Yesterday I wrote about Apple’s two new releases that are significant for those of us working in online learning - iBooks2 and iTunes U2. One of the issues for those of us in online learning, but in the non-education sector, is that iTunes U is aimed at educational institutions. True we can all consume the FREE content in iTunes U but ONLY educational institutions can use the course development platform (iTunes U Course Manager). This is a pity because it would provide a valuable alternative for those designing learning programmes in the non-education sector. I guess a ‘commercial’ version may feature somewhere on Apple’s secret roadmap but I think Apple also needs to recognise that ‘education’ is a business too and not get too carried away with its ‘free stuff for future Apple customers’ strategy. More significantly there appears to be an even bigger spanner in the works when it comes to iBooks2. This product isn’t targeted just at the education market; though most of the posts on it over the last 24 hours have made a big play of interactive textbooks for students. Unlike iTunes U the authoring software for iBooks, iBooks Author, is available FREE to all (provided you use a Mac of course). The problem appears to be with the licence agreement. If you develop a book in iBooks Author the copyright of that book belongs to Apple! What’s more you can only sell an iBook through Apple - though you can give it away free on another platform (such as your own website). Apple, in this EULA, is claiming a right not just to its software, but to its software’s output. It’s akin to Microsoft trying to restrict what people can do with Word documents, or Adobe declaring that if you use Photoshop to export a JPEG, you can’t freely sell it to Getty. Dan Wineman Learn More: Apple at its Absolute Worst A Quick Video Tour of iBooks Author

Take a look at the photo above. What could possibly attract the attention of a group of  students like that? Last week, my 4th graders were given an opportunity to catch up on some assignments they hadn’t finished or wanted to tweak before turning in via Google Classroom. Some chose to work on their soon-to-be-3d-printed cell phone designs using Tinkercad, others brushed up on their keyboarding skills using the gamified (and not so drill-and-killish) Typing Instructor, while others chose to work on a spreadsheet project - our "$1,000 challenge" (goal: build a spreadsheet with a Toys-R-Us items coming as close to $1,000.00 as possible, including tax.) Which do you think it was? If your guess was 3D printing, congratulations, that was my thought too … but we’re both wrong. "You’re almost there!" "You need something for three dollars!" "Don’t forget the tax!" Yup. They were building a spreadsheet. A simple assignment. Find some items. Add them to a spreadsheet. Create some formulas, including a tax calculation. See where you’re over - or under. Remove something, add something else. Iterate. The winner? A student in another class whose total was $999.88, including correctly calculated NJ sales tax. The cheers in the classroom that day would have led you to think the students had just won a class pizza party or something. I’m still puzzled as to why the kids found this project so engaging. Was it the way I pitched the concept? The items they were shopping for? The ability to make their own choices? The instant gratification upon seeing their spreadsheet totals inch closer to the goal? The challenge of getting everything loaded into the spreadsheet properly? The spirit of competition that erupted, as each kid called out their total, ever closer to the elusive $1,000.00? But … why ask why? Sometimes, a lesson or activity just takes off when you least expect it.  

An eLearning visual style guide provides one graphical standard for everyone.Post from: The eLearning CoachHow To Write A Visual Style Guide for eLearning

Not the first time these first graders have worked in 3D - BuildWithChrome is a longtime favorite - but there really is no comparison; Tinkercad is substantially more powerful and complex. The goal of the lesson was to get them comfortable with the Tinkercad user interface and give them experience designing in three dimensions: Students had to combine (with minimal modifications) basic geometric shapes to form a house. They found out it’s easy to think something is lined up properly… …when in reality, it isn’t: It was a very successful day, but, we’re just getting warmed up - yesterday’s class was the first I’ve ever done with Tinkercad in First Grade. I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of my students do! I was very impressed by the ease with which they learned the program and feel this is a sign of great things to come with these kids! - Mr. Jarrett

  There has been much discussion in the twitterverse recently over whether we still need the ‘e’ in e-learning - what with all the new stuff coming along such as: m-learning (e-learning on a mobile device) social learning (self organising e-learning powered by social media tools) live online learning (virtual e-learning classrooms) I still use the term e-learning because it’s well known and reasonably well understood - though if you ask anyone at Learning Technologies next week you will get some quite different definitions. Personally I prefer the term online learning since it seems more inclusive of all that new stuff listed above. However the primary aim of this short post is to highlight a new use of the ‘e’ in e-learning; enhanced learning. Where did I find this new usage? Pretty close to home actually - in Plymouth in Devon. It comes from the title of a conference on e-learning which has been run each year by Steve Wheeler (@timbuckteeth) and his team a the University of Plymouth. This year though it has been re-branded as ‘The Plymouth Enhanced Learning Conference‘. I like this new usage - what about you? Should we re-invent the ‘e’ or just lose it altogether?

