Here are 5 apps educators must never user and 5 apps they can't survive without. The "Apps" Educators Should And Should Never Use   I recently came across an article entitled "5 apps educators should use", but in my enthusiasm I misread it as "5 apps educators shouldn’t use". I must admit that I did a double-take for a moment. How could someone tell educators what apps not to use? It would really be bad to be an app on such a list… which of course got me thinking. Are there any apps that educators shouldn’t ever use? I think there are, but maybe not the ones you would expect. Here are 5 "apps" educators should never use plus 5 "apps" every educator must use. 5 "Apps" Educators Should Never Use Apathy. Topping the list of apps that should never be used by educators is apathy. There is no cure for apathy, and no hope for innovation in the classroom. It is understandable, however, how after being stuck in an industrialized system of education that is all about standardization and outputs, that many educators are apathetic. Yet the first thing we must make sure we get rid of is apathy! We must care. We must make a difference. We must act! Apprehension. Educators are humans too, even if students don’t always agree. We have hopes and fears, likes and dislikes, and all too often we are apprehensive when it comes to technology. Many educators may themselves have grown up BC (Before Computers) and even though computers are now a norm in our lives, they still feel foreign in the hallowed precincts of our classrooms. We are apprehensive about making mistakes. We are apprehensive about failing. We are apprehensive about what we don’t know. Don’t be! Apprehension is fine, as long as it does not stop us from moving forward. Anything new can be scary, daunting… otherwise it’s not really new. So, accept the apprehension, but don’t let it stop you from moving on to bravely explore strange new worlds… (Star Trek theme music now playing). Approval. OK, so we all like approval - we all thrive on validation. However, this is another app that we can’t have in our educator arsenal. You may get approval, but if you are seeking approval for trying new and innovative teaching approaches, you will be sorely disappointed. All too often the innovative educator is out on their own; think Dead Poets Society… Innovative teaching is not approved, and often it’s despised. Your validation will come from your students, from the look in their eyes when learning becomes meaningful. Don’t expect it from management or even other teachers… it’s lonely be an innovator, but the ultimate rewards are worth it. Apology. I’m not advocating bad manners, but being apologetic about what you’re trying to do, and your certain-to-arise failures, is to be avoided. I have a saying; "Try beta, you’ll teach better". The web is built around the beta principle. Everything is in permanent beta, in a permanent state of improving. Google’s famous Gmail was in beta for many years, even with millions of active users. Why? Well, because they were, and still are, ever improving Gmail. There’s no apology for this, it’s how we grow. Trying new approaches will be fraught with failures. Quite simply, if you haven’t failed, you haven’t tried! Rather than apologize and eulogize, scrutinize, then galvanize, and move on to something beta and better. Appendix. It’s at the end of the list of apps to delete... Which is where things we append tend to come. And this is exactly what we don’t want in the innovative educators’ app list. Innovating how we teach is not an afterthought; it is not an "end of list" item. It’s no longer a "nice to try if I have time". We need a revolution in our education, and that means we need to rethink how we are doing everything we do, right NOW. It’s not simply about what we’ve always done with a bit of digital appended to the end. It’s about reimagining, redesigning, redoing how we teach. It’s not appending we need, but leading. It’s not more of the same tacked on the end, its innovating from the front. So as educators we need to carefully scrutinize our "apps" and make sure we have removed as far as possible from ourselves apathy, apprehension, approval, apology, and appendix. If we cling to any of these our best attempts at revolutionizing our classrooms, at reinventing our teaching, will be destined for failure. Delete these "apps" now! Click and hold them down, and when they wiggle - hit the X to delete. 5 "Apps" Educators Should Always Use Hey, but surely we need some apps installed in our iTeacher life if we are going to be successful, right? Sure we do. So after removing the previous 5 apps from iTeacher, here are the 5 apps every iTeacher must use! Approach. Quite simply this is where it all starts; with the right approach. The approach of too many teachers to technology use in the classroom is what I call the copy/paste approach. We simply copy what we’ve always done and paste it back into our classroom with a digital coating. It’s much more than books becoming eBooks or blackboards becoming smartboards; it’s about activating our learners through the amazing affordances technology offers to learn through curation, conversation, correcting, creating, and even chaos. Appraise. One of the strengths of technology is that is enables us to celebrate diversity - diversity of learning approaches and diversity of teaching strengths. Don’t simply use technology like everyone else does just because that’s what they do. Appraise your learners’ needs and your strengths, and then use technology in a way that will enthuse and enthrall you and your learners once more. Don’t be overwhelmed by the possibilities, rather choose one thing and give it a good try while resisting the desire to leap to the next latest craze. Appropriate. This "app" stands as both a verb (to take) and an adjective (what is suitable) - and these are both key in the educators app store. Take what is suitable and discard what isn’t. Shamelessly steal the ideas of other educators. Learn from their experiences. There’s too much to learn, too many apps to try; appropriate what’s appropriate, and you’ll save yourself loads of unnecessary time wastage. If we expect our students to learn from us, shouldn’t we learn from others too? Apply. I often end my training sessions with educators with this riddle: "There are three birds on a branch - one decides to fly away, how many birds are left?" We’d assume two… But because I’m asking the question the respondents assume a trick, so I get everything from 0 to 3 as replies. The answer I’m looking for is three. The fact that a bird decides to fly away is not the same as flying away. Deciding to innovate and transform our classrooms, while a great first step, is not the same as transforming and innovating our classrooms. The Apply app is vital if you want to change your classroom. Take a step, however small, you’ll be amazed at how easy it can be. Appreciate. We’ve all heard it. "Modern students are too distracted", "This generation is lazy and overstimulated," and so on. Sure these observations might be true, but rather than fixate on the symptoms, let’s appreciate the opportunities. Technology may be to blame for the crisis in our classrooms, but maybe it’s a crisis that was long overdue. We’ve taught in a production-based, instruction-led, industrial style since the invention of the printing press. Finally we have new and exciting opportunities to teach in new and exciting ways, brought to us by technology. Celebrate and appreciate the exciting times we are living through as we have the opportunity to teach in classrooms, in the midst of the greatest education revolution we’ve ever seen! Being an educator in our modern day and age is no easy task. We are living in turbulent but exciting times. When it all just seems too much, just remember - "Don’t worry, be ’appy"! This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

