Work Literacy - Workshop

Working through many of the postings, forums, info on the Web 2.0 for Learning Professionals workshop (http://workliteracy.ning.com/) lots to think about here. Many intriguing people to connect with and learn from.

Mobile post sent by hamtra using Utterli.  Replies.

Exploring Electronically

Searching out new areas in SL, new to me, an unconference in secondlife://Jokaydia/114/158/23, and the creation of some discworld areas, and a book store secondlife://Elysian%20Isle/149/204/26

Mobile post sent by hamtra using Utterli.  Replies.

A new title for me....of course that means more work.

A little while ago I was asking out for any suggestions for a new job title for myself. Well today the goodness came and as of Oct. 9th (next pay date) I will be the Education Technology Specialist.

Ooooohhhhh, Ahhhhhh, Wooooowwwww, (insert ticker tape parade, fireworks, etc. here).

Okay really it's not a new job. It the same thing I've been doing for well over a year now, but the timing was just right to say...excuse me....I'd like to be called something a little more reflective to what I do at my desk each day.

They wouldn't let me use Desk Monkey so I went with the next best thing a Specialist. Basically it's because I'm the only one doing the work in the organization. However, I really hope the Education Technology piece speaks volumes to the skills, tools, and techniques that I am bringing into the organization. More over I hope now the-powers-that-be take a little more notice into the importance of getting our staff up-to-speed and more current in some of our training practices.

Corporate eLearning Strategies and Development: TONCHIDOT - Tagging the world - Extreme Mobile Learning

Corporate eLearning Strategies and Development: TONCHIDOT - Tagging the world - Extreme Mobile Learning

Wow! If you haven't seen this, you HAVE TO take a look at Brent's posting above.

Amazing and overwhelming all at once.

After just showing this to my friend who just came back from India, she said she was so surprised to see that everyone there had cellphones. There would be 5-6 people piled on to one scooter (yes, try to imagine that first) and you were guaranteed to see one of them on a cell phone. This medium is certainly every where.

CoverItLive - Repost (Updated, Searchable, Neat)

I sent an email to the CoverItLive folks and got some great feedback from Paul Crawford Manager, Quality Assurance. I tried CoverItLive for blogging live during an EG online session last week. My concern was that often I want to go back and search the content of the blogs I post not just the headings and I was under the impression that CoverItLive's iframes tool would not allow this to occur. Paul's feedback led me to another area of their site where I could "Save Content Locally" which leads to the posting below of the same content from last week. This content is fully searchable within my blog. (If I don't remember the speaker, only the topic, I could still find the posting I was looking for in my archives.)

Now I would have the option to blog live as I go, keep that original iframes posting, or after the event replace it with a searchable version. I'm definately liking this tool more and more.

Reposted Content (text form)

Title: Wink In Wiki
1:05
Another new tool that I just had to try out. Thanks again Brent. Keeping up is difficult, but Tony Karrer just presented how important it is to keep trying, learning and staying on top of new tools. Even a little knowledge of how they work and can be used is better than none at all.

1:07
This will be my first attempt at true live blogging as opposed to "taking notes" and posting as soon as the event is over. My typing speed better not fail me.

1:11
Wink and a Wiki - presented by Debi Crabtree, Hamilton County Virtual School

1:19
Wink: a software tool that creates tutorials about other software programs - freeware, - screen shots, outputs Flash, PDF, HTML and other formats

1:19
Great for answering questions of your employees/students with visual screens.

1:23
How can I use Wink:- Answer questions visually- Create tutorials about software, OS,- Advertise software- tutorials- instructions(all features at ww.debugmod.com/wink)a good tool for reaching multicultural/lingual audiencesAdvance Features- templates- cursor editing- palettes- control bars- online community/user forum www.debugmode.com/userforums

1:24
Task: Create a "wink" showing how to make a "wiki" then upload the "wink" into the "wiki". Sounds quite circular.

1:25
67% of participants in this particular forum have not used a wiki.

1:26
3 easy steps:capture screen shotsadd call outs, buttons, time delaysthen save project, create pallete, render

1:27
Starting:Best to create a folder on your desk top first to save the Wink documents into.Then open the application that you will be taking screen shots of.

