I’ve been facilitating the Big Question on ASTD’s Learning Circuit’s blog since sometime in 2006.  Last month’s big question was Instruction in a Information Snacking Culture?  The question was all about how we consume and work with information: People seem to be spending less time going through information in depth and less willing to spend time on information. We seem to be snacking on information, not consuming it in big chunks. In Stop Reading - Skim Dive Skim and that seems to be how people consume blog posts much more these days. I've also noticed a trend towards more twitter mentions of blog posts, but less deep commenting behavior much less thoughtful blog responses. One of the comments was really telling: Reading this blog has been an example of snacking for me. I am very interested in the post and thoughts it provokes and read down the comments (skimmed) but when it came to links to other blogs I did not use them. And since many of the responses provided (in comments and via blog posts) suggested that snacking is just fine, it seems hypocritical to say - "Well that kind of defeats a key purpose of the Big Question."  But it does (and I am).  The point is for us to have an exchange of ideas around a topic.  But if no one reads the responses or exchanges ideas, then what’s the point? I personally still feel like I get value.  If there are some meaningful responses to this month’s question Open Content in Workplace Learning?, I will likely learn a lot.  Please still do respond to it.  And if you don’t know about Open Content - take this as an opportunity to learn. Still I have to wonder if we need to revisit the approach and value proposition.  Maybe we need to look at other ways of doing this? Thoughts, suggestions? eLearning Technology Subscribe to the Best of eLearning Learning for updates from this blog and other eLearning blogs.

From the get-go, we’ve aspired to make online learning not only accessible to all teachers and highly interactive, but open. Meaning that the lessons and courses aren’t just available via Versal.com, but are embeddable in virtually any website or blog (and are downloadable as a SCORM package). Today, we’re continuing along this path with two developments designed to offer new ways to make Versals portable. The first is the official beta launch of our Versal Chrome App. We’ve been testing the app in classrooms around the U.S. over the past two months, and the feedback has been inspiring. Whether you’re using Chromebooks or the Chrome browser in the classroom, it’s now exceptionally easy to share Versal lessons and assignments directly with students in their everyday learning environment. Start here to learn more and give it a try. The second, the launch of Learning Tools Interoperability™ (LTI) integration, is not just a technical milestone for our internal team but a development that is among the most requested by Versal teachers. Across the world, districts, schools and teachers rely on Learning Management Systems (LMSs) to assign projects and homework, grade student work, and manage their progress. While some LMSs offer teachers the ability to upload PDFs, documents and videos for students, Versal’s rich authoring platform offers teachers the ability to create dynamic and interactive lessons plus curate the best learning content on the Web - all in one canvas. For teachers experimenting with project-based learning and blended learning, Versal is ideal. With LTI integration, teachers may now easily embed a Versal assignment directly within their LMS. This will free up students to complete assignments without ever leaving the application and offer teachers direct insight into a student’s progress. We’re currently working with many of the most popular LMS platforms to customize our integration for even more seamless congruency between the apps. Stay tuned for details. In the meantime, if you’d like to integrate your Versal creation into your own LMS, check out this quick Versal course with specific tips for Schoology, Edmodo, Blackboard and Canvas.   We’re excited to hear what you think. Please share your feedback by emailing support@versal.com, or post ideas to our new idea bank. And if you’re attending the annual CES show this week, please say hello! Versal CEO Gregor Freund will be speaking at the CES/TransformingEDU on a panel titled "Meet the Pioneers" at 1:50 p.m. Pacific on January 8th at the Venetian, Level 2, Bellini 2006. Our team is also available for private meetings through Thursday. Email allison@versal.com for scheduling.

We’re honored to share some very exciting news: Discovery Education today announced the launch of five newly created interactive training courses - powered by Versal. In the press release, our CEO Gregor Freund summed up our enthusiasm: "If you browse through all of the educational content and services provided to schools by Discovery Education, it is of the highest quality and very engaging. Educators around the world rely on Discovery Education to provide engaging content for their students and professional development that helps them effectively integrate digital content into the classroom and grow their instructional practice. We are very honored to be selected as their in-house publishing platform." Robert Onsi, Senior Vice President at Discovery Education said: "We at Discovery Education are always looking for new ways to support educators’ efforts to seamlessly integrate our services into classroom instruction. After thoroughly reviewing many publishing platforms, we were proud to select Versal as the publishing platform partner for these interactive sessions. Through these easy to build courses, educators can quickly and easily learn about the powerful content at their fingertips." Designed to guide educators through the dynamic features of Discovery Education’s digital resources, the courses include video overviews and step-by-step guides created exclusively by members of Discovery Education’s professional learning community, the Discovery Educator Network (DEN). Read more in the press release here.

Background / Requirements I’m just starting consulting with a company that has a single course (might eventually be broken into a few different course) that needs to be delivered to an audience of 600-1000 partners as part of a larger certification process.  Thus, they need to be able to report back out who’s completed the courses.  Courses will be authored using a Rapid Authoring Tool.  This may grow to be a little bit more than this, but likely not much. So, that’s a pretty simple set of LMS requirements.  It worries me just a bit that I might be missing something important that will turn into a Learning Management Systems (LMS) Selection Gotcha? Fast Selection And while this wasn’t the basis for the post One Week to Select an LMS - No Way, it’s a situation where I’m not seeing the need to spend a lot of time going into a detailed selection process. But it’s almost like my background with and knowledge of all the different LMS products (see LMS Satisfaction Features and Barriers, Low Cost Learning Management Systems, Rapid Learning Management Systems and Open Source Learning Management Systems) feels like it’s hurting me in this task.  Current Thinking So, without a lot of thought, here’s what I’m currently thinking and I hope folks will weigh in… I was a little surprised when I realized how much some of the mainstream SaaS LMS products (Articulate Online, Learn.com, etc.) would cost.  Something like $500/mo.  And we wouldn’t really be using much of the functionality. We are definitely considering doing something like a hosted Moodle solution.  Pricing is very attractive on some of these.  However, the interface and user interaction doesn’t quite align with what we want.  Still , it’s definitely in the running and other than interface, I’m not sure what I’d get with other LMS solutions that I don’t get with Moodle.  I’m also looking at whether we could just put the content on one of the social learning hubs such as LearnHub, Coggno, odijoo which seem to offer a way to put this up for a very attractive price (Free).  We have the advantage that the content here is not sensitive, so if someone else took it, more power to them.  I don’t have direct experience with these systems and worry a bit about the risk associated with doing it this way.  Thoughts?  Anyone have much experience using these social learning hubs for that kind of purpose? What else should I consider? eLearning Technology Subscribe to the Best of eLearning Learning for updates from this blog and other eLearning blogs.

