Mobile Learning with the iTouch: AIU Breaks New Ground

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.

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.

Some learners have immediately embraced AIU's iTouch 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

The iTouch was a good choice for AIU because it has several advantages over other mobile devices:

* 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 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, any where 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. iTouch-based mobile learning represents a positive integration of user needs, technology habits, and learning preferences.


Link to demo on YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=3fcUMWqiLCs

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

Interview with Michael Orey, University of Georgia

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.

Would you like to hear an interview with Dr. Orey? click here.

Interviewed by Susan.

Haiku: Web 2.0-Friendly LMS Encourages Interaction, Portfolio Development

While most learning management systems encourage interaction, very few incorporate Web 2.0 applications in a functional, easy-to-use, integrated way. The Haiku learning management system (http://www.haikuls.com) has built in Web 2.0 applications, which creates a friendly environment for users who are probably already familiar with the popular applications. Because Haiku has carefully selected applications that respond to learning preferences, a robust and solidly grounded instructional strategy is possible, as students and teachers incorporate audio, video, images, and other multimedia. The drag-and-drop feature makes it possible to share the resources in many places, including the discussion board. Finally, courses and schools that emphasize mastery learning and portfolios can combine the Web 2.0 applications, even using them in conjunction with Haiku's easy-to-use assessment, dropbox, gradebook, and calendar functions.



The platform is very attractive, and extremely user-friendly, which makes it appealing for young users in primary and secondary schools. In addition, the friendly interface makes the learning management system appealing for other organizations, such as not-for-profits and corporations, which may need to find platforms that appeal to users who primarily use their computers for the Web 2.0 applications such as photo sharing, videos, and podcasts.

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Ideas for Web 2.0 applications in Haiku:

Flickr: Allows students and teachers to create photo albums in Flickr and then to share them with the course. This is perfect for portfolio development, and encourages students to create and share files. In addition, it is possible to search with key words and to find photos that align with the course content.

Odeo: The teacher can subscribe to podcasts that illustrate and augment the course content. An example might be a course in social problems and/or the family, where numerous podcasts are available. An example might be This American Life (http://www.thisamericanlife.com/), where although the podcasts are not free, they are affordable.

Frankly, it is a relief to see an audio file-sharing application other than iTunes.

Here is an example of an Odeo feed: http://odeo.com/channel/1359/view

YouTube: It is amazing what one can find on YouTube these days. I've been very impressed with some of the math videos. For example, Video Math Tutor http://youtube.com/user/videomathtutor has very clear and enjoyable basic math videos.

GoogleVideo: There are a number of videos that are available via GoogleVideo that are not available via YouTube.

Here is an example of a video from a creative writing course entitled "The Heart Journal." http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9166315927326276885&hl=en

Finally, it is possible to subscribe to services and to download and share video and audio from other sources, including repositories of instructional media, such as Learning Portal. http://www.learningportal.com/ Here is an example of a downloadable novel: http://www.learningportal.com/Detail.aspx?id=WOuEzOJLJCZd59SDD%2fLY5g%3d%3d.


An example of a corporate training series is the "Basics of Customer Service," located here: http://www.learningportal.com/Detail.aspx?id=81ZXFfr9vMB9A1OtiEsZ9g%3d%3d.


Have a Plan, Avoid Distractions:

Web 2.0 applications encourage interaction and help create conditions in which learning can take place. They can motivate and pique one's interest. However, they can also be extremely distracting if not incorporated as a part of an overall instructional design that clearly points to how the media will be used to achieve learning objectives.



The same can be said for discussions. Discussions can be very productive, but if the questions are not designed well, the discussion board can easily frustrate people as the students answer the same questions and/or respond with the same yes or no answer. Prompts should inspire sharing and rehumanize the elearning space.

Gcast.com I'd like to mention that although Gcast.com is not incorporated in Haiku, it is a very easy way to add a podcast even if all you have is a phone. Today's podcast was recorded using my phone, and posted. The player html code is extremely easy to embed.

Final thoughts: I'd like to say that I believe that Haiku is an example of what we'll see in the future. Instead of having to swim through the huge number of Web 2.0 applications, Haiku simplifies the task by focusing on functionality and ease of use. Simplicity seems quite zen-like -- appropriate for this very elegant learning system.

Interview with Bill Hornbeck, LearningPortal.com

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

Hey, that's my book! (Ophelia's Gold) -- thank you for mentioning it!

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

Using Wimba: Innovative Applications from Michael Orey

Michael Orey, Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology at the University of Georgia, recently chatted with Susan Smith Nash about the various ways he has worked with Wimba's voice and video solutions in his online courses. Dr. Orey is a pioneer of online education, having developed multimedia learning materials since the 1980s. He has used Wimba products since 2001. 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.

Please be sure to enter a screen name to launch the player.

http://demo2.horizonwimba.com/demo/pc?action=display&rid=249-1202938818578

Another topic...

Information about online courses and programs:

http://www.algebra1103.com

Antivirus Programs and Web 2.0 Applications

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 say 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, Facebook, 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.

Visit information about online courses and programs:
http://www.classplace.org
http://www.collegepedigree.com
http://algebra1103.com/

Moodle and Elluminate: Powerful Webinar Functionality

Users of Moodle have reason to celebrate as yet another powerful tool which enables instructors and students to participate in live webinars and then to archive them for ongoing access. Elluminate, a provider of live e-learning and web-based collaboration tools, has made their products Moodle-friendly.

