Integrating the learning management system with a student information system is often tedious, expensive, and fraught with incompatibility problems. Welcome to an interview with Isaac Grauke, Populi (http://www.populiweb.com), which has devleoped a system that brings together SIS and LMS functions.What is your name, affiliation, and relation to elearning?I’m Isaac Grauke and I’m the CEO of

CC-BY-NC Jim BumgardnerThe Center: Increasing Innovation in California's Community Colleges    brought to you by @ONEGoogle+ Community:  gplus.to/TheCenterTwitter:  @Center_EdAs Community Coordinator for The Center, I have the awesome job of harnessing the power of Google+ and Twitter to increase collaboration, sharing, and innovation throughout California's 112 community colleges (the CCC system). How cool is that?Two community interests are showcased each month as a combined dialogue that starts with a Google+ Hangouts on Air, extends into a Center Challenge, and wraps up with a Twitter chat.  The Hangouts on Air are live video conversations in which I engage in casual conversations with CCC educators about innovative practices pertaining to the topic. The Hangouts stream live to the web and viewers may submit questions via Twitter using the hashtag #CCCLEARN.The week after a Hangout (every other Thursday at 3pm PT), a Twitter chat is held, giving community members an opportunity to engage in an interactive exchange of sharing (in addition to the broader public who is welcome to join in), discussion and Q&A. The two events are bridged with a Center Challenge which is like a call to action to encourage individuals to share deeper reflections, ideas, or strategies related to each topic through blogging, Tweeting, and the Google+ community.  The Center leverages the hashtag #CCCLEARN.Supersize the Online Learning Sweetspot: Hangout on AirHere is the 30-minute video archive of the Hangout on Air, "Supersize the Online Learning Sweetspot."Last week, I was joined in a Hangout by +Katie Palacios (@katiepala) an instructional designer from the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD), and +Samantha Hurst (@sammhurst), an anthropology instructor also from SDCCD.  Katie shared a conceptual framework of her own, which she describes is an effort to encourage online instructors to, "Supersize the Sweetspot of Online Learning."  In her model, she explains the importance of embracing the full potential of active learning when designing and facilitating an online class and stresses that most new online instructors gloss over the need to consciously build in active learning, because these types of learner engagement opportunities often occur spontaneously in face-to-face teaching (think "socratic teaching" style).  Therefore, Katie proposes a model to "supersize this sweetspot" which involves "mushing" content, interaction, and assessment together into a fabulously, messy learning experience (picture making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich).  After Katie's brief, engaging, and information presentation, Samm joins in to share a teaching innovation of her own that was inspired by Katie's supportive instructional design efforts.  She shares with us how she is using Video Everywhere, a building block for Blackboard that enables students and instructors to post communications using a webcam (videos are recorded to YouTube, posted as Unlisted, and then they appear in Blackboard where students and the instructor may view them).  Samm has her anthropology students share video blog posts to describe an experience using non-verbal communication (body gestures, for example). Fascinating! In the Hangout archive, you have the opportunity to see two examples of fantastic videos shared by Samm's students (who provided permission to allow us all to view them -- thank you!).  Supersize the Online Learning Sweetspot: Twitter ChatAfter you view the video, if you'd like to continue the conversation about Supersizing the Sweetspot of Online Learning, join me and other CCC educators for a #CCCLEARN Twitter chat this Thursday, October 31st at 3pm PDT!

On-demand online technical courses are often fairly static and do not involve interaction with fellow learners. GoGogh incorporates social networks in an innovative way to bring in interaction, engagement, and to enhance conditions of learning.1. What is your name, affiliation, and your connection with e-learning?My name is Marianne Cherney and I own Dashcourses and www.gogogh.com. I have been

