1- Impressions about Nexus 7, the new Android tablet by Google 2- Brief discussion about Android vs iOS 3- Google+ in the iPad 4- Apple iPad Mini 2012 rumours 5- Microsoft´s PC Plus era vs. Apple´s Post-PC 6- Thinking differently: the impact of the iPad 7- The mobile experience brought to the desktop 8- Nokia Lumia 900 is reduced 50% 9- Amazing Alex, the new game from Angry Birds creators, Rovio 10- Apps of the Week: SharePlus and Google+   Your browser does not support the audio element. Podcast Powered By Podbean

The post The Future of the News Ecosystem pointed me to the Stephen Johnson Picture shown above. While I don't necessarily believe that things are nearly so linear, it is a good picture of the kind of flow, enhancement, filtering that happens. This was great to see and think about with the launch of several new Topic Hubs: HR Tech Central Nonprofit Marketing Zone Green Life Buzz Southern California Tech Central Like earlier topic hubs, they rely on News from bloggers and web content from other sources as indicated by bloggers. The commentary layer is very light in that it only occurs as part of coming up with hot lists (Hot List) Curation is aggregation, group filter (social signals) and lightweight editing (selection). There's definitely an open question of what makes sense in what case as described in Aggregation Types. In these we consider some of the differentiation among the various forms of aggregation: Centralized content or distributed content. Do they pull all the content into the central site or leave it distributed on the original source? Organization and Access - how do they organize the content. Human tagging? Automated? How do you access it? Editorial Distribution - Single person, small group or widely distributed control of what comes in and what is best? In this case, it considers different forms of distribution separate from the forms of curation. I'm going to need to think through how to best categorize this, but I like the picture. While I'm on it, great post - Feed Standardization Will Commoditize Feed Aggregation, So Let’s Create The Semantic Web! by Nick O'Neill. While he's talking primarily about feeds of updates, e.g., facebook, twitter, friendfeed, etc., I think this applies pretty well to aggregation more generally: As we move toward a standardized way of presenting feed stories to aggregators, the value provided by the aggregators is essentially commoditized. At the end of the day, value is maximized through more efficient custom filtering services that the users can participate in creating. Participate is somewhat a loaded term. Really participation can be automatic or manual. But the point that part of filtering can be based on user activity is a good thing to consider. What's missing from the picture above is the consumption side of things. Part of consumption is likely personal filtering as well. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

CLICK HERE (to view webinar recordings and download presentation slides.)The first MOOLIT ever! Massive Open Online Learning Innovation Talks!LITThe idea behind Learning Innovation Talks (LIT), is to empower and organize F2F or online events, where educators get together to share their learning and teaching innovations with one another in a more informal, relaxed, learning enriched, and innovative manner compared to traditional conferences and seminars (F2F or Online). There is NO FIXED FORMAT, and it is up to the organizer to explore and innovate how sharing and learning should take place.Learning Innovation Talks (LIT) history:OriginLIT 01LIT 02LIT 03LIT 04WEBINAR RECORDINGSRefer to LIT05 programme below for details for each recorded webinar session (Click on each session to view):Session A (9:00 - 10:45)   Session B (11:00 - 12:30)Session C (14:00 - 16:00)LIC The Learning Innovation Circle (LIC) is a passionate group of (top) educators from Malaysia and beyond, rethinking and transforming educational practices. Click here to join us... The latest updates regarding LIT05 can also be found on LIC!E-CERTIFICATE CLICK HERE If you want to download presentation slides from all the LIT05 speakers (login required), or want to complete the LIT05 (OpenLearning) course to achieve the e-Certificate (by doing the learning activities, too).LIT05 turned out to be enriching and inspiring online seminar with tons of tips and wisdom on how to design engaging and innovative learning experiences using various tools and methods :)

by Jen Weaver   Ah, Greece. Financial troubles aside, this country is known for fantastic food and beautiful Mediterranean beaches. Kick back at your desk with some fresh olives and feta as we explore common cultural facts about the Greeks and their expectations when it comes to training and development. Test Your Knowledge of Greek Culture What board game is considered a national pastime? True or False. Aristotle was Plato's teacher. Quick Tips for Training & Development in Greece1: Greeks tend to be physically and emotionally demonstrative. It's customary to hug, kiss, or show other signs of physical affection to friends and loved ones in public. Don't be surprised if your Greek counterparts breech your personal space bubble. Surprise, surprise, Greek is the official language in Greece and is written in the Greek alphabet. Romanian, not English, is the second most commonly spoken language, so be sure to come prepared with translated materials--and likely an interpreter--when training in this culture. For business meetings, it's ideal to have your business card translated, English on the front, Greek on the back, and present it to your counterpart with the Greek side facing up. Objective facts will not take precedence over subjective feelings or ideological beliefs. As such, it's important to establish relationships before attempting any negotiations or drastic changes within an organization. Group consensus is huge in this culture. An individual's social position gives security and structure to the individual, so be mindful of social cues in public interactions or business meetings. For example, the senior members of a group are typically afforded higher levels of respect and are served first at meals. It is not necessary to set an ending time for appointments as it's considered more important to complete the objective or build a good connection than to end the meeting promptly. Always arrive on time for meetings, but your Greek counterparts will likely have a more relaxed view of punctuality. Older generations of Greeks signify "no" with an upward head nod. This can be confusing as many members of the younger generations have started using the American head movements to indicate "yes" and "no." When in doubt, clarify their response. Answers to the Questions from Above: Backgammon. False. Plato was Aristotle's teacher. References:  1Morrison, Terri, & Conaway, Wayne A. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands (2nd ed.). Avon: Adams Media.   *** Developing international training and development materials? Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions.

Is SILO the new four-letter word among struggling companies? Today's guest blog post is written by BizLibrary Learning Consultant Nathan Dampf. As a member of the Missouri Air National Guard, Nathan understands the importance of teamwork, collaboration, and breaking down communication barriers. When looking up the term silo in the dictionary, one may find a reference to the noun "a tower or pit" or "an underground chamber for a missile." However, also included is the verb, "to isolate." Many business leaders within the United States are commonly using the term silo to describe departments that operate within the organization. They are "pits" of knowledge, not letting that knowledge out. Some leaders comment that other departments are housing "missiles" to bring down other departments. In business, the term silo is used to describe the "isolation" of different departments within an organization that should be working toward a common goal. The business impact of silos can be disastrous. But, if leaders and trainers can drive teams, collaborate on projects and empower employees, organizations will reap great dividends. They will experience increased knowledge and camaraderie among the business entities. "As an executive or manager, if you micromanage and focus only on your specific tasks, your team will reflect and replicate that type of work environment, which can easily bore people," said Brad Smith, executive vice-president of business management firm Sage North America. "Keep people from falling into their own silos." To avoid such silos, Smith recommends holding regular meetings to keep teams up-to-date on activities and broad company goals. He also discusses the need for fun, engagement and empowering employees. He provides an example from his son’s work experience at Home Depot. "After cashiers worked at the store a certain period of time, managers gave them a $250 customer credit per shift to use at the cashier’s discretion," said Smith. "In empowering cashiers to make their own decisions about how to allocate the refunds to customers - to right wrongs or simply further delight a happy customer - Home Depot demonstrates their trust in their employees." Smith also discusses the importance of leaders who stress goals and the relevance of those business goals to the employee’s role in the organization. Other consultants agree. "A well-defined strategic plan outlining the purpose, values, goals and objectives of the team becomes the glue that binds the group together and helps transform them into a team," said Jim Sisson, principal of a management consulting firm. "Without purpose and goals, you cannot build a team. The purpose must be worthwhile and create a sense of doing something important together." Sisson states there is a big difference between leading groups (silos) and teams. "A group is a collection of individuals who coordinate their individual efforts," said Sisson. "On the other hand, a team is a group of people who share a common team purpose and a number of challenging goals. Members of the team are mutually committed to the goals and to each other." The communication of these goals is a vital component in establishing SMART goals. If a goal is relevant (R of SMART) to the mission of the organization and that relevance is explained to the employees, those employees will feel a sense of purpose that will result in more work getting done, says Smith. In addition to empowering employees and explaining relevance, businesses should also encourage collaboration among teams. Social collaboration technology revenues have increased 12 percent since 2013, writes Adrian Bridgwater, columnist for ComputerWeekly.com. "A few years ago firms were riding the social enterprise wave, says Huddle CEO, Alastair Mithcell. Standalone social tools promised to connect workers, enabling them to collaborate, unlock silos of knowledge, and by doing so, boost productivity and efficiency," Bridgwater writes. "By bringing together social interactions and business content, real work gets done faster." BizLibrary has a resource that encourages such behavior and collaboration. Community was never intended as a product, but as the leadership within BizLibrary witnessed collaboration and efficiencies internally, the product was enhanced and made available for clients. Such a tool can be helpful to any BizLibrary client working to "breakdown the silos" within their organization by encouraging communication, fun and effectiveness. In the end, the breaking down of silos can be done by implementing the "Three E Strategy:" Encourage Collaboration Explain the Purpose Empower Employees with Trust If you are experiencing these issues within your organization and would like to implement a strategy to "breakdown" your company’s silos, please click the link HERE and we can discuss a plan together.

