Wk 4 Comment on Stacie Stoumbaugh's Udutu Project

I was very frustrated with Udutu in the beginning, simply because I was intimidated by the initial setup, but once I began working and creating the pages, I was impressed with the simplicity of the layout. I do wish there were more background and formatting options, so the pages did not look so generic, but overall that is just a design element. Because of time constraints, I wasn’t able to include as many scenarios as I would have liked, but I indubitably intend to return and add additional pages and scenarios. However, I am very happy with the overall feel and interactive nature of this lesson, and I believe it offers important information to young teens. I will be creating more lessons with Udutu in the future for my classroom. I believe my students would enjoy learning new content on this platform. I am also inspired to learn more about what I can do through our school’s Moodle account now.

@Stace
I am glad you were able to incorporate your videos into your Udutu project as I feel those are one of your strengths in this program. I liked the navigation as well and it is great that you took what we did in a previous class and made it something so worth while and needed. I too was frustrated with some of the options that were lacking but you overcame those to produce a nice final project.

Wk 4 Comment on Kathy Kellen's Udutu Project

Once I got going in Udutu, I found it to be user friendly for the most part. The best part for me was not having to configure action script and links of the pages. I was a bit frustrated by the lack of quality in my videos, as higher bandwith would not embed. Overall, though, I am very pleased with how the unit turned out, and look forward to creating more units for my students using Udutu!

@ Kathy
I feel the strongest part of your Udutu project apart from the quality of the material was the differentiated assessments sprinkled throughout the entire lesson. This really allowed the learner to judge their progress and if you scored it using SCORM it would be a great data gathering tool. Remember I am your business manager if you ever go public with this!

Wk 4 Comment on Abbie Toy's Udutu Project

I found Udutu to be difficult to navigate, which in turn made creating my lesson harder than I had planned. It took me several days to set up my account, read through tutorials on the program, and then get my lesson up and running. Even after creating my lesson for this class, I am still feeling a bit confused by the Udutu program. Although I understand the concept of Udutu, I feel like there are probably other programs that I could use in order to create interactive lessons for my students that would be easier and more time-effective.

@Abbie
I really liked how you incorporated the step by step process into your assessment tool at the end. To go along with your frustrating, one of the frustrating things I found with Udutu was the font size capabilities, or more precisely, the lack of capability. I went with the same font size you did and realized I had to shorten my sentences to make sure they would fit on one screen. I agree with you that this is something that has it uses but I will not be using it anytime soon again.

Wk 4 Project - Future Report

Pictures and screenshots courtesy of:

http://www.skillsoft.com/online/lms
http://moodle.org/
http://www.blackboard.com/
http://www.usmilitary.com/
http://oerconsortium.org/
http://www.oercommons.org/
http://www.hewlett.org/oer
http://creativecommons.org/tag/ahrash-bissell
www.office.microsoft.com

References

Anderson, T. (2008). OER’s & a good educational system. Retrieved July 9, 2010 from http://online.fullsail.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=assignment.main&itemId=194011

Bissell, A. (2007). Some guiding principles for legal and technical interoperability in OER. In Proceedings of Open Education 2007: Localizing and Learning. Logan, UT, 2007

Hewlett Foundation. (2006). The promise of open educational resources. Change 38(5), 8-17.

Music Produced in Garageband

Wk 4 Udutu Project

Here is the link to my Udutu Project.

http://lms.myudutu.com/LMSGadget/courses/lms/21483/Course39177/2293/v2010_7_31_15_25_52/course/Course39177.html


I took bits and pieces of the lesson I created for DAE and made it work for the Udutu format. I can see why Udutu would be a good way to implement classes easily into a LMS, however since I am adept at using Flash I feel that it better serves what I envision for future lessons.

Let me know what you think.

Wk 3 Comment on Kathy Kellen's Blog

Studying the trends that are listed in the article by Dr. Ian Gibson (2008), it is apparent that change is a given for education as we know it. In the not so distant future educators will look back on this point in time and see the existence of trends that were not even visualized. It is important as educators to make ourselves more aware of possible, and likely future developments in e-learning, and also dream of the developments we could envision.

