31 Days: Days 22, 23 & 24

I've been seriously lagging in this 31 Day Blog Challenge. For me, the Challenge has worn thin.

The tasks are relentless -- every single day there's something new to do. And yet I feel compelled to continue and fulfill my duty to my fellow Challenge Participants.

Rather than tackle the last nine days in one really long post, I think I'll chunk things out a bit. For my sanity as well as yours.

Day 22: Catch Readers Up on the Basics of Your Blog

As your readership grows, new folks will be wandering in. The idea behind this task is make sure your new readers know what you're all about.

Some key questions Darren suggests you write about: Why did you start your blog? How is it designed to be used? How can readers connect/subscribe? How can readers get more involved? Where should new readers start?

I recently did this in my About Learning Visions page, which is now displayed prominently at the top of my sidebar.

The idea would be to periodically (say every couple of months) write a post answering one or two of the questions above to let any new readers know just what you're all about as a blogger. I'll keep this mind.

Task sort of completed, but one to think about in an ongoing fashion.

Day 23: Go on a Dead Link Hunt

Also known as "Link Rot", this is the phenomenon when items that you link to return the dreaded "Page not Found Error". So the answer is to periodically check your site to make sure that all your links are still valid and active.

Rather than go through each page and test each link manually, there are a number of tools you can use that will spider your site and check for links.

I tried Dead-Links.com and at first couldn't seem to get it to work for my Blogger blog. It only got as far as my main page and returned a link not found error. I came back again today and tried again. This time it seemed to "work." Dead-Links found what were supposedly a bunch of dead links, but I clicked on most of them and they worked just fine.

When Dead-Links wasn't working at first, I tried Google Webmaster tools. This was new to me and a nice discovery. Turns out there's a lot of tools in there, including a view of who's linking to you. I found a number of blogs that had linked to mine without my ever knowing!

If you're using Google Webmaster to check for dead links, you'll first need to claim and verify your site. I had to add a wee bit of code into my blog template. Once you've done that, go to the Diagnostics tab and choose "Web Crawl".

As far as I can tell, Google didn't find any dead links on my site. But this may simply be a dumb user not fully understanding the data I see.

So I think I can say task completed and also complete waste of my time.

Day 24: Do a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Audit
This is exactly the kind of task I hate and as Darren notes, definitely makes my head spin. The idea here is to make sure you're writing your posts in the best possible way to ensure they get picked up by the most readers and you get more hits and a better ranking.

Darren has a good post on the topic: Search Engine Optimization for Blogs -- SEO that you should read if you're interested in maximizing your search results.

"My main advice to people wanting to optimize their blogs for Search Engines is to keep it simple. Start with quality content on a specific topic and then tweak it using the best current advice going around."

I'll keep it as simple as that.

Task completed (in a completely half-assed way).

If you're just tuning in and would like to track my progress (or lack thereof) in the other days of the challenge, you can read more:

31 Days: Days 17, 18, 19 & 21
31 Days: Days 12, 13, 14, 15 & 16
31 Days: Days 8, 9, & 10
31 Days: Days 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 (I got my numbering off somewhere along the way)
31 Days: Days 1, 2 & 3

And check in with the other 31 Day Bloggers who are taking part in the great Chocolate Challenge:

Tim Davies
Eklavya
Kate Foy
Christine Martell
Michele Martin
Frances McLean
Alex Miller
Kate Quinn
Sue Waters
Laura Whitehead
Al Upton and the miniLegends

e-Learning Guild Mobile Learning Report

The e-Learning Guild presentation of the most recent 360 Research Report on Mobile Learning.

Presenters include:

• Steve Wexler: e-Learning Guild's research guru
• Brent Schlenker: e-Learning Guild Evangelist. Blogger. Has been in the Educational Technology field for 10+ years (mostly at Intel). Passionate about new technologies and how we use them in the learning and training space.
• Judy Brown: University of Wisconsin.
• David Metcalf: in Sweden, but usually in Florida. Researcher at the Institute for Simulation & Training in Southern Florida. Wrote a book on mobile learning (M-Learning: Mobile E-Learning). Has been working with Judy Brown, who is also quite passionate about m-learning.
• Clark Quinn: Has been doing this for 30 years. Loves any new technologies that helps us achieve our goals. Mobile helps us meet needs that we haven't been able to touch before.
• Angela van Barneveld: Ottawa, Ontario Canada. Corporate Training Space -- technical training. Her company has implemented mobile access to data. She's beenl looking into mobile learning for the past 3-4 years.

250 page report crammed into 45 minutes of banter and 15 minutes of questions.

