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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Virtual World Goods Worth Billions in the New Year

According to the BBC:
Virtual goods such as weapons or digital bottles of champagne traded in the US could be worth up to $5bn in the next five years, experts predict. In Asia, sales are already around the $5bn mark and rapidly growing. As one venture capitalist noted "We have seen companies go from nothing in the last 18-24 months to tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue." Additonally, "Virtual goods is the whole story in the world of social games. It accounts for 90-95% of revenue for a lot of these social game developers."

What could be the implication for enterprise-focused virtual immersive environments? Only Second Life has a model where people can buy goods that are corporate focused. Could other virtual worlds create virtual market-places for office furniture, suits and other corporate appropriate items for purchase? Can that be an additional revenue stream for companies in the enterprise space of virtual immersive environments? Is some type of "open virtual world business shop" what in store for 2010 and beyond?

Check out the entire article, The US virtual economy is set to make billions

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Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Another Virtual World 2010 Prediction

Here is a number of interesting predictions for virtual worlds done in a nice and interesting SlideShare presentation



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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Round Up of Some Virtual World Year End Predictions

With the recent news of layoffs at Forterra Systems and the closing of Metaplace covered in Not a Good Week for the Virtual Worlds Space, there have been a number of discussions around the topic.

See ProtonMedia's take at If Forterra Systems and Metaplace have sparked a virtual world industry shakeout, the question is: Who's next?. In it the president of ProtonMedia, Ron Burns, discusses how ProtonMedia did this year (quite well) and what the industry shake up means from a vendor's perspective.

Over at ThinkBalm, a firm which tracks and follows 3D virtual worlds for learning, one of the analysts, Erica Driver posted an interesting entry called Forterra Systems layoffs have implications for the enterprise immersive software market. Make sure you read the comments on the blog posting as Robert Gehorsam, the president of Forterra Systems weighs in with some interesting and thought provoking comments.

At Koreen Olbrish's blog Learning in Tandem an entry titled Virtual Worlds 2.0...A few humble predictions discusses a few predictions including "Virtual worlds will rely less on user-generated content." She and some others then get into an interesting discussion about 3D virtual world standards and how they exist but few have heard about them. A commenter writes "X3D - ISO standard for interactive 3D, HTML for the 3D web (www.web3d.org) already exists." Kinda like SCORM...people are vaguely aware of it and care at a minimal level but standards should be invisible to most end users, developers and others. You should read the comments.

Finally, Justin Gibbs created an entry called The end of Virtual Worlds 1.0, now onto 2.0. He makes some interesting points and does point to progression in the field.

All in all some interesting posts about the past, present and future of virtual worlds for learning and collaboration.
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Monday, December 28, 2009

Great Year End ReCap

This time of year there are many recaps of blog postings and reflections on the "year in blogs." One good site to check out is ASTD's Learning Circuits Blog Big Question for December. It contains a number of great postings about what bloggers have learned this year.

Another great year end post was done by Zaid Ali Alsagoff over at ZaidLearn. He always does creative graphics and has created interesting and valuable assets for anyone looking to increase their knowledge or resources in the area of e-learning.

Check out the year end post, The Very Best from ZaidLearn! And check out his visual approach to the post (of course from Zaid).

So have some fun and enjoy a visual recap of Zaid's year of blogging, you learn a few things and have some fun!
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Thursday, December 24, 2009

Talking About the Time it Takes to Develop One Hour of eLearning

Recently, I spoke with Rich Parris at Standard Imagination about an article I updated for ASTD Learning Circuits called Time to Develop One Hour of Training.

For the update, I worked with BU Instructional Technology alum Robyn DeFelice of DishingDesign to update the article. In fact, she and I are working on some more juicy numbers for 2010 but for now, check out the interview and see if these are questions you might pose concerning the time to develop one hour of instruction. If they are not, feel free to pose some questions in the comments!

Rich asked some good questions that I think many people had about the article. Check it out at 20 (or so) questions Karl Kapp.

Here is some of the interview
How good a yardstick is the time to develop one hour?

Karl: Using one hour is surprisingly controversial. People say “what is one hour of instruction” or that “one hour of instruction is a mythical measurement” We define one hour as the “amount of time it would take an average person to progress through the instruction moving at a comfortable pace.” How accurate it is, I am not sure, but I do know that the industry needs a standard unit of measure and one hour is a good standard. It is like the metric system. You might not agree that the metric system is the best method for measuring but if we both used a meter stick, we’d both get the same measurement. We might not like metrics but the measurement is consistent and I think that is how the industry should view “one hour of instruction” it is not perfect but we can all use it to measure.

Doesn’t it seem as though we’re going backwards as an industry when we look at these results?

Karl: Actually, I hope it is a look forward. I hope it means that more careful consideration is going into the design and that the focus is on creating effective instruction and not just shortening the delivery time. Focus on time is a production aspect but not a learning aspect. I hope, but don’t know for sure, that the time used to develop one hour of instruction is focused on creating one good hour and not just cranking out what my friend Marc Rosenberg calls “Shovelware” which is just courses created quickly and with little thought to development. I sincerely hope people are spending more time on design.