1:30
Debi is doing a great job of actually going through all these creation steps, piece by piece live. You may want to access the eLearning Guild's Online Forum archives to see this presentation recording.

1:46
Participant's in forum comment that Wink appears to be a "Captivate Lite" kind of tool.I could see using this for my upcoming LMS implementation/training/creation to train users, educators, managers, etc.

1:55
I'm not actually convinced though that I can't do all of this in PowerPoint yet and it's already downloaded on my computer. However, the export to Flash is I guess the selling feature, however I have an add-on that I got from http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/ that does export presentation to Flash.

1:58
It does let you created a sound file for each individual slide thought. I don't know if PowerPoint does that, but I'm sure there is a way around it some how. The sound editor looks not much different than the media recorder in Windows.

2:00
You can export it as a PDF. Nice if they need a hard copy. I know there are several ways around doing this (within my office), however it is nice to have all these tools in one location (program).

2:03
73% of participants feel her presentation will allow them to go out and use Wink with just a little use from the manual. Again, a great tutorial by Debi.

2:05
30 minutes after creating the slides (a few voice overs, a few bubbles) we are on to the wiki and inserting the wink just created.

2:06
***** this area is just a test post for use after this online session*****
2:18
End.

My Heart's Been Touched Again by an Angel

I have a wonderful and dear friend that I have the pleasure to work with every day. She just returned this week from India from an 8 week volunteer experience. This was her second volunteer excursion to India and we were honestly expecting her to come home and tell us she is retiring to stay and help their permanently.

I can't express as well as she some of the experiences she has encountered, but I'll share a few she shared with us...

My volunteer time at the orphanage has been significant...4 hours in the mornings doing construction work...teaching English in afternoons & then in the evenings to be with the children for learning and play...all the 38 children here are so wonderful and in need of care...they all come to the home with sad stories...the orphanage is a rundown place you can't think that children could live this way...they have no toys, no beds, no books to read...nothing...the administrator is a very nice man who i admire greatly for what he tries to do for the kids...

The past 7 weeks i have worked with Indian workmen to build new toilets and demolish the old...by the time i painted the new toilets the kids had been using them ...they are a hole in the ground and some chemical needs to be put in to break everything up which gets done only occasionally...the stench, flies, mosquitoes, heat of the day were the conditions i had to endure to get these stalls painted... for the following week the kids kept thanking me for painting the toilets...a humbling experience ...

I have carried thousands of bricks and lots of sand and mortar...before i leave i
will have helped to construct the foundation of a building for the children to sleep in...they sleep out in the open with just a roof over their heads...the place is infested with mice...one day watching out for snakes in the rubble pile i was working in my feet were attacked by swarms of ants...that took a week to recover from...i only wear sandals to work in ... no work boots...sometimes it is even easier to work in bare feet..

I would like to imagine myself having the strength to do what she has done, but I'm not sure I ever could. My friend Kathy and the thousands of other volunteers around the world are making differences every minute of the day.

She brought me make a very touching memento as well, a Tsunamika doll. It's a tiny little doll made from a small scrap of pink fabric, little sewn eyes and a mouth, and another scrap of blue fabric for hair. "She has been hand-made by women, the women who live by the ocean, the women whose lives changed forever after the tsunami, the women who are exploring a new way of living, the women who are empowering themselves." These dolls are always a gift and are never sold. You may get Tsunamika dolls by contacting one of their worldwide ambassadors. Look at thier Project page to see the true impact these little dolls do for the women that are creating them.

It's these little things that are done daily, that pass us by, that we rarely see first hand, that are also attempting to make our world a much better, happier, kinder, and closer world for everyone.

Look no more for a great list of Open Source tools

Wow, Inge de Waard was inspired by Software Freedom Day on 20 September and has posted an incredible list of open source tools that offer great reliability and flexibility. Please look to her posting when you are seeking software for:

• Graphics
• Multimedia
• Supporting software
• Internet
• Office
• Relaxation

Thanks Inge for compiling such an extensive list.

SL Question - How do you start sending staff into Second Life for training?

