Author Archive for Susan Smith Nash

Interview with Barbara Lauren, AACRAO

Published by Susan Smith Nash on June 9, 2008 in Online Learning. 0 Comments

Welcome to an interview with Dr. Barbara Lauren, the Associate Director for Compliance and Professional Development
with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO).

1. What is your name and your relation to education, especially distance education?

For five years I have supervised and taught in the online continuing education offerings of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO). I work in concert with Don Bunis, American University Registrar (retired), who serves as technical consultant to our online offerings, and who trains and guides our online faculty (including teaching the advanced registrar course himself).

2. Please describe a few of the projects you have been involved in.

We offer four-week courses for our two major constituencies –
registrars and admissions officers – at two different levels: one each for registrars or admissions officers who have entered the field within the past three years, and one for people in each field who are managers, or are aiming to be managers.

All four courses are offered asynchronously, on the Blackboard platform. For each course, we provide a three-day orientation, so that everyone learns how to enter the Discussion Board, start a new thread, and otherwise use the technology. Each course consists of four segments, and we post them week by week, to encourage people to think through each segment, rather than “getting through them, all in one fell swoop.” In addition, we have an open forum – the “Cyber Cafe” – available throughout each course. There, people can raise issues of particular interest to them that may not have emerged otherwise. We encourage participants to respond to each other, so that everyone can benefit.

3. The College Admissions Officer’s Guide has just been published and you were the editor. What was the goal of the publication? What was the scope? What were some of the challenges? Please describe how the Guide could be valuable for online programs.

The College Admissions Officer’s Guide (2008) is a companion volume to The Registrar’s Guide (2006). Both are hard-bound volumes of 500-plus pages, and they have been written by our public-spirited members in the field. Both books address a wide number of current issues in their areas. What I wrote in the Introduction to The Registrar’s Guide could stand equally well as a summary of the purpose of the admissions guide, too:

“This book was planned to enhance the skills of the seasoned registrar, while also being written clearly enough to aid the new registrar – or the veteran registrar who is venturing out of his or her comfort zone, by choice or by assignment, into a different part of the field…. These chapters represent the distillation of years of experience of very thoughtful people.”

Already, we are making use of one of the chapters in The College Admissions Officer’s Guide in our online course for admissions managers. One of the segments in the managers’ course concerns,
as you would expect, “Best Practices in Recruiting and Marketing.” One of the readings in that segment is a very helpful chapter on “Technology-Enhanced Recruitment Communication,” by Dr. Dean Kahler of Western Kentucky University. This chapter offers a wide-ranging introduction to many of the newest ways of communicating with a high-tech generation.

As to challenges, the greatest challenge in creating and shepherding a book is simply deciding what we need and want to cover, and then recruiting authors to do so. Once you devise the roadmap, everything else follows.

4. Based on your work with AACRAO’s online continuing education programs, what do you see as the top trends in distance education?

I would say that a top trend, and challenge, in online distance education is to emphasize to the learners the importance of their interacting with other participants. We emphasize to those who have signed up that mere passive “listening” will not give them the maximum benefit from the course. We explicitly offer such tips as: Take full advantage of the interactivity of this medium. Participate! Log on to the workshop every day, and take full advantage of the fact that you will get to know your fellow-learners well over the course of the four weeks. Only by involving yourself actively will you gain the most from the course.

5. How can individuals and organizations obtain a copy of The College Admissions Officer’s Guide?

For orders, please call (301) 490-7651 (Eastern Standard Time), or go to www.aacrao.org/publications. The item number for The College Admissions Officer’s Guide is 0120. If you are interested in The Registrar’s Guide, the item number is 0110.

6. Is there a quotation which inspires you?

I really would like to share with everyone the quotation I chose to lead in to my Introduction to The Registrar’s Guide. The thought is short but wise:

“We are all of us ignorant, but on different subjects.”
Will Rogers, humorist-philosopher

The ability to enlighten people speedily on a variety of subjects is what continuing education, especially online, is all about!

Dr. Lauren can be reached at laurenb@aacrao.org, or at 202-293-9161, ext. 6502

posted by susan

Interview with Arlene Ang, Editor of Online Publications

Published by Susan Smith Nash on May 16, 2008 in Online Learning and Programs and Research. 0 Comments

Welcome to an interview with Arlene Ang is the author of The Desecration of Doves (iUniverse, 2005) and Secret Love Poems (Rubicon Press, 2007). Born in Manila, Philippines, she currently lives in Spinea, Italy with her husband. In 2006, she received the Frogmore Poetry Prize (UK). Her poetry has been published in Diagram, Georgetown Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Poetry Ireland, Poet Lore and Rattle.

