Tech4learning

Flocking to TeemingPod

Since I started this blog, I've twice mentioned the Web 2.0 add-on tool, FlockPod.  Now it seems it's grown again and transformed itself into TeemingPod. 

Expressed simply, this software enables you to put a collaborative space onto any webpage.  In the TeemingPod you can ask polling questions, carry on threaded discussions, ask and answer questions and show links and search terms (so-called tag clouds).

This demo provides a good overview.

As before, where you have web-content that could be turned into a learning activity through involving learners with it, TeemingPod offers an easy way to get started with collaborative learning.

Articulate 2009

As a previous user of the Articulate Studio suite of rapid e-learning tools, I was delighted to see that they've just launched an upgraded version.  For me - and countless other of their "fans" - this tool has always been simple to use and can quickly transform a PowerPoint slideshow into a piece of effective e-learning.

With hindsight now - and with reference to the wealth of new features just added - it could be said that the previous version stopped just short of being able to emulate other rapid e-learning tools, especially those that didn't require a PowerPoint file as the starting point.

To a large degree this limitation has been removed with a host of new capabilities, including:

• The ability to add on-screen annotations outside of any already built into the PowerPoint slides
• The option to create branching scenarios, so popular in e-learning courses and a standard feature of many of the competitor authoring tools
• Cleaner imported images
• A complete overhaul of the quiz authoring tool, bringing much more sophisticated testing options
• Greater opportunities to create simulations with enhancements to the Engage interactivity-creation tool

One of the most interesting and valuable new additions to the suite is the Video Encoder program, which - from experience - will save many hours converting video clips from other formats into the FLV format required by the software.

I was also very excited to see a move into the m-learning space, with the option to publish your content for viewing on Flash Lite 3 enabled phones, although the availability of these is probably too limited to offer a viable delivery platform for the time being.  Staying with m-learning, it's also now possible to export the narration track to an MP3 format for use in a podcast.

Behind the scenes for authors there are many more time-saving features and a tightening up of the user interface.

Overall, what was already a leading rapid e-learning authoring tool has nudged itself forward up the league tables and still represents an excellent all-round tool.

Portable PowerPoint

In previous postings about m-learning, I've sometimes mentioned a sales training solution I have seen that was delivered via an iPod.  And I've also posted a few times on the subject of rapid e-learning, the most popular form of this being the conversion of an existing PowerPoint slideshow into a piece of web-based e-learning.

A comment on my last posting about m-learning got me thinking about how a narrated PowerPoint presentation could find its way onto an iPod.  Logically I knew this to be possible, but whilst looking around to confirm a couple of the questions I had, I discovered that a self-contained solution already existed - at least in beta form.

authorSTREAM offer a free service to post narrated PowerPoint slideshows to both YouTube and for downloading to Ipods.  They also allow you to create RSS feeds, so that your PowerPoint slides can be fed to iPods via iTunes, or from a website, so creating a video podcasting solution.  The video below describes the iPod feature in more detail.

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by DaveGrewal

So with this solution, you could offer trainees post-workshop narrated reminders from your workshops, or even use it beforehand, to deliver one or two preparatory "modules".  It's worth pointing out that you can make your submissions private, so that only those "in the know" can find them.

To me this looks like a great rapid m-learning development solution.  Of course, you'll not be able to make the session as interactive as you would with one of the full-blown rapid e-learning authoring tools, such as Articulate, but nevertheless, you could create a useful set of portable resources this way.

M-learning...a Whole Lot Closer

Only very recently I posted on the theme of whether we were close to a tipping point for the use of m-learning for corporate training.  Then I was basing my thoughts on the latest rapid e-learning technology that could now be delivered to mobile devices.

But today - in a break from tradition in talking about a specific developer, rather than focusing on DIY tools - I came across my first example of a corporate m-learning solution that was in the public domain - and I just had to show it to a wider audience.

Channel Content has developed a series of video-based m-learning modules, delivered to 3G mobile phones, for their client Vodafone.  Vodafone wanted to use this form of learning as reinforcement after instructor-led training.  You can see examples of effective listening and dealing with resistance.

The quality is excellent, but content aside, I'm really impressed by the format - something for us all to consider when we think about our own projects. 

Using m-learning for follow-up refresher support is a very appropriate use of this medium, but similar clips could easily be used as scene-setters before a workshop.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of this in the future.