2015 7th International Conference on Information and Multimedia Technology (ICIMT 2015) is the premier forum for the presentation of technological advances and research results in the fields of Information and Multimedia Technology. The idea of ICIMT 2015 is for the scientists, scholars, engineers and students from the Universities all around the world and the industry to present ongoing research activities, and hence to foster research relations between the Universities and the industry.ICIMT 2015 will bring together leading engineers and scientists in Information and Multimedia Technology from around the world. ICIMT 2015 Topics Web and Internet Systems and Tools Multimedia Information Systems Networked Multiplayer Games Data Management Collaborative Systems and Distance Learning Applications ICIMT 2015 Keynote Speakers Prof. Mounir Ghogho, University of Leeds, UK Prof. Rolf Roskam, Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences, Germany Prof. Peter Plapper, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg The current ICIMT 2015 (The 7th International Conference on Information and Multimedia Technology) will be held on December 21-22, 2015 in Barcelona, Spain. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

What Is SuperMemo And How It Works  For more than 20 years I have been using an IT solution which was invented to optimize the repetition process. It is called SuperMemo and was designed in Poland about 25 years ago. There is a strong research process behind it, based on the science of the forgetting curve. There are basically two elements of the solution: An engine which calculates repetition intervals for every single learning item (small chunk of information) and databases which contain learning materials consisting of such learning items. The learning engine adapts the process to personal learning abilities and the learning context (difficulty of learning material, base knowledge, etc.) so every single learner could be using every single database with a different learning pattern. But how SuperMemo works? Well - basically the model is very simple: We divide the information into small chunks called learning items (the smaller, the better - that is why such a learning model is the best for learning foreign vocabulary). We present learning items to the learner one by one (first: question/stimulus than: answer/response). The learner makes self-assessment and provides to the system information whether he/she knew the answer or not. If the learner knew the answer, the interval for next repetition would increase; if the learner didn’t know the answer, the interval would be reset for the initial period (which is around 2 days). Of course - the engine is much more complicated than that, but still it corresponds with this concept. In the long run (after gaining information about personal learning patterns) the learning engine is capable to provide to the learner a learning item on the edge of forgetting of this particular chunk of information. This way, one doesn’t have to repeat learning items that are still well remembered. A Short History Of SuperMemo From My Perspective Here is the SuperMemo development story from my own perspective: 1. PC version.  I first met with SuperMemo in about 1993. Those days only the PC (Windows) version was available and a company of mine signed an agreement with SuperMemo World company to design, develop,  and publish an Amiga version of this application. Both PC and Amiga versions were being sold in bundles with specific databases (mostly for learning foreign languages). As far as I know the PC version is still on the market, but in the age of the cloud it becomes a declining solution. 2. Mobile version. An interesting part of the SuperMemo development story is that the idea of building the mobile version of the solution came earlier than the idea of building its web version. In 1999 it came to my mind as a way of utilizing WAP - the new mobile technology which became available more or less those days. It seemed to be a very bright idea because of 3 facts: SuperMemo requires to be used hyper-regularly (in an ideal world every day). You always have your mobile phone with you, so you can have constant access to the application (use it on the go, learn meanwhile, etc.). SuperMemo can use push techniques to stimulate the learner in day-to-day basis. In 2000 a mock-up of the mobile version was prepared as an initiative of one of the Polish technology incubators, but we realized that WAP and mobile technologies available, as well as patterns of mobile phones usage, were too limited to make this project successful those days. The idea of a mobile version of SuperMemo returned after several years. Now you can find SuperMemo apps in all app-stores. 3. Web. While working on the mobile version we started to build the web version of SuperMemo idea. In the year 2000 we launched the Supermemo.net (you can reach it here: www.supermemo.net) web application which was utilizing the same algorithm and the same databases as the PC version did. At the beginning we were thinking about this solution as a system for corporate implementation - kind of a specialized Learning Management System. We tried to position it on the market in that way for about a year, but with no success. 