TechLearnology

Using Cartoons To Teach - A Novel Concept In 1948

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 16:24:00 +0000

A friend brought this cartoon to my attention to start a discourse of the content of this short vignette. However, what I find interesting (aside from the content) is that the designers had a good grasp of basic adult learning theory. The obvious goal is informational, not action-based. This isn't on the job training, but rather, basic American 'propaganda'. If you are an American, the ideals brought forth in the cartoon, espouse what the United States has been founded upon for generations. This is a great little cartoon short. I highly recommend it.

HTC Desire Wifi Security Issues

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 04:20:00 +0000

Are you aware of the HTC Desire Wifi security issues? Do you plan to use wifi on the HTC Desire? If so, you may need to pay attention to what I've learned the hard way with this sleek new Android OS phone.

Summary: the HTC Desire will not work correctly with a wifi network that has WEP (or WPA) security enabled.

Like many US Cellular customers, I took advantage of the great bargains they were offering for the holiday season this year, and I decided to upgrade from the Blackberry Curve 8530 to the Android operating system on the popular HTC Desire phone.

The HTC Desire and the new Samsung Mesmerize from US Cellular helped me to overcome my iPhone envy! These two Android-based phones are as beautiful and sleek and fun as any iPhone - and they run on the new Android OS which is an open-source based operating system founded upon the Linux kernel. If you are geeky enough to understand what all that means, then you'd better keep reading to learn about the wifi execution on the HTC Desire phone.

As you may well know, smartphones as well as laptops, netbooks, PC's and all other 'modern' devices are a marriage of both hardware and software. Both parts need to work well separately as well as synergistically. Google's new Android operating system for smart phones has been something I've watched over the years with interest because of how they planned to deploy their operating system to handle all the multitude of hardware choices available. After version 2.1 of their OS was released I began to believe Google had worked out all the bugs in their programming. But have they?

It turns out there is a major issue with how some phones handle wifi. But upon further research I learned it is not a flaw with Google's Android OS. Neither is it US Cellular's issue either. Nope. The culprit is the phone manufacturer. In this case, HTC, the maker of the Desire phone (and several other popular phones - including Google's very own 'Nexus One' phone!), has an issue with how they deployed their wifi capability on the HTC Desire phone.

The bottom line is this: if you have an HTC Desire phone and you plan to use wifi on your phone to connect with a secure wifi network using WEP security, then you are out of luck! The sales rep at my local US Cellular (who is obviously NOT a geek, nor concerned with security) said, "just turn off your security on your wifi - that's what I do." When I called US Cellular tech support, the friendly support person basically said the same, but at least he understood the implications of running an open wifi network and agreed that wasn't a good thing to do.

Next I contacted the manufacturer via email. HTC's tech support had this to say to me...

Unfortunately, when the security is on with your router our HTC devices cannot detect the router. This is what causes the issue with your Desire not connecting like it does when your security is turned off on your router. i apologize for this inconvenience, but at this time this is how the WiFi connection works on the HTC devices.

Did you catch that? Go back and read it again if you need to. HTC says that their devices cannot deter wifi routers with security enabled on them! Huh?! ALL HTC devices cannot detect wifi networks with security enabled? That does not compute.

Back to iPhone envy for me. At least the iPhones can connect to basically any type of network. HTC needs to go back to the drawing board and figure out that wifi security is much more important than they currently think it is.

The future is wireless, whether on 4G networks (which are NOT available for US Cellular customers like me), or on WiFi networks. The devices which will thrive in the future must be able to handle all types of networks, especially secured networks. For HTC to overlook this is a sign of ignorance. C'mon HTC - get with the times will ya?!

Overcoming Death By PowerPoint (CLO Media)

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:10:00 +0000

If you haven't heard of Death By Powerpoint, you probably shouldn't be doing any type of Instructional Design using Powerpoint!!

http://bit.ly/2cn3D

The Font Conference

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 15:05:00 +0000

If you haven't seen this hilarious video about the conference of fonts... you simply must!

http://bit.ly/6qiwU

Text With Audio In Your Presentations?

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 03:41:00 +0000

The debate has been going on for some time whether or not there truly are different "learning" styles. Then we went on to debate whether or not we should include text on screen with our audio: some say its distracting for the so-called auditory learners. I say text with audio is the right thing to do - if done right!

