eLearning Weekly

I used to go out and buy domain names whenever I had an idea for a start-up or a new project. Over time, I’ve accumulated several decent domain names, but I haven’t followed through with all of my ideas… So I thought I’d post all of them here. Please leave a comment on this post if you’re interested in making an offer for any of these. I’ve highlighted the ones that I think have the most potential. (I hope this doesn’t come across as slimy; my goal isn’t to gouge people. I’d rather see these names be put to good use.)

You’ll see that all the domain names are just place-holders at this time; no sites have been built.

eLearning Domain Names For Sale

• eLearningInsider.com
• eLearningConnections.com
• eLearningExamples.com
• eLearningConnections.net
• eLearningMonthly.com

mLearning Domain Names For Sale

• mLearningSoftware.com
• mLearningSolutions.com
• mLearningExperts.com
• mLearningInfo.com
• mLearningExamples.com
• mLearningGuild.com
• mLearningHelp.com
• mLearningMonthly.com
• mLearningPulse.com
• mLearningWeekly.com

Apple / mLearning Domain Names For Sale

• iPhoneMLearning.com
• iPhoneLearningSolutions.com
• iPodLearningSolutions.com
• iPodMLearning.com

Again, if you’re interested, just leave me a comment and I’ll get in touch with you privately.

I’m in an interesting position right now: I get to work on designing our organization’s mobile learning (mLearning) strategy and I get to develop mLearning applications, but things aren’t working 100% as I would’ve imagined. I’m finding there are more roadblocks that I expected and they’re popping up in unusual places. I want to document my experience here…and I appreciate any feedback / tips you can provide.

So, here’s what I’ve recently learned:

• If you’re thinking about implementing mLearning, make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons. Don’t use mLearning because you think it would be cool, or because somebody else is doing it. Otherwise you’ll find yourself wandering around with the proverbial hammer, looking for nails to hit. I recommend that you research mLearning a bit and then see it as another tool in your toolbox. Use it when it is the best solution for the situation.
• The hardest part isn’t the technology. The hardest part has to do with politics, logistics, and security. Be prepared to involve several departments and get ready to face barriers. Just stay creative and look for ways to work around these road blocks. Read case studies to see how other companies have overcome obstacles and seek out blogs, articles, etc. Share the info with peers (ahem).
• To SCORM or not to SCORM, that is the question. When developing mLearning applications, decide early on if you need to track usage in your LMS. If so, you’ll need to research something like Pocket SCORM or OnPoint’s CellCast Solution. Fair warning, though, this definitely adds complexity to your project. You may even want to consider the SCORM tracking to be the second phase of your mLearning deployment.
• Know your audience and the devices they own. Create your mLearning solutions based on this info. If your learners have a wide array of devices, aim for the lowest common denominator: Use voice and text-based solutions rather than fancy animations, web-based content, and downloadable applications. There are podcasting solutions that allow for delivery via phone call, and there are SMS text-based learning solutions that can be quite effective, too. Remember Occam’s razor: "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best."

I hope all of this doesn’t come off as being too negative, but I’m trying to be very open about my experience. Please chime in - I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Over the past few weeks I’ve built a few small mobile learning (mLearning) applications and I’ve learned several lessons along the way. Here’s a brief recap:

• First, as I’ve mentioned before, the point of mLearning is not to create a 45-minute course that can be accessed on a cell phone. mLearning is best used for performance support: quick, easy look-up tools for your learners are a good place to start.
• Second, it’s easier than I originally thought. I’ve found that a small web page - when formatted properly - can be the simplest way to start with mLearning. Give it a shot: Create a basic HTML page, put it on a web server, and then go to it using your phone (if the phone is web-enabled). That’s it. Of course, if you add images and Flash, things get more interesting. Take it one step at a time and you’ll see that it’s not too bad. (Now, don’t get me wrong, there are some parts of implementing mLearning that get complicated, but I’ve found the hardest parts are related to politics and logistics.)
• Third, people get really excited when you demo what you’ve created. After doing a demo of your work, ask people to start thinking of additional mLearning tools that would be helpful. I got some great ideas from colleagues just by giving them a quick demo and then following up with questions. I kept hearing, "It would be really cool if you could (do XYZ)."
• Finally, Adobe’s Device Central is very helpful for testing. Device Central is an emulator that allows you to test your mLearning apps on your PC and see how they’ll render on a variety of cell phones.

Have you tried building mLearning apps? If so, share some tips here!