Instructors and online learning administrators often shy away from using Moodle because they believe that to add synchronous functionality will require extensive and costly programming and support. As is often the case with open-source course management solutions, developing functionality can be a challenge, especially if the product undergoes numerous updates or requires numerous plug-ins.



The difficulties of integrating open-source solutions with synchronous functions is one reason that Moodle users have not plunged headlong into trying to weave Second Life, There.com, or other role-playing collaborative interfaces into their Moodle room.



Granted, Elluminate is not a virtual world. But, the potential for collaboration, role-playing, and innovative interaction are definitely there. Further, Elluminate seems to have taken a lot of the pain, expense, and guesswork out of live collaboration.

Here is how Elluminate describes the process:

For users of the Moodle open-source course management system, Elluminate Bridge for Moodle™ enables you to easily and seamlessly integrate live, synchronous distance learning and collaboration into your coursework. Developed in conjunction with Elluminate by Moodle partners Remote-Learner.net and Open Knowledge Technologies, the integration module is available from the Moodle CVS repository.

The process appears to be very straightforward. Nevertheless, it would not be a bad idea to have good support manuals in hand. If you are an administrator of Moodle for your organization, it would be a good idea to provide instructor training, and also to have several demonstrations first.

As always, it is very important to look at what you're doing with the overall design of the course and to make sure that your activities and collaborations reinforce learning goals and objectives.

Symphony Kinematica

Sources for Information about Online College Degrees and Programs

Many readers often wonder how to get good information on college degrees and programs. One should make one's way very carefully through the labyrinth, since much of the information that you'll find has been sponsored, so the real gems are sometimes obscured by the sheer magnitude of the ads and informational emails of some of the most prominent and/or aggressive schools.

Taking your time to research well will pay off in the long run. Be sure to research not only the structure and cost of the programs, but what others have to say. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the number of success stories from students who have found distance learning (elearning and mobile learning) to be an ideal fit for their needs and their lifestyles.

campusexplorer.com
This is an excellent searchable database, ideal for on-campus programs because it allows one to search by zip code as well as by program. You can search by major, or by 2-year, 4-year, or career program. The results provide information on tuition, fees, admission, financial aid, and more. However, it does not have a separate category for online programs. Looking for online programs or courses could be a needle in a haystack.

Information on College from Social Networks

NING http://www.ning.com/
Start your own social network on online courses or programs, or visit already-established programs.

Squidoo.com
Search for testimonials and ideas about online colleges, or start your own lens.

Non-Matriculated Students

Taking general education courses as a non-matriculated students to then transfer them elsewhere, or to apply them toward a degree in a program you can enroll in at the same college.'

Here are a few colleges that will welcome you as a non-matriculated student:

Drexel: http://www.drexel.com/online-degrees/bachelors-degrees/bs-prst/nonmatriculated.aspx

University of Washington - Bothell: http://www.bothell.washington.edu/students/prospective/nonmatric /

Pace: Can take up to 24 hours as a non-matriculated student
http://support.csis.pace.edu/nactel/admission/admissionfaq.cfm

Take courses from one university and transfer them to universities with whom they have articulation agreements:

Take courses that apply toward a certificate program

Herkimer County Community College
Through the HCCC Internet Academy, there are one-year certificate programs and 18 full degree programs that are offered completely on line.
http://www.herkimer.edu/internetacademy/index.htm

Online Independent Study

University of Utah
http://continue.utah.edu/distance/onlinefaq.php

Bakersfield College
http://www.bc.cc.ca.us/distance_learning/online.asp


Independent Study Courses (correspondence courses and online)

Adams College
http://www2.adams.edu/extended_studies/independent

Brigham Young Independent Study coursehttp://ce.byu.edu/is/site/index.cfm

LSU Independent Study
http://www.is.lsu.edu/sql/sitemap.asp?nid=0

Mississippi State Online Independent Study
http://www.is.msstate.edu/College/index.html

Portland State Independent Study
http://www.istudy.pdx.edu/

Snow College Independent Studyhttp://www.snow.edu/independent.html

University of Oklahoma / Independent Study

Degree Completion CollegesAggregators of Credit (accredited colleges that can accept courses from other colleges for up to 100% of the course requirements):

Charter Oak http://www.charteroak.edu/

Excelsior College http://www.excelsior.edu/

Thomas Edison State College http://www.tesc.edu/

Online College Rankings Expand, Encourage Transparency

OEDb's "Online College Rankings 2008" provides valuable information and insight into established and emerging online college programs. More importantly, OEDb (http://www.oedb.org) is causing a serious re-evaluation of the way that colleges are assessed for quality and ranked. Their methodology goes into the heart of the educational experience provided by online colleges in ways that the US News and World Report's college ranking system cannot.

This is not to say that people will stop trusting the US News and World Report's "America's Best Colleges" report. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings mentioned the report's popularity and impact: "If you ever doubt the need or appetite for your mission, consider the U.S. News college rankings. It's been called the "swimsuit edition" of postsecondary reporting. Within 72 hours of its release, the U.S. News website was viewed 10 million times." http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2007/12/12182007.html



For many reasons, their rankings will continue to be a guideline for most people who are trying to compare colleges. The rankings are especially effective for colleges with large on-campus presences and a tradition of residential living, as well as active alumni.