Free Web-conferencing? Not So DimDim!

I heard about this free web-conferencing solution from DimDim a while ago, but only got around to trying it out this week.  And I'm very impressed.  It was very easy to set up an account and starting and joining a meeting were a breeze.  No hiccups at all on both my new Vista and ancient XP machines.  The system spotted I had a webcam and smoothly fired this up, which also gave me a microphone to carry the audio portion of my session. 

The screen was well laid out, with a large chat window to the right and the list of attendees and resources to be shared on the left, above the feed from my webcam.  I particularly liked how private one-to-one chats took place in a separate window, so no risk - as with other tools - of accidentally sharing a private comment.

I was able to easily post up a white-board and annotating it - whilst very like the interface within Adobe Connect Pro - seemed much easier and was very responsive.  You can also show PowerPoint slides, but no other file formats.  I could pass control over to a participant and they could continue to share the white-board that I'd started.  If everyone was using some form of Voice Over IP (VoIP), then the audio controls for speaking and muting lines - even offering a hands-free option - were extremely intuitive and simple to use.

There is no need to download a plug-in either (unless you want to share your desktop), which made the whole process much better than with some other services.

You can have up to 20 people in the room with the free version, more than enough space if you're looking to deliver an interactive training webinar and much more than many other free services.

The only draw-back for a European audience is the fact that the "free" integrated teleconferencing service uses a US land-line telephone number.  Unless you have access to another teleconferencing service that you can run alongside the web-session (such as PowWowNow), then you are limited to using VoIP, which is still not that popular this side of The Pond, or within corporate firewalls.  You can also record your sessions - even with the free version, although I've not tried that out yet.

But that aside, this is a great way to get familiarised with using web-conferencing technology in your learning strategy.

You can also upgrade for a paid-for version that adds in two-way video calls, as well as allowing more people in the room.

Quia-stions Made Easy

In my last posting, I mentioned an online assessment creation service mentioned by Jane Bozarth in her latest book.

Quia Web [key-ah] offers a range of assessment creation, scoring and reporting options, bringing in a wide variety of testing choices to your e-learning programmes.  In the book, Jane showed how to link out to the site from within a PowerPoint presentation.

Not only can you create tests or quizzes, you can also choose from a selection of games, into which you can insert your own content.

You can choose from 10 types of questions:

• Multiple choice
• True-false
• Pop-up
• Multiple correct
• Fill-in
• Initial answer
• Short answer
• Essay
• Matching
• Ordering

and 16 types of games and learning activities:

• Matching game
• Flash cards
• Concentration game
• Word search puzzle
• Battleship
• Challenge board
• Columns activity
• Hangman game
• Jumbled words
• Ordered list activity
• Picture perfect activity
• Pop-ups
• Rags-to-riches game
• Scavenger hunt
• Cloze activity
• Pattern

Now quite a few of the games would probably be better suited to an educational setting, but a few would work just fine within a corporate e-learning programme.

As well as being abe to easily create and deploy online assessments, you can also use the tool to create your own online space for your training sessions, so called "class pages".

And price-wise, for just $199 per year for a corporate user, for which you can also brand your tests and receive more online storage space, it's great value for money.

Bullet-proof Rapid E-learning

I've just finished reading one of the latest additions to my e-learning library, "Better Than Bullet Points: Creating Engaging e-Learning with PowerPoint", by Jane Bozarth. 

This book shows you how you can use PowerPoint itself to create e-learning modules, together with how you can improve the source presentations you might use in a rapid e-learning authoring tool, such as Articulate and Adobe Presenter (the two main tools she highlights in her many examples).

As someone who is still trying to find their way around PowerPoint 2007, the book provides frequent "how tos" based on both the latest and previous versions of the software.  And there are plenty of worked examples on the CD-ROM that comes with the book.

Given the space taken up by the many examples, the book is actually very easy and quick to read.  In essence, Jane shows you how to take a basic (and maybe "typically dry") PowerPoint presentation and apply good instructional design principles to it and how to use the many different features of the software to create powerful e-learning modules.

I particularly liked the sections on adding animation and interactivity - it's amazing what you can do - and how to add in narration, even if you're not using a rapid e-learning tool that also has this feature.  She also shows how you can link in external testing services such as Quia (which will be the subject of my next posting), to add in more sophisticated assessment.