I love Mobile and everything that it represents. I like the physicality of touch, the idea that nothing gets in the way of me and my content, no keyboard, no mouse, no stylus, no usb ports for a microphone or webcam to connect to, nothing but touch. I enjoy the simplicity of mobile. Some of my favorite apps, such as Clear, Snapguide and Snapseed have one thing in common, they are simple, innovative and yet they do amazing things without much effort from me. The Mobile Effect I was thinking about how my own experience with mobile since my first iPhone and later the iPad and all the other devices I’ve owned since, have impacted me in a big way. I no longer look at desktop computing experiences in the way I did before, my expectations for desktop software have completely changed, perhaps this is why I’m so critical in my reviews of software applications, maybe it is because as mobile users we are beginning to expect so much more from vendors of software apps we use every day. I suppose you can say that I think "mobile-first" and everything else, including desktop-second. This is why I’m a big fan of Luke Wroblewski’s book entitled Mobile First. I have read this book several times and I highly recommend you do too, especially as you think about your own mobile and mobile learning strategy moving forward. There’s so much to like about this book on the mobile-first movement, but here are 10 lessons I personally found applicable to all of us in mLearning: Lesson 1: The Future is Mobile and Mobile Learning — Hopefully you aren’t too surprised by this truth but it’s worth mentioning it. We can argue when this whole mobile revolution started and while I realize that before the iPhone existed, there were certainly a kind of ‘smartphones’ available, I would argue that it wasn’t until 2007 when Apple announced the first iPhone and later the App Store, that we actually began to see the potential and impact mobile would have on our generation.  Since then mobile devices and Apps have only gotten better, faster and more innovative, and if there’s something the App development community has shown us, time and time again, is that mobile offers new possibilities never possible on PCs. And this precisely how we should think about mLearning as compared to eLearning. When you read Luke’s book you will find lots of statistics that prove this fact. Lesson 2: We are just getting started with mobile and mLearning — Despite all the advances we have already made in mobile in a fairly short period of time, ask anyone in the field and they will tell you we are just barely scratching the surface of what’s to come. Amazing right? This is why I’m so excited about what the next few years will bring us and you should be too. This is why if you are an Instructional Designer and you haven’t paid much attention to mLearning, you need to start now. Mobile is the future and we must to be part of it. For starters, you need to become a mobile user if you aren’t already, you need to understand the mobile experience before you can start thinking about delivering the next generation of learning experiences through mobile devices. Again Luke provides great examples of what we have today and other things we can expect in the near future especially around what mobile browsers need to support in comparison to native apps. Lesson 3: It’s important not putting Limits on mLearning — I completely understand why it’s easy to look at mLearning today and want to assign specific learning tasks to it, such as performance support and job aids for example, but I think it’s too early to start limiting mLearning to just these obvious applications. Having said that, I agree with Luke’s view of what mobile devices capabilities allow you to do: "reinvent ways to meet people’s needs using exciting new tools that are now at your disposal." In other words, it is still early and the future of mLearning hasn’t been invented yet. Lesson 4: mLearing has vastly more potential than eLearning — I am fully convinced that when you couple the mobility and physicality of mobile, with all the other sensor superpowers inherent in mobile devices (i.e. digital compass, gyroscope, audio, dual cameras, bluetooth, proximity, etc), we will actually create better learning experiences on mobile as compared to what we have today through desktop eLearning. I recommend you hold weekly brainstorming sessions with your teams, where you start to reimagine your learning on mobile devices. Lesson 5: Thinking Mobile-first forces you to focus and prioritize — This is an important lesson for all of us transitioning from eLearning, where we have big desktop screens, over to designing for the smaller mobile screens, where screen real estate is at a premium.  However as Luke says, this is a great challenge and something we need to build on. When you have a limited Canvas to work with, you prioritize and get down to what’s really important for your learners and there’s no room for all the extra fancy stuff you currently have in your eLearning courses today. I personally think that one of the biggest challenges we will have in this transition will be embracing simplicity, and letting go of all those bells and whistles we have in our eLearning courses today. As Luke says in his book, when designing for the small screen: "there simply isn’t room for anything else." Lesson 6: Thinking Mobile-First makes Desktop eLearning better — This is a continuation of the previous lesson. Thinking mobile-first makes you not only focus and prioritize in order to decide what’s important, but also gives us an opportunity to rethink what we are doing today and how we are delivering our eLearning experiences. I guarantee you that if you spend some time doing this exercise with your team you will start looking at eLearning design differently, and you will most likely find places where you can simplify things and your learners will love it for it. In his book, Luke has great examples of companies like Southwest, Flickr and ESPN that benefited from thinking mobile-first and desktop-second. I also agree with Luke, in that when designing for mobile we keep in mind that: "users want immediate answers to their needs. Time is precious on mobile." He goes on to say that when we need to do everything possible in order to "speed things up and reduce people’s monthly carrier bills." Lesson 7: Avoid thinking Desktop-first and Mobile-second — The problem I see with this backward way of thinking is that we will end up adopting HTML5 conversion tools, that promise to simply ’shrink‘ our eLearning in order to make it available on the iPad. This is simply wrong for so many reasons, which I previously blogged about. Mobile offers an opportunity for all of us to think different, to hit the reset-button if you will, and thus I strongly recommend you don’t buy into this conversion-to-HTML5 hype.  Here’s what Luke says about this in his book about this: "simply porting over what worked for you on the desktop to mobile often doesn’t make sense. Instead, you need to think about what mobile is uniquely good at and align it with the needs of your customers." Lesson 8: Go small by going Big — This is a continuation from my last lesson learned, where I advice against shrinking your desktop content for the smaller screen via HTML5 conversion tools. In fact, I very much agree with Luke, who says that when thinking mobile, we should "go small by going big."  I personally think that one of the biggest technical differences between eLearning and mLearning is that eLearning was created for that very tiny mouse pointer, while mLearning requires a much bigger touch target for our fingers. This minor, seemingly insignificant difference changes everything in terms of design, and it’s yet another reason why ‘one size does NOT fill all‘ in eLearning and mLearning. Take Microsoft’s design guidelines for their Windows Phone 7 platforms for example, which recommends that each touch target be at least 9mm in size and that there be at least a 2mm space between actions. Lesson 9: Don’t wait until your ready for mLearning, think mobile-first now — Here’s what Luke says about thinking mobile-first now: "In fact, there’s enough benefits to a mobile first design approach that it’s worth thinking about even if you don’t have immediate plans to ship a mobile experience." I completely agree in that we need to start thinking mobile-first and everything else second now. I have been doing consulting with companies for a few months now, and my advice to every company is for them to start thinking mobile-first even if they don’t have immediate plans to deliver learning through mobile devices.  Whenever possible the eLearning UIs I submit to these companies as prototypes have areas where I get my inspiration from mobile and I always get good feedback, mostly likely because just about every eLearner is familiar with mobile applications. I will share some of these in future posts. My point is that you shouldn’t wait until your boss comes to you and say we need a mobile learning strategy, start thinking mobile-first now and become a mobile user yourself now. By doing so, as I said above, you desktop eLearning will also improve. Lesson 10: Embrace mobile constraints — And last but certainly not least, in my opinion, Mobile represents the biggest paradigm shift in the history of computing and as such, the transition is not going to be an easy one for any industry, including ours. There are lots of constraints we will need to deal with, but as I wrote in my previous post on Why the iPad and iPhone not supporting Adobe Flash is a Great thing for #mLearning, these shortcomings "force us to find new ways of developing learning experiences for mobile users, as well as to embrace new technologies, such as HTML5 and new principles, such as Responsive Web Design and thinking mobile-first." In other words, this change will get us out of our comfort zone and in a way force us to innovate, and that’s a great thing.  In closing, here’s one of my favorite quotes from Luke’s book: "Designing for mobile isn’t just about embracing limitations, it’s also about extending what you can do." Final Thoughts I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in mLearning and mobile in general. As always, thanks for reading and sharing this post, and please let me know what you think of my thoughts around this book and about thinking mobile first in mLearning. You can find this book, Mobile First, here.