If you’re interested in Mobile Learning (mLearning), check out Clark Quinn’s free white paper titled, "mLearning Devices: Peformance To Go." (Get the PDF or read his blog post.) Clark presents his theory of mLearning and explains why mLearning is important to consider as an option for our learners. He states that mLearning is more about doing than about learning. He says, "We learn to accomplish something: to get better at things we need to do, to better perform those things we want to do, to be more effective, more efficient, smarter, even wiser."

Clark also dispels several common misconceptions about mLearning, including:

• My employees don’t have mobile learning devices
• Those small screens are too limiting
• Too hard/costly to program these things
• Limited to (smart) phones
• I don’t know what (devices) employees have
• Mobile devices aren’t secure

Clark then outlines the types of mobile devices that are often used for mLearning, including cell phones, digital media players (ex. iPods), GPS units, handheld gaming systems (ex. PlayStation portable, Nintendo DS), and PDAs. He avoids classifying laptops as mobile learning devices, mainly because they function the same as a desktop PC when internet connectivity is available. (As an aside, I once heard Judy Brown state that mLearning takes place on portable devices that are within arm’s reach and have untethered power supply that can last for at least a day. I thought that was a pretty solid definition.)

The white paper then goes into some of the specific functions and connectivity options available in mobile devices (ex. GSM, CDMA, WiMax, IR, Bluetooth, WiFi). It’s a great little summary, especially if you’re not familiar with these technologies.

I have high hopes for mLearning, but I still have a few logistical concerns about it. They include…

• Do all employees at your organization have a mobile device (ex. a cell phone)? Sure, I know most people do, but will an organization buy a phone for the few that don’t currently own one?
• Will organizations make their employees use their personal devices (phones) to access mLearning materials? What if people aren’t comfortable with this?
• What if employees don’t have a data plan on their personal phone? Will the organization pay for their data plan so they can access mLearning materials?
• Is it unfair to make mLearning materials available to a lucky few in the organization who have capable devices? Could the left-out employees complain if they don’t have access to the same learning materials as everybody else?

Organizations are working through these scenarios now. I’m guessing best practices will emerge in the coming months. Please chime in if you have thoughts on this!

The AG08 conference wrapped up nicely yesterday with a great keynote from Stefan Sagmeister (of Sagmeister, Inc.), who discussed several of the concepts from his book, Things I have learned in my life so far. Here’s a quick run-through of the things he’s learned:

1. Helping other people helps me.
2. Having guts always works out for me.
3. Thinking that life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
4. Organising a charity group is surprisingly easy.
5. Being not truthful always works against me.
6. Everything I do always comes back to me.
7. Assuming is stifling.
8. Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
9. Over time I get used to everything and start taking for granted.
10. Money does not make me happy.
11. My dreams have no meaning.
12. Keeping a diary supports personal development.
13. Trying to look good limits my life.
14. Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.
15. Worrying solves nothing.
16. Complaining is silly. Either act or forget.
17. Everybody thinks they are right.
18. If I want to explore a new direction professionally, it is helpful to try it out for myself first.
19. Low expectations are a good strategy.
20. Everybody who is honest is interesting.

While Stefan didn’t tie these much back to learning, he focused on the overall importance of good design and good practice, while emphasizing what’s important: exploring creativity, doing the right thing, being brave, and working hard. His book is described on Amazon as "a complex blend of personal revelation, art, and design—an eclectic mix of visual audacity and sound advice." This was certainly inspirational stuff.

I was only able to attend one session Thursday morning, and it was David Metcalf’s Instructional Design for m-Learning. David has done some great work in this area, but I think the true impact of mLearning will come in the next 2 years or so. And I still have several questions related to mLearning such as: If an organization wants to roll out mLearning, how can they ensure all employees have a cell phone (without purchasing phones for some individuals)? Will organizations require all employees have a cell phone? If an employee has a personal cell phone, will they be required to pay for a data plan in order to be able to access mLearning? Or would the organization pick up the tab for the data plan? (This would definitely increase the rollout and maintenance cost for the organization.) I’m anxious to see how these decisions are made. There’s so much potential.

Again, this was a great conference. I met tons of smart people and had plenty of intriguing discussions. Now I’m looking forward to the next eLearning Guild Annual Gathering, which will also be hosted in Orlando, the week of March 10th, 2009. Now, I just need to think of a great idea for a session to present at AG09…

Another successful day, but I’m so worn out! I’m ready for a 24-hour hibernation…

This morning’s keynote was great. It was John Patrick discussing the Future of the Internet. He didn’t necessarily apply the keynote much to eLearning, but it was very interesting and thought-provoking. I’ll let Inge de Waard fill you in. She did a great job of live-blogging the session, and she managed to grab some video, too.