Jim Henson "got it". Watch this very old clip of Kermit the Frog and see what I mean.

MoodleMoot Oklahoma

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:19:00 +0000

I didn't get to attend MoodleMoot Oklahoma, but it looks like I really missed out on some good learning for myself and my organization. Thankfully some of the learning is still available as an archive, minus the human interaction that occurs at an event like this (which is where the real benefit is, in my opinion).

Activating Change Webinar

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:15:00 +0000

I attended this webinar back in June, 2008. Some interesting points about managing change in an organization. Of course they're trying to sell stuff as almost all webinars do, but there is still some good information contained in it.

» Here’s Why Unlocking Your Course Navigation Will Create Better Learning The Rapid eLearning Blog

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:48:00 +0000

» Here’s Why Unlocking Your Course Navigation Will Create Better Learning The Rapid eLearning Blog:

Most of our corporate compliance training rules are very loosely defined and vague - on purpose, giving us room for interpretation and implementation. A simple example is rules about HIPAA and data security/passwords. Ask 50 different hospitals what that means and how they implement it, and you’ll get 50 different answers.

Does this type of training have to be as boring and wasteful (of time) as it currently is in most organizations? NO! We can do better. One simple method is to allow your users to “test out” of the courses.

We are required to have annual “training” on certain core topics for compliance reasons. We allow users to go straight to the test. If they pass, there’s no need to force them to view the course at all. We are working on re-doing the course navigation to allow users to go to the sections where they are weak (I hope to automate this process).

One reason trainers and educators get a bad rap is that we waste people’s time - a lot! (Think about your most boring college professor who loved to lecture on and on about something you cared nothing for, but you were required to take the course! He probably felt very powerful preaching to his captive audience. Remember how you wanted to skip that class each week?)

We do it because it meets our need for power. “You absolutely MUST view every single slide and read every single paragraph and diagram, because I say so and ‘the law requires it.’”

Yeah right! We use that as an excuse to meet our own power agenda. If we align ourselves with the organization’s business goals we will see that many of our courses can become much more “Lean” (ever heard of Lean Management?) - including our statutory or compliance courses!

» The 3 Essential Questions Every Learner Wants Answered The Rapid eLearning Blog

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:48:00 +0000

» The 3 Essential Questions Every Learner Wants Answered The Rapid eLearning Blog

Another great blog from Tom Kuhlman at Articulate. My comments are quoted here:

... I almost always start with question #3: how will I prove what I know? This was one of the important points taught to me during my BS.Ed. courses on creating Evaluations and Assessments. It’s a Covey-ism “begin with the end in mind.” My dad called it “thinking like an engineer.” Bottom line: start with how you will assess the learning, then work backwards from there to design learning objectives which will allow the student to pass the assessment. Its a simple concept that can accommodate very complex learning situations.

Of course, good instructional design really doesn’t start with the assessment. It starts much earlier defining learning goals and aligning them with business goals, etc. But, assuming those are done and out of the way… when the rubber meets the road - you start with the assessment. Then you create multiple learning activities designed to help the student pass the assessment. This is, in a nutshell: Mastery Learning.

For corporate elearning, it's all about Mastery Learning, right? When would it not be about Mastery Learning? The only time I can think of is when one must comply with some statutory regulations which require an organization to document a certain amount of training annually or periodically. In those cases, just make the assessment the first thing you do in the course. If you fail the initial assessment, then you must take the course and complete a final assessment.

Official Google Blog: Google Calendar Sync

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:02:00 +0000

Official Google Blog: Google Calendar Sync
Though this application has been out since March 2008, I've only just downloaded and installed this app (its the middle of August 2008).

First Thoughts
My initial reaction was: "Great! Now I can finally have my Outlook calendar events from work show up on my Google calendar on my laptop, and I can manipulate my work calendar from my Google calendar. Woo hoo!"

This is still an early application so its functionality is limited to syncing only your primary Google calendar with your Outlook calendar. If you're like me, you have a few secondary and even tertiary calendars in Google. None of those events will sync - yet. I hope the creators at Google are working on a fix for that. But, even still this application is helpful and welcome!

Install: easy, Options: few
After the initial download and install (quick and painless), then you can select your sync options (2-way, or 1-way), as well as the sync frequencies (1o min. minimum, 120 min. avg.). I thought I'd choose 30 minutes as my sync frequency.

