Interview with Sarah Elaine Eaton, University of Calgary: Innovators in E-Learning Series

Understanding how informal learning occurs is critical in e-learning. Welcome to an interview with Sarah Elaine Eaton, whose research has focused on how, where, and when people learn in informal settings including e-learning and mobile learning.

1. What is your name, affiliation, and connection with e-learning?

Sarah Elaine Eaton, Principal Consultant of Eaton International Consulting Inc. and Research Associate of the Language Research Centre at the University of Calgary. My connection with e-learning began in around 1999 or so, when I began using Blackboard in the Spanish classes I was teaching.

From there I went on to learn Centra and Elluminate. My first intensive experience with e-learning was being part of a multi-university team that was developing a comprehensive online English as a Second Language program for international students. I've also worked on projects involving video conferencing, You Tube, Skype, Moodle and Slideshare, and other types of e-learning tools and platforms. As part of my work now I give professional development webinars on learning and leadership to educators, program directors and administrators. I gave one in May of this year on using Skype in ESL and Literacy classes. There were participants there from all over Canada and the US and even as far away as Egypt and Kyrgyzstan. I have no idea how those folks found out about the webinar, but it was super cool that they were there. I just love e-learning because it allows us to transcend so many boundaries.

Sarah Elaine Eaton

2. What are your thoughts about informal learning?

I'm fascinated by the notion of informal learning. Over the past couple of years I've done more and more research into the areas of formal, non-formal and informal learning. I suspect that informal learning isn't sufficiently acknowledged because people overlook it or take it for granted.

I think, bold though it may sound, that we are on the brink of a major paradigm shift. This shift will dramatically change how we view learning and how we value it.

Such a paradigm shift may well pose a threat for schools, colleges, universities and other formal learning institutions because it will challenge the very foundation of education. Traditionally, formal learning has been revered and valued deeply. In the "olden days" only clerics were taught to read and write. Books and formal learning were reserved for men (and a very few women) of the cloth and for those trained in law and medicine. Learned people held positions of authority and were greatly respected. Today, you can't help but have respect for the 13-year old kid who knows how to fix your computer - and he taught himself or he learned how to do it on the Internet. His skills are highly valued and you just know he's going to get a job, if he doesn't already have one "informally".

Old notions of formal learning have been turned on their head in the past 25 years. We are beginning to value informal learning more and more. People understand on some level, that our notions of learning and how we acquire vital knowledge is changing. I'm not quite sure how universities and schools are going to deal with this, but I do know when I talk to my colleagues that there is concern. And the very least, they're perplexed. Some feel challenged that the "quality of learning" diminishes as the level of formality diminishes. Again, I refer back to the 13-year old who can teach you how to do something new on your computer. Has the quality of his learning been diminished because he didn't learn it from a book? It'd be hard to claim that when you need their help and they fix it for you in no time flat.

3. In your opinion, where and how does informal learning take place in an online environment?

Informal learning, I think, takes place in an online environment every day. Anytime you have a question, where do we turn today? To the Internet. We look up words we don't know at sites like Dictionary.com. We ask questions at sites like AnswerBag. If we want to learn the steps to do a particular task, we turn to sites like eHow.com. For those who prefer video or audio sites like YouTube, Vimeo and other video sites offer clips that teach people how to do new things. And the number lectures and learning opportunities available by podcast now is astounding.

The Internet offers us an opportunity to immerse ourselves in all kinds of learning, every day. And not only that, it allows us the opportunity to make those learning opportunities mobile. Today, you can look up all that same information on the move with a Blackberry or iPhone. It's great. I literally "learn on the run" because I load TED talks or podcasts onto my iPod and listen to them while I'm out running or walking. The Internet has transformed how we learn, how we access learning and how we want to learn.

4. Can informal learning be structured? How? Where?

The very nature of informal learning is that it is unstructured. I like to explain it like this: Formal learning is very organized and structured. It is offered by schools and institutions and guided by a curriculum. So, formal learning is very structured. Non-formal may or may not be arranged by an institution, but is usually structured in some way, even if it is loosely. Since there are no formal credits granted or earned, in non-formal learning, there's less need for structure. And then there's informal learning. Rather than being guided by a curriculum, it's much more spontaneous.

In the case of informal e-learning, I'd say it's much more learner-driven, too. People download podcasts or watch YouTube videos on things they're motivated to learn themselves, not because someone told them they had to do so. Once I was a bridesmaid for a bride who requested that all of her attendants wear fake eyelashes on the big day. I'd never worn fake eyelashes in my life, so I looked up videos on YouTube on how to put them on. I was motivated to learn (albeit for a specific and limited purpose), so I went on line and learned how.

Having said all that, I don't think the categories are as cut and dry as I've explained them here. Think of it more like a continuum. Formal, highly structured learning is at one end and at the other end there's spontaneous, impromptu learning. Non-formal learning is somewhere in the middle. So it could be that there are some types of learning that may be classified as informal, that are still a little bit structured. For example, when I shoot a YouTube video, even if it's only a few minutes long, I plan it, script it out and then do a few dry runs before we shoot it. So, it's not exactly spontaneous, but the result is meant to look spontaneous. For anyone who watches one of my YouTube videos, I hope they look informal and spontaneous. That's the point. :-)


5. What are some of the projects you've been involved with that you would like to share?

This project taught me so much about how we learn, how we can learn and how we value learning. My entire career has been spent in education and this project has literally transformed how I understand learning. I used to value formal learning to the nth degree, thinking that it was the only "real" type of valid learning. Now my understanding has both broadened and deepened. Despite the fact that I have a PhD, I believe that there are many more opportunities in the world for non-formal and informal learning. Not everyone has the means or opportunity to pursue formal education, but that doesn't mean that they are incapable or disinterested in learning. On the contrary. Thanks to the Internet, there are hundreds of thousands - likely even millions - of opportunities to learn new things every day - most of them for free.

Sarah Elaine Eaton's Blog

The project started out small. It focused on languages and literacy, because that's my background. For anyone who's interested, the final report, "Formal, non-formal and informal learning: The case of literacy and language learning in Canada" is available free of charge at: http://wp.me/pNAh3-C

I became so intrigued with the concepts of formal, non-formal and informal learning, that together with a research assistant who was a trained scientist with a background in geophysics, I began exploring those same notions in different disciplines. After languages and literacy, we started one on science, which is the one you graciously and generously lent us your expertise on. We're just wrapping that one up and it's much more comprehensive and robust than the first report. Now I'm starting to look at the same notions in business and entrepreneurship, together with another research assistant who has a background in business. By the time we're done, we'll have a set of reports that examines formal, non-formal and informal learning across the disciplines. I'm totally pumped about it!

