MOVING to a NEW LOCATION

I've been blogging at Blogger since 2006, it is hard to believe that I have been blogging for so long. I've met great people through blogging, increased my own personal learning tenfold, stirred up some controversy a few times and enjoyed sharing some of my knowledge with others.

But...as of Monday, October 4th, I will be moving to a new location. I have been asked by Kaplan-EduNeering to blog on their site. After some discussion and soul searching about autonomy vs. resources to re-do the site and to subsidize my efforts, I have decided to blog at a new Kapp Notes location which is

http://www.kaplaneduneering.com/kappnotes/

It is going to be AWESOME! Kaplan-EduNeering has been doing some great work in the area of e-learning related to compliance training and is constantly pushing in new directions like social networking, game-based learning and some other innovative ideas.

I am going to continue to blog just the way I have always been blogging on just the topics and subjects I want to blog about. In fact, Kaplan-EduNeering moved all four years of my blog posts to the new site so all the information is in a single location and created category titles on the top of the page for easy and quick searching...we'll be refining as we go along.


Occasionally, I'll let me readers know about some of the things happening in with Kaplan-EduNeering but primarily I will be doing the same thing...just at a better designed site with more resources.

So, starting on MONDAY change your bookmarks, links and RSS feed to my new virtual address

http://www.kaplaneduneering.com/kappnotes/

We are still doing some work on the new site but it promises to provide more information at your finger tips and is a little easier to navigate and they are even making me a "Kapp Notes" icon/button.

Please join me over at the new Kapp Notes over at Kaplan-EduNeering.

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Presentations in Atlanta and Finland

Later this week, I will be presenting at the Southern Interactive Entertainment and Game Exposition better known as SIEGE.

Here is a description of my presentation:

Why 3D Matters for Learning and Collaboration?

Do 3D graphics and interactions really make a difference in how a learner interacts with content or other learners? Is a 2D environment as effective for serious games as a 3D environment? Studies are beginning to reveal the elements that make 3d characters more engaging and intriguing to learners. Additionally, research has indicated that the interactions learners have with 3D characters have an impact on learners behavior both within the 3D environment and for some time after the learner leaves that 3D environment. It turns out that 3D does make a difference in terms of learning, motivation and impact on behavior. This session will discuss research that supports the argument that 3D learning environments add additional cues and inputs that make them ideal for teaching certain types of content.

It promises to be an interesting conference with lots of good information on "serious games" and game design and development in general. I hope to come home with some great ideas from the game developers for elearning and instructional games.

Also, later this month, I am travelling to Finland to speak at the Learning in Different Worlds Conference, October 7-8, Lahti, Finland. Along with Ken Hudson, I am a keynote speaker at the event.

I will be speaking on the topic of Learning in 3D: How Immersive Virtual Environments are being leveraged to add value to enterprise learning and collaboration

I am looking forward to the trip and will be sending back reports as the conference unfolds. I have a great dinner planned with some of the other presenters and will be taking notes as the topic of virtual worlds is explored at an international level.
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Student Bloggers Earn $10,000 Scholarship

Just announced: The 4th annual Blogging Scholarship worth up to $10,000 for a student scholarship. Here are some details.

College Scholarships.org is giving away $10,000 this year to a college student who blogs. The Blogging Scholarship is awarded annually.

Scholarship Requirements:

• Your blog must contain unique and interesting information about you and/or things you are passionate about. No spam bloggers.
  
• U.S. citizen or permanent resident;
  
• Currently attending full-time in post-secondary education in the United States; and
  
• If you win, you must be willing to allow us to list your name and blog on this page. We want to be able to say we knew you before you became a well educated, rich, and famous blogging legend.

Important Dates: the 2010 submission application date is October 21, 2010. the winner will be announced on November 2, 2010 at 6pm Pacific.

Why a Blogging Scholarship?

At College Scholarships.org we believe that everyone deserves a shot at a decent education. And we love bloggers. Not for the least of reasons, because we blog, and the founders of this site makes a living as bloggers. :) 

We believe passion is important. As the world gets more competitive, those who are passionate about what they do, and work close to their passions, will be able to become and stay successful even as technology and automation eat away at many business models. Those who are willing to share their experiences with the world help make the world a better place, even if most bloggers only consider blogging a hobby. 

We believe those who freely express themselves are far more likely to find their true passions and connect with people to bring on large scale social change.

Get more details here and enter today.

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What to Wear to a Virtual World Job Interview

Perhaps a little too over
the top for a job interview.

You have probably been wondering what you should wear in case you ever went on a virtual world job interview. I know its been keeping me awake at night.

 In fact, I once went to a virtual interview to talk about the Learning in 3D book and was told to "put some shoes on" apparently even in the virtual world, "no shoes, no shirt--no service still applies."

Here is an interesting and thought provoking article by Maria Korolov over at Hybergrid Business which provides some ideas on dressing for success...virtually.

