Let's Not Forget New Online Learners

This week my post at the TrainingDay blog is about New Online Learners. It is called New Online Learners and Some FAQs.

__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Great Project with eLearning Guild

Recently, I was fortunate enough to be tapped by Steve Wexler from the guild to work on a synchronous learning essay with Tony O’Driscoll focusing on the use of 3D environments for the 3D learning like Second Life, There and ProtoSphere. I can only say that the project was a blast, true collaborative work (we used Google Docs), true exchange of information and truly a lot of fun.

I really enjoyed working with Tony--he's got awesome insights and ideas on 3D learning. If you have a chance, you should work with Tony, he really understands the potential of 3D learning from so many perspectives.

Together, we've crafted a reasonable argument for 3D Synchronous learning within the learning and educational communities.

You can read Steve's comments about the 360 Synchronous learning report in two posts.

• 360 report on synch tools preview
• This essay is killer (and certainly changing my thinking)__

So be on the look out for a great 360 report on Synchronous learning in the near future by Brent Schlenker, Karen Hyder, Paula Cancro, Ann Kwinn, Tony O'Driscoll, Karl Kapp, Bryan Chapman and Steve Wexler who coordinated the entire event. It will be well worth the read.

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Out and About: SPBT Conference Presentation

Just got done with a presentation titled "Games and the Gamer Generation: Realities, Myths, Traits and Training. Are you ready to engage, empower and educate this generation?" for the Society of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers.

The presentation went well. I used the Turning Point audience response system. It worked pretty well and gave me a great tool for determing the make up of my audience during my presentation. It allowed me to be interactive with the audience, gain information from them and allow them to participate in the presentation. I really enjoyed using the technology. I was also able to expose mis-perceptions that would not be visible in a typical presentatoin. Here are some examples.

I learned that my audience consisted of people born between 1960 and 1980 (and even some born before 1960 since I received a rather nasty comment on the post-presentation evaluation about failure to include people born before 1960, they are pre-gamers according to my definition and so not in the chart, but I will include next time.)



I also learned that most of the audience thought the Hottest Selling Kid’s PC Game from May 2004 to June 2006 was Roller Coaster Tycoon. It wasn't. The correct answer is Princess Fashion Boutique (for which someone commented on my evaluation that I was sexist in my categorization of video games and the gamers...I really thought I was covering male and female gamers equally.)



I also learned that most people thought the average US retirement age is 70. The right answer is 59 and the age has been trending downwards from 1910.


I enjoyed the presentation and hope the audience did as well. I got some good feedback on the presention as well lest you think it was all negative. (recommending I come back next conference, informative, eye opening, best presentation of the conferece...etc....however, the negative comments always stick with one longer and, in many cases, are more instructive for improvements.)

And, I got to meet in person fellow blogger Tom Crawford. It is awesome to meet people in person whom you've interacted through blogging.

So all-in-all enjoyable and the interactive technology is a great way to engage the gamer generation (male and female) as well as other learners (those born before 1960 included.)
__



Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Where is Everybody?

Here is an interesting article called Virtual World Marketing: Lots of Companies, Few Vistors (So Far). One of the most interesting things about the aricle was that it stated "despite entering Second Life to much mainstream media fanfare, companies like Sears, Sun Microsystems, Dell, Coca Cola, Reebok, and Calvin Klein have so far failed to attract even 500 weekly visitors." So are these ventures failures? I think it depends on your perspective.

The real value of being in Second Life or any 3D synchronous learning environment now is, as one comment stated:

Companies aren’t getting into Second Life because of what it is today but what it will become in the very near future….and because of the head start/lessons learned they are betting they will be in a position to benefit from getting involved now.

As learning and development professionals, we need to be in this space as well even if an immediate payoff is not seen. I really believe it is like the early days of the web...or even the blogosphere. All of the sudden, one day the new technology makes sense...are you going to be part of that or left out in the cold? The time to make the decision is now...if you wait until the fad has "caught on" it will be too late.

Plus a problem is that some of these stores do not have any one with whom a visitor can interact. Hey, it's a social software...store owners need to have people in the stores to speak with the visitors--to socialize...empty stores are not attractive to people in virtual spaces. And neither are empty training rooms or other empty spaces. People like to be with other people.

UPDATE:
Well, you can't believe everything you read. As I posted about a certain company that was listed in the article as not getting many visitors, a person from that company corrected me (I have removed the error from my post but it is still in the original article). He then pointed me to another source showing how popular the site is. It just goes to show that with the internet one has to continually be vigilant about sources of information. Here is a link to a chart of the 25 Brand Dwells in Second Life. I thank Dave for the correction. At least the internet allows for fast corrections and updates...as opposed to waiting until tomorrow for a newspaper to print a retraction (where nobody sees it.)
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Blogosphere Welcome to Ben Hamilton

Bloomsburg University Instructional Technology Department alumni Ben Hamilton has joined the e-learning, learning, learning technology blogosphere.