1. Name, background. How have you been involved in online publishing of poetry and poetics?

Arlene Ang. I’m a poetry editor for The Pedestal Magazine (http://www.thepedestalmagazine.com/) and Press 1 (http://www.leafscape.org/press1/).
I started out in 2002 as editor for the Italian edition of Niederngasse (http://www.niederngasse.com/). In 2006, I guest-edited for the English edition and for Pedestal. It was then that I realized English poetry was more my element than Italian and so handed the keys over to someone who was more in contact with the Italian literary world than I was. Early 2007, Pedestal editor-in-chief, John Amen asked me if I wanted to become a permanent member of the staff and I said yes.
Press 1 sprouted out some months later, a labor of love for Valerie Fox, Phyllis Wat, Dennis Moritz and me. Valerie and Phyllis are, I think, the “serious” editors since they do much of the reading and scouting while I occupy myself more with the web design.

2. What do you see as some of the advantages of publishing online?

For one, with online magazines, anyone with an internet connection can access your work. There’s something liberating about reading contemporary poetry for free. Some journals actually have an “E-mail this poem to a friend” button—which helps spread readership. For another, submissions are usually sent via e-mail—when you’re living abroad, this facilitates a lot of things. I’m continually surprised and pleased by submissions to Pedestal that come from countries like Nigeria or China. I don’t think this happens much to print journals, even if only for the mundane reason of SASEs or finding IRCs. And yes, no trees are killed in the process.

3. What are some of the trends in e-journals?

A good part has begun to request audio recordings of poems. I really love how this gives a voice to the work and also to the author.
I also love the new submission system, like the one adopted by Kenyon Review—where you can be assured that your submission was received and are able to track or withdraw it online.
Some ‘zines focus on experimenting with mixed media. A prime example would be Born Magazine (http://www.bornmagazine.org/)—which never fails to astound and delight with their Flash presentations of poems.

4. What are a few of your favorite sites?

Diagram (http://thediagram.com/) remains at the top, near at hand are Tarpaulin Sky (http://www.tarpaulinsky.com/), Drunken Boat (http://www.drunkenboat.com/), Typo (http://typomag.com/) and Painted Bride Quarterly (http://pbq.drexel.edu/).
Sidebrow (http://www.sidebrow.net/) is another favorite because it’s so different—submitters are encouraged to respond creatively to the work published there. The term “incestuous” is bandied around a lot when referring to internet writers—I think this applies evocatively to the work in Sidebrow, too.

5. How can you envision using online poetry repositories and journals in online education?

The internet contains a universe of information. I’ve actually found step-by-step instructions on how to write almost anything—from ghazals to sonnenizios. Education-wise, research becomes a question on knowing what to look for because, chances are, it’s out there.
Because online journals are accessible to everyone, they make very good reading material especially when it comes to contemporary (world) poetry.
Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/) is a great resource—instead buying books like Shakespeare’s Macbeth or Joyce’s Ulysses, you can just download an electronic copy. And, funnily enough, for required reading, there are free Cliff Notes (http://www.cliffsnotes.com/) for students who have no love for literature.

6. Do you have a philosophy of creativity?

More than having one of my own, I’ve adopted my dad’s, I think—which works really well for me. He was quite a successful painter. In his life he must have done more than 1000 studies of the seated figure, among other things, using different media. As a child, I loved joining him in his studio every day and often complained about not knowing what to draw. He would tell me patiently that everything I needed was before me, all I needed to do was open my eyes. It was only decades later that I understood what he meant—that creativity is not about finding a worthy subject, but rendering that subject worthy of interest and, in the process, evoking emotional response in the viewer or reader. In many ways, it’s a lot like energy—we all have it inside, how we harness and release it depends on us.

Posted by susan

Review of Drupal Guide

Published by Susan Smith Nash on April 30, 2008 in In the News. 0 Comments

Drupal is an open-source content management system.  It helps one create, manage, modify, delete information such as objects (images / documents / files).  A new guide, published by Packt Publishing, is very helpful for newbies as well as veterans of Drupal.