Check out the entire interview.
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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

A Few More Alternatives to Second Life

With all the bad news in the virtual worlds space this week (read Not a Good Week for the Virtual World Space), I wanted to point out that many healthy 3D virtual immersive environments still exist and more are coming on line daily.

Here are three more virtual worlds to explore

Blue Mars


Hanging out in the visually rich Blue Mars Virtual Immersive Environment.

Blue Mars features CryENGINE™2 powered graphics for highly realistic avatars and environments. The engine is enhanced with custom hair, skin, and cloth shaders along with multi-threaded performance optimizations and MMO server integration. The Blue Mars platform supports thousands of simultaneous users per region. Blue Mars’s content management system gives IP holders the control they need to protect their users and their brands from inappropriate associations and copyright infringement. The platform supports industry standard digital content creation tools like 3DSMax and Maya along with Flash based HUD and UI elements.


Venuegen



Hanging out in a coffee shop in Venuegen.


The Venue Network, Inc. (TVN) is the creator of Venuegen. Venguegen is an on-demand enterprise web 3D conferencing solution that can be integrated into web-based offerings. The company deploys as a SaaS based web service to consumers and business customers. Founded in 2007, the Company offers a practical application of web 3D technology that can be integrated into customers’ web offerings integrating their 2D content and delivered as an on-demand service. Venuegen is optimized to equip virtual presenters with communication capabilities that lower event costs and extend market reach. The mission of the company is to empower its customers to virtually and naturally share knowledge, interests and passions together unhindered by distance, time and impractical costs.


WebFlock


Demo screen shot of WebFlock environment 
created by The Electric Sheep Company.

The Electric Sheep Company, who has built extensive islands in Second Life, has created its own 3D virtual platform. The WebFlock platform rendering engine is based on Adobe Flash, which is installed on 98% of computers. That means no downloads, no installs, and no browser restarts. The 3D rendering engine approximates 3D in Flash via the rendering of limited 3D elements and 3D-like avatars combined with the perspective effects of images rendered in the distance. This means bigger, richer avatars and spaces than traditional isometric worlds, which also means a better entertainment experience and improved sales of virtual goods. Because WebFlock uses Flash and Html/Javascript, it can be easily embedded on any webpage, and integrated to other components on the page (or other Web-based systems like ecommerce shopping carts, advertising controls, or media players).

Click here to see more alternatives to Second Life.

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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Not a Good Week for the Virtual Worlds Space

First, Metaplace announced it will be closing its virtual doors on January 1, 2010 at 11:59 pm Pacific Time. This was one of the alternatives I listed for something other than Second Life in my Alternatives to Second Life (continued, again)

I described Metaplace as:
Is a Flash-based virtual world platform that allows players to buy and sell items, own property and play online games. Because it is Flash-based there is no download required. Another particularly interesting aspect of Metaplace is that it can be embedded into a webpage. This means that a user created "portal" into a virtual world can be accessed from web location. You can add content from other web locations like Amazon or videos as well. Formerly Meteplace was known Areae.

Here is an article talking about Metaplace closing Virtual world designer Metaplace to shutter

Secondly, and more sketchy at this time is that Forterra, according to Erica Driver at ThinkBalm has laid off 60% of its workforce and is headed for acquisition. Here is an article that describes some of the rumors on the subject, Is Forterra Headed for Acquisition? Layoffs Reported. This is also a company I mentioned as an alternative to Second Life and is a big player in the 3D Virtual Immersive Environment space.

It is inevitable that the 3D Virtual World space will have acquisitions, mergers and failures. It is all part of the technology growth cycle, we've seen it before with e-learning companies and with LMS companies in the 1990's. Now we are seeing it in the Virtual World space. Inevitable but not fun to watch.

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Facebook Fan Page Create for Learning in 3D

Created a Fan Page in Facebook for Learning in 3D and then created this nifty badge.

Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collabora

Promote Your Page Too


Check it out and become a fan:)
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Monday, December 21, 2009

Co-Author Speaking at 3D Life Science 2010 Event in Malvern, PA

On January 19th, 2010. Tony O'Driscoll (my co-author and partner in 3D) will be presenting at an event co-sponsored by Microsoft and ProtonMedia.

The event will be moderated by a top life sciences industry personality, and will feature several surprise guests, the panel will discuss how pharma organizations are using innovative (some would say radical) collaboration technologies to out-think and out-sell their competitors in today's exceedingly competitive environment. They are even going to serve lunch and refreshments. At the event, you will see case studies and hear about experiences people have had using innovative 3D technologies. You’ll also get an exclusive sneak peek at imaginative new “stuff” that could fundamentally change how Life Sciences teams work together online.

It is an "invitation-only" event. However, if you let them know you saw my blog post on the topic...you'll receive an invite. Check out the event at the Life Sciences 2010: The Global Collaboration Imperative.
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Learning in 3D Book Tour Start Date Announced

It is official, the Learning in 3D book tour will start on January 11, 2010.

We've got over 30 bloggers on the tour with a special Twitter hashtag of #lrn3d, a Twitter book give away, a 20% discount from the publisher and even a "prize" for folks that follow the entire tour and leave a comment on every blog. Details will be forthcoming.

The tour promises to be an exciting event so get ready. The tour stops will be announced in the near future but I will tell you the first stop will be at the blog of the person that wrote the forward to the book, Ron Burns at ProtonMedia's blog.