1. A suit and tie is appropriate (always) but Maria also indicates that sometimes casual slacks and shirts, or skirts and blouses, are fine. And, please don't show up in a character costume!

2. Try to dress for your target audience, research the company a little bit before you decide what to wear.It is a casual company, then slacks (and, apparently, shoes).

A little more traditional
dress for the critical interview.

3. Your avatar doesn't have to look exactly like you in terms of age, weight, hair. As stated in the article "virtual worlds are very lacking in bald, old, overweight avatars. So we all have to suffer with looking young and attractive." So it is ok to be a leaner, better looking version of yourself.

4.Bring props. Maria suggests you bring a "presentation stand, and upload images of your resume, photographs you've taken, copies of marketing materials you've produced, or recent articles." In other words have a virtual portfolio ready to show.

Check out the entire article for youself at What to wear to a virtual job interview
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Are we taking into account the culture surrounding our students?

Historical periods are often named for the influence of technology on the period. The Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Industrial Revolution and Information Age are all closely related to the influence of a particular technology or group of technologies had on livelihood, people and governments during that period in history. As technology evolves and changes over time, a culture will either change with the technology or disappear or, in some rare cases, the culture will shun the technology and remain isolated from the rest of the world.

As educators, we cannot afford to allow our students to become isolated from the technologies used in our field nor can we isolate ourselves from the technology used daily by the third millennials (gamers).

Understanding the intricate relationship between culture and technology is critical in understanding how culture and technology support each other in the education of the youth of a culture. In Nieto’s book ( 2004) Affirming Diversity, the author describes culture as “The ever-changing values, tradition, social and political relationships and worldview created and shared by a group of people bound together by a combination of factors that can include a common history, geographic location, langaugae, social class, and/or religion, and how these are transformed by those who share them.”

To foster learning in the context of culture, we must understand that culture changes as the values, social relationships and worldviews of individuals change and part of that change is a direct result of the influence of technology. Where is the change in a society more rapid or far reaching than in the realm of technology? When groups fail to change their culture with the technology, they risk isolation.

Therefore, when examining how to foster human development through education, the cultural influnces of teachers, administators and students must all be considered with a special emphais on the culture surrounding the students. We know from a variety of research (Delpit, 1995; Gay, 2000; Nieto, 2004: Villegas & Lucas, 2002) that successful schools place their students' cultures at the center of their missions and curriculum. For education to be successful, elements of the culture surronding the third millienials (gamer generation) must be carefully considered and integrated into our curriculum.

References:


Delpit, L. (1995). Other people's children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York:
The New Press.

Gay, G. (2000). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research and practice. New York: Teachers College Press.
Grossman, L. (2006). Person of the Year. Time Magazine. Retrieved August 10, 2010 here.

Nieto, S. (2004). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education. New York: Longman.

Villegas. A. M.. & Lucas. T. (2002). Educating culturally responsive teachers: A coherent approach. New York: SUNY Press.








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Different Types of Educational Simulations and What They Teach

Here is a table from Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning (shown below) that describes several different types of simulations, provides examples and indicates the type of knowledge generally taught with that type of simulation.

Type	Definition	Knowledge Taught
Physical Procedures Simulator	A simulated object, piece of equipment or machine. It works and functions like the actual physical device.	Procedural, operation of equipment or machinery
Software Emulation	Simulated software that works and function in a fashion similar to the software that it is teaching or emulating.	Procedural, software features and functionality.
Operational Simulator	Simulates common procedures used within an organization that are to software or object based or that contains some elements of both.	Procedural, proper steps for completing a desired task.
Principle-based Simulator (Social Simulator)	Situation in which the learner is placed into an environment in which he or she must interact. Environment changes based on learners actions.	Principles, soft skills, skills used when interacting with people
Problem-Solving Simulator	Learner is presented with a new problem he or she must solve. There is not a single method or process for solving the problem confronting the learner, multiple avenues are available for solving the problem.	Problem-solving., confronted with a new problem you must solve

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Aligning Training Efforts with Strategic Organizational Goals

 In order to align training efforts with the strategic goals of an enterprise and create effective instruction, organizations need to link strategic goals with training delivery goals and methods. 

One way to accomplish this is to conduct an analysis or audit of the existing training program to highlight possible mis-alignments and to identify opportunities for improvement. If done properly, audit and recommendation process provides a methodology for moving from“learning as an event focus” to a “learning as a process” focus which will increase employee learning and retention.

Step One: Define Strategic Knowledge Objectives.

What do the learners need to know to support the goals of the organization? These are often pre-defined objectives but sometimes these strategic knowledge objectives must be defined within the audit process. If they need to be defined, usually a Senior Learning Council, consisting of key people within the organization, is formed to examine organizational learning priorities.

Step Two: Identify Courses and Material that Support Strategic Knowledge Objectives

The next step is to determine how much current curriculum and materials exist to support each Strategic Knowledge Objective and what learning gaps need to be filled. This will be done through a Knowledge Audit.