4. Email. Working on the web application we also designed an email version of the solution. I was a very bright idea and very clever implementation. Every day the web application was sending an email to the learner with all learning items scheduled for repetition on that day. The format of thr email let you make all repetitions within your Outlook (responses were hidden, navigation through the email was provided, etc.). At the end of the repetition session, the response email was automatically prepared with all necessary data required to calculate next repetition dates). I left this initiative in 2001, deciding to make a major shift in my professional career. I am happy, however, seeing that both the company and the idea dynamically grow. I know that, in certain circumstances (regular use, chunking of knowledge, long run - these three are the most important), this way of learning is extremely effective. After many years of observing how this solution and market are developing I realized that the web solution was invented and developed about 5 years too late, and the mobile one about 8-10 years too early… 5. OliveGreen. Olive Green is the new product of SuperMemo World company which brings a new kind of engagement to the table. The biggest weakness of older solutions was the learner; one has to have big motivation for day-by-day use of SuperMemo on a long-run basis. If you were motivated you had great results, but if you were losing it your results went down. Such a negative feedback loop generated even worse motivation, which, eventually, made learners quit. Olive Green is an interactive movie. It engages you, let’s you play a role, immerses you in an action. This is not a Hollywood production, but as long as the educational market is concerned, it is definitely a high-end product; not only from a story/script perspective, but also from all educational aspects. Olive Green won several prizes - Gold Dolphin Award at the Cannes Festival, Gold Camera Award, and the Grand Prix for the best film of the festival in the category of Entertainment in the US International Film & Video Festival to mention only a few. You can reach for all accolades of this product on the Olive Green webpage here:  https://olivegreenthemovie.com/about/start/. You can also try and test the solution there. Pros And Cons Of SuperMemo What are the pros and cons of SuperMemo method (in fact - these correspond with all solutions based on spacing repetition algorithms)? Cons:  If you are not regular, you will see poor results. Information is split into small chunks - it is hard to build a broader context (that is why SuperMemo is mainly used to learn foreign vocabulary or facts). The database must be prepared with great care - e.g. if there are learning items asking the same or a similar question with different answers, it will lead to confusion in learners’ minds and problems with memorization of this chunk. You have to be patient - you will see amazing results no sooner than after 3-4 weeks of regular (i.e. daily) use. Pros:  It is extremely efficient - if the database is well-prepared and you are regular in using SuperMemo solution. It consumes as little of your time as possible to hold all learning items introduced to the learning process in your memory; well, this is what SuperMemo method was invented for. It creates automatic responses in your mind - it builds in your brain strong bonds based on stimulus-answer effect. It motivates you to regular learning - regular stimulation of our brain is very important for us. You can build your own databases and learn what is important for you - and this is for free on supermemo.net. My opinion? If you want to learn foreign languages or facts, you should definitely give SuperMemo a try. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Are You Thinking About Using Microsoft's New eLearning Authoring Tool Office Mix?  Let us see whether to mix or not to mix with Microsoft’s new eLearning authoring tool. Dramatic Introduction It’s July 2015, the sun is roasting relentlessly outside, and inside learning technologists are chatting about something intensely…. In walks the Head. "Hi everyone," An experienced learning technologist turns around on his swivel chair looking somewhat worried. "Our Articulate HTML5 videos aren’t playing on Chrome or Firefox," "What do you mean?" said the Head. "They’re not viewable on Chrome or Firefox I think, but Flash fall-back is ok," said the experienced learning technologist. "Flash is ok, but HTML5 isn’t, what an irony, how’s that possible, it’s HTML5? Have you tried Internet Explorer, Edge or Maxthon?" said the Head. "What’s Maxthon?" said another learning technologist. "It’s that browser that no-one’s heard of," said the experienced learning technologist. The Head then calls out to an experienced IT expert, who was sitting in another room. "Find out what’s going on, and do it asap." After a while...  "It was some updates to Chrome 44 that affected Articulate HTML5 output files on all Chromium based browsers and not on Microsoft browsers or Maxthon, but Articulate released a fix very quickly, and that was pretty impressive" said the experienced IT expert calmly. "Could this happen again?" said the Head. "As Google updates are not generally announced in advance, this could happen again, but then again, remember, updates can affect HTML5 output files depending on who’s doing them, and depending on what’s being done." "Holy shit, how the hell are we supposed to work, if things like this are going on?" said the Head (to himself). "But, then again, surely, it’s very unlikely that an Office Mix HTML5 output file will be affected by an update done on Internet Explorer or Edge…" said the Head (to himself pragmatically).  Can Office Mix Provide The Right Solution For My Institution? Is there really such a thing as future proofing? Isn’t that an oxymoron? I mean nothing is certain in life, not health nor wealth, and nothing is certain in the technology arena too where big tech players appear to be vying for a greater market share, mostly ostensibly through competing with one another. With regard to eLearning authoring software specifically, it’s looking increasingly like future-proofing means opting for the less risky option. A reliable eLearning authoring software company needs to address or be able to address a growing list of requirements (quickly). For instance, there is increasing legislative pressure to adhere to section 508/WCAG2.0. Multi-device compatibility, improved analytics functionality, and being/remaining affordable are also important factors; but for me, the most important criterion is, does the company have a vision of where technology enhanced learning (TEL) is going/will be going and will it be able to develop a strategy to realize its vision? Microsoft can only be as good as its senior management allows it to be though; any entrenched big-ego power freaks that stifle real out-of-the-box TEL thinking need to be expunged because it’s actually a company’s failures that evidence whether a trend-setting environment, with its right mix of whacky people, has been created and is being safe-guarded. Microsoft evidently wants a bigger piece of the education pie, and, after all, it’s only natural for Microsoft to want to leverage itself more into education, and the push to promote the preview version of its rapid eLearning and knowledge sharing tool, Office Mix, surely pays testament to this. Another indication that Microsoft is exerting its presence more in education is the growing array of imaginative products on the Microsoft education site. Be