However, the OEDb addresses a world that is largely overlooked by the US News and World Report's rankings OEDb focuses on he changing world of online colleges and online education masters, and the growing acceptance of, and even preference for, 100% online and/or hybrid (blended online and face-to-face) instruction. The OEDb Online College Rankings reflect today's realities, and they give a glimpse of a technology-enhanced future, in which computer-based distance programs (which includes wireless technologies, smartphones, digital devices, as well as internet functionality and new Web 2.0 applications).

OEDb also responds to many of the criteria used by important and influential sources of online college information.


In many ways, the criteria used by OEDb respond in a positive way to the remarks made by Secretary Spellings, on December 17, 2008, when she called for more transparency in assessing colleges and universities in address to the semiannual meeting of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI).

Instead of focusing primarily on acceptance rates, endowments, graduation rates, and student satisfaction, the OEDb ratings use the following inclusion criteria:

1. The college must be accredited
2. The college must be listed in the College Navigator.
3. The college must offer more than one undergraduate degree-granting program online.
4. The college, if campus-based, must offer at least 50% of its undergraduate degree-granting programs online.

OEDb ranking metrics include:

Acceptance rate
Financial aid
Graduation rate
Peer web citations
Retention rate
Scholarly citations
Student-faculty ratio
Years accredited
(http://oedb.org/rankings/methology)

Obviously, in the rapidly evolving world of online education, any ranking metrics are a work in progress, since technology advances may undermine certain core assumptions about the validity of a particular metric. Further, the recent sub-prime mortgage crisis has reached into the credit market for student loans, which has had an impact on all student loan lending.

Neverthess, or because of this, OEDb is blazing an important and refreshing new path in the area of ranking colleges. It also responds to recent critiques of well-established ranking systems, including the U.S. News and World Report's "America's Best Colleges" reports.

A recent online debate, "Throw the Book at College Rankings" at businessweek.com (http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2007/04/throw_the_book.html) calls into question the U.S. News and World Report college rankings. At the heart of the debate is the perceived desirability of Ivy League schools and "Ivy Plus," and the fact that their perceived desirability encourages many more people to apply than for whom there are spaces. The resulting acceptance rate is, in essence, a distortion, and reflects public opinion and marketing efficacy as well as the number of highly qualified applicants and acceptances.

Further skewing the statistics are ones based on faculty productivity. In "The Dangerous Wealth of the Ivy League," Businessweek.com authors Anthony Bianco and Sonal Rupani point out that the "Ivy Plus" (Princeton, the seven other members of the Ivy League, plus Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology), have made an effort to dedicate funds to building a base of prestigious, high-recognition faculty members.

Accused of "stealing stars," Ivy Plus institutions have found ways to hire the brightest-shining stars away from budget-pressed public and private institutions. Budgets dedicated to "At Harvard, compensation and benefits accounted for 49% of its $3.2 billion in operating expenses in 2006-07. Although salary gains have consistently outpaced inflation, it is the addition of new teaching positions that is chiefly responsible for driving up the cost of instruction." (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_50/b4062038784589_page_2.htm, 2007, p. 2)


Are the faculty members and the bearers of endowed chairs actually working now, or were most of their publications and their seminal research produced before they were hired? The authors of the article suggest that many of the most productive faculty members in Ivy League institutions published the bulk of their work while they were at other colleges. Later, when the professors gained the recognition they had earned through their hard work, the well-funded colleges were able to make them a very nice offer and to achieve their stated objectives of improving the quality of faculty. The productive scholars and researchers deserved to be rewarded for their efforts. So, where's the complaint?

The problem is that when such numbers are used in college rankings, it does not give any recognition to the colleges who supported the faculty members during their formative years, and even into their most successful phases. The rankings recognize the affiliation as it is now. According to the authors of "The Dangerous Wealth of the Ivy League," such a system influences public perception (and thus contributions). The rich and the powerful become more rich and powerful.

In this situation, the OEDb's Online College Rankings is a welcome change of pace. One could argue that their rubric could be applied to face-to-face colleges as well as online, since many resources are online and many courses are delivered in a hybrid format, which combines face to face and online.

References

Bianco, A, and Rupani, S. (2007). The dangerous wealth of the Ivy League. Businessweek.com November 29, 2007. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_50/b4062038784589.htm, accessed February 4, 2008.

Businessweek.com (2007). "Throw the Book at College Rankings" April 2007, http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2007/04/throw_the_book.html, accessed on February 4, 2008.

OEDb. (2008). Online College Rankings 2008. http://oedb.org/rankings accessed January 31, 2007.

Spellings, M. (2007). Secretary Spellings Encourages Greater Transparency and Accountability in Higher Education at the National Accreditation Meeting. December 17, 2007. http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2007/12/12182007.html accessed February 4, 2008.

USNews.com (2008). America's Best Colleges 2008. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php, accessed February 5, 2008.

