Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Business Value of eLearning - Elevator Pitches Needed

April 2008's Big Question was What would you like to do better as a Learning Professional?

The responses to this question were quite varied. It was interesting to see that the first two responses both dealt with selling the business value of eLearning.

Shaun tells us:
I need to be able to sell the ROI on learning better. and
How can I better impress the value of eLearning across the organization?
And from his post, its clear he's not unsophisticated around it. Jay Cross will tell you to forget ROI, but I'm not so sure that you can dismiss the notion that you have to explain the business value of what you are doing ahead of it in order to sell it in the organization.

Michael says pretty much the same thing:
Really improve my "elevator pitch" to really convince sceptical behind-the-curve C-level executives that learning and development initiatives are actually going to grow their business, not send it into a Hindenburg-like crash and burn.
I really wonder if we can't help Michael out a bit by suggesting elevator pitches. There's no single right answer here, but seeing a few examples would be good. So ...
What do you say in your organization or to your clients that help explain the business value of eLearning?

In other words, what's your elevator pitch?

MeadMap Announced

The MeadWestvaco Corporation announced today the release of MeadMap a new online collaborative visual mapping application. To those of you who are familiar with CoMapping you will see a real similarity, since MeadMapping is based on the underlying technology found in the CoMapping application. MeadMap has the same feature set from what I can tell and they are offering a free 30 day trial so that you can try it out. Meadmap has lots of collaborative features so that you can invite others to edit and review your visual maps. You can also publish your maps to the internet or a blog by embedding the map within a page. I found Meadmap very easy to use and if you have been using CoMapping then the transition will be minimal.

Monday, April 28, 2008

100 eLearning Articles and White Papers

My collection of eLearning Articles, White Papers, Blog Posts, etc. just reached 100. Thought I'd share. No particular order to these.

1. Creating Passionate Users: Crash course in learning theory

2. Keeping Up with the Pace of Change

Informal learning will help employees survive in the future workplace

3. Understanding E-Learning 2.0

There are some very interesting changes going on in the world of e-learning that seem to have crept up on practitioners.

4. eLearn magazine: Feature Article

Ten Web 2.0 Things You Can Do in Ten Minutes to Be a More Successful E-learning Professional By Stephen Downes, National Research Council Canada

5. 2007 Training Industry Report Summary

This report covers stats on the industry's trends and growth over the last year and will appear in the upcoming Training magazine edition.

6. Web 2.0: A New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Learning? (EDUCAUSE Review) | EDUCAUSE CONNECT

7. eLearn: Opinions

Good short article on characteristics of 2.0 collaboration

8. e-learning 2.0 Infiltrates the Classroom - ReadWriteWeb

9. Technology Integration Matrix

Together, the five levels of technology integration and the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments create a matrix of 25 cells as illustrated below. Each cell is supported with video examples.

10. Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education (Techlearning blog)

11. eLearn: Case Studies - The Reluctant Online Professor

12. Seven Tips for Making the Most of Your RSS Reader

13. Managing the Complexity of Forming an Online Networking Community:

14. Innovate: Moving from Theory to Real-World Experiences in an e-Learning Community

15. Building community in an online learning environment: communication, cooperation and collaboration

16. Storyboards & eLearning (Pt. 1) " EduTech gEEks...We're a new brEEd

Still new on campus, social software tools can support students and staff beyond the classroom, reaching around the world for learning and communication

17. We Learning, Part II

Second part of an interesting article - We Learning: Social Software and E-Learning, Part II.

18. E-Performance Essentials: ELearning and Social Software

An interesting article - Early e-learning traded technology for human interaction. Now, the personal element is being added<sep/>

19. eLearn: In Depth Tutorials - Designing and Developing E-learning Projects: A Three-Tiered Approach

20. Clive on Learning: In-house, out-house, that old question

21. Newbie's guide to Twitter | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone

22. Ten Excellent Online Apps For the Innovative Teacher

23. Mzinga : White Paper Series : eLearning 2.0 & Communities 2.0

24. Learning Networks and Connective Knowledge

25. The Bamboo Project Blog: My Personal Learning Environment

An example of a PLE

26. Project Management and E-Learning: MORE is Worse

27. Horizon Report 2008

The annual Horizon Report seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression within learning-focused organizations.