One of the best things about having kids is getting a Spring Break with them.  I'm fortunate enough to be doing that this week.  So, rather than doing my normal posts, what I decided to do was to go back and do a couple of best of posts during the week.  Of course, I cheated and used eLearning Learning to help me come up with these. Twitter as Personal Learning and Work Tool 12 eLearning Predictions for 2009 eLearning Conferences Tool Set 2009 Remote Collaboration Better Memory Share Best Practices - Patterns Information Radar How long does it take to select an LMS? Good Writing What Goes in the LMS? Low Cost LMS Crowdsourcing in the Small Aggregation Types Corporate Training Workplace Productivity Video-Based eLearning Authoring Tools Workplace Learning Professionals Next Job - Management Consultant Twitter Conference Ideas Long Live eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

The 2-day Super MRT (Memory-Reading-Thinking) workshop is Insya-Allah coming to Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) on 4-5 August, 2015.WORKSHOPIn this workshop, you will explore various technology and non-technology techniques to stimulate and empower the brain and senses to be more focused, remember faster, speed read, and think more creatively. In the process, we will discuss how the brain learns, and how we can apply various focus and memorization techniques to improve our ability to remember through visualization, association and imagination. Then, we will learn how to apply the SQ3R method to enhance our reading skills, and various techniques to improve our reading speed. Finally, we will explore our creative minds by adventuring into 2-3 creative thinking tools.Throughout the workshop there will be individual and collaborative gamified learning activities, so we will Insya-Allah have a lot of relevant fun as we discover how amazing our brain is if we rewire it using a few techniques and tools.LEARNING OUTCOMESAt the end of this workshop, you will be able to:Discuss how the brain learns; Use at least 2 techniques to optimize your learning senses to improve focus; Use at least 3 techniques to improve your memory; Apply the SQ3R method to enhance your reading skills; Use at least 3 techniques to increase your reading speed with comprehension; and Apply at least 2 creative thinking tools to improve your creative output individually and in groups.SLIDESHere we go: Super MRT (Memory-Reading-Thinking) Workshop from Zaid Ali Alsagoff LEARNING ACTIVITIESGuide to solve the Cube Please introduce yourself on the Padlet Wall:eCreated with PadletPICTURESClick here to view the Flickr album of 80+ pictures taken (by mostly me) during the workshop.Al-Hamdulilla, everything went pretty well, much thanks to do very efficient and caring organisers led by Prof Karim, Prof Hanafi and Nurul Farhana. Also, the USM participants were simply awesome, which made my life as the facilitator so much easier :)

by Jennie Ruby  So you've been asked to create a snazzy, new eLearning lesson, but the raw material you receive from your subject matter expert (SME) is not ideal. Maybe you are given content that's just not ready to be used for eLearning. Perhaps your subject matter expert has provided content that's so technical that the intended audience won't be able to understand it. Maybe the audio you've been given is an exact match for the slides in the PowerPoint deck (something that's an absolute no-no).In these situations, moving forward and creating eLearning may be exactly the wrong direction to go. To create meaningful, effective eLearning, you may need to go backward and start with some basic instructional design.Every course that you create should start with this basic question: Who are you training to do what, under what circumstances, and how well?When we ask a SME, who is an expert on the subject, but not a professional trainer nor a writer, to write training objectives, we are likely to get something like this: Going forward, ABC Company has a need to enhance the development points and key measurables supporting full implementation of our widget fulfillment mode operationals. Reading this tells me just one thing: It's going to be a long afternoon.Here's an idea for getting the training objectives from the SME: have the SME write the quiz. Make sure the SME knows to include only the most important points from the lesson. Ask for something on the order of 10 questions for a 5- or 6-minute unit. (A quiz of no more than 10 questions is an ideal length for an eLearning lesson that plays for approximately 5 minutes.) Once you receive the quiz from the SME, review it with the SME to make sure it contains the most important points of the lesson, that you understand all the points, and that no major points were missed.Then shamelessly design the training to teach to the quiz. Teaching to the quiz is considered bad form in the world of K12 education. But in the workplace, it may just be the best way to get the learners from point A to point Z.As you now review that PowerPoint deck the SME provided, or chug through the 2-hour webinar, grab those slides and chunks of phrasing that address the quiz points. And put your eLearning together from there.Ironically, instead of taking the SME's materials and moving forward, we are now actually starting at the very end--the quiz--and building from there. Try this on one of your up-coming projects, and let me know how it goes! *** If you love Jennie's articles, you'll love her classes. Check out some of Jennie's mini courses.

Written by Jessica Batz View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording.

"Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." -  Forrest Gump...And that certainly applies to Asia's most important Digital Education Show (event) of the year (self-proclaimed)! You never know what you're gonna get! Let's find out!FREE!Ironically, I have attended their last two events in Kuala Lumpur (FREE exhibition) without actually planning to attend due to their ________  registration fees...2014Last year (2014), I only attended the Digital Education Show for a few hours (Day 1), due to a dinner invitation by my friend Kelvin Loh (Founder of eLearningMinds), who was having a booth.While walking around the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre hall (hosting the event) exploring the various tech solutions, innovations and services, I was really surprised to discover that Lynda.com was participating.As I was about to leave the Lynda.com booth, I discovered accidentally (peripheral vision) a Lucky draw for a Mini-iPad. You just needed to share your business card and you stand a chance. I was thinking, no point wasting a card on this. But, then suddenly a spark of hope enlightened me to dump my business card into the Lucky draw bowl.I didn't attend Day 2 of the event, and when I was about to reach home from work (35-minute drive), I got a pleasant call from a Lynda.com staff, and the rest is history... Well, I had to drive all the way back to Kuala Lumpur to pick it up, but for a free Mini-iPad...Why not?Fast forward to...2015This year too, I was not planning to attend the Digital Education Show. But then I discovered that many awesome educators from the Learning Innovation Circle (LIC) was either presenting or attending. So, how could I miss it?If you are not already a LICer, time to... DIGITAL EDUCATION SHOWSo, here I was again, attending the free exhibition. But, somehow after last year's luckiness, I felt great being back. Although, I felt a bit like a poor man as I arrived; not being able to get access the richness of this event (the main conference). But, once the event started, all the free stuff was actually really good. Most of the LICers who were attending, or presenting were mostly in the 'Free Area Space', so I was quite happy. But being me, I wanted to discover more. So, I tickled my LIC cable connection gently (LOL), who's identity I cannot reveal.Seriously!Then after lunch, I got the call! Congratulations! Come and get your...WOW! Al-Hamdulilla! Luck strikes again! Unfortunately, I could only enjoy one hour of my new found learning enrichment. Yes, I had my promotional interview with IMU top management at 4 PM. What did I do next? Easy! I drove to IMU (Bukit Jalil), of course! How did that go? Beyond this post!DAY 2WOW! From being a visitor, now I was a Delegate. Al-Hamdulilla, I felt privileged to get this great opportunity to enjoy whatever the Digital Education Show had to offer. Yeah!!!! But, could the lady luck strike again? Well, it did! The event organizer had just discovered that one of the Chairmen for the three (3) tracks during Day 2, was not able to attend (Tertiary track). My LIC cable connection was asked to chair, but he insisted that I was the right man for the job.Did I say no? Of course not! Al-Hamdulilla! Cool! Not only am I attending the main event, I am now the Chairman for one of the three tracks; the one I wanted to attend. WOW! I got the opportunity to introduce seven speakers during Day 2, and of course I added my flavor of moderation, time management, humor and engagement to keep the participants alive and awake.Actually, all the speakers were great in their own way, so it was really easy to get through the day without much trouble. Interestingly, I even video recorded most of the presenters, empowering live video streaming to the world using Periscope (via my iPad). Here are two (2) examples (with permission):Prof Emory Craig imagining education with wearable technology  Prof Tae-Rim Lee WOWed us on how to use mobile learning effectively for distance learningProf Karim 'Periscoping'...Also, I was scheduled to attend a 'Farewell and Welcome' lunch with my IMU team (and Chief Library Officer) in KLCC, but sadly had to miss that due to my new Chairman role.In comparison, I had to eat a quite delicious Tandoori from this...We can't have everything in life! In perspective, I started Day 1 as a Visitor, and within 24 hours, I had become a Delegate, Chairman, Periscoper, and even a co-facilitator (informally) during the round-the-table discussion (Prof Emory Graig) at the end of Day 2.WOW and Al-Hamdulilla! It was a blessed and enriching learning experience.PICTURESClick here to discover the 50+ pictures, I took during this event.So, what about the Digital Education Show itself, what did I learn from it? The only way you can find that out, is to join our Learning Innovation Circle (LIC). Not only will you learn what I learned here, you will discover what other passionate educators learned from this event, and so much more. Join us!NEXT YEARSo, will lady luck strike a fourth time?Insya-Allah, why not? My LIC Cable connection insisted to the event organizer (in front of me) that I should be a Keynote next year, and they seemed quite impressed with my engaging and innovate style in chairing a track. So, the odds are good next year, but you never know?Insya-Allah :)@zaidlearn @emorycraig What a story! I love it! Thanks for your flavor of Humour and Engagement - every conference needs that— Emory Craig (@emorycraig) June 17, 2015

