Kapp Notes

MOVING to a NEW LOCATION

2010-10-01T13:45:00.000-05:00

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

2010-09-30T17:07:00.000-05:00

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

2010-09-29T05:21:00.001-05:00

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

2010-09-28T13:18:00.003-05:00

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?

2010-09-27T12:07:00.000-05:00

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

2010-09-24T10:00:00.010-05:00

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

2010-09-23T10:55:00.000-05:00

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

2010-09-22T16:38:00.000-05:00

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"

2010-09-21T06:54:00.001-05:00

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

2010-09-20T06:57:00.003-05:00

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.

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

2010-09-17T06:19:00.004-05:00

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

2010-09-16T05:49:00.001-05:00

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

2010-09-15T06:12:00.000-05:00

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

2010-09-14T08:00:00.003-05:00

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

2010-09-13T16:02:00.066-05:00

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

2010-09-13T07:57:00.000-05:00

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

2010-09-10T01:18:00.008-05:00

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

2010-09-09T07:32:00.000-05:00

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)

2010-09-08T15:05:00.001-05:00

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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Helping People Find Jobs: Part of Our Responsibility as a Bloomsburg Professor

2010-09-07T07:41:00.000-05:00

In Pennsylvania, the job situation is rather bleak. More than 591,000 Pennsylvanians are jobless and the jobless rate has risen from 9.2 in June to 9.3 in July (doesn't seem like much unless you are one of the .1 who lost your job.) More Pennsylvanians are out of work than any other time in the last 20 years.

As a faculty member of Bloomsburg University--a stated owned University, I am a Pennsylvania state employee. And I view a large part of my responsibility as helping Pennsylvanians and others find jobs. As do the other faculty in our department and throughout the university. They are all working hard to help students find meaningful and well-paying jobs in this tight economy.

I can't speak for other departments but, here is what we are doing in the Department of Instructional Technology to help our students find jobs.

We teach in a graduate program of instructional technology and, as a result, we prepare students for positions within the field. We do this by introducing them to leading edge concepts so they will have the knowledge needed to compete for jobs. We oversee graduate assistantships where they work with real clients such as the PA Coalition Against Domestic Violence, several local manufacturing companies and other organizations so students can gain practical skills to apply their craft and so the students have working products to show potential employers. We craft curriculum so students can stay current, we teach online courses so students don't have to travel to campus (although we also have on campus courses for those who prefer face-to-face courses.)

We bring employers to campus twice a year to interview students for jobs and internships and to describe the state-of-the-industry to students, once in the fall and once in the spring. This is a wonderful time for student to meet potential employers and to show off their skills. The student teams provide a "sales presentation" defending an e-learning solution they developed in a realistic situation. It is a great venue for the potenial employees to see our students in action.

We hired (over two years ago) a person part-time to specifically manage internships for our department. He does a great job supervising the student's, coordinating employer needs and helping to ensure a good match between employer and student. He helps students have a meaningful and learning focused internship. We have a person from the career counseling office speak to our students about writing resumes and preparing for the job search.

We help create local jobs by assisting local entrepreneurs in a variety of ways, we provide student interns, we provide professional advice, we partner on projects and create joint products together. This helps them be successful and ultimately, many of the entrepreneurial organizations we work with hire our graduates (not to mention that many of those organizations are run by our graduates.) In fact, our department spearheaded academic involvement in the local Bloomsburg Regional Technology Center which houses over six companies started by or employing our graduates.

We help maintain a local workforce by creating training to re-tool employees in local manufacturing companies so they can use new equipment or apply new techniques. This improves productivity and helps ensure the employees remain skilled for their jobs.

In my role as Assistant Director of the Institute for Interactive Technologies (which works hand-in glove with the Department of Instructional Technology), my role is to foster relationships with entrepreneurs, seek opportunities for our students to work on projects as students (grants and contracts) and to seek opportunities for job placement of our graduates.

Currently, I am working on a grant with the National Science Foundation to help middle school kids understand science and math, I am working to help PA Coalition Against Domestic Violence prepare volunteers through training and working with an entrepreneur to create online music education. Additionally, I am teaching two online classes and working to bring in more funding for the department to help more students find job.

Often Pennsylvanians and others overlook the positive economic impact of professors at local state-owned colleges. While it seems that professors just teach one or two hours and then go home, the truth of the matter is that dedicated professors are helping students prepare for and find jobs, they are helping local entrepreneurs create jobs, they are helping incumbent employees stay employed and they are building bridges between business and academia. Each of these roles could be a full-time job in-and-of itself. Local universities are engines of economic growth and professors are the gears that make the engine run.

So, rather than cut funding for state run universities, as seems to be the trend, let's invest in university programs that are creating jobs, assisting students in finding jobs and advancing the local and national economy. Then, the 591,000 unemployed Pennsylvanians and others will have meaningful employment once again.

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Catalog of Recommended Books, Games and Gadgets Recommended Games and Gadgets Recommended Books Content Guide

Gastrogaming for Your Labor Day

2010-09-06T09:50:00.002-05:00

Labor Day is here, traditionally, many people in the US consider it the last day of summer. And to celebrate they usually cook out on the grill and have a picnic.

Well, the celebration doesn't have to end even when the weather gets cold, there are plenty of fun and exciting cooking games that you can play to stay sharp. You can even challenge the Iron Chef if you feel up to the challenge. Here are just a few of the dozens of cooking games you can play.

With games like "Pizza Delivery Boy" and "Cake Mania" you know you'll have a good time cooking up a storm. You can even get a "personal trainer" to help you learn to cook.

Amazon.com Widgets

(Sorry, just discovered the carousel widget on Amazon and love it)
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Social Media for Trainers: Filled with Great Ideas and Techniques

2010-09-05T11:06:00.000-05:00

So this is wild for me, first time I am a tour stop on a blog book tour! I've been an author on blog book tours but now I get to be a stop on a tour and I couldn't be happier to be a stop for my friend and prolific author, Jane Bozarth.

Social Media for Trainers is a great book for understanding the ways to leverage social media to extend training beyond the traditional four walls. Jane does a great job of keeping the information simple, straight forward and to the point. She starts with a basic description of social media and then covers all the biggies, Twitter, Facebook(online communities), Blogs, and wikis.

But she doesn't stop there. Instead she continues to describe other tools from Google (Wave and Docs), YouTube, TeacherTube and a half a dozen others. And even though Google Wave is no longer supported, I have a number of students who are using it for group work, so I have found the information useful. But, that's just the danger of writing a book on the "bleeding edge" of technology, at press time Wave was big but as technology ebbs and flows, Wave is not so big. Additionally, the ideas behind using Wave presented by Jane are applicable for other collaborative tools. And Kudos to Jane for writing at the edge of technology.

I think that if you are a learning and development professional, you need to invest in this book to gain the most out of social media, however, I suspect that most people reading blogs and participating in a blog tour are comfortable with some Web 2.0 technologies...so, I encourage you to purchase a copy of the book for your colleagues who may not be as comfortable with these technologies as you are.

However, even veterans can pick up a few goodies. Jane's book taught be about Twaitter and gave me some new ideas about using Facebook. So, as I said on the back cover of the book (because I got the privilege of being a reviewer)..Social Media for Trainers is a practical, intelligent book teaching trainers how to effectively utilize technology for real learning outcomes."

I just want to add one last item which is the fact that the book is as applicable for teachers as it is for trainers with attitudes like the one I wrote about in Advice to Teachers in Florida: Don't use Facebook with Students we need to present the positive and productive side of social media and this book does an excellent job of doing that with enough detail to walk even the most unsure trainer or teacher through the necessary steps. So grab a copy, jump into the social media surrounding the book launch (Facebook, blog book tour, Twitter) and learn first hand about social media for trainers.

Take a look at the blog book tour schedule and follow along all the great stops. Jane has lined up a great group to help with the tour.

Also, follow "Social Media for Trainers" on the book's Facebook page and on on Twitter @SoMe4Trainers (use #SoMe4Trainers).

Some of the book's Jane has written or contributed to, click through the images to see Social Media for Trainers and the other books by Jane:

Amazon.com Widgets

Catalog of Recommended Books, Games and Gadgets Recommended Games and Gadgets Recommended Books Content Guide

Social Media for Trainers: Filled with Great Ideas and Techniques

2010-09-05T11:04:00.000-05:00

So this is wild for me, first time I am a tour stop on a blog book tour! I've been an author on blog book tours but now I get to be a stop on a tour and I couldn't be happier to be a stop for my friend and prolific author, Jane Bozarth.

Social Media for Trainers
is a great book for understanding the ways to leverage social media to extend training beyond the traditional four walls. Jane does a great job of keeping the information simple, straight forward and to the point. She starts with a basic description of social media and then covers all the biggies, Twitter, Facebook(online communities), Blogs, and wikis.

But she doesn't stop there. Instead she continues to describe other tools from Google (Wave and Docs), YouTube, TeacherTube and a half a dozen others. And even though Google Wave is no longer supported, I have a number of students who are using it for group work, so I have found the information useful. But, that's just the danger of writing a book on the "bleeding edge" of technology, at press time Wave was big but as technology ebbs and flows, Wave is not so big. Additionally, the ideas behind using Wave presented by Jane are applicable for other collaborative tools. And Kudos to Jane for writing at the edge of technology.

I think that if you are a learning and development professional, you need to invest in this book to gain the most out of social media, however, I suspect that most people reading blogs and participating in a blog tour are comfortable with some Web 2.0 technologies...so, I encourage you to purchase a copy of the book for your colleagues who may not be as comfortable with these technologies as you are.

However, even veterans can pick up a few goodies. Jane's book taught be about Twaitter and gave me some new ideas about using Facebook. So, as I said on the back cover of the book (because I got the privilege of being a reviewer)..Social Media for Trainers is a practical, intelligent book teaching trainers how to effectively utilize technology for real learning outcomes."

I just want to add one last item which is the fact that the book is as applicable for teachers as it is for trainers with attitudes like the one I wrote about in Advice to Teachers in Florida: Don't use Facebook with Students we need to present the positive and productive side of social media and this book does an excellent job of doing that with enough detail to walk even the most unsure trainer or teacher through the necessary steps. So grab a copy, jump into the social media surrounding the book launch (Facebook, blog book tour, Twitter) and learn first hand about social media for trainers.

Take a look at the blog book tour schedule and watch for the posts from my colleagues. Many thanks to them for their help with this project!

More? Follow "Social Media for Trainers" on the book's Facebook page and on on Twitter @SoMe4Trainers (use #SoMe4Trainers).

Some of the book's Jane has written or contributed to, click through the images to see Social Media for Trainers and the other books by Jane:

Amazon.com Widgets

Catalog of Recommended Books, Games and Gadgets Recommended Games and Gadgets Recommended Books Content Guide

Tween's Playing Online Games Like Never Before

2010-09-03T08:48:00.000-05:00

Tween's playing a video game. Most of them do on a regular basis.

In 2007, when children's marketing research firm KidSay asked boys what virtual worlds or online games they had visited in the past two weeks, 35 percent of boys aged 8 to 11 replied "none."

In 2010, when M2 Research asked a similar question, they found 91 percent of boys and 93 percent of girls aged 8-11 are playing games online on a regular basis.

That's a big increase.

Here are some other statistics from the M2 Research Report.

1. Social Networking: Social Networking is increasingly prevalent in children's lives. Facebook is now the favorite website among tween (8-11) boys and teen (12-15) girls.

2. Key Demographic and "Sweet Spot": Online games dominate for boys and girls ages 8-11. 91% of tween boys and 93% of tween girls play games online.

3. Nintendo Dominates Handheld Gaming Space: But thanks largely to the iPad and iPhone, Apple is becoming a significant player especially with girls.