Pragmatic When Choosing A Rapid eLearning Solution  Appertaining to rapid eLearning software, random unannounced security updates/bug fixes/improvements on browsers only underscore the importance of choosing a company that you feel you can (learn to) trust to find solutions to problems; I feel an addendum is required here however, in life, love, and IT, trust has to be earned (over time). For instance, one of my IT assistants informed me in July 2015 about "fixes and improvements" on Chrome 44 affecting Articulate HTML5 output files only on all Chromium-based browsers (i.e. they were not viewable); Articulate did however release a fix very quickly and were not to blame. For the full story regarding this incident, click here. The point being, as fixes and improvements are not as a rule announced in advance, I guess problems with HTML5 output file browser compatibility could happen again. However, one might conclude that it’s very unlikely that an Office Mix HTML5 output file will be affected by security updates/bug fixes/improvements done on Internet Explorer or Edge. And that’s a plus for me. More About Office Mix  Office Mix, which is a PowerPoint plugin, is free if you have Office 2013 or Office 365. It looks sleek and robust, and I understand Microsoft is improving things on a daily basis. And with the leitmotif of trust still in mind, maybe I should -as any person venturing in a new direction in life might do- look at the down side first. One point of concern is that all Office Mix HTML5 output production files run from somewhere in the cloud, they do not appear to be downloadable; even though I know that there are other download options (i.e. SCORM 1.2, PowerPoint, MP4 video), I really would have liked it, if there were a local HTML5 file back-up option too. But then I say stoically to myself, "Why am I so fixated about keeping control of content locally? And is that really going to be safer? Nothing really belongs to you in this world, not even your body, and your creative ideas, if you actually have any, might at best, outlive you for someone else to enjoy". Secondly, according to a local Microsoft rep (NB at least that’s what I understood quite clearly), Office Mix HTML5 production file storage is "apparently" free; but that seems too good to be true, is storage really going to be free (forever)? Things are, for me at least, still a bit iffy. And, if Office 365 for Education "fairly opaque" 1 terabyte, recently updated 20000-item free storage policy is anything to go by, maybe I should be concerned. Furthermore, an example of Microsoft storage policies not being etched in stone was the sudden announcement on 2 November 2015 of the downgrading of free OneDrive storage to 5GB for Office 365 customers. Is it therefore an acceptable risk to trust Microsoft will always be so benevolent with Office Mix storage? After all, any shrewd drug pusher knows that first you make them dependent, and then you get them to pay for the stuff. A trade-off therefore for relinquishing control over HTML5 content is better reliability on Microsoft browsers and possible uncertainty regarding future storage overheads. There’s a whole bunch of other Office Mix problem issues that worry me much less - I mean, this is Microsoft, they’ll fix it (I hope). For instance (and at the time of writing this article and to the best of my knowledge), on mobile devices/tablets: Gesture support is very limited and as Office Mix doesn’t currently appear to be device aware, only non-interactive videos are available on mobile devices, on surface tablets however, which are basically small portable computers and not tablets, Office Mix HTML5 output files are viewable. Some other issues are: (1) it’s only a pre-view version; (2) there’s no pop-up blocker, which can be annoying during screen recordings; (3) there’s a navigation usability issue in recording mode i.e. you cannot go back and re-record a slide without leaving the record mode and coming back in to record mode; (4) there are presently limited quiz capabilities; (5) analytics needs to be improved; (6) you can’t embed YouTube films; (7) there’s no geo-location; (8) accessibility compliance needs more work e.g. interactive in-sync transcript, synchronized audio descriptions as a separate audio track, or sign language support; (9) there’s no responsive screen capture. Some of Office Mix good points comprise: (1) It’s Microsoft after all - they’re less likely to make a balls-up of things (I hope); (2) it’s easy to use and is constantly updated; (3) closed captions can be exported; (4) it’s a PowerPoint plugin; (5) it’s a scalable free service with Office 2013 or Office 365; (6) it’s very likely to be compatible with all other Microsoft products; (7) Office Mix HTML file outputs will be reliable on Edge or Internet Explorer. Final Comments  Even though products such as Adobe Captivate 9 or Articulate Storyline 2, which are non-PowerPoint plugins, in many respects are currently more advanced, I think I like Office Mix (more)! Why? Its cost of scalability, its ease of use, its compatibility with other ubiquitous Microsoft products/technologies, its speed of development, and, the fact that any challenges will, more than likely, be addressed in the future. But, does Microsoft have a vision of how it intends to improve access to learning? Does it have a vision of how it intends to support improvements in real/deep engagement in learning? Does it have a vision of how it intends to support improvements in the effectiveness of measuring learning? Does it have a vision of how it intends to address the way technological innovation affects learning design? Does it have a vision of changing models of education?  Does it have a vision of how to address the changing roles and expectations of the modern-day, tech-savvy, app-overdosed, social-media-addicted, gaming-adept, smartphone-doting, increasingly disestablishment, increasingly economically frustrated, increasingly self-directed, and increasingly rhizomatically networked Millennial learner? This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Developing Training For Chinese Markets  With global expansion, it’s nearly impossible for any consumer or business person to not run into an engagement involving Chinese. Everything from manufacturing products, imports/exports, consumer goods (especially electronics) involve China or Taiwan. Training initiatives almost always require at least one version of Chinese in the localization. In my line of work, I am often tasked with helping my clients figure out which specific dialects of Chinese they really need to address their target audience. So, I thought this would be a great topic to share some industry insider information and rules-of-thumb to help navigate this huge market. Ethnologue.com provides us with the following statistics on the Chinese language: PRC: Pop. 1,357,380,000 / 297 individual languages. Hong Kong: Pop. 