En este episodio compartimos las noticias destacadas de la semana y también, brindamos algunos consejos a tener en cuenta cuando diseñamos aprendizaje móvil: 1- Artículo: Power Mockup: Designing for #eLearning and #mLearning [Review] 2- Artículo: 10 mLearning Lessons I Learned from Reading Mobile First by Luke Wroblewski [Book Review] 3- Mejores prácticas para diseñar aprendizaje móvil 4- Nuestra Newsletter: This week in mLearning. Puedes suscribirte aqui:http://rjacquez.com/subscribe-to-our-elearning-mlearning-newsletter-for-a-chance-to-win-a-copy-of-camtasia-studio-8/ 5- Nexus 7: la mini tableta de Google 6- Rumores acerca del iPad Mini 2012 7- ¿La era "PC-Plus" de Microsoft o la era "Post-PC" de Apple? 8- Aplicaciones de la semana: Paper y Google+   Your browser does not support the audio element. Podcast Powered By Podbean

by Tony Self     Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the Moon, was born just twenty-eight years after Charles Lindbergh, who was the first person to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean. In just one human generation, technology had progressed from fabric covered craft (with a speed of 130 mph and a range of 4,000 miles) to a liquid oxygen powered rocket ship that traveled at speeds of up to 25,000 mph (on a trip that covered 500,000 miles). Technological change is not new, but the pace of change in some fields is breathtaking. Battery technology is one example, and photo-voltaics is another. And of course, technology associated with reading is experiencing a dramatic rate of change. How do people cope with rapid change in their fields? Neil Armstrong learned to fly in 1945... a time when the sound barrier was considered to be an impenetrable barrier. By the time of Armstrong's first posting as a US Navy pilot in 1950, the sound barrier had been broken, and the first jet fighter squadrons had been formed. In 1957, Armstrong flew a rocket-powered aircraft for the first time. By 1960 he had flown at close to 4,000 mph (six times the speed of sound) to heights of 120,000 feet. Armstrong managed this transition as a pilot by continually learning. Over 10 years, he progressed from subsonic jets, to transonic jets, to supersonic jets, to rocket aircraft. Each step was relatively small, but overall it was a giant leap (to quote a phrase Armstrong later used when he stepped from Apollo 11). How does Neil Armstrong's journey into space relate to technical communication? Consider that it only took 10 years for us to move from typewriters (1980) to laser printers (1990), from text-only Web browsers (1993) to websites with embedded movies (2003). The Apollo 11 story can provide another lesson for technical communicators. As the name implies, Armstrong's Apollo 11 mission was the eleventh in a program of 20 missions. The program objective was landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. Each mission was part of a broad strategy... part of a far-sighted plan. Big projects only reach their goals if they come with a comprehensive plan. Like many projects, there can be hurdles and disasters. The Apollo 1 spacecraft exploded on the launch pad, killing the three astronauts. The next three missions were unmanned flights to test systems. Each mission validated a different system. The unmanned Apollo 5 orbited the earth. Apollo 6 tested the Saturn V propulsion. Apollo 7 was a manned orbit. Apollo 8 circumnavigated the moon. Apollo 9 tested the lunar module, and 10 was a dress rehearsal. In documentation, this might be called iterative development. Unit testing is another IT term that might apply. For large documentation or training projects, an Apollo approach is a good model. Here are some small steps to success: Meticulously plan Set achievable budgets and deadlines Clearly state business goals Develop a content strategy Create prototypes and proof-of-concepts Test and choose the right tools Keep learning Encourage your team Continually check progress against the plan and... most important... Think big Looking back, you'll see how those small steps became a giant leap.

Using eLearning Learning, I thought it would be interesting to go look what it thinks are some of the top items of all time. Learning 2.0 - The Things How we read online. - By Michael Agger - Slate Magazine Bloom's Taxonomy Blooms Digitally The present and future of Personal Learning Environments (PLE) 100 eLearning Articles and White Papers How to Embed Almost Anything in your Website Top Ten Reasons To Blog and Top Ten Not to Blog Choose the Best Search for Your Information Need Why Doing Things Half Right Gives You the Best Results Creating Passionate Users: Crash course in learning theory 100 Helpful Web Tools for Every Kind of Learner (Fiona King) LMS Satisfaction Features and Barriers Take Any College Class for Free: 236 Open Courseware Collections, Podcasts, and Videos | OEDb e-learning 2.0 - how Web technologies are shaping education Personal and Group Learning Using Web 2.0 Tools Collaborative Learning Using Web 2.0 Tools - A Summary PR 2.0: Introducing The Conversation Prism eLearning Trends 2007 and 2008 TechCrunch White Label Social Networking Platforms Chart How to Insert YouTube Videos in PowerPoint Presentations LinkedIn Tips and Tweaks: Do More with your LinkedIn Account Introduction to Wikis, Blogs, Social Bookmarking, Social Networking and RSS Corporate Policies on Web 2.0 Social software: E-learning beyond learning management systems Stock Photo Image and Other Media Sources Learning for the 21st Century Flash Quiz Tools Rubric for Online Instruction Michael Wesch and the Future of Education How to Download YouTube Videos Emerging Perspectives on Learning, Teaching and Technology eLearning Examples The Art of Building Virtual Communities (Techlearning blog) ROI and Metrics in eLearning My Top 10 Mobile Tools for Learning Training Method Trends No Significant Difference Phenomenon Website What is eLearning 2.0? Mathemagenic " PhD conclusions in a thousand words: blogging practices of knowledge workers Web 2.0 Applications in Learning Rethinking Learning Styles Understanding E-Learning 2.0 Second Life is not a teaching tool Tool Set 2009 New Design for My Smile Sheet The art of changing the brain Writing Less Objectionable Learning Objectives How to Convert Your PowerPoint Presentation into an Elearning Course Social Media makes this course stand out Should All Learning Professionals Be Blogging? Try Before You Buy Tools Used Better Conferences - Response Needed Roles in CoP's The science of learning Learning 2.0 Strategy Online Education - Introducing the Microlecture Format — Open Education Informal Learning - Let's Get Real Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 Technotheory.com - Getting Started with Social Media - A Guide and Resource List Online Polls: Find the best Web Polling Software for your needs Building a Studio for Instructional Videos on a Tight Budget 50 Practical Tips & Tricks to Build Better E-Learning Alternatives to Kirkpatrick Open Source life, LMSs beyond Moodle Social vs. Not - Pictorally Social Networking in Education Informal learning - what is it? My Top 25 blogs for 2008 Blogging as Reflective Practice The Elearning Apprentice Part 2: A four-level framework for evaluating social network ROI. LMS RFP The Nature of Online Collaboration Connectivism and the modern learner Nursing Simulation in Second Life eLearning Course or Online Demo - which is better? Deeper Instructional Design Creating a Learning Ecosystem - Why Blended Learning is Now Inadequate E-induction Twitter for Learning eLearning Authoring Tools Paul's E-Learning Resources PWLE Not PLE - Knowledge Work Not Separate from Learning Definition: Massively Multi-learner Online Learning Environment (MMOLE) The ladder of participation in social media Course Authoring and Rapid eLearning Tool Satisfaction E-Learning Queen: The Best Way to Learn in an Online Course Learning 2.0 How To Find The Best Free Image/Photo/Graphics Downloads For Your Blog Posts | Smackdown! Communities of Practice Facebook as a Learning Platform We Need a Degree in Instructional Design Learning styles don't exist 90-9-1 Rule aka 1% Rule in Collaborative Environments How long does it take to create learning? | Bryan Chapman Tips for facilitators in Ning The ‘Least Assistance’ Principle No more excuses for poor e-learning content eLearning Defined eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