And - thank you Jane - she shows you how to use a standard PowerPoint feature to remove the background from an imported image, so that you don't have a piece of clip art, stuck on, say a white background, on top of your lovely corporate-coloured background.  One of my personal dislikes!

Finally, even if you don't have access to a rapid e-learning tool (which usually does all the hard work for you), Jane shows you how to you publish your PowerPoint e-learning to the web and other destinations.

Liberated Podcasting

I was browsing through the new 2008 edition of Podcasting for Dummiesand noticed mention of a company called LibSyn or Liberated Syndication who offer an all-in-one podcasting service.

The site offers both an easy way to get started with podcasting and a directory of podcasts from other users, although it's worth pointing out that you don't have to allow the whole world to listen to your broadcasts.  Of course, it's worth listening to a few for ideas and for searching out podcasts that might offer the same content as yours.

The podcast creation process - which you can try-out for nothing in their "sandbox" area - is simple:

1. Set-up your podcast by configuring some basic settings.
2. Upload your media files.
3. Post your show, which also sorts out the all-important RSS feed.

You can choose from different templates for your "home page" on the site, which is where you display your podcasts.  Here you can add so-called "Show Notes" where you can describe your podcast - important if you're using podcast episodes as part of a training programme.  The web-page is in the form of a blog, so you can activate comments too - great if you want to encourage debates about your content.

The pricing for their services is very good too.  You can have a basic package for just $5 per month.  This gives you 100MB of space on their servers.  But you never need pay more than $30 per month for 800B.

What I particularly thought was valuable if you are posting a series of podcasts to support a programme was their approach to archiving.  After one month, your podcast episode is moved from what they they call a "fast" server to a slower one.  They argue (not unreasonably) that after a month, anyone who has yet to listen, can wait a bit longer for the download to occur.  Budget-wise, you are only paying for the "high" speed access, so you never actually lose your older episodes - just they take longer to retrieve - and your paid-for storage space is reserved for your very lastest episodes.

M-learning - A Tipping Point?

I've been following a number of debates recently about whether m-learning will ever really take off. 

There are still lots of challenges with this media - with the small screen, what can you actually do with it; with no common standards, how will you ever get down to just having to build one version; and unless you've provided your audience with the same handset, how can you ever be sure that everyone will have a compatible phone?  And do they even want to learn that way?

I've also been tracking some of the early tools for authoring m-content.  Up to now, these have been fairly rudimentary and not without their little "bugs", so I've not made much progress in finding a good tool that would "advance the cause".

So I was really interested to see that rapid e-learning authoring tool provider, Brainvisa has just added the ability to deploy training to mobile devices.  And they've produced a great series of demos that show off their m-learning tool set and capabilities well.

Unlike with other tools I've seen, for the first time, I get a good feeling that it will be possible to produce engaging content for handheld devices.  They use a sales training example and having also seen a great iPod learning solution for sales professionals when I was working in Belgium, this I feel this is a very good application of m-learning - an audience on the move, who would welcome refresher material on high performance sales techniques, for example, or reminders of how to counter the most common of objections.

With rapid m-learning tools such as these, if we concentrate on only those applications that scream out for a mobile solution, then we should save ourselves a lot of time and heartache.

Look Lively!

I've not returned to the theme of using virtual words for corporate training solutions for a while and I'm still firmly sitting on the fence with this one - still waiting to see some real examples of solutions delivered in this way and to an audience of average PC users in a typical corporate setting.

But I noticed the other day that Google has entered this area of Web 2.0, with a new program called Lively that enables you to create your own virtual room. Given how Google likes to make things easier for everyone, I thought I'd give it a go.

It certainly was easier to create my first room than I thought, although I still can't get to grip with moving objects such as pieces of furniture around my virtual home. Things have tended to end up where they last fell - and not upside down! But given that I'd only ever been able to walk/fly around some of the set-piece scenes in Second Life, I was thrilled to have been able to build a rudimentary virtual home.

My room is below. You'll need a Google account to enter and download the Lively software.

In this video from Google, they make it look so much easier...but I was impressed nevertheless.

You can make your rooms private too, which would be preferable if you're going to try it out with a corporate training audience. The challenge, as always, will be to find the best use of this environment.