Some things to consider when deciding what fonts to use in an eLearning course.Post from: The eLearning CoachWhat font should I use?

In September 2015, a new chapter begins for elementary technology at NCS - one that does not include me because I am transferring to our middle school to design and lead a brand new STEAM (STEM that incorporates art) program called "Technology, Engineering and Design." But first, some perspective. Three years ago, we changed elementary technology instruction at NCS forever. Back then, we: designed and built the "STEMLAB," a student-centered, flexible learning space unlike any other classroom in the district; incorporated an emphasis on STEM, and engineering in particular, by, among other things, integrating selected units from the award-winning Engineering is Elementary program from the Museum of Science in Boston; embraced mobile devices, i.e., Chromebooks … including, naturally, Google Apps for Education (but still also instructed students on the use of PCs and applications like Microsoft Office); captured students’ imaginations, encouraging their sense of wonder, possibility and curiosity about the world around them. The NCS elementary technology program has a bright future. Under Principal Maureen Vaccaro’s leadership, and considering the team she is assembling, the continued support from our outstanding teaching staff, and the creative ideas I’ve heard so far, the best is yet to come. Honestly! Leaving the elementary school is definitely bittersweet; my heart will always be in K-4, but I’m also tremendously excited about the opportunity that lies ahead in our middle school. So, for my current students in Kindergarten through third grade, this isn’t goodbye, it is "see you later." In the case of my fourth graders, it’s "see you next year." And, for the middle school students whom I’ve already taught, and will again next year, it’s "see you soon." I’ll close by thanking the people who made this program possible: my elementary principal Maureen Vaccaro; our previous superintendents Dr. Rich Stepura & Dr. Janice Fipp; our Board of Education; my elementary colleagues; parents (especially those who volunteered in my class); the Northfield PTO; the Northfield Education Foundation; and everyone else who contributed ideas, inspiration and encouragement all these years. Thank you! All my best, Mr. Jarrett to follow my next adventure - bookmark this blog: http://blogs.ncs-nj.org/daedalus/

Storytelling can capture the imagination of an audience. Find out why.Post from: The eLearning CoachWhy You Need To Use Storytelling For Learning