@ Kathy
Who would of thought when I was playing Atari with my uncle that games would be seen as a possible future for education. The social aspect of gaming is underrated and you did a nice job of pulling from experts to back that claim up. Obviously change is a part of life and yet educators seem to distance themselves from embracing it. I know that gaming has been an eye opening experience for you and you are a better educator because of it. I challenge you to continue and make others aware so that we can get gaming mainstream in public education.

Wk 3 Comment on Joe Huber's Blog

When teachers are asked if they think that computers and LMS in the classroom will eventually replace them, it becomes a topic of debate. The weekly discussion posting on FSO for the month 10 LMO class yields results demonstrating that the majority of the participants believe that a teacher in the classroom will not be replaced.

@ Joe
After reading the discussion board and your blog I have to admit you present a well thought out argument backed by some serious experts (Nardi especially) about how the future might look with ITS leading the way. However I just can't get the scene from Wonka movie with Gene Wilder where the scientist is asking the computer where the golden tickets are and it responds with what would a computer do with a lifetime of chocolate. My point... computers are only as intelligent as we make them, and since we will never be able to duplicate the human brain, I feel that technology will never be able to replace the human condition.

Wk 3 Reading – LMS Choice/Procurement: How to Make Sure You Get What You Need

One of the most important decisions a company can make is when it decides what Learning Management System (LMS) or Learning Content Management System (LCMS) it will use. Once in place, the LMS or LCMS will store and deliver content that will be used to train employees and hopefully make the company more productive. So how does a company decide which system is best for them and their needs? Good question, let's look at some tips from those who have experience and/or expertise in the field of LMS procurement.

When it comes to selecting a LMS, Parkin (2005) suggests to "not think in terms of LMS functionality, but in terms of process: what do you want to do, who is going to do it, how is it going to work." One of the contributing "tipsters" in the e-Learning Guild's 382 Tips on the Selection of an LMS or LCMS (2007) suggests to determine what you want your LMS to do before searching for or selecting an LMS. After researching, and researching, and researching all of the company's needs, next is to develop a framework for evaluation of alternative systems. This is an important step, because it allows you to take control of the “demo process” and provides you with the right questions to ask. Approaching an evaluation framework can be as simple as taking a typical day in the life of a user and then have the vendors explain in detail how their LMS will offer a solution (Parkin, 2005). Overall the consensus was to make sure you do your homework before ever even thinking about looking for a vendor and start the buying process.

Once a company has a detailed outline of what they want the LMS to do, another step in the process would be to set up a Request for Proposal (RFP). Basically the function of an RFP is to garner bids from prospective vendors that allows them to pitch their products to the company who is looking for a LMS. Mhay and Calum (2008) state effective RFPs typically reflect the strategy and short/long-term business objectives, providing detailed insight upon which suppliers will be able to offer a matching perspective. Succinctly put, a company will decide which system will work the best for their needs.

These are only two small steps in a lengthy and complicated process of choosing the correct LMS/LCMS for your company. The main point I came away with from the readings was that there is no such thing as to much research and to quote Parkin (2005 again, "[do] not allow the LMS to define your learning processes, nor to make its selection the starting point of your strategy development, nor to assume that any LMS is adequate to manage the totality of the learning that might take place." INn other words, technology is great when it is used by the right people, in the right context, and with the correct system in place.


e-Learning Guild's 382 Tips on the Selection of an LMS or LCMS. (2007).

Mhay, S. & Calum, C. (2008). Request for… procurement processes (RFT RFQ RFP
RFI). Retrieved July 24, 2010 from http://www.negotiations.com/articles/
procurement-terms/

Parkin, G. (2005). The LMS selection process in a nutshell. Retrieved July 24, 2010
from http://parkinslot.blogspot.com/2005/04/lms-selection-process-in-nutshell.html

Wk 2 Project - Udutu Setup

Name: McSherry, Drew

Prior Project Selected: How to Make the Best Sandwich Known to Man

EMDT Course Created In: DAE March 2010

I think the Simple Conditional scenario will work best for this lesson because in order to move on in the Flash you have to be able to answer the question. There will be three basic lessons after I tweak the material so I feel that it fits perfectly with the Simple Conditional scenario.