Today's guest blog post is written by BizLibrary Learning Consultant Nathan Dampf. As a member of the Missouri Air National Guard, Nathan understands the importance of teamwork, collaboration, and breaking down communication barriers. When looking up the term silo in the dictionary, one may find a reference to the noun "a tower or pit" or "an underground chamber for a missile." However, also included is the verb, "to isolate." Many business leaders within the United States are commonly using the term silo to describe departments that operate within the organization. They are "pits" of knowledge, not letting that knowledge out. Some leaders comment that other departments are housing "missiles" to bring down other departments. In business, the term silo is used to describe the "isolation" of different departments within an organization that should be working toward a common goal.   The business impact of silos can be disastrous. But, if leaders and trainers can drive teams, collaborate on projects and empower employees, organizations will reap great dividends. They will experience increased knowledge and camaraderie among the business entities.   "As an executive or manager, if you micromanage and focus only on your specific tasks, your team will reflect and replicate that type of work environment, which can easily bore people," said Brad Smith, executive vice-president of business management firm Sage North America. "Keep people from falling into their own silos."   To avoid such silos, Smith recommends holding regular meetings to keep teams up-to-date on activities and broad company goals. He also discusses the need for fun, engagement and empowering employees. He provides an example from his son’s work experience at Home Depot.   "After cashiers worked at the store a certain period of time, managers gave them a $250 customer credit per shift to use at the cashier’s discretion," said Smith. "In empowering cashiers to make their own decisions about how to allocate the refunds to customers - to right wrongs or simply further delight a happy customer - Home Depot demonstrates their trust in their employees."   Smith also discusses the importance of leaders who stress goals and the relevance of those business goals to the employee’s role in the organization. Other consultants agree.   "A well-defined strategic plan outlining the purpose, values, goals and objectives of the team becomes the glue that binds the group together and helps transform them into a team," said Jim Sisson, principal of a management consulting firm. "Without purpose and goals, you cannot build a team. The purpose must be worthwhile and create a sense of doing something important together."   Sisson states there is a big difference between leading groups (silos) and teams.   "A group is a collection of individuals who coordinate their individual efforts," said Sisson. "On the other hand, a team is a group of people who share a common team purpose and a number of challenging goals. Members of the team are mutually committed to the goals and to each other."   The communication of these goals is a vital component in establishing SMART goals. If a goal is relevant (R of SMART) to the mission of the organization and that relevance is explained to the employees, those employees will feel a sense of purpose that will result in more work getting done, says Smith.   In addition to empowering employees and explaining relevance, businesses should also encourage collaboration among teams.   Social collaboration technology revenues have increased 12 percent since 2013, writes Adrian Bridgwater, columnist for ComputerWeekly.com.   "A few years ago firms were riding the social enterprise wave, says Huddle CEO, Alastair Mithcell. Standalone social tools promised to connect workers, enabling them to collaborate, unlock silos of knowledge, and by doing so, boost productivity and efficiency," Bridgwater writes. "By bringing together social interactions and business content, real work gets done faster."   BizLibrary has a resource that encourages such behavior and collaboration. Community was never intended as a product, but as the leadership within BizLibrary witnessed collaboration and efficiencies internally, the product was enhanced and made available for clients.   Such a tool can be helpful to any BizLibrary client working to "breakdown the silos" within their organization by encouraging communication, fun and effectiveness. In the end, the breaking down of silos can be done by implementing the "Three E Strategy:" Encourage Collaboration Explain the Purpose Empower Employees with Trust   If you are experiencing these issues within your organization and would like to implement a strategy to "breakdown" your company’s silos, please click the link HERE and we can discuss a plan together. Recommended Resources

by Jennie Ruby    Answers to my interruptions challenge are brought to you by me. I found that there was no consensus on number 2, that many people wanted to put parentheses in number 3, that many people just wanted to rewrite number 5, but that everyone agreed that on number 6, (see Appendix B) belonged inside parentheses.   My answers follow the Gregg Reference Manual, but unless you put any punctuation in number 4, I can't bring myself to call any of the other answers out and out wrong, given that so many writers use parentheses more widely than grammar calls for, and that whether something deserves emphasis or de-emphasis is a matter of opinion. Thank you to the winners: Anna Todd, Karyn Highet, Lisa Stumpf, Susan Czubiak, Bobbi J. Stonskas, and Geri Moran.  It is very tedious, in my opinion, to type on a flat screen. [independent comment-commas] The blog--even after the extensive upgrade we purchased last quarter-- was still slow to load on mobile devices. [emphatic, dramatic, long, and on a slightly different topic-em dashes] The most widely accessible option, according to the magazine, is still the print version.[independent comment-commas] The company that provides the fastest downloads is still XYZ.[relative clause essential to the meaning-no punctuation] Norman, who arrived at the classroom before the computers were turned on, noticed the change in temperature right away.[relative clause nonessential to the meaning-commas] A more extended listing (see Appendix B) has been compiled by XYZ Press.[reference material-parentheses] Confusing Words for 100   The words affect and effect are commonly used incorrectly. See if you can avoid the confusion and select the correct usage. When ready, send your answers directly to me. What will the effect/affect of the new restrictions be? The new director will effect/affect some changes in the current policy. The revisions to the software will effect/affect how we use it. How will the new functions effect/affect our template? What effect/affect will the new interface have on our compliance initiative? The change is to/too difficult to explain over the phone. I want to upgrade the operating system, to/too. The file is to/too large to fit on my flash drive. The goal is to/too enhance functionality without increasing costs. To/too encourage use, we will offer to/too/two new incentives. *** If you love Jennie's grammar articles, you'll love her classes. Check out some of Jennie's mini courses.

Prof. Vasudha Kamat (Vice Chancellor, SNDT Women’s University) THANK YOU SO MUCH for inviting me again to facilitate this online talk for research students at the SNDT Women's University  (First session in 2013).WEBINARLooking forward to giving an online talk (webinar) on July 12 (1:30 PM, KL time) Insya-Allah, as an invited speaker for the 'Online course on Research Methdology' at the SNDT Women's University, India.Title  : Social Media for Research at SNDT Women's University!Date  : July 12 (Sunday)Time : 1:30 PM (KL time)RECORDINGHere we go: CLICK HERE to view the WizIQ version of webinar recording.SLIDESHere we go: Social Media for Research at SNDT Women's University from Zaid Ali Alsagoff WOW! What an engaging and inspiring webinar session! The participants were amazing :)

For a very long time now, I have been a huge fan of TweetDeck, the desktop AIR app, for many reasons, including the fact that it’s an Adobe AIR app, which means that I could use it on my PC and Mac, and more importantly because it allowed me to have a sort of a Twitter command center of everything I was interested in, thanks to the ability to have as many columns as I needed, for mentions, DMs, lists and searches. However TweetDeck started going down hill since Twitter acquired the company last year. In my opinion, this is one of those acquisitions that didn’t turn out well for us, the customers, nor for the small, agile and innovative company that TweetDeck once was. I’m convinced that if TweetDeck was still an independent company, their Twitter apps would innovative and we wouldn’t have to look elsewhere for a better Twitter client. However this isn’t the case and for a while now I have been looking for a Twitter client alternative for Mac. Enter Tweetbot This is where Tweetbot comes in from a company called Tapbots. I started using Tweetbot on my iPad first and immediately become fond of it. I now also use it on my iPhone and now the company has released a public alpha version for Mac. I have been testing this for a few days now, and I like it a lot and feel this may be the software app that could very well replace TweetDeck, for all of us who have been a bit dissapointed with how the whole TweetDeck acquisition turned out. Mobile-First Approach In my previous post I talked about the advantages of thinking mobile-first and desktop second and Tweetbot is an excellent example of this way of thinking. Looking at their Mac version, I can see that they benefited from starting on mobile first, and now they are bringing the same simple, lightweight, yet powerful experience to the desktop.  A great lesson for all of us in mLearning and eLearning. At this point, this is only available for Mac and I’m not sure if the company has plans for a PC version, but I do recommend you check out the public alpha if you are a Mac user. Share your Thoughts on TweetDeck and Tweetbot below.  