The Knowledge Audit is a comprehensive review process in which and organization will review the existing curriculum and determine the areas of the existing curriculum that map to the Strategic Knowledge Objectives. The audit is be centered on Strategic Knowledge Objectives.

This can be an in-depth analysis and process or an abbreviated version can be conducted by an expert in the field of instructional design.

Step Three: Evaluation of Current Delivery Structure (Technology Infrastructure and Learning Outcomes)

This area of the audit determines how courses are being delivered and identifies opportunities for alternative delivery methods such as e-learning or video-based instruction. The goal of this step is to match the learning objectives with the best method for delivering content.

This step also includes interviews with current learners and with current trainees as well as supervisors of the employees to determine perceived effectiveness of the instruction and opportunities to strengthen the delivery and content of the instruction. This can also be done qualitatively if the data exists to measure the impact of the training being delivered within the organization.

Step Four: Recommendations and Strategy Development

This step involves a written document describing recommended steps and providing input on the steps that need to be taken to proper align curriculum.

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Building a 3D Environment? Consider these Design Principles and Questions

Here is a table from Learning in 3D (shown below) that describes many different design considerations and the associated questions you want to ask when building a 3D learning experience.

Answering these questions will help you to develop effective instruction within 3D environments.

Design Principle	Key Questions To Consider
Instructionally Grounded	§  Is the learning intervention addressing a vetted business need? §  Are the learning objectives optimized to address the business need? §  Is and 3DLE the most efficient and effective mechanism for transferring the learning?
Participant Centered	§  Does the design place the participants in the center of the experience? §  What role(s) do the participants play in the experience? §  What actions and interactions can the participants take to encounter teachable moments within the experience?
Contextually Situated	§  What situational contexts best accommodate the learning objectives of the intervention? §  What is the role of the facilitator, other participants and the environment itself in creating an authentic situational context for learning?
Discovery Driven	§  What is the minimum set of guidelines that need to be established to catalyze action within the learning experience? §  What information or incentives can be selectively revealed within the learning experience to motivate engagement and collaborative action within the experience?
Activity Oriented	§  What is the set of episodic activities that will immerse the participants in the learning experience? §  What are the key actions and interactions within these episodes that trigger teachable moments for the participants?
Consequentially Experienced	§  How will participants be required to demonstrate their ability to perform? §  How is iterative trial and error and feedback built into the learning experience?
Collaboratively Motivated	§  How will collaborative and co-creative action on the part of the teams be incented and rewarded?
Reflectively Synthesized	§  How is personal reflection accommodated in the design? §  How are team after-action reviews accommodated in the design?

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Arnold says "Violence in Movies-Good, Violence in Video Games-Bad"

When the Terminator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was first released in 1984 one of the huge complaints about the film was the extreme level of violence. In the opening scene, he beats up some thugs. And one of the most violent scenes was when Arnold, as the Terminator, drives into a police station and kills approximately 26 police officers (the second film says 17--apparently a few lived).

Critics, lawmakers, parent groups and others were extremely upset because of the graphic violence and total disregard for human life displayed in the films.

Here is a summary of some of the violence in the 3 Terminator movies (all starring Schwarzenegger)

First Movie:
Shots Fired: Roughly 467
People Killed: Total Of 26(Actual Count Of Police Deaths Revealed In T2 to be 17)

Second Movie:
Shots Fired: Roughly 5966
People Killed: 8
# of Times The T-1000 is Shot: 88
People Stabbed By The T-1000: 6

Third Movie:
Shots Fired**: Roughly 25,996
People Killed: 34 Plus(+) 3 Billion deaths when the war starts= 3,000,000,034 Deaths
Source

Now, fast forward 20+ years and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former movie star seems to have a different perspective.

In the case, Arnold Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association/Entertainment Software Association, California is asking the Supreme Court to allow the state to uphold its ban the sale of violent video games to minors. A ban signed into law by Schwarzenegger in October 2005.

Now, the video game industry will lay out its arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on why California's ban on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors violates the developers' free speech rights. The video game industry seeks to overturn the state statute as it also takes on family advocates who argue that parents should be able to determine whether their children get exposed to violent media.

Now, I think some video games are just too violent and NOT appropriate for children (or anyone in some cases). So, I can't say that a little pressure on the industry to clean up its act is not a bad thing. And some studies actually show that violence and gore in video games takes away from the fun in video games.

But the cynical side of me can't help but think that Schwarzenegger, a darling of the movie industry, and a person who never ran from a violent movie may have a slightly different agenda.

It was just announced that Halo: Reach out stripped Hollywood as the biggest media launch of the year. And James Cameron who's movie Avatar was big but not as big as Halo: Reach did direct the violent Terminator movies. It just seems like Arnold is having a difficult time with violence that is not revenue generating for him or his buddies...maybe he's become calmer and gentler but...I don't know.

