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eLearn: Best Practices – Tips for Effective Webinars
Practical tips for webinars, mostly logistic issues that you might not think about if you’re not used to presenting online
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Archive for January, 2010
Daily Bookmarks 01/24/2010
January 24, 2010Daily Bookmarks 01/22/2010
January 22, 2010-
pipwerks » Not so crazy about Moodle? Try Chamilo
Another open source LMS option forked from Dokeos called Chamilo
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Instructional Design for Virtual Worlds
January 22, 2010
Welcome to stop #10 on the blog book tour for Learning in 3D!
How does the instructional design process change when you’re working with virtual worlds and 3-D environments? That’s the question addressed in Chapter 7 of Learning in 3D by Karl Kapp and Tony O’Driscoll. The chapter is titled “Overcoming Being Addled by ADDIE.” For all the impressive visual and technical feats possible in virtual worlds, a foundation of good design is still critical. Karl and Tony argue that when learning in 3-D fails, “the lack of learning in these instances is not a result of the VIE [virtual immersive environment]; rather it is a result of poor instructional design” (p. 204).
3-D virtual environments can be very different from the typical kinds of learning experiences most of us design. You might think that this means the instructional design skills are completely different, but this chapter explains how to modify the traditional ADDIE process. To me, this chapter feels like a guidebook that says, “Don’t worry; you don’t have to throw away everything you already know about designing learning, and your skills are still needed. Here’s how to use your expertise in this new environment, and here’s the new skills you’ll need to learn.”
This chapter outlines six design principles for virtual worlds (the notes are mine):
- Create the Right Context: Learning in 3-D requires design and planning in the environment and context in addition to designing the content.
- Create Specific Objectives, but Don’t Tell the Learner: You need objectives and goals, but don’t put up a big sign spelling them out in a formal way.
- Provide Minimal Guidelines: Karl and Tony explain it like this: “If you provide the right context and the right guidelines, people will learn from each other from the environment, and from the immersive experience.”
- Encourage Collaboration: Of course, collaboration isn’t exclusive to virtual worlds, but it is an important component here as well.
- Allow Opportunities to Demonstrate Learning: Take advantage of the ability to practice skills in the realistic environment a virtual world can provide.
- Build in Incentives: We can learn from game developers to provide incentives that keep learners motivated.
If you’re fortunate enough to be able to work on a 3-D learning project, the step-by-step design process is a good section to review before starting to plan. Unfortunately, I think Brent Schlenker is right that we’re still a few years away from this being mainstream.
What do you think? In a few years, when the rest of us get caught up to the organizations profiled in the case studies in this book, do you think we’ll still be talking about ADDIE and these design principles? Or am I being too pessimistic and we’re just on the cusp of a wave of 3-D learning so we’ll all be able to jump in and try it out these ideas ourselves?
Back to the topic of incentives…
Each week during the blog book tour, Karl and Tony are giving away a signed copy of their book to someone who tweeted using the #lrn3d hashtag. I am happy to announce the winners for weeks one and two.
- Week 1 winner: Paul Simbeck-Hampson, simbeckhampson (twitter ID). His blog is http://simbeckhampson.posterous.com/
- Week 2 winner: Barry Shields, barryshieldsnc (twitter ID). His blog is http://learnreflect.blogspot.com/
Congratulations Paul and Barry! Please email Karl (karlkapp AT gmail) with your physical address so they can send a signed book.
Remember that if you comment on every post in the tour that you will receive a white paper by Karl and Tony on virtual worlds and the technology hype cycle. So if you’re disappointed you didn’t win a book like Paul and Barry, start commenting!
Daily Bookmarks 01/20/2010
January 20, 2010-
YouTube – Inkscape-Screencast9 – Glass Button Effect Redux
Tutorial on how to create a glassy effect in Inkscape with gradients, an intersection shape for the highlight, and the dynamic offset. Includes explanations of why certain steps are done, especially when they aren’t obvious.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Daily Bookmarks 01/19/2010
January 18, 2010-
Computers are dumb – make smarter e-Learning « The Usable Learning Blog
Strategies for designing e-learning that lets learning be messy, more like the real world
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Basically, the revelation that I had was — I like right answers. I really like tidy right answers. I usually don’t ask learners questions that I don’t have a “right” answer or answers for. Even when the task is “authentic” and “embedded in context” I want there to be a right answer. And this is wrong.
Because what Dan Myer is teaching his students is how to approach problems that don’t have right answers, which is the way that most of the problems in the real world work. His students are learning to be okay with that, and how to ask good questions, and how approach those problems.
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Overcoming the Technology Resistance Movement — Inside the School
Strategies to deal with resistance to technology within education
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eLearning Certifications : eLearning Technology
List of online certificate and degree programs in e-learning
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Daily Bookmarks 01/15/2010
January 15, 2010-
Open for Learning: The CMS and the Open Learning Network | in education
Paper arguing that CMSs make online learning less effective. The authors propose an Open Learning Network as an alternative, a cross between the traditional CMS and a PLE.
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How to Participate in a Twitter Chat Event : Synapse3Di
Nice overview of how to follow a Twitter chat event like #lrnchat
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Daily Bookmarks 01/09/2010
January 9, 2010-
Inkscape Class Day 1 « Máirín Duffy
Middle school lesson for introducing Inkscape, the open source vector graphic program. Very cool project-based learning idea–students will create a logo, album artwork, poster, and tour T-shirt for a fictional band. This post is the first lesson; more updates are planned as the course progresses.
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Free white paper on learner-centered design, focusing on activities with intrinsic feedback rather than content-heavy presentation
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In other words, get the learner into a task quickly, and then provide content instruction through the feedback.
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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Daily Bookmarks 01/01/2010
January 1, 2010-
Site for the book “Learning in 3D” by Karl Kapp & Tony O’Driscoll
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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