New Hires Role-Play as Action Heroes in Serious Game by Enspire

Austin-based Enspire has developed a series of training courses that incorporate alternative realities and serious games for companies requiring training for distributed populations. Enspire's recent serious game / simulation allows new employees to role-play as action heroes as they learn about the company, company policies, and other necessary procedures. While serious games have been used in corporate training, the way that Enspire used game technology in new hire orientation opens a number of new possibilities, and makes one ask fundamental questions about the nature of new hires, and the "boomer to gamer" transfers of knowledge and experience.
Created for Sun Microsystems, the action-hero serious game, or, "new hire portal," was for new hires. The new-hire portal recently won Best Synchronous Learning Course at the E-learning Guild's Demofest in San Jose. Through this portal, employees can participate in social networking, read and write blog entries, and play educational onboarding computer games.

Specifically, Enspire created "Rise of the Shadow Specters," a platform game and "Dawn of the Shadow Specters," an adventure game. Both games teach Sun's core businesses and corporate culture by navigating Ray (the hero) through Sol City.


A demo is available at http://learning.sun.com/sls/staff/display/NEWHIRE/Play . Enspire’s Interactive Content Experience™ (ICE) game engine powered the experience, which was honored at the DevLearn 2007 DemoFest and featured in the Austin Business Journal.

Onboarding is a great place to incorporate serious games and role-playing because it allows people to develop a sense of community. Better than Second Life or There.com because the environment is controlled, content is official.

There are other perhaps unanticipated results of using an action-hero video game for new-hire orientation:

1---Corporate culture. The simulation provides a wonderful opportunity to introduce individuals to the corporate culture.

2--- Developing community of learners. Having a sense of a community is absolutely vital for individuals who can learn from each other and ask questions in an environment that encourages questions, support, and answers.

3--- Instructing one in procedures. Role-playing and practice are effective ways to learn.

4--- Engaging the learner, maintaining interest. Using serious games and simulations is a great way to engage the learners and keep them interested and receptive to learning.

5--- Developing a belief in the corporation that is very positive. Perception is reality, they say, and if employees perceive their employer to be very forward-thinking, caring, and innovative, it helps develop a positive belief about the company and encourages vision and mission coherence.

6--- "Boomer" to "Gamer" Knowledge and Experience Transfer. The challenge of finding ways for employees with distinct learning styles and preferences can be overcome. Specifically, "digital immigrants" of the Baby Boomer generation have an opportunity to share knowledge with the "digital natives" who grew up playing video games.

Opportunities

Managing Expectations: There is always the downside of arousing expectations, and giving the impression that the company is a lot cooler than it really is. This can be a challenge which will need to be managed very carefully, with a great deal of coordination with the Human Resources department.

Assessment Tools: What are the learners really learning? Assessment tools need to correspond with the learning style used in the original training.

Program and Training Effectiveness Evaluation: It is important to have a non-interested independent third party take a look and make sure that learning styles are being accommodated and that ADA accommodation requirements are being met. This would not be expensive, but it is invaluable. A trained instructional designer / program evaluator would be ideal. Adjustments could be made quickly and easily.

Enspire White Papers

In addition to providing custom solutions, Enspire offers white papers on games and simulations used in training. They are available at the blog: http://blog.enspire.com/

The white papers also describe how Enspire's solutions for training and professional development can be best used. The fact that Enspire offers a full suite of services is comforting. It indicates that the individuals understand the real needs of the entity and are focused on learning, rather than simply repurposing game code.

It would be very exciting if Enspire devoted an entire series of pages to assessment via simulation. This is where most serious games and simulations fall short. In courses such as conflict resolution or training, it is important to understand the underlying principles (or, in the case of a new-hire orientation, the corporate policies). The problem with most simulations and serious games is that they do not test in the same manner in which they present the original material, nor do they offer practice tests.

There are huge opportunities for serious games and simulation programmers to show how they are accommodating multiple learning styles, not just in interacting with the interface (and other avatars), but also in assessment. This is most acutely the case when learners must perform in standardized tests (licensing boards and other exams). Enspire is doing groundbreaking work and I am looking forward to more examples of their innovative use of simulation and games for training and e-learning.

Links:

New Hire Portal

http://enspire.com/

Creating Mashups for Fun and Venture Capital

Although dynamic, integrated web applications (often called "mashups") are increasing in number and popularity, very few manuals or guides exist that take the user step-by-step through the process of creating them. PHP Web 2.0 Mashup Projects, by Shu-Wai Chow, and published by Packt Publishing (http://www.packtpub.com), provides valuable step-by-step instructions. With this book, uses will have strategies for using the customizable homepage platforms such as iGoogle and MyYahoo, which allow users to take advantage of the client-side Javascript scripting language and the always-growing list of "gadgets," which are applications that retrieve information from a database and then display them in the central site. It could also enable a user to build gadgets that could attract venture capital if they could form the basis of a viable business.



The term, "mashup" can be misleading. After all, ordinary web users who copy and paste code into their blog templates in order to add search tools, questionnaires, polls, maps, and links to products in order to provide functionality and entertainment for their visitors may not realize they are creating mashups. They may not have any idea that the functional chunks of code they're importing can be called "gadgets" or "widgets" and that the dynamic links to books and products illustrate a "long tail" approach to marketing.

What those web users would acknowledge is that they appreciate how exciting it is to be able to generate your own dynamic web applications and to put them on a single page. They would love to be able to do more. For those users, Mashup Projects is ideal.

PHP Web 2.0 Mashup Projects starts from the beginning and defines a mashup as an application that allows users to "remotely consume services like Google Maps, Flickr, Amazon, YouTube, MSN Search, Yahoo!, Last.fm, and the Internet UPC database, not to mention the California Highway Patrol Traffic data" (preface) and more. The author acknowledges that many users will not really want to have to write PHP code, nor will they necessarily have server-side privileges.