28. Beyond Text: using your voice online

29. The Technology Source Archives - Seven Principles of Effective Teaching: A Practical Lens for Evaluating Online Courses

30. The New Learning Landscape - Using Wiki in Education -

How do students learn in a world where traditional assessments of intelligence are radically changing, abundant knowledge is more readily available, and learning community is more important than ever? By Stewart Mader

31. A third of teachers 'struggle with technology' | E-learning | EducationGuardian.co.uk

A third of teachers struggle to use the technology schools are equipped with and want more support and training, the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) said today. NFER's first Teacher Voice Omnibus Survey (TVOS), which was completed b

32. KnowledgeWorks - Map of Future Forces Affecting Education - Education Map

interactive map about future forces of education

33. eLearning Reviews: research on elearning

Provides those interested in research on elearning with concise and thoughtful reviews of relevant publications.

34. How Students Develop Online Learning Skills (EDUCAUSE Quarterly) | EDUCAUSE CONNECT

35. Steve Hargadon: Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education

36. eLearn: Feature Article

E-learning 2.0

37. eLearn: Best Practices - What do you mean when you say usability?

38. Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0

39. Mental Model Musings

40. eLearn: In Depth TutorialsDesigning Usable, Self-Paced e-Learning Courses: A Practical Guide

41. The Ultimate Student Resource List - Lifehack.org

42. Instructional design - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

43. Podcast on Social Networking in Project-Based Learning | Beyond School

44. games2train.com: Marc Prensky - Twitch Speed

45. Learning and Networking with a Blog (Deleted Scenes) : eLearning Technology

46. Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0 (EDUCAUSE Review) | EDUCAUSE CONNECT

47. Instructables - The World's Biggest DIY & How To Show & Tell

48. Really Fast Storyboarding for E-Learning Projects - DSA Learning & Performance Tips Newsletter

49. Creating Scripts and Storyboards for e-Learning

50. Infinite Thinking Machine

51. 10 Universities Offering Free Writing Courses Online -- Education-Portal.com

52. Innovate: Uses and Potentials of Wikis in the Classroom

53. Online Schooling Grows, Setting Off a Debate

54. Back to School with the Class of Web 2.0: Part 1

55. Project Based Learning Checklists

56. Just-in-time vs. Just-in-case learning

57. Knowing Knowledge: Home

Knowledge is changing. It develops faster, it changes more quickly, and it is more central to organizational success than in any other time in history. Our schools, universities, corporations, and non-profit organizations, need to adapt. We need to chang

58. Elgg, Drupal, and Moodle -- the components of an online learning environment | FunnyMonkey - Tools for Teachers

59. E-Learning & Web 2.0

60. Bloom's Taxonomy

61. e-learning 2.0: All You Need To Know - ReadWriteWeb

62. The Art of Building Virtual Communities (Techlearning blog)

63. Personal Learning Environments Wiki - JITT

64. The Wales-Wide Web | Personal Learning Environments

65. Innovate: Collecting, Organizing, and Managing Resources for Teaching Educational Games the Wiki Way

66. What Steve Jobs Can Teach You About Designing E-Learning - The Rapid eLearning Blog

67. The Social Affordances of the Internet for Networked Individualism

68. Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction: An Introduction

Just as Malcolm Knowles is widely regarded as the father of adult learning theory, Robert Gagne is considered to be the foremost researcher and contributor to the systematic approach to instructional design and training. Gagne and his followers are known

69. 10 Signs of Intelligent Life at YouTube (Smart Video Collections) | Open Culture

70. 10 Ways to Make Your iPod a Better Learning Gadget | Open Culture

71. Critical Thinking in an Online World

72. The Bazaar - Bazaar project " Personal Learning Environments

73. Podcasting and education - White Paper

74. A Big List of Sites That Teach You How To Do Stuff

75. Inside Outside, Upside Downside Strategies for Connecting Online and Face-to-Face Instruction in Hybrid Courses

76. How to take a course at MIT free -- at home

77. Online Copywriting 101: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet — Part 2

78. The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age " I. Overview

79. · e-Learning and the ADDIE Model

For best results, the development process for CD-ROM or Web-based training programs should use a modified ADDIE model, which borrows from the most valuable aspects of the systemic approach. Specifically, a rapid prototype phase is inserted after, or as an

80. The Top Web-Based Education Resources

81. Google Scholar - a new way of navigating through scholarly materials

82. The Self-Directed Student Toolbox: 100 Web Resources for Lifelong Learners | OEDb

83. Collaborative Learning Using Web 2.0 Tools - A Summary : eLearning Technology

84. Theories and models of and for online learning

85. The newsletter for the Association for Learning Technology: Using a Virtual Learning Environment to motivate learners

86. Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds - Kaiser Family Foundation

87. How Adults Learn :: Ageless Learner

88. eLearning & Deliberative Moments: The present and future of Personal Learning Environments (PLE)

This post is recast from an assignment I completed about four months ago in a Masters Degree course entitled Innovative Practice and Emerging ICT, in which I investigated what PLEs are meant to be and where they might be going. It was originally part of a

89. CREST+ Model: Writing Effective Online Discussion Questions

90. 10 Damaging E-learning Myths (elearningpost)

These myths seem to be spreading at an infectious pace. This list gives us an opportunity to look again at the assumptions and beliefs that have come to define our dealings with customers.