If you follow Versal closely, you know that we’re very enthusiastic about the promise of blended learning - the concept of mixing online and classroom experiences. Instructional dynamics are changing, and teachers are actively seeking new tools to connect with today’s "app generation" as they enter the classroom. At the beginning of 2014, we surveyed over 400 teachers to better understand their perspectives on teaching with technology. Last month, we had an idea: let’s run the same survey again and see how things have changed. We were struck by several of the findings and trends. So we created an infographic illustrating about how teachers are using technology to adapt to this new generation of students. (See the infographic here and more detailed Teaching Digital Natives Data.) It’s clear that the use of technology in the classroom is on the rise. We’re not surprised - we started seeing a significant increase in teachers signing up for Versal late last summer. Our latest survey validated what we’re seeing in the market: technologies that empower teachers are rapidly gaining popularity. One encouraging finding? Teacher awareness of flipped classrooms rose from 58 to 73 percent. The fact that nearly three-quarters of all teachers surveyed are aware of the flipped classroom model indicates that online learning is now something teachers think about as part of their planning. This is supported by the growing number of teachers interested in creating online courses and lessons - up 8% year-over-year. We believe these changes are just the tip of the iceberg. Versal has the potential to accelerate this shift with easy-to-use gadgets that make it dead simple to create engaging, interactive curriculum. By empowering teachers to engage students in new and exciting ways, technology will continue to transform the way teachers teach and students learn. Blended learning will become the norm and we hope to be at the center of that transformation. Take a look at the infographic and let us know what you think. More specifically, how do these findings align with your experiences and what you hear from colleagues in the teacher lounge? Card

As part of the Big Question this month Open Content in Workplace Learning?, I’m exploring whether Open Content can be used by for-profit companies.  And, since Open Content comes in under the Creative Commons license structure.  Actually, I’m curious if Open Content ever is not Creative Commons?  It’s by definition Open, but theoretically you could choose a different open license. I’ve just never seen it. In any case, to understand the use of Open Content, it’s important to understand Creative Commons licensing. Creative Commons Licensing Terms Creative Commons licensing terms.  All CC licenses start with: Attribution (CC-BY) - Allows others to copy, distribute, display and perform a copyrighted work - and derivative works based upon it - but only if they give credit. All CC licenses contain this condition. Licenses may have one or more of the following permissions or restrictions: Non-Commercial (NC) - Allows copy, distribute, display and perform a work - and derivative works based upon it - but for non-commercial purposes only. Share Alike (SA) - Allows others to distribute derivative works but only only under the same conditions as the original license. No Derivative Works (ND) - Allows copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of the work, but not make derivative works based on it. These get combined into one of six licenses: Attribution (CC-BY) Attribution Share Alike (CC-BY-SA) Attribution No Derivatives (CC-BY-ND) Attribution Non-Commercial (CC-BY-NC) Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike (CC-BY-NC-SA) Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) Licenses on Open Content I took a bit of a sampling of various sources of content found via the OER Commons and from the OCW Consortium: SERC - CC-BY-NC-SA Learn NC - CC-BY-NC-SA MIT OpenCourseWare - CC-BY-NC-SA Utah State OpenCourseWare - CC-BY-NC-SA, but some specific courses such as Intro to Instructional Design has a CC-BY-SA Johns Hopkins OCW - CC-BY-NC-SA Notre Dame - CC-BY-NC-SA The Open University - CC-BY-NC-SA There’s a definite pattern here.  Most of the OCW content appears to come under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence.  There were a few exceptions such as Stanford Engineering Everywhere with a CC-BY license. But, I think this really turns into a question of the implications of CC-BY-NC-SA. Implications of Noncommercial Use Creative Commons noncommercial licenses disallow "commercial use" - i.e., they preclude the use: … in any manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation. From what I’ve read, it’s intentionally fuzzy what this exactly means and I am by no means an expert (or a lawyer) around this stuff. Creative Commons themselves conducted a study to understand commonly held interpretation of this definition - which is itself important from a practical standpoint. The study itself tells us that people generally consider the following unacceptable: Promotional use (advertising) Use makes money Perception is that greater scrutiny is required as you move from: Private or individual, Charitable or social good, Non-profit, For-profit In other words, generally use by an individual (i.e., self-study is considered okay).  If it’s for a charity, social good or non-profit, you are generally safe if you are not making direct revenue / donations from it. I interpret that putting up links as a means for employees to access the content themselves would generally be considered safe.  I would be curious if anyone disagrees with this.  Of course, you can always find a corporate attorney who doesn’t want to do that even, but you probably can’t access common websites from that company either. Here’s the tricky questions.  Maybe there are clear cut answers, I just don’t know what they are.  What if I want to use the course content or part of the course content to teach employees or partners behind the firewall.  Is that commercial use? A question from the study: "Work would be used by a for-profit company, but no money would be made" Definitely commercial - ~33% Can’t say - ~40% Definitely noncommercial - ~27% Shows that people are generally split on the question of whether the scenario I describe is considered commercial or noncommercial.  So it’s a bit of a gray area.  And likely it’s even fuzzier based on whether you are linking, copying, modifying, etc. Any thoughts on the practical answer here?  If I want to create eLearning for use by my employees, can I use CC-BY-NC content as part of it?  Under what conditions? Implications of Share Alike Share Alike has some interesting challenges in interpretation for this situation as well.  From the Creative Commons FAQ: If you are combining a work licensed under a ShareAlike license condition, you need to make sure that you are happy and able to license the resulting work under the same license conditions as the original work. This suggests that if you use ShareAlike licensed materials in a course for your employees, then the resulting work must be licensed the same way.  There’s a lot of gray around this as well.  First, likely the course is being provided only behind your firewall.  There’s nothing specifically that I can see that says you have to distribute the resulting work or make it widely available.  However, there is a clause that causes a bit of concern: You may not impose any effective technological measures on the Work that restrict the ability of a recipient of the Work from You to exercise the rights granted to that recipient under the terms of the License. Of course, the license would allow anyone with access to the work to distribute it themselves.  Thus, an employee could theoretically make a copy and distribute it.  Doubtful that an employee would do this, but since it would be consistent with the license, I’m not sure you could pursue. In practice, I’m pretty sure you would want to approach the use of this content a bit differently.  If you are taking ShareAlike content and either using a subset or modifying it, you might just want to create a derivative work that is ShareAlike on its own.  It can be fully redistributed, and you wouldn’t care.  Then you can link to that work within your broader course. It’s somewhat a loose coupling of content, but it is consistent with the spirit of the ShareAlike license.  Create new, public works based on the original work.  Don’t put stuff in that new work that is specific to your organization that you don’t want shared.  That creates a new ShareAlike work.  And you can link to a public instance of that. If you think about it, having a large collection of these smaller chunks that could be used by employees probably could provide value to others. Question for Images and Other Content Of course this same question comes up about a whole lot of other content.  For example, Flickr provides access to images according to Creative Commons license.  See Flickr Creative Commons.  The images under the Attribution license obviously give you a fair bit of freedom to use in your eLearning.  How about those under Noncommercial?  Can you put one of those images inside your internal corporate training as long as you provide attribution? It’s really the same question as the noncommercial use as described above. ShareAlike would seem to be a bit problematic for images.  You are very likely using it as a copy inside the course.  Doesn’t that run you into the problem described above? Help Again, I’m by no means an expert on this stuff, nor an attorney.  But what would be good is to have some people who know more about this weigh in with help on how to proceed. I’m also curious to find out what corporate attorneys are deciding around this? eLearning Technology Subscribe to the Best of eLearning Learning for updates from this blog and other eLearning blogs.