Building Powerful and Robust Websites with Drupal 6, is authored by David Mercer and published by Packt Publishing (http://www.packtpub.com/drupal-6-create-powerful-websites/book)

 

 

The code is available for free at http://www.drupal.org.  According to many programmers, Drupal code is excellent.  It’s easy to set up, intuitive, flexible and scalable.

 

This book guides users and helps them create

1.  Community portal sithes

2.  Intranet sites

3.  Directories

4.  Share/discuss pages

5.  Social networking

6.  Educational learning communities

 

The book leads the reader through a step-by-step process of setting oneself to be the administrator of the content management system. The process is perhaps a bit daunting for the novice, but an experienced network or server administrator will probably not have any problems in installing server-side software (Apache2Triad).

 

The book goes through Drupal’s functionality:  modules, blocks, links:  how to manage modules and workflow.

 

It also discusses site configuration, with directory structure, in order to maximize the unique attributes of Drupal and its power to effectively manage, manipulate, and deploy content.  Drupal can accommodate a wide range of content types, including blog entry, book page, forum topic, page, poll, and story (which could be short-lived announcements or other kinds of ephemera).

 

In addition to delving into how best to manage basic content as well as advanced content, Building Powerful and Robust Websites with Drupal 6 explores image and aesthetics.  It also works with the management of backups.

 

This book is indispensable for anyone who needs an open-source content management system and is willing to invest in creating one from the ground up.  Nevertheless, not everyone will have the time to devote, and would benefit from a small library of pre-prepared solutions.  If the book came bundled with a few templates, or an access code for downloads on the web, many of the barriers and obstacles that face programmers as they weigh open-source vs. commercial solutions would be overcome.

posted by susan  

Interview with Valerie Fox: Interviews with eLearning Professionals Series

Published by Susan Smith Nash on April 14, 2008 in Online Learning. 0 Comments

Welcome to an interview with Valerie Fox, Ph.D., who is involved in online teaching at Drexel University.  In addition to teaching and designing online and hybrid courses, Valerie has edited a number of journals and magazines.  Her innovative poetry has received very positive attention.
What is your name, and what is your involvement with e-learning?
Valerie Fox. I’ve been teaching online courses for about five years. I teach writing and poetry at Drexel University, and writing and research for Excelsior College.

How did you get interested in distance education?
I was asked a few years ago to teach and help to develop blended freshman writing courses at Drexel. Our students take a lot of credits, and they appreciate being able to take part in e-learning. The transition to teaching fully online (including distance) courses was a natural one.

What is your favorite new trend in distance education?
This may sound vague…but I just notice a willingness to “go with” the technology and the possibilities–at departmental level, but also higher levels. I can’t speak to the institutional (or overall educational) reasons behind this; I suspect they vary considerably, depending on discipline, institution, etc.

What is your favorite technology?
I don’t really have a favorite. I like including lots of various audio and video sources as suggested if not required offerings. Specifically, I’ve had some good success asking small groups to create websites. This isn’t anything new–it’s really just adding a creative or creative writing element to an assigment. The visual learners, as one would expect, do a terrific job with this. It builds their confidence.

What kinds of instructional materials do you use in elearning?
Creating materials is something I enjoy, so the flexibility of being able to combine various sources and media definitely is a plus. I guess (like everybody) for a while I was using youtube a lot, and I make a point to combine the easily accessible sources/links with those requiring the use of library databases. A librarian recently told me about archive.org and I’ve been using/recommending it a lot.

How do you use textbooks in e-learning?
Having a textbook can help ground the learners that might be new to this, so I think at least one book should usually be required. Teaching English and writing, it isn’t hard to work required readings into writings/discussions that can be efficiently read and graded. Blackboard Vista Media Library is an excellent tool also, making it possible to easily add suggested readings, videos etc. to a course. Students can be allowed to add to the Media Libraries and sometimes I give extra credit if students add items of interest.

What are your favorite social networks? How do you view them in e-learning?
I participate in various forums and writing groups. Because I enjoy this, I simply try to recreate what I think are their best features in my course websites. It isn’t always possible, but often it is. I hear more and more about students using non-official means to communicate about class work and activity. This helps to replicate the before-and-after-class information sharing that students sometimes miss from a face-to-face class. I acknowledge this but don’t interfere with their bonding, with their assisting of each other.