91. Reflective Learning Future Thinking (pdf Object)

This paper summarises the results of the Reflective Learning, Future Thinking research seminar jointly held by ALT, SURF and ILTA at Trinity College Dublin. At this seminar 50 leading researchers from three nations came together to share thoughts about th

92. Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century

93. Social software: E-learning beyond learning management systems

94. eLearn: Case Studies - The Reluctant Online Professor

95. Color Theory for web designers - Colors on the Web - color combination, color wheel, color schemes

96. Ten Web 2.0 things you can do in ten minutes to be a more successful e-learning professional

97. Learning Networks and Connective Knowledge

98. John Seely Brown: Growing Up Digital

Growing Up Digital: How the Web Changes Work, Education, and the Ways People Learn

99. Futurelab - Research - Publications - Social software and learning

100. Assessing Learning Management Systems

Learning Objective

Through the comments in Blog Learning (itself about learning through discussions on blogs) something hit me. Stephen Downes and Jay Cross would say this is a "no duh." But I had just never formulated it this way.

The comment was roughly that this blog (eLearningTechnology)
'has significantly more than the new learner "needs" to know. '
I would hope so!

But it also made me realize that someone might come to this blog thinking that it's purpose was to help them learn. And that the core objective might be to help a "new learner."

What's the learning objective associated with this blog? I hate to be so self serving, but the objective is really to help my personal learning. To a lesser extent the learning objective is to help other people learn.

In other words, the objective of this blog is not really to try to teach the readers a particular set of things. I hope that each post offers insights into a topic. It may spark some thoughts. Cause us to have a discussion.

But what do I post about? Well it's what I found interesting at that moment and what's meaningful to me that I think might also be meaningful and useful to you.

When you boil it down, there's learning on both sides - but the intent is first to support my learning (my personal learning objectives) - I don't really know you well enough to try to support your learning in any meaningful way. That's up to you. I hope my blog is part of that.

Of course, I may have just learned something myself - and maybe you did also. :)

90-9-1 Rule aka 1% Rule in Collaborative Environments

I was just talking to someone who is regular reader of my blog and they claimed that I had never officially posted about the 90-9-1 Rule which is often referred to as the 1% Rule. Basically this rule tells us that in collaborative environments, e.g., discussion groups, wikis, etc. for every 100 people that sign up:
  • 90 will lurk (read with no active participation)
  • 9 will participate in a limited fashion (maybe rate or comment periodically)
  • 1 will regularly post content
Of course, you can try to improve those percentages through:
  • Incentives or requirements (students must blog - it's graded)
  • Community cohesion
  • Focus (short time frame, limited topic)
  • Integrated as natural activity
and other adoption models. Still, be careful about overselling the amount of adoption.

And even with these efforts and while some environments differ in their participation rates, there is often a similar spread of participation which can be a big problem for the effectiveness of social solutions. Think about it:
To get 10 active content contributors, you need an audience of size 1,000.
More information:

Wikipedia article: 1% Rule
Guardian article: "What is the 1% rule?"
"The 1% Rule: Charting citizen participation
Quantitative Analysis Of User Generated Content (PDF) - paper

Reframing Conference Social Tool Participation

Through my recent post: Social Conference Tools - Expect Poor Results I've received a bit of feedback on being such a pessimist (Dave Ferguson) and a great comment from Sue Waters that made me realize I needed to reframe the problem. I've been disappointed by the low participation rates and generally haven't seen that much value from these tools. But, most of the tools provided are aimed at trying to get everyone in the conference to use the tools.

Instead, if we believe the 90-9-1 Rule, then the real questions should be:
  • How can we create systems that when they are adopted by 1% of the population, we can provide value for the rest of the conference attendees and appropriately reward the 1%ers?
  • What can we provide for the 9%ers so they can make lightweight contributions that add value?
  • How can we effectively integrate the 90%ers so they get value from the 9%ers and the 1%ers?
I'm not sure I have answers here, but at least it gets me to think about the problem differently, and I'm more hopeful to find answers to these questions than trying to get greater participation among the entire conference audience.