4. Portable Platform Discrepancy: Sony's PSP has largest gender discrepancy. 17% of teen girls play games on the PSP compared to 44% of teen boys.

5. Strong Videogame Franchises: Franchises continue to flourish at the top of the "Favorites" list for boys and girls. The videogame franchise girls prefer is the Mario Series, with 20% of girls picking it as their favorite.

Check out the article 'Tweens,' ages 8 to 11, changing online game development

And check out M2 Research's blog entry on the report Kids and Games: What Boys and Girls are Playing Today

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Good Games and Good Learning

2010-09-02T05:42:00.001-05:00

James Paul Gee, who writes prolifically about video games for learning, has a paper out titled Good Video Games and Good Learning. You should check it out yourself but here are a few points from the 14 he lists in the article related to the learning principles good games incorporate.

Solving a puzzle in Uncharted 2 (great game, contains all elements listed below)

Identity– no deep learning takes place unless an extended commitment of self is made for the long haul. Good video games capture players through identify. Players either inherit a strongly formed and appealing character or they get to build a character from the ground up. Players become committed to the new virtual world in which they will learn and act. Why should the identify of being and doing “science,” “math” or “sales” be any different? In Learning in 3D, Tony and I called this Sense of Self.

Risk Taking– Good video games lower the consequences of failure; players can start from the last saved game when they fail. In fact, in a game, failure is a good thing. Players actually use failure as way of finding out information with the game. Tom Peters refers to this as "Failing Forward Fast."

Well-Ordered Problems– In good video games, the problems players face are ordered so that the earlier ones are well built to lead players to form hypotheses that work well for later, harder problems. It matters how the problem space is organized and that is why games have levels.

Performance before Competence– Good video games operate by a principle just the reverse of most training modules: performance before competence (Cazden, 1981). Players can perform before they are competent, supported by the design of the game through just-time help and on demand information as well as by clues, hints and contextual interface.

I discuss some of the same concepts, but not in the same depth in Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning.

Resources Mentioned:

Cazden, C. "Performance before Competence: Assistance to Chidl Discourse in the Zone of Proximal Development." Quarterly Newsletter of the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition 3.1 (1981): 5-8.

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"Hey ya'll": Informal Language is the way to go in E-Learning

2010-09-01T03:11:00.010-05:00

There is research evidence to indicate that informal language in an e-learning module is more effective than formal language.

In Ruth Clark's book "e-Learning and the Science of Instruction" she discussed a study by Moreno and Mayer, 2000 that compared a formally worded course with one that was more informally worded. In the study students who learned with text that was more informal and personal (for example, used the word "you" or "I") produced 20% to 46% more solutions to a transfer problem (similar problem as presented in the instruction) than the group who only had formal language in their module. So when learners received instruction informally, they performed better later on.

Additionally, research shows that people work harder to understand material when they feel they are in a conversation with a partner rather than simply receiving information (Beck, McKeown, Sandora, Kucan, and Worthy, 1996) Therefore, using a conversational style in an elearning module conveys to the learners the idea that they should work hard to understand what their conversational partner (in this case the computer or narrator) is saying to them.

In short, according to Ruth Clark's book and in my experience, expressing information in a conversational style can be a way to prime appropriate mental processing for a learner.

So feel free to present content in conversational language using "you," "your," "I," "our," and "we."

*NOTE: Here is a link to an article about this called Writing for the Reader.

Also check out Cathy Moore's take on the subject Why You Do Not Want to Sound Like a Robot.

References:

Beck, I., McKeown, M.G., Sandora, C., Kucan, L., and worthy, J. (1996) Questioning the author: A year long classroom implementation to engage students in text. Elementary School Journal, 96, 385-414.

Ruth Clark's book:

Moreno, R., and Mayer, R.E. (2000). Engaging Students in Active Learning: The Case for Personalized Multimedia Messages. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 724-733.

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Definition: Metacognition

2010-08-31T05:57:00.002-05:00

The short definition of Metacognition is "Thinking about Thinking." Here are some more definitions from a variety of sources.

What people know about how (their own) cognitive processes operate is termed metacognition (cognition about cognitive processes). Acquiring knowledge about how to think might well affect how one thinks which will affect how one performs on cognitive tasks (Brown & DeLoache, 1978) as written in the book Cognitive Processes by Bourne, Dominowski, Loftus and Healy, 1979)

Metacognition is the state of being aware of one’s own thinking (Marzano et. Al (1988) and is a fundamental tool that enables learners to control their thinking and has been revealed as an important skill in the fields of Engineering (Case, Gunstone, &Lewis, 2001) and technology (Phelps, Ellis, &Hase, 2002) as well as instructional design and training (Clark, 1988, 202; Reingold, Rimor, & Kalay, 2008) Rarely do students become self-aware of metacognition, instead an instructor needs to point it out to the students as an important element in problem-solving. (information as cited by Lawanto, 2010)

It has also been defined as a process by which the brain organizes and monitors cognitive resources. (Cuasay, 1992).

The ISPI's latest journal "Performance Improvement Quarterly" had an article titled "Students' Metacognition During an Engineering Design Project" which was a very interesting read and had a nice section on metacognition.

Here is the Wikipedia definition of metacognition.

References:

Bourne,L. E., Dominowski,R. L., Loftus, E. F., and Healy, A. F. (1979) Cognitive Processes. Second Edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Prentice Hall.

Brown, A. L., & DeLoache, J. S. (1978) Skills, plans, and self-regulation. In R.S. Siegler (Ed.), Childrens' thinking: What develops? Hillsdale, N.J. Erlbaum.

Case, J., Gunstone, R., & Lewis, R. (2001) Students’ metacognitive development in an innovative second year chemical engineering course. Research in Science Education, 31(3), 313-335.

Clark, R. C. (1998) Metacognition and human performance improvement. Performnce Improvement Quarterly, 1, 33-45.

Clark, R.C. (2002) Aplying cognitive strategies to instructional design. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 41(7), 8-14.

Cuasay, P. (1992) Cognitive factors in academic achievement. Higher Education Exension Service, 3(3), 1-8.

Lawanto, O. (2010). Student’s Metacongition During an Engineering Design Project. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 23(2), 117-136

Marzano, R. J., Brandt, R. S., Hughes, C.S., Jones, B. F., Presseisen, B.Z., Rankin, S.C., et al. (1988). Dimensions of thinking: A framework for curriculum and instruction. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Phelps, R., Ellis, A., & Hase, S. (2002, December). The role of metacongintive and reflective learning processes in developing capable computer users. Paper presented at the 18th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society of Comptuers in Learning in Tertiary Education, Melborne.

Reingold, R., Rimor, R., & Kalay, A. (2008) Instructor's scaffolding in support of student's metacognition through a teacher education online course: A case study. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 7(2), 139-151.

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We Teach as We are Taught

2010-08-30T12:09:00.002-05:00

As schools adapt to new technologies and hardware and software, curriculum changes need to reflect more than just the inclusion of technology; changes needs to impact methodology, approach and instructional activities. Yet, even today, instructional methodologies are heavily influenced by the instructional models and cultural influences of teachers and administrators, not the students. Much of the culture surrounding schools is based on the ideas, culture and influences of teachers and administrators during their formative years. As Knowles (1992) indicates, formative experiences of pre-service and beginning teachers influence the ways in which they think about teaching and, subsequently their actions in the classroom. This means we we need to change how we conduct pre-service teacher training.

Teachers and professors (who often don't have formal instruction on how to teach) teach in ways similar to how they experienced teaching during their own schooling and hold beliefs based on those experiences (Borko & Putnam, 1996; Thompson, 1992). Today’s educators grew up in a technological culture considerably different than the culture of their students and they often have trouble leveraging the tools of the current culture. It can be difficult for educators to adapt to technological influences which they have not, themselves, experienced during their formative years.

Instructors tend to teach in the same style and format in which they have been taught. For the current generation of educators, this included a linear step-by-step approach with little technology in the classroom. In terms of pedagogy, much of the efforts during the current generation of teacher’s formative years were focused on the students as empty vessels to be filled with the wisdom of the instructor. Students were placed into rows of seats and the teacher in the front of the room held all of the knowledge and presented to students who were assigned to memorize and repeat the information provided to them by their teachers.

In terms of technology, computers and even calculators were not available for some of the educational life of a few current teachers. Some current teachers even remember using slide rules instead of calculators. Affordable hand held calculators didn’t become widely available until the late 1970’s and in many cultures and countries not until much later than the 1970’s. While educational reforms since those formative years have had some impact, the overall effective has not been as widespread as hoped.

As a result the instructional paradigms employed for education across the globe have not fully embraced technologies of video games, Internet, social media or mobile devices or the associated teaching methodologies that must accompany the technology tools. Many educators are still not familiar with the opportunities afforded by technology mediated methodologies and many curriculums do not leverage the digital connectedness of students. The result is that technology tools do not get fully employed into the educational curriculum and an exploratory, constructivist approach is not widely adopted.

The basic instructional paradigm for teaching students has not adapted to the explosive use of technology among the culture of today's students. That is not to say that technology tools haven’t been introduced to schools, they have. But simply adding computers to a traditional classroom without a corresponding change in instructional delivery or strategy doesn’t work. It highlights the disconnection between how today's students leverage technology for their day-to-day communications and interactions with the limited use of the technology within academic environments. And adding technology hardware is not enough, the next wave in education is to leverage the connectivity of the third millennials and their aptitude for creating content to share with others via web-based networking tools.

References:
Borko, H., & Putnam, R. (1996). Learning to teach. In R. Calfee & D. Berliner (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology (pp. 673-725). New York: Macmillan.

Knowles, G. J. (1992). Models for understanding pre-service and beginning teachers' biographies: Illustrations from case studies. In I. F. Goodson (Ed.). Studying teachers’ lives (pp. 99-152). New York: Teachers College Press.

Thompson, A. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and conceptions: A synthesis of the research. In D. Grouws (Ed.), Handbook of research in mathematics teaching and learning. (p. 127 - 146). New York: MacMillan.

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Rapid Prototyping Advice for Simulation Software Courtesy Thinking World

2010-08-27T06:10:00.000-05:00

Here is some rapid prototyping advice courtesy of simulation developer, Thinking Worlds.

Use a stock environment with the same general characteristics that the final environment will have. For example, select one of the stock offices in Thinking Worlds if your final game will be in an office.

For characters, use several stock characters that have the same general look-and-feel that the final characters will probably have. This is helpful, although not necessary, because any character will do as long as it is accompanied by an explanation.

Create some short interactions that will be similar to some of the interactions in the final game to illustrate the interactivity. Thinking Worlds makes creating these interractions very easy and very quickly.

Aim to create a total of five minutes of game play with one “Wow!” moment – A “wow” moment could be a camera movement, a particle effect, a sound or an interraction. Make your “wow” moment exciting to show the audience how easy it is to become immersed in your games.

Finally, when you show the prototype, explain to the audience that it is a rough skeletal version of what you have in mind for the final version. Explain how the stock environment can easily be changed, the characters will change to the appropriate ones and any sounds or atmospheric, immersive aspects will also be changed to the appropriate ones for the final simulation.

Read the entire article here.

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Want to Teach Math, Science and Engineering to Kids? Think Guitars

2010-08-26T01:33:00.003-05:00

Check out www.guitarbuilding.org

If you think math, science and engineering are boring subjects, you need to re-think the topic and pronto. Check out this cool curriculum designed by The National Center for Manufacturing Education.

In the curriculum, students build an actual guitar learning all about CAD, electronics, acoustics, general guitar terminology, scale lengths, wave lengths, wiring, grounding, jacks and other valuable information. In other words, Math, Science and Engineering. All cleverly disguised as a cool building project. And what is cooler for kids to build than a guitar.