It’s an honor to work with so many amazing teachers and instructional designers to make Versal a valuable part of your daily lives, and today we are excited to announce that Versal is officially out of beta. Of course, this doesn’t mean we won’t continue to evolve and improve, and we definitely have several cool new features on the way soon (along with new gadgets being released almost every week!). It is simply our way of saying that all of the core components are in place for you to successfully create fun and interactive lessons and courses for your students. Thank you to everyone who has offered us your support and feedback along the way - it’s been invaluable and we look forward to continuing this amazing journey with you. We’re also honored to announce a fantastic new partnership with Wolfram Research, plus welcome Stephen Wolfram, CEO of Wolfram Research, to our Board of Directors. We are working with Wolfram Research to offer teachers direct access to Wolfram’s vast catalog of interactive math and science exercises via Versal gadgets. Soon you’ll be able to embed content based on Wolfram technology directly into your Versal courses and lessons. Deeper integration is planned for the future, including making Wolfram resources such as Mathematica readily available in the Versal platform. Read the press release. Lastly, you may have noticed a few new things in Versal today! We’re rolling out a refreshed design of the course management portal, designed to streamline and simplify the publishing process. While some users will see it before others, to check it out now click "see preview" at the bottom of your homepage (if you’re signed in). New gadgets! We’re currently releasing 1-to-2 new gadgets each week, and now have 48 gadgets available to help you build interactive lessons for your students. Check out four of our newest gadgets: Categories, FlowKey, Math with LaTeX and Music Intervals now in your gadget tray. Our homepage has changed (sign out to see it). It now reflects our 100% commitment to offering the best way to create captivating online learning experiences. We’d love to know what you think of the new look and more detailed information! Thank you for all of your support and help during our beta. Stay tuned, new features on the way soon! And as always, if you have any questions or need help from our awesome teacher success team, please email help@versal.com.

In a recent conversation, I was asked what I thought about twitter as a learning tool. Over the course of the past few years I’ve moved from saying "I don’t get it" - to feeling like it’s a good addition to my Learning Tool Set. But I also think that there’s a lot more help now around how to make effective use of Twitter as a learning tool. I thought it would be worthwhile to pull together these resources. Twitter and Teaching Twitter Tips: for Teachers & Educators- Don't Waste Your Time, May 9, 2009 Twitter in the classroom: 10 useful resources- Social Media in Learning, August 12, 2009 Presentation: Twitter in Education- Don't Waste Your Time, May 12, 2009 Adding Facebook and Twitter to student participation- Don't Waste Your Time, November 4, 2009 Twitter in your Teaching- eLearning Acupuncture, September 24, 2009 Twitter - A Teaching and Learning Tool How to use Twitter for Social Learning, March 20, 2010Teaching with Twitter, January 2, 2009 Tips on Twitter Use Twitter Cheat Sheet version 1.1 is up- Adventures in Corporate Education, April 18, 2009 Facilitating a twitter chat- Joitske Hulsebosch eLearning, March 9, 2010 To get Twitter you gotta Tweet!- Leveraging Learning, October 6, 2009 7 Creative Ways to Introduce Social Media to Your Team- Learning Putty, October 22, 2009 10 Tips to Get Started with Twitter- Learn and Lead, April 18, 2009 Coping with Twitter- Learning Conversations, February 26, 2010 Hashtags in Twitter and walls, fountains, ways to keep everyone's remarks in the picture- Ignatia Webs, May 15, 2009 I'm on Twitter... Now What?- Business Casual, December 23, 2008 Conversation + Twitter- Informal Learning, March 26, 2009 Tweetdeck Makes Twitter Make Sense- Litmos, February 5, 2009 Twitter and Conferences, Webinars and Backchannel Twitter Conference Ideas- eLearning Technology, January 30, 2009 Twitter and Webinars- eLearning Technology, May 14, 2009 TWITTER - Backchannel conversations enlighten eLearning Community at DevLearn08, November 21, 2008 The Backchannel, January 5, 2010 This (how to present while people are twittering) is going to become a CRITICAL skill, March 7, 2009 Presentation: from receive through react to interact, October 7, 2009 The keynote and the harshtag, October 9, 2009 Twitter and eLearning Three Practical Ideas for Using Twitter in E-Learning- Rapid eLearning Blog Twitter Captivate Integration, eLearning Technology,Tuesday, December 15, 2009 People to Follow on Twitter Top 100 Educators to follow on Twitter- Dont Waste Your Time, June 18, 2009 The Juiciest Learning Professionals on Twitter?- ZaidLearn, April 20, 2009 Indian Learning Professionals on Twitter- Learn and Lead, May 25, 2009 Jane Hart’s Connexions Using Twitter as a Learning Tool especially for Learning Professionals Twitter for Learning- Learning Journeys, November 27, 2008 The use of Twitter (and other social media) for Learning- Social Media in Learning, December 6, 2009 Three months a-Twittering- Clive on Learning, March 10, 2009 Twitter as Personal Learning and Work Tool- eLearning Technology, January 21, 2009 Twitter for learning- Sticky Learning, October 25, 2009 10 Ways To Learn In 2010- The eLearning Coach, January 3, 2010 What I learn from #lrnchat- Bozarthzone , November 1, 2009 Twittering, Not Frittering: Professional Development in 140 Characters | Edutopia, December 29, 2008 Learning to Twitter, Tweeting to Learn, Danny Silva, March 1, 2009 Twitter Guides Quick Start Guide to Twitter Twitter Newbies Guide 10 reasons why Twitter will help improve your already existing networks Newbie's guide to Twitter Twitter Tools 101 Twitter Tools - an insane list, Marc Meyer, September 8, 2009 The Ultimate List of Twitter Tools, Social Media Guide, May 30, 2009 Yammer What Makes Yammer Different?- MinuteBio, December 20, 2009 Using Yammer- Learning Conversations, March 15, 2010 Yammer- Internet Time, September 20, 2008 Micro-blogging at Work, May 30, 2009 More on Twitter for Learning Business applications of Twitter- E-learning in the Corporate Sector, September 3, 2009 Collaborative learning using Captivate and Twitter- Adobe Captivate Blog, December 11, 2009 Twitter Learning- eLearning Technology, April 30, 2009 Twitter Hating - Bamboo Project, March 26, 2009 Twitter - does it help?- subQuark, June 14, 2009 Twitter Collaboration Stories eLearning Technology Subscribe to the Best of eLearning Learning for updates from this blog and other eLearning blogs.

  One of the most popular and successful teaching methods for high school students today is project-based learning. Rather than simply have students listen to lectures or read textbooks and take notes, teachers are now engaging students in dynamic, hands-on learning experiences that present real-life problems or questions. Versal is an excellent platform for project-based learning because it offers collaborative tools for students (so students not only take courses but create content together), the ability to curate and embed web-based research and more. Many of our favorite courses began as project-based learning ideas.   Versal was very effective, I learned a lot more this way. It gave me many different examples of soil regions and components. - Student of Allison Gest, Geology Teacher, Maine Township High School   Looking for new projects for your class? Check out a few our favorites, in three subjects: social studies, English and science. For Social Studies Period play: Divide students into groups and ask them to research a time period, setting up Versal’s Timeline gadget as they go. Next, have students compose a play about the era using realistic dialog, events, characters and costumes. This project teaches students about history, how to craft a script, and emphasizes team collaboration. Travel agents: For lessons about foreign cultures and countries, ask students to plan a three-day trip to a foreign city as if they are a travel agent. Include important historical sights, foods to try and what language guides to bring, using Versal’s Map gadget. Each student or group should try to sell their trip to the class, explaining why each destination is a great place to visit. For English DIY Dictionary: Ask students to create their own dictionary of slang words that they use in their daily life. They must produce correctly formatted dictionary entries with complete etymology, pronunciation, part of speech, definition and usage examples. To finish, they create a quiz with Versal’s Categories or Quiz gadgets to share with other students. Thank you notes: Ask students to choose an influential person in their lives and compose a correctly-formatted thank you note to their heroes. When the notes are finished, invite all the writers and the heroes to a class potluck, and invite each student read their letters aloud. Record their readings on SoundCloud, then have students embed the recording, with Versal’s SoundCloud gadget, alongside their thank you note and photos from the event. For Science Soundproofing: Embed a real 3D construction plan for an apartment building with Versal’s Sketchfab gadget, and have physics students brainstorm ideas for blocking sound between apartments so residents cannot hear one another. Task students with creating Deeper Diagram gadgets to show how their blocking material will be created and applied, and include the science behind the soundproofing. Homemade Barometer: Ask students to follow the instructions to create their own barometers. Then have them record the barometric pressure every day for a week by uploading and annotating a photo of their barometer with Versal’s Whiteboard gadget. Compare readings with local online weather reports. For Extra Credit Toys for Tots: Students will study electrical circuits as they come up with an idea for a simple electrical toy that uses a motor, switch and battery. At the end of the project, students visit a children’s hospital, let the kids test out the toys and donate them to the hospital or another charity.   There’s no limit on how creative teachers can get with project-based learning, especially with Versal’s interactive teaching tools. If you try out a few of these ideas, let us know what you (and your students) think in the comments.    

