To e-book or Not e-book? That is the Question.

I came across a bunch of posts today for Amazon.com's new ebook reader Kindle that is coming out apparently in October. Ugg...I'm sorry but this is one ugly piece of equipment for appx. $400.

I like reading books on my pda. In fact I've read probably 20 or so in this method. For me it's a great way to get into bed, turn the lights off, read to the soft warm glow of my pda, and not disturb anyone else with blinding room lights. But.....the cost of ebooks tends to be almost the same as regular books...and there is still something to be said for having a stack of printed, bound papers in your hands. If you do it right you can build up your biceps reading something like that last Harry Potter book.

I'm not sure how well this Kindle thing is going to go over. I think people want devices that allow you do many different things with them (ie: pda, iphone, etc) rather than just a reader.

Blog Action Day - Oct. 15th, Get Involved

This is a wonderful concept. One Day....One Thought....Cool.

So what is Blog Action Day?

On October 15th - Blog Action Day, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone's mind. In its inaugural year, Blog Action Day will be co-ordinating bloggers to tackle the issue of the environment.

What can you do?

1. Publish a post on their blog which relates to an issue of their own choice pertaining to the environment.
2. Commit to donating their day’s advertising earnings to an environmental charity of their choice.
3. There is no 3..."If they choose bloggers can also promote the initiative itself. However they are also free to simply post on topic on the right day or discreetly donate to a charity without publicizing Blog Action Day."

That's all there is to it. How simple?

As of today there are 4,597 blogs/websites participating, reaching an estimated 3,516,159 people.

Welcome Aboard Our New Orientation Format

About a month ago I wrote about how our department was striving to create a new, exciting and more interactive orientation.

Well today we launched our S.S. Southlake, General Orientation. Yes indeed we have designed our first day of orientation to be that similar to welcoming guests aboard a cruise ship. We greeted each new staff with a flower lei and a "cruise" itinerary for the day. The room was decorated with as many cruise motif decorations we could find. Local party stories have moved full swing into Halloween decorations, but we seemed to do okay. We had a large life preserver at the front door that says "Welcome Aboard", there were tiki torches at the front door, other life preservers in the room were decorated with sayings regarding our strategic focus. We changed our presentation from our corporate logo to a lovely picture of a cruise ship.

Now elements of our actual content have yet to get updated. This portion of change will come when we move some of the documentation of new staff to another day. We want to add hospital scavenger hunts. These will be designed to lead staff around to key areas of the organization and pin point items of interest. Including our most popular intranet site....the Cafeteria Menu!

We haven't quite decided yet on a few games to place into the content. Once we have created a little more time within the day we plan to change the breaks into "Stretch Breaks with the Cruise Director". Also I may possibly add in some "Improv" entertainment into another of the breaks.


We did so much of this, I hate to admit, last minute last week that we didn't mention the cruise idea to anyone in the organization. Mostly we wanted to keep it a secret. Our presenters were great and are embracing the entire new concept with open arms. Our IT manager came in and used all sorts of "sea worthy" sayings in relation to password protection including..."it was our responsibility to make sure the ship didn't sink from improper computer use." For those of you who have read me before....yes this was a Dannyism.


So far the new staff seem to be welcoming the idea of the theme and playing along with the day of fun and learning. The majority of our staff are women (it is a hospital) so they laugh along, the men in the room tend to chuckle and you can see them wondering how long they have to wear the lei before they can take it off. The feedback throughout the day has been fabulous and we are already thinking of ways to make it even better.

LMS - I don't want to be Little Miss Should've

"Okay, okay, okay...it's not all my fault Tony." --- I'd rather be Little Miss Splendid

Tony Karrer (eLearning Technology) posted today on his blog, 10 Gotcha's when implementing an LMS into your organization. Apparently after sharing my frustration yesterday, Tony helpped to point out that I may be experiencing #1 - Starting With an Unrealistic Expectation of What You Need, #4 - Failing to Identify Key Differentiating Use Cases, and #6 - Not Testing a LMS.

