Steve Woodruff

If you struggle to find out what your brand is you will find at the end of his eBook six question and an elaboration upfront that might help you along the way to figure this out.

In 2015 in America (I believe the U.S. that is) 74 Million people are considered to be part of the population group Baby Boomers. They have been born between 1946 – 1964. This group is followed by the Generation X which incorporated all those born between 1965 and 1977. In the eBook “Generation We” by Eric Greenberg with Karl Weber the Generation X group is considered “… a politically and socially conservative cohort that has struggled to define itself against the vast and dominant Boomer group it followed.” I this makes me part of this group. I never considered myself to struggle with my place in society nor feeling suppressed by my parents generation.. However, the new Generation are the Millennials born between the years 1978 till 2000. What this generation has to deal with and what their opportunities are is shown in the video below.

Eric Greenberg is using the online social networking to promote the Millennials as the  Gen(eration) We and to activate members of this section of the population. This generation will be more diverse than any other before (White 63%, Hispanic 18%, Black 14%, Asian 5%).Their education is good and who would have guessed that, they will are also the most wired ones. Interested in more about Gen We? Take a look in to the above mentioned eBook.

All these facts and predictions are of interest when we take a look into online learning and the ease this generation is using technology in the educational field. Generation X needs to shape up to find the right ways to cater towards the next generations needs. a simple PowerPoint presentation based in a flash widget and maybe some underlying sound does not seem to be enough anymore. More so the opportunity for learners to interact with each other and the content itself while learning. Rearranging content while discussing and arguing for the right solution seems more the way to get cognitively involved than simply absorb some fixed and inflexible content.

What makes Twitter so popular? I think it is very simple, we are always interested in what our friends are doing. A lot of times it is “… the first thing we ask when we call someone” (Source: Read/WriteWeb).  A little snipped of text provides us with the real time information and a simple social need id fulfilled.

However, I have not decided yet for myself if I am going to use Twitter to keep my friends and readers up to date with my activities. If so you probably will see it on this blog in one of the sidebars.

Interested in creating your own social network that you are in control off? Here is one of my earlier entries that describes one option on how to do so.

As a side note, this somehow reminds me a little bit of the idea and discussion about global ID and how Google is or can be a part of it. John Lanchester wrote a pretty comprehensive and interesting article about it that I enjoyed reading.

There are Content Management Systems (CMS), Learning Management Systems (LMS) and there are Learning Conten Management Systems (LCMS). In general CMS are being used to handle huge amount of data / content on rather bigger websites. The main focus of this software application lies in his capability to handle different versions of documents, multi user workflow and last but not least to publish data / content. In contrast a LMS combines the six following features: (1) registration, (2) scheduling, (3) delivery, (4) tracking, (5) communication, and (6) testing. An LCMS is more of a hybrid of the before mentioned two systems. It combines the learner administration features of an LMS with the content creation capabilities of a CMS. For further and detailed information please go to http://www.e-learningsite.com/lmslcms/whatlms.htm.

The following list is not restricted to L(C)MS and the order is random:

• Drupal, a CMS that includes blogging and discussion forums. I know that Drupal is used at different universities. Read more about experiences here. Drupal also undergoes evaluation at the University Duisburg Essen in Germany (site only available in German).
• ATutor is an LCMS that states it complying with the W3C WCAG 1.0 accessibility specifications at the AA+ level and adopts IMS / SCORM content packaging specifications.
• Moodle, which probably is the most well known LMS that is available as an open source application. I have used moodle during my job at the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg to deliver online courses and at my current job here at Shanti’s L.I.F.E. Institute. The setup is not that difficult on a Apache server. I must say though that this LMS seems to be better of use in the academic area since a lot of times progress is being measured by grades.
• Bazaar is a CMS with the intention to deliver course ware, function as a portal or any other myriad type of web based projects. More information also available at SourceForge.net.
• Elgg is a social networking platform that brings learners together and enables people to create and share their content. To check out the functionalities of the Elgg software join Elgg.net.
• ILIAS is an LMS developed since the end of 1997 at the University of Cologn, Germany.
• dotLRN supports eLearning and digital communities. It has been originally developed at MIT.
• Bodington is an open source Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) / LMS that is being developed at the Oxford University in England.
• At UCLA ClassWeb is designed to let instructors create and control class websites.
• COSE (Creation of Study Environments) is a VLE developed and designed at Staffordshire University.
• CAUCUS is a web-based eLearning classroom and discussion platform.
• Whiteboard Courseware System is targeted towards colleges and universities.
• MimerDesk is a web-based collaborative learning and groupwork environment designed for personal management, computer-supported collaborative learning, carrying out projects, and setting up communities.
• Sakai is a collaboration and learning environment.
• Manhattan Virtual Classroom is an open source course management system that runs on Linux and other Unix-like systems. It is developed, designed, and used at the Western New England College.
• Caroline is another eLearning application that is developed from teachers to teachers. What I like about this application is that it takes a pedagogical model of eLearning into consideration to support the learning process.
• Colloquia is a Learning Management and Groupware System.
  
• LAMS is a toll to design, deliver and manage online collaborative learning activities. Interested in more information?
• Fle3 is a Learning Environment developed and designed at the University of Art and Design Helsinki.
• NICENET’s Internet Classroom Assistant (ICA) is a free web-based learning environment for classrooms, distance learning programs, and collaborative academic projects.
• … Please feel free to continue this list by leaving a comment at the bottom of this page.

There are a lot of websites out there that also cover this subject. Please have a look at kinoe’s list of free tools or the listing of the e-Learning Centre in the UK. Another great website to compare different L(C)MS is available at the EduTools Homepage just follow the link to Course Management System on this site. Jane Hart, a learning and performance technologist, publishes on her website a directory of free E-Learning Tools. Another list of open source course management systems is available through EdTechPost Resources.

After all these listings there is still a decision to be made if you’re in the market for an L(C)MS. Maybe you find some help by using the tools at the EduTools Homepage or you also can check out this step-by-step guide from the e-learningsite.

What I like about PeopleAggregator is that you own the data that you feed into it. Whenever you feel like you have to move on you can take it with you. Even though I have no MySpace account I think it will be difficult to take all my friends and content with me once I decided I want to move on.

The concept is sort of like the one of Second Life. The difference is the existing World Wide Web is used as the virtual world instead of some “second” world developed by a company. What I like about this Web 2.0 Application is that it allows you to get in touch with people that have similar interests as you do.

I have to admit I have not fully explored Zweitgeist since I am working on a Mac and unfortunately it is not supported for now. If you had any experience with Zweitgeist already or try it out let me know how it worked for you? It could be a cool feature for people who run a blog and can directly and live interact with their site visitors.

Using Google with the term “edumio” today resulted in 120 pages that mention/link the website. Nothing compared to the 35 million and more websites that have been returned when I googled for CiteULike. However, we’ll see what will happen to Edumio and there service to digg academic and educational resources/article. – Happy Digging!

For those who are looking for a quick read-through on what happened in 2006 in the field of social networking, Web 2.0 and others should definitely stop by and browse through these reviews.

In addition you find an article about 15 people in the December 25th issue that are the web generation’s movers and shakers. Furthermore Time Magazine John Cloud writes about the YouTube Gurus and how they changed the way we, the nominated person of the year 2006, see ourselves. There are also plenty of photos and videos in regard to the YouTube phenomenon.