Last week I had a presentation around using Social Media and Web 2.0 tools to improve your performance as a knowledge worker.  One of the questions that always comes up is: How do I find more information to help me get started? The answer is that this information is a bit hard to come by.  There’s a lot out there, but it’s often hard to find information that helps you get start.  This was a major reason that I started down the path with Work Literacy.  That said, I thought it would be worthwhile for me to collect a few of the resources that provide good starting points that can help Knowledge Workers improve their performance using Social Media. Overview of Knowledge Work and Social Media Tool Set 2009 Work Skills Keeping Up Top-Down Strategy Knowledge Work Framework Sense-making with PKM Keeping Track of Information Better Memory Keep track of information Handling the Flow of New Information Information Radar Networks, Communities and Collaboration LinkedIn Guide for Knowledge Workers Networks and Learning Communities Collaborate Manage what matters - collaboration Twitter Twitter as Personal Work and Learning Tool Twitter for Learning - 55 Great Articles Personal Learning Environments My Personal Learning Environment The Psychology and Skills of Personal Learning Environments Personal Learning Environment Some More Specific Tactics Processing Pages with Links Search Browser Short Cuts I will try to come back and update this post as I find good introductory resources on this topic. eLearning Technology Subscribe to the Best of eLearning Learning for updates from this blog and other eLearning blogs.

Have you ever created a gadget in a Versal course, for example a Deeper Diagram or large block of text, and then decided you wanted to move it to a different lesson? Or copy it to another lesson or course? Now you can. With the new cut, copy and paste feature released today, it’s easy to move or copy individual gadgets or groups of gadgets between lessons and courses. Here’s how it works: When you mouse-over a gadget, you’ll notice a new empty checkbox outside the upper left corner. Click it to select a single gadget (or add it to a multiple gadget selection) to cut or copy. A clipboard will appear in your gadget tray, with buttons to help you perform the following actions: The "cut selection" button will remove the selected gadget(s) from the current location in your course, and copy it to the clipboard. You can then simply go to the lesson where you plan to use it (in the current course or another course), and drag-and-drop the gadget from the clipboard to its new location. The clipboard can be accessed anytime through the label in the bottom right corner of the tray. The "copy selection" button will copy the gadget to your clipboard, but will not remove it from its existing location. The "clear clipboard" button will remove all cut-and-copied gadgets from the clipboard, but not from your courses. Quick tip: don’t clear the clipboard if you have cut a gadget and haven’t added it back somewhere else…that will delete the gadget permanently. One note: Gadgets only stay in the clipboard temporarily. So if you plan to move or copy a gadget, we recommend doing it in the same session.   Let us know what you think! Post feedback in the comments below, and if you have any questions, please email us at support@versal.com.

As part of last month’s big question Open Content in Workplace Learning?, I’ve been trying to find out more about specific answers to Creative Commons Use in For-Profit Company eLearning.  I was contacted by someone out of the Creative Commons organization, but in going back and forth with them, we realized that I was looking for legal interpretations which they clearly can’t do.  They are there to help set up the licenses.  But that said, it also shows a failure of the current licenses. What do I mean by a failure? As I pointed out in my previous post, Creative Commons themselves conducted a study to understand commonly held interpretation of the understanding of the meaning of these licenses.  This common interpretation is important if you are going to defend your use of licensed materials.  But it also shows that lots of interpretation is required. The person from Creative Commons suggested I post to the cc-community mailing list my questions.  I only received one response with the following suggestion: Contact the copyright holder to verify that: a) The work was distributed under the license you received it under; b) Their understanding of what the license permits and your understanding of what the license permits are congruent; MIT,for one, has a couple of pages that outlines their interpretation of the CC-BY-SA-NC license. Most other educational institutions have similar pages, albeit not always with the same degree of examples as MIT. But that leaves us with having to go and contact the license holder of each work which somewhat defeats the purpose right? That’s what I mean by failure. We don’t have an answer to some pretty basic questions! The one good thing that came out of it was that at least MIT recognized this failure and has additional information: MIT Interpretation of "Non-commercial"": Non-commercial use means that users may not sell, profit from, or commercialize OCW materials or works derived from them. The guidelines below are intended to help users determine whether or not their use of OCW materials would be permitted by MIT under the "non-commercial" restriction. Note that there are additional requirements (attribution and share alike) spelled out in our license. Commercialization is prohibited. Users may not directly sell or profit from OCW materials or from works derived from OCW materials. Example: A commercial education or training business may not offer courses based on OCW materials if students pay a fee for those courses and the business intends to profit as a result. Determination of commercial vs. non-commercial purpose is based on the use, not the user. Materials may be used by individuals, institutions, governments, corporations, or other business whether for-profit or non-profit so long as the use itself is not a commercialization of the materials or a use that is directly intended to generate sales or profit. Example: A corporation may use OCW materials for internal professional development and training purposes. Incidental charges to recover reasonable reproduction costs may be permitted. Recovery of nominal actual costs for copying small amounts (under 1000 copies) of OCW content on paper or CDs is allowed for educational purposes so long as there is no profit motive and so long as the intended use of the copies is in compliance with all license terms. Students must be informed that the materials are freely available on the OCW Web site and that their purchase of copied materials is optional. Example: An institution in a remote area has limited Internet access and limited network infrastructure on campus, and a professor offers to create CDs of OCW materials relevant to her course. The professor may recover the costs of creating the CDs. If you have questions about acceptable use of OCW materials, please contact us. For those of us in eLearning, the key line is "A corporation may use OCW materials for internal professional development and training purposes." That’s great news.  But it doesn’t necessarily hold for other Open Content, just MIT. Bottom line is that Creative Commons is failing to really help us.  If you have to go and contact each license holder to find out, you are basically in the same boat as with copyright. eLearning Technology Subscribe to the Best of eLearning Learning for updates from this blog and other eLearning blogs.