Typical dynamic, integrated web applications / mashups fall into a few well-established catagories:

Maps
Social Networks
Photographs
Demographics
Financial Information
E-Commerce
Ads
Calendar
Dictionaries
Language Translation

Mashup Projects explains which platforms enable users to bring together already written scripts in order to have the functionality of a mashup. Examples include iGoogle, MyYahoo, amazon, MySpace and others. This is a kind of mashup "lite" since the user will not actually be writing any scripts to create a unique gadget, or to modify an existing gadget.

There is money to be made in gadget-building, and Google realizes this. In fact, one can apply for funding to support building a gadget, if the idea is sound enough, and useful for Google. One can submit a proposal and receive $5,000 for funding the venture through Gadget Ventures (http://www.google.com/gadgetventures/). If a viable business can be built around the gadget, up to $100,000 is available as startup capital from Google.

Google provides a guide, but it is quite minimal. Mashup Projects could be a perfect book for those who wish to develop a Google Gadget, and then obtain funding for a startup venture. (Example: building an application for http://shoppingmallzombies.com/)

Mashup Projects begins with Amazon, one of the friendliest databases around, which actively encourages individuals to dynamically retrieve information in order to sell it. Chapter 2 shows the user how to work with an XML-RPC structure, which forms the core of the dynamic retrieval function of mashups. The request and retrieval functions are clearly details. In addition, the chapter discusses how to use other types of requests, including REST.

Readers will be able to practice projects in by following the Chow's step-by-step instructions. The user can make his or her own search engine using PHP SOAP, and then can build his or her own Video Jukebox. The process is clear and it moves from the simple to the complex, starting with writing the application and then "mashing up."

Chapter 5 shows the user how to create a mashup using public safety data and maps to predict traffic snarls and situations. Chow very responsibly discusses the ethical issues involved in a "screen scrape" and that one should always seek approval to pull data from that is displayed on one's website and importing it into one's own site.

Chapter 6 shows how to integrate maps and image repositories (Google maps and Flickr). Chow builds the mashup around data on the London Tube.

For the more sophisticated web user and web programmer with experience with servers, creating mashups can be one of the most satisfying activities around. It allows one to demonstrate very creative thinking by being able to bring together unrelated clusters of information -- unrelated databases, unrelated web applications - and to uncover really amazing and unique aspects. For example, shmapplets.com (http://www.shmapplets.com) brings together city maps, photographs, cultural information, and personal information to create virtual tours. As an example of a mashup that has been created by a user and made available for the public free of charge, schmapplet is pretty typical. It's a great application, but it has a number of rough edges and limitations, which I found when I started to create my own schmapplet of Oklahoma City: http://www.schmap.com/published/beyondutopia/1267/

However, very effective mashups exist, with and without glitches, and they provide the user with very valuable information. There are a few very important considerations, which should be mentioned.

First, there are ethical considerations in developing some mashups. Chow discusses issues involved in "screen scraping" and he touches on the questions one should ask oneself when putting together information that could be confidential or lead to security and/or privacy breaches.

Second, there are important data quality issues that must be addressed. The mashups are only as good as the information that is retrieved. How do you know that the information is valid? Are important business decisions being made on the basis of the information retrieved in a mashup? Some serious errors could be made if the maps are out of date, the customer reviews are biased (or completely inaccurate), and other information is flawed.

Caution should be used when creating mashups. Good planning is of paramount importance. Shu-Wai Chow's PHP Web 2.0 Mashup Projects (Packt Publishing 2007) is a valuable tool.

Neulio Does for Training What YouTube Did Simple Video Content

Neulio's new educational video platform makes it possible for individuals to easily create educational and training videos that follow sound instructional design and have a measure of quality assurance, which is, as we all know, quite rare in the wild-west, anything-goes world of user-generated content (UGC) and Web 2.0.

Anyone who has ever tried to create their own video-based course by using existing hosting services or by hosting it yourself is familiar with some of the obstacles. Google video and YouTube make it very easy to upload and share videos, and even restrict access to certain users, and, they make it possible to embed a video in your course website or download videos to your mobile devices. Sounds good? It is, to a degree. It's a great way to make your videos accessible across platforms, but the problem is that the platform itself is not pedagogically friendly. You have to do a lot of work. Further, you're never really sure if your students are experiencing the video content in the way you'd like them to. You can try to make sure that they see the videos in a certain sequence, but it is very difficult to link them.

Neulio (http://www.neulio.com/) - a new educational video platform, hosting service, and instructional template framework – could provide a solution.


Neulio is as easy to use as YouTube or Google video. The user can upload a video directly from his or her camera or phone. In the case of Neulio, user generated content -- all of it -- is free to view and free to post.

What is different about Neulio is that it is designed specifically for online training and learning via user-generated video content. It's a simple solution that allows individuals to create useable video training without having to have an extensive IT department or a team of instructional designers.

Neulio does for training, learning, and how-to content what YouTube did for simple video content.

---The ability to create multi-lesson courses without IT involvement
The coursebuilder tool is engaging, and its ease of use encourages the individual to create content and to use it in innovative ways. Changes are simple and do not require the involvement of IT teams, instructional designers, instructional technologists. In addition to time savings, cost savings can be significant.


