E-Learning Corgi focuses on distance training and education, from instructional design to e-learning and mobile solutions, and pays attention to psychological, social, and cultural factors. The edublog emphasizes real-world e-learning issues and appropriate uses of emerging technologies. Susan Smith Nash is the Corgi's assistant.
Ian Wild’s new book, Moodle 4 Security (Packt Publications, 2024), equips the Moodle administrator and the IT team to protect all aspects of Moodle, from Moodle server security to Moodle application security, including Moodle infrastructure modeling, and strategies for educating the weakest security links – the individual users.
The book begins by describing the depth and the scope of the problem, while providing a short history of hacking, understanding the nature of cybersecurity risk with Moodle, and the consequences of doing nothing. It moves to a section that explains how to identify threats, and how to use programs such as STRIDE and other Open Web Application Security projects that can be used to defend against many types of cybersecurity threats.
A large section of the book is devoted to Moodle server security. Wild guides the reader through a step-by-step process of building a secure Linux server which includes enabling TTS/SSL to have a secure SSL certificate, selecting the best firewalls, and exploring server immutability. The process of assuring Moodle server security also involves endpoint protection, denial of service protection, and also making sure to have a backup and disaster recovery. Wild clearly presents options for each level of protection and gives clear, easy-to-implement selections.
Another important section of the book deals with Moodle Application security. This aspect has to do with privacy concerns, a data integrity plan, and a review of the various types and functionalities of Moodle applications with an end to helping the user avoid fall into any pitfalls.
Ian Wild, a technologist and developer of simulations for AVEVA, has many years of experience with Moodle and thoroughly understands the reasons why having a good security solution for the organization’s Moodle installation is imperative in today’s world. The information and solutions presented in this book could not have come out at a better time.
Finding ways to make skills training enjoyable, effective, and affordable continues to be a major challenge for organizations. SkillStore has tackled the challenge via social learning, and has deployed training that incorporates what we know about how people learn and gain confidence about themselves.
Welcome to an interview with Srikant Vasan, SkillStore. For a limited time, SkillStore is offering six free courses. The instructions are at the end of the article.
1. What is your name and your relation to e-learning? My name is Srikant Vasan, and I've been working in e-learning for 7 years. In that time, I have served as a Senior Program Officer at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and was their first Entrepreneur-in-Residence, where I had the opportunity to learn about the latest innovations in online learning. I was also the Founder and President of Mount St. Mary's Online College, a nonprofit online college (funded by leading donors including Bill Gates, Reed Hastings and the Walton family) focused on helping low-income Americans get quality college degrees affordably.
Srikant Vasan, SkillStore
Now at SkillStore, we offer an effective and scalable soft skills training solution through our social-learning app. We launched the app last year, in collaboration with leading companies like Western Union and SAP. SkillStore’s approach to transforming soft skills training – where learners record their practices and get feedback from coaches and peers – is catching on. Users in over 40 countries now access SkillStore from their laptops, smartphones or tablets for leadership development, communications and management training.
2. How did you become interested in elearning? I became interested in elearning because of my background in both education and technology. Elearning is an effective and engaging tool to empower learners. Technology, especially mobile learning, is the future of training and development.
3. What are some of the soft skills that most professionals need to have, regardless of their specialty?
People skills are critical. Research estimates that 85% of professional success is due to strong social skills. In particular, listening and observing others, effectively communicating, negotiating, and empowering others are essential to success in a professional environment. In a competitive business environment, managers are increasingly seeking employees who have strong people skills and can work well with others in the office as well as with clients.
4. What causes much of the training that is offered in today's environment to be less than ideal?
Research
estimates that about 80% of training is wasted, especially that focused
on soft skills development. We think the root cause for this is that
today’s training methods – both in-person and online – have severe
shortcomings. These programs tend not to be engaging or effective. They
typically focus on delivering content, but don't allow learners to
practice the skills in real-life situations. Learners spend a lot of the
day reading, watching videos, or listening to someone speak. They don't
retain the material.
Additionally, instructor-led workshops are
expensive, time-consuming, and hard to scale and standardize, and thus
are not a realistic option for most organizations. Not to mention,
millennials tend to hate long lectures and classroom settings. And
web-based training typically offers few opportunities to practice these
skills interactively and learn with other people in a social learning
environment. People skills are best developed by practicing with other
people.
5. How is SkillStore.com helping? What makes SkillStore unique?
SkillStore
helps because it addresses skills that helps professionals succeed,
such as emotional intelligence, running effective meetings, negotiating a
promotion, and nonverbal communication. What makes SkillStore unique
are the following features of its learning model.
• Focus on practice.