The classroom of the future won’t look anything like the classroom we knew ten or even five years ago. Global connectivity and collaboration, combined with technology that allows for interactive and student-tailored lessons, will recast tomorrow’s educational settings in exciting new formats different than we know today. While envisioning the future is famously difficult, we’ve been excited by some of the predictions recently made by some of today’s leading edtech innovators. They offer a captivating view of the classroom’s future. Here’s what they have to say.   Collaborative, Connected Learning Spaces Classrooms of the future will shed grids of desks, or maybe even desks altogether, to facilitate greater flexibility and active learning for students. Instead of personalized workstations, imagine mobile, collaborative workspaces. Erin Klein, a second-grade teacher and well-known edtech blogger, recently told The Journal that her historic schoolhouse is renovating their multimedia lab for just that purpose. "Everything that is not a load-bearing wall has been flattened and removed." "You really need to think about the design and layout of your space and how that can support your curriculum," Klein said. "Then you can start thinking about how to outfit your infrastructure and what devices you might need to enhance the curriculum."   Curriculum with a Global Perspective Dana Mortenson, Co-Founder and Executive Director of World Savvy and an Ashoka Fellow, believes that the classroom of the future should equip students to deal with the cross-cultural, multi-faceted challenges of our interconnected 21st Century. In a December 2014 column in Edutopia, she described learning spaces that are designed to facilitate collaboration, and unstructured assignments that prompt students to address thorny, global problems like resource scarcity and cultural differences. Technology promises to reshape global challenges and student responses. "Every day there are new technology resources available to help educators make their classrooms more global and connect their students to new ideas, challenges, and resources that will let them dig deeper into what they’re learning in class," said Mortenson.   A Fully Blended Learning Experience One thing is clear to most educators and parents (and to us): teachers are building the classroom of the future. They’re experimenting with new technologies and the teaching methods these new tools unlock. Erin Klein and Dana Mortenson agree that teachers will remain vital to the future classroom experience. Klein, in particular, sees the need for coaches to help teachers in adapting technology into the classroom. "Coaches need to collaborate by redesigning the curriculum to support blended learning. And ultimately, I would hope that the term ‘blended learning’ would disappear, and that it would just be assumed that technology would be integrated." "Our vision is to give instructors powerful new tools and serve as a catalyst for the next generation of online learning," said our CEO Gregor Freund. "Teachers will lead the way."  

Next week several of us are attending the ASU-GSV Summit in Scottsdale (if you’re going, let’s meet up!), but before we leave we have great news: Versal has joined the Google for Education partner program. We participated in an extensive review over several months, including teacher testing, and it was well worth the effort. Many of you have told us how integral Google’s solutions (such as Chrome and Apps for Education) are to your daily success. Our goal in joining this program is to ensure that Versal easily integrates into your Google ecosystem. What does this mean for you? As you may remember, in January we launched our first Chrome App, which offers teachers an easy way share Versal creations directly with students via Chromebooks and the Chrome browser. Have you tried it yet? Next, we’re in the process of integrating with Google Apps for Education. Once it’s ready, you’ll be able to to create Versal courses and lessons directly within Google Apps. You’ll even have the option to save lessons to a central Google Drive folder accessible from any device. And there are more opportunities for integration in the future…stay tuned. In the meantime, we’d love to know how you are using Google in the classroom. What would you like to see from us? Share more in the comments below. And if you’d like to read the full press release, it’s here. Google, Google Apps, Gmail, Google Talk, Google Drive, Google Vault, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Sites and Google Video are trademarks of Google Inc.

With the recent launch of InGenius by SkillSoft, I believe it’s time again to raise a pretty important question: Where do Social Learning Tools belong?  Should they be coupled with your LMS or other learning-specific tools?  Or should they be separated?  Or ???? My contention (as expressed in LMS and Social Learning) is that most of the vendors are getting this wrong.  Instead of looking at providing tightly coupled Social Learning Tools, they should instead be looking at how their offering can integrate or leverage Enterprise 2.0 tools.  Using David Wilkins diagram: We are talking about how formal (or informal) can leverage tools that employees will be using outside of the context of learning.  This could be: SharePoint, Yammer, Confluence, etc. John Ambrose in Social Learning Will Fill Enterprise 2.0’s Empty Drums discussed part of the strategy with InGenius.  It’s finding content that can fill the empty drums of enterprise 2.0 tools when they are first rolled out.  I agree with John that rolling out an empty Wiki or other enterprise 2.0 tool often leads to poor uptake.  So having something that can serve as base content, makes sense.  But I have trouble with two aspects of the InGenius solution: It ties social interaction to books (and eventually other learning resources).  It’s clearly the Amazon model. It is local to the InGenius solution.  If an organization has SharePoint and InGenius, my preference would be that social interaction occurs in SharePoint.  InGenius should integrate into SharePoint.  Employees don’t want to have multiple social solutions that do similar things - one for learning and one for working. As a side note, Skillsoft is trying really hard to get Social Learning to be SEOed to their inGenius product.  I hope that people find Jane Hart’s Handbook or they find resources from eLearning Learning’s Social Learning page.  Trying to extrapolate from a single product like inGenius is going to be hard for most people to understand social learning. While I’m being critical of Skillsoft’s product as it currently stands, I do applaud their efforts to embrace social learning and add to the conversation.  As an example … Pam Boiros, a speaker at last year’s LearnTrends conference, recently posted on the The 8 Truths of Social Learning (listed here, but see her post for the details): Cross-generational appeal Discovery of knowledgeable colleagues Shared best practices and capture of tacit knowledge Intuitive to use and easy to roll-out Enhance learning programs  Respect for privacy Ownership of user-generated content Safe, trusted, proven environment I would add to this: Obvious value Same tools as your work tools When we talk about Social Software Adoption it follows the formulas described in Enterprise 2.0 Adoption - What's the PU? Web 2.0 Adoption in the Enterprise - It's Personal Adoption Rate = Perceived Usefulness (PU) * Perceive Ease of Use (PEOU) So, Pam’s right on ease-of-use (or perceived ease-of-use).  But you have to also have perceived value.  And that’s what I learned from Selling Social Learning - Be a Jack. I would also claim that perceived value and real value are closely related to the tools being the same tools you use as part of day-to-day work.  A separate set of tools greatly diminishes the on-going value (perceived and actual). eLearning Technology Subscribe to the Best of eLearning Learning for updates from this blog and other eLearning blogs.