Information about scale lengths, notice the "hidden" math.

Take a look at this innovative curriculum and start teaching how to build a guitar and the students will learn math, science and engineering almost as if by accident (but trust me, its planned very carefully in this curriculum).

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Some Interesting Business Simulations/Games

2010-08-25T01:00:00.000-05:00

Here are some interesting Business Education Simulations from Realityworks.

The Business Education Simulations apply key business concepts taught in a traditional instructor-led class to a series of three online games that test students’ knowledge of successful business strategies. Students create their own company and product, and participate in simulations, including The Business Game, The Entrepreneurship Game and The Finance Game.

Each game encourages students to think critically about their next steps as they draw upon market research, corporate performance reports and other report data to maintain a lucrative business. In addition, students are required to build relationships with simulated mentors and co-workers through daily e-mails and video phone calls to form decisions.

Check them out here.

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World Texting Message Smashed!! (I guess this is good news)

2010-08-24T06:53:00.000-05:00

A 27-year-old British woman has smashed the world record for typing the fastest text message. Apparently, she was able to text a message in 25.94 seconds.

But not just any message. The official message for the world record is: "the razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human".

The wonderful achievement was done using Samsung's new Galaxy S's "SWYPE" key pad, which enables users to input text without their fingertip leaving the screen.

Here is an article about the achievement

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Advice to Teachers in Florida: Don't use Facebook with Students

2010-08-23T04:16:00.000-05:00

So rather than teach teachers or students how to intelligently use social media tools to communicate(like people do in corporations or in everyday social interactions), a school in Florida decided to advise against such silly and dangerous Web 2.0 behavior without supervision.

According to the article Teachers asked to 'unfriend' students on Facebook

"Everyone knows that there are teachers nationwide that may have inappropriately communicated with students through email, text message or Facebook —and even some cases, those teacher-student relationships have been taken to an even further level of inappropriate behavior," Donzelli said. "We are advising teachers to make good decisions online so they don’t get themselves into trouble later."

It seems to me that Facebook just made the inappropriate actions public, those teachers doing inappropriate things aren't going to stop doing those things just because they aren't on Facebook. This is going after the symptom and not the root cause.
( Joseph Donzelli, referred to in the article, is the director of communications and printing services at Lee County Public Schools. Is that an academic position?)

Far be it for the school district to train teachers on the use of this media, on its benefits and advantages as well as possible dangers. Instead, they are asking teachers not to use it with students. Stay way...danger. Thank goodness, the cavemen did not adopt the same philosophy with fire or we'd still all be really cold.

Teachers are being asked not to use Facebook, even though more than 500 million active users are on the site and 50% of the active users log on to Facebook in any given day and the average user has has 130 friends and people spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook. Facebook Statistics

"Educators just need to unfriend students immediately to prevent incidents like this from occurring," Donzelli warned. "There’s no reason why an employee should be friends with a current student, especially when there are other ways to communicate with them through school-based websites or e-mail."

As social networks continue to grow, many teachers are utilizing these sites to get news out to students and organize activities. Although the Lee County school district recognizes this growing trend, it’s asking teachers to refrain or notify supervisors when they use social media sites for education-related reasons.

"There are other ways to reach out to students that doesn’t involve social networking," Donzelli said. "Teachers should work with their school’s Webmaster to set up Web pages where people can interact and discuss projects and events."

Right, let's take a giant step backwards and use 1980's technology to communicate with students of the 21st century...really?

So, as school starts today for my two sons, I look at academic institutions and still think, we have such a long way to go until the technology of the youth is integrated into their instructional curriculum. I was reminded this weekend by a brother-in-law that the academic calendar with three months off was created for an agrarian culture of the 1800th century and not for our information rich culture existing today. Advising teachers not to use Facebook to communicate at all with students is a reinforcement of that 1800th century paradigm.

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The super small "Mactini"

2010-08-20T16:49:00.002-05:00

Here is a fun video for a Friday afternoon. In fact, it's so funny, its a little scary in terms of what it says about technology.

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Upgrading to a New LMS: Have some Fun with It

2010-08-18T14:42:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of parody videos designed to introduce a campus to a new version of the Blackboard LMS. They borrow from the Old Spice meme which has taken the web and TV by storm.

To me, the clever idea of making an updgrade to a new version of a software an exciting venture worthy of some humor is a good thing. Most software upgrades are painful and nightmarish for all involved so I thought this was a clever approach. Check out the two short videos.

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Transferring Knowledge: Making Technology Work for Your Library Presentation Materials

2010-08-17T01:27:00.001-05:00

Here are the materials for my presentation related to making technology work for your library.

Here are the slides:

Bridging the Boomer/Gamer Knowledge Gap in the Library

View more presentations from kkapp.

Here is a link to 50 Library Related Blogs

Social Media and Student Success

Social Media Tracking the Nation's Mood

Educational Games for the Classroom

Online games for teaching business concepts and ideas

Change our traditional approach to education

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Five Software Products for Adding an Avatar to Your eLearning

2010-08-16T11:23:00.001-05:00

Here are 4 software products that allow you to add an avatar to your elearning courses. Avatars can be an important and meaningful addition to your elearning. Aiding in such things as increasing positive learner attitudes and providing a social role model for interactions.

NOAH--Provides animated characters to focus attention, point out and explain critical information, and make even the dullest material interesting. The company can create the instruction for you or you can build NOAH products yourself. Check out some examples of NOAH in action.

NOAH animated character (avatar) in action.

Codebaby--Provides avatars to engage learners, prospects and others in engaging dialog. You can see some examples of Codebaby in action for elearning here.

Here is a video of Codebaby in action.

Reallusion--Creates D cinematic animation tools for consumers, students and professionals. The company provides consumers with easy-to-use avatar animation, facial morphing and voice lip-sync solutions for real-time 3D filmmaking and previsualization for professional post-production. One of their products is Crazy Talk which is used for creating sophisticated, zany or dramatic talking characters for unique digital content. You simply import an image and CrazyTalk guides you through the process to bring it to life.Check out some Crazy Talk demos here. Crazy Talk can be good for animating characters you want to add to your elearning. Check out this video explaining how it works.

Media Semantics--This software installs on your desktop and lets you build royalty-free Flash and video materials using animated talking characters. The Builder works with your existing text, images, and Powerpoint slides to let you rapidly create effective and engaging materials. Check out some demos of Media Semantics here.

Avatar helping out with a multiple choice question.

Vcom3D--This company has a product suite including Studio and Gesture Builder. The suite of products allows for the creation of 3D animated characters that communicate through body language (including gesture or sign language), facial expression and lip-synched speech. Check out demos of Vcom3D here.

Here is a video of Vcom3D in action.

Customer service training incorporating an avatar to help the learner through the course.

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MATEC Webinar Notes and Slides: Social Media and Student Success

2010-08-13T06:35:00.001-05:00

I am giving a presentation today at 1:00 EDT. Called Social Media and Student Success:Leveraging Social Learning Tools. It will last for 90 minutes. It is free and if you want to attend click here to register.

Here is a short description.
Extend student learning beyond the traditional classroom by leveraging the creative power of social media tools to foster student success, learning, and engagement. Discover ways to integrate these tools into your teaching process to engage, excite, and connect with students.

And here you will find the slides for the presentation and a few links to some interesting entries to support the presentation.

Social and Student Success

View more presentations from kkapp.

Create a Vibrant Learning Community--A social networking and learning really starts and stops with the concept of Community.

Using Social Media to Track the Nation's Mood--what Tweets have to say about our mood.

Will Social Media Blend--Ok, this is a parody but it's funny:)

Selling Social Media for Learning--Corporate focus but good advice for educational organizations as well.

Blog or Wiki--A discussion on when to use a blog vs. a wiki.

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Four Obvious Things Organizations Can Do in Virtual Immersive Environments

2010-08-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

Here are four things organizations can do in 3D virtual immersive environments.

Meetings

Meeting at the site of a virtual accident in Second Life.

Meetings are one of the ways in which organizations share knowledge and are where co-workers learn about organizational functions and projects from each other. The problem with most organizations is that with a geographically dispersed workforce, many meetings have to be held via conference calls or 2D virtual meeting software. Both the conference call format and the 2D virtual meeting format allow for multi-tasking and tend not to fully engage participants in the meetings. Virtual immersive environments provide a space in which a meeting can occur that is engaging and provides opportunities to interact with others. They also provide the opportunity to have a meeting in any place that would be appropriate. Meetings can occur on virtual factory floors, in hospitals, or any other venue that is appropriate. Most organizations begin their use of virtual immersive environments by conducting meetings within these spaces.

Virtual Events

Attending a virtual event in the world of Virtualu

Planning a large scale event within an organization can be costly and thus limit the number of participants or the frequency with which these events can occur. One way to deal with these obstacles is to conduct large scale events within a virtual immersive environment. Several organizations and professional societies have sponsored events conducted entirely within virtual worlds with thousands of participants. Other organizations have combined physical world events with virtual events. The American Cancer Society's annual Relay for Life is one example where people walk in the physical worlds while others created groups of walkers within a virtual world to support the event. It is also a great way to demonstrate new products to large groups of people without incurring travel costs and with minimal lose of productivity time.

Simulations

As a medic in America's Army, you approach a wounded teammate.

Virtual immersive environments provide the opportunity to create simulations of hospitals, disease states and medical devices. An advantage of a 3D virtual immersive environment is that a simulation can be created and interacted with by a team of individuals. In most traditional simulations, it is just the learner and the software with no other people involved. In a VIE, learners can work together within the simulation. This provides the experience of learning about the content as well as learning to work within a team. One interesting area of simulation within virtual worlds is to allow a person to experience a role they many not otherwise have an opportunity to experience. In America's Army, you can assume a variety of roles including that of a medic.

Data Visualization

Looking at "socialized data" in ProtoSphere

It is now possible to connect the 3D graphic capabilities with data bases of information to display data graphically. The primary idea of data visualization is to provide a three-dimensional rendering of data typically presented in a 2D format. Items such as spreadsheets, graphs, pie charts and other visualizations are typically done in flat representations. Even if they are shown in 3D, it is difficult, if not impossible, to interact with that 3D data. Usually a person is not able to walk around the data or inspect it in anyway. However, within a virtual immersive environment, the opportunity exists for an avatar to walk around; through and even fly above data that is being presented. Within a VIE, the rendering of a set of data as a graphical image allows for the “socialization” of the data. This means that learners can gather around data and view it graphically, seeing the same data and same shape as their colleagues and discuss the data from a visual perspective.

To learn more about others things organizations are doing in virtual immersive environments, check out this book:

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Three Things You Should Really Know about Avatars (and their relationship to you)

2010-08-11T09:22:00.003-05:00

An Avatar in a Virtual Immersive Environment is a rendering of a computer user as an interface technique. Instead of moving around a computer interface as a mouse, one moves around as an anthropomorphic figure.

Recently, there has been some research released which indicates that moving through a computer generated interface as an avatar provides powerful learning stimulus. Here are some points from an article titled Promoting motivation with virtual agents and avatars: role of visual presence and appearance by Amy Baylor.

1) An experience as an avatar can change a person's real life perceptions. In a study conducted by Yee and Bailenson (2006) It was found that negative stereotyping of the elderly was significantly reduced when participants were placed in avatars of old people compared with those participants placed in avatars of young people.

2) Watching an avatar that looks like you performing an activity influences you to perform a similar or same activity in the future. In a study, users watched an avatar that looked like them exercising and loosing weight in a virtual environment, the result was that those that watched the avatar of themselves subsequently exercised more and eat more healthy in the real world as compared to a control group. This as reported by Fox and Bailenson (2009).