URL Where Pre-Udutu Lessons Can be Found: http://web.me.com/drewmcsherry/Flash/Drew_McSherry_DAE_application3complete.html

Wk 2 Comment on Sarah Hodge's Blog

Learning Content Management Systems

The different purposes of the systems can help provide the necessary factors for success. It is first important to understand the functions and purposes of such systems. The focus of this blog entry is to provide a detailed explanation of a LCMS (Learning Content Management System) and its purpose.


@ Sarah
You hit the nail on the head when you quoted how its easy to get caught up in the technology but that training's true goal is to provide learning to a certain population. I have found that corporations tend to forget this goal and focus on the bottom line factor more so than the learning factor. Perhaps LCMS are a way for them to do both since they cost less than a CMS and still are able to deliver the content they need.

Wk 2 Comment on Stacie Stoumbaugh's Blog

What do CMS/LMS Cost:
Maybe we’re assessing the overall costs incorrectly?

After reading Carmean and Brown’s (2005) article, “Measure for Measure: Assessing course management systems” in last week’s reading, I was intrigued with the overall cost breakdown and effectiveness of Course Management Systems (CMSs) and Learning Management Systems (LMSs). Carmean and Brown weigh the overall cost and effectiveness of active learning through a CMS platform; questioning a CMSs ability to improve pedagogical structure and delivery while providing an active learning environment. They argue that large corporations or institutions would not invest in such a large and costly system without verification and evidence of its overall benefit to the bottom line of the institution. They evaluate the effectiveness of the CMS based on a Return of Investment (ROI) philosophy, which may work in a corporate setting, but is ineffective in the educational setting. The actual use of a CMS or LMS is to provide support to the active learning environment, not create actual pedagogical philosophies. In the article, “Course Management Systems versus Learning Management Systems,” Carliner states:


@ Stace
I thought the most important part of your blog this time was the finding of the Blackboard article on measuring the impact without using ROI. Now that I have had a taste of the corporate world for almost a year, I had no idea how important ROI was and more so how organizations actually base all their decisions on it. Obviously with learning it is difficult to quantify that with dollars and cents so it was nice to see a different approach. You did a great job of combining the three articles with your own thoughts and I appreciate how succinct you summarize

Wk 2 Reading - LCMS Systems: Differences Make it Stronger

If you have read my previous post on the making sense of jumbled letters, then you are familiar with the different type of management systems. If you haven't read it: stop reading this one, go back and read it, and then come back and pick this one up...

RIGHT HERE

So now that you have definitely versed on CMS, LMS, and the like, lets dig a little deeper into Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) and what makes them a strong player in the evolving world of management systems.

Delivery of learning through an LCMS begins with a pre-assessment that focuses on content. Based on the learner's profile, the system finds content from where the data is stored to either individual content chunks (Singh, 2000). Since these individual content chunks, known more commonly as Reuseable Learning Obects (RLO), can be mixed and matched to create larger personalized instruction they provide a better way to match and create personalized articles (Nichani, 2001). While Course Management Systems (CMS) are designed with the course in mind, LCMS concentrate on content. This focus on "content and the object paradigm, allows for a wide variety of strategies other than just traditional course delivery" (McGee, 2005, p. 211). Another advantage of LCMS versus CMS or Learning Management Systems (LMS) is that they are simpler to conceptualize and function compared to other management systems and typically are a fraction of the cost (McGee, 2009).

Perry (2009) breaks down some other primary benefits of LCMS that include:

Increased efficiency – ability to search the database for like content

Reusing content – central repository for storing our training. Having a storehouse of content that we could edit and reuse for different purposes helped us vastly improve the speed with which we developed training on our products.”

Reducing training time – Dynamically delivering personalized content, such as prescriptive learning programs, to provide customized training and reduce overall training time

Meeting compliance – Delivering regulatory content online, while strictly controlling versions and accounting for changes over time.

Delivering learning on demand – Organize content into smaller pieces and enable search and delivery as needed to meet the demand for just-in-time content.