I had an interesting conversation the other day about whether there’s that much new going on in eLearning here in 2010.  The general sentiment around the room was that many workplace learning organizations were focused on nuts-and-bolts training, and that there was little innovation. I’m probably not the best judge of whether there’s innovation going on because: People call me when they want to do something innovative.  I tend to work on things that are a bit leading edge like Data Driven performance solutions or eLearning Startups or the next great idea that someone has. In the world of eLearning, I generally pay attention to other innovators.  These are often bloggers as exemplified by the great bloggers found via eLearning Learning.  I also might be talking to people I’m talking to in conversations who are thinking about something innovative. So, I’m afraid that I’ve a skewed perspective. That said - I’m still under the impression that my central eLearning Predictions for 2010 is going to come true.  At the end of the year, we will be saying: "Wow, 2010 was a crazy year!" I was asked for some specifics and at the time I didn’t come up with really good answers.  I suggested that they review my predictions - which is a pretty good indicator of where I see some more interesting innovations coming. But I also thought I’d cheat and use what eLearning Learning is telling me the hotter topics are for the first 3 months of 2010.  What are these?  These are topics that are coming up in the participating blogs more during this time than they have in the past and that have good social signals.  So, I pulled the top 30 terms.  I’ve grouped them and commented on what I’m seeing. So, here’s what we are already seeing this year. Google Buzz, Google Wave and PKM PKM stands for Personal Knowledge Management, which is a definite passion of mine (see Work Literacy and Social Media for Knowledge Workers).  Interesting to me to see that these pop to the top. PKM in a nutshell, March 22, 2010 PKM in 2010, January 27, 2010  Google Buzz in eLearning, February 11, 2010 Seven (Possible) Ways to Use Google Buzz for Education by Jeremy Vest, February 17, 2010 Google Wave: 100 tips & tricks, January 25, 2010 New Features Added to Google Wave: More useful for e-Learning by Bill Brandon, January 26, 2010 iPad, Mobile Learning, iPhone The iPad and other mobile solutions offer something pretty interesting.  Retail, restaurants, construction - great stuff! Making Sense Of The iPad For Online Learning, February 8, 2010 Apple's iPad: What does it offer for e-Learning? by Bill Brandon, January 27, 2010 The iPad and its impact on m-learning., February 22, 2010 Tools For Mobile Learning Development, March 21, 2010 Five Mobile Learning Implementation Tips, March 1, 2010 The Advent of Mobile Learning Technology, January 7, 2010 Video Interesting to see this up this high.  But it makes sense.  Do you remember when you couldn’t do video because the network didn’t support it?  And when it took too long to shoot the video and put it up?  That was probably only two years ago for most of us.  And now that’s pretty radically changed! Planning A Video Production, January 8, 2010 Instructional Design for Videos, January 22, 2010 25 places to find instructional videos, February 8, 2010 Social Learning,  Social Media,  Twitter, Facebook Not a surprise to see that there’s lots of discussion of social learning and specific social media tools for social learning. Twitter for Learning - 55 Great Articles, March 24, 2010 Social Learning Strategies Checklist, January 11, 2010 How to use Twitter for Social Learning, March 20, 2010 Checklist of Social Learning Strategies, January 12, 2010 Virtual World The tools are starting to get there where simulations in 3D worlds makes sense.  Eight 3D Virtual World Design Principles, March 8, 2010 Virtual Immersive Environments: From Theory to Practice, February 7, 2010 Instructional Design for Virtual Worlds, January 22, 2010 Nuts-and-Bolts Topics Here are other topics that come up.  I’d suggest that these would argue in favor of nuts-and-bolts.  But you can be the judge of that. Organizational Learning Webinar Instructional Design Compliance LCMS Course Learning Management System LMS Content Camera Templates eLearning Strategy Cost Classroom Flash Not Sure Here are the final two.  Not sure how to categorize these things. Effectiveness Informal Learning Reaction? I’d be curious your thoughts? BTW - did I miss anything that you see as a big discussion topic already this year? And I’m curious if you think that 2010 is so far a year of nuts-and-bolts or if you are seeing innovation? eLearning Technology Subscribe to the Best of eLearning Learning for updates from this blog and other eLearning blogs.

In a flipped classroom, the conventional approach of lecturing and teaching new material in class, and then assigning homework to reinforce concepts, gets flipped. For example, a teacher might record a video lecture for students to review at home at their own pace. The next day in class, students engage in activities with the teacher and one another to better synthesize and contextualize the new information. With flipped classrooms students have a greater responsibility for their own success, since they will be completely unfamiliar with the material unless they do their homework. Students also benefit from greater comprehension, since the work they do in class requires high levels of participation.   Blogs One popular way to flip a class is through blogs. Teachers in the Humanities, English, and Literature can assign blog-writing exercises to help students become better critical thinkers and writers. Blogging in class creates a distraction-free zone, enabling students to concentrate on delivering creative work before the bell rings. English teacher Brian Sztabnik flipped his classroom, and even gave students the choice of which novel or nonfiction book to read. "My flip, which I first explored two years ago, did all of these things, and created a contagious atmosphere of passionate readers," writes Sztabnik on Edutopia. "Its two cornerstones are choice and blogs. This approach has completely changed the way I teach reading, with my students repeatedly saying that it was the best and most important unit of the year."   Courses Another emerging trend in the classroom, known as student-led learning, has students creating lessons or even whole courses during class. Similar to Sztabnik’s approach to flipping his classroom with blogs, students collaborate during class and research, curate and repackage content from sites like Wikipedia, Quizlet, Google Maps, Sketchfab and more. Teachers might assign a theme or topic like "Appalachian Geology" or "Comparative Cuisine and Culture." Then students split into teams and create content for each lesson, including quizzes to assess their fellow students’ mastery of the material. David Wilson, Associate Professor of Sciences at Parkland Community College, regularly flips his classroom with courses. "I think it’s a really good pedagogical practice to have the students involved in the mental task of generating content for a course." At the end of a unit, Wilson will include test questions from his students, alongside questions on the core concepts. "There are other concepts covered that students may find particularly engaging that I may have overlooked including in course assessments," says Wilson. "If students generate quiz questions on concepts that excite them, I can then revise.    

I received some interesting questions (and you know I love questions) from someone doing eLearning industry market research around trends in simulations, games, social learning.  They said they would be fine with me posting my thoughts.  I’m sure they’d love to get thoughts from others as there’s likely not enough data around this stuff to be super comfortable making business decisions. Question 1 - As the notion of "learning as an event" begins to be replaced with true "just-in-time" learning, (in the form of learning communities and availability to portals of knowledge and information) do you think off-the-shelf eLearning programs in professional skill development will continue to be one component of a learning solution? Will they grow in need, become obsolete, or remain the same? This is a case where I look back at what I’ve written: Course and Courseware Fading - The Future of eLearning Shift in Blended Learning - Example of Melding of Training and Support and now I find that I probably should back step a little.  I generally talk about what’s on the leading edge, but here, the questions are a bit different.  Yes, we will continue to see lots of professional skill development via off-the-shelf eLearning solutions.  I do think these will need to morph to fit better with new kinds of consumption and as part of an overall blended solution.  But people continue to need core development opportunities and eLearning courseware continues to be an important part of the mix. That said - if I’m defining my business direction (which is what’s behind these questions), I would start by looking at my post on the Business of Learning.  There’s a lot to question about content based business models in a time when there’s easy access to lots of content.  There’s always a place for truly differentiated and valuable learning experiences.  But most content is me-too - and the value proposition for that will go down. This is further complicated by the fact that there’s expectation that learning is going to be more and more part of day-to-day knowledge work.  In my recent post, I claim Social Learning Tools Should Not be Separate from Enterprise 2.0.  You need to think about how your learning business lines up with the reality of work and tools in the near future.  Of course, one of the big problems is that the marketplace (especially learning / training leaders) are not yet ready to replace courseware expenditure with other kinds of spending quite yet. Question 2)  As new technologies for learning grow, and the use of games, simulations and immersive learning matures, how do you think self-directed asynchronous eLearning, will compare next to these more interactive programs? Will there remain a need for eLearning libraries? Yes, there’s still a place for eLearning libraries.  I really don’t see them going away soon.  I see the pressures I’ve described above. In terms of games, simulations, immersive learning - I continue to believe that there are wonderful opportunities to create really compelling learning experiences using these approaches.  But, we’ve yet to see a true blockbuster.  Shouldn’t there be a Management 101 Game program that’s sold 10M copies in the US?  If there was, then it would be tough to the a less compelling offering in the same space.  But clearly there are lots of other barriers that keep games and simulations in check.  The numbers I’ve seen over the past couple of years don’t suggest that these kinds of solutions are really gaining broad acceptance in the market. I should caveat that I believe that given how easy video is to shoot - simple kinds of video-based simulations will happen more often.  Actually, as price/effort continues to drop for each of these kinds of solutions, we will see more of them.  But we aren’t talking about massive numbers or replacement at this point. See also When Do Learning Games Make Business Sense? Question 3) Who is really using what in learning? What is the use level of simulations, gaming, and avatars? I’m hoping someone can help.  The last numbers I had are a little old now.  In 2008, I published some numbers from the eLearningGuild in Training Method Trends which shows a snapshot at that time.  The recent ASTD numbers provide some additional insight. Anyone know where there are some numbers around this? Anyone with different thoughts on the trends around simulations, games and social learning? eLearning Technology Subscribe to the Best of eLearning Learning for updates from this blog and other eLearning blogs.