One warning about this ... I'm not sure I can count every conference attendee as even a 90%er. Are they even going to enroll in the collaborative system? So, for a conference with 1,000 attendees, how many participants can you realistically expect. There will be anomalies (e.g., a Web 2.0 conference).

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Inserting a YouTube Video into Your Google Presentation

As I reported it is now possible to embed a YouTube video in your Google Presentation by simply using the Insert Video command and then searching for the video you would like to use. It is best to do your search within YouTube since it will help you to sort out which keywords to use to search for the video you will use. Here is a very simple Google Presentation showing you what a YouTube video looks like when it is embedded in your slide. I embedded a YouTube video that I created showing how you can Hide and Show the Ribbon in MindManager 7. Enjoy!

Friday, April 25, 2008

Meeting the Visual Strategist- Kyle McFarlin

It was a real treat to have the time to meet with Kyle McFarlin, the Visual Strategist, this weekend in Cleveland, OH. Having spoken a number of times on the phone and on Skype it is always great fun to finally meet Kyle in person. We had a chance to speak about the state of visual mapping and to catch up with one another. Kyle and I spoke about the upcoming visual mapping event on October 1, 2008 and how excited he is to be able to participate in it. The theme for the event is: Intelligent Visual Mapping: graphical information management, solving your real world problems. Join us for this wonderful event on:



Wednesday, October 01, 2008 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
College of St. Elizabeth
2 Convent Road
Morristown, NJ 07960
USA

To Register for the event click here


Google Apps- New Features

I have been a big fan of Google Apps and with each passing day the suite of applications keeps getting better and better. Today Google added two new features which I thought would be of interested to you. Google Presents just added the ability to add Speaker Notes which is certainly a really nice feature. You can access the feature when editing a slide- simply click on the Speaker icon on the bottom right of the slide.


This will open up a window where you can type your notes. With the release of this upgrade we will now have the ability to embed a YouTube video right within a Google Presentation. I'm sure this is going to be a big feature and one that most users will delighted to have. Enjoy the new features and isn't great that all we have to do to access these features is point our browser to Google Apps.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Workshop IDS 11.50 (Lisbon 26-28 May)

As the title suggests this post refers to a workshop that will be held in Lisbon on May 26-28 about IDS 11.50 (Cheetah 2).
As this will be a local Workshop the rest of the post will be in Portuguese. Information about other locations can be seen at the IIUG site

A IBM irá realizar um workshop para parceiros e clientes dedicado à versão 11.50 do IDS em Lisboa. Ao contrário de outras localizações, onde o workshop será de dois dias, Lisboa terá um evento de três dias, tendo como objectivo rever algumas das funcionalidades da versão 11.10 lançada o ano passado.

O workshop servirá para transmitir o posicionamento do produto e as novas funcionalidades desta versão que se encontra nesta altura em fase open beta. Os participantes poderão experimentar o produto e as novas funcionalidades em ambientes pré-configurados.
Será também uma excelente oportunidade para conhecer os serviços técnicos que a IBM disponibiliza.

A forma de registo deverá ser anunciada brevemente, e se participou em algum dos eventos anteriores relacionados com Informix é provável que receba um convite. De momento a única informação disponível publicamente está no site do IIUG (link acima), mas em caso de interesse reserve desde já os dias indicados: 26, 27 e 28 de Maio.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Social Conference Tools - Expect Poor Results

I saw a post by David Warlick - Reaching Out With Your Conference where he suggests that conference organizers should:
  • Consider a social network for your conference. Although I remain skeptical about social networks, social networking is essential, and a few conferences have made brilliant use of them.
  • Give presenters a wiki page to spread out their session descriptions, post presentation commercials, and generate discussion through the commenting feature.
  • Give exhibitors a wiki page to spread out their description and to add special offers, schedules of booth presentations, and codes for door prizes.
  • Establish and CLEARLY advertise conference tags for bloggers and photographers.
  • Either aggregate photos and blog entries, or set up a conference page on Hitchhikr and link to that. (I’m considering doing a major rebuild of Hitchhikr.)
  • Generate a tag cloud that represents the conversation that is the conference.
  • If you have a social network or are connecting to profiles in some other way, ask attendees (physical & virtual) what’s on their radar, and post that, perhaps as a tag cloud.
  • Keep the conference web site going. Continue to maintain it. Post videos and audio podcasts of sessions. It’s good for your community, and good advertising for your conference.
A lot of these I think are really good ideas in theory and I'm constantly waiting for them to take off. Actually, I'm continually trying to figure out how to make conferences more effective use of time. And I've actually talked about this quite in posts such as:
I think there are some really good ideas in David's post and in some of these other posts. And, I've been happy to see various conferences about some of these practices - and I encourage them to keep it up.

