Posted 8:38 PM by George Siemens
Elearning needs more simplicity. The heart of the learning experience - student, instructor, content, institution - is often lost in technology. Learning management systems, content management systems, learning object repositories, etc, are of little value if they do not meet the needs of the student, instructor, and institution. Often, decisions are made that are very one-sided. For example, an institution decides that it wants to reduce the costs of developing elearning...and decides that learning objects are the solution. So what happens? After extensive high-level meetings (involving software and IT people, senior managers, CEO, CIO (or whoever)...anyone but the instructor and the student), a decision is made and passed down to the user level. It bombs. Why? Elearning lives and dies at the user level.

A few quick thoughts on improving the potential for elearning to succeed in an organization:

• Involve everyone in the chain - especially user level
  
• Focus on simplicity - instructors/students are busy. Only a small percentage get a kick out of technology. Make it workable
  
• Develop a change management strategy - change is a bigger barrier than technology
  
• Link elearning to larger organizational goals. Technology is an enabler of learning...what are the larger organizational goals that will be achieved through better learning across the organization?
  
• Scale tools - introduce a few learning tools that solve problems NOW. Add collaborative, conferencing, knowledge management tools later. People need to learn how to elearn.
  
• Communicate incessantly...better yet - blog the process - build a knowledge base while learning.
  

Posted 8:24 AM by George Siemens
Technological Applications in Faculty Development
Quote: "Colleges and universities have recently shown a strong interest in faculty development because their faculty members now face more pressure than ever before to change their teaching styles. The purpose of this paper is to provide examples of how information technology can support faculty development programs, particularly those programs designed to assist faculty members in the use of such technology to improve their instruction."

Posted 8:11 AM by George Siemens
Extending the Pedagogy of Threaded-Topic Discussions
Quote: "What we need is an online environment in which multiple messages and responses are put into single scrollable files. Such a structure would enable the user to view all related items together and in context, making them ready for scanning by both students and teachers. Creating online messages in the form of user-friendly shared ("community") documents would greatly enhance communication in online education."
Comment: Excellent point. Threaded discussions are very useful in online learning (currently, one of the most valuable (and easy to use) tools)...but as this article points out - it's disjointed, context is lacking, and integration with multiple posts/articles is not "allowed". Collaborative tools, like Groove are far more effective. However, everytime I try and set up a Groove space with a group to collaborate and dialogue...nothing happens - no one contributes, and the idea dies a slow death. Collaboration is a great idea in concept...but it is still too foreign to most of our work happens to receive wide spread adoption.

Posted 7:50 AM by George Siemens
The Next Killer App in Education
Quote: "...what knowledge do we have about teaching and learning that we need to use in creating the next killer app? We have to create a tool that does more for each individual student than current applications do. It is not enough for students to be able to see their assignments. The next killer app must have other features that, for instance, will identify visual learners and offer them links that demonstrate visual approaches as well as literal and analytical approaches to learning to provide them with the richest possible learning experience."
Comment: The next "killer application" ("A killer app is a ubiquitous tool that faculty, students, and support staff use in instruction, research, and learning within the university setting") is misleading. The focus here is more on making improvements to elearning. For example, the next killer app, according to the article, is based on wireless, anytime anywhere (WINWINI "what I need when I need it") access to learning resources...and the resources themselves are created to allow for maximum learning. Those aren't killer apps. Those are trends. A killer app (like email, instant messaging, soon to be blogging) is a tool (not trends) that receives widespread adoption and use - transforming organizations and processes.

Posted 7:37 AM by George Siemens
Whatever Happened to Virtual Reality? via Techno-News Blog
Quote: "Less than a dozen years ago, it seemed as though virtual reality was poised to be the next major technology , though actual implementations were mainly being put to use in arcades. Then, as quickly as it arose amid much hype, the field seemed to disappear."
Comment: Interesting to see how technologies with much potential (virtual reality (VR)) fizzle, and concepts like blogging and instant messaging blind-side organizations and become huge. Why? Simplicity...adoption at a user level. Great ideas and products don't always succeed...rather, it's the ideas that are easily adapted to the daily lives of intended users that succeed. There's a very important lesson in this for developers and managers of elearning.