Note: surveys are ALWAYS available, so always getting new data. And if you haven't completed the survey, you can do it right now. And you can update your data as you implement new approaches.

What is m-Learning? (Panel)

Committee couldn't really decide if they should include laptops in the survey discussion.

Content that helps people perform their tasks better.

Taking content you're already developing and delivering it on a mobile device...it's not about putting a full course on a thing. Reusing your content in flexible ways.

Definition of mLearning:

"An activity that allows individuals to be more productive when consuming, interacting, or creating information, mediated through a compact digital portable device that the individual carries on a regular basis and has reliable connectivity and fits in a pocket or purse."

Survey Findings (Steve)

Text messaging used much more outside of US and Canada.
64.39% used text messaging on their mobile/smart phone.

Adoption within organization:

• 33% say they have no plans to do m-learning in their organization (international said 24%, u.s. said 35%, canada said 37%) -- Steve predicts these numbers will change over the next year.

Any industries leading the charge? Telecommunications, Healthcare were at the top, although there were others.

Barriers to adoption:

• Screens are too small (31%) -- the iPhone may make that issue go away, especially when it gets Flash & Flash Lite
• Content developed for other media does not transfer well (43%)

Increase learner/user access and availability (46%)
Accomodate leaner/user needs (31%)
Reduce costs (20%)

Do you believe you have received a good ROI (Very good ROI 20%)

What members want:

• A standard set of tools to develop m-learning (63%)
• Auto-adapt to diff devices (56%) - that what you develop will work across multiple devices.
• Great examples of m-learning (55%)
• How to integrate m-learning with LMS (60%) -- included in the report as a Case Study.

Examples (David/Judy)

• Performance Support -- the way to go and the proper place for m-learning
• Review or Reinforcement -- following models of Will Thalheimer for optimal reinforcement to use m-learning as an adjunct to main delivery of training.
• Knowledge Acquisition -- searches
• Coaching or Mentoring -- reaching out to other people and connecting to other people (not just repositories of inf..knowing who to talk to).
• Quick Updates
• Data Collection -- producer of information
• Audio/Video Instruction -- where appropriate (iPod)
• Decision Support -- expert systems or artificial intelligence (AI) or a step-by-step process that is interactive to give you info that you need.
  

Showed some screen shots of examples.

• Performance Support: Sify eLearning
• see more examples at mlearnopedia.com
• Review or reinforcement: StudyCell Flashcard
• Pilots doing 30 days test that report back to their LM -- pocket Scorm.
• Knowledge acquisition: C-Shock Mobile Game (integrates a game being developed in the UK to combat culture shock for international students...opensource...could be used for new employee hires, campus tours, etc.)
• Knowledge acquisition: Mobile Panflu Prep (carrier specific ) -- created for healthcare workers and is available for downloads.
• iPod examples
• Business English in Japan

Report includes examples and case studies.

Design Considerations (Clark)
How do you redesign the way that you design?

• Not about putting an entire course onto a mobile device. Don't want to make user go through a large amount of content. Instead, take elements (intro, practice, exit) -- and think about how you can reuse them in creative ways. Could you stream out a motivating example to learners before they come to a learning event?
• Could you provide reference charts available for reference out in the field?
• Scaffolded practice -- what is the optimum time to space it out? We know that spacing it out over time can lead to greater retention?
• Can we make job aids available through mobile devices?
• Can you call someone up after the event in the realworld -- get mentorship and guidance?
• Reactivation: pump out some extra practice or stories showing how it's working (to remind user).

Small packets (learning objects): repackaged to provide just-in-time.

Problem Solving: what might we do proactively to meet needs in the field? Can you make answers available through mobile device (as people Google, prarie-dogging in a cubicle farm to ask someone the question). If the answer doesn't exist, can you help them solve it? Could you take a picture of a situation and upload it to someone to collaborate on how to solve a problem? Bring in collaborators to help you solve a problem? Can you quickly upload the info so that others can quickly find it? (e.g., blogging from your iPhone).

It's just Different Ways to think about it. Ways to help people be much more productive.

What would make them (your learners) more productive?

• Can we send quick txt messaging - doesn't need to be perfect prose. Shouldn't be highly dense, more bulleted.
• What media can you show -- a video about repair?
• Sales people can't remember all the products -- can you provide a quick tool to find the right product for a customer?

The idea is that we need to think differently about the content and how we can support the learners using these devices.