Since I'm out, I'm thinking this is a good time to point you to some past posts.  The last post was what I've been writing this year that social signals say is good reading.  Today, I want to point you to some posts that you may have missed along the way and a bit about why it might be worth reading. #1 Social Learning Models and LMS and Social Learning I've changed the title of the first post to make it more enticing.  While it talks in terms of SharePoint, really the patterns described relate to all different types of tools. #2 Conversation Topics Maybe while I'm out you could take me up on this and start a dialog on one of these.  For example: 24. A long, lost blog post that needs to be revisited. 80. A search tool other than Google that I use, when and why. 86. Hip learning trend during the past that was way over hyped. 99. How I find blog topics #3 Data Driven  I firmly believe and have seen how this approach to performance improvement really does move the needle.  I'm still not sure why there's not more discussion and adoption. #4 - Examples of eLearning 2.0 Wonderful set of examples of what people are doing out there around social learning and eLearning 2.0. #5 - LinkedIn Connection Approach Rethought Take my vacation as an opportunity to walk up to me and introduce yourself in the biggest networking cocktail party in the world.  I'm frankly not sure why you are reading this and are not linked to me on LinkedIn or for that matter following me on twitter - @tonykarrer. #6 - Corporate Learning Long Tail and Attention Crisis Newspapers are failing by the day.  We need to pay attention to that and recognize that we are publishers as well.  Or at least we are right now.  As work continually moves towards concept work demand for publishing will decrease and enabling tools,  providing support and providing skills training will increase.  The fat end of the long tail and the loss of attention is a critical issue that I'm not sure we are really ready to come to grips with.  Can we file Chapter 11 for our training department? #7 - Second Life Learning Videos I still like these videos.  They really show some of the power of virtual worlds for learning.  Can you point me to a few more more recent videos that show this kind of thing? #8 - PWLE A bunch of posts (via eLearning Learning) all about the PWLE.  It's a PLE, but emphasis is on concept work.  And I still believe we need to be leading the charge around helping employees in our organizations figure out a rationale PWLE? #9 - Social Grid Follow-up & ASTD Follow-Up These are both follow-up posts to recent presentations.  Both of these I thought were pretty good. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

Written by Chris Osborn   Today's Q&A Thursday discusses organizational socialization.     Stay Up-to-Date on the Most Current Business Training Trends BizLibrary offers 6,000+ training videos in various business training topics, with new courses added every day.   How to Build a Business Case for Online Employee Training This complimentary eBook will help you get your online training proposal approved. It identifies the 5 key elements of a business case, discusses best practices, and includes examples to help you make your case solid. BizLibrary's Mobile Learning App meets the needs of today's digital learners. Employees no longer wait for training departments to push learning content to them. Employees are used to pulling information to themselves, when they need it, on their own terms and conditions, and on their own devices. - See more at: /technology/bizmobile.aspx#sthash.umjsk4e5.dpuf Video Transcription

We are proud to announce that our newest book, "Adobe Captivate 8: Beyond The Essentials" is now shipping.This book is a companion to our top-selling "Adobe Captivate 8: The Essentials" book and delves into such Captivate features as responsive layouts, creating project templates, accessible eLearning, and working with a Learning Management System.More information.

This is becoming a question I get asked frequently, and I also see it asked quite a bit to other people. I happen to think this is a very valid question, especially as people begin to participate in conferences and conversations on the topic of using mobile for learning. To me there are good arguments for answering yes and no. Let me explain. The Answer is Yes I think we can easily make an argument for simplifying how we refer to learning based on different definitions and the usage of technology and devices that goes along with the experience. The questions here is why not call it Learning, instead of e-Learning (electronic), m-Learning (mobile) t-Learning (Tablet), u-Learning (ubiquitous), etc. After all, our ultimate goal as learning professionals is to design learning experiences for learners by any means necessary, no? For those frequent readers of this blog, you may have noticed that whenever possible I use phrases like "designing learning experiences" and "the next generation of learning" in an attempt to gradually steer the conversation toward thinking about designing learning for the new multiscreen world we live in, where the desktop is just one of many screens. The Answer is No However, I still see lots of benefits of keeping some of these specific references separate, especially eLearning and mLearning. I think mobile learning is in its nascent stage, and we are just beginning to scratch the surface of what’s going to be possible with mobile. Most learning professionals are still struggling to see the big deal about using mobile devices for delivering learning experiences to their learners. I think there’s quite a bit of confusion out regarding the differences between eLearning and mobile learning and why people should care about mLearning. Case in point, I was looking at the winners in this year’s Reader’s Choice Awards for the 2012 "Best of Elearning!Awards" and because of my focus on mobile authoring, I noticed the winner in the best mobile authoring solution category and couldn’t help to think just how misinformed we are in mLearning when we vote Adobe Captivate as the best tool in this category. Don’t get me wrong, Captivate is an excellente eLearning development tool, but to even consider it in this category, because of a new feature called HTML5 export, just means we have a long ways to go in understanding what mLearning really is and the types of tools that are required to create truly amazing mobile experience that delight users. I’m also very optimistic because I realized there’s much work to be done in mobile learning to make sure that as an Industry, we don’t miss this amazing opportunity we have in front of us, and don’t simply dismiss mobile as merely an extension of eLearning, and something we can simply check off by converting our existing desktop eLearning to HTML5. For mobile learning to be a success, what we need is a revolution, a new way of thinking, and not simply an evolution of eLearning. Keeping eLearning separate from mLearning at this point will help us educate newcomers to mLearning about the differences between developing for the desktop and the fact that there is an ever-growing number of mobile devices out there that connected learns want to use to Learn. What do you think, is it time to remove the ‘e’ and ‘m’ from Learning? Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.  