What is your favorite quote? or, what’s a book that caught your eye recently?
Recently I read Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink and thought it was terrific.

Interview with Jeff Kissinger: Interviews with eLearning Professionals Series

Published by Susan Smith Nash on April 1, 2008 in Tech Trends. 0 Comments

Welcome to an interview with Jeff Kissinger, Director Distance Learning Emergent Design at Florida Community College at Jacksonville. Jeff has been a vital and innovative force at FCCJ, charged with creating mobile learning solutions for military applications and more.

1. What do you see as the most exciting technology trend (or trends) that will affect elearning in the next two years or so.

http://bp0.blogger.com/_u83c02LISnI/R_Jpp8ClF0I/AAAAAAAAAW4/QNO0j-J0RcY/s200/jeff-with-handhelds.jpg

Not sure this is a technology, but I feel faculty professional development is going to increasingly become more critical and valued at institutions. We are beginning to ask so much more of our faculty than ever before. Blackboard, pod-casts, teaching online, developing and integrating instructional media, and even developing full-blown online courses are now creeping into the most traditional of educational contexts. Tools and trainings need to be focused on faculty, their needs, and be appropriately aligned with instructional outcomes. We need to help develop an environment that allows for faculty to grow and fulfill their aims and dreams, and this must be done in a supported and thoughtful fashion. The ideal outcome will be faculty that undergo transformational learning experiences that are then reflected in their work with students.

So, getting back to the question of technology, we have already seen the simplification and streamlining of technology that just a few years ago required dedicated developers, designers, and videographers to create. The time and resources needed to develop an instructional video clip, animation, or learning object was often difficult or unattainable for many faculty. You-tube, garage-band, Sketchup, Google Docs, Second Life, Garage Games, Captivate, CrazyTalk, Raptivity, and the almost infinite list of other cool tools and technologies now brings us closer to fulfilling our wildest teaching and learning desires. This trend will continue at an ever increasing rate. It will increasingly become more simplified and user friendly and will ultimately put the power into the hands of individual faculty to act on their own creative instructional inspiration.

2. When you think of Web 2.0 and e-learning, what are the top three things that come to mind? Copyright/Fair Use/Teach Act, open learning, faculty-generated media/content

3. What is your favorite new gadget? iPhone with google docs, Vintage 1984 Simmons Electronic Drum Kit [Think Duran Duran or Flock of Seagulls]
http://www.keyboardmuseum.com/pic/s/sim/sds_9kit.gif

4. List three mashups or widgets that you know and love. Slideshare, google docs/sites, Media and Flickr streams into Second Life, Sloodle.

Some of Jeff’s compositions are on Gcast http://www.gcast.com/user/jeffkiss/podcast/main

published by susan

Criminal Justice Content on YouTube: What’s the Best Way to Use It in E-Learning?

Published by Susan Smith Nash on March 28, 2008 in Online Learning. 0 Comments

Entire courses can be found on YouTube and Google Video, some as a part of an open courseware initiative. Most videos, however, are organized by tags or by the username of the individual posting the video. Descriptions are helpful, as are the responses to the videos, which add a viral element. So, out of this seething primordial ooze of inspiration, content, and the desire to connect, how does the best instructional material manifest? How and when can it be best used in courses for e-learning, including mobile delivery?

Podcast:
http://www.beyondutopia.net/podcasts/cjyoutube.mp3

Texas Criminal Justice System
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HjSkCHh6ccY

The narrator begins with “The Texas Criminal Justice System is broken — we will examine the reasons why.” Provocative, yes. The presentation is not as dynamic as it could be. Imagine 26 minutes of blue-background powerpoints. The presenter has a very obvious agenda, and very strong biases. This could be very useful in a course that asks students to take a position or debate an issue.

Prison Interview with a GangBanger
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Pchhxrubb5M&feature=related

Dr. Renford Reese, Associate Professor from Cal-Poly Pomona discusses the impact of criminal justice policies on African American males, and his book,

Prison Race
General Strain Theory - Dr. Robert Agnew
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UA-7F1S1DNM&feature=related

Six-part series, typical “sage on stage” presentation, with Dr Agnew behind the podium. He has a powerpoint presentation, too. This is rather technical content, but could be quite interesting for learners who want to examine explanations about criminal behavior in society.