Business Drivers -- Why Do This? (David)

• There will be 9x more smart phones in 2011 than there are today (PDAs, blackberries)
• M-Learning supports best practices in pedagogy (being able to reinforce content)
  
• Just-in-time vs. formal learning
• From mobile consumer to mobile producer
• It's a key issue to be able to integrate with many back-end business systems.
  

The iPhone (Brent -- of course!)

Where does the iPhone fit into this connected puzzle of technologies -- to improve the effectiveness of our learning.

No longer about seat time -- how long we make people sit and page through content. M-Learning gives us another way to deliver content to people when they need it.

• Brent's iPhone worked flawlessly out of the box (vs. his old Treo)
• Everything goes in and out of your Internet connection -- and you want to have a consistent and great experience whether you're connecting at your desktop or your mobile device.
• But...it's not perfect....can't do Flash right now and javascript is limited....but it's the best solution right now for getting content to people.
• The iPod for "passing" learning.
• The iPod is now integrated with the iPhone, so you have one device. You can listen to a podcast, get your data -- and then connect to the Internet to find the URL that's mentioned in the podcast.
• The NEXT iPod will be even better...
  

Getting up to Speed (Angela)
When should I use m-learning and when shouldn't I use it?

Primary challenge is to change how you're thinking. Old paradigm of what learning is -- we're moving away from a formal learning event to what person needs right now to perform and do.

Technology is unbelievable and can be overwhelming.

How to get up to speed:

• See/read what others have been doing
• Play with examples and tools
• Ask questions
• Participate

Words of wisdom from those who have gone before us:

• Make sure people know how to use the device
• Make access to info easy
• Keep learning bits short
• Not everything should be ported to mobile device (can be way too congested).
• Instructional Design still applies -- focus first on performance needs, then the technology.

Future of m-Learning (David)

• Mobile consumer vs. mobile producer
• Things you could not do before -- use of multimedia and personalization...
• Augmented reality --- so you can have location based learning (point your camera at a starbucks cup, hit send, it will send you the closest locations -- or financial info)
• Just-in-time, just-in-place learning in mixed media

Can the US catch up? Why is the US so far behind?

• Too many standards
• Pricing models (in Sweden, they don't pay for incoming calls, just outgoing calls).

How to Get Free Stuff (Brent)

If you take the online survey, you get a free summary of the report....

• Go to the elearning Guild website
• You must be logged in (so sign up today to be a free associate member of the elearning Guild)
• Go into your profile and find the Mobile Learning Survey for free.

Check out mLearnopedia.

In July, I wrote a post with notes from the eLearning Guild's Synchronous Learning Report.

3D & Serious Games

My company has some experience doing 3D modeling and simulations for government clients, so I found this recent acquisition of this 3D learning company by Lockheed Martin quite interesting. The equation of 3D graphics with "serious games" is something to note.

Personally, I wouldn't want to be acquired by such a behemoth, nor would I want to focus solely on government contracts. I can't stand all the paperwork.

Building Community in Second Life: Renaissance Island

As you know, I've been trying to walk-the-talk and experiment a bit with Second Life, role my virtual sleeves up and see what all the fuss is about. Last week, I visited Renaissance Island and wrote about it in My Second Second Life Experience.

This has sparked a little exchange in the comments between myself and one of the active members of the of Renaissance Island community. I asked Diogenes Kuhr to talk about how she (or is it a he?) had become involved in Ren Island:

I became involved in Ren Island like most people did..they happened to find out about (I did through a good friend who did a lot of the build) some time hanging around and enjoying it, and then volunteered to do stuff. This last weekend, I volunteered to represent Queen Elizabeth I at the christening of the new galleon and the team, was kind enough to let me give it a shot. We had a blast, and learned a lot in the process (who would have guessed that a Tudor era ships christening was real different from the version we are familiar with today?)

Anyway, the team is sort of informal, although there are a couple of people from the Alliance Library system who are the primary team leaders, so working with us is perhaps part o their job. Other team leaders are some of the people who have been working on it as volunteers for some time.

The group that is active includes people from different backgrounds, including teachers, librarians, a museum guy, and people who work in or have retired various businesses, including customer service, hospitality, and tech related things. The group ebbs and flows and people come and go, which is one of the interesting things about it. It is very much an experiment and definitely an delightful way for folks from disparate locations and backgrounds to come together and share ideas, opinions and experiences.

I think this is a really interesting story of how spontaneous community happens. People with similar interests are connecting in a virtual space to create a virtual world in which they learn about another time and place. Informal learning at its best.

Thanks, Dio!