7,118,000 / 7 individual languages. Taiwan: Pop. 23,120,000 / 25 individual languages. Spoken Chinese. There are two primary spoken versions of Chinese which are Cantonese and Mandarin. Often we see these used to refer to written Chinese, which is different: Cantonese and Mandarin are only spoken. Which dialect is your native language will depend specifically on where in China or Taiwan you are from or currently reside. These dialects are not mutually understandable and are as different from each other as German and French. Spoken Chinese can also vary regionally. Written Chinese. The two primary written forms of Chinese are Simplified and Traditional. Again, depending on where in China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan you are from or currently reside will determine whether you read Simplified or Traditional Chinese characters. A common misconception is that Simplified Chinese is an "easier" version of Chinese. It’s not. It’s a different language all together. Here are a few tips that may help you determine which specifically you need for your project. Please keep in mind, these are general guidelines: Traditional Chinese written - Cantonese Spoken is most often what we see to serve immigrant populations in the Pacific NW and Northern California. Almost anywhere in the US is going to be Simplified / Mandarin. Please note, there are definitely areas in the US that will require both and potentially Cantonese/Simplified. For use within Chinese markets, here are some very general guidelines that you can work with: PRC: Simplified Mandarin. Hong Kong: Traditional Cantonese. Taiwan: Traditional Mandarin. Please remember that the best option for use in Chinese markets is to determine exactly where this localized information is to be used. This can vary by region. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

eLearning Course Review: Why You Should Review Your eLearning Course Thoroughly Whether your eLearning course is still in production or has already been finished, the need to review and test is ever present. You never know what sort of problem might pop up at any moment and ruin your user’s experience. Even if your UX (user experience) is perfectly fine, there can be a host of other problems that pass right under your nose if you don’t review your eLearning course diligently. The problem becomes even more compounded when you’re working with a large team. There are so many people with expertise in different areas, and working in sync can be challenging. So the need for doing an eLearning course review becomes even greater. It’s something every self-respecting eLearning course producer must do. Here are the 5 biggest reasons you should always review your eLearning course meticulously. Accuracy. This is the most important thing for you to check in your course. You don’t want to give your students any factually incorrect information, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s intentional or unintentional. Incorrect facts send a really bad message to the user: You’re not doing your job well. Always double check with your Subject Matter Experts and the internet that the facts, figures, names, and other data you’ve used are all accurate. Incorrect information not only damages your own credibility, it also hurts the client and the end user, i.e. the student. Functionality. Your eLearning course will most probably have lots of different media and interactive elements. They are a necessity if you want to keep the student engaged, but it’s easy to get things messed up. Sometimes, a button or two may not work. Other times, the audio may not sync up with the video. The graphics may start mucking up when you resize the window. A number of things can go wrong. So you need to test and review everything thoroughly before you ship the course. Consistency. You’ve heard it a thousand times and I’ll say it again: Your course needs to be consistent. Whether it’s the colors or the fonts or anything else, there needs to be a certain degree of consistency throughout the course. To check that, you must review your course again and again. If you’ve been working with a client for a while and she prefers some specific design in her courses, make sure you stick to that design. It's not unusual for the courses you make for a client to be part of a series, and it looks really unprofessional when two courses in a series have different layouts or designs. It’s okay to experiment a little, but don’t go overboard. Keep the colors, fonts, and other things more or less same. Another thing you need to be consistent about is the terminology. If you’re calling a course a "chapter", stick to it throughout, and this applies to any terms you use in the course. It confuses the student when you use different terms to refer to the same thing. Client Demands. Your client is a big stakeholder in the whole process of course building. So it’s important for you to make sure everything is coming along the way your client wants it to. It’s not enough to just show the client a wireframe or a prototype in the beginning. You have to create certain checkpoints in the whole development process so your client can collaborate with you in reviewing the course. The client has certain visions and expectations regarding the end product, and without continual reviewing, that end product is never going to be what the client imagined. This will result in valuable time and resources being wasted at the last moment. It’s much better to keep the client in the loop and constantly seek feedback. Improvement. The more you review, the better your courses will tend to get over time. Your presentation and work speed improves substantially. This happens for a number of reasons: your gut feeling starts getting stronger as you notice patterns and realize what people like and what they don’t, your sense of design develops, your understanding of different issues also improves greatly. All of this helps you deliver quality courses, all the while refining your performance continuously. So make sure you review your courses with all your stakeholders multiple times. If you’re looking for a great platform to review your courses and have all your feedback and comments stored in a centralized place, you should try out zipBoard. It's a new and powerful tool for efficient course review and feedback management. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