With all of these advantages, it seems like LCMS have the all the answers when it comes to management systems. However, the LCMS are only as successful as the people and companies that understand the skill sets within their organizations. Success relies largely on effective development and use of RLO, and adapting to fit a learner's personal profile not just be delivery mode but learning styles (Singh, 2000). The best way to sum up all the advantages LCMS brings is that "learners not only get the instruction when they desire, but they also get only that portion of the instruction that they desire (Nichani, 2001, para. 12).



McGee, P., Carmean, C., & Jafari, A. (2005). Course management systems for learning: beyond accidental pedagogy. Hershey, PA: Information science publishing.

Nichani, M. (2001). LCMS = LMS + CMS [RLOs]. Retrieved on July 16, 2010 from http://www.elearningpost.com/articles/archives/lcms_lms_cms_rlos/

Perry, B. (2009). Training professionals gain agility and power from LCMS technology. Retrieved on July 16, 2010 from http://www.astd.org/lc/2009/0309_perry.html

Singh, H. (2000). Achieving interoperability in e-learning. Retrieved on July 16, 2010 from http://web.archive.org/web/20031204103410/www.learningcircuits.org/
mar2000/singh.html

Wk 1 Project - LMO Overview: Making Sense of Jumbled Letters

There are few things as frustrating as trying to have a conversation with someone who insists on using acronyms which are unfamiliar to you. So when Dr. Gibson starting firing out CMS, LMS, RLO and the like, I could start to feel the blood pressure rise just a little. However, after viewing his videos, reading articles, and researching on my own, I believe I can begin to call myself a "toddler expert" in the field of "LMAs" (Learning Management Acronyms). The first few paragraphs will be summarizing the Learning Platform Terminology Mindmap videos created by Dr. Ian Gibson and then I will bring in some findings and predictions of my own about the future of management systems.

Within the educational realm, Course Management Systems (CMS) are the preferred way to manage courses/classes. CMS allow facilitators to deliver materials, place assignments, and the ability for students to turn in assignments and are perfect for monthly terms or semesters because they function very well in a cyclical setting. Full Sail Online (FSO) is an example of a CMS and is instrumental to the success of the program's participants. Current trends in CMS include an increase in the administrative functions with an even greater emphasis on program compliance and accreditation.

Learning Management Systems (LMS) are used in the corporate setting and differ from their educational sibling by curtailing the system to small groups and/or individual learners. Since businesses and corporations include many workers with varied skills, LMS allow for specific trainings to occur. Instead of setting up a cycle of core classes that everyone takes like a CMS, an LMS designs trainings that would benefit a group of workers with similar skills.

Apart yet not not completely separate from the education and corporate fields is where Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) reside. These were originally designed for the military and have been used extensively by all branches for large scale trainings. LCMS are a perfect fit for the military because it uses Re-useable Learning Objects (RLO) which takes information and puts it into bite sized chunks to be reused over and over again. There is usually only one fastest way to take apart a M-16 and an RLO can describe that to every single soldier who needs to know how to operate it quickly and efficiently.

Recently there have been ways in which all three of the aforementioned management systems have crossed over into different sections however I believe the future does not reside in how we will come up different ways to use the same systems, but how Open Education Resources (OER) and Personal Learning Environments (PLE) will develop into the new wave of learning.

OER is the idea that the world's knowledge is a public good and the World Wide Web allows the opportunity for everyone to share use and reuse that knowledge (Hewlett, 2006). One of the benefits of OER is that they are open for editing, customizing, reformatting, and complete transformation depending on the learner and subject (Anderson. 2008). Ahrash Bissell, director of the ccLearn initiative of Creative Commons describes the effort this way:
“Open Educational Resources (OER) represents the efforts of a worldwide community, empowered by the Internet, to help equalize the access to knowledge and educational opportunities throughout the world. They are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual-property license that permits their free use or customization by others. It is the granting of freedoms to share, reprint, translate, combine, or adapt that makes them educationally different from those that can merely be read online for free (Bissell, 2007).

So now there is a new wave of learning, a more personal way that allows for self discovery through research that is more in-tune with the way the world is growing. I see a future where anyone can take the vast amount of information available for free on the World Wide Web, allow their teachers to become "guides on the side" to help the participants learn how to recognize valid and reliable sources, and then let their creativity run wild while researching experts and collaborating with peers through blogs and projects. All while crossing borders, customs, races. and cultural mores that perhaps would interfere with learning if it were presented in a traditional setting. I believe this to a be a plausible future for management systems and I look forward to being part of the new wave.