I attended these sessions today:

• The Current and Future State of SCORM and Other e-Learning Standards (Rovy Branon)
• Scanning the Globe: Connecting your Digital World to the World Around You (Brent Schlenker)

My session, Working Harmoniously with your IT Department (Yes, It Can Be Done!), went well. We only had about 12 people in the room, but the discussions were great. Everyone(!) participated and we got some good thoughts out on the table. (Note: Many sessions were lightly-attended today. It was sunny outside and I suspect many people chose to hang out at DisneyWorld… )

Here are a few scattered thoughts from today:

• When SCORM is discussed, people get out their pitchforks and start inching toward presenters. Evidently, there’s still some animosity over its inability to be completely plug-and-play. Too many vendors have implemented loose interpretations of the SCORM runtime, and eLearning developers are the lucky ones who have to troubleshoot the shortcomings. Rovy Branon from the ADL Co-Lab was brave enough to field some questions, but unfortunately there aren’t any big answers on the horizon.
• SCORM sequencing is a bit too buggy and/or complicated to be easily used. I’ve felt this way for a while, but this was validated today.
• SCORM will soon be taken over by an international non-profit organization called Learning-Education-Training Systems Interoperability (LETSI).

I promised to put my session handouts up on this site, but I probably won’t get to it for several days. If you’d like a copy, please email me at bjschone at gmail dot com.

I’ve been hanging out with Tracy Hamilton (from Discovery Through eLearning), Gary Hegenbart (from eLearning Development News), and Mark Chrisman (from badsquare). It’s nice to meet everybody in person… A few of us are headed out to an Irish pub tonight. Should be fun!

Day 1 of AG08 was busy and completely wore me out - but it was all worth it! The day started with an early discussion at one the Breakfast Byte sessions and ended with dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant with some great newfound friends.

Here are the sessions I attended:

• Positioning your Careers in Social Networking and Collaborative Learning (Ray Jimenez)
• Learning 2.0: Harnessing the Potential of Contextual Informal Learning (Janhavi Padture)
• Mobile Learning Today and Tomorrow (Judy Brown)
• (Briefly attended) Tips & Tricks for Adobe Captivate and Presenter (Silke Fleischer)
• (Briefly attended) Storyboarding for e-Learning Video Production (Steve Haskin)

Here a quick wrap-up of the various thoughts I picked up throughout the day:

• Keith Sawyer’s opening keynote was pretty good, but I think many of us were expecting more specifics. He discussed innovation and how we can better hone collaboration efforts to be more innovative. Much of his discussion covered high-level education concepts that I think many instructional designers have mastered. I wished we could’ve seen more examples or heard more tips for applying this to our organizations. Still, it was pretty good. And he is a professor at Washington University in St. Louis (not too far from where I grew up ).
• I twittered about this, but I get the feeling that the overall world of eLearning is shifting more toward learning and performance, with technology in the back seat. We’re no longer as thrilled and ecstatic over the latest tools. We’re now looking more closely to see how tools can better help us achieve our goals. And we realize that technology won’t solve every problem. I think eLearning is maturing, in a good way.
• I found out there’s an Enterprise version of Facebook. Interesting. I know many companies are interested in Facebook, but are afraid to let their employee data outside of their firewall. If the enterprise edition can be installed locally, I think this’ll interest many people. (Note: I didn’t have time to verify or research this, so take it with a grain of salt for now.)
• Many people are wondering if the LMS is dead, or will die soon. I think the role of the LMS will shift to become less important in the next few years, as people realize the value of social learning tools, such as wikis, tagging, social bookmarking, blogging, etc. We’ll probably have LMSs around forever to track important training, such as compliance, legal, and safety training. Legal departments have to have that information somewhere.
• I visited with Judy Brown and David Metcalf. They’re both doing great things with mLearning, and I would love to somehow work with them. Judy has many of her presentations posted on her web site. Great stuff!
• One interesting note related to mLearning: People will scroll vertically on their mobile devices, but they hate to scroll side-to-side. Simple observation, but impactful. Need to keep that in mind… Also, check out this mLearning page validator: mr.dev.mobi.
• I keep running into Mark Chrisman of the badsquare blog. We’ve yet to sit down and have a good conversation. I’m hoping we can meet up soon.

(Don’t forget - I’m micro-blogging about the conference on Twitter…)

Well, here’s another reason why I may consider getting an iPhone… Adobe’s CEO, Shantanu Narayen, recently spoke about developing a Flash player for the iPhone during the Adobe Q1 investor relations call. Narayen said:

“Well, you know, we really believe that Flash is synonymous with the Internet and frankly anybody who wants to browse the Web and experience the Web in all its glory really needs Flash support. I mean, we were very excited about the announcement from Windows mobile adoption of Flash on their devices and the fact that we’ve shipped a half billion devices now, non-PC devices — so we’re also committed to bringing the Flash experience to the iPhone and we’ll work with Apple. We’ve evaluated the SDK we can now start to develop the Flash Player ourselves. And, we think it benefits our joint customers so we want to work with Apple to bring that capability to the device.”