I certainly haven't got all the Second Life lingo yet, but I'll try to pose my question here anyway. I was looking at a virtual conference in Second Life coming up that had some health care topics involved. Thinking about this I thought neat, I could register and give it a try to see what was covered and how they even do a conference in SL.

I then wondered though, if I wanted to create/send coworkers into SL for a virtual experience how would that be done. I realize it would take some time to get land and create my area (Sim? is that right?), but then what. Would you just tell your people to show up? I'm thinking not. It takes some time to get use to the environment, moving and looking around, inventory, chatting, etc. This is not to mention the billion hours (oh yes I mean billion) spent on creating and changing the appearance of your avatar.

I'm curious to find out how one would get their staff started into SL and how long it takes. Given you've already set up the area. Would you create 5-10 random avatars that staff could use to start with? Would you let them create their own avatars? Anyone interested in responding I'd be grateful. I'm not going there yet, but am quite curious.

Currently sitting in on another online forum. Posting from phone.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Sent by Text Messaging from a mobile device.
Envoyé par messagerie texte d'un appareil mobile.
----------------------------------------------------------------

ARRR Matey, Did Ye Know It's Talk Like a Pirate Day

Just incase you haven't heard the new yet. It is indeed talk like a pirate day.

Find tons of booty (treasure) here:

http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=xx-pirate

http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

http://www.yarr.org.uk/talk/ (even has pirate ring tones...lol)

Pirate News Around the World

Swaggy: a scurvy cur's ship what ye be intendin' to loot!
Keelhaul: a truly vicious punishment where a scurvy dog be tied to a rope and dragged along the barnacle-encrusted bottom of a ship. They not be survivin' this. (ha, why does this make me laugh)

Tried REAL live blogging today - thoughts on CoverItLive

I just tried using CoverItLive for the last online session I just attended through the eLearning Guild. You can see the results here of this blogging session and here for the session just prior to it where I did my normal "note taking" method.

Brent Schlenker passed me along to it earlier today through his blog and well I just had to give it a try it looked so neat.

It is definitely a really neat tool. It was simple to start using and easy to keep using through the session. There were however a couple of things that stuck me as I was using the tool.

I have a bit of a science background to me, in that is was my primary studies through high school and the beginning academic career. There is one thing that taking a lot of science and geography courses do for a student and that is ridiculous note taking. As I was using CoverItLive during the last session, the majority of the session was a demonstration and there weren't really notes to take. Therefore, my live blogging post that you can look at has almost a 30 minute gap and you can tell that as a reader because the tool gives you a time line of published entries. (also a neat feature)

Something else that struck me is that once I start then what....I unfortunately don't have the option of closing my door and concentrating on the online sessions. They occur during my work hours and I need to be available for all the drop-ins that happen (luckily I screen calls and emails though). So with my normal method if I get really distracted or pulled away no one ever knows. I just don't post the notes. If I start this type of live blogging, then anyone who sees I start and suddenly have to stop might wonder.....hmmmm what happened.

I think therefore, it would be more useful if you can concentrate fully and if you can maintain continuity through the time you are using the tool.

Another feature of my normal note taking that I like is that because the text I enter is just like any other post all the text is searchable. If I can't remember the speaker (ie: Tony Karrer), but only remember that he mentioned maps during his presentation and I wrote about it, then "maps" becomes a searchable word as does the presenter.

If you look at my posting trying out CoverItLive I put in one line that says "test post". A search for this didn't come up. Perhaps I am unclear on how to search for it though.

I did think of another great use for it though and will put it forward to someone here (just have to figure out who). What a great way to take minutes during a meeting? I have so many colleagues here at work that hate minute taking, because they have to take the minutes, then go to their office and type them and then edit, etc. etc. This would capture everything that is happening as it happens, would record the main points, and anyone who couldn't make it to the meeting could at least watch and see what was going on. One blog for each committee, each using CoverItLive to capture the notes.

There are additional advance features for a price so perhaps some of my queries are addressed there, but it was definitely fun and easy to use. I suggest trying it at least once.

Wink in a Wiki (eLearning Guild Online Forum)

eLearning 2.0 - an Introduction to the Revolution (eLearning Guild Online Forum)

Presented by: Tony Karrer, Tech Empower, Inc.