Kineo's August Rapid e-Learning Newsletter

If you've been following my blog for awhile, then you already know how I feel about the folks at Kineo. They provide some fabulous (free) resources to the e-Learning community and have just been nominated the "Best New Kids on the Block" by the Brighton and Hove Business Awards.

This month's newsletter is no exception. Here are a few highlights:

Sustaining Performance in Rapid e-Learning includes some great tips and ideas for how to create effective follow-up activities to ensure knowledge transfer on the job. Although it's geared towards "rapid e-Learning" efforts, these guidelines can be applied to any type of training.

They've also got an audio interview with Dr. Itiel Dror who discusses the brain and e-Learning. Dr. Dror is a cognitive scientist, who urges instructional designers to keep the focus on the learner rather than the learning materials and to design the learning experience to the human brain.

Dror states that learning designers shouldn't worry so much about learning theories, which are too abstract and don't guide us in how to design learning. Instead, we should learn about the actual mechanisms in the brain.

Some highlights from the interview:

• Understand cognitive load so you can optimize the presentation of materials to the learner and increase the capacity of learners to acquire new information.
• Get into the learner's shoes.
• Learn ways to help people learn more in less time: use exaggeration to burn concepts and ideas into memory.

Dr. Dror's bottom line: to optimize the learning experience, learning designers must understand the cognitive systems in the brain.

You can read old Kineo newsletters (check out the June newsletter and listen to an interview with me!) and subscribe at the Kineo Newsletter page.

Half of Companies Blocking Facebook

Christy Tucker has been musing on Social Networking as LMS: Problems and Opportunities. One real problem is corporate fear of social networking tools.

This August 21 article posted by Sharon Gaudin in Information Week reports that Half of Companies are Blocking Facebook:

"Employers are increasingly blocking access to Facebook because they're concerned about the time wasted and the information leaked when workers use social networks on company time."

I'm no Facebook super-user and I haven't experienced a huge time suck from it, but I suppose it's possible. But what information is it that is actually being "leaked" through Facebook by these irresponsible employees ?

The article gives no specifics, making me wonder if the threat is real or just imagined by the corporate control freaks.

Update: Also be sure to check out this Facebook post over at the Read/Write Web that follows this same "study." I thought the comments were insightful. (Thanks to Jane Hart for pointing this one out.)

31 Days: Days 17, 18, 19, 20, & 21

If you've been following along with the 31 Day Challenge, you may know that it's starting to wear thin. Nevertheless, I'm trying to keep up.

Day 17: Run a Stumble Upon Advertising Campaign

Not my thing. Next.

Day 18: Create a Sneeze Page and Propel Readers Deep Within Your Blog

This task is about spreading germs. The germs of ideas and wisdom, that is.

The goal of this task is to write a post that links back to some of your greatest hits, unearthing those old treasures from way back when.

I've been looking at which search terms come up as readers find their ways to this blog. "Getting started in instructional design" seems to be a recurrent topic. A few months back I was on an instructional design writing rampage. To complete this task, I attempted to write a summary with some links to my story and other useful instructional design resources.

Day 19: Respond to Comments on Your Blog

I think I do a pretty good job of engaging with those who comment here. It's at least half the fun. Then again, I'm not trying to stay on top of hundreds of comments a day.

Day 20: Survey Your Readers

Ask 'em what they want to read from you or what would be more helpful.

So. I'm not going to bother with a full-blown survey. Way too much effort at this point for this particular gal. (The other Chocolate Challenge participants are holding off on this until December. I may join in then -- we'll see.)

But I will ask my dear readers (informally, of course) if you have any thoughts as to how I can make this blog better? Particularly if you're a reader from the e-Learning field. Is there information that you would like to see more of? Are there topics that you are just burning to hear me expound upon?

Day 21: Make a Reader Famous (or another blog writer)

I do my best to share the blogging wealth. If there's a great comment thread in a post that I think people should read, I'll write a new blog post that points it out. When I come across a new resource or a new e-Learning blog, I spread the word. Most bloggers have much more interesting things to say than I do, and I'm always happy to point that out.

The more people who actively participate in the conversation, the more we can all learn from each other.

You can catch up with all of my 31 Days activity here:

31 Days: Days 12, 13, 14, 15 & 16
31 Days: Days 8, 9, & 10
31 Days: Days 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8 (I got my numbering off somewhere along the way)
31 Days: Days 1, 2 & 3

And check in with the other 31 Day Bloggers who are taking part in the great Chocolate Challenge:

Tim Davies
Eklavya
Kate Foy
Christine Martell
Michele Martin
Frances McLean
Alex Miller
Kate Quinn
Sue Waters
Laura Whitehead