Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Finland’s largest university of applied sciences, educates the professionals of tomorrow in the fields of culture, business, health care and social services, and technology. Metropolia has over 16.000 students and 67 … Continue reading →

January 27th, 1:00pm ETSpace is LimitedReserve Your Webinar Seat Now At:http://www.rapidintake.com/webinar You've tried every trick in the book to engage your learners. Everything from simple drag and drop to highly animated avatars but you may be missing out on one of the best and simplest forms of engagement, conversation. Learn how to integrate interactive voice tools and audio based instructions to actively engage the learner in a mobile application or a blended learning solution. The presenter will be Nancy Munro, CEO of KnowledgeShift and a seasoned developer of online and mobile learning applications.During her presentation, Nancy will seek out a volunteer who will demonstrate some of these interactive voice tools in real time. Rapid Intake's development platforms can easily integrate the voice/audio tools that she will be demonstrating. Nancy has been a presenter for regional ASTD chapters, eLearning Guild's mLearning Conference and a repeat presenter for the Chicago eLearning Showcase.

Last year, I listened to Clare Atkins talk of Koru at the DEANZ Conference, Wellington. I watched as Nancy White met with Clare (or rather Choconancy1 met with Arwenna) on Koru Island, just one of many virtual islands in Second Life (SL).This weekend I ventured into Second Life as a first time visitor. Here are my first impressions.Having done the requisite registration and created my avatar, I set off to visit ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) Island.I followed the link to Blogger’s Hut given to me by Scott Merrick who announced the nomination of this blog for Blog-o-the-Month sponsored by ISTE.Getting the hang of a few mobility controls was easy, assisted by an easy-to-follow tutorial.Blogger’s Hut sits among many other similar and some larger buildings, as well as stadia, conference centres and concourses on the island - an educator’s dream. The Island’s clean, freshly cropped grassy terrain and its shrubs and trees reminded me of Kinloch, a little village on the North Shore of Lake Taupo, New Zealand.I felt quite at home walking about the precincts of the hut. I met Scott’s friendly ginger pussy-cat snoozing nearby.I think I was extremely fortunate to meet up with a few very helpful ISTE Second Life members, among them PZ Zadark, from Mexico, who took me off to meet Snowflake and Aviva. After a brief conversation following introductions, Aviva invited me to become an ISTE SL member, which I accepted.Exploring the Island was an experience. I enjoyed the flying - a far more efficient way of moving about from place to place on an island. Having got the hang of flying and then returning to terra firma, as it were, I happened to be soaring across the Monroe Public School building, when I decided to drop down to have a look.Unfortunately, I stopped flying immediately above the swimming pool there, only to find that I dropped right to the bottom of the pool.No problem. It’s SL. I started to explore underwater and was delighted to see that the pool designer had a sense of humour. Along the base of the pool is a lamp-lit street with a mural of the moon on one side and a couple of what look like vacant shop premises on the other.One of the shops sports the sign, "Second Life Education Resources"! Now that’s funny!PZ also gave me the teleport coordinates for the Science Centre, Info Island. I teleported straight to Info Island! Best ever way to travel.This was a most interesting excursion. I visited a memorial exhibition, Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts Gallery, in memory of author Philip José Farmer who died early this year. It features Cover Art from International Exhibitions of his works.I recalled my experience in the swimming pool when I came across dolphins frolicking in the water outside Bradley University main building. I didn’t pass up the experience of having a virtual swim with the dolphins.Living in New Zealand means that at certain times during the day there would be very few educators who would be visiting ISTE Island. Most of my time was spent exploring alone. But on one occasion, early on, and being new to teleportation, I happened to choose ‘Go Home’ when selecting a destination. I found myself at Bay City Airport.This destination was not the most enamouring. Lots of people there. But like most airports I’ve been to, it made me feel I wanted to teleport out of the place, soon as.( 7 ) ( 6 ) ( 5 ) ( 4 ) ( 3 ) <-related posts - > ( 1 )

This is an abstract from the paper : How Should I Offer This Course? The Course Delivery Decision Model (CDDM) (published on MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, Vol. 10, No. 2, June 2014) The emergence of new methods of course delivery has increased the complexity of determining a course’s optimal delivery mode. In this paper, teachers... Read More ›

Experience is the Best Teacher - Using Simulations to Build Experience Ken Spero, Executive Director, NexLearn - Immersive Learning UniversityAre you interested in developing simulations but don’t have the time to go to a workshop or conference?  If so, this ASTD online workshop may be the answer.  Each Essentials Series online workshop is delivered by a live facilitator who is an experienced learning and development practitioner. You and your fellow classmates will collaborate in the virtual classroom via interactive group discussions, polls, chats, and whiteboards.  Each session of an Essentials Series workshop is recorded in case you miss a session or would like to review the content again.This interactive online workshop introduces you to a simple framework for simulations, which combine one’s work experience and expertise with the power of storytelling. Simulation isn’t a science; it’s just a way of organizing your thinking. This workshop will help participants to organize them to train others. Check it out: http://www.astd.org/content/education/certificatePrograms/online-programs/essentialsSeries/essentialsofexperientiallearningandsimulations.htm