Coming back after a week of being mostly disconnected I'm woefully behind on email and even more so on my reading. Luckily, I have a short cut to seeing the stuff that is generating interest across most of the top eLearning bloggers. So, here's the hot list for April 1 - April 11 via eLearning Learning ...Top Posts The following are the top posts from featured sources based on social signals. Top 100 eLearning Items- eLearning Technology, April 7, 2009Interesting that my own post got the top spot.My top ten tips for getting started with eLearning:- Ignatia Webs, April 6, 2009It ain’t always easy to dive into eLearning. It always looks much easier than it is. Although everyone learns most from their mistakes, it does save a lot of money if you keep some tips in the back of your mind. If you are indeed considering to start with an eLearning project, you might want to demystify some eLearning myths...Building Better Learning Games- Learning Visions, April 9, 2009Interested in building casual games for your learners? Read on for notes from a webinar today, April 9, 2009: Building Better Learning Games: Leveraging Game Design and User Testing for Results Our hosts today: Enspire Learning (Ben Katz) Doorways to Dreams D2D -- financial entertainment. Work with and for consumers how to better manage their money. Focus on casual video games. (Nick Maynard) Skillpoint Alliance (Kristy Bowden) Partnership of profit and non-profit organizations.Communities, PLEs, small groups, & power- Adventures in Corporate Education, March 31, 2009My mom loves telling the following story about me, to emphasize the fact that I have always been bossy. I am the oldest, and I have one brother who is 16 months younger than me and another who is 3 and a half years younger (there are seven of us in all). Apparently, we all played together very nicely until my brothers discovered that they didn’t have to play exactly they way I told them to play. Once they figured this out, they would let me play with them as long as I didn’t try and dictate the rules.Solar power for your small and big mobile devices!- Ignatia Webs, April 7, 2009While trying out different types of solar panels, I began to like the set of solar panels mentioned below. Just imagine having to go abroad and no longer having to worry about electricity... ah, what bliss! With solar powered technology you will get all the workspace and electrical independence you need, even in your back garden. This sounds a bit like a sale pitch, so I have to warn you in advance, there are a lot of other solar panels for different equipments out there.Brain rules #3- Clive on Learning, April 1, 2009Rule 3: Every brain is wired differently In this chapter, John Medina explains how every brain is different from every other: "When you learn something, the wiring in your brain changes." "What you do in life physically changes what your brain looks like." "Our brains are so sensitive to external inputs that their physical wiring depends upon the culture in which they find themselves." "Learning results in physical changes to the brain and these changes are unique to each individual.Why mobile learning is on the rise and benefits diverse populations- Ignatia Webs, April 3, 2009In January 2009 Carly Shuler (a fellow at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center ) came out with a fabulous paper on the benefits of mobile learning entitled: pockets of potential - Using Mobile Technologies to Promote Children’s Learning . Although the document focuses on mobile learning for children, you can easily deduct the benefits for all learner groups. Carly Shuler recently graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education with an Ed.M. in Technology, Innovation and Education, where she studied how new media and emerging technologies can be used to effectively educate children.US surveys show e-learning on the rise as training budgets fall- Clive on Learning, April 2, 2009Thanks to Kineo for pointing me to the Market Update recently released by Ambient Insight which forecasts a compound annual growth rate of 16.3% from 2008 to 2013 for learning technology products and services. The report notes that "the market is favorable for learning technology suppliers, despite, or perhaps because of, the recession." The report forecasts especially rapid growth for collaborative e-learning, mobile learning, self-paced learning, and simulations and games.Informal Workplace Learning: paradigm changes - more- The E-Learning Curve, April 2, 2009I'm looking at some influences which are contributing to the emergence of informal and non-formal learning in the workplace. In my previous post on this topic, I outlined five change factors: ... The E-learning Curve blog shares thought-provoking commentary and practical knowledge for e-learning professionals. Find out more... ...Tags: nonformal learning workplace learning organizational learning non-formal learning definition of learning organizational development informal learning.Working With Online Learning Communities- Blogger in Middle-earth, April 1, 2009This article was first published on Futurelab in January 2008. I've reproduced the text of the article here. Some links to resources are now no longer current. What is an online learning community? Since the end of last century, government initiatives throughout the world have sponsored the development of online learning communities in schools and other learning institutions. A community can be classified as a group of people, each with different expertise and with access to diverse resources, in which a sharing occurs so that individuals within the group can benefit from each other.Why call it ‘eLearning’ when it is clearly NOT eLearning?- Don't Waste Your Time, April 1, 2009This has been brewing for some time now. I don’t apologies in advance if you see yourself in what I’m about to say. You know what really gets my goat? It’s when people keep talking about eLearning when they actually mean ‘distance’ learning, or ‘online delivery’, or computer-based training (CBT). In the same way that everything has [...] ...Tags: eLearning Academia Academia 2.0 Blog CBT Distance Learning University 2.0 Web 2.0 Wiki.Book: Mobile Communication Studies, edited by James E. Katz- Ignatia Webs, April 9, 2009Before jumping into the Easter holidays: another informative book. If you are into communication, culture and mobiles, this book will be a good buy. The Handbook of Mobile Communication Studies was released by MIT Press in 2008, it covers 485 pages and the book is edited by James E. Katz. ISBN: 9780262113120. The variety of researchers and topics make this into a worthwhile book if you are looking to get a deeper understanding of what mobile roads are being explored right now and all over the world.Top 9 Posts You May Have Missed- eLearning Technology, April 8, 2009Since I'm out, I'm thinking this is a good time to point you to some past posts. The last post was what I've been writing this year that social signals say is good reading. Today, I want to point you to some posts that you may have missed along the way and a bit about why it might be worth reading. #1 Social Learning Models and LMS and Social Learning I've changed the title of the first post to make it more enticing. While it talks in terms of SharePoint, really the patterns described relate to all different types of tools.Big Question: get your innovative eLearning ideas out no matter what others think!- Ignatia Webs, April 2, 2009Big question of April launched by Tony Karrer via the Learning Circuits Blog is: stuck/unstuck or how to cope with old-school learning when your head buzzes with new eLearning methods and ideas. eLearning is fun, great, innovative, wonderful…. up until the moment you meet - most of - the clients (corporate or educational) feedback. While talking with a teacher-centered drilled client, your initial eLearning models and suggestions can be downsized in a way that leave you feeling bewildered.Systems approach of designing instruction- Adventures in Corporate Education, April 8, 2009I’ve posted before about the Dick & Carey method of instructional design - while I was taking a class based on the Dick & Carey method. This method of instructional design is very popular because it represents a systems method of designing instruction. Click on the image below to see a diagram of how this method works: But what does a systems method of designing instruction actually mean? The definition of system is: A group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements forming a complex whole. from thefreedictionary.Top Ten Annoying Tech Phrases- Kapp Notes, April 7, 2009This post is inspired by Oxford Researchers List Top 10 Most Annoying Phrases and Wayne and Garth. I thought and thought but still came up two short...please...help me out with the last two annoying tech phrases, please add. 10. No, no move your mouse to the left (or right or anywhere "Back-seat computer driving") 9. Are you a Mac or a PC Person 8. I thought I sent you an email about that! 7. No, I didn't get that email, can you resend? 6. Didn't you read my Tweet? 5. Sent from my Blackberry (or iPhone) 4. That's so old, I blogged about it last week. 3. Are you on Facebook? 2.Prezi goes live- Clive on Learning, April 6, 2009Prezi is the most exciting new presentation aid I've seen in ages and today sees its formal launch. Prezi is a Flash-based tool that does away with the traditional slide show metaphor. Instead you arrange your images, text, audio, video and PDF files on one great canvas that you navigate throughout your presentation. What makes Prezi exciting is the way you pan and zoom from object to object, either on a pre-defined navigational path or at will. Until now, all editing was conducted online, but the release version now includes a desktop editor, which synchs up to your online account.Top 20 Posts for Q1 2009- eLearning Technology, April 6, 2009One of the best things about having kids is getting a Spring Break with them. I'm fortunate enough to be doing that this week. So, rather than doing my normal posts, what I decided to do was to go back and do a couple of best of posts during the week. Of course, I cheated and used eLearning Learning to help me come up with these.Rapid Performance Analysis- Blender - Training Solutions, April 4, 2009Rapid performance analysis, is there such a thing? In a discussion with a LinkedIn connection, the topic of a quicker way to complete an effective performance analysis came up. His company frowns on spending time up front completing an analysis and wants him to dive into course development to "Save Time.New Webinar: Overcoming the Top 10 Objections to Social Learning- Engaged Learning, April 3, 2009photo credit: youngthousands ( WEBINAR REGISTRATION LINK ) This one is going to be good! (As if the others have not been….) But I am particularly excited about this one. It is based on a topic I love AND there is more audience participation. Let me explain… At DevLearn08 I presented this live session. But what made it even more fantabulous is that earlier in the week I attended Dave Wilkins’ session on social learning. We talked afterward and were SO on the same page.Can Your People Pass the Banana Test?