*What is a blog book tour? Some have asked me "What is a blog book tour?" There are many definitions but the way this tour will work is that we've asked bloggers to take one day and blog about the book, virtual immersive environments, 3D, conduct an interview with the authors or discuss any other topic some-what related to the book. This will happen at a different blog each day for 6 weeks.

Tony and I will stop by the "tour stop" on that day and leave a comment or discuss something about the book. The idea is to generate buzz, have some fun talking about the book, get feedback from the readers of the book and generate a few sales. This one is much more involved than my last blog book tour but if you want to check out how that went, here is the summary posting for the Gadgets, Games and Gizmos blog book tour.

This time I've incorporated some advice from Nancy Rubin, Mark Burke, Susan Lewis, C. Hamilton and Daniel Siegel who responded to the post Seeking Some Assistance and Advice. We can't do everything they suggested but we are doing as much as we can.

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Friday, December 18, 2009

Sneak Peak at Virtual World Images for Learning in 3D

One of the exciting things about working on the Learning in 3D book is that we are going to have a space for the book and some of its content in a 3D world.

 Here are some sneak peaks at the concept. It is in its early stages but we are looking forward to the unveiling in January along with the Blog book tour that starts on January 11th.


The introduction area and place to meet.



Overview of areas which will show examples of the 3D archetypes.
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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Webinars: Past, Present and Future

Here are links to webinars past, present and future...not quite a Christmas Carol but...

Past:
Here is a link to the presentation I gave last week titled "Reaching and Teaching Across Generations"


Screen shot from early in the presentation, the discussion was already lively.

Description of the webinar:Today's classrooms can containing up to four different generations of students - each generation having unique motivators, learning styles, and technology preferences. Examine generational differences, as well as pedagogical strategies and techniques to best engage your entire classroom.

It was a lively discussion with good input from the attendees. I hope they had as much fun in the webinar as I did presenting and interacting with them.

You can go to Kapp MATEC Webinar Search

See the slides that were used for the presentation here.

Present:
On Thursday December 17th at 2 PM Eastern Time. I will be on a fascinating panel.

The Future of eLearning Content
Here is a description.
With New Year's Day just weeks away, predictions of what's in and what's out will soon be here. Get a jump on the training industry prognosticators and decide for yourself what matters most by registering for Meridian Knowledge Solutions' "Future of eLearning Content" webinar. The webinar begins on December 17, 2009, at 2 p.m. Eastern Time.

If you're responsible for buying or managing your organization's training content, don't miss this free, 45-minute online discussion.

Our online panel of content vendors and elearning bloggers will riff about the ways learning management technology, mobile applications and social media is already shaping (and will likely affect) the elearning content you'll buy next year.

The "Future of eLearning Content" webinar will cover:
  • New, streamlined ways to buy content
  • Innovations in delivering and managing content
  • Fresh approaches to instructing learners
  • Requirements for transferring knowledge
And best of all, you'll have the chance to not only hear what's fact and fad with regard to elearning content but also have your questions answered by our experts.

Save your seat by registering today at: https://eval.webex.com/eval/onstage/g.php?d=928360548&t=a.

The panelists are:
John Ambrose
Janet Clarey
Karl Kapp
James Moss
John Ambrose
Senior Vice President, Strategy, Corporate Development and Emerging Business, SkillSoft
Janet Clarey
Sr. Researcher, Brandon Hall Research blogger, and author of research reports ranging from Web-based collaboration and learning in the workplace to blended learning and e-learning 2.0
Karl Kapp, Ed.D.
Professor of Instructional Technology Bloomsburg Univ., chief blogger for the elearning blog "Kapp Notes", and co-author of the newly released book, "Learning in 3D"
James Moss
Learning & Development Lead, Vivid Learning Systems
Moderator: James Friesen Content Guru, Meridian Knowledge Solutions
See you there.

Future:
On Tuesday January 19, 2010 as part of the eLearning Guild's Thought Leader Series I will be co-presenting with Tony O'Driscoll in a webinar titled Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration at 10:30 AM PST.

Here is a description of the webinar:

Virtual Immersive Environments (VIEs) are gaining attention but are they effective or a fad? Unfortunately, there are few guidelines to inform the development and creation of effective 3D Learning Events. In this session, we will examine a model for effectively thinking about and deploying 3D learning and collaboration spaces within your organization, explore how different design principles and learning archetypes lead to success and analyze case studies of organizations that have successfully combined formal and informal learning within these virtual spaces. This session provides educators, corporate trainers and others with valuable information on how 3D worlds foster and promote informal and formal learning and collaboration within and across organizations
This presentation is based on the publication of the new book "Learning in 3D" due out in January 2010.



You must be a member of the Guild to register, but, if you are not a member, you should become one. Here is the information you need to register.


Also,I will be appearing "in person" at the MPICT Winter Conference where I will be presenting a keynote address titled Leveraging Virtual Worlds, Web 2.0 and Smartphones for Educational Excellence.

