Free Video-Based Mini-Course: Monetary Pivot Points, the Dollar, and Oil Prices with William DeMis

Is the U.S. headed for another major monetary shift that could send oil prices soaring? In this powerful and popular presentation, originally delivered to a standing-room-only crowd at IMAGE, William DeMis of Rochelle Court LLC explains the critical link between U.S. monetary policy, the value of the dollar, and the price of oil.

Discover the concept of "monetary pivot points"—critical macroeconomic events where the U.S. dollar's value changes profoundly, triggering major reactions in the oil market.

Video for the Course
https://youtu.be/2zJtTanmC_Q?si=8M73vaWy1w3bre7w

Course Summary

 This course examines the critical relationship between U.S. monetary policy, the value of the dollar, and global oil prices. Drawing on historical analysis, we will explore significant "monetary pivot points" that have profoundly altered the value of the U.S. dollar and, consequently, the price of oil, which is priced and traded globally in U.S. dollars. Key historical events covered include the end of the Bretton Woods Accord in 1971 and the Plaza Accord of 1985. The course will analyze how these events led to major shifts in the dollar's value and triggered corresponding reactions from OPEC to maintain the purchasing power of oil.

We will also investigate the current economic landscape, characterized by unsustainable national debt, significant federal deficits, and the Federal Reserve and Treasury being "boxed into a corner". The course will discuss contemporary signals of a new monetary pivot, such as central banks divesting from U.S. Treasuries in favor of gold, and explore potential future scenarios involving inflation, dollar devaluation, and the rise of stablecoins. By the end of the course, you will understand the historical precedents and current macroeconomic forces that are expected to shape the future of oil prices.

Learning Objectives

Lower-Level Objectives (Remembering & Understanding)

1. Define key monetary terms and events, including monetary pivot points, the Bretton Woods Accord, the Plaza Accord, and the petrodollar agreement.

2. Describe the historical relationship between the price of gold and the price of oil, specifically the "gold-oil ratio".

3. Identify the primary causes for the collapse of the Bretton Woods Accord in 1971.

4. Explain the current fiscal challenges facing the U.S., including the national debt, deficits, and the problem of refinancing maturing debt.

Higher-Level Objectives (Analyzing & Evaluating)

5. Analyze how a significant change in the value of the U.S. dollar impacts oil prices differently depending on whether the global oil supply is tight or loose.

6. Evaluate the argument that the U.S. is currently in a "big pivot" by synthesizing evidence related to national debt, central bank behavior, and historical parallels.

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Assessment Questions

Multiple Choice Questions (for Lower-Level Objectives 1-4)

Objective 1: Define key monetary terms and events.

1. What is a "monetary pivot point" as described in the presentation? a. A time when the stock market reaches an all-time high. b. A key macroeconomic event where the value of the U.S. dollar changes profoundly. c. An agreement by OPEC to cut oil production. d. A moment when the U.S. national debt exceeds GDP.

2. Under the Bretton Woods Accord, what was the U.S. dollar fixed to? a. The British Pound. b. A basket of foreign currencies. c. Oil. d. Gold.

3. What was the purpose of the 1973 petrodollar agreement? a. To fix the price of oil to the price of gold. b. To require OPEC countries to price their oil in U.S. dollars, creating demand for the currency. c. To create a new currency specifically for oil trading. d. To allow European nations to pay for oil with their own currencies.

4. The Plaza Accord of 1985 was an agreement to: a. Increase the value of the U.S. dollar to fight inflation. b. Return to a gold standard for international currencies. c. Devalue the U.S. dollar to help U.S. exports. d. Establish a new global reserve currency.

5. The phrase "America's exorbitant privilege," as used by France, referred to the ability of the U.S. to: a. Control global oil supplies. b. Pay for international goods simply by printing money, while other countries had to produce value. c. Veto any decision made by the United Nations. d. Maintain the largest military in the world.

Objective 2: Describe the historical relationship between the price of gold and the price of oil.

6. According to the presentation, on average during the OPEC era, one ounce of gold could buy approximately how many barrels of oil? a. 5 barrels. b. 12 barrels. c. 25 barrels. d. 50 barrels.

7. When the price of gold rises significantly relative to oil on the specialized chart shown, what event does this historically signal? a. An impending oil price collapse. b. A period of economic recession. c. An oil boom. d. A strengthening of the U.S. dollar.

8. In the early 1970s, what was the primary motivation for OPEC to raise oil prices four-fold? a. To retaliate against the U.S. for its foreign policy. b. To maintain the purchasing power of oil in the face of a devalued dollar and rising gold prices. c. To fund industrial development projects. d. To reduce global oil consumption for environmental reasons.

9. The presenter states that gold is the "metal with a memory" because it: a. Is difficult to mine and has a long history. b. Is used in computer memory chips. c. Records the cumulative effects of inflation over time. d. Remembers its previous highest price.

10. In the early 1970s, the price of oil was observed to be _______ the price of gold. a. Leading. b. Following. c. Uncorrelated with. d. Inversely related to.

Objective 3: Identify the primary causes for the collapse of the Bretton Woods Accord.

11. According to the presentation, what two major government spending initiatives contributed to the end of the Bretton Woods Accord? a. The Marshall Plan and the Korean War. b. The Vietnam War and Johnson's Great Society. c. The Space Race and the Interstate Highway System. d. The New Deal and World War II.

12. What critical problem with the funding of these 1960s initiatives was highlighted? a. The programs were too unpopular to secure funding. b. The government did not raise taxes to pay for them, and instead just printed money. c. Most of the money was lost to corruption. d. The spending was blocked by the Supreme Court.

13. What was the consequence of President Johnson removing the gold cover requirement for the U.S. dollar? a. It allowed the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates to zero. b. It strengthened the dollar's value internationally. c. It became a true fiat currency, removing the regulatory limit on money printing. d. It caused the stock market to crash.

14. Why did European central banks begin redeeming their U.S. dollars for gold at the "gold window"? a. They needed gold to fund their own social programs. b. They lost faith in the stability of their own currencies. c. They could get gold for $35/ounce from the U.S. and sell it for a higher price on the open market in Europe. d. The U.S. was forcing them to trade in their dollars.