- Bozarthzone , April 2, 2009I'm researching an upcoming live-online session, "Tips for the Positive Deviant" and just ran into this anecdote: During a positive deviance workshop designed to surface strategies for curtailing the spread of AIDS/HIV in Myanmar, "The group consisted of prostitutes -- nearly all of whom insisted she faithfully made her clients use condoms. The moment of truth occurred when each participant was asked to apply a condom to a banana. Varying degrees of dexterity quickly differentiated the pretenders from the practitioners...The Power of a Network in Action- Engaged Learning, April 1, 2009Remember this? I originally created and posted this a few weeks ago . It shows the possibilities of having a strong social network. Notice the happy face on the right in the middle? Ya - that’s me. The difference between the right and the left is something I talk about in the conference sessions, webinars, keynotes and trainings I do, what I write about on this blog and talk about in the webinar. This power of the network has been valuable to me in many instances.April 2009 - Getting Unstuck- The Learning Circuits Blog, April 1, 2009Last month's big question got quite a great response. I'm very much looking forward to the response this month. The inspiration for this question comes straight from Gina Minks' post - I think grad school is making me crazy . She is in a graduate school program and is a great self-directed learner: I’m learning about things like instructional theories, learning theories, how to tie learning to performance, how to tie learning to business requirements, and ways to measure all these things. I’m learning that my technical skills are important as learning moves to a web 2.0 platform. Top Other Items The following are the top other items based on social signals. Steve Hargadon: Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education, April 3, 2009web2.0 education technology learning collaboration elearning trends nscc_learn.SMBs and Social Learning Technologies, April 2, 2009Here are slides from the presentation I did yesterday. The session was hosted by SumTotal Systems. SMBs & Social Media (Sum Total) View more presentations from Janet Clarey . Some notes: Polls: Most attending work in L&D with some HR, IT, and learning services providers Most attending work in organization with 2000+ ee’s but several were SMBs (under 2K ee’s for this presentation) Current learning delivery channels primarily ILT classroom and ILT online as well as a fair amount of self-paced e-learning.Top Tools for Learning 2009, April 4, 2009As mentioned in earlier posting, this year I am building two lists - Top Tools for Learners and Top Tools for Learning Professionals based on contributions received. Although this year's activity has only been open for a few weeks we are seeing some clear leaders.Beware of Social Learning Backlash, April 11, 2009I’m finding out that the old adage, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink" has some major significance when it comes to introducing social learning (specifically, social learning tools) at an organization. In fact, even worse things can happen if you don’t market your offerings correctly… When introducing social learning tools and concepts, it’s easy to get excited and anxious to share our findings.Build a Learning Portal Using WordPress, April 3, 2009I’ve written before about learning portals and how they can be a great way to improve access to learning materials for users. I wanted to provide a more in-depth post that shows how you can create your own learning portal using the freely available content management system, WordPress . So, let’s get started… Refresher: What is a portal? (This paragraph is from a previous post .) A learning portal is a web site that contains links to all different types of learning and training materials for employees at an organization.Here’s An Easy Way to Create Whiteboard Lectures for Your E-Learning Courses, April 7, 2009I’m a doodler. It helps me think. When I present or talk to people I like to use a whiteboard. I feel like I’m better able to get my ideas across as I map them out visually. Not only does this help me express my ideas, it kind of forces me to lay them out in a manner that’s easier to understand. Dan Roam talks about this in his book The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures . He shares his ideas on how to tell your story visually.How to Find Pictures for Your eLearning " Engaged Training, April 2, 2009Engaged Training My Ramblings about Training, Leadership, and Learning Home Subscribe Entries (RSS) Comments (RSS) Recent Posts How to Find Pictures for Your eLearning Social Learning: A Heart Issue What Are Some Good Survey Questions for Social Learning Adoption? Does Certification Mean One Is Qualified?The Twitterprise - 2009 is about our Corporate Cultures, NOT the Technology, April 9, 2009I follow @marciamarcia on twitter...and have done so for a while. Totally forgot that she also writes for FastCompany . Sorry, Marcia ;-( She wrote an EXCELLENT article titled "Twitterprise: Bringing Whole Selves to Work" . So much great stuff in it that you must follow the link to get it all in. The reason I like the article so much is that it truly gets to the heart of all this 2.0 stuff. After the honeymoon buzz of new technologies wears off, we are still left with the realies of dealing with the people in our organizations.Learning Twitter Chat!, April 6, 2009Blame it on Marcia Conner (@marciamarcia), who’d been participating in Twitter chats for journalists and editors. She found them educational, and prodded a couple of us that maybe we should create the same sort of thing to talk about learning. We visited a few other chats, and it seemed worth experimenting with (it’s our duty, after all!). One thing led to another, and here we are: The first learn chat happens *this* Thursday , 5PM - 7PM PT, 8-10 PM ET. What do you have to do?Changing how people and organizations interact, April 5, 2009Jon Husband has recently published a paper, What is wirearchy? In case this is a new term, the definition of wirearchy is posted on the top right of my site. In the paper, Jon starts with the origin of the framework: In that context of ubiquitous impact, reams have been written about the erosion of the effectiveness of command-and control as the dominant model for leading and managing purposeful organized activities in business, education, government and governance, politics, culture and the arts … all the areas in which humans act together to create and get things done.My Prerequisites for IDs, April 6, 2009Ellen Wagner is a learning industry analyst with a passion for sustaining innovation and accelerating enterprise adoption of technologies for education, training and performance support. This is her blog. My interests in this ongoing discussion about instructional design competencies are both professional and personal. I have always been drawn to the way that one can structure, direct and produce a learning experience very much in the way that one can construct a museum exhibit, or art-direct a photograph, or write a screen play.Social Media Goals, April 2, 2009I spent yesterday touring the Web 2.0 expo (part of the time with fellow miscreant Jay Cross ), and it led me to think a bit more about social media tools and approaches. After touring the floor, having lunch, and touring the floor some more before the keynotes, my reflections have to do with hybrids and implementation. We were prompted to visit Blue Kiwi , which is probably the leading European social media platform. Talking to them, and the others there (Vignette & Lithium) has me reflecting more broadly.ScreenCastle, April 6, 2009Here's another online screencasting tool, that caught my eye. The reason it headlines with "One click screencasting" To launch the screencast recorder and record a screencast directly from you browser, just click the button on the right of the screen here : ScreenCastle [67 other screen capture or screencasting tools on this page of the Directory of Learning Tools] ...Tags: Tools.Here’s What You Need to Know About Mobile Learning, April 1, 2009Every few years it seems that there’s some hot new trend in the world of training. Right now it appears that mobile learning is all the rage. The world of mobile gadgets is converging with an always available wifi network. This gives us instant access to all sorts of information which fits in well with on-demand training. Since this part of the industry is so new to many of you, I thought it might be best to hook up with an expert in the industry to learn more. So I called one of my mentors and a real pioneer in the elearning industry, Dr. Werner Oppelbaumer, to pick his brain.Chatting, April 10, 2009Last night we held the first #lrnchat , a Twitter learning chat. As mentioned before, it was an idea from Marcia Conner based upon her previous experience with other chats and enthusiasm for Twitter. It was an interesting experience, with it’s plusses and minuses. There were great topics, and some interesting technical issues. The latter first: I finally ‘graduated’ from TwitterFox (a plugin for Firefox , and a great way to start Twittering) to TweetDeck, an AIR application.Conceptualizing the Performance Ecosystem, April 9, 2009So I’ve been playing with rethinking my Performance Ecosystem conceptualization and visualization. The original had very discrete components, and an almost linear path, and that doesn’t quite convey the reality of how things are tied together. I believe it’s useful to help people see the components, but it doesn’t capture the goal of an integrated system. I’ve been wrestling with my diagramming application (OmniGraffle) to rethink it. My notion is that systems, e.g.Climbing the collaboration curve, April 8, 2009Jon Husband sent me the link to short post by John Seely Brown, John Hagel, and Lang Davison on The Collaboration Curve. Everybody knows about network effects: the value of a network increases exponentially with the addition of each new node. ( Metcalfe’s Law .) Imagine what can happen if those nodes are people. Each new node gives them more opportunities to learn and to perform better. When people are actively pulling in learning resources rather than taking what’s pushed at them, the value of the network goes turbo, an effect the authors call the collaboration curve .Model learning, April 8, 2009On Monday, a hearty Twitter exchange emerged when Jane Bozarth quoted Roger Schank " Why do we assume that theories of things must be taught to practitioners of those things?" I stood up for theory, Cammy Bean and Dave Ferguson chimed in and next thing you know, we’re having a lively discussion in 140 characters. With all the names to include, Dave pointed out we had even less space! One side was stoutly defending that what SMEs thought was important wasn’t necessarily what practitioners needed.Push the Reset Button, April 11, 2009Charles Jennings made a comment on Corporate Learning Trends that got me thinking about the need for a reset of the whole training function: Baldwin, Ford and Weissbein’s research (20 and 10 years ago, respectively) showed that the USA spends around $100 billion on training every year, but only about 10% of the expenditures result in transfer to the job. I’m sure if the research was re-run today the results would be similar, whether in the US, in Western Europe or anywhere else, for that matter.Community Portals, April 3, 2009Looking back at lessons learned from community portals (2005) I would say that the transactional portal is the only one that still makes any sense to me: Transactional: sites which are accessible, complete, thoughtful, and coherent; and with more than one type of on-line interaction (e.g. payment, application, consultation, bookings). RSS has blown up the content-only portal funded through advertising but the wide adoption of Twitter is giving content publishers a new push mechanism to get eyeballs to their sites. 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by Willam Van Weelden     One of the hottest new features introduced in Adobe RoboHelp 11 is Responsive HTML5 layouts. The Responsive HTML5 output dynamically changes the way the content is presented based on the device the reader is using. For example, while a reader on a desktop might see a traditional table of contents on the right side of the page, someone using a smart phone will see a table of contents that is optimized for touch:         Responsive HTML5 output uses Screen Layouts, the skins for HTML5 output. With these skins you can control how your output will look for your users.   If you have used Responsive HTML5 before, you may have seen the following layout in the gallery:        The image above shows the Responsive Layout as it was delivered when RoboHelp 11 was released. You'll be happy to know that Adobe released an update of this layout with the RoboHelp 11.0.1 patch.However, even if you have installed the patch you may still be using the old layout.   While Adobe provided instructions on how to manually install the new Responsive HTML5 layout, they are hidden away in the release notes and you likely missed them. If so, here they are: Close RoboHelp. Using Windows Explorer, search for%appdata%\Adobe\RoboHTML. (The RoboHTML folder hidden within your AppData folder opens.) Rename the folder 11.00 to 11.00_old. (A new 11.00 folder will be created when you restart RoboHelp.) Start RoboHelp. You can now use the improved Responsive Layout for your output:      *** Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.