Interview with Breanne Hull, Educlone. Innovators in E-Learning Series

Finding new ways to engage students and create engaging e-learning experiences is a continual challenge. Welcome to an interview with Breanne Hull, Educlone. The Educlone learning platform features an interface designed for rapid development of distance learning (elearning /mlearning) which uses a drag-and-drop approach.

1. What is your name and relationship to elearning?
My name is Breanne Hull and I've worked as a public school teacher, an instructional designer in educational software, and as a training and eLearning consultant. I am currently the co-founder and CEO of Educlone.

2. What is Educlone?
Educlone is the eLearning platform that I wished I had as a teacher. Individual accounts for public school teachers are free, and it's a place where they can create their own online learning just by clicking and dragging boxes around. It's so simple that it's almost hard to explain. Our goal is to make is simple for teachers to create their own engaging, dynamic online learning.

3. How is Educlone different?
We thrive on simplicity. While some teachers are comfortable with the current eLearning interfaces that are out there, some are not. Unfortunately, this prevents many teachers from giving eLearning a try. Our interface doesn't look like it was built by a room full of engineers and computer programmers. It looks like it was built by teachers, for teachers, because, well, it was!

It's eLearning, made easy. We also avoid content development and just focus on making our platform easy and intuitive to use. So many educational software companies spend huge sums of money on content development. They make sure to meet every objective tied to every standard for every state and territory. A teacher ends up with this district-mandated pricey software that contains tons of superfluous content and, ultimately, wastes time instead of saving it. Educlone leaves the teaching in the hands of the teachers. They develop their own content with their own special flair, tied to their specific state and local objectives. Once the lesson is created and recorded in Educlone, students go through the lessons at their own computers, at their own pace. This leaves the teacher free to use class time to actually help the students who need it, with one-on-one attention, without having to stay after school or hold the other students back.

4. Where will Educlone be in five years? In 20 years? (E-Learning Queen realizes these seem to be rather crazy questions, but "the Queen" thinks we've problematized ourselves by thinking in short-term and medium-term solutions, and that we are stuck in this year's technology -- rather than thinking in broad-brush principles…)

Educlone will be wherever teachers and trainers want it to be. What we have created is an organic, living, breathing ecosystem that responds to the needs of its users. If a feature is requested, then we add it. Otherwise, we leave things just as they are and avoid over-complication. I want teachers to feel like this is their technology. No more having things handed down from administration that they are forced to use. If they want it to be complex with more features, than it will be. If they want to share lessons with other teachers across the miles, then it will be done. If they want students to create lessons and learning experiences for each other, then we'll throw that in. Otherwise, we'll leave it as it is - clean and simple. I want Educlone to feel like a comfy living room that educators can really spend some time in, creating valuable learning experiences.

strong>5. How are you transcending the tendency of today's LMS's to create an education garden rather than a factory?

I'm not sure who it was, but someone at some point decided that putting a book on screen is online learning. I've taken online courses, recently, that were like, "Read this paragraph. Ok, now read this paragraph and see the attached stock photo. Now click the 'next page' button to read the next paragraph." Seriously???

Technically, since reading a book is a form of learning, then putting some form of that book online could be considered "online learning." But come on, people. If I can tap one button on my little phone and see, oh, I don't know… an immediate live feed of Times Square, then surely we can leverage technology in education to do more than throw text up onto a screen! In that same vein, software that helps teachers to automate tasks related to school and classroom management are great - but is that really managing learning? I'm not even sure that Educlone should be considered an LMS. We're not trying to create an online school, and we're not aiming to automate administrative tasks like taking attendance. Like a garden, Educlone offers itself up as an open space to create and grow ideas. We focus on allowing teachers (and their students!) to create really interactive and engaging learning experiences. We also focus on giving teachers really clear and immediate feedback on how students are doing throughout the lesson.