6. What do you see as three new directions in learning?

1. Mobile learning. I think the iPad, and products like it that haven't even been invented yet, will replace desktop computers, particularly in schools. Textbooks will give way to "learning on the go".

2. Multi-sensory, interactive learning. We used to talk about "book learning". Books only involve visual learning - either words or pictures, but mostly words. The days of "book learning" are going-going-gone. Today people are after interactive, multi-sensory learning. They want to see it AND hear it. They want to write their own comments and questions. They want to ask questions in real time. And with the gravity sensor in the iPhone and the use of technology like SMART boards, we can now incorporate touch into our learning experiences, too. This is transforming learning in amazingly cool and effective ways.


3. Individualized learning. I truly believe that people are hungry to learn new things. But traditional learning confines us to stiff, stagnant curricula that are outdated and boring. If we temper rigid structure with some freedom, while still providing challenge and guidance, learners' motivation soars. I believe that people become more engaged when they have the ability to shape the experience themselves a bit. Learning will become more individualized and yet, more interactive at the same time.

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Elevator to Nowhere ... fringejournaling on technology

Psychic Sponge's Guide to Zeitgeistland

Digital Textbook Sales in the U.S.: A 5-Year Projection -- free pdf from Rob Reynolds' the Xplanation :)

Interview with Sameer Bhatia, ProProfs.com: E-Learning Innovators Series

Effective assessment in an online course is not easy to achieve. Courageous developers have tackled online quizzes. It is interesting to look behind the scenes and see the challenges. Welcome to an interview with Sameer Bhatia, founder of ProProfs.com.

1. What is your name and your involvement in e-learning?

I am Sameer Bhatia, the founder of ProProfs.com, an online learning community. Prior to ProProfs I ran an IT certification products company that has been in the business of providing e-learning centered around Cisco certification products.

2. What is ProProfs.com and the learning philosophy behind it?

ProProfs.com is the knowledge FREEway, providing free resources and tools for online knowledge sharing. ProProfs is dedicated to offering new services and content that reflects the diversity of interests and topics in which today's users are engaged. Founded on the idea that knowledge should be freely available to people from all walks of life, ProProfs.com features free schools on SAT & IT certification, and offers an ever increasing portfolio of tools for social knowledge sharing including quizzes, flashcards, blogs, forums and games.

3. What is your view of how best to assess whether or not students have achieved learning outcomes in an online course?

We created ProProfs Quiz Maker (http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/) to address this need. By allowing educators to create tests, practice questions and quizzes around any topic and then embed them directly into their class websites, learning management system or e-learning courses, we allow educators to ascertain if students are achieving the learning objectives. We also aggregate the data across all attempts so a teacher can better understand what areas of learning the class as a whole needs more attention on.

4. How might assessing if students have achieved learning outcomes be different in a mobile learning course?

While content created using Quiz Maker (http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/) displays fine in most mobile browsers, we are in process of creating a special version so assessments can be distributed to a classroom easily via mobile devices such as iPhone and iPad. Watch out for this in our upcoming version.

5. what is Quiz Maker and how does it work?

ProProfs Quiz Maker ( www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/) is a free learning tool that enables educators to utilize the power of the Internet to create online quizzes and practice tests for their students. The Quiz Maker provides an easy access for students and educators, without the hassle of downloading bulky software. In addition to the ability to create custom quizzes, we also offer the largest collections of freely available online quizzes, ranging from K-12 education to topics such as technology certification, SAT, GRE and even general trivia.

6. Are there any really bad quizzes or quiz styles that should be avoided at all costs? If you don't mind, describe a very bad (ineffectual or even potentially problematic) quiz and then compare it with a very good quiz. What makes the difference? What do instructors and instructional designers need to keep in mind?

One of the key issues we have seen is the choice between long/short quizzes. Educators need to choose the test style after careful consideration. Long tests have their place in education; for example, many instructors use them during mid-terms or finals. However, to ensure that students are understanding the material, short quizzes in practice mode (with answers revealed immediately after a question is attempted) work much better. These create a stress free environment and students feel encouraged to take the quiz repeatedly. The repetition brings remembrance and helps students master the subject. Using short quizzes in conjunction with larger tests for mid/end of term, have reported strikingly positive results.
With a lot of feedback from teachers we have built features to allow secure & timed long tests as well as short quizzes that can be run in practice mode with customizable results to make learning fun. Educators however need to choose carefully based on the learning objective.

7. Do you have any plans for the future?

Our next version will be available in just a few weeks. Key features would include tracking of who took the quiz, ability to store results and provide more customization of end of quiz results.

8. Please share the name of two good books you've read lately.

The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steven Gary Blank is a must read for entrepreneurs. The other book I read recently is Rework by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson. While both these book are not directly related to e-learning, they have had a big positive influence on how we build our e-learning products. We have stepped up on our feedback loop with educators to ensure we build something that they totally love.

Interview with Alan Lawrence Sitomer, BookJam: Curriculum Innovator Series

Creating conditions of learning for at-risk students can be challenging, particularly when literacy issues are a factor, and students must perform well in high-stakes assessments. Responding to the challenge has inspired at least one educator to create a set of study guides that respond to students' real-life interests and current, contemporary young adult literature. Welcome to an interview with Alan Lawrence Sitomer, who has developed instructional materials that incorporate popular works while still preparing students for curriculum requirements. Using his materials, for the past 4 years, more than 95% of Sitomer's sophomores have passed the California High School Exit Exam. Surrounding high schools have been averaging a 71% pass rate on the same exam.

1. What your name, affiliation, and relation to e-learning?

My name is Alan Lawrence Sitomer, and I am a teacher, author and a literacy specialist. In 2007, I was named California’s Teacher of the Year. In 2004, I received the prestigious award for Classroom Excellence from the Southern California Teachers of English, and in 2003, I was honored as Teacher of the Year by California Literacy.

As an educator, I work as an inner-city high school English teacher in Los Angeles as well as a professor in the Graduate School of Education at Loyola Marymount University.

My young adult novels include The Hoopster, Hip-Hop High School, Homeboyz, and The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez, published by Disney. I also the authored Hip-Hop Poetry and the Classics, a text used in classrooms across the United States to engage disconnected students, and The Alan Sitomer BookJam series, student-centric reading curriculum that is standards-based and geared toward achieving core curriculum objectives through traditional and 21st century digital literacy lesson plans.