However, ...

My basic feeling is that there's a fundamental flaw in all of these ideas that lead to poor results. The flaw is that it appears that people are quite willing to attend conferences without any up-front effort, back-end effort and probably the minimum effort during the conference. I posted how to Be an Insanely Great Professional Conference Attendee, but the requirement is to do some work to figure out what you really are trying to get out of the conference. It takes some time (but not a lot). Do attendees do this? It's rare.

In addition to the lack of effort, there's another big problem - lack of skills and experience. I've questioned before Conference Networking Tools - Do They Work?
and the answer is that most of these tools are not very good. I've recently tried to use the one associated with the ASTD conference. It's not going to help me connect with people. I feel I'm relatively adept at networking via online tools, and have talked about how I use tools ahead of events Secret for Networking at Events - Prenetworking it's still really tough.

Based on what I've seen, I question whether it makes much sense for organizers to spend time on these things.

Let me try to summarize - these ideas are great, but they are social solutions that require participation and we don't get participation because of lack of effort and lack of skills.

WriteOnline Demo

I received a comment today from Jim who has been beta testing WriteOnline and he was kind enough to send me a link meets Web 2.0 for to get a better idea of the features and capabilities of WriteOnline. As Tim said- WriteOnlineassistive technology. Crick Software as certainly raised the bar and has found a way to give students access to the tools and supports they need wherever they are as long as they are connected to the web.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Blog Learning

Something I (probably too often) talk about is learning via a blog. It certainly is a great lens to have in viewing the world. It puts you into a learning mode. It naturally builds a network of learning cohorts. Simply put, it's a wonderful learning tool.

But what struck me recently is how great the feedback and interaction can be. In other words, I'm learning via blog comments and blog posts by other bloggers - likely much more than anyone reading the blog itself.

In some cases, I've set out with a specific information need and asking for input:
On the last of these, I was steered away from a particular approach to a session. This was great learning. Come to find out, people don't like those small break out sessions at most conferences either. I've seen them so often, I just assumed I should be doing them also. Blog learning!

In many cases, I post my thoughts and someone comes in to correct me or redirect my thinking. Take a look at:
I started with a kind of inquiry and found myself realizing that one of the citations I gave was an example of a badly designed course teaching about instructional design.

But one of the best kinds of examples comes out of discussions such as in the following:
I originally posted a thought. Then people came in to clarify it and redirect my thinking. I was originally thinking of a pretty limited case - looking up a phone number. How that's changed. And I may still use that. But consider how rich the problem is as described by a comment over the weekend:
I'm running through the same questions in regards to a certification desk of help desk technicians in my office. What is more valuable to the company - a technician that knows the answers, or a technician that knows how to look up the anwers. I'm coming to the point where I am leaning in both directions, and it's kind of making me angry internally for not being able to come to a conclusion.

One one hand - a person who knows the answer immediately sounds more professional (gives a sense of knowledge when speaking to the customer), and resolves problems more quickly.

On the other - a person who knows how to look something up is generally more capable of finding the correct answer, at the expense of a) time spent looking up the correct answer and b) looking like they do not know anything because they constantly need to go for help.

I have a similar issue when it comes down to people who 'understand' the material vs people who look up the answers. I can train almost anyone to fetch an answer from a database, but what is more valuable - a person who truly understands the material and understands why doing action A leads to result B, or person who looks up action A, gets result B, and then has to go back to the answer book to find next step C?

My superiors think that people who can answer scripted questions are more valuable to my industry, yet they consistently rely on people who understand the theory of problem resolution to actually fix anything important. I think that having 2 people who are able to think with logic and resolve issues correctly beats 5 people who can only read from a script.

How do I figure out what is the best situation and how do I convey this to managemnt.
Incredible insight. It's not nearly that simple as the phone number example. And I completely understand what Alan (the commenter) is saying here. And certainly, waiting for someone to look up the answer or finding out that they need to look it up can seem wrong. And not knowing why something is right worries me as well. Certainly, I would worry about hiring someone who always looked up answers and didn't seem to "know" anything.

Blog Learning!

I'm not claiming this is anything new (see Blogging for Learning and Networking) but the comment this weekend gave me new appreciation of the value proposition.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

John Crick's Comment about WriteOnline

It was a real surprise this morning to wake up to a comment on my blog from John Crick, the CEO of Crick Software whom I have known for quite sometime who commented on WriteOnline. You can read my original post about WriteOnline by clicking here. I thought that it was important for everyone to see his comment in a post rather than have it buried in a Comment. So here it is. And John thanks for taking the time to write a comment.