15. What was President Nixon's final action that officially ended the Bretton Woods system in 1971? a. He declared the dollar would no longer be the world's reserve currency. b. He raised taxes significantly to pay off the national debt. c. He closed the gold window to stop foreign central banks from redeeming dollars for U.S. gold. d. He negotiated the petrodollar agreement with OPEC.

Objective 4: Explain the current fiscal challenges facing the U.S.

16. What is the major problem with the U.S. national debt that did not exist in the 1960s? a. The debt is mostly owned by foreign nations. b. The debt has exploded and is considered unsustainable. c. There is no political will to address it. d. The interest rate on the debt is fixed and cannot be changed.

17. The interest payments on the national debt now exceed the spending on which of these major federal budget items? a. Education. b. The military or Medicare (taken individually). c. Social Security. d. The military and Medicare combined.

18. What does it mean that the national debt is "always refinanced and rolled over"? a. The government pays off the debt in full every year with tax revenue. b. The debt is forgiven by international lenders every 10 years. c. When old bonds mature, the government issues new bonds to pay for them. d. The debt is converted into corporate stocks.

19. According to the presenter, what happens if the interest rate on all U.S. debt resets to 4.5%? a. The stock market will double in value. b. The U.S. will default on its debt immediately. c. The interest payments alone will consume all federal tax revenue. d. Foreign countries will rush to buy more U.S. bonds.

20. A recent trend among foreign central banks that signals a current monetary pivot is: a. Buying massive amounts of U.S. stocks. b. Selling their own currencies to buy more U.S. dollars. c. Dumping U.S. treasuries and swapping dollars for gold. d. Lobbying the U.S. government to raise interest rates.

Short Essay Questions or Discussion Items 

(or Higher-Level Objectives 4 - 6)

1. Analysis: The Bretton Woods Accord and the Plaza Accord are presented as two key "monetary pivot points" that profoundly changed the value of the U.S. dollar. Compare and contrast the reasons for the dollar's devaluation in each of these pivots and explain the differing impacts these devaluations had on the price of oil.

2. Evaluation: The speaker argues that the current U.S. national debt is unsustainable and that the Federal Reserve and Treasury are "boxed into a corner," limiting their ability to fight inflation or attract bond investors. Based on the evidence presented in the sources, critique this argument. Do you find the speaker's reasoning about the constraints on monetary and fiscal policy to be convincing? Justify your answer.

3. Analysis: Central banks are reportedly buying gold at a rate not seen since the 1960s, a trend the speaker links to the pivot away from the U.S. dollar. Analyze the relationship between the real yield on U.S. Treasury bonds and the price of gold, and explain why the current decoupling of this relationship is significant for the U.S. dollar's status as a reserve currency.

4. Evaluation: The speaker concludes that despite the current fiscal challenges and a period of "tumult," the U.S. will ultimately get through this pivot due to its history of innovation and entrepreneurship. Evaluate the strength of this optimistic conclusion by weighing it against the severity of the problems outlined, such as the national debt consuming all federal revenue.

5. Analysis: The presentation posits that after the end of Bretton Woods, OPEC raised oil prices primarily to maintain its purchasing power against a devalued dollar, rather than for geopolitical reasons. Analyze how the concept of the "real global price of oil" supports this monetary-based explanation for the oil price shocks of the 1970s

Free Video-Based Mini-Course for Engineering/Technology/Energy Curriculum, Ready with Materials, Learning Objectives, Assessments

Mini-Course Overview:  Fast-Tracking Electricity Generation: Hydrogen, Natural Gas & More 

Ademola Fagade, CEO of Geoprime Energy, discusses the urgent global energy crisis, characterized by aging infrastructure, operational inefficiencies, and slow clean energy adoption in both developed and underdeveloped nations. Drawing on his background and extensive experience with companies like DTE, Fagade presents Geoprime's multi-fuel and modular approach to deliver advanced, reliable clean energy. A core innovation is their Synafox software, a "living digital twin" that uses a proprietary large language model (Synagogen) and AI-enhanced control boxes to aggregate data, predict failures, and optimize operations across the energy asset lifecycle, addressing communication silos and safety concerns. Geoprime is "very bullish on" ammonia as a safer and scalable hydrogen carrier, and their technology can convert carbon-based waste into hydrogen and valuable byproducts like carbon black and graphene. The company is actively pursuing projects for data centers, biotech facilities, and underserved communities, emphasizing collaboration with major utility companies to collectively "leapfrog" existing energy paradigms.

(This mini-course is perfect for courses in engineering, entrepreneurship, technology, technology strategy, and economic development)

Link to video: https://youtu.be/_fitd4_ss7A

Course Objective Evaluate Geoprime Energy's comprehensive strategy for addressing the global energy crisis, critically assessing how their integrated approach—combining innovative technologies like Synafox software and ammonia as a hydrogen carrier with scalable, modular energy systems and collaborative partnerships—aims to overcome challenges in both aging infrastructure and underserved energy markets.

Learning Objectives Incorporating Bloom's Taxonomy Verbs

1. Recall Ademola Fagade's early influences and educational background that shaped his career in the energy sector [Remembering].

2. Describe the key challenges contributing to the looming energy crisis as identified by Ademola Fagade, including issues in both developed and underdeveloped countries [Understanding].

3. Explain how Geoprime Energy's Synafox software addresses operational inefficiencies and safety concerns in energy asset management through its digital twin and AI capabilities [Understanding].

4. Differentiate between various types of hydrogen production (green, blue, turquoise, gold) and their respective challenges and cost implications [Analyzing].

5. Summarize the innovative role of ammonia as a hydrogen carrier within Geoprime Energy's solutions, highlighting its advantages over direct hydrogen storage [Understanding].

6. Apply the concept of modular and multi-fuel energy systems to diverse energy demands, such as manufacturing plants versus data centers, using examples from Geoprime's product line [Applying].