I find it incredibly important to stay connected to the heartbeat of public education as it evolves and shifts in the 21st century. Though, I am still in a traditional classroom, I absolutely have my eye on all of the recent developments being accorded to students through e-learning. And to say I am impressed would be an understatement.

E-learning also allows students, who do not thrive in traditional classroom settings, a venue to still have a chance at becoming well-learned. Even as little as ten years ago, kids who do not fit into the “box of school” had very few alternatives. With e-learning, depth and rigor do not have to be sacrificed in order to provide genuine alternatives to modern-day schools. Peeking out on the horizon, it’s clear to me that e-learning is something that is only going to grow and grow.

Will it ever replace traditional classrooms? I don’t think so. However, will it mature and come to occupy an ever greater space in the way we educate our kids? Most assuredly, yes.


2. What is BookJam, and how is it different from other study guides ?

The Alan Sitomer BookJam series is reading curriculum for today’s high school classrooms. It was developed by me, a real teacher, for other real teachers that are facing disconnected students and looking for a way to engage them into reading.

Each BookJam comes with a class set of three engaging young adult books with teacher materials that take a student-centric approach to learning. The materials are standards-based and geared toward achieving core curriculum objectives through traditional and 21st century digital literacy lesson plans.

A BookJam set comes with:

• Three class sets of 30 books each (90 books total)
• A standards-based study guide for each novel
• An implementation guide
• 21st century multimedia projects for the classroom
• Internet resources
• Audio tools
• Differentiated learning opportunities
• Composition JamBox



Currently, there are 5 Jams available:

1. The Dark Secrets Jam
• Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
• The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez by Alan Sitomer

2. The Bad Boys Jam
• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• Homeboyz by Alan Sitomer

3. The Funny, Doofy Weirdos Jam
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
• Son of the Mob by Gordan Korman
• Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

4. The Tough Being a Teen Jam
• The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake
• The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
• Hip-Hop High School by Alan Sitomer

5. The Friends, Foes and Crisis Jam
• Monster by Walter Dean Myers
• Tears of a Tiger by Sharon M. Draper
• The Hoopster by Alan Sitomer

This is the curriculum that I use in my very own classroom to achieve success with my own students. For the past 4 years, more than 95% of my sophomores have passed the California High School Exit Exam. Surrounding high schools have been averaging a 71% pass rate on the same exam.

My goal is to engage, educate and inspire our nation’s students with accessible, relevant literature so they can authentically own the literacy skills they will need to be successful in a rapidly changing future.

Literacy is the passport to achievement in the 21st century. Study after study after study proves it. This is why, in creating the BookJam (very much a culmination of my life’s work to this point) I sought to:

• Provide real teachers with real tools to achieve academic success measured by elevated test scores and increased literacy levels of today’s students.

• Marry fun and excitement in the classroom to academic rigor and intellectual growth. Years of experience have proven to me that these two elements are not mutually exclusive, but rather interdependent allies.

• Meet the core content standards for English Language Arts through a host of original curriculum materials. Tests, quizzes, activities, graphic organizers, ELL, and GATE materials are all provided in an easy-to-use format.

• Offer a viable alternative to the institutionalized one-size- fits-all academic curriculum.
• Re-shape students’ perceptions about books and literature in order to cultivate lifelong learners and readers.

• Build real-world skills by offering the added bonus of a host of simple-to-teach, important-to-implement new media and digital literacy lesson plans through Project Based Learning activities that cultivate the tools our students will need to be successful in the 21st century.

The 21st century has arrived and brought with it an array of new tools that offer unprecedented opportunities for dynamic, thoughtful, creative, and ambitious student compositions in the classroom. I am always putting new multi-media projects into operation inside my own classroom. Whether it is encouraging my students create podcasts of a book analyses, or getting them to construct slideshow presentations in place of traditional poster boards displays, I want to ensure that my students are developing strong literacy skills and know how to communicate in the 21st century.

However, the technology that I integrate into my lesson plans does not and cannot replace the need for students to think critically. The need for kids to be independent, reflective, creative problem solvers who can intelligently, accurately, and concisely express their insights has never been more important to the modern day student.

Teachers are in a unique and somewhat discomforting position. Undoubtedly, we need to be progressive so we can ensure what we are doing in today’s classrooms will translate into real-world skills that will have value to our students after graduation and beyond.

Today’s YouTube generation may not believe me, but once upon a time there existed a world where being able to construct well-reasoned, well-structured products of your thinking characterized by authentic, diligent, verifiable research and original insightful ideas actually mattered a great deal.

This is why I created the BookJam. It is real curriculum that embraces digital literacy in the classroom, without abandoning the academic value that preceded the invention of the Internet, Web 2.0 and Google.



3. What is your philosophy of learning?
When I was in graduate school working on my Master’s degree in education, the ivory tower institution of academia conveyed the message that successful classroom educators must focus on rigor. Rigor, rigor, rigor. Of course, no one is going to argue with the need for rigor in today’s classroom but the means by which they dismissed the critical nature of student engagement troubled me greatly.

Theoretically, I discovered, through my own experience as a practioner, that motivation and engagement were the way I could remove the barriers to reaching and teaching my students. By that I mean, once they were intrigued, interested and motivated, bringing rigor to my academic objectives was much simpler. But seeking rigor without tapping into a student’s internal desire to participate felt very much like pushing a rock up a hill knowing it would roll right back down as soon as I stopped standing over a student insisting that they do the work.

This is why e-learning holds such tremendous potential; kids love technology and by allowing our students to use the multi-media tools we now have available in order to pursue academic courses of study we leverage their own individual motivation to participate with the learning materials in a way that has previously been unavailable to us as teachers.

Many of the brightest minds in educational theory agree with the philosophical notions guiding this train of thought. Some of my favorites include:

• Dr. Jeffrey Wilhelm, who talks about the critical nature of motivation, particularly when it comes to educating boys

• Sir Ken Robinson, who speaks to the need for students to feel a creative interaction with academic content (as opposed to a mere linear transmission from an all-knowing teacher at the front of the room to a passive, receptor-type student sitting obediently in a one-size fits all class)

• James Paul Gee speaking to the dynamic learning which takes place in video games

• Daniel Pink speaking to moving beyond the Information Age and into the Creative Era

Dr. Kylene Beers, Jim Burke and Carol Jago, all of the “big thinkers” I know in the field of education reaffirm my own beliefs that motivation and engagement combined with student empowerment is the path of the future for tomorrow’s schools. Thus, e-learning is a bright, bright star on our schools’ horizons.

