Janet Clarey – The eLearn Blog

Privacy, Trust, and Big Data

Janet Clarey — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 08:00:49 +0000

This post, to me, is really about what Mark Federman has called “unanticipated consequences” or “unintended consequences.” (Federman is Chief Strategist at the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology so his statements are informed by Marshall McLuhan’s “the medium is the message” paradox.) It’s a good read. Anyway the post I’m referring to here is Audrey Walter’s interview of Terence Craig, co-author of “Privacy and Big Data.” As our channels for learning become more digitally dispersed, one has to wonder how that data will eventually be used. While Craig is talking about consumer privacy, the same issue exists internally at organizations. Ultimately it’s about transparency. Are you creating an environment where employees trust? Trust goes a long way in creating a safe environment for online learning.

What Does Privacy Mean in an Age of Big Data? Audrey Walters, November 2, 2011

DevLearn’s Content Curation

Janet Clarey — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 08:00:46 +0000

In the event you want to catch up with everything that happened at the eLearning Guild’s DevLearn conference this week you don’t have to read through a ton of blogs and tweets. It’s all aggregated here and David Kelly has also posted many conference resources from the backchannel. Thanks!

Top 100 Tools for Learning Pros

Janet Clarey — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:00:13 +0000

Jane Hart recently published her annual Top 100 Tools for Learning Professionals. For 2011 Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs, Skype and WordPress are the top 5. She includes the purpose of the the tool in the descriptions.

Link: Top 100 Tools for Learning Professionals 2011, Jane Hart, November 13, 2011

ARG – Canaries in a Coalmine

Janet Clarey — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:00:06 +0000

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has come out with an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) called Canaries in a Coal Mine. Created by EdGE (Educational Gaming Environments), the game starts with a futuristic video which, after viewing, players then act on messages in the ‘real world.’ In the game, players can also play some mini-games about birds including Name That Tune. There’s a map of community members and bird sightings, chat, forums, new feed, and activities. The mission of the game is to work as a group to solve the mystery behind the video message. It appears to be a work in progress. Registration is required to play. EdGE is located at TERC (Technical Education Research Centers) a not-for-profit math and science education organization and received funding for the came from the National Science Foundation. An interesting new learning environment worth exploring.

The eLearning Atlas

Janet Clarey — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:00:32 +0000

Ooh. Aah.

How about a map of the eLearning industry with all the products on the market? OK, maybe not all but over 3,000. And what if it came with a commenting tool and a way to filter tools?

From the site: “The eLearning Atlas is a free service brought to you by Rustici Software, LLC and SCORM.com. The purpose of the eLearning Atlas is to utilize our uniquely neutral position in the market to bring together all of the products and vendors in the eLearning world.”

I take back anything negative I’ve ever said about SCORM : )

Let’s hope it doesn’t get all mucked up with self-serving and/or unproductive comments.

Link: Atlas in Wonderland, Rustici Software, Jenna Lawing and Chris Tompkins 10/26/11

Photo: Toy Story, Disney

The Value of Public bPortfolios

Janet Clarey — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:00:30 +0000

David Hopkins used the time waiting for his iOS5 update more productively than I did (my nails are red). He read (and thankfully wrote) about an academic paper on public bPortfolios (blogging portfolios). Dubbed in the abstract as a “holistic alternative portfolio assessment system”, bPortfolios provide a way to reflect on academic (and professional) work in a socially interactive environment well beyond the walls of a college (or organization). So, yeah as I said, blogging. David goes on to talk about the efficient, inexpensive, scalable thing that WordPress is and wonders if bPortfolios will kick ePortfolios, which never really got much traction, to the curb or just muck up the ongoing discussion about engagement. What I liked about the paper is the mention of metacognition (in this case critical reflection) applied to professional practice. While this is an academic study, the idea behind it applies just as much to corporate L&D – it’s important to document your learning not just what you learned. And (as they note) it’s better when the public can see it. The whole idea is to make the process of critical reflection as simple as possible.

Link: ‘ePortfolios are out, ‘bPortfolios’ are in (apparently), David Hopkins, 10/25/11

Innovation Isn’t Always What You Think It Is

Janet Clarey — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:00:30 +0000

I haven’t tried to disable a zombie with a screwdriver but I have used PowerPoint for telling stories (vs. just using it as presentation software). That’s the gist (kinda) of Tom Kuhlmann’s post on rapid e-learning tools. Tom illustrates how you can extend tools – like using PowerPoint to create Flash files that can be used in other applications, using labels as clickable choices, and using a quiz application to build a branching scenario. Innovation exists everywhere. And, as Tom notes, the innovation often comes from user communities. Are you a member of the communities for the tools you use? If not, why?

Link: Are You Getting the Most Value Out of Your Rapid E-Learning Tools? Tom Kuhlmann 10/25/11

Tasting Webinars

Janet Clarey — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:42:43 +0000

Lisa Neal Gualtieri, Editor-in-Chief of eLearn Magazine previously wrote about scented learning after she picked up a story about scented webinars.
Here’s another interesting webinar idea, from the Constellation Academy of Wine. The webinars are part of a blended learning solution I wrote about yesterday. I think this is an excellent way to educate. Of course, it’s probably a BYO (bring your own) wine event.
Here’s a link to a recorded webinar about Sauvignon Blanc . It’s interesting that the instructor uses such descriptions as “smells like cat litter.”

I imagine this would be a good way to provide training to anyone who needs to use the sense of taste in their job. Of course the product would need to be readily available. It would even be great for consumers.

Top 10 Do’s to Create Awesome eLearning

Janet Clarey — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:12:27 +0000

Andrew Scivally and Shawn Scivally are the authors of the eLearning Brothers blog. Recently back from the eLearning Guild’s Learning Solutions Conference and Expo, they share their Top 10 Do’s to Create Awesome eLearning presentation. It’s a 55-page download with simple graphics to illustrate their points about text, style, images, graphics, and follow-up.

The primary take-away for me is that eLearning doesn’t have to be complex to be good. Enjoy and thanks guys.