Are video games any less art than movies, should they not be protected by our freedom of speech?

What do you think...

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Want a Better Army? Eliminate PowerPoint

Recently, the Army started the first in a series of monthly sessions/discussions about what it doesn’t do well or could do better. The process is being called Unified Quest. After the series of meeting which will last until April, recommendations will be made to General George Casey. He is the the chief of staff, for internal reform on everything from combat maneuvering to homeland defense to cyberwar.

Read More: Army Brains: Kill PowerPoint, ‘Counterinsurgency

Want Smart Leadership? No More PowerPoint. If this year’s Unified Quest is any indication, PowerPoint hater H.R. McMaster, a one-star general serving in Afghanistan, is going to go from slideshow dissident to prophet in a few short years. Several participants derided the Army’s over-reliance on PowerPoint openly. One recounted stories of briefings in tactical-operations centers where otherwise intelligent officers simply read PowerPoint slides out loud — even as the slides were visible on an overhead projector.

Another observed: “That’s not the way our school system is oriented” in civilian life, making it difficult for young soldiers and officers, who are used to learning in a collaborative or social environment, to ingest information through rote absorption of slides.

No one quite articulated a vision of what comes after PowerPoint. (Keynote, maybe?) And some bemoaned “Death by PowerPoint” even as they projected their own PowerPoint slides. But it only takes a few well-placed cracks in a wall to send it crashing down. There may not be many more Lawrence Sellins — the officer who became an internet celebrity for his anti-PowerPoint rant — in the Army’s future.

Maybe this will help. A little piece I did called "Avoiding Death by PowerPoint"

And check out the discussion around this posting: Learning Circuits Big Question: Avoiding Death by PowerPoint

And here are some other helpful resources: Presentation Resources for DPW Webinar (PowerPoint)

Presentation Resources

Presentation Tip: Highlighting a Small Piece of a Model in PowerPoint 2007



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Information, Press Releases and Industry Happenings

A great deal seems to be happening in the e-learning space and I've been getting a number of press releases and information about product, events and other great happenings so I thought I'd share some of that information in this post.

Blog Book Tour for Social Media for Trainers.

Jane Bozarth's latest book, Social Media for Trainers is in the middle of a highly successful blog book tour, check it out. Today's stop: It's What Turns Clark Kent into Superman.




Serious Games Space

Serious Games Design and Technology Company, Caspian Learning--the company behind Thinking Worlds, has shown their support for the Iowa State University’s Game Development Competition by announcing that they will supply ISU students with extended trial licences to their Serious Games Engine and Authoring Tool, Thinking Worlds, for the duration of the competition. The Motorola Foundation, in association with the Innovation Generation program, has awarded a $50,000 grant to Iowa State University to fund a games development competition that encourages students to create video games and educational training applications.

Collaboration Software Space

Microsoft Corp. announced the release of Microsoft Lync, the next generation of Microsoft's unified communications software that enables people to connect in new ways, anytime, anywhere. Lync is the new family brand for the products formerly known as Communications Server, Communications Online and Communicator. crosoft Lync can make every engagement a virtual face-to-face meeting, because any interaction can include video and audio conferencing, application and desktop sharing, instant messaging, and telephony.

Lync has been designed to work with Microsoft Office, SharePoint and Exchange, which reduces end-user adoption hurdles. People can stay connected to others on a wide range of devices while away from the office and manage their communications and calls in new ways, such as easily moving a call from a PC to a mobile device while leaving the office without disrupting the conversation. (Source Microsoft Lync: A New Name for a New Generation of Unified Communications Solutions)

3D Virtual Immersive Environment Space

In relation to the announcement of Microsoft Lync, ProtonMedia announced that its ProtoSphere virtual immersive environment for the high-performance workplace will support the new Microsoft Lync Server 2010. By incorporating ProtoSphere into their Microsoft Lync environments, large enterprises can extend their Microsoft unified-communications investment, while enabling faster and more robust deployment of ProtoSphere for enterprise learning and collaboration applications.

ProtonMedia began development on the integration of ProtoSphere and Lync Server 2010 earlier this year, via its participation in Microsoft’s UC Developer Platform Technology Adoption Program (TAP). Microsoft Lync Server 2010 support will be introduced in a future release of ProtoSphere. (Source)


Best Selling Sales Management Author Skip Miller will present How to Avoid the 3 Worst 4th Quarter Mistakes in the virtual immersive environment software of VenueGen.

Live Event Details:
Duration: 60 minutes, including Q&A
Date: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 10:30 AM PST / 1:30 PM EST
Where: VenueGen at www.venuegen.com

Registration is here:

If you plan to virtually attend this meeting it is very important that you register now to reserve your seat well in advance to allow enough time for the venue and meeting content to be downloaded to your computer. If this is not the computer you will be using to attend the meeting, please wait and register from the computer you will be using. Space is limited. Reserve your webinar seat now.