4. In your opinion, what is the ideal way to engage students? What are the particular challenges associated with high-school age students?

There is no “one right way” to reach today’s kids. The idea that there is a one-size-fits-all solution is something that has been sold to many schools, but the fact is that it’s just not true.

Today’s teens are diverse and sophisticated so a “this is how you do it” type of answer that fits neatly into a formula which can be easily replicated is something I wouldn’t dare to try and offer.

What I do know is that today’s students are hungry to pursue meaningful academic activities. For every boring, drill-n-kill worksheet teacher that uses bubble tests to assess student performance, there is an educator who is bringing lessons to life through project-based learning that says, “Wow, today’s students are capable of so much… if only we unshackle them and then challenge them.”

Nowhere is this truer than with teenagers. High school students want to feel validated, participate in meaningful activities and be asked to give something of themselves in a manner that reflects who they are. “Dumbing” down the curriculum is not a recipe for better reaching them; making them work harder and asking them to rise up to the level of which we know they are capable is what we ought to be doing.

With encouragement, guidance, discipline and a positive attitude, you can move mountains with today’s high school students. And if you look around – beyond the mainstream media’s persistent message of “Today’s students are failing” – you’ll see that, in fact, kids today are demonstrating aptitudes that might be said to trump those of previous generations.

Does living in a wired world not play a role? Absolutely. However, we underestimate the capacities of today’s high school students all too often in today’s schools. This is misjudgment that we need to change.


5. What is the future of e-learning / mobile learning, from your vantage point?

It is hard to say with a degree of accuracy what the future of e-learning holds. I can certainly guess. With the way the educational landscape is changing, and the rate at which technology is expanding in society – I’d say a safe guess would be that the direction of its growth is immense.

The benefits are obvious. Students will not be confined by what the schools offer. Their minds are thirsty and through e-learning they will pursue their own academic interests. And I am a HUGE advocate of allowing students to, as Joseph Campbell once said, “Follow their passion.”

E-learning allows the esoteric and the erudite to become much more accessible. This is one of the reasons why I believe that the future looks so bright on the digital landscape. Just as iTunes created a system whereby a music lover could really gain access to almost any band, musician, genre and so on, so too does e-learning seem to be able to one day offer a chance for any student to be able to gain access to the study of things such as French literature, astronomy or applied mathematics without constrictions on their physical location.

Ultimately, my feeling is that “self-starters” will be the ones to most benefit in the early stages of e-learning. Right now there are courses available at no charge through universities like M.I.T. for those that simply want the knowledge. In and of itself, this is pretty remarkable.

Admittedly, my vantage point is a bit limited because public education is hampered in its ability, right now, to adapt to what e-learning seems to be able to offer due to budget issues. We simply do not yet live in a world where all our students have a computer, are connected to the internet and know how to take advantage of all the opportunities which are out there. Of course, that is going to change, but the 21st century is already 10 percent over and we still have schools that rely on cassette players and VHS tapes. So essentially, America has a long way to go.

6. Please recommend a few books to read.
I’ll break it up into YA fiction and adult non-fiction since these are pretty much the two areas where I do most of my reading. Truthfully, I’ve got dozens of picks but I’ll keep the list short and sweet, just a few real “home run” titles for those who are on the lookout.

YA Fiction• The Hunger Games
• Speak
• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
• The Alchemist
• Do I need to mention my own books? LOL. Go to www.AlanSitomer.com to check out all the titles I’ve written for young adults. They are quite popular.)

Adult Non- Fiction• A Whole New Mind
• Outliers
• Mindsets
• Freakonomics

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Good Deeds Society: YA novel that deals with bullying, escaped exotic pets, a mom who was once a child star, and the mysterious disappearance of the only person who grounded the family and kept it on track... http://www.gooddeedssociety.com/

The book available here.

Effective E-Learning in the Global, Multi-Generational Workplace

Audio file // podcast.

E-learning can be a highly effective and affordable way to provide high-quality technical education and professional development. However, there are a number of considerations to keep in mind while developing e-learning programs for technical professionals in a multi-generational workplace.

Generational Beliefs and Misconceptions

While it can be said that cohorts who share the same formative experiences, such as historical events and engagement with emerging technologies, share a certain worldview, it is reductive to say that all have the same attitude toward information technologies and communication strategies.

For example, it is common in today’s workplace to act on the belief that older workers are technology-resistant, and that all younger workers are "digital natives" with an natural desire to work with technology.

What such stereotyping does is miss the point that many older workers have adapted to wave after wave of technological innovation, and are comfortable with using an integrative synthetic approach that incorporates many different levels and kinds of computer technology.

It also misses the point that younger workers may be comfortable with the kinds of writing and research required in their education, and may be adept at text-messaging using cell phones and capturing and sending images and videos via their smartphones, but may have little or no experience with the kinds of information architecture / networks, security and access protocols, software programs, and information/content management that one finds in today’s distributed workplace.

The sweeping statement that older and younger generations are different in their approach to information technology and training also misses the point that all who work with Internet-based information exchange have, at least to some degree, become comfortable with informal learning. Informal learning is often perceived as more effective and relevant than formal learning.

As a result, some of the negative attitudes and resistance to formal learning, particularly with respect to software, may be a natural response from those who have found that they have learned very well on their own.

Informal learning is generationally-independent.

Operating under faulty assumptions will effectively divide a group and result in poor team performance. For that reason and many others, it is important to avoid stereotypes when developing a training or professional development plan, or when proposing changes in workflows.
Instead, a series of assessments and survey instruments should be administered in order to gain a clearer idea of the true picture of capabilities, attitudes, and experience with information technology and professional development.

E-Learning in the Multi-Generational Workplace: Informal and Formal Learning for Professional Development

Informal learning tends to be effective because it incorporates prior knowledge, and it is flexible enough to accommodate a variety of learning styles. For example, a geologist who wishes to learn more about 3D seismic processing may be a kinaesthetic (rather than dominantly visual or auditory) learner with substantial experience in workplace settings that required an integration of geological, geophysical, and engineering analysis.

In this case, an informal learning process that builds on prior knowledge and which allows the learner to take a hands-on approach will be much more effective than a traditional lecture-based classroom learning setting.

E-learning used in workplace training and professional development is often designed to encourage the learner to build on prior knowledge, and to try a number of different pathways to get to the same result.