We've (my org.) have been trying to step into the LMS world since....uggg, my calendar says....2003. I'll start with Tony's #6 Gotcha. Yes, I'll admit to this one. No we didn't get hands on testing of anything and I think the reason we never asked was, we just wanted something anything, just give us the darn thing. 2003-2004 we had an IT Director that was keen on the whole project, got all the stake holders together and looked at one demo after another after another. He left, the project went stale, the money got filtered elsewhere and we lost the momentum. 2005 the new IT Director gets more push about an intranet....no...sorry....no funding, figure something else out. So, our make shift intranet is born. It's used. More and more department want a page/section on the site. Ah-ha, now he has some leverage to find funding and begin the ball rolling again. However, we are going to make sure we get an all in one package from someone that includes and intranet, doc management and LMS. After a billion more demos, some the same from the first round, we narrow it down to two vendors. I will share here as well that during one point of all this searching around there were issues with trying to make sure we were doing what other hospitals in the area/affiliates were doing. It would have helped with pricing, sharing, hosting, etc., but again we were sick of waiting and went and begun our own project. With the two vendors chosen, we invited every stakeholder we could think of (maybe too many) and armed with a series of must-haves we evaluated them again through demos (and referenced other hospitals using the products) and put it to a vote. Again, I'll add here.... we finally had the funding approved, we just wanted one, any one, get it going. So....no there was no hands on testing. (FAIL - perhaps, time will tell regarding our product and our satisfaction, but this was definitely an oversight.)

Gotcha #1...Unrealistic Expectation....okay maybe, this is a definite we'll see. I don't think we are aiming too high here. We know it's going to be a real challenge to get our staff to start using and embracing the system. I really would just love something that is going to track our staff education (outside the organization), something to help with booking the internal courses, and something to launch and better yet marked the annoying core curriculum (still marking the paper ones from June). (PASS - but barely, I think are expectations are okay, but listening and believing the implementation time line was very, very silly.)

Gotcha #4 - Failing to Identify Key Differentiating Use Cases...I'm going to admit here....I'm not sure what this one means. I'm going to need some help clarifying this mistake.

I will be very interested to see if any of the other Gotchas show up during this project. I'm keeping track now.

What's Happening With My New LMS?!?!

NOTHING!!!!!

No I haven't neglected to post the trials and tribulations of my new LMS and all the joys I get to experience as I play with the toy. Nothing has happened. We had a meeting with the vendor, what a month ago? No contact since. Oh they better be getting something good ready for me to look at and try!

Oh and my little meeting about my job role and what path this LMS will lead me down. NOTHING!!!! We can't possibly discuss that until we have the tool in place and know exactly in what capacity we will use the darn thing.

Okay...thanks I feel better for the rant.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Blogging - (my name in print)

Tony Karrer has an article published in this month's T+D (Training and Development) magazine (click the magazine cover to launch the reader). His article is based on blogging, but more specifically the learning and networking benefits that can come from starting your own.

I was honoured earlier in the summer when Tony asked me for my perspective on blogging. Now to see it in print; well I'm giddy with excitement. It's a great article with other perspectives from Karyn Romeis, Jay Cross, Wendy Wickham, and Brent Schlenker.

This is a bit of a tangent from the idea of blogging, but....I love the technology it takes to reading a magazine like this online. It's really cool (yes, my name is Tracy and I'm a techno-geek, "Hi Tracy"). It's a great method to get, traditionally, boomers to read printed material online. Being able to see the pages, go to the table of contents, flip through pages back and forth, and zoom in and out (picture your dad holding the newspaper at arm's length). I can not get my colleagues (boomers...sorry but it's true) to read anything online; I've got to print it out for them if I want them to read something. It makes the online reading experience more interactive and more like real life.

However, back to the article....

Some of the ideas and quotes from it that really struck for me are:

"Bloggers continually search for interesting information they can post. When they post information, they must synthesize that information, formulate additional questions, contrast and make sense of differing viewpoints, and identify patterns and trends." - Tony Karrer
I learn something new every day.

"The one thing I have really notice and experienced about the blogging community is that everyone is extremely friendly, open, and willing to share ideas and mentor one another." - Tracy Hamilton
I learn something new from my online mentors.

"If for no other reason than your job is changing, and you might want to be engaged in the process of what your new job will include." - Brent Schlenker

I'm tracking my progress.

The starting point...is to learn how to use blogs as individual work and learning tools and then become evangelists about these technologies, methods, and habits." - Tony Karrer

I'm tracking my development, sharing my experiences, and hopefully teaching and mentoring others.

e-Tools & Tips Recorded for Your Listening Pleasure

Yesterday I posted some upcoming webinars being hosted by the Australian Flexible Learning Framework.

Jyothi Jayaram from the E-Learning Networks Project at AFLF was kind enough to email me back yesterday and let me know that yes indeed the sessions are recorded for our listening pleasure.

If you happen to be somewhere else in the world sleeping when these sessions are happening you can catch them later at:

http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/flx/go/home/projects/2007/pid/440

Blog Day - Whoops I'm Late

BlogDay2007

Well I completely missed Blog Day, until my newest blogging friend (Christy) linked me on to her Blog Day roll.

I'm making a note though to make sure that I participate fully next year in this. Catching up after a long weekend is making my head spin.