Compliance Training Space

Kaplan EduNeering, a provider of compliance and knowledge management solutions, and the Drug Information Association (DIA), a global professional member association, announced a new strategic alliance to create online educational offerings for biotechnology, pharmaceutical, academic, and regulatory professionals around the world. The DIA addresses solutions to issues and challenges involved in the discovery, development, and lifecycle management of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and related products. DIA members will now have access to Kaplan EduNeering’s online compliance solutions used by over one million individuals in more than 50 countries. (Source)

Peter Rizza, President, Princeton Center for Education Services, Inc. a company that created the ExpressTrain Transformation Suite recently chaired a Compliance Track at the SALT - Society for Applied Learning Technology - conference. The ExpresssTrain Transformation Suite product helps capture, transform, and publish content from a single Microsoft Word template to multiple pieces of collateral media such as job aides, PowerPoint presentations, and web-based training guides.


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A Video Game: The Biggest Entertainment Launch of the Year

You thought Avatar was big grossing $27 million dollars on its first day of release? You thought Toy Story 3 was big at $41 million on opening day?

Sit back, Halo: Reach available only for the Xbox 360 made over $200 million on opening day. This makes it the biggest launch of an entrainment offering this year. (Avatar made $200 million only after 3 days)

Check out the full article: Halo: Reach Tops $200 Million on Launch Day, Crushes Avatar

So anyone dismissing the impact video games have on society, learning or entertainment is completely missing the big picture. While many managers may dismiss educational games or the use of a video game type interface to teach or train, they are missing a huge opportunity. See how video games can be used for learning in my earlier post Good Games and Good Learning.

The launch of Halo: Reach also reinforces the fact that from another post about the increase in video games among younger children called: Tween's Playing Online Games Like Never Before.

Check out the game for yourself:


Here are some other interesting statics about the size of the video game industry.

The NPD Group, a market research group providing consumer and retail information, reported that U.S. retail sales of video games, which includes portable and console hardware, software and accessories, generated revenues of close to $19.66 billion, an 8 percent decline over the $21.4 billion generated in 2008. Source

Nintendo's internal sales figures show that the Wii(TM) video game system has now sold 30 million units in the United States alone. This significant milestone was reached in just 45 months. This further establishes Wii as the fastest-selling console in the history of the industry, reaching this milestone 15 months faster than the next best-selling console. Source

Sixty-eight percent of American households play computer or video games, according to new research from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which represents U.S. computer and video game publishers. The number of households playing games increased three percent over 2008, illustrating the expanding use of entertainment software across all demographics. Source


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Examples and Samples of Game Design Documents

Here is a collection of several game design documents and information about game design documents. If you are considering creating a "Serious Game" or an instructional game, one of the first place to start is a great game design document. But how to write one? These samples will give you some ideas.

Chris Taylor Game Design Document Sample: As the web site says, "for all of you who have ever wondered what they look like or need one for your own personal game project, check out Dungeon Siege creator Chris Taylor's example"

Example Blank Design Document: This one is simple and too the point, not much detail but it will get you stared.

Game Design Document: Play with Fire. This document is specific to a Playstation game but provides a good use of visuals as it explains the creation of the game.

Document for Ant Game. This provides details on a game called An Ant's Life.


Here is a presentation of a game design document.

Here are a couple of articles about game design documents:

The Anatomy of a Design Document, Part 1: Documentation Guidelines for the Game Concept and Proposal

The Anatomy of a Design Document, Part 2: Documentation Guidelines for the Functional and Technical Specifications


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Office 2007 Training for Teachers: In Bite Sized Pieces

What? You say, teachers have limited time? Yet, they still need to keep up with kids, administrative rules and technology? How can they do all that?

Mark discusses a Office 2007 Screen 

One way is through a unique offering by the Training video
production company - The 8.45 Club. The company creates 15 minutes of education in a video and screen shot format that can be viewed when convenient for the learner.

For this project, the company created Office 2007 training delivered in 40+ bite-sized video modules, totalling five hours of learning in total. Teachers can dip in and out to suit them – learning when they need to and not being limited to when a trainer is in a classroom after school. It is structured so that staff can learn at the pace they want to, or jump straight to a particular topic.

Which sounds like a new way to do in-service teaching. As Mark Copeman, the founder of the 8:45 Club says, “We’ve already got our first 500 teachers signed up to use the course – and currently, the most popular module is on shortcuts." “The really great thing about the course website, is that users can track the time they spend learning and submit a certificate towards their Continuous Professional Development time for that school year."

On demand learning for teachers, what a great idea.


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Industry News, Press Releases and Information

A great deal seems to be happening in the e-learning space and I've been getting a number of press releases and information about product, events and other great happenings so I thought I'd share some of that information in this post.