For example, a geologist wishing to learn more about 3D seismic may be best served by an approach that brings together the following learning elements:

**synchronous, group learning via web conference, or webinar

**asynchronous self-study: reading articles, examining presentations, watching videos

**asynchronous self-assessment: taking online quizzes, engaging with interactive programs / graphics

**asynchronous team / instructor-guided assessment: creating work, then reviewing in teams or one-on-one with the instructor for focused feedback.

Avoiding a "one size fits all" approach to training is important. Although it may seem most efficient and cost effective for a company to simply purchase seats in a number of face-to-face short courses or workshops, the reality is that unless a blend of activities is used, and the individual learners are given the opportunity to work alone, with groups, and one-on-one with a mentor or instructor, the results will tend to be very poor.

The ideal educational program (training, professional development, education) combines informal and formal learning, and relies heavily on experiential learning which taps into prior knowledge. It is also highly situated, which is to say that the activities and the learning concepts tie closely to real-world activities and tasks.

Situated Learning: Leveraging Experiential Learning and Prior Knowledge
Situated learning will help individuals apply the knowledge that they’re gaining, and to build skills and problem-solving abilities. Situated learning, which brings in a case study or a specific, tangible problem, will allow teams to form that understand the learning goals and desired outcome.

The following elements can be blended in order to achieve situated learning with both formal and informal learning approaches:

**synchronous webinars / web-conferences

**asynchronous problem-based e-learning: use as short courses for individual and group training

**building-block instructional components / learning objects: select and use to build a module or a problem-based module. Instructional components / learning objects can consist of videos, articles, audio files, software demonstrations, maps, graphics, recorded lectures, presentations.

**asynchronous project-based e-learning: use as short courses, but define the outcome clearly (a report on something, a presentation, a collection of resources and research, a portfolio).

Cost-effectiveness and Convenience Trump Conventional Learning Approaches

It may be customary for a company to require all its employees to attend face-to-face courses together in groups. Some companies even go to the expense of selecting a group to engage in training off-site in a one-week retreat, with the stated goal of avoiding distractions.
However, such training approaches are often disappointing, not just in the fact that they’re expensive and it’s difficult to see uniform results. They are disappointing because actual performance does not live up to expectations.

A more cost-effective and convenient approach involves highly applied situational learning, which requires the learners to pull from all their past experiences in order to achieve a very well-defined goal. The approach used can also be adapt to cultural and corporate exigencies. They may use informal learning methods to gain the knowledge and skills to achieve their desired result, and they may take more formal online training.

The precise path is something that can be developed as a team effort, between the organization and the learners.

Knowledge Transfer in the Multi-Generational Workplace

Presentation / Slide Show:

http://www.zenzebra.net/knowledge-transfer-multigenerational-workplace/susan-smith-nash-multigenerational-workplace.pdf

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 John Bittleston: Wiglington and Wenks

Welcome to an interview with John Bittleston, originator of the Wiglington and Wenks series of e-learning simulations, games, and interactive media for young learners. He has helped establish virtual mentoring programs for young learners as well.

1. What is your name and your affiliation?
John Bittleston (Lord Bittleston of Newnham - a very old British Manorial title).
A British Citizen, half American, living in Singapore. I am also Chairman of the Board of Wiglington and Wenks Worldwide Pte Ltd, children’s entertainment and learning project. http://www.wiglingtonandwenks.com/ Founder Mentor of Terrific Mentors Pte Ltd, an online and face-to-face personal and corporate mentoring business. http://www.terrificmentors.com/

I am a business man of seventy-seven who spent sixteen years in advertising and nearly twenty-five years in the food industry, part of it building a food and herbal remedies business based in Singapore but with operations in eighteen locations around the Pacific. When I sold this business, almost twenty years ago, I wrote four children’s books The Travels of Wiglington and Wenks. These were turned into a play, an exhibition, a schools program on creativity, a board game, an early computer game and a five minute animated video shown at Cannes MIPCOM.

2. What is your connection to e-learning?
My children’s project has been a mixture of entertainment and education. The books were conceived at a time when geography was being removed from the syllabus of most schools but children were travelling more than ever. They often could not identify on a world map the places they had come from or gone to. It worried me that even some of the young in the American half of my family in Minnesota could not point to Singapore - even though I was living here.

As Napoleon said ‘Geography reflects History’. I decided to make geography and cross-cultural understanding the basis of the children’s books. As the internet has developed over the last twenty years the opportunities for making education entertaining have expanded beyond anything we could have hoped for, hence the Carto’s Maps online hidden object games and The Travels of Wiglington and Wenks Virtual World.

As a consequence of my books I was asked by the Singapore Government to get involved in developing the Gifted Education Programme, part of Singapore’s Creative Arts Programme. In particular I was asked to become a Mentor to young writers who were showing promise. Children everywhere are creative but in the past sometimes the demands of knowledge as proof of their education have outweighed the value attributed to creative output. The consequence of this is top level discipline at the expense of inventiveness and creativity.

For its survival Singapore - and the whole world - now needs high level thought and ingenuity if the human species is to survive in anything like its present form. From my mentoring young writers I became interested in mentoring older people and started Terrific Mentors, an online and face to face mentoring business with programmes covering career, personal, business and social problems. This became very popular and the people involved came from all over the world, a significant number from the United States. With over 4,000 personal Mentees, aged six to ninety-two, and many company Mentees the business has grown and is growing fast.

3. What s your philosophy of learning through virtual worlds and / or simulation?
All learning should be fun. We do best in life what we enjoy doing. There is certain basic information we need to be given in childhood, some standards that we need explaining to us so that we understand the community’s advantage of our abiding by them. But information is now readily available and we can see the standards of others on the internet.

What the young are not learning, and what previous generations have failed to learn, is the wisdom to use the information and technology we now have and will shortly have on a vastly greater scale. The evidence for this is all around us. In the 21st Century we are still fighting wars. The gap between the rich and the poor has doubled in my lifetime, a period when democracy has been widely accepted and practiced as the fairest of the available political systems. We have turned sex into a heinous crime while allowing truth to be routinely ignored, indeed even discouraged. Business, especially in the financial area, is more corrupt than ever.

Mankind is a mixture of good and bad. Proselytizing good has not had a record of unqualified success because it has involved telling people what to do. Mankind only does what is right when men and women have worked out for themselves what is right and concluded that following the path of right is sensible.

