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

Any teacher that has taught a face-to-face class understands the preciousness of that first class meeting. So much rides on those first impressions.  As educators, we too can reflect on our own experiences as students and recall how a first class meeting formed impressions about what a class would be like -- I can remember thinking all of these thoughts in college on day one:"This instructor is so disorganized!" "I can tell this class is going to be really interesting!" "That was the most boring 50 minutes of my life." "This instructor totally inspires me."When you teach online, there is no "first session" in which all students are together at the first same moment with you.  Students come to the online course at different times and interact with the content you have prepared for them.  What is important to consider about that content? How do you ensure it is effectively communicating what you want them to take away?While there are many elements that influence an online students first encounters in an online class (ease of navigation, overall color choice and design aesthetics), their target is "The Syllabus."  College students want to get to the meat and bones of a class, understand what it consists of, and how it stacks up against other classes.  For this reason, I put a lot of time and energy into my syllabi.  Populr - a simple micropublishing tool (free for educators) with some nifty features!I have been wanting to find a way to develop a living, breathing syllabus that is mobile friendly and conveys more about who I am -- my personality, my style of teaching, as well as communicate how my class is different from other online classes.  This month I learned about a tool called Populr. Populr is a startup company based in Nashville that launched last January 2013. Their product is a which is a micropublishing tool, similar to Smore.  Micropublishing enables the creation and publication of single page websites, which is perfectly suited for creating a course syllabus!  If you've found yourself creating Google Sites or Google Docs to share with presentation or webinar audiences (I often use BagTheWeb), that is a perfect example of a purpose that a micropublishing tool could fill for you. Micropublishing is an upcoming industry and what's great about these new tools are the slick analytics and beautiful layouts and design features that enable a person with little to no design sense to create a really beautiful product.  While Populr is like Smore, it does not yet feature the ability to print to a PDF (although that feature is supposed to be available very soon) and embedding of "Pops" is not yet available yet (both features that are available through Smore).  What I like about Populr, however, are these very cool features that make it stand out from Smore:A free, robust account for educators. Click here to generate the Education Coupon. Read more about Populr's support for education here.The ability to password protect sites.The option to make sites collaborative or allow others to make a copy of them.A rich collection of beautiful designs and layouts to start with! The ability to record video directly into a page using your webcam.The option to add up to three custom domains to an account.Deep analytics that allow you to track how many times each link inside each of your "Pops" has been clicked.So, here is a link to my humanized syllabus created with Populr -- what do you think? http://page.teachingwithoutwalls.com/SyllabusHOSP Accessibility While I really like Populr and plan to use it, there are some areas that need to be improved. First, like most startups Populr does not have its arms around the essentials of web accessibility.  For example, there is no way to add alt-tags to the images, recording a video from my webcam was super easy but there was no way to add captions (so I chose to record into YouTube, caption there, and embed it in Populr instead). This is a typical gap between the standards of higher education and business.  While it's not ideal, I opted to post a text version of my syllabus at the bottom of the Populr version to provide a screenreader accessible version for any learner who may need it.I reached out to Nicholas Holland, CEO of Populr, to share some of my concerns about the accessibility gaps and he responded with appreciation and interest.  I believe if educators partner with startups to communicate our interests and needs, the existing gaps in our technological infrastructure will, over time, begin to decrease.I'd love to hear your thoughts about how you might use Populr -- for a syllabus or any other instructional content or learning activity! It's a great way to promote events on campus, develop newsletters, create rich media book or media reports, or an ePortfolio as a capstone for a course even!

SLN SOLsummit 2014February 26-28, 2014SUNY Global Center New York, CityClick here for more details.Follow on Twitter. Thank you to Alex Pickett and the rest of the leadership team at SUNY Learning Network for inviting me to present a workshop at the 15th annual SLN SOLsummit in New York City.  If you will be in New York City on February 26-28, 2014, you are invited to register for the event, which is open to everyone.  The SLN SOLsummit, sponsored by the SUNY Learning Network (SLN), is an annual conference that brings together the SUNY community.  The sessions are designed for online instructional designers, directors of online learning, and those interested in learning more about online learning environment support, services, and best practices.I'll be facilitating a half-day workshop  titled "How to help online faculty humanize the online teaching and learning experience" on Wed, February 26th from 1:00-5:15.  I've got lots of great things planned!