Serious Games Space

Serious Games Design and Technology Company, Caspian Learning--the company behind Thinking Worlds, has shown their support for the Iowa State University’s Game Development Competition by announcing that they will supply ISU students with extended trial licences to their Serious Games Engine and Authoring Tool, Thinking Worlds, for the duration of the competition. The Motorola Foundation, in association with the Innovation Generation program, has awarded a $50,000 grant to Iowa State University to fund a games development competition that encourages students to create video games and educational training applications.

Collaboration Software Space

Microsoft Corp. announced the release of Microsoft Lync, the next generation of Microsoft's unified communications software that enables people to connect in new ways, anytime, anywhere. Lync is the new family brand for the products formerly known as Communications Server, Communications Online and Communicator. crosoft Lync can make every engagement a virtual face-to-face meeting, because any interaction can include video and audio conferencing, application and desktop sharing, instant messaging, and telephony.

Lync has been designed to work with Microsoft Office, SharePoint and Exchange, which reduces end-user adoption hurdles. People can stay connected to others on a wide range of devices while away from the office and manage their communications and calls in new ways, such as easily moving a call from a PC to a mobile device while leaving the office without disrupting the conversation. (Source Microsoft Lync: A New Name for a New Generation of Unified Communications Solutions)

3D Virtual Immersive Environment Space

In relation to the announcement of Microsoft Lync, ProtonMedia announced that its ProtoSphere virtual immersive environment for the high-performance workplace will support the new Microsoft Lync Server 2010. By incorporating ProtoSphere into their Microsoft Lync environments, large enterprises can extend their Microsoft unified-communications investment, while enabling faster and more robust deployment of ProtoSphere for enterprise learning and collaboration applications.

ProtonMedia began development on the integration of ProtoSphere and Lync Server 2010 earlier this year, via its participation in Microsoft’s UC Developer Platform Technology Adoption Program (TAP). Microsoft Lync Server 2010 support will be introduced in a future release of ProtoSphere. (Source)


Best Selling Sales Management Author Skip Miller will present How to Avoid the 3 Worst 4th Quarter Mistakes in the virtual immersive environment software of VenueGen.

Live Event Details:
Duration: 60 minutes, including Q&A
Date: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 10:30 AM PST / 1:30 PM EST
Where: VenueGen at www.venuegen.com

Registration is here:

If you plan to virtually attend this meeting it is very important that you register now to reserve your seat well in advance to allow enough time for the venue and meeting content to be downloaded to your computer. If this is not the computer you will be using to attend the meeting, please wait and register from the computer you will be using. Space is limited. Reserve your webinar seat now.


Compliance Training Space

Kaplan EduNeering, a provider of compliance and knowledge management solutions, and the Drug Information Association (DIA), a global professional member association, announced a new strategic alliance to create online educational offerings for biotechnology, pharmaceutical, academic, and regulatory professionals around the world. The DIA addresses solutions to issues and challenges involved in the discovery, development, and lifecycle management of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and related products. DIA members will now have access to Kaplan EduNeering’s online compliance solutions used by over one million individuals in more than 50 countries. (Source)

Peter Rizza, President, Princeton Center for Education Services, Inc. a company that created the ExpressTrain Transformation Suite recently chaired a Compliance Track at the SALT - Society for Applied Learning Technology - conference. The ExpresssTrain Transformation Suite product helps capture, transform, and publish content from a single Microsoft Word template to multiple pieces of collateral media such as job aides, PowerPoint presentations, and web-based training guides


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Likert-Type Scales: Examples, Samples and Information

If you are doing a formative or summative evaluation of instruction or doing a needs assessment or a program evaluation, sooner or later you are going to need a Likert-type scale.

You also may have a question about using odd or even numbers in the Likert-Type Scale, here is some insight on that.

Here are several types of scales that you might find handy.

Level of Frequency– 7 point
1 – Never
2 – Rarely, in less than 10% of the chances when I could have
3 – Occasionally, in about 30% of the chances when I could have
4 – Sometimes, in about 50% of the chances when I could have
5 – Frequently, in about 70% of the chances when I could have
6 – Usually, in about 90% of the chances I could have.
7 – Every time

Level of Quality – 5 point
1 – Poor
2 – Fair
3 – Good
4 – Very good
5 – Excellent

Level of Satisfaction – 5 point
1 – Not at all satisfied
2 – slightly satisfied
3 – moderately satisfied
4 – Very satisfied
5 – Extremely satisfied

Level of Satisfaction – 7 point
1 – Completely dissatisfied
2 – Mostly dissatisfied
3 – Somewhat dissatisfied
4 – neither satisfied or dissatisfied
5 – Somewhat satisfied
6 – Mostly satisfied
7 – Completely satisfied

Level of Quality – 5 point
1 – Poor
2 – Fair
3 – Good
4 – Very good
5 – Excellent

Here a list of other Likert-type scales you may find helpful.

Also, here is an article about preparing a Likert Scale.

Here is a link to a page that has some templates that might be helpful.

Finally, are you really pronouncing "Likert" correctly. I'll bet not. Here is the proper pronunciation of "Likert".