Consider that one week after a lecture, learners remember only about
10% of the information. Even after re-reading the material, one week
later they will only retain 39%. If they practice these skills, the
retention rate goes up substantially, to as much as 80%. Ideally, at
least 50% of time training on any subject should be spent on active
practice. Practice is one of the most fundamental aspects of skill
development, yet it is likely the most overlooked element in corporate
learning programs. • Enable feedback. Practice and
feedback go hand-in-hand for skill development. The best type of
feedback involves observations and suggestions about a practice session,
delivered in a candid, constructive manner. This includes
self-evaluation (because watching yourself on video is incredibly
instructive) and feedback provided by peers and managers.
• Enable social learning.
Social interaction creates richer experiences and increased application
opportunities. With peer interaction and feedback, learners enhance
their understanding from others’ experiences, approaches, and
perspectives. This aspect of social learning leads to greater engagement
with and effectiveness of training programs. An important side benefit
is that learning together is a powerful community builder that helps to
forge deeper relationships and a vibrant company culture.
• Offer micro-learning.
Learning is more convenient and effective when offered in small chunks,
especially with today’s hectic schedules. Even better is when learning
is an ongoing, on-demand initiative available to managers when and how
they need it. In a survey of learning professionals, 90% reported
preferring more “bite-sized,” or micro-learning.
• Let you learn anywhere.
Millennials are now the largest generation in the workforce, so their
preferences help define learning approaches for the future. They are
tech-savvy and value flexibility regarding when and where they work and
learn. They expect learning to be as accessible as a map to the nearest
restaurant and available in the palm of their hands. This means fewer
classrooms and schedules, and learning that can be accessed anywhere –
on the Web, on smartphones, or on other mobile devices.
6. Please describe a few of your favorite courses -- give an example of some unusual and beneficial things that happened in the courses.
It
might makes more sense to describe some of the curricula. Leading
Change has learning modules that help managers manage change in their
organizations; Working in Teams has learning modules that develop strong
professional teams; and Hiring the Best has learning modules that
demonstrate best practices in hiring new employees. Our feedback from
clients has been fantastic. One learner used the Negotiating Salary
module in the Women in Leadership curriculum and then successfully
negotiated a higher salary for herself. She said that before going
through that lesson she never would have thought of asking for a higher
salary.
7. What are your plans for the future? We
believe SkillStore has the potential to transform leadership and
management skills training at scale. We aim to become the leader in soft
skills training programs that help organizations efficiently develop
their employees' skills. We are just getting started and it will be
exciting to see where we go from here.
SIX FREE COURSES NOW
All you need to do is to go to our website, and click the sign up free button. http://skillstore.com/
Becoming a more effective writer by means of interactive, cloud-based grammar and composition tools has become much easier as adaptive elearning-focused web applications have become more sophisticated. One of the leading innovators, Grammarly, has pioneered new algorithms and approaches for writing enhancement software which are of great use for anyone who must write reports, proposals, and articles.
Welcome to an interview with Nikolas Baron, of Grammarly.
1. What is your name and your relation to e-learning?
My name is Nikolas, and I’m an online marketing manager at Grammarly. We make an online tool that improves your writing by detecting, explaining, and correcting mistakes as you type. Over four million users trust Grammarly with their writing, and it’s my job to keep that number growing. Many of them are students who want to write stronger essays, theses, and college applications. We also have many teachers who are users and need a tool to grade their students’ work and authenticity.
Nikolas Baron, Grammarly.com
2. What is Grammarly? How did it start? How has it evolved?
Grammarly is an advanced writing enhancement software with grammar, spelling, and plagiarism checker. We are currently used by four plus million people around the world. Our biggest users are students wanting to write stronger essays, theses, and college applications and teachers needing a tool to grade their students’ work and authenticity.
Our founders, Alex Shevchenko and Max Lytvyn, who are both ESL learners, started Grammarly in 2008 with the goal of improving lives by improving communication. Alex and Max foresaw an opportunity to create a powerful tool that would instantly and accurately provide writing assistance to the more than two billion native and non-native English speakers around the globe. Since then, our proofreading algorithm has continuously evolved to cover contextual spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. When a mistake is detected, Grammarly offers a suggested correction as well as an explanation of the mistake. To make sure Grammarly can be used wherever you write, we’ve made it available in your browser and Microsoft Office (e.g. Outlook or Word).
3. How are interactive grammar tools better than they were a few years ago?
The English language has many exceptions to its rules, and writing enhancement software was very inaccurate in detecting contextual errors such as there, their, and they’re. Today, Grammarly can more accurately catch and correct English spelling and grammar mistakes based on deviations from baseline grammar standards. For example, when a user receives feedback from Grammarly with a detailed explanation, they make an informed decision about how and whether to correct the mistake, and Grammarly’s algorithms learn based on that feedback.