Then I performed the initial sync and waited... and waited... and waited as Google synced all of my Outlook calendar events to my Google calendar. (Note: if you have a lot of Outlook events like I do, then this will take a little while and may drive you crazy! My iPAQ using Active Sync allows me to choose between "all", 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 or 6 months - this would be a welcome upgrade for Google to implement!).

Sync: All events, Every time
Next, I put a test calendar event on my Google calendar and performed another sync. And waited... and waited... again. Here's when I learned that this Google application will sync all your Outlook events every time it syncs. (Note to Google creators: updating only changed or new events would be much better!)

I decided to change my sync frequency option back to the default of 120 minutes since it takes so long to sync (because I have so many Outlook events).

Conclusion
I'm certainly happy that this Google app is now live. I have some suggestions for improvement, but I'm not complaining! Finally, my calendars have a chance to be unified. Thanks Google creators!

Web 2.0 Platforms Keep Growing... and Growing...

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:15:00 +0000

I first used web 2.0 technology in 2002 when I setup my very own Mambo server as a school technology coordinator. I wanted to create an online community for my students to interact within as well as to for technology lessons and to communicate with parents and the community. My students took to it like ducks to water. And I realized that something really big was brewing here because I didn't understand one bit of PHP, yet I administered this server and this website and it was easy and powerful!

Since then I've used Joomla and Drupal and enjoy both platforms. I've also deployed WordPress, TWiki and MoinMoin servers at my organization. I administer an internal Moodle server. I dabble with Elgg and Jabber. I do this so I can keep updated on the newest web 2.0 technologies. I still don't know any PHP. (Crazy, right?)

At home, I use Blogger.com because it integrates easily with my Google lifestyle, but I'm seriously considering using WordPress. Blogger just doesn't seem to have the feature set that WP has and it doesn't seem to have the community support that WP has. Plus it seems so much easier to tweak the themes or templates or whatever you wish to call it - in WordPress.

I know Blogger will grow and feature sets will be updated. But I can't wait that long! I need to do some things with a web publishing platform that I believe only WordPress can do. Sorry Blogger. (that doesn't mean I'll quit blogger here - but I will start another blog using WP).

The Power of Diversity: Engaging a Multi-Generational Workforce

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:30:00 +0000

TrainingIndustry.com_7 :: The Power of Diversity: Engaging a Multi-Generational Workforce I missed the webinar, but here is a link to the archive of it. It is a sales pitch for Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro, but there are always a few nuggets worth keeping from most of these sales webinars.

Chief Learning Officer - August 2008

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:48:00 +0000

Chief Learning Officer - August 2008
The August 2008 online edition of CLO.

My Moodle Mindomo Mind Map

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:16:00 +0000

I created a Mindmap on Mindomo.com for Moodle and haven't done much with it. But I will add stuff to it as I learn things about certain topics. I think this thing would be much more powerful if all the Moodlers on Moodle.org would join and collaborate on this. Please contact me so I can send an invite to you, if you want to collaborate.

My Moodle Mindmap on Mindomo.com

Another Excellent Production From The Common Craft Show

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:38:00 +0000

Required Reading for Training Managers : eLearning Technology

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:03:00 +0000

Required Reading for Training Managers : eLearning Technology

Clive on Learning: Moomis

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:34:00 +0000

Clive on Learning: Moomis

Metcalfe's Law is Wrong

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:09:00 +0000

Ooooh! Good point from gsiemens about Metcalfe's Law. It's not that the law is wrong, just needs a bit of process improvement. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Sent to you by everdream via Google Reader:

Metcalfe's Law is Wrong

via elearnspace by gsiemens on 7/28/08

We eagerly fall over ourselves trying to advocate for networks. The internet. The web. Personal learning networks. Some have even suggested connectivism. Networks, as a concept, is so easy to comprehend that we use the term in advanced ways without paying much attention to what we mean. Or, more specifically, we often don't consider the nature of different types of networks. What are the attributes of learning networks? What influences network formation? How are network elements (in learning) different when we achieve deep understanding of a subject versus when we have only a shallow understanding? Judging from the focus of several recent editions of educational journals, it looks like educators are waking up to the importance of greater precision in the discussion of networks. Metcalfe's Law is Wrong provides a critical exploration of one of the foundational aspects of network theory. Metcalfe's Law states that the value of a network is related to the number of users. The article acknowledges the mathematical validity of Metcalfe's law, but highlights a critical flaw: "the assignment of equal value to all connections or all groups." All nodes are equal, but some are more equal than others.