I am passionate believer that humanizing our online classes is a severely under explored use of emerging technologies in higher education.Why is it important to humanize online classes with emerging technologies?Achieving deep learning in an online learning environment requires more than cognition.Achieving deep learning demands the full engagement of the affective domain.The affective domain involves the interplay of learning and emotions.Emotions are engaged through the use of video (tone, gesture, the human presence) and images (visual metaphors). Smore for humanizing online learning.Smore is touted as a visual flyer creator and it is a fabulous tool for that particular objective. But I see many other possibilities for this tool in education.  With a free account, a user can select from a small but ample collection of themes and background images and add a variety of "blocks" to the flyer page.  These block options include text that can be formatted and hyperlinked (but you can't customize it with html); simple links; online videos from YouTube, Vimeo, or Viddler; a picture; bio; audio file; event link; and more! Adding blocks is simple and they can be clicked and dragged into new locations with no issues.  The interface is fluid and a refreshing change from trying to work with templates built into MS Word or Pages (which I treasure for multiple page flyer/document creation).The "flyers" you create with Smore cannot be multiple pages. This rules out creating visual syllabi (hint, hint Smore developers -- big opportunity here for education!).  They can be shared with a link, embedded on a website (as I have done below) and they can also be printed, creating a lovely transition between the digital and text-based world of teaching.  Even more wonderful is the fact that the flyers render nicely on mobile devices. I tested my flyer on my iPhone and it rendered well; the video played great too! Social media sharing is integrated nicely with Smore and analytics are even provided (your flyer must receive 30 visitors or views to unlock your analytics, a nice incentive for sharing, I think!).There is a special discounted premium account option for educators -- hooray for Smore! For $59/year the educator account allows your flyers to be set to private by default (all content with a free account goes to public as a default but you can change it to private).  I am not sure yet what "private" means exactly.  For example, if my flyer is "private" does that mean only I can see it (this is what "private" means in YouTube).  Or is Smore's definition of "private" the equivalent of YouTube's "unlisted," which means anyone with the link has access to it?  These nuances are confusing but important to understand. Wouldn't it be nice is if all social tools used the same sharing lingo? Also included with the educator account are additional background images (it would be nice to preview these), full access to flyer analytics (no 'view' requirement), and the option to remove Smore logos from your flyer.Humanizing online class schedules with Smore.OK, now that you know how Smore works, here's how I would encourage online instructors to use it if I had a magic wand. I want my students to be able to peer inside my class simply and easily (without the barriers of an LMS) to understand if the learning environment I have designed in my class is one that will fit their needs.  I know my class is different. Some students love this. They find it refreshing. Others feel surprised, yet rise to the challenge and learn a great deal about themselves, as well as about the history of photography. These are the most meaningful experiences. Some students decide they want an online class that is just like their other classes.  They want comfort. They want discussion forums and multiple choice quizzes. They don't want to be challenged to try new things.  These students end up dropping the class, creating inefficiencies in the enrollment process.This is a problem that has happened for decades. I dropped classes in college I didn't like the first week of college...and I bet you did too. Today, the issue is more severe as classes are harder to "get" as budget cuts have slashed course offerings.  I WANT my students to know me. I want my students to experience a taste of my class. I want them to have a chance to hear what my past students have shared about the class too.  What if they could see this before the clicked "register"? Click here to view this flyer in a new window: https://smore.com/phhcI created this with Smore in about 45 minutes. Most of this time was spent writing my original text content and deciding on my background image and theme. :)  The welcome video was already made (created with my free Educator account from Animoto and exported into my free YouTube account, allowing me to simply plug the URL into Smore), the Wisdom Wall is a link to a VoiceThread that I give my students to option to leave a comment on at the end of each class (no points are given, it is entirely voluntary), and the was linked from a PDF I have uploaded on my free box.net account.  My students use VoiceThread throughout the entire class (yep, they learn out loud and it does make a difference in how they learn and how they relate to me and each other) and I pasted the course description from my college class schedule and wrote the "What to expect" section on the fly.Imagine, just imagine if these "humanized class descriptions" could be linked into a college or university's online class schedules for students to explore before the register for classes.  How would this shift the student experience? I plan to share this link with my students at the end of the term so they can send it to the peers who might be interested in taking the class next semester. Thanks Smore for creating a fabulous, much needed tool for education!!How will you use Smore?