4. How do you see gaming / simulation / virtual worlds working with mobile learning?
We all grew up believing that, apart from life itself, choice was our greatest gift. We could choose right from wrong. Countless millions have struggled to follow their consciences while a relatively small number have been allowed to take advantage of them for personal material, social and political gain. This is not a Socialist view, it is a sound social view.

The fastest way to improve choice for those for whom it is still too limited is for them to know each other, to talk to each other, to learn about each other’s cultures, to enjoy each others’ company. Every time I see a children’s party on The Travels of Wiglington and Wenks Virtual World I rejoice at the mixture of cultures, at the visible exchanges of childish but profound wisdom, at the making of the real global village we all live in.

5. How can virtual worlds help develop viable learning communities?
Virtual worlds are nothing new. All religions from the dawn of time have relied on a concept of virtual world, without the benefit of the internet, to promote their beliefs, confident that doing so will improve the world and the behaviour of the people in it. As I have already said the lessons mankind has to learn are lessons of wisdom.

Who has this wisdom?
Happily, each of us has some wisdom regardless of our intellect and despite our level of education. Some of the wisest people I have known have been peasants or people in jobs that lacked the influence of the celebrated and the politically or commercially dominant. The internet is a chance to root out the dangerous businesses and the personality destroying greed and learn about a more balanced lifestyle.

We talk about it enough. Let’s start to walk the talk.
John Bittleston

Interview with Sharon Brothers, aQuire Training Solutions: Interview with E-Learning Innovators Series

Health care for the elderly is of deep concern to millions of families, as populations age, and younger generations are pulled in many directions, or "sandwiched." Finding competent and compassionate care for elderly family members can be a very difficult challenge. Knowing that the professionals who work in an assisted living facility are well-trained is important. Home health care professionals who would like to specialize in health care for the elderly, or who need to update their skills can now get training online, thanks to aQuire Training Solutions. Welcome to an interview with Sharon Brothers, President and CEO.

1. What is your name and your affiliation?
My name is Sharon Brothers and I’m the President and CEO of aQuire Training Solutions.

2. What is your relation to e-learning?
Our company is an e-learning company dedicated to supporting and training individuals who care for the elderly. I certainly didn’t start out in e-learning, however. For over 20 years I owned, operated and consulted for senior living communities: retirement centers, assisted living and nursing facilities.

Although I’ve always been passionate about education, I only began to focus on e-learning when we began to look for ways to train caregivers all over the U.S. (and the world) without having to be constantly on the road. Even then, we could only train small groups at a time. To achieve universal access to the best possible caregiver training, we began to realize, meant learning everything we could learn about e-learning, and launching this new company, aQuire Training Solutions.

3. What kinds of e-learning are you involved with now?
Since we first began offering a few e-learning courses in 2003, we’ve grown a lot. We now offer a variety of training programs online, ranging from courses for staff working in assisted living and home care companies, to pre-employment training for individuals who wish to become caregivers to a loved one, or as a profession. We now consider ourselves among the small group of e-learning experts in the field of online training for caregiving professionals.

Our newest business division is a licensed career school, the Institute for Professional Care Education (http://www.ipced.com/). Through this school we offer a Personal Care Aide Certification which we believe will set the standard for new caregiver training in this country. We’re working with long term care insurance companies (who will typically reimburse for this training) and a number of other programs to make this training widely available to people who provide care to an elder.



One very interesting tidbit of information is that training, especially for family caregivers, has been demonstrated to measurably reduce caregiver depression and stress, and allow the family to continue to provide care for up to 2 years longer than they could have without the training.

4. How can e-learning train individuals who have to engage in hands-on caregiving?
We’re strong believers in blended learning – in gaining knowledge and values through comprehensive e-learning courses, and blending that with classroom based practice for the hands’ on skills training.

Currently, we offer the only approved online Certified Nursing Assistant course in the state of Oregon - but we only offer the classroom equivalent. We partner with other training providers who provide the lab practice and the clinical work experience components, for a highly successful training program. Our training partners include hospitals, community colleges, nursing homes and career schools throughout the state. This program is helping many, many individuals take the first step into careers in nursing or health care who would otherwise not be able to access the training, mostly due to time constraints for classroom based programs.

We’re somewhat mirroring this program for the new Personal Care Aide Certification course, too. After a person completes the comprehensive 40 hour online course, he or she can optionally add an 8 hour skills training component to practice the hands’ on skills needed for caregiving. This added component can really help build confidence, not to mention solid skills, for people new to caregiving. We’re piloting this program currently in Oregon, California and Arizona, and plan to launch it nationwide in the coming months.

5. What is your philosophy of learning?　
I’d a real believer in adult learning principles. Learning must not only be interesting and engaging, but it must also be grounded to life experience or real world practice. Our own in-house principles, too, are important: the work caregivers do is hard, often thankless work. Learning shouldn’t be another hard task – it should be fun, lively and engaging.


It should have lots of stories (because we love stories) and it should make the caregiver want to learn more – and help her easily see how to apply what she’s learned in real life.

6. Do you see potential for your training to be done via mobile learning?
It sure seems like mobile learning is the next frontier in e-learning – although it will probably be even more focused and targeted than current courses. We’re looking for ways to begin to transition some of the basic concepts we teach online to a mobile learning approach, and will no doubt be offering at least some of our training in this way in the year to come.



7. Please list three books you've found inspiring.
I love to read – anything from a great detective story (I love the Steig Larsson series, "The Girls with the Dragon Tattoo" and "The Girl Who Played with Fire "), to books like "Blink" (Malcolm Gladwell) and "They’re YOUR parents, too: How siblings can survive their parents’ aging without driving each other crazy" by Francine Russo, a wonderful woman I’ve recently gotten to know.

Of course,
"Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia" is a favorite of mine, but for those of a more mature age, not wanting quite so much relationship drama, another book I’d highly recommend along the same vein is Alice Steinbach’s "Without Reservations." Inspiring and wonderful.

Developing a Professional Digital Competency Portfolio: Market Yourself, Your Skills & Vision

A portfolio can be one of the most useful tools you can use to showcase your abilities for potential employers, or simply to keep up to date with useful web applications. You can use the "digital competency portfolio" for course projects and capstones. The personal portfolio is a great way to show your creativity as well as your skill, and to guide people to an understanding of who you are. As you build your portfolio, you can use open source portfolio software such as Mahara (http://www.mahara.org). If you want your e-portfolio to have maximum exposure, you can use social networking solutions. Facebook is perhaps the most ubiquitous, but you can also use Ning, Orkut, Bebo, and others.