Why Do Criminals Offend?: A General Theory of Crime and Delinquency

Macho Politics - Dr. Liz Elliot
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8MJt2vchXvY&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=4WDy2eWtTj8&feature=related

Two-part series exploring current attitudes about getting tough on crime, and on attitudes expressed by newspapers with respect to gangs. Informal presentation, a kind of “fireside chat” ambience. Clear, conversational, and useful when bringing together theory, case studies, and current sociological situations and conditions. Pretty light when considered alone, but in conjunction with textbooks, she rehumanizes the elearning space.

Prison Nation — National Geographic
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nYJJEnTn9P0&feature=related

Entire nation behind bars. The program addresses the notion that the gangs run the prisons. Very professional, very alarming. There is a heartening and encouraging note at the end, with a discussion of the positive impact of education on individuals. Warehousing, in contrast, creates very angry individuals. With respect to instructional value, it really depends on how / why the this video is being presented, and the learning goals. It’s a supplement.

Stanford Prison Experiment
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2o0Nx31yicY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JCsgwcIil7I&feature=related
http://youtube.com/watch?v=dU6r4mNZ8g0&feature=related

Discusses one of the most notorious experiments in human psychology. What controls human behavior? A negative environment? Inner values?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZUdFgAfwUxk&feature=related

Interview with Prof. Zimbardo, who
writes about the Stanford Experiments in The
Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. Very thought-provoking and perfect for a “taking a position” essay. Can also be used to identify thesis statement, abstract and overviews, etc. The value of this series of videos rests upon the way that the learners are asked to approach the assignment, and how they are asked to use the materials.

The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7919650162799248639

This is a video in which Susan discusses the future of e-learning and how videos can be used with mobile learning (hybrid, etc.).


Excellence in College Teaching and Learning: Classroom and Online Instruction

Recent Publications of Note

Learning Review: Excellent review of e-learning from Argentina. In Spanish. Very informative, first-rate articles and materials.
http://learningreview.com/

Flex E-News: From the Australian
Flexible Learning Network.
http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/flx/go/home/news/flexenews

Symposium of Note

NMC Symposium on Mashups: http://www.nmc.org/2008-spring-symposium

First published by Susan.

Mobile Learning Developments: AIU Incorporates LMS Features with iPhone / iTouch

Published by Susan Smith Nash on March 14, 2008 in In the News, Online Learning and Tech Trends. 0 Comments

American InterContinental University Online has taken mobile learning several steps forward by making it possible for students to check grades, post and read announcements, interact with elements of their learning management systems, as well as downloading instructional content.

AIU uses the iTouch to provide the new services, as well as downloadable podcasts, videos, presentations, and lectures that have been a mainstay of mobile learning. Their convenience, affordability, and the fact that they accommodate multiple learning styles has made many programs eager to provide at least some elements of 100% online, hybrid/blended, web-enabled, or even face-to-face courses. Keep in mind that the courses can work with the iPhone, a regular iPod, and some mobile phone.

This is an exciting breakthrough. Certainly, it is good to be able to access to the gradebook and announcements. But, there is a bigger issue at stake. AIU is using technology and tools the way that people use them in the real world, instead of trying to impose a technology on people, just because it was convenient for the institution or the service provider. So, educational products and learner needs and habits are in alignment.

Here is a demo: http://youtube.com/watch?v=3fcUMWqiLCs

Some learners have immediately embraced AIU’s iTouch / iPhone courses, especially if the technology fits their lifestyle. Student Chris Hawley writes:

I use AIU Mobile anytime I am away from my home computer including while I’m running at the gym, stopped at a traffic light, taking a break at work and in many more scenarios. I’ll even use it when I’m at home since I generally have my phone by me more often than my laptop.

Chris did not mention what kind of phone he has, but it would not be very surprising to learn that he is used to using a phone with the ability to instant message, retrieve information from the Internet, and download information.

While the demo was for the iTouch, it is important to keep in mind that the mobile courses work on the iPhone and other data-transfer enabled cell phones.

The demo for review included three criminal justice courses, all of which allowed one to test the way in which the announcements, gradebook, and the learning objects were presented. At the same time, it was possible to test the way that the e-mail and access to iTunes worked when in a variety of settings.

Unique aspects include taking advantage of the iTouch’s ability to allow individuals to have on-demand interaction (download and communication) wherever one has access to a robust wifi connection.