"Brian is the first person in the US to write anything about WriteOnline! We are currently in beta with the UK version and we have orders from hundreds of UK schools and a number of whole districts. We've just gone live (late on Thursday) with our new LearningGrids World site in both the UK and US (at the usual LearningGrids.com address). This will be used to deliver WriteOnline. You can view a tour of WriteOnline on this site at http://www.learninggrids.com/WriteOnlinePage.aspx?siteid=2
We are expecting to 'ship' WriteOnline in the US at the end of June (do you 'ship' an online product?)."

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Pulse Smartpen Update


Many of my readers have asked me to post some of the audio recordings from my Pulse Smartpen and I just wanted to let you know that it is in the works. I hope to be to do this by the end of the week. I had the opportunity to use the Pulse Smartpen last week in a large lecture hall and the audio recording using the 3D recording headset was exceptional.The quality is surreal! I hope to be able to share the page and audio very soon.

Mindjet Connect- Collaboration Comes to MindManager 7


For the last three weeks I have been part of a Private beta of a new product from Mindjet called Mindjet Connect. I am now longer under a NDA and can talk about my experiences using this new and innovative collaboration tool for sharing MindManger Pro 7 maps. In order to use Mindjet Connect you need to download a new version of MindManager Pro 7 which includes the Mindjet Connect component. Once you have installed the new version of MindManger 7 Pro and have set up your account you can invite your friends and clients to share a workspace that you have set up for them. As the owner of the workspace you can give your colleagues different Access levels as far as being able to edit or read your mind maps. Mindjet refers to these as Author, Owner and Reader. You can in addition to placing mind maps also store Word, PDF, and any other files that you would like to within the workspace.

I had the opportunity to practice using Mindjet Connect with Steve Rothwell and Gaelen O'Connell and it was quite amazing being able to change things within a MindManager Pro 7 mind map in real time as if we were sitting next to each other. Steve and I connected via Skype for the audio and worked on a mind map together. When another user is modifying an idea there is a legend in the top right portion of the screen showing who is making the changes and there are visual cues on the mind map when someone makes a change. The changes on the mind map occurred very quickly and the system as a whole was very responsive. As long as you store your attached documents in the workspace clicking on an attachment on your mind map, works as you would expect. Links to websites work as you would expect by opening your browser and opening the URL.

One of the really nice features which is part of Mindjet Connect is the ability to launch into a web meeting right within the application. This lets you share your screen and desktop and is very similar to a WebEx or GotoMeeting session. There is also the ability to use a chat feature to communicate to the users online and that are involved in the session. If you are interested in trying out Mindjet Connect let me know and I will see that you get an invite. I can also invite you to my collaborative workspace and you can check out the mind map that is there. If you would like to give it a try shoot me an email and I will get an invite out to you.

PicoCricket-Just Bring Your Imagination


As a youngster I was always excited to get a new Erector set for my birthday and have the chance to build new items using nothing but my imagination and a couple of screws. Today's youth can take this idea and use their imagination to create their own PicoCricket project using arts and crafts materials alongside with a powerful computer that they can program to spin, light up and make music. Students have the opportunity to apply math, science and engineering principles into their projects to give them a taste of how these content areas can be applied. The PicoCricket Kit is similar to the LEGO® MINDSTORMS™ robotics kits. MINDSTORMS is designed especially for making robots, while the PicoCricket Kit is designed for making artistic creations with lights, sound, music, and motion. For example, students can make a cat and program it to purr when someone pets it. The kits are full of wonderful materials to spark their imagination of students and engage them in learning and how to program using an easy to use software application for PC and Mac.

At the heart of the system is the PicoCricket which can be programed by
connecting it to a computer via a USB port. Students can select from a number of different sensors that the PicoCricket can interact with. There are many different types of sensors available for students to choose from which include: light sensor, motor, sound, and touch to name a few. PicoCrickets looks like a great way to engage students in engineering, math, and science in a fun and exciting way. You can check out PicoCricket on their website

Friday, April 18, 2008

Larger LMS Audience Means Lower Satisfaction

I just pulled a report as part of an LMS Evaluation and saw an interesting pattern:



The pattern shows that the larger the audience the lower the satisfaction scores. My guess is that Learning Management Systems that target enterprise solutions and larger audiences will come out lower in LMS Satisfaction surveys.

Other posts around Learning Management Systems:

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Bad Course on Instructional Design

I just posted about eLearning Design and Development Training Course listing two examples of courses that talked about instructional design for eLearning. Whoops. I should have looked more closely.