7. Evaluate the strategic importance of Geoprime Energy's collaborative approach and diverse partnerships in tackling the global energy crisis [Evaluating].

8. Propose how Geoprime Energy's technology could be adapted to address specific energy challenges in different geographical or economic contexts, such as areas with stranded gas assets [Creating].

20 Multiple Choice Questions (Lower-Level Bloom's Taxonomy)

For answer key, please contact E-Learning Corgi

1. What was Ademola Fagade's family primarily involved in before he pursued electrical engineering? a) Textile trade b) Civil engineering and construction c) Agriculture d) Banking

2. Ademola Fagade's grandmother was a pioneer in which industry in Lagos? a) Banking b) Civil engineering c) Textile trade d) Electrical engineering

3. What was Ademola's initial career interest as a child, leading to him building mini boats? a) Civil engineering b) Pre-med c) Electrical works/engineering d) Textile manufacturing

4. Which US energy company did Ademola Fagade first join, where he "department hopped" to learn various aspects of the industry? a) Consumers Energy b) Pratt Whitney c) DTE d) PG&E

5. Ademola's first contract for Geoprime Energy involved the decommissioning of what type of power plant? a) Natural gas power plant b) Nuclear power plant c) Hydroelectric power plant d) Coal power plant

6. According to Ademola, replacing coal-fired plants with natural gas-fired plants is considered what kind of option? a) Worse b) Neutral c) Significantly better d) More expensive

7. What organization in Michigan, tagged as an "opportunity zone," advised Ademola to conduct customer discovery for his company? a) University of Michigan b) Wayne State c) Techtown d) New Lab

8. How many energy executives did Ademola interview and consult across the US as part of his customer discovery? a) 50 b) 75 c) 100 d) 135

9. What is the primary purpose of Geoprime Energy's Synafox software? a) To manage human resources in energy companies b) To create an umbrella operating system for energy asset lifecycle management c) To design new power plants d) To forecast energy prices

10. Ademola compares the current energy industry's process for commissioning/decommissioning plants to a "wheel" where different contractors work in what manner? a) Collaboratively b) Siloed c) Synchronized d) Integrated

11. Which country is cited as an example of "leapfrogging" in development compared to Nigeria, despite receiving aid from Nigeria in the past? a) Japan b) South Korea c) United States d) Germany

12. What percentage of global energy investment is concentrated on clean energy, as mentioned by Ademola? a) Less than 2% b) 15% c) 50% d) 80%

13. What is a key limitation of solar energy for powering an entire city, as discussed in the recording? a) It's too expensive b) It only works during the day and requires battery storage c) It takes up too much land d) It's not clean energy

14. What substance is Geoprime Energy "very bullish on" as a hydrogen carrier? a) Methane b) Carbon black c) Ammonia d) Oxygen

15. Green hydrogen is produced through which process? a) Steam methane reforming b) Plasma torch separation c) Electrolysis d) Microbe conversion

16. What is the approximate cost per gallon for gold hydrogen, which uses microbes in depleted oil wells? a) $4.60 b) $0.13 c) $0.50 d) $1.00

17. What valuable byproduct, used for high-tech applications, can be obtained when turning carbon-based materials into hydrogen using Geoprime's anaerobic system? a) Aluminum b) Silicon c) Carbon black/Graphene d) Ash

18. What is the power range for Geoprime Energy's HG01 (Hybrid Grid) electrification system? a) 0.5 to 1 MW b) 1.2 to 10 MW c) 10 to 50 MW d) 100 MW and above

19. What is a "data grid" in Geoprime Energy's product line primarily designed for? a) Small residential homes b) Manufacturing plants c) Data centers d) Rural electric co-ops

20. What is a core component of Synafox that learns operations and aggregates data from various sources to find optimal paths for efficiency? a) PI tags b) Manual oversight c) Large language model (Synagogen) d) Network switches

5 Short-Answer Questions (Higher-Level Bloom's Taxonomy)

1. Analyze the multi-faceted nature of the "energy crisis" as described by Ademola Fagade, distinguishing between challenges faced by underdeveloped countries and those faced by developed nations like the US.

2. Evaluate the advantages of Geoprime Energy's strategy of using ammonia as a hydrogen carrier compared to directly handling pure hydrogen, considering safety, storage, and economic factors mentioned in the recording.

3. Propose a scenario where Geoprime Energy's modular HG01 or SG01 systems could be most effectively deployed in a specific community or industrial setting, justifying your choice with details from the transcript regarding the system's capabilities and benefits.

4. Justify why Ademola Fagade views the collaboration with large utility companies as essential, rather than acting solely as a competitor, in addressing the energy crisis, referencing specific points he made about his relationship with DTE.

5. Create an argument for how Synafox's "living digital twin" and AI-enhanced control box could have prevented the primary service transformer accident at DTE described by Ademola, focusing on how its features address the root causes of that incident.

Course developed by Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D. 

For additional materials (video summaries, additional reading, answer keys, and more, please contact E-Learning Corgi)

Why Neuroscience Matters in Website and eLearning Design

When it comes to designing websites and eLearning programs, it's easy to get caught up in tools and templates—but there’s something deeper that can really elevate your work: understanding how the brain responds to design. Neuroscience isn’t just for labs and textbooks. It offers practical, powerful insights into how users take in information, stay engaged, and remember what they learn. And when we apply those insights, we can create learning experiences that are not just functional, but impactful.

Keeping those neurons firing! (recorded on Juneteenth by Susan Nash)

Take something as simple as color and shape. A recent study by Nissen and colleagues (2024) used brain imaging to explore how people respond to different website designs. They found that blue-colored designs and rounded buttons made people feel more relaxed, less skeptical, and more likely to engage. Why? Because our brains evolved to associate blue with safe, calming environments like the sky and water, and to view rounded shapes as approachable and non-threatening. On the other hand, sharp corners and lots of red can trigger the opposite: alertness, caution, even discomfort.