Anderson, T. (2008). OER’s & a good educational system. Retrieved July 9, 2010 from http://online.fullsail.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=assignment.main&itemId=194011

Bissell, A. (2007). Some guiding principles for legal and technical interoperability in OER. In Proceedings of Open Education 2007: Localizing and Learning. Logan, UT, 2007.

Gibson, I. LMO moment: Learning platform terminology mindmap. Retrieved July 5, 2010 from http://online.fullsail.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=assignment.main&itemId=194011 and EDM641LMO_LMS Terminology Mindjet Mind Manager

Hewlett Foundation. (2006). The promise of open educational resources. Change 38(5), 8-17.

Wk 1 Comment on Abbie Toy's Post

One aspect of online learning that has been a difficult transition for me is academic writing. I chose to do a blog post about the process and purpose of academic writing because it is something that challenges and intrigues me. There are some major differences between the writing taught in high school and the writing expected at the college-level. Gocsik (2005) defines academic writing as "moving beyond what you know about a topic and beginning to consider what you think." A few ways in which academic writing is different from all other types of writing is that it is writing done by a scholar for scholars and the academic community. Instead of being personal, it leans more toward analytical. When I write it is very hard for me to not include my personal opinions. I think this was the hardest transition for me when I began writing on an academic level. The Dartmouth Writing Program (Gocsik, 2005) suggests picking an audience, taking a stance, and being confident in what you are writing. Topics need to be provocative, startling, controversial, or fresh! If you aren't interested in what you are writing; no one else will be interested enough to read it!

No wonder I'm struggling with academic writing - in the article "Demystifying Academic Writing: Reflections on Emotions , Know-How, and Academic Identity, the authors outline some of the challenges of writing as being self-doubt, creating ideas, doubt of relevance, lack of skills, and fear of critique (Cameron, J., Nairn, K., & Higgins, J., 2009)! That is only a few of the examples of why it is hard for people to start writing! I know that I struggle with most of these challenges. These authors also note that "developing an identity and voice as an academic writer results from the process of coming to terms with writing emotions and developing procedural and technical writing know-how."

Often students are thrown into academic situations where they have to write scholarly papers, and are never formerly taught the proper format. More focus needs to be placed on instruction of academic writing and research. One group of people are developing an idea that could change the way academic writing is taught - it is called writing consultations (Murray, R., Thow, M., Moore, S., & Murphy, M., 2008). A writing consultation takes place between two academic writers placed together to help improve writing practices. The partners will take turns being the writer or the consultant. The consultant leads the writer through six steps while filling out a template to keep notes. After filling out the template, they switch places and work on the other person's writing. The process is meant to change writing behavior. I think this is a wonderful idea, because it is always easier to bounce ideas off of someone else and share different expertise. I hope that more online learning environments think about using this process when students are presented with big academic writing assignments. I would not have felt so overwhelmed and alone during the writing process if I could have been paired up with another classmate to do a writing consultation!

@ Abbie
You have done a great job taking information and your personal experiences and blending the two to create a meaningful post. I like the idea you found about the writing consultations and it would also help solidify the notion that if you can teach it, then you really know it. I realize how difficult it can be to take the "personal" out of your writing but these tools you have mentioned should help anyone, even me.

Wk 1 Comment on Kathy Kellen's Post

Dartmouth Writing Program Materials for Students:
What is Academic Writing? Tips For Transitioning Writers

In her article “What Is An Academic Paper?” Karen Gocsik (2004) addresses how writing in college differs from that in high school. She clearly defines “academic writing” as writing that is done by scholars for other scholars, such that addresses topics that the academic community is interested in, and presents the reader with an informed argument. Writers of the NACTA Journal article “Teaching Tips/Notes” explain that
Using the professional/ technical style would demonstrate that
the student not only has studied and understands the material
well but also has organized his/or her thoughts using the
professional style common for that field of study and has
therefore moved to a higher level of organization. (2010).