In similar study, discussed by Baylor (2010), "participants were exposed to an avatar representing themselves running on a treadmill, another avatar running or an avatar representing themselves loitering. Within 24 hours, after the experiment, participants who were exposed to the avatar running that represented themselves exercised significantly more than those in the other conditions."

As study by Ersner-Hershfield et al. (2008) found that when college-aged students observed their avatar ageing in a virtual mirror, they formed a psychological connection to their "future selves" and decided to invest more money in a retirement account as opposed to a control group.

3) People tend to conform to how their avatar appears regardless of how it is perceived by others. In one study by Yee and Bailenson (2007), participants with taller avatars behaved more confidently in a negotiation task than participants with shorter avatars; specifically, they were more willing to make unfair splits in negotiation tasks. In contrast, participants with shorter avatars were more willing to accept unfair offers than those who had taller avatars.

Additionally, in subsequent research, Yee et. al. (2009) found that behavioral changes originating within a virtual environment can transfer to subsequent face-to-face interactions. In the study, participants were placed in an immersive virtual environment and were given either shorter or taller avatars. They then interacted with a human confederate for about 15 min. In addition to causing a behavioral difference within the virtual environment, the authors found that participants given taller avatars negotiated more aggressively in the subsequent face-to-face interactions with the confederate than participants given shorter avatars.

A growing body of evidence is finding that strong behavioral and attitudinal changes occur as the result of being an avatar in a virtual immersive environment. The concept of the "Sense of Self" is a very powerful influencer in the learning environment around virtual worlds.

To learn more about virtual immersive environments for learning, check out this book:

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Exploring the Concept of Learning Archetypes as tools of Cybergogy with Light Sequent

2010-08-10T13:16:00.001-05:00

A few weeks ago Light Sequent (SL) (aka Lesley Scopes RL)) gave a wonderful presentation on the concept of Cybergogy and how it relates to learning archetypes for 3D learning.

I took some screen captures of the event. What I like about Lesley's presentations about Cybergogy are that they are informative from the perspective of thinking about teaching in a 3D environment but that they also incorporate aspects not possible in the 2D world. For example, as she discusses her the model, she rezz's items right before the audience in 3D.

By the end of the presentation, you can see the model in 3D. You can walk around it, experience it and fly around to check out all aspects of the model. Much more vivid and interactive than a 2D version of the model. It shows all the nuances of the relationships.

If you want to see a video of a presentation where Lesley rezz's items, check out this presentation called Learning Archetypes as tools of Cybergogy: A structure for eTeaching in Second Life which she presented at the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference in 2010. You can read what I thought of the conference here (hint, it was awesome.)

Light Sequence beginning her presentation.

Audience listening closely to the presentation.

Concepts building right before the eye of the audience in 3D.

Columns and information appearing in 3D before the audience members.

Model being built in three dimensions right before the audience.

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In Good Company: Thanks Zaid Learn and Everyone Create a Personnel Learning Network

2010-08-09T11:02:00.000-05:00

This weekend I got a nice little piece of news when Zaid Ali Alsagoff sent me an email letting me know I had been named on his list of his "TOP 10 LEARNING SITES FOR PERSONAL LEARNING" now this is an honor because Zaid does some amazing work on this blog, especially in terms of visuals.

I am flattered to be included as the list includes the TED Talks(see an inspiring one below), Tony Karrer's eLearningLearning, Jane Hart and Stephen Downes among others.

But the point Zaid is making is that there are thousands of learning opportunities available for free on the web and many educators don't take advantage of those opportunities. He is encouraging everyone to create their own Top Ten List that helps them become better at their subject matter, with web skills or any area in which they desire. I could not agree more.

The web is a wonderful educational tool and, to be honest, the list of 10 is just the tip of the iceberg, there are wonderful, wonderful resource available all over the web that educators, trainers and developers need leverage.

In fact, Christy Tucker in a posting Instructional Design and E-Learning Blogs has listed over a dozen but the point is not to merely copy or mimic what others are doing, instead, create your own Personal Learning List and actively use it to learn!

Of course, I always have my younger son to keep my feet on the ground, he told me the other day, "you are not funny and your jokes are lame." Nothing can top that:)

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Google Goes Gaming?

2010-08-06T08:58:00.000-05:00

There have been a number of interesting development in term of Google and social game purchases and game related initiatives. Here are some recent highlights;

Google purchased a company called Slide, an app developer that works with popular social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to create community-driven entertainment applications. The deal is worth a reported $182 million. Google Buys Slide for $182 Million, Getting More Serious about Social Games*

Google has invested between $100 million and $200 million in social gaming company Zynga. Zynga is a network of gaming applications built off of classic games like Poker, Battleship, and Attack!Google Secretly Invested $100+ Million In Zynga, Preparing To Launch Google Games

In May, Google was looking to hire an employee to develop Google’s games commerce product strategy and help “build and manage the business with a cross-functional team." Is Google Getting Back Into The Gaming Business?

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Calling all Educational Entrepreneurs

2010-08-05T05:34:00.001-05:00

Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation Seeks Education Founders

Here is some news for anyone thinking of starting an education company. A New Kauffman Foundation program has been launched that is searching for passionate, aspiring founders of high-growth, scalable education enterprises

The Department of Education’s Race to the Top competition isn’t the only program focused on dramatically improving education. Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation, an initiative of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, announced today a competitive search for up to 20 aspiring founders to launch high-growth, transformative companies in the education market.

Note: Due date for application is September 20, 2010 - Application deadline. Note: letter(s) of recommendation also are due on this date.

Those selected for the Kauffman Education Ventures Program will be immersed in an intensive, hands-on program designed to catalyze the creation of companies with the potential to generate thousands of jobs and dramatic economic benefits.

“This program is the opportunity of a lifetime for high-potential entrepreneurs who don’t have the resources to quit their day jobs and take the leap of faith to start their businesses—businesses that they think will grow fast and transform education in a powerful way,” said Bo Fishback, vice president for Entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation. “Education is a $1 trillion market where innovations can produce massive benefits to the world and also create huge change in the lives of individuals.”

The Education Ventures Program will equip founders with the time, resources and skills to take their ideas from thought to implementation.

Selected founders will receive six months of training and education on every aspect of running a business, personal coaching to bring their ideas to market and competitive compensation to focus full-time on their ventures. The program will include helping founders establish a brand, develop negotiation and presentation skills, go to scale, build financial models, validate the market, perform customer diligence, find funding, build a management team and develop a board of directors.

“The rapid pace of change in the education field in terms of technology, the growth of charter schools, new demands for post-secondary education and shifting priorities provide opportunities for entrepreneurs to catalyze their ideas,” said Sandy Miller, director of Advancing Innovation at the Foundation. “We are looking for the bold, visionary founders of entrepreneurial ventures that are poised to grow, show promise to be truly scalable and are able to adapt to the changes in the field.”

Through an open application process available to anyone over the age of 18 with a transformative idea, Kauffman Labs will identify up to 20 entrepreneurial concepts for the education market and work with the aspiring founders to establish their organizations. Candidates may be individual entrepreneurs or teams of up to three people. Businesses from concept through young startup that offer a product or service to help people learn, directly or indirectly, and could change the face of education are eligible. Successful candidates will need to travel to Kansas City for extended periods of time to attend training and education workshops but can otherwise live and work anywhere in the United States.

Kauffman Labs will offer two teleconferences for interested applicants to learn more and ask questions: Aug. 9 from noon to 1:30 p.m. ET and Aug. 18 from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET. Call-in details will be announced.

Individuals interested in learning more or applying should visit www.kauffmanlabs.org. Completed applications are due September 20, 2010.

About Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation
Part school and part business accelerator, Kauffman Labs for Enterprise Creation is a new approach to developing the next generation of high-growth firms. Tapping the Kauffman Foundation’s vast entrepreneurship knowledge and networks, the program seeks to accelerate the number and success of new firms by offering a new method for teaching and training entrepreneurs of dynamic, fast-growth, scalable businesses in a lab setting, while studying the “science of startups” in the process. For more information, visit www.kauffmanlabs.org.

About the Kauffman Foundation
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private nonpartisan foundation that works to harness the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to grow economies and improve human welfare. Through its research and other initiatives, the Kauffman Foundation aims to open young people's eyes to the possibility of entrepreneurship, promote entrepreneurship education, raise awareness of entrepreneurship-friendly policies, and find alternative pathways for the commercialization of new knowledge and technologies. It also works to prepare students to be innovators, entrepreneurs and skilled workers in the 21st century economy through initiatives designed to improve learning in math, engineering, science and technology. Founded by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman, the Foundation is based in Kansas City, Mo., and has approximately $2 billion in assets. For more information, visit www.kauffman.org, and follow the Foundation on www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn.

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Machinima Tips from the Learning in 3D Class

2010-08-04T09:06:00.000-05:00

Last week we had a class with special guest Ariella Furman, who is a Machinimatographer at FramedIn3D.

Here are some tips she provided:

1) Plan your storyboards. Just like a "real" video shot, you need to plan ahead to get the best results.

2) Practice. Set up some shots and do some run throughs to ensure you know what you are doing before you start "shooting"

3) Use the ability to change lighting in the environment to create some great effects.

4) Try to use natural movements

5) Use the right equipment. They even have a mouse that acts like a camera "dolly" a great investment.

6) Use your imagination to free yourself from the limits of traditional filming.

Here is a sample of some of the results from Ariella.

Youniverse World from Ariella Furman on Vimeo.

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Learning in 3D Class Visits ProtoSphere

2010-08-03T12:33:00.000-05:00

Last night the learning in 3D class visited the demo version of ProtoSphere to check out some of it's features.

We first gathered at the Welcome Center and got our navigation in order in terms of walking and running through the environment.

Next we practiced different first-person and third-person views so we could acclimate to the 3D virtual immersive environment. Here I am looking at the class through a first-person perspective. I prefer third-person (over-the-shoulder-view) was the best for me.

We had some fun in a number of different classrooms and boardrooms. Here we are checking out the Telepresence room. Interesting to consider the merging of video, 3D spaces and 2D-computer applications.

One fascinating aspect of ProtoSphere is the ability to "visualize" data. Information saved in various data bases can be "socialized" in a 3D graphical rendering which allows learners to all view the same data and experience the data in 3D instead of on a 2D spreadsheet or computer screen.

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Avatars, Video and Simulations

2010-08-02T07:11:00.000-05:00

Here is some information as pre-reading for webinar attendees and for students in the Learning in 3D summer class.

Avatar Information

Learning about avatars:What is an Avatar?

Encourage Avatar Customization

Promoting motivation with virtual agents and avatars: role of visual presence and appearance.

You are your avatar, your avatar is you.

Avatars for Learning

Accidental Learning and the Power of Stories (information about 3rd person and 1st person learning opportunities)

Videos
Here are some videos about creating a good educational video. Remember, even in an educational video, you are telling a story. The story of how to accomplish a task or achieve a desired outcome. Educational does not mean, no story. It means an instructional story.

Simulations

Do they die in real life?

Advantages of immersive learning

Creating questions for compliance training.

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Social Media Tracking the Nation's Mood

2010-07-26T11:17:00.001-05:00

Check out this video showing how researchers used Tweats to determine the mood of the country and individual states.

A few highlights from the research:

The "early morning and late evening" have the "highest level of happiness."
The West coast is "significantly happier" than the East coast
Weekends are "much happier" than weekdays.

Check out the article on the Huffington Post __

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3D Environment Used to Teach New Recruits

2010-07-22T06:30:00.000-05:00

Here is a link to an interesting study of how the 3D simulation software, Thinking Worlds was used to create training to improve the Royal Navy's "worst performing course" – Engineering Safety Rounds Inspection.

