ePortfolio: Epsilen
“Epsilen places social networking and ePortfolios at the center of global eLearning, creating a new environment for the next generation of learners and professionals. Epsilen goes beyond other popular networking sites, connecting peers and enabling meaningful knowledge and object exchanges.”: Epsilen Environment
Reading @ Work
“And while the purpose and format of the Read at Work site is ostensibly just to fool bosses or co-workers, it actually proves a point that I, and many others, have been making in the future of the book debate: that words can flourish in any environment or format.”: The Powerpoint and the Glory: Reading great works at work
I couldn’t agree more, with Jeff, whose work I have been following for some time.
Link: How to Write for E-Learning
Once in a while, you come across information that says the things so clearly that you always knew, but did not. This is one good example of that. It is a must, if you ask me, for any instructional designer, even if you go through all of it and say to yourself, “I knew it all along.”
In fact, I recommend that this be made mandatory reading on the first working day of every month. I know how easy it is to fall in the trap. And keeping your own creative juices flowing — especially if you work on an eLearning project for months, not weeks.
I got this from Cathy Moore’s site — See the Slide Show for starters:
“Dump the Drone slideshow [...]
* What makes online courses boring
* How to create compelling characters and stories
* Ideas for adding ’safe’ humor
* How to tighten flabby text
* The best uses for readability analysisSee the slides (HTML): Lots of fun pictures! Not much text.
Download the slides (5.8 MB PDF)
Download the handout (8-page PDF): Few pictures. Lots of fun text! “
No, please don’t miss it. However, busy you are.
Mandatory eLearning
An interesting article at Inside Higher-ed.
“Starting this fall, all students at Northwest State Community College, in Archbold, Ohio, will be required to take at least one online course to graduate.
More than 60 percent of last year’s graduates already took one or more online courses, but administrators and college trustees want all students to be well versed in independent research and discovery — skills that employers demand, they say — and feel that online education is one way to accomplish that.”: Making Online Learning Mandatory :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education’s Source for News, and Views and Jobs
What I found interesting is that instead of citing the usual worn-out and done-to-death-cliched reasons for implementing eLearning, the next paragraph says:
“Businesses are moving toward online training, and students have to learn to be self-motivated,” said Linda Carr, chief learning officer at the college. “In the workplace, you are responsible for doing what you need to do on your own time.”
The case for eLearning is refreshing. Moving a course to an online format for the benefit of saving money or accessing a larger market, the case becomes more business-specific. Which is interesting because the college recognises that eLearning is more than just another mode of learning. It is almost a life-skill required in the world of work and business.
Will this affect the way courses will be designed? Will interfaces have to evolve to include means and methods of enhancing study-skills for eLearning?
e-LearningNow : - Learning 2.0 eBook
e-LearningNow : - Learning 2.0 eBook:
“This report considers how approaches to learning have evolved and what impact the new technologies dubbed ‘Web 2.0’ are having.”
(Via e-LearningNow.)
E-learning can save 40% overall cost
To address the problem of trained IT professionals in India, QAI has launched a series of education, testing and certification initiatives under the Edista brand.
CXOtoday.com > Interview > “E-learning can save 40% overall cost “
£1.9m digital e-learning project launched
Interesting News in the Computer Weekly today.
A £1.9m government-supported digital e-learning initiative has been launched.
The Open University’s Knowledge Media Institute, Bridgeman Education and Lexara have joined forces to deliver the Project Silver initiative.
Project Silver will deliver next generation Web 2.0 and artificial intelligence technologies to schools, universities and businesses as part of an interactive learning experience.
£1.9m digital e-learning project launched
The interesting part isn’t so much about the funding, but more about how this system is expected to work.
Together, the organisations will develop a software learning system that builds on Web 2.0 and artificial intelligence technologies to allow teachers and trainers to collect, organise, experiment and interact with multimedia.
This is beginning to become really really interesting.
At one level we have Connexions, who are probably the first to bring open-source learning to the web. An 18-minute video presentation about about Connexions is presented by Richard Baraniuk. It makes for interesting viewing, especially the last part, where review and validation comes into play.
Wikipedia has (and is) trying hard to overcome this reliability issue for some time.
Along comes knol, from Google.
George Seimens suggests a good reason for the launch of knol:
[...] with the rise of Wikipedia, Google serves little value to its users by simply linking to the site (though as one reader commented, it’s not only the first link, but the many different search results that are of value). Why not just go directly to Wikipedia and skip Google? Well, it appears Google realizes its vulnerability.
It is obvious that content still rules and everybody who can, wants to “own” content - in some form or the other. This is probably a very interesting development for publishers - who always will remain “true” owners of content. The question , however, will always be about quality control and review. And as a colleague pointed out, that is what publishers take responsibility for (and charge you for).
Question remains, why are publishers staying away from similar initiatives? It is, I believe a question of identifying an appropriate revenue model. A related article by Scott Karp, about Why Online Advertising Economics Are So Messed Up