The Role Of Agile Project Management In eLearning Development  "Businesses today are seeing an increasing need to more rapidly adapt to changing environments. If you need a biz to be agile you need an architecture to be agile too." - Kim Jones (Fashion Designer) A recent HP survey of over 600 IT and software professionals earlier this year found that Agile had more or less become the default software development methodology. 67% of the surveyed companies called themselves "Purely Agile" or "Leaning towards Agile" and a further 24% claimed a "Hybrid" development approach. Agile first found favor with software product development and then moved into more and more software development areas. eLearning cannot be immune to this spread and there is growing appreciation as well as growing adoption of this development approach in eLearning development now. I picked the particular DevLearn session to attend since I wanted to explore more about how Agile project management could be applied to eLearning/mLearning course development projects. At eNyota, we have already gone Agile in our software development teams recently but have not really thought this through completely on the course development side of things. Some questions in my mind were: Was Agile a different way to look at handling learning projects? Could it be applied to all learning/training projects? How to handle the differences between learning projects and software projects? What are some experiences of companies trying this out? How ready would our customers be to do this? At the end of the Agile Project Management in eLearning Projects session one pretty clear conclusion was that the traditional ADDIE development model, which mirrors the Waterfall development model in software development, has some clear challenges and limitations. Principally these are to do with the fact that this is still, largely, a linear process. This means that a fair amount of time is taken to deliver usable content. Then there is the associated lack of flexibility - a change in the end output will mean going back to the start of the process and changing every step till the end. In the Agile Development approach, rather than plan the entire project upfront in great detail before development, the focus is on looking at faster iterations and smaller builds. Feedback is sought from the client early in the process and incorporated into succeeding iterative releases. The idea is to deliver something that is closer to what is usable and meaningful to the client/their learners and improve successively from release to release. Instead of the traditional model: Go with: Image from Megan Torrance’s book - A Quick Guide to LLAMA (A lot like Agile Methods Approach). A simple example in the eLearning context could be instead of doing all scripts/all storyboards for all modules before development starts, first get the functional modules ready and deliver them fast. Post delivery, seek and assimilate feedback not just from the stakeholders, but potentially from the learners also, and go back to the release to incorporate the changes. A continuous process of iteration of the modules will drive towards the final end product that is likely to be much more market-tested. While the subtle difference in looking at smaller iterations may seem no different from the traditional way of executing eLearning projects one module at a time, in the context of a complete project this is a vastly different way of looking at things. I’m convinced that once you go Agile you may never go back! The compelling reasons to do Agile in developing learning material include: Often projects go on long enough that requirements change. The requirement that was defined upfront changed by the time the development starts. Once the stakeholder sees the development output, it is too late to change his/her mind about the direction it is taking. User feedback is taken at the end of the development process instead of on regular basis. The regimented Waterfall model calls for a strict process of delivery of intermediate outputs, sign-offs, and at times change management etc. due to rigid view on how much change is acceptable. Getting exactly what you want at the end rather than what was in the contract is a better outcome. Getting the learning or training output reviewed by a sample group of end users early may yield feedback that could be vital rather than waiting for everything to be done. The quick limitations I see with Agile in learning projects include: Learning projects are not on top of everyone’s priority list, so getting stakeholders to commit time regularly/frequently is challenging. Subject Matter Experts are often too busy, may be more consultants to a learning project, and it is tough to get them allocated/available to review smaller outputs regularly. Development teams are not in the same place for developing learning products. At times, they may be in different cities, working from home, or even oversees, depending on how you choose to develop. A lot of times, learning projects are run on fixed priced basis when run with outside development agencies so both parties need to agree on a budget (not to exceed with a margin of 10-20% upwards or downwards) and it can be a challenge to run truly agile projects that way. Of course, as has been much-documented, eLearning is inherently different from software development and this means that we cannot blindly adopt Agile; but it is clear that there is utility with the right adaptations. The challenges are not small. For one, Agile puts a much greater value on the continued collaboration between the stakeholders, learners, and developers - not always easy to pull off consistently. Τhat being said, Agile is getting a lot more attention in the eLearning development context. Many books have been written and, while it is early days, there is a clear trend towards rethinking the traditional model of ADDIE and utilizing the learning from doing Agile software development projects to learning projects as well. We will keep you posted on how our Agile eLearning efforts take off at eNyota - stay tuned! This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Core Benefits Of A Responsive Learning Management System  The role of the Learning Management System is rapidly changing. Modern work practices and the need for continuous professional and personal development are directing the ways we learn. The Learning Management System of today needs to facilitate and enhance learning, not dictate. More and more of us are taking control of our own learning and skills development. This is evident from the rise of: Social Media as a learning tool (see the following article by Christopher Pappas on Social Media use). MOOC's (Massive Open Online Courses). Informal learning (see the following article by the late Jay Cross on informal learning). A Learning Management System is only as good as the content it helps deliver and the data that it can provide regarding Learning and Development (and other) performance initiatives. For users to engage with your Learning Management System it must fit into the way that they learn and develop skills. Having a responsive Learning Management System is a key factor to consider when determining the best fit for your organization or association. The medium for delivering learning (Learning Management System) should not be the focal point. Instead it should act as the silent conduit and facilitator for learning and skills development. What Is A Responsive Learning Management System? Figure 1. Responsive Web Site Across Multiple Devices A Responsive Learning Management System will employ a Responsive Web Design (RWD). This approach provides an optimal viewing and interaction experience —easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling— across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones). This article looks at the following critical success factors which you can meet by having a Responsive Learning Management System: The Multi-Screen World. Mobilegeddon. Web Search Trends. 