With improved bandwidth and availability of high-speed wifi, advances in assistive technology, lower-cost hardware (laptops, handheld devices, touch-screen monitors, etc.) and new, easy-to-use web applications, the elderly have more access to a wide array of information and services, from email to lifelong learning.There is no reason keep the elderly isolated and out of touch from their families,

Recently, I self-published my first eBook, How to Humanize Your Online Class with VoiceThread, which is a curation of my teaching practices, videos, and VoiceThreads wrapped into a pedagogical framework.  One of the reasons I wrote the eBook was to leverage my experiences as an educator teaching with VoiceThread and communicate them in an accessible way to a diverse group of educators who may be using VoiceThread independently without institutional support (as I did for many years) or with institutional support but with little to no training. We all understand the deep cuts faculty development programs have experienced in recent years, while the speed of technological change has increased and instruction has become increasingly blended.  New forms of faculty support are clearly needed.Today, I shared a free PDF guide that functions as a companion to the eBook. It may serve as a starting point to review the framework that is used in the eBook or it may serve as a helpful resource as you read the eBook and begin to implement the concepts into your own class.The free PDF guide, Strategies for Humanizing Your Online Class with VoiceThread, is available here.As always, I value feedback about my work.  I am accessible on Twitter @brocansky, Google+, or you may message directly on my blog through the form in the right column. 

Welcome to an interview with Frederic Aknin, CEO of Sparkeo, a new video platform designed to enable more flexible uses of video with e-learning.1. What is your name, your affiliation, and your history with e-learning? My name is Frederic Aknin, I am an internet addict and a passionate continuous learner. I believe in the power of the Internet to broadcast knowledge, fertilize ideas, and bring

Today I was reading a post over at +Vicki Davis' great Cool Cat Teacher blog and noticed a pop out on the right hand side that prompted me to to "leave a voicemail" for her.  I was on my iPhone at the time so I clicked on it, recorded a simple message for her, entered my email address and name and clicked send. Then I was intrigued to learn more about this cool little app that facilitated this rather humanized connection between Vicki and I. I've learned a lot from the Cool Cat Teacher over the years -- on her blog, on Twitter, and in online keynotes she has presented -- so it was especially nice to be able to share a hello and thank you with Vicki with my personal voice.I ended up signing up for a free account with SpeakPipe, and downloading the free iOS app.  Then I followed the steps for embedding the widget on my own blog that allows my readers to leave me voicemails from their mobile phones or computers (without needing an account at SpeakPipe).SpeakPipe has free and premium accounts (which may be reviewed here).  With my free account, I can send up to 20 voicemails per month, up to 90 seconds each. Users may message me by clicking on the widget on my blog (which can be installed on any webpage that accepts html code -- yes, even an LMS) or go directly to my personalized SpeakPipe voicemail page at https://www.speakpipe.com/Mpb. I took the liberty of adding the link to my customized SpeakPipe voicemail page to my new humanized syllabus, which I wrote about in this post.  It's a super option for online educators and students!Loving the new humanized online communication options available to educators today!