NOTE:....check out Brent Schlenker's "Cover It Live" version of this forum.

Various 2.0 tools & use by participants in this session (110+)
Social bookmarking 43% know what it is, but....
RSS Readers 38% don't use one
Blogging - 65% Read Blogs
Wikis - 40% read wikis, 37% using a wiki

Tony shared a great example of his son looking up information on the California Gold rush. Starting with a text book and encyclopedia he found one or 2 paragraphs. Then with an internet search found a wiki entry. Then using that entry was able to find a few more terms to better search for more information. He then found a site with historical maps. Using one particular (electronic version) historical map that had text at the bottom directed specifically to miners at the time of the gold rush, he was able to discover there was a 4th route that miners used to get to California. Using this new information he went back to the wiki and entered in the new information into the wiki page. The next day someone came in and respelled a word and changed some basic formatting, but that piece of information is now still added to the wiki information page.

REMEMBER WHEN....you had to use a card catalogue and micro fiche reader to find information....lol.

Note taking.....helps thinking through the structure of what you are learning and listening to.

However, notes on paper and notes on laptops are quite different.

There are now over a trillion pages that Google is tracking and it is perhaps more important to figure out how to access it then remembering all of it.

How do we handle these challenges?
3000 new books published every day
2.7 trillion emails sent every day
175000 new blogs are created every day

New information doubles every year, 2015 it will double every week.

New information triggers an reaction that is slightly euphoric, but too many interuptions and too much information can make one feel completely overloaded and over whelmed.

We are not adapting to all this information overload very well....
(information retrieval via web - 2002)

Most people today think they are fairly adept at searching and learning.
Over time though if you don't keep up to date you slow down and lose how quickly you can.

Over 50 years old retain better phone numbers, under 30 only 40% because they use different devices to remember.

(ie: perhaps same as spell check, spelling/txting is getting worse)

(ie: ~ = approximately, Google gave up on people using this in their searches [not everyone remembers/knows what it is] and have programmed it into the background to assist in searching)

Remember Linkedin for building your networks and for looking for resources of people that know about the topic you are interested in. Great search features.

Learning and Work are inseparable for knowledge workers.

eLearning 1.0 is very formal
- needs are common
- content is known, understood, stable content,
- hits large audience
- examples - orientation, compliance, skills

eLearning 2.0 is informal, more collaborative, based on the learner
(social media tools help shift this and assist this learning)
- unique needs

Common eLearning 2.0 Scenarios
- alongside formal learning
- blogs used to answer classroom lessons with blogs
- wikis as collaborative learning tools (group projects)
- editable reference materials (wikis)
- product info
- processes
- scenarios
- faqs
- reference guides/glossary
- experience capturing
- new-hire blogs
- lab or project notebooks
- RSS readers - steady content flow inside and outside of organization
Roles of a Learning Professional in and eLearning 2.0 World

Same New
- analyst - Tool integrator/opportunity creator,
- desinger -practice leader,
- skill builder - content creator
- analyst & coach

Check out www.jingproject.com

People driving 2.0 changes
Most eLearning Guild members are reporting to the eLearning Guild that they are are the people in their organizations that understand the benefits of the 2.0 tools and are helping to drive the adoption. (least executive management)

Barriers
27% of EG members reported they can't get view YouTube, 8% can't view LinkedIn, 3% can't view wikipedia, 28% can't view Facebook

36.6% stated that their organizations are not preparing workers on using Web 2.0 approaches

Moderating Blogs
Think about perhaps uing Blog Ambassadors, or volunteers, or self-moderate by users.

TripAdvisor is Donating $1mil to 1 of 5 Global Charities - Please Vote

More Than Footprints Campaign
"TripAdvisor will donate a total of $1 million, allocated evenly among the Charities, as determined by the percentage of total votes that each charity receives during the Promotion Period. Each charity will receive a minimum donation of $50,000. The donation amount for each charity will be announced at http://www.tripadvisor.com/, and all other participating TripAdvisor domains, on or about November 12, 2008. "

Looking for a definition & explanation of the term LMS Roles

We, along with some colleagues implementing the same LMS at different organizations are having difficulty wrapping our heads around the term ROLES. We tried to no avail to get the term dropped or changed to something that makes more sense to our internal educational lingo.