Here's an example: an online learning platform revamped their interface, swapping out harsh red accents and boxy buttons for soft blue tones and rounded shapes. The result? Learner engagement and satisfaction scores climbed significantly. People stayed on the site longer and completed more modules. It wasn’t just about making things look nice—it was about tapping into how the brain naturally processes visual cues.

Another real-world example: a global logistics company redesigned its compliance training. They color-coded content so users could instantly recognize urgency—red for critical warnings, green for safe actions, and blue for instructions. These visual signals aligned with how the brain reacts to color in high-stakes settings. The results were clear: learners performed better on scenario-based tasks and made fewer errors. Neuroscience explains this: when cognitive load is reduced through intuitive design, people can focus more on the content and less on figuring out what to do next.

Verbal processing matters too. Research on language areas of the brain (Amunts et al., 2004) shows that when information is structured in logical, semantic categories, people are better at remembering and using it. This has huge implications for how we write eLearning content. Organizing lessons into clearly defined themes, using consistent language, and providing visual anchors (like icons or mind maps) can support the brain’s natural way of retrieving meaning.

Why is the dog wearing a black sock? (sketch by Susan Nash) 

Now, imagine a virtual high school biology course that uses subtle attention cues—like pulsing highlights or animated arrows—to bring learners’ eyes back to key information when they start to drift. These cues could be timed to match typical attention cycles (about 10–12 minutes). While hypothetical, this kind of design could increase quiz scores and completion rates by keeping learners mentally “in the room.” It’s a simple, neuroscience-informed strategy with a big potential payoff.

One caution: just because something sounds scientific doesn’t mean it is. Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), for example, often uses fancy terms like “neuro” and “programming,” but as Roderique-Davies (2009) points out, it lacks real scientific backing. That’s why it’s important to focus on design practices supported by solid, peer-reviewed research.

In the end, understanding a little neuroscience goes a long way. It helps us create websites and learning experiences that feel intuitive, engaging, and even enjoyable. And best of all, it helps learners get what they need faster—and retain it longer. For anyone involved in design or training, that’s a win.

References

Amunts, K., Weiss, P. H., Mohlberg, H., Pieperhoff, P., Eickhoff, S., Gurd, J. M., ... & Zilles, K. (2004). Analysis of neural mechanisms underlying verbal fluency in cytoarchitectonically defined stereotaxic space—The roles of Brodmann areas 44 and 45. NeuroImage, 22(1), 42–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2003.12.031

Nissen, A., Riedl, R., & Schütte, R. (2024). Users’ reactions to website designs: A neuroimaging study based on evolutionary psychology with a focus on color and button shape. Computers in Human Behavior, 155, 108168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2024.108168

Roderique-Davies, G. (2009). Neuro-linguistic programming: Cargo cult psychology? Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 1(2), 58–63. https://doi.org/10.1108/17581184200900014

How to Effectively Design Good Generative AI-Using Student Assignments: Steps, Strategy, and an Example

If it were not bad enough to combat essays purchased from Course Hero, GradeSaver, or one of the other paper mills that purchase student essays, now one has to worry about papers generated by large language models such as ChatGPT, Scribe, Google Gemini, CoPilot or others.  Generative AI tools are being developed for specific topics or domains, and the assumption is, at least from a student’s perspective, that the product will be well written and accurate, or at least well written and accurate enough to merit a passing grade. 

As an instructor who develops, teaches, and grades courses and coursework for online courses hosted on Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, or even Google Classroom, this is a challenge you can’t afford to ignore, and an opportunity that can transform your entire teaching philosophy. 

https://www.amazon.com/Moodle-Learning-Course-Development-instructional/dp/180107903X 

WHAT INFORMATION IS USED TO TRAIN THE AI LARGE LANGUAGE MODEL?

What data sets are used to train the generative AI algorithms?  Let’s take the case of American literature. I would automatically assume that the first repositories to be ingested would be open access repositories such as Project Gutenberg and Archive.com.  Those would be primary texts for the most part. Then, secondary texts would be incorporated, which would consist of journal articles. Tertiary texts would also be used, which would include encyclopedias. While there may be some question about intellectual property and the right to use the materials, there would be few questions about the integrity of such materials, gleaned as it were, from peer-reviewed and quality assured primary sources, peer-reviewed journals and monographs, and peer-reviewed encyclopedias. 

However, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to materials about American literature that one can access through the Internet. There are blog posts, online magazines, repositories of articles from study guide providers such as Study.com, Sophia Learning, Shmoop.com, and many more. These resources may be a bit repetitive and not particularly original, but perhaps harmless in the overall scheme of things.  If anything, they may skew the results to bland and formulaic papers. 

LOTS OF BAD APPLES

What happens, however, when these AI bots ingest the massive repositories of essays which have been compiled by companies such as Course Hero, Grade Saver, and others?  Is there any quality control at all? Some of the sites encourage students to sell their term papers for $5 each. Is there any quality control?  Would the evaluator or screener check for accuracy, bias, originality, and innovative thinking? Would the screener be able to differentiate between a tired, flat, biased, inaccurate paper and a fresh, innovative, and accurate one? 

It is quite possible that the sheer volume of low-quality term papers, biased or error-riddled blog posts, student-shared material, unrefereed conference proceedings and “gray” literature could exceed the high-quality, peer-reviewed material by many orders of magnitude. 

REQUIRING STUDENTS TO USE CHAT GPT, KNOWING THE RESULTS COULD BE ROTTEN? 

Learning how to use generative AI as a helpful tool and understanding its limitations and pitfalls is probably a more pragmatic and useful approach than trying to ban it altogether. Further, if students learn how to use AI tools in their coursework where they receive feedback and guidance, it is likely that they will be able to more effectively use the tool in their professional lives. 

Instructional designers and instructors who understand how results are likely to be generated can design assignments that require students to incorporate their own unique vantage points, prior knowledge, experience, and insights rather than simply producing a bland summary or compendium of the blandest, least thought-provoking or original material that responds to the prompt. 

FERRETING OUT THE FLAWS WHILE ASKING, “WHAT’S GOOD IN HERE?”

Instructors can develop assignments that actually require students to use a generative AI tool, and then they can ask them to critique the response.  