The simulation helped to cut failure rates by 54%.

Here is the opening paragraph from the case study.

What would you do if 13% of all new recruits were failing one of their most critical courses? How would you cope with a failure rate that was 200%-300% higher than most of your other core training subjects and the cost to retrain failed recruits kept on rising? Clearly, figures like these would be unsustainable in most training and performance programmes and this was no different for the training officers of the Royal Navy’s Maritime Warfare School (MWS), where improving performance and reducing cost were constant operational goals.

The solution:

..shorten the learning curve and provide a safe practice environment for recruits to carry out their Safety Rounds Inspections, prior to boarding the ship for the first time. It was also necessary that whatever solution was reached, training officers could still assess the recruit’s technical aptitude and fault finding skills during the trial inspection.
It was decided that the best and most cost-effective solution was to create a “serious game”; a fully immersive, 3d virtual ship that would enable trainees to walk through it and perform duties as if they were actually on board.

Check out this link to the interesting case study
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Happenings in the Corporate Virtual World Space

2010-07-21T07:51:00.009-05:00

Here are some emerging events happening in the corporate virtual immersive environment (VIE) space.

Aggressive and Targeted Integration with enterprisewide applications:
Teleplace just announced that it is now fully integrated with MS SharePoint and now joins ProtoSphere as players looking to meld enterprise applications with virtual immersive environments. Forterra System's OLIVE integrates virtual meetings into web based intranets, extranets or portals, and can assure a user's identity based on authentication systems like LDAP.

Accelerated Move to Browser-based Virtual Worlds:
Designing Digitally announced in May on their public blog that they received a contract to create a fully browser-based virtual campus for the Air Force Academy.

And the company known as the Electric Sheep Company has had the browser-basedWebFlock platform for a few years and continues to integrate it into corporate and entertainment venues.

Competition with 2D Platforms Heats Up
Virtual immersive environment provider, VenueGen just announced a new platform specifically designed for freelancers, small businesses, non-profits and trade groups. The solution called THUNDER offers virtual conference rooms with photorealistic avatars, surround sound VoIP, in-world streaming video and shared-screen content. The pricing is designed to be competitive and is reasonable as compared to 2D solutions. Read the press release here.

This strategy is similar to the conversations I've had with James Parker of VirtulU who told me that his customers are looking to break out of the 2D environments (which actually emphasis the distance between participants) and get into a 3D space that feels more realistic and reduced the feelings of distance.

And similar to how Eon Coliseum has positioned its 3D product with schedule ahead or meet instantly capabilities.

The move away from 2D to 3D may explain why Unisfair is reporting a 60% year over year growth. Unisfair reports that it's growth, according to Market Research Media Ltd, a market and technology research company, is in line with the growth of the overall industry.
Market Research Media in its recent research report “Virtual Conference & Trade Show Market Forecast 2010-2015“. Forecasted that the worldwide virtual conference market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 56% between the period of 2010 and 2015 and to generate $18.6 Billion revenues over the period 2010 – 2015

The Healthcare Industry Embraces Virtual Worlds
In May of this year, the Duke University School of Medicine and Virtual Heroes announced an agreement on a partnership to leverage interactive game technologies for medical education and training. The partnership will includes initiatives in the following areas: healthcare team communication training; medical device and pharma product education; patient education; medical recertification; clinical trial education; CME courses; and healthcare quality assurance training. Read the press release here.

This on the heals of the agreement between Kaplan-EduNeering and ProtoSphere to partner in the compliance space to provide collaborative compliance-based virtual world solutions. And the announcement that the MS LifeScience Award this year went to a 3D Virtual Conference Design created by the virtual immersive environment vendor, ProtoSphere, indicates that the healthcare and life science industry are leading the way with virtual immersive environment adoption.

Also, Activeworlds turned 15 this year! Happy Birthday.

And do check out the feature article by Karl Kapp and Tony O'Driscoll published in this month's issue of Training Industry Quarterly called Learning in Virtual Worlds.

And, if you are looking for more information on virtual worlds for learning and collaboration, pick up Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration

What have I missed? Let me know and I'll include in the next report of 3D industry happenings.

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Class Meeting in 3D World of VirtualU

2010-07-20T06:49:00.000-05:00

Virtual immersive environments come in all shapes and sizes even though many people tend to only think of Second Life when they think of virtual worlds. But there are many alternatives that are being deployed in a variety of applications. Last night the class ventured into VirtualU for a tour hosted by Jim and Steve Parker who have created a virtual platform build on Active Worlds.

Gathering in the lobby before class starts.

Jim gave us a description of how the software worked, went over the interface and provided navigation hints and direction. Then we began our tour of the virtual world.

Checking out the virtual exhibit hall.

The exhibit hall provided a show case for vendor products and services and if you clicked on the exhibit for information, the system could launch a web site and gather information to assist the vendor in tracking visitors. The hall is large and looks just like a conference exhibit hall. Jim admitted that many virtual world participants he's dealt with are not yet ready for the virtual conference hall and that it is not as popular as first anticipated. I think one way to make the hall a little more attractive is to change the venue, maybe to an outdoor area or within a factory or within some location relevant to the conference or exhibit. Imagine have a conference about manufacturing and the exhibit hall was set up in a factory or a medial conference set up in a hospital.

We then went to a large conference room that they use for hybrid events, with some people attending an event live and some attending virtually. Both have the ability to experience the same event through Twitter feeds and streaming video.

Checking out the communication channels

available during large group gatherings.

Next we went to a venue that seems to be taking off in virtual immersive environments, museums.

Examining a piece of art and having the ability to zoom in very close on the details.

Jim indicated that museums see the creation of virtual immersive environments as a way of making their exhibits and offerings available to more people and of creating levels of immersion that might not be cost effective in the physical world. For example, one could hear the artists story of why a particular painting was created, see the artists at work on the painting and examine the painting up close all in an interactive environment. And, at times, the artist could appear at the gallery or museum and explain his or her piece to anyone who rezzed in the world.

Looking at detailed art work.

Checking out the T-Rex exhibit. You could never ride the T-Rex in an actual museum.

Another interesting use of the virtual immersive environment is for small museums, such as a home of a famous historical person. The museum can create a space that can be "experienced" and not just viewed behind barriers or glass. It can also make some of the small spaces which are inaccessible to handicapped individuals accessible.

Examining the Futon Room in first person perspective.

Students learned that when manipulating and avatar in small spaces, first-person view is often most effective. The subject of scale was also addressed. Jim mentioned that an issue they often deal with is whether or not to make the space 100% to scale (which can lead to the feeling of being confined when you have lots of avatars in the same space) or do you make it more avatar friendly but loose the authenticity of the original scale. Interesting dilemma for developers of authentic virtual reproductions of historical spaces.

Jim then showed the class how to conduct individual break out sessions by having private chat spaces where two or more avatars can carry on a conversation without the rest of the people in the area hearing what they are saying. You could have several such areas for group work during a session in a virtual immersive environment.

Conducting a private chat with 15 students.

Next we visited an authentic reproduction of the home town of Lucille Ball which is Jamestown, New York. The town is a reproduction so that people can understand how to navigate the town. I think the possibilities are tremendous for this type of application. Imagine a college setting up a town so potential students can "walk downtown" of the college to see what it is like or a town's tourism bureau could have this created so you could get the "lay of the land" prior to setting foot in the town.

The Lucille Ball mural.

Checking out the hotels, virtually, in Jamestown, NY

Finally, we visited a music festival venue where they plan to hold live concerts in a Webstock type of venue.

All in all it was a great tour of the VirtualU campus, we ended at a reproduction of the campus of an institute and learned a great deal about the potential uses of virtual worlds for museums, training organizations and others.

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Educational Games for the Classroom

2010-07-19T05:19:00.005-05:00

Here is a list of educational games that can be used to teach kids during the school year or over the summer break.

Here are some games based on Nobel Prize winning research. These games cover the topics of physics, chemistry, physiology, medicine, literature, peace and economics.

This game teaches about Nobel Prize winning Chemistry Research.

There are a bunch of games on the web site to check out. Here is a list of the top 10 most visited educational games on Nobel Prize web site.
1. The Blood Typing Game
2. The Laser Challenge Game
3. The DNA - the Double Helix Game
4. The Pavlov's Dog Game
5. The Diabetic Dog Game
6. The Lord of the Flies Game
7. The Electrocardiogram Game
8. The Immune System Game
9. The Control of the Cell Cycle Game
10. The Split Brain Experiments Game

This game teaches kids about diabetes.

Here are some simple games to teach about energy conservation over at the Energy Hogs web site. These games might be too simplistic for older students. If that is the case, have them examine the games and see what improvement or changes they would make.
Here is the opening screen for the energy hog games.

If you want students to think about energy conservation and requirements. Have them check out Energyville.

Name your town, develop your

energy resources in Energyville.

You can go to the EdHeads site and check out games focused on teaching about simple machines and crash scene forensics. The games are accompanied by teacher focused materials so you can incorporate them into the classroom (also a few medical focused games and one discussing the weather.)

Reviewing crash scene data.

Teaching basic math is a site called Academic Skill Builders. This site covers a number of basic skills such as math, verbs, addition, etc.
Use your math skills to win the race. Up to 4 players can compete.

If you teach biology, you might be interested in a site called Frog Guts where you can virtually dissect a frog. Check out the demo. This is cool stuff.

Provides a virtual experience for frog dissection.

You can learn about the scientific process and speak like a pirate at Science Pirates: The Curse of Brownbeard.

Check out the opening screen and

then download a copy for yourself.

Here is a multiplayer game for teaching about algebra. The demo focused on graphing. Go to DimensionM and check out the interactive algebra game.

Here is your "Heads Up" display for learning algebra on a strange but beautiful planet.

To teach basic multiplication skills check out Timez Attack.

Give the right answer before being crushed.

Finally, you might want to check out Immune Attack to learn about the human immune system. You are shrunk to the size of a blood cell and propelled through a body to learn about how our immune system works.

In this game you enter the strange and wonderful world of the human circulatory system.

Learn about the Moon on NASA's Game. Moon Base Alpha.

Cooperate to survive on the moon.

Teach students engineering concepts through the West Point Bridge Design Contest software (you don't have to enter the contest to dowload the software.) But you will learn about building bridges.

Test out your bridge and see if it will hold.

Check out a variety of games at the TryScience web site which has both online and off-line game activities.

The Grid, is one of many games you

can play on the TryScience web site.

You can experience some of the hardships that third world farmers suffer by playing the game, Third World Farmer.

You must carefully choose how to spend

your limited income as a Third World Farmer.

Learn about the struggles in Darfur with the Darfur is Dying game.

Trying to hide.

Learn more about Games for Learning at the web site Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning which discusses my book by the same name.

Check out Going to the MUVEES to See River City to learn about a game which involves many students working together to solve a science problem.

Business Focused Games
If you are interested in games focused on business for students, check out this listing of business games Online Games for Teaching Business Concepts and Ideas.

Civics Focused Games
If you are intersted in games focused on world peace, civics, ect. Check out Observe the Supreme Court, Become President, Negotiate Peace with Online Games

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Change Our Traditional Approach to Education

2010-07-16T06:36:00.002-05:00

While kids are growing up with cell phones, internet access, virtual worlds and a culture that rewards creating digital networks and online content, the basic instructional paradigm for teaching those students has not adapted to the explosive use of technology among the culture of third millennials. That is not to say that technology tools haven’t been introduced to schools, they have. But simply adding computers to a traditional classroom without a corresponding change in instructional delivery or strategy doesn’t work.

In fact, it highlights the disconnection between how the third millennials leverage technology for their day-to-day communications and interactions with the limited use of the technology within an academic environment. And adding technology hardware is not enough, the next wave in engineering and technology education is to leverage the connectivity of the third millennials and their aptitude for creating content to share with others via web-based and mobile-based social networking tools.