I will also be appearing "in person" at ASTD TechKnowledge in Las Vegas on Friday, January 29th from Friday, 10:00AM-11:30AM

Please if you attend one of these events, stop by and say "hi" virtually or even in person if it is a live event. I love to meet people and say hello.
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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Three "Not So Obvious" Obvious Things about Virtual Worlds

A Virtual Immersive Environment is Not a Parallel Universe, It is an Alternative Reality. While it is possible to make a 3D virtual immersive environment (VIE) look exactly (or pretty darn close) to your actual office building or training room or college campus...what's the point? The real power of a virtual immersive environment is the ability to transport the learner or collaborators into an environment that is ideally suited for the learning or collaborating that needs to take place and this usually requires an altering of the spaces.

If a college class is studying the Antarctic, take a virtual field trip. If you are teaching sales representatives about an implantable medical device, take them to a virtual surgery...have them be a virtual patient. Use the virtual world to alter the normal bounds of distance and place. When designing virtual spaces, alter them to make the space little larger than normal to accommodate navigating the avatar, reconsider the roof of a building (no weather in virtual worlds), hold a class meeting in a garden or a brainstorming session to discuss crowd control in a subway. Use virtual world locations to alter time and space to feed brainstorming sessions. Alter the normal course of business in a manufacturing organization by having a production meeting in a replica of your biggest customer's plant.

Alter the frequency of interactions by building in-world templates of key locations. For example, I used to do some consulting for a large toy retailer and they created an actual replica of model store. They would bring in merchandisers and others into the actual store to look at layout and determine toy placement. This was a time consuming and expensive process and could only be done infrequently because of the expense of travel. If a virtual replica of the store existed, the merchandisers and toy manufacturers could meet every week in a virtual store to brainstorm and "walk the isles." The virtual version alters the reality of having to meet "every once in a while" in the store and creates the ability to meet more frequently in a proxy for physical store.

Virtual Immersive Environments are Not a Panacea. Virtual immersive environments do not magically align learning objectives with authentic work tasks, they do not overcome poorly designed sales training, they do not make a novice into an expert in one or two sessions. They are not magic. They are a tool. Too often when a new technology...any new technology (including Social Media) comes onto the "Learning and Development" radar, the technology gets treated as the answer for everything...until we learn...it is not.

To avoid this fate, take a careful look at the types of applications that leverage the power of virtual immersive environments and lead with those applications. Collaboration over distance, immersing someone in a realistic sales environment, prototyping activities, any activity that requires group coordination like first responder training or acting in a dangerous location like a nuclear plant or war zone or even a busy intersection. Virtual Immersive Environments make sense when the learning requires immersion in a particular environment, they don't make sense when teaching the memorization of medical terms.

You Gotta Get In To Get It. You can talk until you are blue in the face but a person who has never experienced being in a virtual world is not going to understand the advantages, disadvantages and affordances of a virtual existence unless and until they enter a virtual immersive environment. One cannot understand why he or she would want to be an avatar without the experience of being an avatar. In this case, less talk and more experience in-world is needed. Once people get into a virtual immersive environment and experience the value of an altered reality, they tend to understand why virtual worlds make sense.

Speaking until "Blue in the Face" doesn't help someone get VIEs.
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Monday, December 14, 2009

How Long is the Ideal Learning Event?


Let's look at some thoughts on the subject.

According to John Cone, former VP of Dell University (and someone I've worked with on an advisory board so I know he knows a lot on the subject), in an article for Fast Company..."the ideal learning event has a class size of one, lasts five to ten minutes and takes place within ten minutes of need."

A survey conducted by Bloomsburg University of pharmaceutical sales representatives indicated that they desired to have information presented in 15 minute intervals.

According to Chris Bennett, Founder and CEO of Ah Ha! Media, “30 minutes is about the maximum and less than 15 minutes is too short. The exact number of minutes between 15 and 30 should be dictated by depth and number of Objectives in the learning module.” He goes on to say in the article titled “How long should an e-learning course be?” from elearningmag.org that, “In a one-hour course, its absolutely fine to have two 18-minute modules and one 24 –minute module…and consider this, most television programs are under 30 minutes sans commercial.”

So where does this short timeframe originate?

A guess is it seems to originate from the 1956 paper titled "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information" by George Miller." (this is an updated version of the article.)

Miller, from Princeton University’s Department of Psychology, reported that human short term memory is able to hold approximately 5 to 7 items in memory at a time. If you expand on a topic list of 5 to 7 items in an educational piece for 3 to 4 minutes, the timeframe works to be approximately 15 to 28 minutes which fits into the anecdotal evidence leading to the desire of having a course length (or segment of a course) to be approximately 15-30 minutes.

Does this seem right or are the lengths of time way off?
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Upcoming Webinar: The Future of eLearning Content

This Thursday I am on a great panel doing a webinar for Meridian Knowledge Solutions. I hope you can join me and this exciting panel.

The Webinar is called "Future of eLearning Content" and is scheduled for December 17, 2009, at 2 p.m. ET.

Short Description

If you’re responsible for buying or managing your organization's training content, don’t miss this free, 45-minute online discussion. Register today at: URL HERE.

Our panel of experts will riff about the ways learning management technology, mobile applications and social media will shape the elearning content you buy.