Real-world education and training needs have quirky issues and time challenges that make you wonder, Does anyone else go through this? E-Learning Queen realizes we can all learn from each other's experiences, success stories, and "lessons learned." So, welcome to another installation of our new "E-Learning Case Study Series." In this interview, we talk with Tim Riesterer, CMO and SVP,

CC-BY-NC-SA Jim BumgardnerMonday, November 18th3pm-4pm PSTOnline Assessment Roundtable - Hangout on Airhttp://tiny.cc/assessmentRT Today at 3pm PST I will be moderating a public Hangout on Air for The Center, a learning community that connects California's 112 community colleges, that will feature a dynamic panel discussion about online assessment.  This event is geared towards all educators who teach online or who are preparing to teach online.You are invited to view the live online video conversation, which will stream inside the Google Event, and ask questions through the Twitter backchannel (using #CCCLEARN) or the new Google+ "Submit your question" button, which we'll be trying out today.The panelists for today's Online Assessment Roundtable include: +Kathy Damm - Instructor of @ONE’s Designing Effective Online Assessments Course; Assistant Professor of Psychology, Saddleback College+William Doherty  - Instructor of @ONE’s Designing Effective Online Assessments Course, Former Director of @ONE; Owner, Third Star Consulting & Education+Sandra Haynes  - Professor of Art History, Pasadena City College; Mentor for the @ONE Online Teaching Certification Program; 2009 Winner Blackboard Exemplary Course Award+Kara Kuvakas  - Adjunct Physical Geography Instructor, Hartnell College; Adj. Professor of Chemistry & Environmental Science, Brandman University; Adj. Professor of Geology & Environmental Science, American Public University; Course Developer, Brandman University; Co-Founder of Connections Co-op for Homeschooling; Doctoral student at Brandman University; and Homeschooling Mom at Dehesa Charter School.The Center is brought to you by @ONEGoogle+ Community:  gplus.to/TheCenterTwitter:  @Center_Ed 

It is often difficult for learning management systems to keep up with social networking and collaborative technologies. Their architectures are a bit clunky, and even when they allow embedded html to link into social networking, it's often difficult to incorporate them in an outcomes-based way. Further, they are not dynamic and it is difficult to integrate mobile activities and devices.In these

Many years ago, I recall reading the New Media Consortium's annual Horizon Report for the very first time. I remember getting the same feeling inside me that I used to get when I'd walk home from school and discover the scent of freshly baked cookies wafting from the kitchen where my mom was.  As a diehard chocoholic, I guess that's when I realized I had been bit by the edtech bug.  You can imagine how I felt this fall when I received an invitation to participate on the Advisory Board for the 2014 Higher Education Horizon Project!  What is the Horizon Report?If the Horizon Report is new to you, it is a valuable, thought-provoking collection of significant trends in educational technology that are most likely to impact education over three horizons: 1 year or less, 2-3 years, and 4-5 years. While nobody can predict the future, the report captures a collaborative vision of the dynamic ways emerging technologies are expected to impact higher education around the world.  The trends are identified by the global, 52-member advisory board through a multi-step, collaborative wiki process that is facilitated by the impressively organized Samantha Becker of the New Media Consortium.  2014 TrendsHere are the six technology areas identified for this year's report  -- and more information, including a description of each topic, is provided in the attached Preview (PDF).Time to Adoption Horizon: One Year or Less• Flipped Classroom  • Learning Analytics  Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Two to Three Years• 3D Printing  • Games and Gamification  Time-to-Adoption Horizon: Four to Five Years• Quantified Self  • Virtual Assistants   How to ParticipateIf you know of examples of the trends noted above that could be included in the 2014 Horizon Report please use the brief web form at http://go.nmc.org/projects to share them with the New Media Consortium. The form asks for a title, a URL, and a one- or two-sentence description; you also will need to select which of the six topics your example falls under. The process takes about two minutes.Example submissions are requested by Monday, December 16, but no matter what, we'd love to hear about what you are doing!  All we really need is a sentence of description and a URL -- we'll do the rest.

Many people think of iPhone applications and elearning as something they can do to learn a language or listen to lectures. However, there are other possible avenues, which include areas of ethics, and developing a positive self-concept and self-efficacy. One example is the organization, The Heart of Education, which has helped develop a set of cards for use on the iPhone. They focus on student

The new decade will be a time of great change in e-learning, and we're already getting a glimpse of it. Many of the changes are driven by new technologies, but even more are emerging in the aftermath of economic crisis, and the changes in the way people work, interact, and obtain information.E-learning will be affected in many areas,1. Continuing growth in online courses.Colleges and universities