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Take a Course from Bill Gates Favorite Teacher

According to Fortune, Bill Gates (yes, that Bill Gates) his favorite teacher is named Sal Khan. Sal teaches at his own online university called khanacademy.org which is a vast digital trove of free mini-lectures all narrated by Khan. See the article Bill Gates' favorite teacher

The Khan Academy is the most popular educational site on the web. As Fortune says, "by any measure it is the most popular educational site on the web. Khan's playlist of 1,630 tutorials (at last count) are now seen an average of 70,000 times a day -- nearly double the student body at Harvard and Stanford combined. Since he began his tutorials in late 2006, Khan Academy has received 18 million page views worldwide."

Here's what Bill says:



According to The Khan Academy web site:

The Khan Academy is all about using video to explain the world, so what better way to explain the Khan Academy than through videos. If you watch four or five of the videos below, you should have a pretty good idea of how we got started and how we hope to empower everyone, everywhere with a free, world-class education.

Check it out:



See an overview of all the Khan offerings:


Is your organization doing anything like this in terms of learning? If not, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. And schools, isn't this a good way to go. Do we need to rethink the 50 minute lecture? Just some food for thought as we go into the weekend.
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Training for a Critical Incident in a 3D Virtual Environment

In many organizations, people need to receive training for unlikely but possible events (such as a blow out on an oil rig or the blow out of two engines on an airplane because of bird strikes.). These are critical incidents and 3D learning environments can help people prepare and train for these events.

Training in the MMORPG America's Army

The critical incident learning environment in 3D is when the learner is placed into an environment or situation similar to the real event in which they must use their prior knowledge to solve a problem. This could involve placing the learner into the middle of a disaster like a chemical spill or the aftermath of a hurricane, or into a more benign environment like a retail store where a shop lifting incident is occurring or a street corner during a drug buy. It could even be dealing with a crisis as part of a typical job, like what to do if, during surgery, a patient has a heart attack.


Example
As an example of how effective a virtual world can be for teaching how to respond to a critical incident, witness the life saving heroics of a gentleman named Paxton Galvanek. Galvanek, then only twenty-eight year-old, received “medical training” while playing the MMORPG America’s Army. In the 3D learning space, he learned to evaluate and prioritize casualties, control bleeding, recognize and treat shock, and administer aid when victims are not breathing.

Galvanek helped rescue two victims from an overturned SUV on the shoulder of a North Carolina interstate. He was the first one on the scene and was able to safely remove both individuals from the smoking vehicle. He then properly assessed and treated their wounds, which included bruises, scrapes, head trauma and the loss of two fingers.

"Because of the training he received in America's Army's virtual classroom, Mr. Galvanek had mastered the basics of first aid and had the confidence to take appropriate action when others might do nothing. He took the initiative to assess the situation, prioritize actions and apply the correct procedures," said Colonel Casey Wardynski, America's Army Project Director.

In the critical incident 3D learning design, the learner must respond to the situation properly by applying what she has previously learned. The facilitator can serve as part of the incident, or as an external observer who monitors and records the actions of the learner.
The three-dimensional aspect of this learning adds to the realism of the event. If multiple people are involved, the instruction can incorporate aspects of teamwork, collaboration, and co-creation into the learning outcomes of the critical incident.

The critical incident learning environment places learners into a situation similar to the real event, where they must use their prior knowledge to solve a problem. This use of a virtual world challenges team members to respond together to resolve an issue, incident, or problem. The individuals must act and react as they would during the actual incident. Immersion in a virtual world and then being forced to solve an unexpected problem provides learning in both the affective and cognitive domains. Figure 5.9 shows one of the authors, dressed as a fireman, preparing to extinguish a virtual fire caused by a sudden car accident in a virtual immersive environment (VIE).

Advantages
An advantage of this design is that learners are immersed in a dangerous situation, but are not actually in danger. This design captures the learners’ attention and provides them with a realistic environment in which they are forced to work together to solve an issue and are forced to think rapidly, as they would in the actual situation. It also provides an advantage over a simulation of a dangerous situation since the VIE involves multiple participants and in addition to learning how to react to the incident, the participants must learn to work together as they would in the event of the actual incident.

Disadvantages
Include the time it takes to program and develop explosions, spills, and similar disasters. It also takes time to program the various mechanisms such as fire hoses and other instruments to deal with the disaster. It can also be difficult for a facilitator to view all of a participant’s actions when so much is occurring at one time. Also coordinating all the people who are involved takes some work. Another caution is that while critical incident training in virtual worlds can increase the number of times a team can train together, it cannot totally replace physical drills or practice, most of the elements involved with critical incidents are psychomotor skills and, therefore, do require actual hands on practice in addition to the virtual world practice.
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11+ Free Game Creation Software Programs (At least for 30 Days)

If you are thinking of creating an educational game but don't want to invest a lot of money, you can try out these free software programs (or free for 30 days in some cases), some are 2D and some are 3D.

