The Boggs e-Learning Chronicle

Convert RSS to PDF

http://rss2pdf.com lets you to convert RSS feeds to PDF files. You can import OPML files  as well as choose whether or not to include images.  PDF files generated are well-formatted and easy to read.

Dave Boggs, SyberWorks

Google Talk: Talk and IM with your friends for free

Excerpt: "The free Google Talk service lets users initiate text or voice chats from a stripped-down interface. The service is integrated with Google's free e-mail service, Gmail, so that, when a Gmail user downloads the IM application, it's instantly populated with that person's Gmail contacts. "

Now, You're Google-Talking on IM

You can download at Google Talk .

Dave Boggs, SyberWorks

SyberWorks signs lease for new office space at Waltham, MA location

The write up can be found here:

SyberWorks signs lease for new office space at Waltham, MA location

Dave Boggs, SyberWorks

Snapshot of Current e-Learning Trends

"Current Trends in e-Learning" looks at various trends in e-learning, as reported by The eLearning Guild Members and Associates through their participation in the ten Guild Research surveys conducted in 2004.

Dave Boggs, SyberWorks

Fool vs. Jerk: Whom Would You Hire?

Excerpt:  "When given the choice of whom to work with, people will pick one person over another for any number of reasons: the prestige of being associated with a star performer, for example, or the hope that spending time with a strategically placed superior will further their careers. But in most cases, people choose their work partners according to two criteria. One is competence at the job (Does Joe know what he's doing?). The other is likability (Is Joe enjoyable to work with?). Obviously, both things matter. Less obvious is how much they matter—and exactly how they matter."

The study breaks down folks in an organization into (4) groups: the competent jerk, who knows a lot but is unpleasant to deal with; the lovable fool, who doesn't know much but is a delight to have around; the lovable star, who's both smart and likable; and the incompetent jerk.

When forced to choose between the fool and the jerk, common sense would say the competant jerk, but, the study revealed otherwise, that organizations were more apt to actually retain the lovable fool. 

Fool vs. Jerk: Whom Would You Hire?

Dave Boggs, SyberWorks

As the Browser wars turn...AOL has built upon Microsoft® Internet Explorer

AOL has built a browser based upon Microsoft® Internet Explorer technology...????....

Dave Boggs, SyberWorks

Personalized e-Learning

Abstract:

The goal of personalized e-learning is to support e-learning content, activities and collaboration, adapted to the specific needs and influenced by specific preferences of the learner and built on sound pedagogic strategies. One of the major challenges to the mainstream adoption of personalized e-learning is the complexity and time involved in composing the adaptive learning experience. The key goal in personalized e-learning development tools is to support the teacher in composing adaptive and non-adaptive e-learning experiences. One of the arguments of this paper is that these learning experiences should be activity-oriented and pedagogically driven. Presented is a detailed discussion of the challenges of composing adaptive courses and in particular the difficulties and possible techniques in composing appropriate models and information to support adaptive courses. The paper describes an adaptive course construction methodology which extends traditional e-learning syllabi development with design activities which support adaptivity definition, subject matter concept modeling, adaptivity technique selection as well as alternative instructional design template customization. The paper then details the Adaptive Course Construction Toolkit (ACCT) which supports this methodology and illustrates the tools usage in the development of an adaptive course. Finally the paper presents an initial evaluation of the toolkit and its associated methodology.

Personalization for All: Making Adaptive Course Composition

Dave Boggs, SyberWorks

Human Centered Design vs. Activity Centered Design

Don Norman, of the Norman Nielsen Group has an article about the dangers of human centered design, “Human-Centered Design Considered Harmful”. The thrust of the article is that a lot can be lost when one just focuses upon knowing the user and not understanding the activity that needs to be performed-‘Activity Centered Design’.

It discussed whether technology or people should adapt and gives good examples of product families where people have adapted to technology not visa versa….interesting read.

Dave Boggs, SyberWorks

Folksonomies in an e-Learning Context

There have been articles and references made in the e-learning and usability community centered around the concept of folksonomy. 

 

A folksonomy is a user-generated classification, emerging through bottom-up consensus A fusion of the words folks and taxonomy, the first use of the term folksonomy has been attributed to Thomas Vander Wal. Taxonomy comes from taxis and nomos (from Greek). Taxis means classification. Nomos (or nomia) means management. Folk is people.

The jist of the idea is that the classification/organization of content comes from the folks or community of users themselves. In essessence, the students or users themselves should organize the content as they use it or take part in creating it, i.e. in a blog, web chat, and or any other web-based communication channel.

‘Kirpatrick’s Level One’ is all about the learner’s reaction/satisfaction, but will implementing the concept of “folksonomies” in e-learning really help to increase satisfaction with their learning experience. One can organize, rearrange, reconfigure things to the way that makes sense to them, but should they?

Will that help someone pass the test for OSHA certification on the job, if the parts and components can be changed at will, with no heiarchy to provide boundaries and the finite information components necessary to succeed in the correct context? I can make a case on either side of the argument, I just wanted to let you know about some of the ideas swirling around amoungst the e-learning and user-interface-engineering pundits.

Articles about “Folksonomy” and or “Folksonomies”

Folksonomies: Power to the People

Folksonomies: A User-Driven Approach to Organizing Content

The Kirpatrick Model

Evaluating e-Learning: Introduction to the Kirkpatrick Model

Godfrey Parkin’s Post on Kirpatrick’s Level One

Dave Boggs, SyberWorks

The Learning Object Paradox

Excerpt: "Parkin's Learning Object Paradox (PLOP) states that: "The more reusable a learning object becomes, the less useable it is." This is because the usability of a learning object varies in direct proportion to its size while its reusability varies in indirect proportion to its size."

Interesting observations on re-usable learning objects.

The Learning Object Paradox

Dave Boggs, SyberWorks