Today as marketers, advertisers, video game companies and electronics manufacturers focus their efforts on pleasing youngsters in terms of design, visual appeal and functionality, these youngsters are shaping society and culture more than in any other time. They continue to push consumer companies for more connectivity, more ways to create their own content and more access to information through instant messaging applications and voice activated internet search.

Society and culture is responding to the needs of these youngsters (like it or not). Video game companies now create multi-player versions of their once solitary products. Playing a video game is no longer done alone or with one or two friends in the room; games are played across the world with hundreds players who never physically meet one another. Friends are made over digital networks and kids who have met one time keep in contact for years via updates to Facebook, MySpace or other social networking pages.

As educators, we can’t ignore the digitally connected culture or reality of these soon-to-enter-the-workforce youngsters. We are obligated to examine their culture and to integrate parts of that culture into our educational approach. If we ignore their culture and pretend that it doesn’t exist or continue educating these youngsters as we have been educated, we risk, at best, being ignored and at worst not preparing them to deal with the realities of the digitally connected world when they complete their educational experience.

That is not to say we abandon what works but we are obligated to examine what we do and carefully consider alternatives. We need to develop new methods of reaching students, we need to break down the four walls of the classroom and expand learning opportunities.

School can no longer be thought of as a location, it must be thought of as a process. Like "growing up" is a process, "learning" is a process.

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Learn About The Role Evaluation Plays in Grants

2010-07-15T16:18:00.000-05:00

I do work as an evaluator on several National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technology Education (ATE) grants. (learn a little more about the ATE programs)

I have been asked to share some of my experiences in an upcoming webinar about NSF ATE Evaluations. Here are the details in case you are interested in attending.

Webinar: Making Evaluation Integral to Your ATE Proposal

WEDNESDAY, JULY 21 | 1-2:30 PM ET

In this free, 90-minute webinar, participants will learn how to
make evaluation a strong component of their ATE proposals. Staff
from the ATE Evaluation Resource Center will provide guidance
about how to focus an ATE evaluation, develop a plan for data
collection and analysis, describe the evaluation in a proposal, and work with
an evaluator.

The webinar will feature NSF-ATE program officer Linnea Fletcher,
who will provide NSF’s perspective on these topics. Gordon
Snyder and Karl Kapp, a veteran ATE PI-evaluator team, will also
join the webinar, talking about their successful experiences working
together on funded ATE proposals.

Register here.

Participants will leave the webinar with the knowledge and tools
and they need to

Define the purpose of the evaluation and how the results will be
used
Write clear and useful evaluation questions tied to the
project’s intended outcomes
Be responsive to NSF’s expectations for ATE evaluations
Systematically identify question- and context-appropriate data
collection methods and information sources
Locate data collection instruments
Create a feedback loop so project staff can use evaluation
results to improve their efforts
Find competent evaluators and budget for their work

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Interviewed at Udemy

2010-07-14T08:43:00.000-05:00

The other day, I was interviewed by the folks over at udemy. They asked questions about 3D, the origin of Kapp Notes and the future of education.

The question about the origin of Kapp Notes is interesting as I am planning on moving the blog to a new location with new layout with additional content and some support to make all this happen.

In terms of 3D, one question was: How can 3D technology be used to impact education?

I responded that it will impact education in 3 ways:

It can provide learners with experiences they could not have any other way.
3D fosters collaboration across great distances.
3D is the natural state of humans and when 3D interfaces become easier to use and mimic our natural movements, the possibilities of collaborating, learning and gaining wisdom will be almost limitless.

Read more of the interview at An interview with Karl Kapp__

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Class Meeting in 3D World of Second Life

2010-07-13T06:00:00.042-05:00

Learning in 3D Class sitting around conference room table.

Jumping into a virtual world can be a fun but scary and daunting place for first timers. As instructional designers, one of our "missions" is to help learners overcome the scary and daunting aspects so learning occurs.

One of my beliefs is that designers need to be made to feel like learners again so they can empathize with the people for whom they are building instruction. To that end, last night, I threw students into the 3D virtual world of Second Life. I purposefully did little instruction and then sent them off to explore the world and comment on the learning aspects of different places they had visited.

During the debrief a number of conclusions where drawn:

1) Throwing learners into a virtual 3D world is a big step, navigation needs to be clear, goals need to be clear and directions need to be clear.

2) Technical problems arise, not everyone could hear my Voice over IP. So I had to resort to typing so everyone could "hear." You need a back up or need to test and retest the virtual world so that learners don't need to worry about technology when they are in virtual worlds.

3) It take time to acclimate to clicking on items, using your arrow keys to move and, especially, using the camera to view what you want to look at.

4) Sometimes too much freedom is too much. Students indicated that talking off clothes, having too many clothes to choose from and not knowing exactly where to go can be overwhelming.

5) Flying was "weird" but fun.

6) Background noises are nice for ambiance, horrible when trying to have a discussion or meeting.

What did I miss? Any other "learning insights" from last night's class?

The class accomplished its goal of pointing out some difficulties in virtual worlds. We will eventually overcome all those difficulties and design and informative and effective educational session but a little "frustration" and "confusion" by an instructional designer makes for better designed instruction. Having been a student using technology makes you a better designer using the technology.

Here are some examples of past Machinima that students have done.

Visualization of Data from Ariella Furman on Vimeo.

Here is one done by a professional. See the original post Don't Forget the Power of 3D Machinima

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Mobile Learning at the High School Level

2010-07-12T05:00:00.012-05:00

A few weeks ago, Scott Newcomb a fourth grade teacher in St. Marys, Ohio informed me about a
Mobile Learning project he has been involved with for the last two years. They have been using smartphones in the classroom and every student in our school district from 3rd grade to 6th grade has their own mobile learning device. They are adding seventh grade next year and the ultimate goal is to have a mobile learning device in every students' hand from 3rd grade to 12th grade!

Here is information and the school's mobile web site.

Scott presented at ISTE this summer in Denver, CO, on the topic. You can download a copy of his presentation handout here.

Here is a video introduction about the Mobile Learning project, check it out!!

Next year, they will have over 900 mobile learning devices in their school district!

This ties nicely with the The Future of Tech According to Kids: Immersive, Intuitive and Surprisingly Down-to-Earth article that appeared last week at Read Write Web.

Kids are embracing technology for their learning needs. Meanwhile I am involved with a very large company who is running a pilot to see if their employees would benefit from having mobile devices for communication, learning and collaboration. I think the school has it right!

Thanks Scott for the heads up!
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More Top 5 Funny and Semi-Learning Related Videos

2010-07-09T07:44:00.001-05:00

Its the summer, we all want to be outside sitting the shade and relaxing. But alas we are in front of our computers doing things like...blogging. So here are some lighthearted, funny videos that can add a smile to your face. Also, if you choose to think deeper about the content and how it applies to designing instruction and delivering instruction in our modern, fast-paced world...some are actually quite profound...enjoy.

Number 5: This is from my original post The Darker Side of Social Media and Parents: Parody. (pics are a little racy and NSFW)

This is in the semi-learning related list because if you replace the term "parent" with "organization" you can see some pretty scary implications for social media within organizations.

Facebook, Twitter Revolutionizing How Parents Stalk Their College-Aged Kids

Number 4: This was originally posted at Sometimes Its Too Real.

When creating simulations, one mistake novice designers and developers make is trying to have the simulation be too realistic. Trying to capture every element of the environment, trying to be 100% focused on the simulation aspects and not the learning aspects, engagement or motivational aspects. Here is what happens when you take a real life simulation a bit too far.

Ultra-Realistic Modern Warfare Game Features Awaiting Orders, Repairing Trucks

Number 3: This originally appeared at the end of my post Answering the Question: How Do We Keep Up

This video does have some bleeped swear words. But the discussion about confusing new with good is relevant in terms of learning and development.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Twitter Frenzy

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

Number 2: This originally appeared in the post iPad is Awesome but...will it blend?

iPads are a great technology and hold a lot of promise for mobile learning but one question managers and employees fail to ask about most new technologies is "will it blend?" Ok, ok, I confess...this is not really semi-learning related...its just silly and funny.

Number 1:First written about in the engaging post titled Funny Friday Video about Tech Bubbles (spent a long time on that original title)

This video earns the number one spot for semi-learning related videos because the training industry tend to jump from technology to technology and sometimes we forget fundamental principles. We have our own learning technology bubbles. Plus this video is so darn true, the blue shirts, the mad scramble for domain names. It is just funny even if you don't live in the "valley" or West Coast which I don't.

Bonus
What if the vendor/client relationship between elearning companies and clients needed elearning was extended to other customer/vendor relationships? Originally appeared in Amusing Monday Video (I need better post titles)

Hope you got a laugh or chuckle out of the videos and that they made you think a little about learning events...let's not take ourselves too seriously and let's always have fun.

And here is the original posting of the 5 Top 5 Funny and Semi-Learning Related Videos

If you know of other funny semi-learning related videos, please post a link in the comments...share the laughs.

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Formal Learning All the Way...Baby

2010-07-08T05:57:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of talk about formal vs. informal learning in the educational blogosphere and when it comes right down to it, formal learning is the most effective. Here's why.

Recently, I was touring a nuclear power plant training facility and had a chance to see the room where operators are trained. It is an EXACT replica of the actual operations room in the real plant right down to the same ambient sounds.

When I visited the Johns Hopkins Simulation Center, we ran a simulation involving a patient heart attack. The actions taken by myself and others occurred in a simulated hospital room using the same equipment found in any hospital room. When pilots train, they use a flight simulator that acts and reacts just like a real aircraft complete with hydraulic movements to simulate actual responses of the plane.

When lives are on the line, the learning process is studied, calculated and formalized to a degree of realism as close to 100% as possible. In these life and death training situations, the actions of the individuals involved in the training are timed and measured against objective standards. If you don't administer oxygen within the prescribed time frame in the simulation, you know about it as you watch a recorded version of your actions as an instructor provides feedback. The fidelity between the environment in which the performance is required and the environment in which it is trained and practiced is extremely high.

The processes have been formalized, in knowledge work, many of the processes are formalized. We like to think knowledge workers spend all day "problem-solving" but in reality they spend all day finding out what procedure should be followed in what situation. Sales people have procedures for overcoming objections, managers have procedures for dealing with a crisis or an upset customer, insurance agents have procedures for handling claims, instructional designers have procedures for creating role-plays or teaching concepts vs. facts.

Formal feedback loops, reflective learning opportunities, established standards, prescribed activities are all critical to the success of the learner in the nuclear power plants, hospitals and while flying planes. The training is all formalized. Learning and expected behaviors are not left to chance, actions are parsed, best practices studied, conclusions drawn from data and the experience of experts. This is because the difference between a radioactive disaster and successfully creating electricity is formal learning events and authentic practice.

So, if you want a highly trained individual capable of performing his or her job to the highest standard, you need formal learning conducted in an authentic learning environment.

Anything less is not as effective and the performance will not be guaranteed. Without formal training if someone does something right, it is most likely by chance. Do we really expect a person to effectively sell product in a retail environment without authentic formal instruction? Do we expect a customer service employee to provide excellent customer service and use the computer system to look up critical information when the training is delivered in a classroom environment which is an environment nothing like the actual environment in which they are asked to perform. We are kidding ourselves if we think we can avoid formal learning events and we are kidding ourselves if our learning events are not as authentic as we can possibly make them. The higher the fidelity, the better the performance in the actual situation.

Do we expect college students in a economics class to understand entrepreneurship without ever having run a business? Do we expect managers or leaders to effectively operate in a crisis situation when they've only read about the five steps needed to operate in a crisis? Or discussed it in a chat room?