Here’s a sample assignment: 

Please write an essay that identifies the possible themes in Emerson’s essay, “Circles,” and explains how they relate to American Transcendentalism. 

When I fed the prompt to ChatGPT, it churned out a six-paragraph essay in about 3 seconds. It sported a nice, clear thesis statement, a clear definition of American Transcendentalism, and then proposed several themes, and provided evidence, including quotes. On first glance, it seemed to be a very serviceable essay. 

However, upon closer examination, it was clear that the essay was pretty facile, and felt very derivative. It did not provide citations for the quotes, and the explanations around each of the quotes and the themes did not go into any depth and tended to repeat each other. There was no deeper probing of American Transcendentalism, nor was there any historical context. 

One could argue that the prompt should have asked for historical context, and could even be interesting and ask for connections to a darker, more ominous underbelly of what seemed, on the face of it, to be an expansive, all-encompassing dream of harmony and unity. However, there is no investigation of the philosophical or ideological underpinnings, nor any sense of how American Transcendentalism was popular because it uniquely reinforced and even expanded the authority of those who already possessed it.  

The students could be asked to identify the weaknesses of the Chat GPT essay, and to explain when and how the responses were cliché, facile, or derivative of what one would expect to see in an encyclopedia or generic study guide, and they do not encourage critical thinking or a look at “Circles” through a new and innovative vantage point. 

It would be very nice for students to work on the critique in a collaborative workspace – for example, in a shared document, where each could highlight and comment on the ChatGPT-generated essay. 

AN INSTRUCTOR CHALLENGE: ASSIGNMENTS THAT DEVELOP CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS AND CREATIVITY

It is possible to write assignments and paper prompts that encourage students to incorporate their unique views, experiences, and prior knowledge.  While some may think that this subjectivity would make it difficult to assess the work, in reality, just the opposite is the case. 

For example, for an essay on American literature, a rubric would require the student to accurately describe what the text is about and also the main themes and characters as required by the prompt.  The prompt should also, however, require the student to think critically and ask questions that would relate to their own experiences and perceptions. They could also be asked to apply the concepts to a current situation. The students would be evaluated on their creativity and problem-solving skills as well as critical thinking. 

To apply this to the case of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, “Circles,” a prompt could look something like this: 

Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Emerson’s ideas about agency as expressed in his essay, “Circles,” and describe how you’ve seen examples of the thinking expressed in your own life or the world at large.  Describe mid 19th-century American Transcendentalism and how it must have sounded to different groups of Americans: wealthy land owners, men wanting to move West for wealth and adventure, women in America, Native Americans, African-American slaves and freedmen, Irish indentured servants, Mexicans living in parts of Texas that were a part of Mexico before the War of 1848, and children. 

Granted, the new prompt is much, much more complex, but you probably get the picture, and can see how writing prompts to outwit the  AI bot is fun and engaging, while also encouraging collaborative activities and deeper learning. 

THE ROAD AHEAD

Colleges and universities are grappling with ChatGPT, Scribe, Google Gemini, CoPilot, and other generative AI platforms and tools.  While there is the chance of rampant violations of academic integrity, we are in the early stages of development and now is the time to envision new and productive pedagogical approaches that are ideal for adult learners and can help develop creativity, critical thinking skills and confidence.  

Immersive History Takes You to the Plague of Athens: Interview with Spencer Striker, History Adventures

Spencer Striker is determined to make history come alive, and to put learners in the middle of scenarios that let them role play in ways that relate to their lives in ways they never imagined possible. The latest addition is "Global Pandemics: Plague of Athens," which plunges learners in the middle of a mysterious pandemic that occured in Ancient Greece. 

Dr. Striker, who is a Digital Media Design professor at Northwestern University in Qatar, earned his Ph.D. in Digital Media from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.  

Here is an interview from May 13, 2022 about Global Pandemics.  https://youtu.be/o-oTOO2ahSg

At Life Edge, we had the privilege of interviewing Spencer in 2020 over his series featuring revolutions in history in History Adventures. Here is a link to the show: https://youtu.be/S5BNBD9INTk 

Spencer Striker on E-Learn Chat in 2020

Welcome to an interview with Spencer Striker, Ph.D., along with links to demos. 

1. Is the Global Pandemics  game ready now? 

Yes, absolutely! You can find the fully interactive web app available here: https://pandemics.historyadventures.app/

(It’s built for a desktop or laptop running in the Chrome browser, i.e. Chromebooks)

Please also find the full gameplay demo here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ-HVOJvqSs&t=7s 

Also, please find a full Media Kit of product screenshots here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YL0fFQBSErBGqYXVueXuKQ_gCdWXSCRj?usp=sharing 

2. How much does it cost? 

It’s absolutely free!

3. What do people think was the main thing that caused the plague? Was it something unique, or was it a massive cholera outbreak or something like that? 

To this day, historians are not certain what was the cause of the Plague of Athens. In the product, we challenge students to think like historians/epidemiologists and examine the possible causes in a feature we call: What Was It? Please see the attached screenshot as a reference! The possible suspects include: smallpox, bubonic plague, ebola, typhus, and typhoid.

4.  Can students interact with the vectors? (for example, with rats and fleas? a first-person shooter game to kill the rats?  or run from the fleas in a maze?)

We have many amazing interactive features built into Global Pandemics: Plague of Athens. Please find a list here!

• 3D Motion Design to Recreate History
• Advanced Web Animation to Simulate Pathogens
• Immersive 360 Panoramas of Historical Locations
• Animated Historical Timeline & Maps
• Choice-based Narrative Design
• Interactive Original Historical Documents
• Media-Rich Adaptive Assessments

Instant Online Education Using WhatsApp or WeChat

What do you do if your school is shut down for a week or even longer due to outbreaks of flu, bad weather, or a new virus?  Many schools have not budgeted to put their courses online, and even if they had the funds, many of the online commercial options do not meet the curriculum standards.  On top of that, there is simply no time.