---Support for multiple media types in a single course
It is not uncommon for individuals to have content in different formats. Neulio accommodates different types of video content, and further, it converts it to a flash format that is compatible with many other types of players (mobile devices, phones, laptops).

---User-configurable gates that control movement between lessons
Gates are user-configurable controls that allow the user to regulate a course consumer's movement between lessons. Types of gates include passwords and quizzes.

---An integrated, online quiz-builder
Neulio allows the course developer to create quizzes that are used by the student in the way they were intended, and at the point and in the sequence. This helps assure that learning is taking place.

However, one would be remiss if one did not mention that there are potential downsides. Like many new programs (especially those that emerged during the dot.com times), the service must achieve critical mass. That means that many users need to use it, and the UGC must be of sufficient quality and relevance to excite other uses.

Further, it will be necessary to find productive partnerships in order to assure large user groups and to test out the bugs. Needless to say, this requires the architecture to be massively scalable. That is not always the case.

Finally, one must avoid the pitfalls of getting a partner that is too large too soon. How many potentially useful products are still languishing in Google’s sandbox / beta-testing area and have never actually seen the light of day?

Those provisos notwithstanding, Neulio represents a breakthrough for e-learning. It allows user-generated instructional content to be used in a meaningful way. Further, it allows the user-generated content to be much higher quality than one would ordinarily expect. Neulio functions as a virtual instructional design team and it gives the guidance that users need to create video content that is pedagogically effective.




The Neulio concept is potentially revolutionary. In addition to being used in online courses, the "how-to" element can span many uses. Theoretically, it could be used in conjunction with textbooks and e-commerce as well.

IBM Predictions for the Future Spell Web 2.0 Business Opportunities Now

IBM has released their annual “Next Five In Five,” a set of predictions released at the end of each year, to predict where technology will take us in five years http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/us/five_in_five/12312007/index.shtml

The December 2007 predictions, however, seem to have already come true, or, at least, be on the verge of coming true. Thus, as predictions, they are not as engaging as some of the futurist visions that discuss really radical new technologies and techniques. However, as indicators of where real business opportunities exist now and in the immediate future, IBM's predictions are pure old.

The “Five in Five” is not quite the same, but is similar to another set of predictions issued by IBM. "Five Innovations that Could Change Your Life Over the Next Five Years," http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/us/five_in_five/010807/index.shtml which came from an IBM-sponsored distributed event, and virtual think tank.

Below are IBM's five predictions. I've added brief commentary as well as a list of possible opportunities that can be developed or expanded now.

1. Green Technologies for Everyday Life
"Smart technologies" will proliferate. According to IBM, the current trend to put timers and sensors on lights and electrical equipment will expand to the point that almost everything will have energy-saving elements, and many will utilize nanotechnology in the sensors and other design.

Business Opportunities Now:
---Sensors to control energy consumption
---Devices that have them (sellers and manufacturers)

2. Driving Patterns and Traffic Management

Yahoo Go! and Google Maps already provide information for handhelds. Numerous mashups can be downloaded that integrate traffic information with maps (such as Google maps). The opportunities exist to provide better coverage. They can also be helpful in reviewing real estate or driving conditions at a distance from one's handheld.

Business Opportunities Now:
---Info systems (web app that integrate with live information)
---Monitor that gather the information and feed them to a central database -- cell phones with GPS? OnStar nav systems?
---Companies that provide the services to install devices and monitoring systems / software

3. You Are What You Eat: Crop / Food tracking and reporting

According to IBM, all our food will be traceable, and we'll be able to find just where it was grown, processed, and warehoused. Honestly, there is nothing new in this -- all food has such information already. If it did not, how would we have been able to determine where the tainted spinach came from in the outbreak that occurred in 2006? However, according to IBM, the tracking information will extend to the types of soil, the nature of the farm environment, and the dates of transit.


Business Opportunities Now:
---Far beyond the barcode information // especially date
---Origin and provenance (soil, country, etc)
---Provenance and transport (processing and packaging)
---Agricultural industry can sell information to users
---Packaging manufacturers would design packaging to facilitate the new need
---Problem -- too much information for competitors?

4. Cell Phones Do Everything

According to the prediction, cell phones will be personal assistants that will do everything from find maps, deliver email, allow you to see ratings for a restaurant, share videos, and post directly to social networking sites.

As we all know, that prediction has come true. In fact, just yesterday, I used my Blackberry Curve (with service provided by T-Mobile) to find the street address of Kyoto's, a restaurant in Reno, Nevada, where I was to meet for lunch. I used Yahoo Go! to enter the name of the restaurant and the town. I obtained the street address, found a map, and also even found some ratings and customer comments regarding their sushi. I was able to avoid a traffic accident on one of the streets on the way to the restaurant, thanks to Based on that information, I found the restaurant, and then ordered the sushi sampler. The ahi sashimi looked good, so I will probably try that next time. I could have filmed a movie of it and posted it directly to my YouTube account or as a video comment on Yahoo Go!, but decided against it. I was afraid I would dribble soy sauce on my white blouse.

