problemas, muy vinculadas entre sí. El aprendizaje basado en problemas es una metodología docente en la que los estudiantes trabajan con un problema en el que deben identificar qué necesitan aprender y qué recursos han de emplear para alcanzar una solución valiosa. En la medida en que cada estudiante posee distinto conocimiento y experiencia, cada uno de ellos puede dirigir su aprendizaje en función de sus necesidades y aspiraciones. Al dar a los estudiantes la oportunidad de asumir esta responsabilidad, bajo la guía del profesor, se les prepara para ser más eficaces y eficientes en su aprendizaje a largo plazo, aspecto crucial para una profesión como la ingeniería en la que aparecen continuamente nuevos problemas y nueva información a un ritmo exponencial.

Frente al modo tradicional de enseñanza basado en que el profesor decide qué conocimientos son importantes que el alumno aprenda, muchos de los cuales resultarán inservibles o anticuados enseguida en la vida profesional real, se propone un método en el que el alumno aprenda a decidir qué necesita aprender y a buscar los recursos apropiados para hacerlo. Recursos son el profesor, que actúa entonces como un consultor, otros profesores o expertos, así como libros, revistas o las tecnologías de la información. La enseñanza deja de estar centrada en el profesor y pasa a estar centrada en el estudiante.

Alternate Teaching Models: Behavioral Models

genealogyeducation — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 17:01:33 +0000

Based on the work of Skinner, a large number of approaches to learning have been developed, each taking advantage of the learner’s ability to modify behavior in response to tasks and feedback. Essentially, stimulus and response. These models are used in a wide variety of applications, from teaching information to changing habits, decreasing phobias, and learning to control one’s own behavior. In genealogy education I see this as most applicable to the learning of definitions, for example. The teacher supplies a list of terms to be learned by rote, and tests them. As I understand it if I assigned a list of terms to be memorized like
dower right
heritable lease
feme sole
relic

Then tested their knowledge with a quiz wherein they match the terms with definitions. This would be a behavioral approach.

One of the important applications of behavioral systems theory is in the development of systems that enable learning tasks to be regulated according to the progress of the learners and which teach students to pace themselves for optimal performance. Programmed learning, in other words. When the learner selects the correct definition he is rewarded. when an incorrect choice is made, the learner is cycled through a different channel to re-approach the same question disguised. Or to put it another way, these behavioral modelled programmed learning activities organize material to be learned in small sequenced instructional modules that are presented to the students with assessments of learning embedded in them.

Some of these behaviorally-based teaching models include mastery learning, direct instruction, contingency management, and self-training through simulation. Frankly it takes a very skilled instructional designer to pull this off, and rarely is done even moderately well in genealogy instruction. This leads to research performance problems. Back when “book ‘em Dano” was commonly uttered by youngsters in Hawaii, and I was a student at Brigham Young University Hawaii, my instructional design prof made me read, Analyzing Performance problems or “You Really Oughta Wanna” by Robert Mager and Peter Pipe (Pearon Publishers, 1970). This is a guide to fine tuning behaviorist approaches to learning that failed. Still an interesting read if you can find it.

Apprentice Adventures #6

genealogyeducation — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 12:04:32 +0000

Spent almost three hours with the apprentice on Wednesday. She’s really pumped up from her reading and studies. She’s been finishing an excellent course, “Researching in the Family history Center” developed by Dr. Penny Christensen for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies and has come back every day excited by new discoveries. And while this was great, she was excited to tell me about reading Helen F.M. Leary’s “Problem Analyses and Research Plans” chapter 14 in Elizabeth Shown Mills, Professional Genealogy: A manual for researchers, writers, editors, lecturers and librarians. (Genealogical Publishing, 2001) . Let me tell you a bit about what she experienced.

As Barb worked her way through the section on “Detailed Analysis” starting on page 262 every brick-wall problem she has encountered in recent years came surging to mind. And ass she read through Helen’s four tests, she kept interrupting the reading to pull out the problems and scribble down fresh ideas to overcome them.

And by the time she arrived on page 269, “Plan Development” ” she was ready to to put action plans together. She confessed that the other reading assignments were abandoned, and she put her energy into some new directions in her research.

It is wonderful to see the lights go on!

This week she’s catching up on reading. There’s a Connie Lenzen case study, and Christine Rose’s book on the Genealogical Proof Standard. And a David Dilts article on using research logs
She keeps wondering when she starts on my projects. So I gave her a copy of Reassembling Female Lives. A Special Issue of The National Genealogical Society Quarterly (NGSQ Vol. 88, No.3 Sep 2000) and assigned Kay Ingalls article “Cherchez la femme! Looking for Female Ancestors” pages 165-178. We are going to build a series of workshop kits on researching female ancestors.
As a sidelight, my apprentice suddenly asked me, “Do you know Helen Leary?” So I told her about hearing Helen speak at the National Genealogical Society conference in Milwaukee and later having lunch with her twice in Toronto. Those who know Helen’s work can imagine how impressed I was with these encounters and others. Helen is a great teacher. She’s one of my genealogy heroes.