6. List your top 5 books …

That's a tough question! I'll just list the three that I'm currently most interested in. Those are Drive by Daniel Pink, The Habit of Thought by Michael Strong, Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Creating Webinars Using Open Source Software

Do you want to hold a webinar, but want to save money by doing it on your own? An updated list of sources can be found here. As speed and bandwidth restrictions continue to be reduced, and travel costs and time away from the office continue to be problematic, webinars are being incorporated into education, professional development, training, and team-building.

Don't Miss the Updated List of Open-Source Webinar Software and Platforms!

http://elearnqueen.blogspot.com/2011/05/opensource-webinar-software-updated.html

Open Source software can be a great solution when there is sufficient programming and network support expertise to be able to deal with some of the challenges of beta-level (or even alpha) software. However, the rewards of open source can be significant for those wishing to maintain control, develop a brand image, reduce monthly operating costs, and to even offer hosting / repackaged solutions for a specialized niche market.

For colleges and universities, the webinar format can be a wonderful way to present guest lecturers, and to discuss research design, particularly for sociology, psychology, and earth sciences. For corporations and professional associations, the webinar format can be effective. It is important, however, to plan well and to avoid common pitfalls.

Assemble your own "rough and ready" webinar?
It could be possible to simply broadcast a live event using ustream (http://www.ustream.tv/) while simultaneously using MSN or AIM for chat and discussion capabilities. This could result in a haphazard event, with archives of the chat avaialable in a different place than the archived video. However, it's a "rough and ready" way to do a webinar if you want to stay free, and not have to progress to a for-pay version of gotomeeting, skype, webex, omnovia, elluminate, and other providers of web conferencing and synchronous web training.

OpenSource Webinar Software
(please note that these products have been reviewed, but not installed and tested by e-learning queen).

vmukti
http://www.vmukti.com/
VMukti is an open-source, cloud-based high definition video conferencing communication suite, which has three main features:
Live Video Streaming and broadcasting
Web Conferencing and Collaboration
Video Voip Telephony
In theory, VMukti offers live video streaming in an affordable, effective manner. Total video product on cost, Quality and Scalability. Server less, Client Less, Low cost, High Definition, Scalable, Failover.

Webhuddle
http://www.webhuddle.com/
-Small footprint
-Easy to use: client runs in web browser (no installation)
-Thin Client
-Secure
-Offers hosting services

OpenMeetings
OpenSource
http://code.google.com/p/openmeetings/
OpenMeetings is a free browser-based software that allows you to set up instantly a conference in the Web. You can use your microphone or webcam, share documents on a white board, share your screen or record meetings. It is available as hosted service or you download and install a package on your server with no limitations in usage or users.

BigBlueButton
BigBlueButton is an open source web conferencing system for distance education. It provides real-time desktop sharing, presentation, VoIP, webcam and chat.

WebConference Plugin for Moodle
Plug in WebConference Internet conferencing into your Moodle Learning Management System. This mod for Moodle 1.9.7+ will enable your moodle installation to add WebConference Activities to courses. Adjust seats, and schedule conference events.

The Ehizo Project --- Communication Suite
data & video-conferencing, one shared whiteboard, send text messages (IM), transfer files(FTP),collaborate in real time,email capablities,Plays and stores dvd,cd and Mp3. Web-based Internet directory,Remote Desktop Share,File sharing program & browser

1videoConference
http://1videoconference.com/
(modified from website) An Open Source web conferencing company, 1VideoConference is allows its Web, Audio/ Video phone, Skype, Msn and Yahoo users to instantly participate in live web conferences without the need for lengthy downloads or complicated installations. At any time, our host customers can simply drop a small piece of code onto their websites and create an online video conference room.

The beta version of 1videoConference is available at sourceforge.net for download and installation on one's own server. This is an opensource alpha version with known bugs and little aesthetic design.