1. The Multi-Screen World. A study conducted by Sterling Brands and Ipsos, in conjunction with Google (2012/2013), found that we now live in what can be called a Multi-Screen World. 90% of people move between devices to accomplish a goal, whether that’s on smartphones, PCs, tablets, or TV. Research from this study shows that: There are two main modes of multi-screening: Sequential screening where we move between devices. Simultaneous screening where we use multiple devices at the same time. The device we choose to use is often driven by our context: Where we are; What we want to accomplish; and The amount of time needed. Smartphones are the backbone of our daily media interactions. They serve as the most common starting point for activities across multiple screens. Multiple screens make us feel more efficient because we can act spontaneously and get a sense of accomplishment - this results in a feeling of "found time". Figure 2. Context Drives Device Choice for Achieving Our Goals in a Multi-Screen World What this means for your Learning Management System is quite clear: Users have to be afforded the ability to continue their learning goals at home, and on the move - at the time and location that suits them best. 2. Mobilegeddon. Figure 3. Mobile Friendly Search In case you missed it, on 21st April 2015, Google announced that it was rolling out changes to its SEO algorithm (otherwise known as Mobilegeddon). The changes made rank mobile friendly pages found in mobile searches higher than other non-responsive pages. This means that organizations that have sites that meet Google’s mobile standards will rank higher in search results on phones. The aftermath of these changes (a little like Y2K) have not had the catastrophic effects anticipated by many. Mobilegeddon does however point to the importance of having a mobile-centric approach. Your Responsive Learning Management System should be designed with mobile first in mind. This approach plans for the small screen first. 3. Web Search Trends. Figure 4. Mobile Usage For the past couple of years it has been rumored that mobile web usage has outstripped that of desktop. This has finally come to pass in the third quarter of 2015. Google (soon to be known as Alphabet) has confirmed that searches on mobile have outstripped those of the desktop for the first time. If the users that make up your organization or association are moving to performing the majority of their day-to-day tasks on mobile device - your Learning Management System has to move with them. Users should be provided with an enhanced learning experience that has been designed to respond to their learning device of choice. Otherwise they will choose their own means to learn and up-skill. You only need to take a look at the fortunes of Nokia, MySpace, etc. to realize that it is the users’ ability to use tools and products in a useful and personally meaningful way that determines success. Organizations that aren't aware of changes in their users’ behavior, and fail to provide an enhanced User Experience will quickly lose market share and flounder. You can find an example of a Learning Management System that believes a Responsive Web Design approach is essential, and that will continue to adapt itself to how its users learn here. References Meunier, B. (2015, May 7). Mobilegeddon Is Beginning, Not Ending. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://searchengineland.com/mobilegeddon-beginning-not-ending-220512 Rao, L. (2015, April 21). What Google's Mobilegeddon is (and why you should care). Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://fortune.com/2015/04/21/google-mobilegeddon/ Terdiman, D. (2015, October 22). Google Says Mobile Search Has Surpassed Desktop Search. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://www.fastcompany.com/3052654/behind-the-brand/google-says-mobile-search-has-surpassed-desktop-search Webb, P. (2012, September 16). The New Multi-Screen World: Understanding Consumer Behaviour - Mobify. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://insights.mobify.com/the-new-multi-screen-world-understanding-consumer-behaviour/ This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

EdTechTeacher Google Jamborees 2015 are a great chance to connect with innovators in education and technology through keynotes, hands on workshops, and demonstrations. Google Apps for Education (GAFE) is a core suite of productivity applications that Google offers to schools and educational institutions for FREE. These communication and collaboration apps are some of the fastest growing tools in the educational technology. HANDS ON WORKSHOPS After the keynotes, we will offer 5 different Hands-On Workshops to give you an in-depth, hands-on learning experience. These workshops will be repeated in the afternoon. Workshops: Student Creations with Google Drive Add-Ons & Chrome Extensions with Tom Daccord Google Drive as Collaboration Station with Beth Holland Google Drive & Google Classroom with Greg Kulowiec The Magic of Chromebooks & Google Web Tools with Avra Robinson YouTube - It's Not Just Cats & Khan Academy with Richard Byrne IGNITE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS These innovative speakers will spark your passion and inspire your teaching in just 10 minutes. Tom Daccord is the co-founder and director of EdTechTeacher, an educational technology speaker, instructor, and author. Tom has worked with schools, colleges and educational organizations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Justin Reich is the co-founder of EdTechTeacher, Executive Director of the PK12 Initiative at MIT, a research scientist in the MIT Office of Digital Learning, a Lecturer in the MIT Scheller Teacher Education Program, and a Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Richard Byrne is best known for his award winning blog, Free Technology for Teachers, which started while teaching high school social studies in Maine. His favorite thing to do is help teachers develop creative and practical classroom uses of technology. Patrick Larkin , the Assistant Superintendent for Learning for Burlington Public Schools (MA), is a nationally recognized leader in the use of educational technology to enhance learning. WORKSHOP INSTRUCTORS Along with Tom and Richard, these 3 Google for Education Certified Trainers will lead workshops on Google tools for creation and collaboration. Beth Holland, EdTechTeacher Instructor, Edutopia Blogger, TEDx Presenter, Google for Education Certified Trainer, and doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University, Beth leverages her experience with professional development, technology integration, and differentiated instruction to help teachers construct mobile learning environments.  