A portfolio can be one of the most useful tools you can use to showcase your abilities for potential employers, or simply to keep up to date with useful web applications. You can use the "digital competency portfolio" for course projects and capstones. The personal portfolio is a great way to show your creativity as well as your skill, and to guide people to an understanding of who you are. As

CC-BY Michelle Pacansky-Brock(made with Canva.com)One of the things I am loving the most of about our creation-centered culture is how much easier it is getting to create beautiful content! But I still find myself longing to be able to create dreamy looking graphics for my online classes, blog, and more -- without spending a lot of money on fancy tools and lots of time on figuring out how to use them.So, falling head over heads for Canva.com wasn't too difficult for me.  Canva is still in beta -- so don't get too excited, as it's not yet open to the general public -- but you should definitely know about it if you are a content creator with a flair for the visual. It touts itself as "amazingly simple graphic design," which it is for the most part. There's a learning curve, yes, like any tool.  And who knows if I'm doing things right but so far I like what I'm making and that's all that really matters to me.I sent a Tweet to the kind folks at Canva requesting to be included in their beta and they set me up with an account.  Here are a couple of banners I created for a new online faculty development class I'm teaching this quarter. What do you think?Two Sample Graphics Created with Canva.comCanva includes templates for getting started with business cards, Facebook banners, posters, cards, blog graphics, flyers, and more! Collaborating with others on a project is simple too. Happy creating!

Health care for the elderly is of deep concern to millions of families, as populations age, and younger generations are pulled in many directions, or "sandwiched." Finding competent and compassionate care for elderly family members can be a very difficult challenge. Knowing that the professionals who work in an assisted living facility are well-trained is important. Home health care professionals

Welcome to an interview with John Bittleston, originator of the Wiglington and Wenks series of e-learning simulations, games, and interactive media for young learners. He has helped establish virtual mentoring programs for young learners as well.1. What is your name and your affiliation?John Bittleston (Lord Bittleston of Newnham - a very old British Manorial title).A British Citizen, half

Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad Tomorrow I am presenting a keynote presentation and workshop at Fresno State University. My workshop is focused on Haiku Deck, so I thought I'd share the content here, as well.Haiku Deck is a Seattle-based startup that began in August 2012 as an iPad app delivering a simple method of creating image-rich presentations that pull Creative Commons licensed images directly from Flickr and attribute the images directly on the slides without the user having to do a single thing. Now, as an art historian by training who taught art history full-time for seven years and still uses images heavily in my work, I appreciate all tools that make CC-licensed images more accessible.  But when the attribution is taken care of for me -- you've got me!Haiku Deck also creates a beautifully designed presentation, regardless of your own design skills.  A free Haiku Deck account provides you with six themes, each which has its own font and photo filter.  While the aesthetics of the design process are taken care of for you, you will soon realize that Haiku Deck is different from PowerPoint in one important other way --it minimizes the use of text.  And this is a good thing, folks.By minimizing text, the creator of the presentation must focus more heavily on using images to convey the concepts of the presentation. This is challenging -- but it also engages a learner in a much different way.  Images are a tremendous opportunity to engage a learner's affective domain by triggering emotion. Yet, rather than using pictures to enhance learning, visual resources are used too often in education to repeat the content presented by an instructor.  This approach is shown to actually reduce retention of content, as the learner is conflicted with listening and reading the same message (Mayer & Moreno, 2003).Haiku Deck recently became available as a web app too for the general public!  After you create a Haiku Deck, it must be "published" to the web, which will allow you to be able to retrieve the presentation from your account on the Haiku Deck web app. Haiku Decks can be exported to your computer as PDFs or Powerpoints and you can add images from your own computer (in addition to those on Flickr and additional premium images available for purchase). You may also choose between the following privacy settings for each of your Haiku Decks: private (only you), restricted (only those with the link can view it), and public (it may be found through web searches).  Finally, the content you share may be embedded in other sites (like an LMS), which makes it great for teaching!At the top of this post is an example of a presentation I created in Haiku Deck.  Click here to view a resource page I created to support the workshop. It includes more samples and a video I recorded that demonstrates how to embed Haiku Decks into a secure LMS that uses HTTPS.