*****
From the archives of fringejournal.com: "Feed the Bears Anyway"

Interview with Bryan Orme, CreateDebate.com: E-Learning Innovators Series

Developing technologies that facilitate discussion and encourage learners to engage is critical to maintaining student engagement and motivating them to stay active in the course. Welcome to an interview with Bryan Orme, co-founder of CreateDebate, an online debate forum.

What is your name, your affiliation, and your connection to e-learning?

My name is Bryan Orme, I am a co-founder of CreateDebate. CreateDebate is an online debate forum that can be used in the classroom as a web-based virtual learning environment (VLE) to drive collaboration, discussion and critical thinking.


What is your view of how people interact and learn in the e-learning space?

In my view, the e-learning space is evolving as technology redefines how teachers and students communicate and collaborate with each other and among themselves. It's an exciting time because technology is being used in new ways to supplement traditional classroom activities and enhance the overall learning experience.

People learn best when they are actively involved in the learning process. E-learning technology has unlocked new possibilities for teachers eager to engage students with a collaborative learning approach. For instance, it is quite easy for a teacher to incorporate CreateDebate into an existing lesson plan to drive discussion and constructive reasoning through participation and collaboration.



Please give an example of a discussion that leads to a learning encounter. How do you open people's minds rather than simply reinforcing bias or rigidity?

On the topic of American Imperialism, one history teacher uses CreateDebate to enliven the instructional component by supplementing his lecture with an interactive debate. The lesson plan begins with a central question: With regard to the exploration and establishment of the United States, do the pros outweigh the cons?

As the lesson plan unfolds, students are given the opportunity to write arguments supporting the either pro or con positions. The students are also encouraged to vote for or against the arguments written by their peers. As a result, the most convincing arguments are voted to the top of each position. The net effect is a competition where students are striving to craft well-written, logical arguments.

Each time the students are given an opportunity to write new arguments and vote for the most convincing, the teacher leads a discussion in class to review the most popular arguments. As the lesson plan progresses, the students are encouraged to incorporate new ideas into their arguments and reminded that they can change their votes. By the end of the instructional component, the debate reads like a lesson plan summary.




This teacher has harnessed e-learning by providing a forum for his students to learn through competitive collaboration. As the interactive debate has been threaded throughout the lesson plan, the views of his students have been shaped through instruction and peer-collaboration. All of his students have become active participants in the learning process.



What do you see as the connection between creativity and debate?

Creativity is a mental and social process through which new ideas and concepts are generated. Debate is a method of interaction between people where ideas and concepts are analyzed, argued and judged. Creativity and debate are two dots connected by ideas and concepts.

What is CreateDebate? How does it work? What are the underlying learning theories that support its application in the elearning space?

CreateDebate in the Classroom enables teachers to customize and build an online debate community that can be easily incorporated into almost any lesson plan. Typically, teachers will create debates around questions that will build on the current course of study. The goal is to engage students and enrich the classroom conversation through peer collaboration. Debates can be conducted in the classroom “real-time” (if computers with Internet access are available) or participation can be assigned as homework and reviewed in class.



CreateDebate is built on Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, which states that when students are able to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate subjects they are learning at a much higher level than rote memorization of facts. CreateDebate is also based on James Surowiecki's theory of Collective Wisdom, which argues that the aggregation of information in groups leads to better conclusions and decisions. By engaging in collaborative debate, students are able to exchange ideas and theories that eventually lead to better conclusions than simply calling on the student that raises their hand.

Do you have any future plans? How are you planning to leverage new technologies?

We plan on expanding the CreateDebate platform to make it even more valuable and useful for both students and teachers. We are creating lesson plans that teachers can leverage to encourage debate and discussion in their classroom depending on the grade level of their students as well as the topic of study.



We also plan on enhancing our social networking features to allow teachers to collaborate on what works best in their classrooms and share ideas for how to most effectively leverage debate in their curricula. Additionally, we plan on creating functionality to allow classrooms from around the world that have the same learning objectives debate each other by using the CreateDebate platform. We are actively working with teachers to create new features that make CreateDebate even more valuable for use in the classroom.

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