 Further complicating the situation is the fact that many families in some school districts may not have a family computer or online service. Those who do may need the computer for other purposes during the day, particularly if a family member is working remotely from home. In addition, the students may not feel comfortable with a new learning management system, and they may not know how to proceed.

Are there any quick answers? Yes. It builds on the lesson plans and course materials you already have, but makes it possible to hold class and maintain student engagement, instead of simply having a week of homework and independent study.

Here is a bold approach that allows a school to seamlessly move to online education with very little extra cost by using smartphones.  In general, the extra cost would involve having a more robust data plan. It may be necessary to negotiate with the phone service providers to allow more data transfer each month.  If there are many children in a household, it may be necessary to have a family plan with more than one phone.

We would use WhatsApp or WeChat.  I’m selecting those two because they are extremely flexible and it is possible to create groups, use video chat, send group and private messages, share and send files for text, images, and videos.  However, the same could be done with Skype, Zoom, GoToMeeting, with just a few adjustments in considering the individual apps and their differences.

Step 1:  Modify daily lesson plans to be structured into lectures, check your knowledge quizzes (fun interactive polling), independent work, and receiving student work.

Step 2:  Review WhatsApp and familiarize yourself with video chat, group chat, photo transfer, and text messaging.

Step 3:  Build your Course Design Plan, which will be your lesson template. It will contain the following:

    Learning Objectives:  Clearly state to your students what they will learn. Use Bloom’s Taxonomy to describe the outcome.  It is best to limit your learning objectives to one or two. Keep in mind that their learning activity and assessments will tie to the learning objectives.

    Lectures:  You will talk to the students via video chat.  Plan for the video lecture to be between 10 and 15 minutes.

    Check Your Knowledge and What Do You Think?:  At least twice during the lecture, pause for a moment and ask your students to answer a question. They will send in their responses via text message. It can be an opinion (as in What Do You Think?), which could make the topic and lecture more engaging. Stress that class participation is a part of their grade.

    Independent Activity:  This will be a moment when you’ll ask your students to turn to their books and read a passage.

    Activity Review:  Doodle Polls are extremely easy to make and they are free. Most people use them for selecting schedules, but you can create multiple choice questions as well.  You can send the URL of your poll to your students via WhatsApp messaging, and when they complete them, you will see their responses in a single document. These are ideal for keeping students engaged, checking their knowledge, and giving them a class participation grade. For graded quizzes, ProProfs is a sophisticated package and also free, although the free version is limited. It takes some time to create the multiple choice questions, so you may not wish to do more than one per week.

   Assessment:  
   Multiple choice quizzes:  You can use ProProfs or one of the other free quizmaker programs to create graded multiple choice quizzes that your students can do via their phones.  You will be able to see their grades. Ideally, your quizzes will provide feedback that points them to the correct answer and also ties directly to a specific text in the lessons.

   Written Assignments: This is an opportunity for you to ask your students to complete one or two short answer questions and to turn it in via WhatsApp. 

• Student procedure:  Ask your students to write the answers on a piece of paper and then take a picture and send it to you. Alternatively, they can create a document using an app on their phone, save it, then send it via their phone.  
• 
  How you provide feedback: You will grade the work and provide feedback by recording a message in WhatsApp and sending it to each student. Your response should not be more than 2 minutes in length.  If you need to write an answer or add diagrams, you can do so on a piece of paper, and then take a photo and send it.

How you record grades:  You can record grades in the way that you normally do so. 

If you teach the same course to several different sections of students, you may wish to record your group video chat in order to save it for anyone who may have missed it due to illness.

For maximum engagement, however, it is important that all the students participate together in the group chat.

Online Classroom Management. 
As you move forward, you may have a few online classroom management challenges.  Here are the main guidelines:

•     Ask everyone to mute their phones during the lecture.
•     Do not send messages during the lecture.
•     Ask for 100% participation in the Check Your Knowledge and What Do You Think?  Sections. Make sure that you emphasize that participation is a part of their grade.
•     Shut down any possible cyberbullying or cybershaming right away.
•     Make sure that your recorded responses are succinct and positive.
•     When your students complete their graded multiple choice quizzes, put some thought into encouraging your students to work in groups.  If you do so, you will increase engagement, collaboration, and facilitate deeper learning.

   

Video-Assisted Mobile Learning: Free e-Book & Repository

What is the best way to incorporate videos in your mobile learning? A free download of the 289-page comprehensive guide to video-assisted e-learning, Video-Assisted Mobile Learning, is now available. 

This book contains free resources to incorporate into your online courses – they are snippets primarily focused around the writing process, but also include many prompts for writing having to do with leadership, literature, and travel/discovery. All are in available for free via YouTube, and are designed to be easily embedded or linked to. They also contain notes and suggestions for use.

Effective Mobile Learning: The three cornerstones of effective mobile learning are authenticity, collaboration, and personalization. 

One great way to build in the authenticity is to include video snippets that trigger thoughts and give guidance. Snippets that have to do with writing can nicely tie to the learner’s individual needs, and encourage collaboration, or at least a conversation.

The video snippets are actually learning objects, and they are sufficiently granular to be used in many places in a single course. They are also ideal for micro-learning (or chunked learning).

Advantages of video content: Here is a brief list of some of the advantages of video snippets:

•    Snippets that are brief capture and keep the learner's attention
•    A video with a person in a natural setting is engaging, humanizing
•    Video appeals to audio as well as visual learners
•    The personal delivery of the presenter triggers thought and internal “conversation”
•    The format builds in a call for action by encouraging "check your knowledge" kinds of reflection
•    The informality creates a relatable experience
•    The snippets, when stored in the cloud and downloadable to one's smartphone, tablet, or laptop, are highly accessible 
•    Perfect for smartphone or tablet access

Mobile learning can be extremely effective, but all too often, it’s just a series of monotonous narrated PowerPoints, with multiple choice quizzes along the way and at the end.

This collection, with all its spontaneity and unusual venues, can be incorporated directly, or inspire instructors and students to create their own snippets and use them within their m-learning courses.

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For those wishing a printed copy, a paper copy of Video-Assisted Mobile Learning is available on demand.