4. How is Grammarly different than other programs? For example "WriteClick" offers automated grammar checks.
Grammarly regularly conducts tests to compare our algorithms against our competitors (e.g., Microsoft Word). Our continuously improving machine learning algorithm always wins. In addition to being more accurate, our Google Chrome extension, Microsoft Office add-in, and web application mean Grammarly is accessible wherever you write. I would also argue that Grammarly provides the most beautiful and intuitive user experience. Our team obsesses over every shade, animation, and button.
5. How is Grammarly available? Is it cloud-based and can it be used on my phones (iPhone 6 and Nexus 5)?
Grammarly is available via www.grammarly.com, through our add-in, and for free via Google Chrome.
6. What are some of the drawbacks of Grammarly? Can Grammarly be used for people learning English?
Grammarly is the most accurate automated proofreader, making it a great “second set of eyes” for everything from quick emails to the first draft of your manuscript. It is not, however, a replacement for a human proofreader. To minimize the chances of receiving incorrect suggestions, I would recommend testing it with a text that has not yet been proofread.
Grammarly is a great English-learning supplement because it offers explanations for every change it suggests.To make sure the explanations make sense, we include examples on how to apply the rules correctly. 7. What are your plans for the future?
Our mission is to improve communication for the two billion English speakers out there. As we continuously focus on creating a seamless user experience, improving the accuracy of our algorithms, and expanding to new writing environments, we inch closer to achieving our mission every day.
If you want to make the most of your downtime while waiting in line, in the doctor’s office, or getting ready for an event, flashcards in on your phone or tablet can help you build your vocabulary. The nice thing about flashcards is that there are many places that allow you to build your own flashcards, as well as access ones that have been created and are being shared.
If you’re interested in creating your own online flashcards, you may wish to check out the following free resources:
Quizlet: http://www.quizlet.com
You can make cards in English, Spanish, or French, and can incorporate images. You can share your quizzes with your friends or students. It’s also mobile-friendly, and can be used on the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android, Windows Phone, Kindle Fire and Nook. You can also generate matching games that include a clock to give you practice working under time pressures.
Braineos: http://www.braineos.com
Free online flash cards that you can create and share. You don’t have to sign up, but can simply log in with your email address. You can use questions as well as terms. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to add graphics at this time, which limits the ways you can use it. For example, for Human Anatomy, it would be good to include at least a sketch.
Flashcard Machine: http://www.flashcardmachine.com
The interface is easy to use. No graphics are supported. The existing archives of shared flashcards contain cards with very weird definitions. This is a great example of how you must be careful to align your flashcard definitions with official content.
ProProfs Flashcard Maker: http://www.proprofs.com/flashcards/
Can create downloadable flashcards so that it is not necessary to be connected to the cloud. Can also print flashcards. Does not allow graphics to be uploaded.
FlashcardExchange: http://www.flashcardexchange.com
Can create and save flashcards in many languages. According to the website, there are more than 47 million flashcards in their flashcard library. There is an amazing array of topics in the library, in subject matters as intriguing as Canine Acupuncture points. Unfortunately, there are no graphics. The ads are pretty intrusive.
Anki: http://ankisrs.net/i
This is a very versatile app that does not say it creates flashcards (except in its very thorough and easy to follow manual), but the approach and the functionality are very similar. The overall learning goals are to reinforce active recall. Anki is functional across a surprising number of platforms and mobile devices. I also appreciated learning that it's optimized for low bandwidth, to reduce data transfer costs. The app is free for download, and the interface is refreshingly clear of annoying and intrusive ads. For that reason, I recommend donating to support it.
Some think that grammar reviews are only useful when taking a developmental writing, or the required set of first-year composition courses. In reality, grammar and syntax reviews are valuable across the board, and all college and university students can benefit from ongoing writing reinforcement. So,whether you are writing a term paper about hospice care, or an analysis of the current economic situation, the proper care of dogs, or any other topic, understanding the basics of grammar will help you.
I highly recommend supplementing peer reviews and personal guidance with interactive exercises. Many interactive grammar reviews are available online without registering, and they are free of charge. You can practice grammar using your laptop, tablet, and handheld.
Further, many of the grammar reviews have downloadable apps so they display nicely and work smoothly with your smartphone or tablet. If you are currently enrolled in a course, chances are your textbook will come bundled with an e-lab (MyCompLab or My Writing Lab, just to name a few). These are also excellent guides.
If English is your second language, you may wish to pay special attention to sections such as "countable and non-countable nouns" and "easily confused words."