The instructions apparently are....
1. Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting
2. Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending them as part of BlogDay 2007
3. Write a short description of the Blogs and place a link to the recommended Blogs
4. Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st)
5. Add the BlogDay tag using this link:http://technorati.com/tag/BlogDay2007 and a link to the BlogDay web site at http://www.blogday.org/

Blogs I've learned a ton of information from:

Christy Tucker - Experiencing E-Learning

Angela White - A Nice Cup of Lizard (fairly new to blogging, we started roughly the same time, is begining to implement an LMS, we are roughly starting on this at the same time too)

Cammy Bean - Learning Visions (I love Cammy sense of humour, she's almost a year into blogging - Sept. 28th - I think I've learned something new from her each week)

Cathy Moore - Making Change - Ideas for Lively Elearning (I stumbled on Cathy recently and I love all the tools and tips she keeps sharing with the blogosphere)

Big Brother 8 - Okay this one is just for fun....but I cant' help it...I'm addicted to the show. Go Evil Dick, Go!

e-Tools and Tips - (AFLF)

The Austrialian Flexible Learning Framework is hosting a series of webinars over the next month on a range of e-tools and how one can use them in the classroom.

Topics being discussed are:
Moblogs - recorded session
Podcasting - Sept. 5, 2007 1:00pm (AEST), or 11:00pm (EST - North America)
Virtual Worlds - Sept. 11, 2007 8:00pm (AEST), or 6:00am (EST)
Social Bookmarking - Sept. 13, 2007 2:00pm (AEST) or 12:00am Sept. 13, 2007 (EST)
Personal Learning Spaces - Sept. 19, 2007 2:00pm (AEST), or 12:00am Sept. 19th, 2007 (EST)
Digital Story Telling - Sept. 20, 2007 10:00am (AEST), or 8:00pm (EST)
Video in elearning -Sept. 26, 2007 3:30pm (AEST), or 1:30am (EST)
Wikis and Blogs - Sept. 27, 2007 10:00am (AEST), or 8:00pm (EST)

For more info on all sessions click here. For a time zone converter click here.

I'm am checking to see if more then the first session will be recorded and will report back when I know.

Bloggers Need to Watch for Malicious Fake Posts

BBC News is reporting today that several blogs through Blogger are being "hijacked" by hackers. Hundreds of blogs have been attacked with fake posts. These postings look normal, however they contain links to what resemble YouTube links or software testers. These links when clicked on then allow the hackers to access many files within you computer including saleable information.

It is unsure, currently, how they are obtaining access to post to the blogs. One potential way that is being considered is the feature to email posts to one's blog.

Please be sure to check your own blog routinely.

What's Your Best Web Source for Info

Business Week is compiling its best of the best for 2007. It's looking for the top sites where we, the users, get our most compelling information.

There are several categories to choose from and there is offer to add to the list as well. Categories include Best Blogs, News, Finance, Travel, Games, Mashups, etc. The polling closes September 10 and results will be posted at the end of September.

Make sure to add your favourites into the list.

Good Advice for Solving Problems

Lee Lefever posted a nice piece last night on their experience at Common Craft Show regarding producing their many fabulous videos on RSS, Social Bookmarking, and etc.

Some great advice that really struck for me when considering our upcoming LMS implementation was:

"If you're about to start something new, don't spend weeks trying to make the first attempt perfect. Get started as quickly as possible and learn as you go. Tinker, experiment and look for the big things you can tackle as you go. Solve problems when they need to be solved and you won't feel as overwhelmed by all the things that could be fixed."

I think I've been a little wound up thinking about getting the Cadillac version out there for our staff to really get excited about it, but at this point I need to realize that a Vespa will do. We have nothing right now so anything that gives staff easier access to course registration and material is going to be better.

Howtoons - cartoons showing how to build things.

Howtoons is a great site for kids to take a look through. It has lots of colourful graphics that look like modern day comics. Oh but wait...what's that you see....learning. Uggg, children tricked the world over to learn something hidden behind 1000 colours and images jumping out at you from the page. Ha...how diabolical.

This one is actually quite beautiful. It simply and elegantly shows how to create a pinwheel.

There are other toons on how to build soda pop submarines and learning about the Beaufort Scale. The blog section takes readers further out to the web to learn about tonight's lunar elcipse and tons more.

Howtoons are cartoons showing kids of all ages "How To" build things. Each illustrated episode is a stand-alone fun adventure accessible to all. If you are and adult and want to learn more about them (no pictures, just words and reading...yes...I know...how lame) click here.

Go ahead, share with your kids....trick them into learning something new.