The "Future of eLearning Content" webinar will cover:

New, streamlined ways to buy content
Innovations in delivering and managing content
Fresh approaches to instructing learners
Requirements for transferring knowledge

See the entire description and the panelists here. The panelist include:

John Ambrose
Senior Vice President, Strategy, Corporate Development and Emerging Business, SkillSoft

Janet Clarey
Senior Researcher and blogger for several Brandon Hall Research blogs

James Moss
Vivid Learning Systems
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Friday, December 11, 2009

Friday Funny Video about Tech Bubbles

Wondering if you missed the "next best thing" in Internet Business. I think this funny video tells the story of the hype around technology in a fun way. Enjoy on this Friday.



One of the lines reminded me of the newest venture into space by Virgin.
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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Behind the Scenes at a Blog Video Interview

Yesterday a few students and myself sat for an interview with some folks from ProtonMedia to discuss virtual immersive environments for learning and collaboration. The finished piece will be posted in a while on the blog over at ProtonMedia but, in the meantime, I wanted to post some behind the scene images of the interviewers (Katelyn and Kwan) and the students Rachel and Adam.

Kwan gets ready to do an introduction in 
front of the IIT logo and sign 
while Katelyn gives direction.



Rachel discusses her experiences in 
a virtual immersive environment.


Adam discusses his view on virtual immersive environments for learning.


Katelyn steadies the camera while
 Kwan conducts an interview.

Look for the full interviews to appear shortly over at the ProtonMedia blog .
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Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Presentation on Friday

This Friday I will be presenting a webinar about different techniques for teaching when different generations are in the classroom. The webinar is called Reaching and Teaching Across Generations and will be held at 10:00 a.m. MST on Friday, December 11, 2009.

Here is the description of the webinar.
Today's classrooms can contain up to four different generations of students - each generation having unique motivators, learning styles, and technology preferences. Examine generational differences, as well as pedagogical strategies and techniques to best engage your entire classroom
You can register here.

Hope to see you there! Virtually

Here are some related (and some semi-related) links:

Why Today's Learners are Attracted to Virtual Learning World

Do we really need to design differently for the so called "Digital Natives"?

Understanding the Generations

Various Additional Links on the Topic: In a link called Presentation to Research Working Group on Multigenerational Knowledge Transfer

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Tuesday, December 08, 2009

What's In Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning?

Here is a quick overview of the exciting content in Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning in case you were wondering whether or not it would make a great Holiday gift for that certain someone.

See the entire informercial and see if Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning is right for you.

If you liked the overview, you can order the book below:



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Monday, December 07, 2009

Why an Instructional Design Degree from Bloomsburg University ROCKS!

The discussion that Cammy Bean and I have gotten into concerning "Accidental Instructional Designers" and When "Accidental Instructional Designers become Intentional" has brought about a number of interesting discussions about the skills of ID people and what ID programs should look like and I realized that:
  1. People who haven't been in Bloomsburg's ID program don't realize what we teach in our ID program
  2. There seem to be ID programs out there that fall short and that is giving people an unrealistic image of what a quality ID program really is.

So, let me describe why getting a graduate degree from Bloomsburg University's Department of Instructional Technology ROCKS and why our ID graduates can easily hold their own against non-degreed folks (and then some).

*Full disclosure--I am a professor in the department and might be biased in my opinions but I am going to try to stay neutral*

First, Cammy said, "maybe ID programs need to come out of business schools instead of education schools." The Bloomsburg program is not out of the business school but it is not in the School of Education either. Our program is housed in the College of Science and Technology and originally was housed in the College and Math and Computer Science. So we have a different focus than programs housed in the school of education. We are more corporate focused. In fact, within two years our program will be physically housed in the same building as our business school.

Second, we teach our students strong ID theory in our Basic ID class as most programs do. But, in our Advanced ID class students apply that theory to a problem in the field. In Advanced ID class, students are formed into a team, introduced to an actual client (local hospital, school, manufacturing organization, police department) and create a finished instructional module for that organization, complete with pre- and post- testing of a sampling of the learners. Our students work with an actual client from the community and learn first hand about deadlines, clients refusing to sign off, clients signing off without authority and actually sit in meetings with a real client. Every student must go through this process and deliver a WORKING product (not just design it). Advance ID gives students the real-life experience of doing a needs analysis, creating objectives, applying the right instructional strategies, implementing and evaluating e-learning all under the watchful eye of both a faculty member and a client with a vested interested in the outcome. (this happens for online and on campus students).

Third, our students work with software currently used in the field to create online learning. The latest version of Adobe PhotoShop and Flash, Lectora, Adobe Captivate, Plateau (LMS), Adobe Connect, and Saba's Centra to name a few. Students use the tools used in the field (sometimes they are even ahead, for example when we use Second Life and ProtoSphere.)

Fourth, our students stay on the cutting edge. They blog, contribute to wikis, and design instruction for a 3D virtual environment as well as create web sites for mobile learning devices. They continue to learn about the latest tools and we discuss how they are used in organizations to facilitate learning. We also have a game course where they create interactive games for learning to solve the needs of a client (again the students  interact with external clients and produce a solution to their problem). Students are on Facebook and Twitter with faculty and have discussions about how to use social media for learning within organizations.