I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty thingsAntoine de St-ExuperyThe latest topic from the Green Pen Society has already gathered a flock of winged posts! September’s GPS topic is,"What gets you flying when you feel you want to write?"GPS, the brain-child of Paul Cornies at quoteflections, is a group of writers/bloggers who are developing their voice in writing about the world around them. What brings you to write the things you choose to write about?What gets you flying when you feel you want to write?To participate in this month’s venture, tag your post with the label Green Pen Society and link back to this post. Put a comment here with a link to your post (important if you want me to know you exist!)I've pasted my contribution at the base of this post.Here is the flock of wonderful winged contributions to date.Virginia Yonkers - Connecting 2 the World Why Do I Blog?Paul Cornies - quoteflections What Empowers Your Blogging?Tania Sheko - Brave new worldWhy do you write?What gets you flying?Jody Hayes - Navigators I Blog So That . . .Joanna Young - Confident WritingWhat Makes Your Writing Fly?Kathy Stilwell - Stilwell ReflectionsWhat Gets You Flying WhenYou Feel You Want To WriteSusan Ens Funk - What Counts!Inspired by . . .How do I know what I think till I see what I write?Ideas, feelings and stories that lie idly in my mind rise to the surface and glide when I write about them. Tangled thought-threads, perhaps diffuse and disparate, become less so and move more freely and succinctly when I do this.Even if I’m confused or baffled in trying to make sense of what may seem like nonsense, I try to think of a title relevant to the jumble of thoughts I have. I write to the title. It is rare that any title determined this way remains unchanged, but it is a place to start.The original tangle of thoughts begins to change shape as I write. What was bound and knotted starts to unravel. Thoughts become more linear by writing about them.During this unweaving, I find that related thoughts can be grouped - ideas can be prioritised. There is opportunity for differences to become apparent - comparisons to be made. Twaddle can be culled. Emerging thoughts take shape and make contributions to the edits.The cycle reiterates in loops in much the same way as a gull soars in circles higher and higher in the warm updraft from a sunny hillside.When the looping is complete, and my thoughts are brought to rest,I can sleep on them.A Green Pen Society contribution

The Universidad del Valle de México or UVM (part of Laureate International Universities) is a private university founded in Mexico City in 1960. UVM enrolls students at several campuses throughout Mexico and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of Medicine, Engineering, Business, and Law, … Continue reading →

Register at:  http://astdhouston.org/en/cev/647Come and Join the Fun!Kinect has changed the way people play games and experience entertainment. Now, Kinect for Windows offers the potential to transform how people interact with computers and Windows-embedded devices in multiple industries, including education, healthcare, retail, transportation, and beyond. We’ll discuss how the Kinect technology will change the face of training. We’ll also provide a demo of Kinect working in the Windows environment. Join or Renew your Houston ASTD MembershipTake $25 off your General Membership fee if you join or renew your membership at this event. Membership in the Houston ASTD chapter creates the professional opportunities you need to compete in today’s rapidly changing marketplace. Whether you are a professional in the field, a student just starting out, or you are transitioning into Training and Development, find networking opportunities, programs, events and conferences just for you. Date and Time: Feb 22, 2012, 8:30 - 10:00am Location: Microsoft Store Galleria Mall, 5015 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77056, Phone: (713) 860-5790 Cost: No charge! Presenters: Debbie Richards - Creative Interactive Ideas. Yoshi Takekawa - Microsoft Refreshments provided by:  Obsidian Technical Communications Door Prize Donated by the Microsoft Store: One year MS Training membership (one hour per week). Get the most out of your PC experience with a one-on-one training session with a Microsoft Answer Tech at the Microsoft Store.

Have you joined the journey of experimenting with xAPI with Jessie this year? Jessie and her team "xAPI Profilers" had built some interesting mini courses to play with xAPI while participating in xAPI design cohort hosted by ADL. Read the post  " Experience The Experience API (#xAPI) ". (the mini course is a work in progress) Guess what? The... Read More ›

February 10th, 1:00pm ETSpace is LimitedReserve Your Webinar Seat Now At:http://www.rapidintake.com/webinar Litmos is the Learning Management System (LMS) that people love to use. Easy to assemble courses, assign them to learners and watch the results come in.The best part is Litmos is a hosted training system, which means you'll never need help from the IT department to set up. You can literally get started in minutes.Key features in Litmos:· Hosted/SaaS LMS· SCORM 1.2 Certified· Accessible via Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad and Android· Themes/Brand Customization· API - for integration with other systems· eCommerce and self sign-up· Certificates· Course Library· Automatic compliance reminders· No software to download· No long term contractsReal time reporting makes it easy to track learner results and get ROI for your online campaign. At any time you can see if your students have completed their training, how long they took and what scores they achieved. Plus, all of this information can be instantly exported to Excel or PDF.