Greg Kulowiec, a nationally recognized instructor, presenter, and author, Greg is an award-winning teacher and authorized Google Education Trainer. He has been an early adopter of mobile devices in the classroom and coined the phrase "App Smashing." Avra Robinson, a passionate authorized Google Education Trainer, former Instructional Technology Coordinator, and elementary classroom teacher, Avra has spent over 15 years helping students and teachers discover exciting ways to authentically integrate technology into the curriculum.  EdTech Teacher Google Jamboree 2015 will be held at the Medfield High School on December 5, 2015. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Important Characteristics Of Modern Learners  Every modern learner is unique. Each may come from a different cultural and educational background, but there are also common characteristics that they tend to share. Knowing these characteristics can give eLearning professionals the opportunity to turn eLearning courses into customized eLearning experiences. In this article, I’ll present 7 important characteristics of modern learners eLearning professionals should have in mind when designing eLearning courses for that particular audience. Easily distracted. Modern learners have a lot on their proverbial plates. They are thinking about any number of things at one given time, making it easy to get distracted when they are trying to complete an online course. As eLearning professionals, this can present quite a challenge. However, we can get over this trait hurdle by creating eLearning courses that engage right from the start and hold it all throughout. Ask compelling questions that make them reflect upon the topic. Tell an emotional story that pulls at their heart strings or gets them fascinated about the subject matter. Integrate image and videos that evoke specific feelings, as well as characters with whom they can relate. Social learners. Without a doubt, modern learners are more social than any previous generation. They spend a good portion of their day on social media networks, catching up with friends and reaching out to business contacts. In fact, in many respects, social networking has taken the place of face-to-face communication. Modern learners are more likely to post on a Facebook page or respond to a tweet than make a call. This means that eLearning experiences must be collaborative and social. To cater to your modern learning audience, you have to include online group projects and social learning online experiences via project management platforms and social media sites to adapt to the way students will learn. Crave constant knowledge. This generation of learners demands information anytime and anywhere. If they want to learn more about a topic, they simply hop on their mobile or tablets and find out everything they need to know to satisfy their curiosity. While previous generations had to venture to the nearest library to expand their knowledge, now knowledge is always at the modern learners’ fingertips. In terms of eLearning, we can quench this constant craving for knowledge by giving them supplemental eLearning resources that they can explore on their own. We can provide them with tutorials, walkthroughs that help them in their "moment of need". Always on-the-go. Your eLearning course must be mobile-friendly. Your learners aren’t going to have the time to sit at home on their PCs and complete online modules on a regular basis, which means that you have to give them learning wherever they are. You can achieve this by choosing a Learning Management System that features a responsive design and automatically detects the learner’s device and offers the optimal display. However, you must also ensure that you don’t overload your learners by presenting too much information at once. Make it easily digestible by offering short bursts of information on a regular basis, such as five minute modules that each covers a specific sub-topic. Independent. Though they thrive in social learning environments, modern learners are also fiercely independent. They aren’t afraid to set out on their own to find the knowledge they need to achieve their goals, even if that means devoting all of their free time to the endeavor. If they aren’t finding the information they are looking for in their online course, then they will simply look elsewhere. They also search for learning experiences that give them control over the process, such as being able to choose when they complete the online modules and the nature of the eLearning activity. For example, some may gravitate toward multimedia-based online courses while others may prefer interactive scenarios. As a result, eLearning pros must design eLearning courses that are customized for each learner by doing thorough audience research and providing many different types of eLearning activities. Impatient. The simple truth is that we live in a busy world where nobody really has the time or patience to sit through a lengthy eLearning course. However, modern learners are particularly impatient. They are so used to getting information at a moment’s notice that you have to grab their attention and manage time effectively, or you run the risk of disengaging them. They know that there is an abundance of information just waiting for them on the internet, so they won’t waste their time with an online course that doesn’t cater to their needs. Overworked. One of the most prevalent traits of modern learners is that they are overworked and overwhelmed. Many carry out a wide variety of job responsibilities, making it difficult to balance their home life with their careers. This means that they don’t have a great deal of energy or effort to devote to eLearning. They are also overwhelmed by the abundance of information that is online today. Give them time to take it all in and look for signs that your learners are actually absorbing the key ideas and able to retain them for future use. While some modern learners may possess atypical characteristics, many will share these core traits. However, it’s always wise to carry out a detailed learner analysis before designing the eLearning course, just to ensure that the needs of every individual are being considered. Interested in learning more about how to engage modern learners? Read the article 10 Ways To Shake Up Your Online Classes to really change your student’s thinking by changing the routine way of teaching. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.