Though we’re a few months in 2015 already, the pace of tech adoption in classrooms across the country shows no sign of slowing. Teachers continue to incorporate a bevvy of technology-driven strategies into their classrooms to make learning both more engaging and effective. With summer  on the horizon, we decided to take a look ahead and pick are our top #edtech trends for the second half of 2015.   Blended learning Broadly defined, blended learning refers to the combination of traditional classroom teaching with digital media and online instruction platforms. Online instruction gives students the ability to digest a greater amount of required information during the day, at their own pace, and makes it easier for teachers, parents and administrators to monitor student progress. The trend has been gaining momentum in districts nationwide for the past few years.   Project-based learning With project-based learning, teachers don’t just teach a topic and then ask students to complete their homework in project form. Project-based learning begins earlier, with students investigating and discovering topics on their own. This subtle but critical distinction drives major gains in student-concept mastery. When students investigate  for themselves, they understand those concepts better over the long-term. Ultimately project-based learning helps students engage their skills in researching, writing, critical thinking and collaborating.   Assistive technology Assistive technology aims to circumvent a student’s learning challenges in order to develop skills and further excel in their areas of strength. It helps students with learning deficits or disabilities. If, for example, a student performs poorly in reading but has good listening skills, that student could be given audiobooks so they further develop their listening ability while successfully learning new material. This can also benefit students with physical disabilities, like screen readers for visually impaired students and motion sensitive technology that allows kids with restricted limb mobility to complete tasks by speaking or moving their head or eyes. Assistive technology reinforces a student’s sense of confidence by developing their strengths.   Google for Education The dramatic rise in classroom-based technology has created a need for versatile educational software. Google has stepped up and offered two free educational software programs meant to benefit students in public schools across the country. Google Apps for Education and Google Play for Education are cloud-based software suites of programs meant to help students write, send emails and collaborate in real time on multiple devices. (Be sure to check out our recently announced partnership with Google.) Google often offers flexible software for teachers for free, depending on circumstances.   Free edtech apps Education is one of the top categories in the Apple and Chrome app stores. There are thousands of educational apps available for every grade level and subject, many of them for free. Many apps, including the Versal Chrome App, enable teachers to create and customize online courses, and offer them to students on devices like Chromebooks. The best apps don’t just offer text, images and videos, but take full advantage of the interactive nature of the Web.   Tech coaching Due to the growing use of technology in the classroom, a new role is cropping up in schools — the tech coach. Tech coaches ensure both students and teachers can successfully implement and understand new education devices and programs. Tech coaches also help teachers integrate technology into their classrooms in deeper ways, which means that those uncomfortable with technology are able to offer students a technology-rich, blended learning experience.   Conclusion Student’s today are very tech savvy. Incorporating technology into the classroom is an essential step in ensuring that your students are not only engaged in lessons, but developing important tech skills that will serve them in the world beyond classroom walls. This creates the possibility for an increasingly well-rounded, personalized and efficient method of education. With so many free and easy-to-use tech tools, the second half of 2015 promises both challenging and exhilarating times for teachers and students. Did we forget your favorite classroom tech? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.  

The Big Question for May is Learning Technology 2015 - it asks what we expect workplace learning technologies to look like in 2015.  I definitely want to include Performance Support as part of the discussion.  In a post on my CTO Blog, I talked about Match Performance Support,the performance support that goes along with many matching solutions such as in eHarmony. A lot of people miss that we are being tasked to do so many different kinds of things and are doing them infrequently so we basically are not very good at it.  Examples in matching were: People to Projects People to Jobs Students to Tutors In each of these, it has the classic characteristics that point to Performance Support: Infrequent  Complex Important to get right I would claim that as knowledge work becomes more complex and we move towards being concept workers, we are being asked to act like experts even though we aren’t experts.  See Does Deliberative Practice Lead to Quick Proficiency? I think we are reaching a time when we are going to see an explosion of Performance Support.  You will get help when you: Try to find the right project, start the project, perform the project, complete the project Hire someone Sell a house Improve customer satisfaction (data driven). This is going to first take the form of hundreds of thousands of different little applications that each provide performance support for particular tasks.  We are already seeing this in terms of lots of startups aimed at particular elements of knowledge work.  But these will be getting better. I also think there’s a really interesting opportunity to create an online Performance Support builder that could make it easy to build out simple performance support tools.  Crowd source creation of the tools.  There’s a nice business there. Anyone want to fund that business? Let’s check back in five years and see how I did? Please add your predictions to the big question. Other posts (via eLearning Learning) on Performance Support: Performance Support- eLearning Technology, August 26, 2008 About Declarative and Procedural Knowledge and the Expert-Novice Divide- ID Reflections, October 17, 2009 Are Web 2.0 tools designed to support learning?- IDiot, January 27, 2009 Harvesting Learning’s Fruit: A Downstream Training Investment- Living in Learning, September 4, 2009 Conceptualizing the Performance Ecosystem- Learnlets, April 9, 2009 10 Strategies for Integrating Learning and Work (part 1), June 15, 2009 Whatever Happened to Performance Support? — Informal Learning Blog, December 29, 2008 A Better Learning to Performance Model and Job Aid, August 22, 2008 Not by performance support alone, August 2, 2009 Organizing for Performance Effectiveness, June 1, 2009 Performance Support Lab - PS Links, July 11, 2009 The Future of the Training Department, October 21, 2009 Integrating Learning and Work, June 16, 2009 It’s the performance, or, what every manager should know about Bob Mager, March 8, 2010 Performer Support and the Moment of Change, September 18, 2009 7 Informal Learning Services for the Training Function, April 2, 2009 The Science Behind Learning: Cognitive Tips and How Tos for Corporate Training, February 28, 2010 On-job support is critical, December 19, 2008 Upgrading - A PERFECT time for Performance Support, February 16, 2010 Life Support Can Be Expensive- aLearning, March 27, 2010 Work Context: The New Classroom- Living in Learning, March 22, 2010 21st Century Learning Strategies- Spark Your Interest, April 15, 2010 PDR Design Model Supports Shift to Learning Design in the Work Context- Living in Learning, August 23, 2009 When it's just so obvious NOT to train it's painful to watch it happen- Performance Learning Productivity, June 12, 2009 New skills for learning professionals- Informal Learning, July 1, 2009 Beyond the course- Learnlets, December 1, 2008 Transfer of Learning - Theories and Implications- Designed for Learning, October 31, 2009 Checklist of Social Learning Strategies- Engaged Learning, January 12, 2010 Deeper Instructional Design- In the Middle of the Curve, November 13, 2008 Scope of Learning Responsibility- The Learning Circuits Blog, March 3, 2008 Pointing to the Five Moments of Learning Need- Integrated Learnings, July 25, 2009 Content Organization Cheat Sheet- The eLearning Coach, November 30, 2009 How not to train- Good Practice, July 28, 2009 eLearning Technology Subscribe to the Best of eLearning Learning for updates from this blog and other eLearning blogs.