Checklist of items to include:

**Website with personal mission statement, your vision, work experience, insights, important links.
There are a number of places that offer easy-to-use free webhosting, with templates. Many colleges and universities provide you with free webspace. Others may require you to develop a website as a part of a master’s or Ph.D. program. If you use your university’s free student web space, be sure to create a mirror site and upload to server space / web hosting that will not go away when you graduate.

Once you have webhosting server space on something like siteground (http://www.siteground.com), you will need a web editing program. One of the most convenient ones around is the Sea Monkey Project (originally Netscape Composer). Then, you'll need an ftp program, such as FileZilla.

**Audio mp3 (optimized) using Garageband, Audacity, etc.
Creating audio content is not as nerve-wracking as you might suppose. It’s mainly a matter of deciding what your content will be, and then making an audio recording. You can use open source programs such as Audacity (be sure to download the lame.dll driver to help you convert to mp3 files). Then, simply upload to webspace that you may have, thanks to hosting packages with yahoo, siteground, lycos, or others. Alternatively, you may wish to use a podcasting service that has a built-in recorder and a built-in flash audio player. In any case, to impress, be sure to do the following

--make sure your recording is clear
--if you read your script, make sure to let it flow
--don’t be afraid to interject personal asides and to make your script engaging and conversational
--provide links to affiliated text(s) or websites that complement the content

**Video (Youtube / ustream)
Being able to demonstrate your ability to capture spontaneous, field-based experiences and then to share them with others is critical in our knowledge economy. Whether you capture video using your smartphone or handheld device, or if you invest in a video camera, the point is the same. Your original videos can be designed for archived viewing (Youtube.com), or to be “live” as a synchronous feed, which you later archive (http://www.ustream.com)

Make sure your content is

--engaging and interesting to your audience
--relevant to your overall message or goals
--thought-provoking
--humanizing – gives your audience a sense of the people and the community behind the names and the links

**Images (professional focus) -- Flickr, Photobucket (http://photobucket.com/)
It’s fun to share family vacations, graduations, and goofy pet antics on video and still photos. These are great to have. It is also good to have images and videos that resonate with your professional interests. These images are a wonderful element within your e-portfolio and can make a compelling case that you are pro-active about what you care about. Taking photos and posting them helps get the message across that you are active. Your images and videos show that you’re willing to put out the effort to create a reality around your interests and goals. Here are images to include:

--conferences / professional development events
--imaginative images that illustrate your dreams
--projects you may have created (robots, buildings, scale models, drawings)
--images that convey your core mission and vision

**LinkedIn
There are pro’s and con’s with any professional networking site, and LinkedIn is no exception. It’s not easy to show who you are in their rather rigid templates. But, thankfully, that’s not all LinkedIn is about. It provides a way for people to find and contact you, and you can give and receive recommendations. Beware, though. Like all social networking sites, LinkedIn can become an obsession. Remember the goal is to achieve your career objectives. It’s not about how many people you can “friend.”

**Archive of white papers (link pdfs)
One of the most impressive things you can do if you’re building a personal e-portfolio is to create a digital repository of some of your research, which could include web searches, annotated bibliographies, research papers, and white papers. Don’t forget to include metatags, and to put key words after your title and author block. They will help you get picked up by search engines. Also, be sure to be consistent with the appropriate style - probably MLA or APA. Also, be sure to put your name prominently on the website, and the date written. You may be surprised how many places will start linking to your white papers. You may even find yourself picked up by Google Scholar!

**PowerPoint (as pdf)
It is a good idea to include presentations in your e-portfolio that showcases your digital competencies. If you want to collaborate, you may wish to take advantage of open source presentation software, such as Zoho Show. Here are a few things to remember:

--convert your presentation to pdf (to make it more difficult for people to use your work without attribution)
--use a pdf converter program such as Adobe Professional, or a free pdf-maker such as Primo
--include metatags as you create a description
--don’t forget your name and date created
--write a synopsis
--include notes for each of the slides

You may be surprised how quickly your presentations will be picked up, especially in image searches.

**Twitter
Granted, Twitter is evolving, and we don’t know where it will take us, or if tweeting is a digital competency, per se. Nevertheless, it’s not a bad idea to include your twitter account, and to make sure to describe your interests so that they align with your professional interests

**Widgets, Scripts, Apps, Mashups
If you like to create applications, or to create widgets, scripts, or other integrated applications and mashups, the e-portfolio is a great place to let people know. If you're using Bebo as your social networking platform, keep in mind that Bebo has a good library of integrated apps / mashups. They also make it easy to create your own.

Putting It All Together
As you start to bring everything together, you may wonder if Facebook is really the right place to showcase your skills. The answer is a bit ambiguous. If you have a personal Facebook account for friends, family, and communication in general, you will definitely need to keep that one intact. Keep your wall open, and let people post.

However, for your professional e-portfolio that demonstrates digital competencies, use Facebook in a very constrained manner. Don’t allow people to post on your wall. Keep the content totally professional. Incorporate the items listed above, and embed html when possible. You may need to prominently display your website, and mirror all your links there, just in case people get a bit lost in your Facebook e-portfolio.

As a final note, be sure to share the digital competencies e-portfolio idea with your friends, and to exchange design, content, application, and “cool stuff” findings. Make it easy to get in touch with you – and clearly post what you’d like to get involved in, and the kinds of jobs, internships, volunteer activities, etc. that motivate you.

The e-portfolio is powerful, and your ability to demonstrate your digital competencies will give you a boost in the knowledge economy.

Interview with Frederic Aknin, Sparkeo: Innovators in E-Learning Series

Welcome to an interview with Frederic Aknin, CEO of Sparkeo, a new video platform designed to enable more flexible uses of video with e-learning.

1. What is your name, your affiliation, and your history with e-learning?

My name is Frederic Aknin, I am an internet addict and a passionate continuous learner. I believe in the power of the Internet to broadcast knowledge, fertilize ideas, and bring the means to people to excel and make the most of themselves.



I know the basics in elearning. I am a user of YouTube which I used to discover extremely good content and a total TED freak.

I believe online learning is at its dawn and that it should expand. I see several very important trends:

· The need for simple video monetization to enable people to sell their premium knowledge on the Web and to enable users with a way to find the knowledge that they seek online. Currently, the highest quality end content is not online since the experts have no motivation to give it away.