Interview with Nikolas Baron, Grammarly: Innovators in E-Learning Series

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.

Interview with Lindsey Hill, Evanced Solutions: Innovators in E-Learning Series

Game-based learning continues to be one of the most engaging methods of learning for childing (as for adults), and fun, engaging learning apps can be very effective as well. Welcome to an interview with Lindsey Hill, Lead for Reading Engagement Innovation at Evanced Solutions and Evanced Games.

1.    What is your name and your relation to elearning?
 
Hello, Susan. My name is Lindsey Hill. I’m the lead for Reading Engagement Innovation at Evanced Solutions, LLC and Evanced Games. My 14 years of teaching experience has provided me with a unique perspective on previous and current trends in improving reading proficiency.

We’re empowering children to be creative thinkers and problem solvers through today’s e-gaming technology. This enables me to shine a light on the real issues around children and reading and other learning deficiencies. Even though I’ve left the classroom, I visit classes regularly to help kids take ownership of their intellectual growth. I have noticed that when kids identify and embrace their particular interests, they can break through reading proficiency barriers and experience real success. I spend time with parents, teachers, librarians, and students in and out of elementary classrooms to demonstrate this.

In the modern classroom, digital games are a powerful platform for motivating student learning. That’s partly because we know that games tied directly to students’ interests drive frequency of use. Also, if a game offers achievable challenges, kids will have success. This, too, drives frequency.

If this seems a little vague, let me give you an example. I met a third-grader who told me he didn’t like to read, but he loved playing zombie-related video games. His interest in zombies led us to a discussion of R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps mystery series. I followed up my classroom visit with an email to his teacher about his interest in mysteries.  Not long after, she told me he had been reading the series and writing his own zombie comics that he shared with the class.




2.    Tell me more about Evanced Games.

Evanced Games is a division of Evanced Solutions, LLC. We’re a technology company that empowers children to pursue learning outside of the classroom and develop closer relationships with the people around them. Our dedicated team of educators believes that gaining and sharing knowledge through children’s keenest interests is the best path for learning success. We introduce kids to the world of technology, while helping them to uncover their interests further, with special consideration to their individual learning styles.

We have partnered with Demco, our parent company, and have gotten great inspiration from our sister company, Edupress, to create digital versions of its award-winning educational content. We offer edu-gaming apps for children in grades K-6 that encourage learning beyond the classroom walls. Our three mobile apps—Froggy Phonics, Tic-Tac Bananas, and That’s Baloney—offer a fun way for children to practice a variety of Common Core skills, from phonics and algebra to cause-and-effect and simple problem-solving.

3.    What is your area of expertise?

As a former elementary teacher and my school’s two-time Teacher of the Year honoree, I’m able to bring my first-hand experience and perspective to Evanced. Each new school year gave me an opportunity to foster relationships with my students. Making personal connections with my students valdidated who they were outside the classroom, as well as inside. Through a daily Community Circle, my students had the choice to share their fears about a sick pet or last night’s winning touchdown, for example. This process proved their two worlds could coexist, showing school was a safe place to use their imaginations and discover who they were.
Leaving the classroom was one of my toughest decisions, but I knew I was joining a team to impact even more kids with Evanced. I think my role as a parent of two young boys also brings another interesting perspective to the table. My real passion—my favorite thing in the world—is to help kids to experience a love of learning that goes beyond the classroom walls. They do this through self-discovery and creativity.

4.    How did you go about designing an elearning game? How, in your experience, does game-based learning offer special advantages to teachers?
     
The Evanced Games team is made up of designers, teachers, artists, and developers. We work closely with kids as our experts. They help us create games that they will want to play without being told to. We invite them and their families into our design studio to play prototype games and give us their thoughts. We make changes to characters, sounds, story lines, and other elements based on what we hear from them.

Game-based learning helps resolve some of today’s educational issues. Classroom practices are changing all the time. With the initiation of the Common Core State Standards in 46 of our 50 states, the classroom atmosphere will, no doubt, change slightly. But, the impact of those changes will be minimal. Classroom teachers will focus more heavily on the conceptual understanding of skills as opposed to procedural proficiencies alone.

Teachers will feel confident in their approaches, when they see results from their students. The students’ interest in the activity will soar, because it is related to what they tell us they specifically want.

5.    Is there such a thing as a *bad* elearning game?  What are some things to avoid?

Any game that is designed for children—including e-learning games—should be fun. Plain and simple. If kids don’t think a game is naturally fun, they won’t play it.

“Bad” games tend to miss the mark on the story behind the game. The story line needs to be compelling to kids. They need to be interested. They need to care. “Bad” games provide unachievable challenges, and they offer very little autonomy, or choices, for the players.

Only after a game is considered enjoyable to play by children, should it be made to include the content that parents and teachers want. In other words, if you first start with the educational elements you want players to practice and become proficient in, and make fun an afterthought, you will have a significant failure on your hands.

6.    What is the relationship between motivation and game-based learning?

Kids are motivated to play games of all types because they provide them with choices, achievable challenges, and they allow for social interactions with their friends and family. For older kids, they may even have some social interaction with other online gamers in other parts of the world, if they’re playing something like Clash of Clans or Minecraft, which are both very popular.

When playing a well-designed game, kids feel that there is a purpose to it—whether it’s meeting all of your froggy friends in Froggy Phonics or beating your little brother at tic tac toe in Tic Tac Bananas.

7.    Who are your favorite authors who are writing on game-based elearning?

In order to understand a variety of perspectives on learning proficiencies, I’m currently enjoying How Children Succeed by Paul Tough and Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck.
I’m also reading The Age of the Image: Redefining Literacy in a World of Screens by Stephen Apkon. He discusses the concept of “screenagers” and the challenges of raising a very different generation of kids.
Each of these authors, however, explores building confidence in our children by using what kids know and how they use that knowledge. I also enjoy discovering different “mommy” and “daddy” bloggers, as well as teacher and librarian writers. They provide current, first-hand experiences with this next generation of kids that is our future.