Blended learning is a major trend sweeping the K12 education nation. Broadly defined, blended learning refers to the combination of traditional classroom teaching with digital media and online educational platforms. According to our recent study, 53% of K12 teachers in the US used online tools in the classroom last year, up 6% from 2013. Blended learning, as a trend, encompasses a wide variety of teaching strategies and classroom setups. Many educators find it helpful to organize into the 5 models of blended learning, a framework which identifies the principal approaches and how they differ.   1. The Rotation model The Rotation model refers to physically separating a classroom into one area with traditional desks-and-chairs and another area with computers and tech. Students then take shifts rotating between these classroom areas. Pros: Easier to weave together traditional and tech-based instruction as students can hear from teachers even as work on computers. Also guarantees equal access to computers for all students in the class. Cons: Harder to implement at the high school level, as students typically move from room-to-room throughout the day, whereas students often stay in the same room during elementary school days.   2. The Flex model The Flex model relies almost entirely on online instruction and activity. Students benefit from the flexibility of online instruction, ie the extra availability and content options compared to traditional classroom instruction. Teachers are available to answer questions and provide oversight. Pros: Allows students to learn at their own pace, which research shows is especially important for learning disadvantaged students. Involves teachers closely in the student progress, even though learning happens mainly online. Cons: Limited direct contact with students during their study time. Also, students who lack online access at home won’t benefit as much from this model.   3. The "A la carte" model The A la carte model combines traditional classroom instruction with an online class chosen by the student from a list predetermined by a teacher or administrator. In this way, a teacher or school extends the range of classes that students may choose from, while maintaining a standard for quality and cohesive curriculum. This is also known as the "Self-blend" model. Pros: Empowers students, teachers and administrators to tap into a wide and growing abundance of online courses, which is especially valuable for rural schools and those with smaller faculty. Cons: Can be difficult for teachers and administrators to create online courses that fit their requirements, which often requires technical skills. Likewise, hard to find existing high-quality online courses that fit more structured curriculum requirements. Also limited to students who have computer access at home. Finally, works best for highly motivated students, as their is limited teacher oversight.   4. The Enriched virtual model The Enriched Virtual model relies heavily on online courses. All students take the same online courses and divide their time between school and home. The school is essentially a computer lab, with breakout rooms for small group collaboration. Students come into the school only once or twice a week. Pros: For populations that cannot support full-time schools or faculty, this model provides a viable alternative. Also works very well with families and communities that prefer to homeschool. Finally, this model requires students approach their education with self-reliance and independence. Cons: Relies heavily on online instruction, so students need to be highly motivated and have computers at home. As a largely remote learning model, students may find it harder to forge deep social connections and group collaboration skills.   5. The Flipped classroom model The Flipped classroom model has gotten a lot of attention recently. In a flipped classroom, students learn online at home, often via video, as opposed to doing homework. Then, in class, students engage in projects or group collaboration that reinforces and contextualizes what they studied at home. Pros: Empowers motivated students to self-direct their learning with projects and greater control over their schedules. Cons: Relies on trust and preparation. If a student doesn’t complete the online assignment, they will lose out on the in-class project. Also, requires a significant level of teacher effort to prepare the videos or online course for at-home study. Finally, students must have computer access at home.   Conclusion With these 5 blended learning models, teachers and administrators have the opportunity to make sense of the evolving edtech landscape and shape the classrooms of the future. Each blended learning model supports a different use case, and at Versal we have found a way to support all of them with one easy-to-use course building platform, no coding required. If you’ve contemplated one of the above, sign up for free and see how Versal can help get your class into blended learning.  

I was hoping that Ning was going to come out with a inexpensive plan that would support the different Ning sites that I have a hand in.  They do have Ning Mini at $3/mo, but it only allows 150 members.  That’s not going to work for: LearnTrends LA CTO Forum Work Literacy I’ve read a bit about alternatives, but each will require a bit of work.  Harold Jarche is trying to figure it out for the Work Literacy site.  I hope he comes up with a good answer and I can piggy back his efforts for the other two. Suggestions? eLearning Technology Subscribe to the Best of eLearning Learning for updates from this blog and other eLearning blogs.

 Chess helps you to concentrate, and improve your logic. It teaches you to play by the rules and take responsibility for your actions, how to problem solve in an uncertain environment. Garry Kasparov For all of you chess lovers out there, Versal recently released a gadget that allows authors to teach interesting positions, sequences of moves, and more. It’s a fun and interactive way to engage students and teach critical thinking within the context of a Versal course. Many schools, like Success Academy Charter Schools in New York, teach chess as a dedicated class or lesson in order to boost students’ working memory, problem-solving skills, and their ability to self-monitor and reflect. We hope you also find engaging ways to integrate this tool into your instruction. Interested in seeing it in action? Visit the example Chess gadget course to see all the available moves. If you need help using the gadget, check out our Chess gadget tutorial.  

Today’s blog post comes to us from Dusty Hepler, a homeschool teacher and Versal fan. As both a homeschooling mom of a decidedly techie child and the organizer of a growing homeschool co-op (roughly 120 students from 3-15 years old), my approach to education is shifting to keep pace with this new digital generation. As my child matures, I’m looking to capture her imagination and engage her in pursuit of knowledge. The lesson content is important, as is the ability to teach her to love learning and how to seek understanding. Likewise, since I organize teachers and assemble classes for students of various interests and learning styles, I’m constantly experimenting with new learning methods and innovative tools. Over the past four years, I have explored many styles of teaching: traditional textbooks, biography and "living" book courses, unschooling, computer-based programs, and everything in between. With the vast amount of resources available, organizing and compiling lessons is a bit overwhelming. That’s when I discovered Versal. It appealed to me because of its adaptability, and how swiftly lessons could be assembled and implemented. Building the lessons myself creates a much higher degree of familiarity with the material, thereby enabling me to teach it with a stronger authority. Versal’s adaptability makes it a great platform for assembling engaging courses for larger groups and individual lessons for home use, in one location. Lapbooks are popular among homeschooling families, but they are time consuming and can be difficult to create and assemble all the components. Versal allows parents and instructors to make online "lapbooks" with widgets that produce interactive vocabulary practice, picture labeling quizzes, even 3D renderings and so much more . These interactive exercises are not only appealing to younger children, but are exciting for students in upper grade levels as well. Lessons can be augmented with videos, pictures, links and text organized into categories and subcategories so students can easily jump back-and-forth between lessons and sections I also love that I can organize multiple lessons for classes within our co-op community and our home simultaneously. I’ll compile online materials, including videos, quizzes, interactive activities and site external resources in one (or more) courses and cover both unit topics that interest my child plus for our group classes. I also love learning and have found that it is a great personal resource for organizing my thoughts and research on topics that interest me - from tips and tricks, to health information, even recipes. For older homeschooling student’s, I’ve found that Versal offers me another way to explore project-based learning. For example, I can invite them as collaborators to a course, and from there they can create mini lessons, as opposed to writing tedious essays. By giving students the opportunity to assemble and present information to a teacher or group of peers, they dig deeper and develop a broader level of connection and comprehension. Our homeschool community is an integral part of our educational system. The opportunity to share lessons with other homeschooling moms will empower us to work collectively and assemble a library of subjects with interactive lessons. Versal allows me to organize and create appealing lessons quickly. There’s no better way to create a number of engaging lessons in a crunch!