Audio File / Podcast: http://beyondutopia.net/podcasts/elevator.mp3It had been a long day. Tinguely Querer was ready to leave her office. But, the elevators were malfunctioning again.Not relying on the technology to repair the new, streamlined elevator, Tinguely decided to take the old reliable workhorse, the freight elevator.How appropriate, thought Tinguely, as she felt she was getting a bit

Save 50% on my eBook, How to Humanize Your Online Class with VoiceThread Smashwords: Coupon Code: LZ39B  Between now and January 31st, get 50% off my eBook*, How to Humanize Your Online Class with VoiceThread, at Smashwords using the coupon code LZ39B. Learn more about the eBook here!(*Discount not available on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Kindle version is available at Smashwords.)Free Custom Feedback Icons Also, one of the most demanded custom feature requests I receive is for "feedback icons" for use in VoiceThread.  In chapter 4, I explain how I use VoiceThread's Identities feature to toggle between avatars and leave "Feedback" for students on a single VoiceThread page. Doing so allows me have multiple visual markers of my presence, which is usually not a possibility in VoiceThread when multiple comments are left on a single slide using the same identity (the avatar only appears one time and students typically are not aware that feedback has been left for them). I have produced a beautiful set of 12 custom feedback icons that I am giving away free to all current members of the Teaching with VoiceThread Google+ Community, in addition to any new members who join between now and the end of February 2014! Of course, I am hopeful that this will stimulate some conversation and sharing in our community about all the great things you have been doing with VoiceThread. :) Share your stuff. It will inspire others!Click here to go to the Teaching with VoiceThread Google+ Community.

Do you want to hold a webinar, but want to save money by doing it on your own? As speed and bandwidth restrictions continue to be reduced, and travel costs and time away from the office continue to be problematic, webinars are being incorporated into education, professional development, training, and team-building. Open Source software can be a great solution when there is sufficient programming

 This week, Sloan-C shared the 11th Annual survey about online learning in higher education in the United States, a collaboration between the Babson Survey Research Group and the College Board, Grade Change: Tracking Online Education in the Untied States, 2013. The report surveyed the opinions of academic leaders at more than 2,800 degree granting institutions of higher education across the United States. at I have prepared some highlights and shared some deeper reflections about the study. A bird's eye view.The data demonstrates a continued and consistent shift from brick and mortar learning into a college learning experience that provides students with options to learn in a physical classroom or online.  In United States higher education in 2013: 7.1 million students or 33.5% took at least one online classthere were more than 411,000 additional students learning onlineWhat does this mean in context to overall higher ed growth rates?  In 2002, only 1.6 million students took at least one online class in higher education in the U.S.  The change from 2002-2012 represents a compound annual growth rate of 16.1 percent. Overall (all modalities of learning), overall U.S. higher education enrollment has grown at an annual rate of 2.5 percent during this same period.  How have academic leaders' values changed about online learning? The way college and university academic leaders value online learning has changed significantly in the past eleven years.  In 2002, less than half of all higher ed institutions surveyed agreed that online learning was strategic to their long-term success. In 2013, close to 70% of institutions agreed, an all time high.What Does the Crystal Ball Say?  Academic leaders agree that online enrollments will continue to grow in the future.  Ninety percent believe it is likely or very likely that a majority or all of higher education students will take at least one online course by 2018.  Currently, this figure is at 33.5%.What's up with MOOCS? Fifty three percent of institutions are undecided about MOOCs and 33% have no plans for a MOOC. These figures reflect little to no change from 2012, despite the deluge of press coverage MOOCs have experienced.Leaders at institutions offering MOOCs supported the following three objectives most for implementing them: Increase Institution Visibility (27%)Drive Student Recruitment (20%)Innovative Pedagogy (18%)Flexible Learning Opportunities (17%)Retention is an issue. Forty one percent of academic leaders noted that retaining online students is more of a problem than it is in face-to-face classes.  This number increased from 27% in 2004.  The leaders were not asked to speculate why.Which institutions offer the most online courses? Associate degree granting institutions offer far more online courses than any other type and have the most positive view of online learning.  Baccalaureate institutions have the most negative view about online education and represent the largest institutional type with no online offerings. Last year's 2012 study demonstrated that attitudes about online learning change when more online course are implemented into an organization and the realities of the online paradigm begin to be experienced (Changing Course, 2012).  For example, 18% of academic leaders at institutions without online offerings disagreed that it takes faculty more time and effort to teach an online course; whereas, only 9.7% of academic leaders at institutions with online courses disagreed with this statement.    You may request to download the entire report from Babson here.p.s. I missed the cool infographic that was developed and shared with last year's report.