Fifth, our students learn how to write a proposal and handle themselves in a high pressure sales situation. In a class I teach, students are formed into teams, given a Request for Proposal, and required them to write a 40 page proposal and create a working prototype to solve a learning problem within an organization. Students present their solution and prototype for 20 minutes to 30-40 learning and development professionals (3/4 alumni) who then question them for 15 minutes about their solution and then evaluate the students' work and give them a grade. This teaches students presentations skills, handling difficult questions from clients and being forced to "think on your feet." Students have to defend their solution against professionals who pick it apart.

Sixth, we have a "commercial" arm of our academic department, The Institute for Interactive Techologies, that does ID work for companies like Kellogg's, Black and Decker, L'OREAL, Toys R Us and other organizations (real life experience) that include students working on projects. We don't take on a project in our Institute without students working on the projects. If a student has a graduate assistantship, they will work with an external client, drive to client sites (fly in some cases), sit in good and bad meetings, stay up late to make a deadline and work hand-in-hand with the client to deliver the instruction. All under the guidance of a faculty and/or a full-time senior instructional designer who serves as a mentor (and has a degree from our program.) This is experience provided under the guidance of faculty while students are in graduate school a mixing of theory and practical hands-on experience. (we also work with non-profits like the PA Department of Public Welfare and the PA Coalition Against Domestic Violence.)

Seventh, twice a year we bring in professionals who are working in the field of instructional design, e-learning and performance support to provide feedback on our curriculum, RFP exercise and our initiatives within the department. These professionals keep our curriculum up-to-date by offering topic areas and subjects that we should be teaching and hold us accountable by returning twice every year. Based on their feedback we continually upgrade and improve our course offerings.

Eight, our mix of students is one third from outside the United States, one third right out of undergraduate and one third who are experienced in the workforce and come back for more education. Since many of our class projects are team-based, the students are forced to intermix. The experienced students share knowledge and experience with students who have not yet been in the field and the newly graduated students share energy, enthusiasm and "what if we try this" attitude and the international students bring in a world perspective. The mix creates grounded and not arrogant designers.

Ninth, our faculty are active in the field. From writing books to presenting at international conferences the faculty stay involved in the field and work hard to stay current with the latest theories and software. While ID is timeless, it needs to be constantly adapted and modified to ensure it is meeting the needs of clients. Students are working with faculty who are impacting the field and driving innovation.

Tenth, we bring experts and professionals from the field to speak to our classes. It is not enough for our students to hear about the design process only from our faculty. With virtual classrooms and other tools we've had people like Clark Aldrich, Donald and Jame Kirkpatrick Steven Just, Cal Wick and others share their knowledge and expertise as well as alumni who are in leadership, development or creative positions who discuss managing projects, overcoming difficult clients, designing games for learning and other current topics of interest.

Eleventh, we have an extremely high placement rate because twice a year, we bring companies on campus to recruit our graduates. In Fall 2009 (this semester) we had over 10 companies on campus recruiting our students including RWD Technologies, Kodak, Tyco Electronics and Geisinger Health System. In fact, we had more opening available than we had students to fill the slots (this is a common occurrence.) Our program requires either an internship or a thesis for graduation (99% of students choose an internship...more real experience in the field).

Twelfth, in our corporate track, we focus on the business aspect of the field. It shows. Many of our alumni have become entrepreneurs. This semester we had alumni who founded two companies present to our current students. We had Chris from Zerion Software as company that builds iPhone Applications and Mark from viaAcademies which provides online Instrumental Music courses for school-aged students.

Our program is a year long if a person enrolls in the land-based option and attends on campus (a little longer for online). We have problems and issues like any program in terms of not being able to fit all the topics we want to teach into our curriculum, we could spend more time on certain topics, get more in depth on a few but, as a whole, our program ROCKS because we prepare our graduates to hit the ground running and to positively contribute by giving them the tools and skills to make an impact and not to be dinosaurs about ID.

Now, don't take my word for it. I challenge alumni, employers of our graduates and others to comment on the program. I want the good, the bad and the ugly so everyone can get a good understanding of what ROCKS about getting an ID degree from Bloomsburg University.

And, I am sure other programs are out there ROCK as well. I want other faculty from other programs to tell us why their programs ROCK (leave a link here and we can get a list of ROCK'N ID programs) that properly prepare ID people to ROCK the field.
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Friday, December 04, 2009

2009 Top Posts and Topics: Kapp Notes


The ASTD Big question this month is an annual question: What did you learn about learning in 2009?
So one of the tasks I will do to answer this question is to see what posts were the Best of 2009 from several different sources.

First from eLearning Learning, Here are my top posts.