Business Opportunities Now:
---Marketing portals that are cell-phone / smartphone friendly
---Packages to help businesses meet the needs of their cell phone-based customers
---Packages to help vendors, businesses, and consumers input information in many fields (rating restaurants, providing maps, etc.)
---Packages to help consumers decode all the information and use it
---Effective ads etc for cell phone display

5. Doctors will use super-scans to analyze patients.

Needless to say, this is also a prediction that has already come true. It is useful to see, though, that IBM expects the trend to continue and the information to become more portable, more user-friendly, and -- well, potentially more dangerous.


Business Opportunities Now:
---Technologies that help enhance imaging
---Computer programs that help display more effective models
---Medical technology companies creating diagnostic tests
---Insurance and pharmaceutical companies (ways to use the info)
---Target market for certain treatments and medicines
---Privacy / encryption devices -- my personal feeling is that if it gets to the point that one can do a scan of a person without one's permission (remote scans at at distance, or even at places such as airports), it might be useful to have an internal device that scrambles the scan -- a kind of portable force-field. It would also be helpful to be able to encrypt the information once it is obtained.

In many ways, the predictions have already come true. The predictions are useful, nevertheless, because it is possible to gauge the nature and direction of trends, as well as their volume and impact. In addition, it's possible to identify where and how one might take advantage of opportunities to develop new products and services.

Interview with Jane Hart (Life in the E-Learning Organization Series)

Welcome to Life in the E-Learning Organization! This week's interview is with Jane Hart, director of the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies.

What is your name, and what is your involvement with e-learning?

I am Jane Hart. I run the Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies – www.C4LPT.co.uk where I provide a free online information service about e-learning as well as consultancy and advice to businesses and education. Freely available resources at the Centre include: Directory of Tools for Learning, E-Learning Handbook, a Conference Calendar and the Top 100 Tools for Learning activity.

How did you get interested in distance education?

I have been working in the education and training world for nearly 25 years. I spent 14 years teaching in Further and Higher Education where I promoted online learning, but left in 1997 to offer professional e-learning services. This work has been focused on helping organisations understand the full potential of e-learning to address job and business performance problems.

What is your favorite new trend in distance education?

As part of my work at the Centre I keep track of new trends, technologies and tools. My favourite trend is informal learning, by which I mean realising that informational e-learning can be just as powerful and as effective as instructional e-learning – and much easier and less costly to create. The key, however, is understanding which is the most appropriate solution for any given learning or performance challenge or problem.

What is your favorite technology?

I have many favourites; but currently I very enthusiastic about the use of file sharing tools like Slideshare, YouTube, VoiceThread, Scribd, etc, which let authors embed resources into web pages to share them with others.

What kinds of instructional materials do you use in elearning?

I help my clients build a range of materials; and recently have been building screencasts, Flash-based narrated presentations, as well short tutorials.

How do you use textbooks in e-learning?

E-Book technology is a great way of making textbooks available. But more interesting is the ability to use the technology create course readers – and make these available to on-demand online or to print

What are your favorite social networks? How do you view them in e-learning?

Although I am a member of public networks like LinkedIn and Facebook, I prefer the smaller private networks that can be built with tools like Ning to invite members with common interests. For instance I am a member of Jay Cross’ Internet Time Group community where members can share their experiences of working in the e-learning profession.

Do you have a few favorite mashups or web applications that work together in innovative ways? Please describe them.

Following on from my previous response, I do like apps like Study Groups, which makes Facebook a useful tool for education. After all students are probably already members, it’s just about harnessing the technology for educational purposes!

What is your favorite quote? or, what's a book that caught your eye recently?

“Learning is not compulsory ... neither is survival” (W Edwards Denning)

Ruby On Rails: New Book Guides New Solutions (Review)

A new book, just released by Packt Publishing, can help make elearning solutions more efficient by using the Ruby on Rails web development framework. The book, which is intended for users who have a basic familiarity with the framework, and who wish to develop their own applications or enterprise solutions, contains valuable guidance and insight. It is not intended for users who want to develop exotic uses, nor does it require users to be familiar with more complex web-based applications. It is most valuable for the ways in which it instructs users in the planning, development, and deployment processes. The book is entitled Ruby on Rails Enterprise Application Development: Plan, Program, Extend.

Ruby on Rails (Rails for short) has become a very popular web development framework for business applications. It is ideal for training solutions because it can enable applications that do not communicate with each other to interface in a productive way. While such a statement may not seem to mean much at first glance, a closer look into the typical corporate training environment or elearning organization yields a situation where test results, certifications, instructional materials, assessments, registrations, records, and payments are just a few of the data repositories that must communicate with each other.

The problem with canned commercial solutions, or even customized solutions by a provider such as Oracle, is that the organization changes, objectives redefine themselves, and needs emerge -- all outside the capabilities of the "off the shelf" product.

Ruby on Rails is open source, and readily available for download. While there are a number of sites that provide help with installation and getting started with Rails, there are few resources for the mid-level user who would like to start using Ruby on Rails to help with both mundane tasks as well as more complex ones.

Rails is a very clear, easy-to-use framework that can be written in a text file (using notepad, for example, in Windows), which makes the creation and modification of templates a very simple task. Rails also lends itself to more complex tasks, such as data mining from several different databases that are housed in different servers and accessed using different protocols. So, in addition to making the elearning organization's life easier with respect to organizing and integrating elearning user and content information, Rails can also help make life easier with respect to marketing, tracking, and auditing information.