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Moomis

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:57:00 +0000

Just read this from Clive and wanted to repost it here.

Sent to you by everdream via Google Reader:

Moomis

via Clive on Learning by clives@fastrak-consulting.co.uk (Clive Shepherd) on 7/28/08

As someone who uses Moodle as a tool to support blended learning projects for several of my corporate clients, I was interested to hear Mark Tointon's speak at the recent eLearning Network showcase about some new add-ons for Moodle which are specifically designed to support corporate use of the tool. As Mark explained, there are good reasons why Moodle has a hard job reaching out to corporate users:

the mortorboard logo
the naive font
the friendly name
its origins in academia
the fact that it is free!

These problems of perception can be overcome, but corporates may still be frustrated that, although Moodle is an excellent course delivery tool, it was never designed to tackle the sorts of problems that many corporates face, and which generally lead them to a conventional learning management system.

Mark's company, Aardpress, could have regarded this as an opportunity to create and sell expensive add-on functionality for Moodle. But luckily they didn't, deciding instead to contribute their own tools to the open source Moodle toolkit.

Moomis, their Modular Object-Orientated Management Information System would you believe, adds all sorts of corporate LMS-type functionality, in the form of simple Moodle blocks:

A groups function which allows administrators to allocate any number of users to any number of different groups and designate any number of managers to each group. Once users are allocated to groups, administrators and managers can use the Report Creator to obtain management information for those groups including courses completed, quiz scores, levels of access and Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
CPD hours/points are added automatically to users' records for any e-learning courses they complete. Furthermore, users can add CPD accrued from other events to their own records as required.
Administrators and managers have access to smart communication tools, which comprise an email module to enable emails to be sent to specific users or any group of users and a simple 'digital Post-It note' module enabling messages to be posted to individuals or specific groups of users.
Businesses can use the Competency Manager to assess and track levels of competence and then use the Performance Manager to set and assess personal objectives for each employee that reflect whole business objectives.
The Events Manager can be used to create 'real world' events (face-to-face) that can be allocated to users either as standalone events, linked to competencies or linked to personal objectives.

I expect Aardpress hope to benefit by providing supporting services and good luck to them in that. From my point of view this is yet more great functionality that neither I, nor my clients, will have to pay for.

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Webinar: Better Business Results With Performance-Based Learning

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:54:00 +0000

I attended this webinar and found parts of it interesting and worth listening to, while other parts were rather bland and old hat.

Chief Learning Officer Executive Briefings eNewsletter

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:06:00 +0000

Survery Reveals Job Happiness Related to 5 Effectiveness Skills:
Chief Learning Officer magazine's website has a brief article about referencing MindTools.com's whitepapers. The article is worth reading and the whitepaper has some interesting information.

The ROI of Reusable Content
Good point from CLO: reusable XML content. I better learn some more about XML content and the tools to work with for mastering it. I read a blog here that started me thinking about the possibilities.

Periodic Table of Videos

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 04:04:00 +0000

You've gotta check out this website: http://periodicvideos.com/

Free Audio Loops and Samples

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:17:00 +0000

Here is a list of websites I keep in my Google bookmarks for free audio loops and samples. There are of course many more sites available than these, but these are the ones I like to use. If you want me to add more to this post, comment on it and give me your sites. Thanks!

Those are the ones I use regularly. Enjoy.

Cathy Moore: Dump The Drone!

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:05:00 +0000

Another great presentation from Cathy Moore. A must read.

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CLO Magazine: Transform Corporate Learning With a User Network

noreply@blogger.com (everdream) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:49:00 +0000

Chief Learning Officer has an article about corporate learning and user networks. Its really nothing new or revolutionary for those who have been following this stuff for years. Magazines have to put something in their pipeline, even if its mostly "fluff". However, I'm sure someone will read this article and learn something new; perhaps someone who is new to the field of Education or corporate training, etc. It's not a bad article at all; just not teaching us anything new.

The one thing that stood out to me was the example of "Dan" going from poor student to community college professor with a Master's degree. I think the example doesn't illustrate Gardner's multiple intelligences as much as it illustrates Madeline Hunter's instructional model: anticipatory set.