If you want effective, mistake free results, only formal learning events conducted in an environment as authentic as possible provide the desired level of performance and outcomes. Everything else is a compromise. Realistic, formal learning events make a difference.

If I want assurances of outcomes, I want someone formally trained.

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BP Spill NOT Fun and Games...but games could help

2010-07-07T08:08:00.000-05:00

Cover of board game that outlined possible disaster scenarios.

In the 1970's a board game called Offshore Oil Strike was created by BP and it has a number of elements related to the current spill situation. The goal of the game is become an oil tycoon by digging for oil offshore and, naturally, players encounter hazards such as blow outs and oil spills and clean up costs. Too bad no BP executives ever played that game.

Imagine if BP executives and managers were encouraged to go through game-like scenarios on a frequent basis trying to develop contingency plans, worst case scenarios and clean up efforts to react to a spill that "most likely will never happen." The act of playing a "game" can open up thinking processes that might not be considered in normal day-to-day operations but become apparent when one player is trying to "out maneuverer" another. Translate those lessons learned into activities and the spill might have been prevented or at least the clean up efforts might have been better coordinated.

See more at '70s board game contains eerie BP oil spill scenarios

Another approach might be to use a video game-like scenario to help think of creative ideas to clean up the spill. According to the article Crisis In The Gulf: BP OIl Spill Video Game Lets You Stop The Leak

The game allows players to try their hand at stopping the oil spill in the Gulf Coast.Called Crisis In The Gulf, the game, released by Super Boise, challenges gamers to stop the oil spill from an exploded oil rig owned by "DP" using whatever means necessary--from cannons and torpedos to high-powered lasers.

Imagine if the game was based on real live data feeds from the spill and the ocean and engineers could then run through various scenarios and simulations to gage the reaction to their clean up efforts. A realistic game/simulation could be created to provide the opportunity to test theories and interventions. Now imagine engineers playing these types of games BEFORE a crisis, think of how much better they would be if a real crisis occurred.

The answer needs to be more games and simulations to help prepare workers, executives and government officials for the "unthinkable" because, obviously, it wasn't unthinkable, game developers were way ahead of BP executives.
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Fighting Phobia's with Augmented Reality

2010-07-06T06:20:00.000-05:00

Event
Augmented Reality, the practice of overlaying digital images on top of the real physical world, has been used for everything from BMW repairs to iPhone apps like the one created by the MGM Mirage to applications for teaching Spanish.

But now augmented reality is teaching people not to fear bugs, specifically Cockroaches. In a process known as "Exposure Therapy," researches are overwhelming people with virtual versions of their fears to help them overcome fear through increasing exposure to the item the person fears. Eventually, the person is taught to cope with the fear and the exposure to the stimuli helps them become more comfortable with the item they fear.

According to the article Treating Cockroach Phobia With Augmented Reality

In exposure therapy, the phobic person puts him or herself in the presence of whatever they fear--heights, spiders, etc.--until, through habituation, they lose their fear of that situation or object. The literature shows that exposure therapy works, but it has problems--for one, people who qualify as clinically phobic will often drop out of treatment when their psychologist tells them they've got to confront whatever their worst fear.

[A research study titled] Treating Cockroach Phobia With Augmented Reality describes, for the first time, a trial of augmented reality with a small group of people who all presented clinically significant levels of cockroach phobia. These six women reported problems that ranged from wanting to sell their apartments because they'd seen a cockroach or two in them to once spending two hours on top of a table, waiting for friends to arrive, after seeing a cockroach on the floor.

Patients were exposed, over the course of a single three hour session, to anything from a single stationary cockroach to up to 60 swarming, skittering bugs.

[After therapy] The results were a stunning: Study subjects went from a phobia so profound that it interfered with their lives to passing a "test" that involved walking into a room containing a cockroach in a tupperware container, removing its lid and placing their hand in it for at least a few seconds.

Implications
This has interesting implications for learning and development professionals. Learners who need to be trained to handle dangerous chemicals comfortably or to work in an environment with many conflicting stimuli could be trained using augmented reality to become more comfortable with their surrounds. It could also be used to train detectives to look for certain clues.

What do you think are the implications of using augmented reality?

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Facebook Fatigue?

2010-07-02T08:28:00.000-05:00

An article, Teens Experiencing Facebook Fatigue, provided some interesting findings about the social networking site, Facebook.

According to the article:

A survey of 600 teens ages 13 to 17 in late April found that teens spend two hours per day online on average, 80% of which is spent using a social network. These same teens are, however, showing signs of “Facebook Fatigue.” Nearly one in five (19%) who have an account no longer visit Facebook or are using it less.

Of the group that are saying goodbye to Facebook, 45% have lost interest, 16% are leaving because their parents are there, 14% say there are “too many adults/older people” and 13% are concerned about the privacy of their personal information.

Here is more about the study.

Teens Study June 2010

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Three Approaches to Overcoming Objections to Learning in 3D

2010-07-01T07:29:00.000-05:00

In Learning in 3D,we asked Steve Mahaley, of Duke Corporate Education for some ways he overcomes objections and resistance from executives and others to using 3D virtual immersive environments (VIES) for learning and collaboration, here is what he said.

To address this with our clientele, I usually refer to some of the research and writing on games for learning, including works by Gee, Squire, Johnson, Beck and Wade (who published the provocative book Got Game.) [Hopefully now he'll also refer to Kapp, O'Driscoll and Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning.] I find that if I can help the decision-makers make the positive connection between good game design – the reason people become so hooked on the experience – and memory creation and retention, I can then move on to making a connection to serious gaming. First step; use good game design for serious learning outcomes.

Secondly, I often draw the analogy that an immersive 3D experience for serious learning is not really different than creating in-class role plays or doing other immersive experiences (such as outdoor team-building events). This helps make the connection that it is not about the game or the technology, it is really about designing an experience to get to relevant learning outcomes.

Finally, there is sometimes an objection related to perceptions of expense – that the 3D solution will be cost-prohibitive. The good news here is that the cost of technologies is coming down as the capabilities of standard hardware and networks in corporate environments has come up, lowering the technical and financial barriers to entry.

Links to books mentioned above:

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Learning in 3D Blog Book Tour: Success

2010-06-30T07:08:00.001-05:00

By all accounts, the Learning in 3DBlog Book Tour was a resounding success. Books were sold, buzz was created, consulting and speaking engagements obtained and the collective conscious of the learning community was raised in the area of 3D virtual worlds for learning. So, first of all, thanks to everyone who participated in the tour and who followed the tour, we are so pleased with results and the enthusiasm surrounding the subject.

Here are some highlights, look for a Blog Book Tour Lesson's Learned posting in the near future.

Tom Haskins of the Growing, Changing, Learning, Creating blog wrote a great entry Assessing blog book tours where he explains why blog book tours are so effective.

One unintended but really positive result of the tour is that it actually boosted traffic to the stops on the tour and then continued the flow of traffic.Performance Punctuated the blog of the development company Performance Development Group got a boost from the tour and when the followers of the tour saw all the great content they visits remained at a high level and have grown ever since.

Several times the book was ranked #1 in different Amazon categories.

We were also able to generate buzz through a Twitter hashtag #lrn3d and encouraging tweets about the book.

We created a Facebook page that has now over 500 fans.

And a group has created an awesome virtual book club to discuss the book. Click here to learn the details of that book club.

Stats for Learning in 3D Blog Book Tour during January 11 to February 22nd, 2010

410 unique page views on Kapp Notes first day of blog book tour.
660 books sold during tour.
13 hardcover copies of the book sold directly from my cite via Amazon and 4 Kindle versions of the book sold directly from Kapp Notes blog.
13,639 best overall Amazon rank
147,281 life time rank in Amazon
1100 books sold to date.
Ranked number 25 in Technorati,s list of blogs about "elearning"
Blogs actively participating in the tour
Over 500, number of fans on book's Facebook page
12,625 number of unique visitors to Kapp Notes during Learning in 3D blog book tour.
9,723 unique visitors to Kapp Notes during the tour.
743 visits from India and 6,428 from the United States.
1 visit from Swaziland.
305 views of the entry Learning in 3D Blog Book Store Starts Today

Don't be left out, pick up your copy of the book today:

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Exciting Changes Coming to Kapp Notes

2010-06-29T14:00:00.002-05:00

I've been blogging for four years on Blogger and am in the process of some exciting new developments to the blog. Stay tuned for neat and interesting changes, all for the best. Details will follow in the next few months.

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A Question about 3D Virtual Worlds that makes me Crazy

2010-06-29T11:27:00.000-05:00

Constantly I am asked this question about 3D that really make me crazy. Here is my short rant.

1) Where is the empirical data about the effectiveness of 3D learning? We can't do anything until we see the evidence of its effectiveness for learning.
Seems valid. Let's see, I must have the evidence of the effectiveness of 3D learning under my pile of reports on the effectiveness of classroom instruction. I'm sorry, where are all those reports and all that evidence about the effectiveness of classroom training? Oh, there is not that much evidence on the effectiveness of classrooms instruction, what's that? Classroom instruction isn't that effective.

Instructor-led training is held up as the gold standard of training excellence because it is has been around for thousands of years but its not that GOOD. In fact, many studies show the transfer of knowledge from an instructor-led training session to on-the-job performance is dismal. Please, don't ask that question.

Ask...can people learn effectively in a 3D environment? or how does learning in a 3D environment contribute to job performance? or what elements of 3D environments make them effective for learning?...but please do not ask if it is as good at instructor-led training, we can only hope its BETTER.

Another answer I want to give when someone asks that question is, "Well I don't know right now where all that data is, why don't you wait for your competitor to conduct those studies. Then we'll know." If you want to be innovative, ahead of the curve and thinking outside of the

box...like all big companies claim to want, you can't wait until all the research is done. Research takes time, can be conflicting and is often hard to generalize especially in the field of learning...but companies want to know that it is "safe" before acting. You cannot stay ahead of competitors by being safe, you can't innovate by being safe. You have to make mistakes and learn to work with them.

Look at Google, they put out Lively and it failed so they pulled it. They put out Buzz...not working so well but they innovate, they'll keep putting something out and something will eventually stick...you can wait for the evidence but your competitors are not waiting they are acting. Google is the gold standard of innovation because...wait for it...they innovate.

Don't talk to me about innovating and out maneuvering your competition by waiting for research results. Didn't Tom Peters once say "Ready, Fire, Aim" is the way to go. Please, we'll all grow old waiting for conclusive evidence of results.

I am not sure Twitter waited for research to show that people would use it for learning and collaboration, I don't think Facebook did a lot of research either.

Sure, I live in academia and respect research and results but I think more and more people use "waiting for research" as an excuse for inaction. History books are not filled with people who waited for the research results before taking action.
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3D Virtual Immersive Environment: Conceptual Orienteering

2010-06-28T06:04:00.001-05:00

Conceptual Orienteering is a learning archetype where learners are given activities or situations in which they are presented with examples and non-examples of environmental or situational conditions for the purpose of discrimination and creating an understanding of key concepts.

Orienting a learner to concept of how to properly lift weights without injury and for maximum benefit.

Image courtesy of Randy Hinrichs of 2b3d and author of an upcoming handbook about learning in 3D.

Teaching concepts involves providing the learner with examples and non-examples of the concept and then allowing the learner to determine the attributes that describe the concept. This allows the learner to recognize and apply the concept in a variety of different environments. In the archetype of conceptual orienteering, learners are shown a number of different items, examples, or situations which they can mentally compare. Then the facilitator asks the learners to identify the similarities and differences.