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Bite-Size Learning: Structured to Engage

Determining the best way to develop "snack" learning content involves more than simply clustering content and making it available on a variety of mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, and next iterations of technology).

There is definitely a need to develop effective design. After all, much content delivered in bite-sized bits, but not all of it is engaging.  Just think of the average banner ad (especially if it is a flashing, seizure-inducing animated gif), or a block of teeny-tiny text. Also, no matter how tiny and tasty the chunk of information, if it requires twenty five clicks and a labyrinthine navigation structure, you can count on the fact that only the most doggedly persistent or OCD-driven learner will actually consume that little chunk of learning at the end.

For chunk learning to work, you have to engage the learner.  Once engaged, you’ve established conditions of learning, which, according to cognitive psychologists and researchers such as Gagner, are absolutely critical to having a successful experience. "Snack" or "quick bite" learning works for topics ranging from learning languages, reviewing content for professional licensing, continuing education, technical training, and more.

MindSnacks for learning languages

Here are a few keys to developing and engaging “hooks” for chunk learning:

Promise it will be quick:
Your images and text need to communicate in a nano-second that the entire experience of taking the lesson will be something they can do quickly and painlessly.  The way you name your lessons can help you out: “Lunch and Learn,” “Breaktime Learning,” “Bite-Size Learning” and “Snack Learning,” are just a few of the possible labels you can use that will communicate to your learners that they will be able to complete the lesson in less than an hour. Here is an example from the AAPG:  Sequence Stratigraphy: Part 1 (of 5) 

Pain-free:
Performance anxiety is a reality in technology-driven settings, and it does not help that every day seems to herald a new era in devices and operating systems.  New is fun, but instant obsolescence is not. Design the interface so it is intuitive, colorful, and simple. Limit choices. Help your learner relax. An example is Vocabulary.com's Vocabulary Builder, which is interactive and adaptive.

Effective combination of graphics / text / audio / video: 
Use media strategically to pique learner interest and to keep them continuing to learn.

Make sure your content plays on all devices: 

Your lesson needs to be accessible on smartphones, mobile devices, tables, laptops, and desktops, and it needs to be quick to load. Medical Joyworks is a great example, with Medical Prognosis for the Android, iPhone, as well as tablets and laptops.

Prognosis: Your Diagnosis features clinical case studies in a game setting. It allows the learner to investigate, gather information, research issues, and create diagnoses for complex clinical cases. The interface is cheerful and engaging, with its clear, engaging cartoon sketches.

MedicalJoyworks.com

Thinking about the future: 
Mobile learning is a moving train; perhaps a better metaphor is a Gulfstream G650. The mobile learning winners will continue to be those whose content plays on many devices, and can be completed easily and quickly at the convenience of the learner.

Interview with Sameer Bhatia, ProProfs, E-Learning Innovations

Welcome to an interview with Sameer Bhatia, founder of ProProfs, innovators in interactive elearning elements which are used in mlearning and elearning, with degrees, including online teaching degrees. 

1. What is your name and your relation to elearning?

I am Sameer Bhatia, the founder of ProProfs. ProProfs provides comprehensive elearning tools for building, testing and applying knowledge. Through its Quiz and Training products, ProProfs offers trainers and educators powerfully-simple features that allow them to create elearning courses, quizzes and managing their classroom online.

2. How do you see the role of mobile learning evolving in the future?

By 2013, more people will use mobile phones than PCs to get online. Mobile is having a significant impact in elearning and helps learners stay engaged anytime and anywhere. Learners expect that the mobile experience will be as good as the desktop experience, however there are restrictions around screen size, support for technology, etc. The challenge for instructor is to cater to multitude of devices, browsers, screen sizes & operating systems that the learner may be on. At ProProfs, we simplify that process so any course or quiz created once works across all devices so the instructor is ready for the ways today’s learners interact with elearning content.  

3.How can we overcome the problems of a) rented digits, rather than being able to download information for later access when there is no connectivity; b) intermittent connectivity creating a digital divide?

The web is growing and accelerating at mind-boggling rates. The quality of connections has continued to improve, limiting the impact of issues like intermittent or no connectivity. There is also increasing adoption of interactive & adaptive content that simply cannot run offline.  However, there is also content that is authored offline such as PDF or word documents. Today's instructor has the dual problem of taking offline content online and dealing with content that needs to downloaded to go from online to offline. We focus on solving that problem by essentially handling that issue end to end for the instructor. As an example, our new technology allows instructors to upload PDF or Word docs, which can then be converted to a webpage automatically - or instructors can simply click "Allow Download" and content becomes accessible as downloadable content. 

4.  What is QuizMaker and how can it be used in mobile applications? 

Quiz Maker allows users to create custom quizzes quickly and easily by using the largest library of pre-made questions (more than 3,000,000) and quiz templates (more than 300,000) on the Web, and track performance through a powerful new reporting tool.  Quiz Maker is fully mobile compliant and works across all devices & browsers.  It even converts any user uploaded documents into HTML5 so they can be loaded seamlessly across mobile devices. Any video uploads are also converted into a mobile friendly format, so it essentially does all the work for the instructor to ensure compliance with mobile while still allowing them to use their existing teaching or training material.

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5.  What are new capabilities of QuizMaker?  What are the pedagogical purposes of products / activities made on QuizMaker?  

We just added several new features including pre-made quiz templates and questions, as well as the ability to create and track quizzes for separate classes or groups.  Users also now have access to an enhanced statistics dashboard that allows them to generate reports by quiz-taker, individual question, quiz and group or by custom meta data, view quiz data by average time spent per question, percentage of correct/incorrect answers, and more.  These new Quiz Maker features are focused on giving users a powerfully-simple, comprehensive tool set that helps them not only gather and manage quiz data, but also apply that knowledge, empowering them with valuable insight about their quiz-takers.  And through Quiz Maker’s dashboard, educators and trainers now have the ability to reveal knowledge gaps, helping them create more efficient and productive learning environments.

6. What do you think will be the future of mobile learning?

I can sum that up in one word: "ubiquitous"