The course from MyUdutu ( http://publish.myudutu.com/published/courses/140/Course867/v2007_5_9_15_41_...)
may talk about it, but it is a classic example of what not to do in eLearning. So while it talks about Instructional Design - it hardly is something to review.

As Chris pointed out in a comment and I talked about in Audio Narration vs. On-Screen Text
you should never have voice-over that's the same as the text on the page. That's just annoying and slows you down.

Other bad aspects included having choppy narration (people are not very forgiving around narration and other audio). Further, there was no audio control to let you know what's going on with the audio.

Later in the course, they used narration much better with a graphic. Still, this probably should not have been a course to point people to. Oh good, it looks like other suggestions are coming in.

eLearning Design and Development Training Course

Someone on LinkedIn asked:
Can anyone recommend a really good e-learning design/development training course?

This is for a colleague who is new to instructional design & development so something that covers the basics at an introductory level would be best. Thanks!

The responses pointed me to a couple of resources I hadn't seen before:

  • MyUdutu
A simple course that describes some basic principles of online training course design, and will serve as a template for a simple course if you copy it and substitute your own content.

http://publish.myudutu.com/published/courses/140/Course867/v2007_5_9_15_41_...
An introduction to instructional design and course development and guidance on selecting the right design and development tools.

http://www.rpi.edu/coursedevelopers/DesigningInstruction/DI_index.htm

I know that I've seen others.

What else is out there?

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

April Mindjet User Newsletter Now Online

If you are an avid MindManager User then you should take a look at this month's Mindjet User Newsletter which just hit the web. In it you will find some great articles by Jamie Nast and Stephanie Diamond who show you how their clients are applying and using MindManager to solve real world problems. Also, please check out my latest MindManager Quick Tip Video in the newsletter on how to add Resources and the Task Completion icon. The screencast video was created and produced using Camtasia Studio. Enjoy

LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen in Action


It was with great anticipation that my Pulse Smartpen arrived and I had a chance to use it and see just how effective a tool it could be. After using it for two straight days it is surpassing my expectations as far as the quality of the sound that is captured. Using the 3D microphones that plug into the Pulse Smartpen you can get very high quality recordings of the the teacher speaking. The 3D microphones which also serve as ear buds were draped over my shoulders to record the sound. The quality of the recordings is rich with most of the background noise canceled out. It was really amazing to be able to click on the page and hear the audio cue up to the spot on the page almost instantaneously. You should have seen the students when I was using it to record my classroom observation. The desktop software that comes with the Pulse Smartpen allows you to download your digital ink to your computer which can also be played. Your journal pages are all indexed and you can search your pages quickly for any words that you wrote. When the software finds the text it highlights it for you. As the computer plays back your audio it highlights the words that you wrote on the page that were synced to the time that it was said. All in all the Pulse Smartpen worked right out of the box without a hitch and the sound quality of the recording was unbelievable. You have to see and hear it to believe it!

Certification: Test your knowledge for free...

Just a very quick post to echo an IIUG announcement. If you're a member of IIUG you can do an Informix V11 certification preparation test. This will be a test similar to what you'll find if you want to do the 918 exam, which will allow you to be certified on Informix.

The announcement is here. Note that the code will allow only one test per person... I've done mine, without preparation and I would pass (80.33% achieved, 70% needed), but I can say several questions are very tricky. So, if you plan to be certified be prepared to take some time studying. But this can be the first step in your preparation roadmap. A normal test would cost you $10 (American dollars).

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Visual Mapping and the Information Economy


Visual Mapping and the Information Economy

By Wallace Tait- Visual Mapper

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BSF: Hi Wallace can you share with us what is a visual map?

WT: A Visual map is: “A systematic and graphical framework expressing information and knowledge in a non-linear format”

We do indeed live and work in a linear world when it comes to academics and business. Taking a look at our established formats for communicating information and knowledge, there’s no denying, we clearly rely heavily on linear text and thinking.

Linear communications are natural; but not always the best format to convey information and knowledge in a succinct and clear manner. As visual mappers we firmly believe that non-linear information and knowledge communication tools that are readily available can, and do, enable you to experience an exponential increase in information management.












A lack of clarity and focus is what causes constraints within information exchange and knowledge growth. In this century, professionals are compelled by established systems to merely maintain the status quo of their respective information economies. Effective communication is essential to organizational efficacy, but we rarely see this as a reality within the overwhelmed business and academic environments where communication clarity and focus is not only expected but demanded.