* View gradebook
* View and post announcements
* Access school e-mail
* Download, view and listen to podcasts, presentations, videos

Using an iPhone or an iTouch offers numerous benefits:

* interactive
* larger viewing screen
* scalable texts and graphics
* can download via computer using iTunes
* do not have to have a cell phone with a dataplan

iTouch iPhone downsides:

* Can’t scale all the screens, which means it’s hard to read some of the text
* Limited memory and storage

Additional benefits:

*iPhone and data-transfer-enabled Cell phone compatibility
* any time, anywhere access

Aligning user needs and and real-world habits and patterns is what is at the heart of the success of Web 2.0, and it’s gratifying to see the philosophy start to extend to mobile learning. This will not only enhance usability, but will also allow students to feel more comfortable with the process. Students will feel motivated and will be able to focus on the content instead of feeling frustrated by the technology or lack of access. Using iTouch and iPhone-based mobile learning represents a positive integration of user needs, technology habits, and learning preferences.

American InterContinental University (AIU), established in Europe in 1970, awards Associate, Bachelor’s, and Master’s degrees in a variety of disciplines. The AIU network includes seven campuses: AIU Buckhead (Atlanta, GA); AIU Dunwoody (GA); AIU South Florida (Weston, FL); AIU Los Angeles (CA), AIU Houston (TX), AIU London (England); and AIU Online (based in Illinois).

Susan talks about the AIU mobile course (warning — video cuts off at the end):

Link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9155276877800369750&hl=en

Reflections on New Developments in Mobile Learning

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7919650162799248639&hl=en A slightly different version posted earlier on elearningqueen.com by susan.

Interview with Michael Orey: Interviews with eLearning Professionals Series

Published by Susan Smith Nash on March 8, 2008 in Online Learning and Programs and Research. 1 Comment

Michael Orey, professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology at the University of Georgia, responded to interview questions on distance learning. Dr. Orey is a pioneer of online education, having developed multimedia learning materials since the 1980s. His insights and core philosophy of online education are valuable for all educators and administrators interested in motivating students and rehumanizing the online learning space.

What is your name, and what is your involvement with e-learning?
My name is Michael Orey and I am a professor in Instructional Technology. I teach online classes and have done so for about 10 years. I also consult with various companies who are engaged in e-learning in various ways. BTW, the photo I have provided shows me sitting on the Veranda of the Jekyll Island Inn teaching an online class using Wimba’s live classroom. This was during a Distance Learning Administrator conference and I believe that my photo was taken at least 5 times during my class because attendees at the conference loved seeing e-learning in action!

How did you get interested in distance education?
It was a natural progression of using technology for learning. I have been in the field of Instructional Technology since the early 1980’s. I was originally interested in Intelligent Tutoring Systems, but my interests just keep evolving as new and more interesting technology becomes available. I was never interested in distance learning when the technology available was postal mail, but as the web has grown, so has my interest in distance learning.

What is your favorite new trend in distance education?
I have been involved with technology for learning for years and over those years I have come to believe that teaching and learning is a very human endeavor. I think that the trends in distance education I think are the most interesting are the ones where closer connections are made between students and between students and teachers. Some of those are live classrooms like Wimba and some of those are 3-D virtual environments like Second Life, but more tailored to the support of collaboration.

What is your favorite technology?
I am a big Wimba user. I have been using a live classroom for nearly 10 years dating back to an early version of Placeware which is now Microsoft’s NetMeeting. I am beginning to believe that some sort of hybrid between Wimba and Second Life would be the next great App for learning.

What kinds of instructional materials do you use in elearning?
I have or are in the process of writing/editing three wiki-based books in my field. I use these in my online classes and make them freely available for others to use. I also have developed things like quizzes and assignments in WebCT to support learning. I use Impatica for recording lectures with Powerpoint. I use Captivate to do software demonstrations. I use videos to support learning as well and have begun to put these on YouTube so that they are freely available.

How do you use textbooks in e-learning?
I have already answered this to some extent with my wiki books. However, I also teach classes where I have not written the text. In these classes, most frequently, I use a collection of readings. These readings I scan into PDFs and provide within a password protected site like WebCT to the students in my classes.

What are your favorite social networks? How do you view them in e-learning?
I am in LinkedIn and Facebook, but I am not a “native”. I seem to only go to these sites when someone wants me to link to them, so I do.

