Daniel Staemmler » eLearning

Is it time to change?

Daniel Staemmler — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 13:18:28 +0000

I haven’t been posting anything to this blog for over a year and three month. I think it is time for a change and get back on track and start blogging again what I am passionate about. Leaves the question, what is it that I am passionate about and want to blog about? Here is a list of things I want to post about in my blog:

eLearning (which ever version applies these days, I believe it is 2.0 right now)
cognitive psychology (cognitive and learning styles / types)
neuropsychology
educational technology
whatever else is of interest to me…

To manifest the state of change here at my blog I updated the theme today. I chose a clear and simple design since this is the way webdesign and its usability is heading towards in my opinion.

{democracy:2}

Thanks for the feedback and take a look around. Iy you like what to see subscripe to my RSS feed to stay up to date.

UPDATE: Apperently the first post had a little glitch. I couldn’t get rid of the letter ‘n’ in front of the poll I wanted to be displyed within the post using Democracy AJAX Poll verison 2.1. After trying for alomst 3 hours to find an answer to my problem. I canned the plugin and now I am happy to use WP-Polls verison 2.40 from Lester Chan. The downsite I haven’t figured out how to display a poll within a post. If you have an answer please leave a comment right here or send an email to webmaster@dstaemmler.info.

List of Open Source eLearning Tools

Daniel Staemmler — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 23:01:55 +0000

Open Source tools are great and there are a lot of them out there that help you to develop eLearning modules / online courses. There are also listings and comparison tools available that go way beyond of the list I came up with in this post but more about that a little later. First of all start with some definitions of what I am talking here about.

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.

February/March Issue of Innovate

Daniel Staemmler — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 03:01:19 +0000

The journal of online education innovate is bimonthly publishes by the Fischler School of Education and Human Services at Nova Southeastern University. The February/March issue includes “… articles that address online assessment and effective course design, the value of e-portfolios as dynamic records of academic and professional development, and the creative use of synchronous communication tools for online tutorials“.

Among the published articles is a review (registration required – free) from Stephen Downes about the OpenCourseWare Consortium. It seems like that he recently spends some time in comparing online offerings from educational organizations and institutions (see an earlies post at this blog). However, even though Stephen Downes has some criticism about the site design and the navigation he concludes that “the OpenCourseWare Consortium site is useful because it describes an important initiative that is developing rapidly, but an air of exclusivity permeates the site“. At the end of his review stands the apeall that knowledge doesn’t belong to the universities, it belongs to all of us and therefor should be made openly accessible “… to society as a whole“.

Stephen Downes Compares Online Offerings

Daniel Staemmler — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 18:15:10 +0000

eLearn Magazine just publishes Stephen Downes comparison on online offerings form major institutions. In his article he refers to MIT’s OpenCourseWare (OCW) that is available since 2002. A lot of institutions followed the concept of making their content online available for everybody who is interested in it. These junks of content have to be brought alive by the didactics that a teacher/professor uses to engage student in the learning process. Stephen Downes introduces the two termini “golden” and “green” model of OCW. The latter refers not only to online available learning materials, more so to complete online courses like the once from the Open University.

America's Learning Leaders in 2006

Daniel Staemmler — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 05:17:03 +0000

Bersin & Associates’ judges have made their choice in the Winter 2007 ELearning! Magazine and nominated companies that “… have demonstrated innovation and excellence in corporate learning“. The winners have been chosen in the following five categories:

Operational program excellence,
Leadership program excellence,
Technology excellence,
Organizational and management excellence, and
Initiative Excellence.

Each category starts with a description of the criterion on which the decision is based upon. Winners range from General Motors Corp., Philips Medical Systems, Bellevue University till Saks, Inc..

In the same issue (page 23) Elliott Masie lists 7 Trends and Features on Learning “… that will morph the training function“. Well, I guess it is time again for some prediction that can be revisited to see if someone was right or wrong in their prediction of the future.Â However, Trend #2 (“Content becomes democratized”) isn’t really a NEW trend. Web 2.0 and the buzz about it is going on for quiet while now, and what is it all about? Right, among other things the creation of content on the web, e.g. Wikipedia.
Trend #7 is interesting: “Finding courses will be more important than creating courses”. I personally belief that the fulfillment of this trend lies not in the near future, if taken into consideration that we are talking about qualitative courses here that allow the learner to participate on a outcome based learning approach.

Software Freedom Law Center doubts Blackboard Patent

Daniel Staemmler — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 19:47:39 +0000

The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) filed a formal request with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for re-examination of Blackboard’s e-Learning patent (received in January 2006). If the request will be successful 44 claims of the patent will be canceled. The USPTO know has three month to decide upon the request and any action steps that may follow. If the patent is not going to be revoked Blackboard will have the monopole for software application that make a distinction between the roles of teachers and students.

The full version of the re-examination request is available form the SFLC website.

Evaluating Online Learning Programs

Daniel Staemmler — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 07:52:17 +0000

I just ran across an article from Lisa Neal that gives some insights on how formative evaluation can provide guidance to verify design decisions in order to enhance the effectiveness. “Formative Evaluation: A Practical Guide” provides an easy to follow step-by-step guidance on how evaluation can contribute to the design of an online course up from a very early stage. The article gives a good point to start from or to check if this kind of evaluation is a fit for you purpose.

“Effectively Evaluating Online Learning Programs” is another pretty comprehensive article that falls into this category. I especially like the bullet points and their emphasize on what to avoid and what an alternative approach could look like. For example “evaluation is a part of the bigger picture. avoid: evaluation as episode; evaluation as autopsy; alternative: integrate evaluation in into ongoing practice”. The latter one goes back to the point Lisa Neal makes in here before mentioned article.