E-learning: More Than Meets the Eye

I am entering the last half of the last week of my course all about e-learning.  This was one of the few required courses I was blase about because of the content.  I work in a corporate environment and while we use online technologies, an actual online class is not what I do.  However, I am happy this course was required, have learned quite a bit, and could see myself facilitating online courses as a second job (I was told by someone he could see me doing that).  One of the most significant things I have learned is there is the same amount if not more preparation required for facilitating an online course as compared with a traditional face-to-face classroom or even a hybrid environment.  In a true e-classroom, there is no face to face interaction unless participants take advantage of collaboration through Skype or other applications for video chat.  This means instruction, activities, and assignments need to engage and motivate learners on their own.  This can be extremely difficult!  In my own experience, there have been courses that are more difficult to involve myself with whether it be the content (if it's required and I don't really have an interest, it can be hard for me to get motivated to complete my work) or the methods used (even with interesting content, discussion that is not developed to encourage research and support doesn't support engagement).  E-learning requires significant motivation for self-study and exploration and if there is not proper support from a facilitator, almost any learner can lose motivation to continue their learning.  Some major learning I have taken from my courses with this program are the different applications out there to aid in learning.  One of these is Piktochart.com.  Here is an example of my work that just so happens to be about the topic of this post:

Party like it's 1999

EEK! I just looked at the last time I posted and it appears that I've allowed this place to go fallow -- so much for the "post at least once a week" wisdom that old-school bloggers used to share (actually, I think it was once a day!). Anyway, I took the leap and, over a couple of nights and a couple of beers, put together this video résumé to throw out there to prospective employers:


Many thanks to Stevie Wonder and the Red Hot Chili Peppers for "Higher Ground" -- please don't come after me for royalties, I need a job!

 Maybe I'm being too tough on myself, saying that I've partied like it's 1999 (never considered using THAT song, frankly) by creating a video résumé and posting it on YouTube, for all 11 viewers I've had to see, because I don't think their are a bunch of people doing what I just did. Yeah, I'm no pioneer but it amazes me that more people aren't taking advantage of the technology that's available -- free (for the most part), easy to use and engaging.

The video was created using PowerPoint and converted to an MP4. I played with it in Camtasia and Articulate but I didn't see that those programs added anything to it, so this is what you get. Occam's Razor and all of that.

Par-TAY!!!

Cross-posted at #The Firebird Suite

My first Prezi

Please be kind.... and cross-posted at The Firebird Suite (under the Portfolio tab).

Please share, educators!

I'm a little frustrated, right now.

My wife forwarded me an announcement for a web presentation through ASTD, titled, "Using gamification and serious games in learning," and I was hoping to watch it. I don't have time to watch it at the moment but I thought that, if I archived it or better yet, embedded the video here, I could watch it at my convenience, when I finally found the time. The added benefit? All of you would get to watch it as well.

Bupkis. No repost on YouTube or anywhere else (if I couldn't embed it, I'd at least link it), no, I have to register at the ASTD site, jump through hoops, agree to allow my spam folder get heavier due to the ASTD "sponsor" getting my email address and then sending me loads of crap, advertisements for doo-dads and programs I have no money for.

Holding information proprietary is decidedly not a 21st-century or Web 2.0 approach (I'm not talking about widget designs, OK?) and the best way to move us forward is to disseminate information in the most efficient, expedient way possible.

Share it!

Friday night Happy Hour

... a long tradition with teachers and so, it should be no different here.

I stumbled across this bit of fun a few months back while I was searching videos for PBOs and it came up on the right side of the YouTube page where the "recommends" are located, at the top.

I'm still not sure what it has to do with Bloom's Taxonomy, frankly, but it's a fun way to kill a few minutes on a Friday night (with a cold one in hand, of course).

Cheers!