Do you have a few favorite mashups or web applications that work together in innovative ways? Please describe them.
Other than those I just described, no. As I learn new and interesting technologies, I try to weave them in. I did a podcast for a class once, but I did not have a great deal of success with it, so I abandoned it. I have used a wiki to run a class once, that was pretty successful.

BTW, the books I edit online are:
Emerging Perspectives on Teaching, Learning and Technology
http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt
This is the oldest book I have. It has evolved over the years to include video, animations, images, narrated powerpoints and other media to support the content of the book.

World Almanac of Educational Technologies
http://www.waet.uga.edu
This book has as a goal to have a chapter from each country in the world so that we can all learn about how technology is being used everywhere. We only have a handful of chapters so far, but we are still hopeful that others will continue to contribute.

Foundations of Instructional Technology
http://projects.coe.uga.edu/ITFoundations/
This book is due to be ready in the fall of 2008. As such, most of the chapters are still just promises.

BTW, the wiki I used for a class can be found at:
http://projects.coe.uga.edu/mikeorey/
This wiki shows some of the ideas I have about Open Resources and Global Issues.

What is your favorite quote? or, what’s a book that caught your eye recently?
Unfortunately, my favorite quote is from my favorite author and not someone in the e-learning world. It is from Kurt Vonnegut:
Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand.

Interviewed by Susan.

Interview with Bill Hornbeck: Interviews with eLearning Professionals Series

Published by Susan Smith Nash on February 25, 2008 in Online Learning. 0 Comments

Welcome to an interview Bill Hornbeck, President and CEO of StreamerNet Corporation, headquartered in Leesburg, VA. They provide access to digital media, which can be used as instructional content in an online course.

1. What is your relationship to e-learning?

Although we are focused on the eLearning sector as a result of our development of a unique media distribution platform on the web, I have been involved in one form or another for the past twenty-three years.

2. What is LearningPortal? How did it get started? What is the core vision?

The implementation of LearningPortal.com is based on technology meeting opportunity, but with a certain twist. Our entire vision is based on enabling the creators of knowledge-based content to have access to a distribution platform where the creator can actually be paid for their offerings.

I find it fascinating that, in a country that professes to be the single largest home to capitalism, there is this generation of citizens who seem to believe that products and services should be free of charge. While I can appreciate the benefit to advertisers when they have the willingness to trade brand awareness for goods, I cannot yet foresee a time when we can walk into a grocery store and read an ad in exchange for a quart of milk.

As we analyzed the visible evolution of advertising-based distribution of content, we became more and more confident that there was a solid opportunity to enable content owners to be properly and directly compensated for the sale of high-value knowledge products.

So, we built the LearningPortal technology to serve as a powerful online media vending machine – a web-based platform that can host and distribute content in the form of streaming or downloadable pay-to-view knowledge products.

There is no charge for content owners to place their materials on LearningPortal.com and all revenue is distributed through a revenue-sharing model.

We can even sell additional physical goods alongside the digital format so that a content owner can offer side products such as Books and DVDs. We can even sell the hat and the t-shirt!

3. Please list a few key links.

The main URL is http://www.learningportal.com

Here’s an example of an audio book: http://www.learningportal.com/Detail.aspx?id=WOuEzOJLJCZd59SDD%2fLY5g%3d%3d

4. What does LearningPortal offer? Please give an overview and then one or two specific examples (with links).

It’s important to note that the LearningPortal platform is not designed to deliver interactive courseware. We are more like a movie theater. In that regard, we do not compete with Learning Management Systems. We prefer to see our technology as an adjunct delivery system which fits particularly well with space-and-time-shifting requirements that can best be met by remote desktop viewing or by enabling downloads to the iPod and similar digital libraries.

A great example is our offering of the Tom Marks Panorama series called

Nuggets of Knowledge. The audio series is a wonderful collection of tidbits of knowledge that are perfectly suitable for off-loading for anytime listening. Nothing too fancy. Nothing earth shattering. Just loads of fun.

But, relative to the more specific corporate requirements, we offer a distribution platform that enables web-based delivery of post-event “replays” of corporate presentations and webinars. We find these offerings to be particularly effective within the trade association industry.