The term ‘mobile learning‘ or m-learning was coined a number of years ago to cover the use of mobile devices for learning. The term was introduced in the days before smartphones and for a while learning on a mobile was a dire experience - the combination of poor screen resolutions and poor connectivity made m-learning something to be avoided. But with the rise of the smartphone m-learning has finally come of age. The only problem is that the range of ‘mobile’ devices has become so enormous that it’s now quite hard to distinguish between a device that’s mobile and one that’s not. Laptops and netbooks are essentially mobile devices but learning on these devices is still considered e-learning rather than m-learning. What about tablets? These are also ‘mobile’ devices but are they better for e-learning or m-learning? For me (and many others) the differentiation between m-learning and e-learning is essentially redundant - what matters is the form factor of the device and the context in which the device is used. Form Factor Form factor is a term that describes the physical attributes of a product. In the case of computing devices there are a number of key components that contribute to the device’s form factor: The overall size - will it fit into a pocket, handbag or briefcase The weight - is it light enough to carry anywhere or so heavy it needs wheels The screen size and resolution The keyboard size - together the screen and keyboard size determine the overall size of the device The power supply - small or big battery. Though portability is important, the most important factor relating to the suitability of a device to be used to access e-learning content is the screen resolution. Pixels count when it comes to consuming or interacting with online content - generally the more the merrier. If I have a 320 x 240 pixel Blackberry then the type of content I can access is going to be different to the content I can access with a 1280 x 800 pixel tablet. Click to Enlarge: Screen Resolutions (Source: Wikipedia) Conventional e-learning ‘modules’ are designed for a specific pixel width and height - they are often targeted at resolutions around 800 x 600 (SVGA), so that they will work on relatively low resolution screens. In recent years though the XGA standard (1024 x 768) has become more prevalent and we are also seeing increasing use of wider aspect ratio screens - which are optimised for entertainment uses (widescreen video). The standard Articulate player has pixel dimensions of 980 x 640 so it requires an XGA display to appear at optimal size. The standard aspect ratio of SVGA and XGA is 4:3 but 3:2 is now becoming more prevalent. Most movies are now shot in 16:9. I definitely prefer a wider screen format for my e-learning courses but when working for clients we often have to design for the lowest common denominator. So getting back to mobile devices - can we run a conventional e-learning module on a mobile device? Well if the resolution is high enough then theoretically yes but the problem is that the scaling makes the content pretty much unreadable. Although the latest smartphones have reasonable resolutions the pixel density makes things look quite small in practice. Note - I’m ignoring the Flash on mobile devices issue in this post (another post covers that). The iPhone has a screen which is 640 x 960 so it’s actually pretty close to the size needed to run the standard Articulate player (980 x 640) but since the screen is only 3.5 inches (diagonally) the content would be too small to read and navigate effectively. However the iPad with a resolution of 1024 x 768 (XGA) and a screen size of 9.7 inches is ideal for running conventional e-learning modules (at least those not built in Flash). Pixel Density (Pixels-per-inch) Taking a standard laptop screen of 14 inches and with a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels gives a pixel density of 91 pixel-per-inch. The iPad at 1024 x 768 with a display diagonal of 9.7 inches has a pixel density of 132 ppi. The iPhone 4 has a resolution of 640 x 960 pixels which when combined with its 3.5 inch display results in a massive pixel density of 326 ppi. That means that text, images and interface objects such as buttons are going to appear much smaller on an iPhone than on a conventional screen. The same 100 x 100 pixel image on devices with pixel densities of 72, 144 and 240 pixels-per-inch. Source: MobiForge In practice the limited resolutions and higher pixel densities of smartphones mean that m-learning content needs to be re-worked to be successful on the small screen. However, tablet devices are much closer in resolution and pixel density to conventional laptop and desktop screens so it’s much more likely that they can be used to access conventional e-learning content provided the player interface works satisfactorily on a touch screen (e.g. the buttons and menus are big enough to select with a finger) and of course that they support the publishing environment (e.g. Flash or HTML5). Context Closely allied to portability is the context or environment in which the device will be used. A smartphone is always on and available instantly wherever the user is located. It’s therefore ideal for just in time access to content but it also supports multimedia in a way that computers in the office might not - for example it’s acceptable to listen to a 10 minute podcast while travelling on the train but it may be inappropriate while you are sat at your desk in the office. Horses for Courses Ideally as a learning designer I would prefer a design once publish anywhere approach but because of the form factor and context in which various devices are used in practice I need to design my learning programme for a specific device, or where appropriate create a range of learning activities that can be accessed across different devices. I’ve started to refer to this as the ‘device mix’. There are countless nuances to the device mix and we all face decisions each day whether to use one device or another. For example - if I’m at home and want to find out what the weather forecast is I have four options: Fire up my desktop Fire up my laptop Use my iPad Use my iPhone For this quick task the hassle of starting-up either my desktop or laptop is a no-no; so for me the iPad on WiFi is the best option. It’s always on and has a screen resolution that will allow me to see a decent weather map. If I’m shopping and need to find the nearest Waterstones then the iPhone is going to be my only real option. If I need to work on my presentation for Monday then the desktop will provide the most power and screen real estate to get the job done. Every day many of us deal with this device mix. My current computing and e-learning devices. When we design e-learning/m-learning we need to take these device choices into consideration. Does the material need to be provided across a range of devices or is a single device option (such a native app) the best option? Is the material for use on the go and likely to be required at the point of need, sometimes referred to as just-in-time learning (JIT) or performance support, or is it something that can be consumed more slowly and when you are in a more reflective mode (most conventional learning is definitely not JIT).

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