The process of side-by-side comparison allows learners to recognize and apply concepts in a variety of different environments. Learners studying to be FDA inspectors could be teleported from one manufacturing line to another to see the difference between inspecting a plant that creates medical devices versus one that creates ingestible drugs.

The goal is to provide a visualization of the differences to the learner who can then determine what attributes apply to the concept and what attributes do not. The learners can visually see attributes and do a mental comparison through the ability to instantly move from one location to another. These do not always need to be physical attributes. For example, you could create a 3D environment to resemble what it looks like to someone who is legally drunk and provide a frame of reference for the person attempting to understand the impairment that occurs when a person has too much to drink. The learner can then get behind the wheel of a virtual car and see and feel the effects of trying to drive while "drunk."

You can take this concept beyond physical items into the mental arena. For example, there is a location in Second Life that shows what the world looks like from the view of a schizophrenic. The idea is to give the learner a conceptual orientation of what it would be like to have the condition. The learner can then better understand the implications of the event or the condition. You can use the same concept to display what it would be like to work in a dimly lit coal mine, a confined space or other unfamiliar environment.

In other types of conceptual orienteering a participant can participate at both the macro and micro levels. You can shrink learners to the size of blood cells and propel them through the blood stream to observe a drug’s interaction with a virus. Or a person can fly over a proposed subdivision to observe the layout and intersection of roads and sidewalks. Or be transported to another time and place to observe customs of the people.

Steps to conducting a conceptual orienteering lesson
1. Introduce the learners to the environment or area that illustrates the concept.
2. Allow the learners to “experience” the concept.
3. Debrief the learners on their experience with the concept.
4. Ask questions to identify misconceptions and send them back to environment to clarify.

Advantage
One advantage is that a learner can experience a concept which is not otherwise possible because of time and space limitations or because of potential danger. They can stand in the middle of a tsunami or fly around a molecule. The 3D virtual immersive environment can also allow the learner to repeat the experience over and over again so they can really grasp a concept.

Disadvantage
Disadvantages include the time it takes to create the environment necessary to convey the concept. It is also sometimes difficult to determine the best environment to create to effectively immerse the learner into the concept. If the design is not established properly, the possibility that the learner may not learn the concept from the environment does exist.

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Presentation Recap for the U.S. Air Force’s Global Learning Forum

2010-06-25T14:01:00.000-05:00

Agenda for the Global Learning Forum

Last night I had the privileged of presenting to the U.S. Air Force’s Global Learning Forum (GLF) group in Second Life at Huffman Prairie Chi. It was a great event.

GLF represents a collaborative group of educators from across government and private universities and organizations exploring and prototyping the use of open 3D worlds in support of learning. A little over a year ago Air University formed GLF to help support virtual collaborative prototyping efforts and research. The group now have over 300 educators, from across several universities, engaged in various collaborative efforts within the 3D world of Second Life. Second Life is used as our primary open access platform for collaboration.

Once a quarter, the group hosts an in-world GLF event on based on a theme of that is of interest to members. I had the opportunity to speak on the topic of "Learning in 3D" and also got to listen to some very engaging speakers.

The event kicked off with Dr. Arthur M. Langer the Senior Director of the Center for Technology, Innovation, and Community Engagement and Dr. L. Lee Knefelkamp, professor of psychology and education both of Columbia University talking about Digital Literacy.

Event kicking off with introductions.

Dr. Langer and Dr. Knefelkamp discuss a model to help understand the elements of digital literacy.

Next, I spoke about "Learning in 3D" covering the concept of sensibilities and archetypes. Here is the set of slides that were used for the presentation.

Learning in 3 d for vwbpe

Slides used in my presentation. You can View more presentations from kkapp by clicking on these links.

Next, Dr. Fil J. Arenas spoke. He is currently an assistant professor of Organizational Leadership at the Squadron Officer College arriving and an adjunct professor at Troy University,
Montgomery campus in graduate studies. He spent 28 years in the military (14 USAF and 14 USN)and retired as a Lieutenant Commander, he served as a Medical Service Corps officer until he retired. He spoke about the Squadron Officer College (SOC) and how they are incorporating virtual worlds into their training program.

Dr. Arenas making a point about the Squadron Officer College educational program.

A look at the elements making up the Squadron Officer School.

Then, we had the privilege of touring the virtual campus of the SOC. We got to witness a holodeck like feature with different environments and toured the virtual facility.

At the SOC several aircraft are on display around the campus.

The holodeck even had a scene from ancient Egypt complete with a scary mummy.

At the SOC information desk, we were able to pick up some freebies.

It was a wonderful tour of the SOC. Good presentations and great audience members, I had a great "virtual time."
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Second Life CEO Resigns, Founder Back in Charge

2010-06-24T13:36:00.001-05:00

Event

This just in:

Linden Labs, the creator of the 3D virtual world Second Life has announced that company founder Philip Rosedale has been named interim CEO and that Mark Kingdon is stepping down as CEO.

Philip Rosedale, in a posting called Returning to the Lab stated:

Our thinking as a team is that my returning to the CEO job now can bring a product and technology focus that will help rapidly improve Second Life. We need to simplify and focus our product priorities -- concentrating all our capabilities on making Second Life easier to use and better for the core experiences that it is delivering today. I think that I can be a great help and a strong leader in that process.

This comes just a short time after Linden Labs announced a layoff of 30 percent of its staff.

Analysis
It is not really surprising to have a CEO shift after the layoffs and apparent shake up of staff. The company is strong on the consumer side but it would be difficult for almost any organization to live up to all the hype that Second Life has had in the past. It is a good platform but with some scalability, usability and channel issues.

Also, in speaking with industry insiders, I've learned the corporate culture at Linden Labs is a very relaxed which doesn't always translate well into the growth stage of a company when decisions have to be made based on "finance and strategic planning" rather than "cool and neat projects".

This is part of the natural churn within any tech industry and because Linden Labs and Second Life is the biggest player in the space, events like this get a lot of press. I think the company is going to hunker down a bit and start to really focus on the consumer-side and technical capabilities prior to making a serious run at either the academic or corporate markets but, we'll have to see as the days progress what happens when a software development firm cuts staff and resources while trying to revamp technical aspects of its product.

Not sure this change is going to be like Steve Jobs coming back to Apple but it should re-charge efforts on the consumer side.

*Thanks to Mike Qaissaunee for the "heads up".

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Don't Forget the Power of 3D Machinima

2010-06-24T06:35:00.002-05:00

One creative element of 3D Virtual Immersive Environments that many people tend to forget is the power to create machinima.

"Machinima is the use of real-time graphics rendering engines, mostly three-dimensional (3-D), to generate computer animation. The term also refers to works that incorporate this animation technique." Wikipedia Definition.

Recently, Ariella Furman a Machinimatographer at Framedin3D emailed me to explain that with machinima, you can increase learning and collaboration on almost any topic. What it allows you to do without elaborate cinematic sets or budgets is to be able to tell a story cinematically. Learners then get to know the characters in ways you otherwise wouldn't wrap your mind around. The machinima stories connect with the learners using mulitiple senses. The machinimatographer records sound and visuals, then compiles the story strategically for learning results. (She also mentioned in her blog she doesn't like the Wikipedia definition of Machinima.)

The great thing about machinima is that it has no limitations. Anything you can imagine, can be achieved. Messages and learning events can be encapsulated in intriguing and unique ways.

Check out this great machinima done for IBM by Ariella and the team at Framedin3D that describes requirements planning. I think it makes some very abstract concepts, very real.

IBM Episode 6 from Ariella Furman on Vimeo.

Here is another interesting machinima illustrating the concept of "data". Again, machinima has the real ability to allow the learner to visualize abstract concepts and ideas and to make what seems intangible, tangible and "real." It can illustrate concepts in the way few other media can because of its versatility and cost effectiveness.

Visualization of Data from Ariella Furman on Vimeo.

To learn more about the process and concepts behind Machinimia check out Framedin3D's blog.

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Learning and Development Articles of Interest

2010-06-23T06:49:00.001-05:00

Recently a colleague of mine and an alumni of Bloomsburg University's Instructional Technology program both had articles published.

First, Brian Miller who blogs at eLearning Rebel and has his own company called Learning Mind wrote an article for Learning Solutions Magazine called Overcoming Obstacles To Avoid “Shovelware” E-Learning Strategies

Here is a broad overview of the article:

If we want to take our e-learning to the level of learning by doing within authentic contextual challenges, we need to make some changes. We need to recognize that good e-learning requires skills in multiple instructional design, cognitive science, media arts and computer science. If we do not have these skills in house we should consider building the business case to either develop the skills or hire externally.

The article requires you to Subscribe or log in to read the full article. You can log in using your eLearning Guild username and password but it is worth the read and you can become an Associate guild member for free.

Second, Bloomsburg University alum Shawn Rosler penned a piece in ASTD's T&D Magazine titled Trimming the Fat: Using a Practical Eye for an Academic Process. Again, you need to be a member of ASTD or purchase the article for a nominal fee. But if you are a member of ASTD, then check out the article or become a member.

Congratulations to the authors and enjoy reading their work!

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Volatility in 3D Virtual World Industry

2010-06-22T07:54:00.002-05:00

There is a great deal of "churn" in the 3D virtual immersive environment space. I think it is natural churn in a market that is fast emerging but some of that churn can seem unfriendly and one can certainly see the industry as "half-full" as the analogy goes. However, I think it is just part of the evolutionary process. Let's look at some of the positive churn events and negative churn events of the past few months.

Positive

Got a great email from someone who works at Forterra, "I wanted to let you know, since being acquired by SAIC in January of this year, OLIVE has seen unprecedented sales in both the Federal and commercial space. I can tell you that we are busier than at any time over the last 4 years at Forterra!" Good news on that front, a lot of people speak highly of the platform and they have done some great projects in the 3D space.

Microsoft has awarded one of its innovation awards to 3D Virtual Immersive Environment Enterprise provider ProtonMedia. See my analysis of the recognition in What it means that MS LifeScience Award Goes to 3D Virtual Conference Design

James A. Parker, President of Digitell, Inc.informed me that he had a great reception and a tremendous amount of buzz around his VirtualU product and many of the people with whom he spoke are desperate to find a more engaging platform than 2D virtual classrooms.

Venuegen has offered to help Second Life Enterprise users move from the SL Enterprise edition to the Venuegen platform for free. This provides a great way for corporate users of 3D spaces to not loose any investment and to seamlessly move from one venue to another.

The University of Washington Virtual World Certificate officially had its first graduation. The student's worked hard and excelled at mastering virtual worlds in theory, design, development and big ideas. This is one of the first virtual world certificate graduation of which I am aware and it means that people are seriously studying the subject and becoming experts in building virtual immersive environment for educational, corporate and government uses.

Here is a machinima of the graduation:

Negative

The 3D virtual world business space isn't big enough to support Thinkbalm's analysis efforts. See Change is under way at ThinkBalm

Linden Labs announces layoffs, appears to be contemplating shuttering Enterprise Edition efforts.
it looks as though Linden Labs, the developers behind Second Life, may be downsizing their corporate efforts (Second Life Enterprise Edition). Two sources indicate that Linden may actually be shutting down their Enterprise operations.. The story broke in a number of places, Virtual Worlds News reports that Linden Lab Lays Off 30 Perfect Of Staff. And Massively, a blog that provides daily information about MMOs. Reported the following in an article Linden Lab laying off staff, closing Singapore office. For a great take on what is happening in Linden Labs and the enterprise perspective check out Dusan Writer's post Linden Lab Lock Step, Out Of Synch.

Back in March There.com shut down and Forettera was sold (for the better it appears).

Conclusion
So what does this all mean, to me, it is just churn. Check out a 2007 posting which sums up what is happening, The Metaverse Hype, Decline and Realism Cycle--We've Seen It Before
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