· The C2C market: The world is changing so fast that the universities cannot keep up. It is already known that what students learn in college will become irrelevant when they graduate, while new platforms appear on a daily basis. The top 10 most in demand jobs today did not exist ten years ago.

There is no formal education that teaches you how to be a social media director or community manager. I believe that a great part of learning will focus less on the universities and more and more online. A college education is fundamental in building the foundation for your future, but people must know that a formal education is no longer enough: They must continue to evolve with technology or they will be left behind, and this is where Sparkeo steps in.


· Need of simplicity: This is a result of the former element. Because people are learning more and more once they are out of college through YouTube, podcasts, and online tutorials, they need elearning applications that match their current use of the Web. LMS, CMS or complex elearning infrastructures are not addressing those needs.

· Interactivity: I believe that users are craving for interactivity.

2. What are your core beliefs about visual learning?

I believe in the essence of visual learning. As being more visual myself, I have difficulties in making the most of audio podcasts and such.

The visual contact with the educator and learning material makes it easier to remember and to reproduce our natural learning path. Moreover, graphs, charts and images create clarity and emotions that ease the learning process. If this is true for visual learners, I believe it is also true for all learners since we all learning though our three senses.



I believe that all tools developed by elearning can actually enhance the learning experience, but they should respect the visual nature of the learning process.

The iPad, the Google Tablets and all the new digital slates deliver new means to extend visual learning and make it mobile. It is a new frontier and a fascinating one.

3. What are some of the problems with using video as an elearning element?


There are many hardships:

· Video is an art: Educational content might not need the highest end means in terms of recording, but it does need to be nicely edited. A small number of the people that have knowledge really know how to film themselves. Therefore, the result is mediocre videos that are difficult to watch.


· It is difficult to watch a video on a computer for more than 15 minutes. People lose their concentration and have short attention spans because the videos can be uncomfortable to view, and the Internet is a huge distraction with social networks and online games. On the other end we have the cellular phone. Although it is becoming increasingly more connected, it has a small screen that makes it difficult to watch video in the long run. But there are solutions: TV set top boxes and smart TVs that enable viewers to watch web videos and content on their computers directly on regular TV screens or the tablets that create a new space on which they can watch some content.


· Passivity: A video is a passive experience while the Internet is an interactive one. This is another reason why people connected to the web have little patience for video. How can we transform it into a more interactive one? We need to create a link with the content provider and make the whole video experience more social.


· Navigation: It is crucial that an educational video be easy to navigate. Where am I within the video? What chapter? What is he talking about? How do I bookmark the parts I really liked for later? It is all the more decisive, as an educational video is meant to be watched a few times. By definition, learning is a requirement. Therefore, navigation is key!


· Customization: Any tool that will help me appropriate the content in some means will bring high added value.

4. What is your favorite way to use video in an online course?
Screencasting can be efficient, especially in demoing a product. I like using webcams to connect with the audience, but think that an educational video, especially one that delves deep into its particular subject, needs to be taped at a good quality, not a webcam. Using webcams or unstable photography inhibits the user’s ability to learn because their focus is on the moving background. Taping a quality video will help eliminate the distraction problem I spoke of earlier.

5. What is your favorite way to use video in mobile learning?
I like Qik and online streaming video applications. I do watch the occasional educational video on my mobile phone, however only short video snacks. If it is something that would require a video that is longer than a few minutes long, I would much rather view it on a larger screen.

6. What is Sparkeo?
Sparkeo is a flexible video platform that enables experts, consultants, teachers, and passionate entrepreneurs to promote and sell their expertise through the creation of video courses all over the Web.


It specifically meets the needs of the experts by bringing two decisive innovations: A portable payment solution for the online sales of videos and an enhanced learning experience.


Through Sparkeo, users can create paid courses, free courses and soon invitation-only courses.
Sparkeo addresses a new phenomenon: The massive emergence of knowledge entrepreneurs.



There are all kinds of experts, educators, consultants, or simply knowledgeable amateurs who are Web savvy and have the entrepreneurial drive to make money teaching what they know and love over the Web. But they all had one problem: They did not have the right tools to do it.

7. What are the reasons for developing Sparkeo?
We want to empower the expert to maximize his or her online potential.

We want to give the expert an intuitive tool that is as simple as YouTube, but that has been specifically designed to meet his needs: Building a business out of his knowledge.

We cannot expect to see the best content on the Web if we do not provide the expert the means to make money of his knowledge. How can we expect the experts and educators to give their best insights when the revenue is so low, that they are better off using offline monetization opportunities through seminars, consulting, and such? That’s what we had in mind in creating Sparkeo, one simple goal: To bring a simple solution to a real problem: The lack of real financial incentives for experts.

Our product addresses both the most famous experts who are puzzled about the way they can bring their expertise on the Web in a way that makes sense financially, and the potential amateurs who have unique knowledge, but do not know from where to start. Our solution is free and works on a revenue sharing base. There is no need to invest in building a website or developing an application. It is totally embeddable all over the Web and can be embedded on your blog, website, and social networks.

8. How does Sparkeo make the learning process more effective?
There are three components that make the learning process more effective:

Interactivity
A key strategy is transforming the video from passive content to a bridge between the expert and his users.

Users can ask the experts a question directly through the video. This question is made public and everybody will be able to see it on Sparkeo.com. The answer to the question will also be emailed directly to the user.

The idea is to create a means of communication and interactivity within the player. For the user, it is a dream to communicate with the expert directly. For the expert, interactivity is a decisive selling point. He does not just sell a video, but an interactive learning experience in which he can address his customers’ needs. This tool is also a very powerful way for the expert to push the engagement of his customers to new extents and enrich his course with qualified Q&A.

For our corporate clients, it opens new frontiers in terms of customer relations and internal learning.

Enhanced Navigation
The other part of the experience that we deliver, aside from interaction, is enhanced navigation: Educational content is longer the typical 3 minute video found on most video sites, and it is designed to be learned. Most educational videos on Sparkeo are between 20 minutes to 1 hour long.

Sparkeo emphasizes the need of navigation by the introduction of chapters. Like in a DVD or book, the user can skip from one chapter to another with ease. The correct organization of the information provided ensures a better understanding of the content taught.


We also created an index which makes it even simpler to go to the relevant chapter. From the side of the expert, the creation of chapters is intuitive.

Video Personalization
As in a regular lesson, article or book, the user is given the possibility to highlight the best parts of the video and annotate them. The video becomes personalized. The user can go back to a video he already viewed and see in a glance the parts of it that were most important to him and he can view his annotations.