Now, I won’t claim the iPhone is the ultimate eLearning/mLearning tool, but the addition of the Flash player certainly gives it TONS more possibilities. I just hope they find a way to make it easy on developers (ex. no special licensing). And I hope it’s a full version of the Flash player, not a lite version.

Found via Silke’s blog. Read the full scoop at the Flash Devices blog.

Several people have written about their predictions for eLearning in 2008. Many predictions are the same as last year: more use of open source LMSs (especially Moodle), more use of immersive learning simulations (games), the continuing rise of eLearning 2.0 tools, and more use of mLearning. I agree with these predictions for the most part, but one prediction has really stood out for me. Jane Hart submitted her predictions to Kineo this year - and I really think she’s on target. Jane predicts that we’ll see more "short bursts" of eLearning:

(We will see)…more embedding of these “short bursts” of e-learning into the workflow for performance support - really making them “just-in-time” and “on demand”

I see the industry moving further away from the traditional course model and more toward this on-the-fly model (which basically means job aids and electronic performance support systems). Sure, this is related to rapid eLearning (using simplified tools that are aimed toward non-techie developers), but we’re providing support to the learner at the time of need instead of placing the final output an LMS. I won’t say this is a revolutionary idea, but it’s an idea that makes sense and it feels like a natural progression in the evolution of eLearning. I think many of us assumed that the longer an eLearning course takes to build the more effective it’ll be. Of course, we know this isn’t true, and I think we’re ready to flip this idea on its head. Sure, tracking usage of these short bursts may be an issue because they’ll operate outside of an LMS, but as long as it helps the learner, should we care?

Good prediction, Jane. I’m anxious to see where this goes.

I made it to San Jose and attended my first day of DevLearn 2007 today. So far so good! I’m staying at the Fairmont Hotel, where the event is being held, and I’m quite impressed. As always, The Guild comes through.

Here’s a recap of my first day:

Keynote: Sir Ken Robinson

What a great way to open the conference! Simply put, Sir Ken gets 5 out of 5 stars from me. His keynote focused on the premise that creativity is being ignored and even squandered by the corporate world. Unfortunately, I think he’s right. He cited several studies that show people "grow out" of creativity as they reach adulthood. How unfortunate… However, he encourages folks to snap out of this funk to ultimately improve how we live and grow. It probably sounds corny (unless you were there)…

Sir Ken has a book called Out Of Our Minds. Pick it up. Even though I haven’t read it, I can 99% guarantee that you’ll love it. Sir Ken gave a similar talk at the TED conference in 2006. Check it out here. He’s amazing. (Tony Karrer also blogged about Sir Ken’s keynote.)

I attended 3 sessions today. Here’s a quick wrap-up:

Session 1: Instructional Design for mLearning (David Metcalf)

I’m pretty new to mLearning. I think it’s a great idea (in theory), but I think it’s trickier to implement (in practice). David did a great job of showing examples and discussing ways in which mLearning projects have failed…in order to show what can be successful. He provided several great examples; I’ll post links soon.

Session 2: State of the eLearning Industry (Brent Schlenker and Steve Wexler)

Brent Schlenker and Steve Wexler discussed the findings of The eLearning Guild’s research staff over the past year. They covered everything from salaries of eLearning professionals to the effectiveness of simulations and mLearning. This is awesome info. These guys should be applauded for the work they’ve done. If you’re not a member of The Guild, you should join just so you can access this information!!

Session 3: Applying Narrative Storytelling Approaches to Instructional Design (Carolyn Lee and Laura Kratochvil)

This session focused on incorporating storytelling in eLearning. This isn’t a comfortable area for all people because it requires creative thinking and storytelling skills that aren’t always easy to come by. Carolyn and Laura presented several ways to structure a story, using methodologies such as the hero model, anti-hero model, and several other ways of structuring stories to enhance learning. Good stuff…

The best part…

Just like The eLearning Guild’s Annual Gathering conference in Boston earlier this year, I’m finding that most learning comes from mingling with colleagues during breakfast and lunch sessions (and everywhere in between). I met 10+ people in my first day, and I know that number will continue to grow. We’ve discussed pros and cons of different tools, vendors, and methodologies. This is why I come to these events… Great stuff.

(FYI - Clark Quinn is blogging about DevLearn here. Brent Schlenker is doing a good job, too.)