  1. Online Games for Teaching Business Concepts and Ideas. This entry was made because I was doing a presentation on the topics and I wanted to use my blog as the platform for presenting the information and as a "leave behind" resource so that the teachers could reference and find the games all in one place when they wanted to use them for the classroom.
  2. Random Web 2.0 Statistics. I was researching some statistics for use in a presentation and I wanted to keep them all in one place so I figured my blog was the best place to keep those statistics. I frequently use my blog as a place for storing my notes for presentations.
  3. How Long Does It Take to Develop One Hour of E-Learning-Updated for 2009. I had done some work in this area in 2003 and wanted to see if any information had changed. So, I teamed with alumni Robyn Defelice at Dishing Design and updated the article for ASTD.
  4. Alternatives to Second Life (continued, again). With my new book about Learning in 3D about to be released, I am always looking for new virtual 3D environments and worlds and wanted to keep track of ones that I have found with more a business focus. This is one of a three-part series and a continuing effort to find these types of applications.
  5. Educational iPhone Apps to Make You Smarter. From time-to-time I get emails from web sites about long lists of items they have compiled to drive traffic to their sites. I decided to combine a few of those lists and find some of my own and link to educational applications for iPhones because I think gadgets are a great way to facilitate certain types of learning.
  6. Resources for Researching Virtual Worlds. When researching Learning in 3D, I used a lot of resources and I wanted to share some of those resources in their various forms with whomever was interested.
  7. Implementing New Learning Technology? Choose the Right Pilot Group. In my consulting practice, I get asked a lot about how to pilot test new technologies within an organization. This posting is some of that advice that've found to be effective.
  8. The Higher Educational Bubble Continues to Grow. I grow increasingly frustrated with bubbles in the US and world economy. We should be able to see them coming by now. With a son a few years away from college, the Higher Education Bubble is really hitting home and being employed by a university, I am a little concerned about what will happen when this bubble bursts.
  9. Learning Statistics. More notes to myself that I posted on the blog so I could find them easily (if you've seen my office or desktop on my laptop, you'd know why I need a good place for stuff).
  10. Audio in E-Learning. The Metro DC ASTD chapter asked me to do an interview about audio in e-learning and I linked to the interview and shared some of my notes.
  11. Video Games, Education and Entertainment Statistics. More statistics for use in my presentation located in a handy place.
  12. Presentation Resources. I think presentation skills are highly valuable for designers and wanted to share some resources with students and others who are interested in becoming better presenters. This is a continual process and we can all work to become better.
  13. Avoiding the Virtual Ghost Town. Sometimes a client will come to me and complain that no one is visiting a virtual space they have established. This post attempts to provide some tips for avoiding that fate. It generated some good discussion about objectives in virtual spaces and helped to clarify some of my thinking in that area.
  14. Save Yourself Time and Money--Before Implementing a Virtual World, Do an Analysis. Sometimes in the field of instructional technology, whenever a new technology comes along we throw away everything we know and do dumb stuff. This posting is a reminder to do an analysis before being seduced by the technology.
  15. Technology Adoption Continuum: Types of Adopters. Not everyone loves technology and we need to understand that different people approach technological innovations different (especially if we have a leaning toward new technology). This posting reminds me of the need to consider other views of technology before I become all impassioned about some new technology.
Visit here to see more of the Best of Kapp Notes from eLearning Learning.

The post this year with the most comments was What Sports Teach Our Kids and Why Video Games are Better. It had 24, when I made the post I kinda thought it would stir up some discussions. It really made some people mad while it resonated with others. It was mostly tongue in cheek and I hope it made my point. I enjoy sports and video games but one or the other is not inherently good or evil.

Here are my top posts via Google Analytics for 2009.(I'll comment on the ones that are different than eLearning Learning.)
  1. Bored?-Try Dissecting a Frog. I have no idea why this continues to be my most popular post on Google even thought it is over a year old.
  2. Learning Statistics
  3. How Long Does It Take to Develop One Hour of E-Learning-Updated for 2009
  4. What Sports Teach Our Kids and Why Video Games are Better.This post had a lot of play outside of the learning community.
  5. It is All Fun and Games...And Then Students Learn.Another posting done to support a presentation.
  6. Diffusion of Innovations. Information on to help an organization adopt technology.
  7. Definitions: ABCD Objectives. This 2006 entry continues to get attention. 
  8. Help, I have an Instructional Design Master's Degree and I Can't Create E-Learning. This person needs their money back and should focus on a program with a solid foundation and good instruction that prepares a designer for the field...Bloomsburg University's Instructional Design program comes to mind.
  9. What Learning Professionals Can Learn From the Steelers. What's not to love about combining Steeler Football with Instructional Design?
  10. Sitting in the Airport. Another mystery to me as to why this posting is popular. I think because people who are literally sitting in an airport Google those words. Just a theory. (although the average time on that page is 1:51.)

So there are my most popular posts for 2009. I've learned a lot this year, especially about virtual worlds and I continue to learn so much from my involvement with all the wonderful folks in the blogosphere. So whether you agree or disagree with some of my comments, become a follower, lurk on the page or stop and leave a comment, I thank all of you for your engagement and interactions.

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Thursday, December 03, 2009

Accidental Instructional Designers May Want to Just Say No

Perhaps this is the annual right of passage in the field when Cammy Bean and I get into a "degree vs non-degree" in instructional design discussion. She (and many others) feel that a degree is not really necessary to practice instructional design and some even assert that a non-degreed instructional designer is, by definition, better than someone with a degree...just because they don't have a degree...I can't even get my head around that argument.

Anyway, in her post When Accidental Instructional Designers become Intentional, Cammy writes "But I think we can also say that the landscape today has greatly changed, and a formal ID degree may not be necessary..." Oh, contrar, that is precisely why we need formal degrees because the landscape is changing. Without a solid foundation, houses collapse. A degree is a foundation for the individual and, more importantly, for the field which helps distinguish fads from facts.