One of the main advantages of using Ruby on Rails Enterprise Application Development: Plan, Program, Extend is that it guides the user from installation, deployment, and development (and testing) of applications.

Chapter 2 begins with a typical day at the office, and a computing task which turns out to be much more complicated and time-consuming to do than the boss who wants it yesterday would dare to imagine. The programmer is panicked, until she realizes that Rails will allow her to easily do what the boss wants, which is to gather and organize client information from multiple sales rep accounts. The chapter describes the typical database problem, the nature of the challenges, and different strategies for organizing a solution.

Chapters 3 and 4 show the user how to build a foundation for Rails and then to start to work with the web framework, which includes setting up a new Rails application, connecting Rails to a database, and migrating records to complete a database. The chapters are very detailed and contain specific code and instruction.

Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8 deal with the application experience. The Rails programmer must understand the user and how the user is going to need to use an interface in order to obtain the best results. For the daring developers, the chapters also discuss how to integrate AJAX libraries, which constitute ready-made scripts for integrating web applications. I would say that this is not for the faint of heart. AJAX scripts are notoriously finicky -- just look at all the mashups that limp along and do not play nicely with the various applications they are attempting to integrate. This is most definitely the case when it comes to formatting and display. The chapters continue to roll out the most useful and most-sought-out enterprise needs, which include authentication, task tracking, and catching missing records.

Chapters 9 and 10 help refine and improve deployment of the Rails applications, and guide the user in the best way to build on one's initial success in developing a Rails application. The tips and pointers are pragmatic. They urge the programmer to keep it simple, and to try to keep the applications as object-oriented as possible, as well as streamlined and granular.

In addition to encouraging the user of Rails to be pragmatic and to not attempt what is not feasible, the book guides the Rails application developer to a balanced philosophy -- develop what you need to, to it elegantly, and don't develop what you don't need.

While the Ruby on Rails application manual provides specific solutions which not meet the needs of all readers, the overall organization and the discussion of how to analyze a problem and to bring it into development are extremely helpful because the tips and pointers are universal.

Ruby on Rails: Enterprise Application Development is highly recommended for corporations and elearning organizations seeking to improve quality, efficiency, and marketing of their learning solutions.

Ruby on Rails Enterprise Application Development: Plan, Program, Extend

Reference

Smith, E. and Nicols, R. (2007) Ruby on Rails: Enterprise Application Development. Packt Publishing. http://www.packtpub.com/
508 p. $49.99 US

San Francisco Zoo Mauling and "Endangered" (1997)

What makes some stories catch on, while others do not? How and why do certain cultural narrative ring true? This post continues the contemplation of the San Francisco Zoo's escaped tiger and the 1997 play, "Endangered." Please see Part I of this story.

Please disregard the wind noise -- a storm was coming in at Wailea Beach in Maui.

SF Zoo Mauling and a 1997 Play: Life Imitating Art

I am always amazed at the way that certain issues resurface and renew themselves in the new times, circumstances, and contexts. At the same time, it's interesting to see how life imitates art -- not just in visions of the future (science fiction) or heinous crimes (action-adventure and crime drama), but in other areas as well. In 1996, I wrote a couple of plays featuring animals. The first, Let Dogs Lie, explored the parallels between using animals to test surgical procedures for humans and relationships between people. The second, Endangered, probed the nature of being not only captive, but having one's captivity be the subject of spectacle. It, too, explored parallels between animals in captivity and people in awkward situations (families, relationships, the past).

Because of the recent mauling death of a teenager who was visiting the San Francisco Zoo, and who was mauled to death by an escaped Siberian tiger, I thought I'd take this opportunity to provide links to the play (with podcasts), together with a few thoughts.

Endangered: A play about large cats in zoos and zoo patrons. First published by Potes and Poets Press in 1997, and performed at St. Gregory's University in the spring of 1998.

Endangered: Part I
http://fringejournal.blogspot.com/2005_09_28_archive.html

Endangered: Part II
http://fringejournal.blogspot.com/2005_09_29_archive.html

Endangered: Part III
http://fringejournal.blogspot.com/2005_09_30_archive.html

Please email me (Susan Smith Nash - http://www.beyondutopia.com) if you're interested in finding out how you can obtain copies of the other play, and also license a production. My email: beyondutopia at gmail dot com

Recommended experimental poetics sites:

Tinfish

Chaxblog

Swoonrocket

Light & Dust

Small Press Traffic

Avec Books

Viral Videos, Web 2.0, and Strategies for E-Learning

You're probably familiar with some of the most widely disseminated viral videos -- Chris Crocker, Diet Coke and Mentos, Apartment Guy, ... all » "Don't Taze Me!" -- the list goes on and on. Viral videos become a part of the social "conversation" and as such, they interplay with current events, news, and the types of mythos that make it into the collective unconscious.


Because of the way they are produced, distributed, and hosted, they are definitely a part of the great "Web 2.0" world.

Google Video of Web 2.0

E-learning that incorporates the file sharing, networking, and communication of Web 2.0 can use viral videos to great advantage. This video, guided by Susan Smith Nash, explores some ways to accomplish this.

Recent Great Posts -- check out the blogs below -

Golden Swamp: http://www.goldenswamp.com

EdTechPost: http://edtechpost.ca/wordpress/

The Learned Man!: http://www.learnedman.com

Random Walk in Learning: http://elearningrandomwalk.blogspot.com/



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