A Closer and More Detailed Look at the Moon

Imagine being able to view up close and in high detail photos of the Moon that were taking during the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions. Now you can. Many of these photos from the 1970 are being scanned by Arizona State University, Geological Sciences Program. The resolution is at 14 bits (16,000 shades of grey per pixel).


(Image: AS15-96-13093research: David Woods)

Many of these photos have been kept safe in a freezer by NASA to preserve their quality over the last 30+ years. There are hundreds of photos of all the missions to be found at the Project Apollo Image Gallery.

The BBC News reports that:

"Prof. Mark Robinson (the principal investigator) said that the scanned images
were of such fidelity and precision that stereo measurements could be made where
the images overlapped - and therefor a follow-on project will be to make
topographic images of the Moon."

Another use for old books

Following on the heels of the Great Textbook debate....I found this today. If we refuse to allow other students to get some use out of old text books, why not turn them into art.

(Artist: Su Blackwell)

Karyn Romeis' African School Tale (textbook debate)

I usually just use the share feature of my reader to mark items that I like and want to share with others. Today however, I really want to point this posting out to everyone.

Karyn Romeis has been following and commenting on the textbook debate. Today she apologized (far too many times, lol) for what she thought was a long posting about her personal account of an impoverished African school - Once upon a Time in Africa.

It is something anyone who is even remotely concerned/interested in education or has a child in a school system any where in the world. It's a great reminder to us all of what we have and makes us think how we can help others.

Thanks Karyn.

GeoDistance - How Far Have You Gone?

Read/Write Web had and interesting post that caught my eye today. SimpleSpark has a video of 5000 web 2.0 applications logos presented in 333 seconds. Cool enough, but SimpleSpark has new applications daily.

So I started working backwards in time and found one from yesterday. GeoDistance!!!! Oh this is so neat. I have wanted one of these for ages. I love to go biking, but how far have I gone when I go off on my adventures. Open up the application. Pin point your starting point, your end point and any point in between and voila. Now I can see that I've been biking 35km in one direction (and back). No wonder I'm tired at the end of my trip.

What a great tool.

Private Social Networks - not your daddy's Facebook

I suppose I'm not high class or connected enough to be one of the 260,000 elite members of ASmallWorld. It's a social network, much like Facebook, but you must be invited by trusted members.

Erik Wachtmeister founded ASMALLWORLD as a private online community for
like-minded individuals. Most networking communities are open. Ours is only by
invitation. Trusted members who have existing social networks of quality in the
real world extend the invitations. aSmallWorld offers a retreat that intimately
allows members to enhance their networks and to reconnect with old friends.

One of those....why didn't I think of that ideas, I could keep riff-raff out too.

LMS is here, now what?

So we got our LMS or so they say. I've yet to get my greedy paws on to it. Initial thoughts were....let's just get using it and start tracking some of the training and registration that is already going on within our facility. This quickly changed at the first meeting to a general discussion about what "course material" we were going to put on the system. There are a few government created courses (which I'm sure are fine) floating around that need to be put on, but the rest is all paper.

Is is fine to jump in with just putting up .pdfs of booklets that are currently circulating around this place? I'm sure it's a start, but is it really the image of this great new tool that we want to promote. Many of our staff have never seen elearning, but there are a great many that have been taking elearning courses through all sorts of colleges and universities and they do know what course should resemble.

I've got a meeting tomorrow to discuss "WHERE IS MY ROLE HEADING?" A great title for...we have more work for you, no additional resources or recognition, nothing is being taken off your plate, and don't even think of more $$$.

I certainly don't want to become incharge of just student data entry. I'll keep you posted....uggggg.

Elluminate Free Webinar's (and Edubloggerworld Kickoff)

So I'm looking around my Reader today reading up on what I have been missing out on over the past few days (mini holiday), and I come across Victoria Davis' Cool Cat Teacher Blog mentioning the EduBloggerWorld kickoff on Thursday. I see that she mentions that she is hosting a little Elluminate session on Thursday....I go over to Elluminate. Heard of it a billion times in my online courses, never participated, yet! I then did a quick search through the Events link to see if I could see her session.

No, BUT!!!!!!

There are 3 pretty neat and FREE sessions coming up by Lance Dublin.

Back-To-Basics: Developing An E-Learning Strategy And Architecture
Lance Dublin
2007-09-27
02:00 PM - 03:00 PM Eastern
Enroll now!

Back-To-Basics: Implementing E-Learning Successfully
Lance Dublin
2007-11-01
02:00 PM - 03:00 PM Eastern
Enroll now!

Back-To-Basics: Understanding And Applying Learning 2.0
Lance Dublin
2007-11-29
02:00 PM - 03:00 PM Eastern
Enroll now!