Audio file // podcast.E-learning can be a highly effective and affordable way to provide high-quality technical education and professional development. However, there are a number of considerations to keep in mind while developing e-learning programs for technical professionals in a multi-generational workplace.Generational Beliefs and MisconceptionsWhile it can be said that cohorts who share the

Creating conditions of learning for at-risk students can be challenging, particularly when literacy issues are a factor, and students must perform well in high-stakes assessments. Responding to the challenge has inspired at least one educator to create a set of study guides that respond to students' real-life interests and current, contemporary young adult literature. Welcome to an interview with

CC-BY-NC-SA by Jim BumgardnerJoin me this Wed, January 22nd from 4-5pm Pacific for a dynamic Hangout on Air conversation with three fabulous online instructors representing California community colleges.  The Hangout will feature +Tracy Schaelen, +Michael Smedshammer, and +Lene Whitley-Putz -- three @ONE Online Certified Instructors.  They will take you inside their online classes and demonstrate techniques and strategies used to make week one the solid foundation it needs to be to establish a successful start for online students.This Hangout is part of The Center, a next-generation online learning community which I began coordinating in October 2013.  Click here for a Guide to The Center.Center events include Hangouts on Air and Twitter Chats (#CCCLEARN) focusing on topics and innovations for improving teaching and learning through technology that are relevant to California community colleges.  All events are free and open to everyone.How to View the Hangout on Air: Click here to view the Google Event for First Impressions: How to Make the Most of Week One Online.  The Hangout on Air video will stream live in the Event page that is linked above -- so that link is all you need! The "Details" area provides more information.Join The Center on Google+.Follow The Center on Twitter.

With a new surge in popularity of mobile devices, including tablets (iPads) and aggressively app-oriented smartphones (Droid, iPhone), podcasts can be employed in even more settings in both mobile learning and single location-based e-learning. Further, podcasts that form a component of integrated applications (archived webinars, narrated slideshows), can be used in new ways to accommodate

Thanks to John Spencer @edrethink for his Tweet today that pointed me to http://photoprompts.tumblr.com.  This site is a great resource of visual, thought-provoking prompts that can be used as ice-breakers in online classes.  The images are already attributed and can be uploaded into a VoiceThread or embedded in an LMS for student blogs or discussion forum. Lots of great ways to use these stimulating prompts to foster student-student interaction.Just for the record, my three songs would be: John Lennon's Imagine, The Pretender's Brass in Pocket, and Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World. And what would yours be?

Effective assessment in an online course is not easy to achieve. Courageous developers have tackled online quizzes. It is interesting to look behind the scenes and see the challenges. Welcome to an interview with Sameer Bhatia, founder of ProProfs.com.1. What is your name and your involvement in e-learning? I am Sameer Bhatia, the founder of ProProfs.com, an online learning community. Prior to

by Jim Bumgardner CC-BY-NC-SAJoin me for a Center Hangout on Air this Wed, February 5th from 4-5pm PST with +Kathryn Damm and +Dean Patti Flanigan of Saddleback College as we dig into the important topic of:Faculty Websites: Why They're Important and How to Make One NowKathy and Patti will share experiences from their institution about why faculty are encouraged to create individual websites and I'll showcase how to create your own free educator account on Populr.me and adopt a simple and gorgeous template for your very own faculty website. You'll be amazed at what you'll create in just a few minutes!  RSVP to the Event and view the Hangout here: http://tiny.cc/FacultyWebsitesThe Center is a next-generation online learning community supporting California's 112 community college brought to you by @ONE. All Center events are free and open to the public.  Join The Center's Google+ Community:  gplus.to/TheCenterFollow The Center on Twitter:   @Center_Ed