I believe the term Roles is a common LMS term from some discussions I've had with various people, but it is not a common term within our hospital learning environment. I'm curious if someone can share a good definition or explanation that we could share with our learners, educators, and managers.

Our understanding of a Role is "a set of courses (that may include certificate(s) with one/many courses within them as well) that are required to be taken by the staff assigned the role".

Is that true? Is there a better way to explain this terminology? We use the role synonymously with job title and this is perhaps where we need to redesign our thoughts. (previous post)

Organization Structure? We need that?

Once again the LMS haunts me night and day. I should have bought stocks in Advil. Looking back at the implementation process and how poorly it has progressed is very much due to the fact that we do not have an HR system that properly or even semi-adequately has any organizational structure.

Each staff member is only linked by the department budget that pays for them. It is entirely a payroll system and now that we are finally moving forward with the LMS and looking forward to online performance systems and talent management systems; my little "wait did you guys think about...." is rearing its ugly head again and again. We have no system currently that displays which staff report to which manager, manager to director, director to VP. This can be tracked through many different systems, but this is completely impractical for any other usage.

The task has been placed onto the shoulders of one of our IT staff and a person in HR. I'm crossing my fingers very tightly that they can solve this issue quickly and simply as I don't want to have to map how our 2600 employees report.

I Love the World & Discovery Channel

...and I don't care who knows it. If I could lock myself in a room and just watch the Discovery Channel and National Geographic all day, I'd be a happy gal.

My friend jokes that they are my "nerd channels". I just don't care. I love watching them and learning all they offer. I saw this commerical today on Discovery and it just made me smile. I hope it makes you smile a bit too and be as intrigued about the world around you as I hope I am.

Discovering Your Brand

I saw that Christy Tucker was working through Michele Martin’s Web 2.0 Wednesday task to discover what was her personal brand. I loved the word cloud she showed using Wordle so I too gave it a try.

Michele suggests that the top 5 words should give you a picture into what brand you are portraying and to think about if it is truly what you want to concentrate on.

Mine seems to be LMS, Learning, Know, and Training. I know that LMS has been my focus over the last year and is the subject of many of my posts, but it is not because I want to be branded as such. This is just my primary concern currently and therefore the item that I post the most about and look for feedback on from peers.

Can a word cloud truly project your brand? Perhaps, it certainly would reveal the focus of your blog. Cnn's cloud currently looks like this (http://www.cnn.com/)

This wordcloud wouldn't surprise anyone given the current news. I think the use of a cloud definitely can help a blogger to pinpoint the subjects they are posting on, but you will need to discern if you are looking at your current focus or your brand and are you content with either.

Learning Styles a Myth

I saw this on Brent Schlenker's post who got it from Clive Sheppard who got it from Stephen Downes and wanted to place it here purely for my own future reference. Please refer to their posts for more thoughts/comments.



I love that Brent pointed out that the video states the myth exists because we all believe that it does. I was just asked to help a department out here with their training/teaching for adult patients and they wanted to know about learning styles & prinicples. I really think I need to reconsider this one and a whole new approach.

Reflections, Light, How does it work? - A Science Question for Anyone Who Can Answer

At a recent party my God-father, sister, and I were amazed at the questions that his grandson was asking about the world around him. Such as "Why can I see through the window, but not put my hand through it?" Big question for an 11 year old.

My sister then came up with:

When sitting on a train, bus, etc. I can look in the window that I am
sitting directly beside (on an angle) and I can see not (only) the reflection of
what is across the train from me, but I can see a reflection of what/who is
sitting in front of me even if they are several seats ahead. How does this
happen or how can it be explained? A simple version of this is if I hold a
small mirror right beside my right eye and something in my left hand, I can
extend my left almost to arms length and still see the reflection of the item in
the mirror. How does it reflect back when it is so far forward of the mirror?

I've emailed this to Bob McDonald, host of CBC's Quirks & Quarks. I'm hoping I get an answer from him or any one else that cares to answer. Things that keep me up at night.....lol.