Moving from personal response to analytical writing can present a challenge. An academic writer must show that the associations, reactions, and how the text has been experienced, are written with an analytical frame of reference instead of a personal one. Points to remember are to summarize, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize. “When you analyze, you break the text into its parts. When you synthesize, you look for connections between ideas.” (Gocsik, 2004 p.18)
In depth research is necessary for both the development of arguments and the creation of an original piece of writing. This will avoid repetitive content and clichés. The use of secondary sources supports conclusions. (Przybyla, 2009 p.4).

Questions are a vital component to the academic writer. Gocsik’s article lists questions to be asked at every stage of the writing process, which can help the writer to focus in on the topic, the target audience, and the appropriate structure. It also lists helpful tips for writers either new to, or long distanced from academic writing.

@ Kathy
The quote you pulled stating how "the student not only has studied and understands the material well but also has organized his/her thoughts" is perfect for this reading. I also feel one of the most important aspects of academic writing is the amount of organization shown within the writing. The idea of questions being a "vital component" is true in writing just as I have noticed it is with our Action Research Projects. Nice job using the skills mentioned above to produce a quality summary.

Wk 1 Reading - The History of VLEs: From PLATO to WIMBA

According to the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) a virtual learning environment (VLE) “refers to the components in which learners and tutors participate in online interactions of various kinds including online learning” (Introducing, 2010, para. 1). Although there are examples of distance learning dating back centuries earlier, by definition, VLEs did not actually exist until the 1960’s when the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaigne developed a system called the Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations (PLATO). The PLATO system included platforms that allowed students to study assigned lessons and communicate with teachers through online notes. It also included the ability to allow instructors to evaluate student progress as well as communicate and take lessons themselves (Davis, 1980).

The success of Plato and the continued advancement of technology motivated others to expand the horizons of VLEs. In 1972, the Learning Research Group out of Xerox Parc in Palo Alto, California began advancing the ideas and workable applications for graphical user interfaces (GUI) by inventing folders, icons for menus, and overlapping windows (Kay, 1993). Alan Kay and his Xerox group came up with a product they named “KiddiKomputer” that was capable of teaching thinking skills and modeling through simulation (Kay, 1993).

The 1980’s brought in even more advances in email, personal computers, and software that increased VLEs availability but it wasn’t until the 1990’s with the arrival of the World Wide Web (www) that they became viable. One of the most important developments was by Murray Goldberg who started working on WebCT, which eventually was used by over 10 million students in 80 countries (UBC, 2004). A highlight from the 2000’s included the development of a platform in 2001 that includes presentation and audio beaming to student laptops, student note taking, student polling, student questions, control of student applications, recording of entire lecture experience for archiving, searching and later replay … you might know it as Wimba. (I got the last few tidbits from Wikipedia and couldn't for the life of me find out where they got the information so I would love for someone to let me know so I could site it correctly, thanks)

Motivating factors that went into the development of VLEs are as different as night and day. For some, it was to create a way to teach people across great distances to increase knowledge. Others wanted to create machines to replace human thinking, as was the case in 1962 with Douglas Englebart and his paper proposing using computers to augment human abilities (Englebart, 2004). For most, it was a way to use computers to help facilitate learning by breaking down the barriers of time and location by using better and better combinations of soft and hardware. Is it a perfect system? Not yet. However, by researching the history of VLEs, the motivating factors, and the amount of progress that has been made just in the past decade, I can see how this type of education will be something to reckon with in the decades to come.


References

Davis, C.R. (1980). Fundamentals of PLATO programming. Computer-
based Education Research Laboratory, University of Illinois. Urbana, Illinois.

Englebart, D. (2004). Augmenting society’s collective I.Q.
Retrieved from http://www.dougengelbart.org/about/vision-highlights.html

Introducing managed learning environments (MLEs). (2010).
Retrieved from http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/
buildmlehefe/lifelonglearning/mlebriefingpack.aspx

Kay, A.C. (1993). The early history of smalltalk. Retrieved
from http://gagne.homedns.org/~tgagne/contrib/EarlyHistoryST.html

UBC computer scientist wins $100,000 award for popular course
software. (2004). Retrieved from http://www.e-strategy .ubc.ca/news/update0409/040929-goldberg.html