5 How do you see people using LearningPortal now and in the future?

The LearningPortal is a continuation of the original Internet theme of “anytime, anywhere access to knowledge”. In our case, we are properly focused on the enablement side. That is, we enable content owners to utilize a ready-built online distribution system to generate the revenue stream that is deservedly theirs. In so doing, we enable countless seekers of high-value knowledge-based content to go directly to what we anticipate will become the best and broadest source of searchable eLearning content.

6. What books or ideas have inspired you lately?

I am a broad reader of multidisciplinary subject matter. Almost entirely non-fiction. I was most stunned recently by the latest work of Ray Kurzweil, entitled The Singularity is Near. If you find it satisfying to recognize that the rate of organ repair and transplantation could enable a longer life, consider Kurzweils’s theme that exponential improvements in the world of bio will enable us to back-up the human brain within the next forty years – an accomplishment that may provide for immortality. It’s a great read.

Interview conducted by susan

Malware and Web 2.0: Security Challenges

Published by Susan Smith Nash on February 16, 2008 in Online Learning and Tech Trends. 1 Comment

Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.

Paden found out the hard way that going without an antivirus program can really throw a spanner into the works. Granted, she did not start out without antivirus protection. Her new computer came with a 6-month trial subscription to one of the most familiar programs on the market. After the program expired, though, the cost of renewing it seemed very high. So, Paden decided to download a version of the same program from the university where she was a student. The university had obtained a license to offer a version to its students. Although it was the same program, it was very slow, and Paden became frustrated with it and decided to take off the program. Within two weeks, her brand new computer had crashed.

“It was a nightmare!” said Paden, as she brushed her dark wavy bangs away from her face and grimaced. “I am taking two online courses, so you can imagine how difficult it was for me.”

Without realizing it, Paden had encountered the two most common problems that organizations and individuals encounter in antivirus programs: high costs and big footprints. The reason that the program slowed down her computer was because the “free” antivirus program that her university offered was a clunky version that required a great deal of computing resources in order to run.

After she had her computer back up and running again, Paden decided to not go a single minute without a robust antivirus program.

“I decided to go with AVG Internet Security, version 7.5. It was about half the price of the other antivirus program, and it had everything — antivirus, firewall — you name it,” she said. She decided to purchase it after reviewing one of AVG’s websites at http://www.avg-antivirus.net.

In reality, the AVG solution that Paden selected had even more functionality, with the ability to remove viruses, spyware, adware, worms, and trojans. It also had a firewall and antispyware capabilities.

Perhaps the most appealing aspect was that AVG 7.5 was specially designed to have a very “light” footprint, which is to asy that it does not bog down computing processes as it runs.

Ironically, a month after Paden purchased AVG for her computer, her college switched to AVG. The college purchased enough site licenses to provide a copy of the program to administrators and faculty members which helped protect the school avoid having virus-infected files uploaded into the course management system.

Potential malicious codes and malware embedded in Web 2.0 applications have added to the need for a solid antivirus solution. Wherever there is code, there is the potential for malicious code. AVG recognizes patterns and can eradicate the malware before it has a chance to affect computers.

Two new popular applications are expected to face growing challenges with malware in the future.

Truly Viral Videos: The first, malicious code in flash players and in embedded script for YouTube videos can wreak havoc. In this case, a highly popular and rapidly spreading “viral video” will disseminate bad code instead of the expected good cheer.

Web 2.0 Malware Vectors: The fact that people can embed code into their blogs, MySpace, iGoogle, Bebo, or other spaces and enable unique functionalities makes the Web 2.0 environment truly unique. The openness and ability to share also makes it truly scary, since any of the applications could potentially be tainted. If malware is in the embedded code, what is it making your computer do? The possibilities are truly frightening.

AVG is aggressively and proactively addressing Web 2.0 vulnerabilities. While other antivirus programs are doing so as well, the light footprint makes AVG more flexible and nimble.

Another advantage for individuals and organizations is the availability of 24-7 local support. Walling Data Systems, at http://www.avg-antivirus.net/, the largest distributor of AVG software, makes sure that clients have several ways to obtain support. Clients can call in, send an email, and obtain live online assistance.

While Web 2.0 applications and the newly robust abilities of online courses have led to a more dynamic experience and extreme openness, they are also increasing user vulnerability. No one should stop using the web because of scary applications, but everyone should definitely keep antivirus programs up-to-date.
web 2.0 malware - computer virus

Author: susan smith nash, ph.d. First published at E-Learning Queen.