Being a professor in the field, I might be a little biased but, I firmly believe that a degree is necessary for the good of the field. Degrees provide common language, common research base, common practices and validation of practitioner ideas and thoughts through empirical research. Look at all the valuable research both Ruth Clark and Will Thalheimer perform.

As a partial confession, I sort of believe that some individuals can, with a lot of work become a competent instructional designer BUT I think that is the exception not the norm and, like Jane Bozarath and Janet Clarey I feel that much can be gained, even by an experienced instructional designer, by going through the rigor of a degree process. And I agree with AK that self study can lead to "some lazy autodidacts falling into the trap of just exploring the areas that they are interested in." And, as Joe Deegan has been known to say "After all, knowing how to use WebMD doesn't make you a doctor."

To me, the discussion should not focus on individuals, it needs to move to a higher level. The discussion should not be "does a person need a degree to practice instructional design" but "should the field require a degree?" To me the answer is obvious, "Yes" the field needs to require a degree.

Why should our field allow people without degrees to practice? The field will never reach the strategic level that we want if we don't stand by a degree. Professions are recognized by the degrees rightly or wrongly a degree provides a sense of credibility. Would you want a doctor to work on you who did not obtain a medical degree or a lawyer to defend you without a degree? Or a stock broker without a finance degree (ok, that might not be a good example at this point...would non-degreed brokers have avoided the financial mess?). Would you want someone to develop safety training without a degree in instructional design or training on how to sell products? If your company depends on effective, well designed, scientifically-backed instruction to produce results than a degree is needed. If you can "get away with" throwing content from a subject matter expert to the learners with a little "polish" then I guess no degree is needed. For more on this argument, see the following two posts.

We need a degree in instructional design

Not to cause trouble but...

And I know not all instructional design programs are good, but, for a moment let's assume that most ID degrees are from programs that do a good job, as I have said before just because a graduate of a law school is a lousy lawyer, that doesn't mean all law degrees are bad and we don't need law degrees. This post offers some insights about good programs in ID.
Help, I have an Instructional Design Master's Degree and I Can't Create E-Learning

So, before we move the discussion to the skills required of an instructional designer, I have one more idea. Perhaps when people find themselves in the situation of accidentally becoming an instructional designer, they should back off. They should refuse to design instruction without proper training! (rather than jump into unknown territory with both feet)

For example, any reasonable person who has no medical degree would refuse to conduct a kidney transplant even if they were begged to do so. Why? Because they really don't have the skills or training. Yet, seemingly reasonable people are asked to design instruction quite frequently even though they don't have the skills or training and they gladly admit they don't know what they are doing and then proceed to develop instruction anyway. I've seen it. It is not pretty for the learners.

I often wonder why this is the case. The only answer I can up with is that people have witnessed training and instruction all through high school and college and, therefore, think they can just follow those models and craft effective instruction. Results indicate this is not the case but people try it all the time.

So I beg all the would-be accidental instructional designers to back off from the seductive offer, get training in the field (i.e. a degree) and then design the instruction. (Yes, I know that can't happen in real life and that jobs are at stake, etc. but when people accept tasks for which they are not trained, are they really doing anyone a favor?) Aren't they doing more harm than good. Just because someone has a "knack" for something doesn't necessarily mean they are qualified to do that task or that they'll even do a good job.

Rant over...

So, what makes an effective instructional designer, first of all Ken Allen, Blogger in Middle-earth hit the nail on the head when he steered the discussion toward the realism of instructional design. Human learning is a complex process and no one will ever figure out all the intricacies of what is involved but what instructional designer can do is match the right strategy to the right content and right learner.

So, to me, the most important skill an instructional designer can have is being able to apply instructional strategies. To know when to use a mnemonic and when to use an analogy. When to model the behavior to be learned and when to provide a check list. When Constructivism is a good theorietical underpinning for a topic and when a Cognitivism-based approach is necessary.

Instructional designers add value by serving as catalyst who accelerate the process of learning for individuals. Given enough time, almost anyone can learn anything but people don't always have enough time so instructional designers are required to make content scalable to large numbers of people and to make the material more "digestible" by applying instructional strategies to aid retention, reinforce transfer and assist in recall. It is not a perfect science but there is science behind the field and to understand the scientific basis and to explore the underpinnings of the field are important elements in moving from an accidental instructional designer to an intentional designer.

And, finally...

Being an instructional designer is about applying a systematic process to help others learn. We can't force others to learn but we can make it easier, more efficient and more motivating to learn and isn't that a noble calling? Accidental or not, we do some pretty Rock Star stuff every day.

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Seeking Some Assistance and Advice


As you may know in January 2010 (around the 19th or so) my new book co-authored with Tony O'Driscoll is being published. The book, Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration is about using 3D virtual immersive environments for learning and collaboration. Learn more about the book here.

Leveraging the "wisdom of crowds" we am seeking your input and ideas on how to conduct a viral marketing campaign for the book. One idea is the blog book tour but...we am looking for more ideas other social media, physical media or other channels.


So please add a suggestion or two about how you would envision a viral campaign to help potential readers learn about the book.

Thanks and I look forward to your ideas.

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