BSF: What do you mean by the term information economy?

WT: The information economy is defined as: “Knowledge and information that ultimately affects process, system and organizational business investment”

Information has become a commodity that is exchanged both internally and externally within information economies. These economies are our established organizational systems, which in many cases have been overlooked with dire consequences to the organization. Corporate scandals of the late 90’s were characterized by the abject mismanagement of organizational information economies. This can be avoided by adopting the tools such as Mindjet MindManager Pro 7 and techniques of visual mapping into your business functions.

BSF: Can you expand on your idea about knowledge and its relation to the

information economy?

WT: “Knowledge as the main element of the information economy is of no profitable use unless it is created with focus, managed effectively and re-invested as an improvement tool”

Information is what knowledge is made up of and, we must take responsibility for the successes and failures of our information economies, after all, our information economies are what enable, assure and secure our personal, academic and business future successes.

Visualize a national financial reserve being a knowledge bank and the information economy as being the supplier of the resources that secure the strength of this institution. It makes logical sense that the continuous supply of resources is essential to the strength of the reserve. This is indeed how we should be viewing our information economies. Whether you are an academic or business professional, the continuous development of your information commodities ensures your strength, existence and further survival.

Taking a further view of the information economy, we see that it is absolutely impervious to any kind of recession. Global economical recessions do not affect information economies, while a downturn or recession is happening; the one thing that remains constant is information
exchange. Information being a priceless commodity that supplies our knowledge banks ensures our survival through the most severe of global effects of recession.

BSF: Where does Visual mapping fit into this information economy you may be asking?

WT: We firmly believe that the software tools such as Mindjet Mind Manager Pro 7 and techniques of this graphical framework are more than capable of enabling you to experience an exponential increase in your information management skills. We are all information managers, whether we acknowledge it or not, the fact that we create, manage and exchange information to gain knowledge is a testament to the human need for expansion. Within academia and business we must manage information for greater good of the systems that we support. There are various degrees of information management efficiency yet, we see time and time again that the informant managers who connect with our visual mapping approach, see the bigger picture and gain absolute control of their information economy.

The exponential gains experienced using Mindjet MindManager Pro 7 and techniques of visual mapping add to the financial bottom line of the environment of use. For the academician the gain is effective formats for enhancing student and faculty information exchange and management. The business system is relieved of information gaps that may affect further expansion of information resources and organizational processing.

The gains to business at all levels are experienced by enabling corporate communications to be

managed from a “master map database”. This master map is the realization of visual mapping as being a “graphical framework for business improvement”, thus adding to the financial bottom line of corporate profit.

BSF: Wallace to summarize what are the benefits as you see it in using visual mapping

WT: Information management, quality system analyses and improvement are but a few of the benefits of using visual mapping to exponentially add to the bottom line of any business function. The financial constraints associated with time management and organizational training is known to be aspects of business and academia that often cause frustration at the base level and financial loss at a higher level. We firmly believe that using tools like Mindjet MindManager Pro 7 and applying techniques of visual mapping to benefit all aspects and functions of any business or academic institution.

Visual mapping will enable you to become a more effective communicator and information manager whom effectively improves upon the bottom line associated with your working environment.

Wallace Tait: Visual Mapper.








Come join us on October 1, 2008 for a full day conference on how to use MindManager Pro 7 and the strategies of intelligent visual mapping to help you to better communicate, manage your information economy, manage projects; to exponentially add to the bottom line of any business or academic organization. The conference will be hosted and led by Brian S. Friedlander, Ph.D. and his professional team of preeminent visual mappers. The conferences’ working title is: “Intelligent Visual Mapping: graphical information management, solving your real world problems.” His assembled team comes from such areas as banking, psychology, manufacturing, business management and college teaching. The conference will be held on the campus of the College of St. Elizabeth which is centrally located in Morristown, New Jersey, in close proximity to Newark Liberty International Airport and to Manhattan via New Jersey Transit. The entire team will spend the day sharing their insight and strategies to help you derive the benefits of intelligent visual mapping and to enable you to experience the power of visual mapping as your systematic framework for improvement.




We look forward to meeting you on October 1. 2008; please contact Brian S. Friedlander for conference cost and booking arrangements. To register for the conference click here.

Conference: Intelligent Visual Mapping: graphical information management, solving your real world problems

Date: On October 1, 2008

Time: 8:30 am- 5:00 pm

Place: College of St. Elizabeth

City: Morristown, NJ 07960

Phone contact: 908-852-3460 Email contact: brian@assistivetek.com

We look forward to meeting you on October 1. 2008; please click here to Register for the event.

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