Also, if you are in a large organization and thinking of implementing a "serious game," you may want to develop a prototype using one of these software programs to see how it plays before sinking a lot of money into the project.

Or, if you are in Dr. Kapp's Instructional Game Design Class, you may want to consider one of these free programs for the educational game you are developing as a final project.

Scratch

Computer vs. Soccer ball game created in Scratch

Scratch:Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web. Scratch is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab, with financial support from the National Science Foundation, Microsoft, Intel Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Google, Iomega and MIT Media Lab research consortia.

Panda 3D

Image from a game created in Panda3D

Panda 3D: Panda3D is a game engine, a framework for 3D rendering and game development for Python and C++ programs. Panda3D is Open Source and free for any purpose, including commercial ventures. It originated at Disney, and is still being used for their commercial games.You can even check out some online demos.


Game Maker

Game Maker 8 Room Properties

Game Maker: This package uses drag-and-drop actions, you a person using it can create professional looking games within very little time. It allows you to make games with backgrounds, animated graphics, music and sound effects, and even 3D games. There is a built-in programming language, which gives the user the flexibility of creating games with Game Maker. Game Maker can be used free of charge. But, if you register your copy of Game Maker, you can unlock extra functions, which extend the capabilities of the program. Game Maker comes preloaded with a collection of freeware images and sounds to get you started.

Adventure Maker

Adventure Maker Asset Management Screen

Adventure Maker: Toolkit to create point-and-click games and multimedia software without any scripting or programming. It runs on Windows, and it allows creating software for Windows, PSP, iPhone, and iPod touch. All you have to do is to import your pictures, add some hotspots to link the pictures to one another, and you are done. Adventure Maker is suitable for the creation of picture-based adventure games, virtual tours, educational software, presentations, and interactive visits.


Alice

Image from creation screen in Alice.

Alice: Alice is a 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is a freely available teaching tool designed to be a student's first exposure to object-oriented programming. It allows students to learn fundamental programming concepts in the context of creating animated movies and simple video games. In Alice, 3-D objects (e.g., people, animals, and vehicles) populate a virtual world and students create a program to animate the objects.


Sploder

Interface for game creation in Sploder

Sploder: This package allows you to make your own platformer games, spaceship shooters, and other types of games. You can also make a space adventure game. Games created in Sploder™ are 100% Flash. You can even download your games and post them on your own commercial web site

Gamebook Engine

Interaction page with branching options.

The Gamebook Engine: This is a free open source, multi-platform framework for reading and writing gamebooks, such as the Choose Your Own Adventure, Lone Wolf, and Fighting Fantasy series. Not a 3D environment and mostly text-based but does contain some good branching and good for Role Play Games.

Eclipse

MMORPG Game created in Eclipse. 

Eclipse: Eclipse is a free to use 2D game engine. This game creator makes online MMORPG. Eclipse uses a simple point and click system. If the software does not have the requirements you need you can program it with the source.

Venatio Creo

Screen capture showing a character seeking information.

Ventio Creo: Venatio Creo is a portable intuitive platform designed to allow non-programmers to create interactive computer games. It utilizes a WYSIWYG interface that lets the user see the effects of their actions immediately. After the game is created, the user may redistribute the application as a stand-alone professional quality program. (PC version required for redistribution.) At its heart, Venatio Creo is a codeless programming tool that allows codeless software development of interactive computer games. This is accomplished by providing a system for users that is entirely visual, from creating their game worlds to supplying rules for their game.


30 Day Free Trials

Phrogram

Screen shot of game screen in development.

Phrogram: This program uses the same types of development tools that working programmers use, as they write, test and debug code, but in a much simpler package.Phrogram uses graphic objects in a "drag-&-drop" environment to allow the person to develop a game idea. Phrogram's "plain language" approach makes it easier to understand, read and write code. The programming language is concise and the tools are easy to master.

Thinking Worlds

Creating an interaction in Thinking Worlds

Thinking Worlds:Thinking Worlds is a 3D engine and authoring environment. Thinking Worlds enables designers to create and publish highly immersive simulations and games. The software has been designed from the start around the needs of designers and enables them to carry their designs forward and quickly develop 3D simulations themselves.


RPG Maker

Game screen from RPG Maker

RPG Maker:RPG Maker VX is software that helps you create you own unique RPG without any programming experience necessary. With RPG Maker VX you can create games with a resolution of 544x416, 32bit colours with a smooth, steady framerate of 60 fps. The ability to have characters run is now includes as a standard function and the in-game default font has been changed from previous versions for easier reading.

2Do It Yourself

Some of the drawing capabilities of the package.

2Do It Yourself:With this software, you can create your own interactive Flash resources, activities, games, puzzles, quizzes. With this software teachers and primary school children can create cross-curricular, personalised resources and use them on whiteboards, websites and even on Learning Platforms.

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