Ben calls his blog Hamilton Notes because the "name was simple enough to cover a range of my musings on topics as the field continues to grow." I think that is a great name and that it will be a great blog to follow. Ben is working on his dissertation which is focused on the motivational impacts of simulations and games--a great topic.

And finally, we need to thank Tony Karrer because, as Ben states:

At the recent ASTD conference in Atlanta, I attended Tony Karrer's presentation on "eLearning 2.0". He discussed several technologies I had heard about, but have not had time (due to dissertation writing) to interact with. More importantly, he challenged everyone in the audience to become an active blogger...

Looks like Ben took Tony up on that challenge. So Welcome Ben and thanks to Tony for encouraging great people in the field to join the blogosphere. If any other Bloomsburg alumni are blogging, please let me know so I can post on Kapp Notes.

_

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

The "Gamer's" Learning Style

Kids who have grown up with video games, Gamers, are self-educating. They seek out and learn from the information that is available to them. They do not rely on formal educational settings for their learning. The gamers’ learning style:

• Ignores any hint of formal instruction. They are self-directed learners.
  
• Includes trial and error and approaching a problem from different angles.
  
• Relies heavily on learning from peers with a distrust of information from authorities.
  
• Focuses on small, focused bits of information
  
• Demands just-in-time information. They don’t want to learn about what they might need.
  
• Is not focused on books and reading.

So while they may look lazy and self-absorbed while sitting in front of the TV playing a video game, they are actually learning valuable skills for the information age. We should all be paying attention.

__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Out and About: PREP Weekend Conference

This weekend, I spent my time in Hilton Head Island at a conference evaluating a National Science Foundation (NSF) project called Plastics Resources for Educator's Project. The PREP project, as it is called, was started over 10 years ago to develop Reusable Learning Objectives (RLOs) in the area of plastics education. The project has since spurred a book, additional web site and great collaboration among plastics educators across the country.

Here is Rick Wilson presenting on a plastics certification program.


At the conference, the topics of for credit plastics education, non-credit plastics education and the future of plastics education was discussed. The plastics industry in the 3rd largest industry in Pennsylvania but some schools are having trouble recruiting because it is not as glamorous as other professions but the industry is high-tech, well entrenched in the United States and in need of energetic new employees.

One initiative they are considering is to create an interactive web site for youngsters and placing videos on YouTube...they are reaching out to where the potential students hang out. They have huge industry demand and light student interest...the biggest programs...forensics because of the CSI shows...what they need are some Plastics shows.

Here is Elizabeth Webster talking about Plastics SourceNet.


The emphasis on the need for new students is just another sign of the boomer exodus from the workforce and the need to get "gamers" interested in manufacturing and other industries traditionally thought of as old or not glamorous.
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Podcast Interview: 10 Questions for Karl Kapp

Two colleagues of mine from the world of National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technology Education (ATE) grants and funding, Gordon Snyder and Mike Qaissaunee, interviewed me for their weekly podcast. They both work with the National Center for Telecommunicatoins Technologies (NCTT) for which I serve as the external NSF evaluator. They do great work and you should check out the NCTT web site.

The interview is called, simply enough, 10 Questions with Karl Kapp. Once on the page, click on the title to listen to the Podcast (its about 38 minutes long.) In our discussion, we talk about my new book, the instructional technology program at Bloomsburg University and technology in general.

Mike and Gordon are great guys and I really enjoyed the interview. Have a listen.
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

TrainingDay: Summer Reading List

This week at the TrainingDay blog, I posted a list of semi-learning related books you might want to pick up and read on the beach. They are all less than $10 US dollars and are great fun and good reads. Check out Summer Reading Suggestions (only semi-learning related) and leave a semi-learning related book of your own in the comments. Remember, leave a comment on the TrainingDay blog and you could win a book (those are fully learning-related...not as much fun!)
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Show Me the Examples! ASTD Big Question for June

This month the question is "Where are the Examples of eLearning?" and we are supposed to consider both good and bad examples as well as give some thoughts on why the example should get some attention.

I've decided to look at several different types of "e-learning."

Traditional

Here is some learning sponsored by Environmental Protection Agency. It is called the EPA Watershed Academy. It is a web site that has a number of e-learning courses which are very text focused. They are not really exciting or very interactive. Here is an example called Principles of Watershed Management. You can see an entire list of courses at the Introductory Page.

Here is one sponsored by the Food and Drug Administration called Tour of the FDA. It is what I would call first generation e-learning. It has a lot of good interactions and chunks the information well.

Here is a tutorial on how to use e-learning modules. The module is text intensive and not really interactive. It just provides a demonstration of how to navigate the e-learning modules. E-Learning Tutorial for PA DEP. On the left click on Interactive Course Tutorial.

Games and Simulations

Here is a link to a number of casual games, simulation software and general learning games. It is on the Games and Simulations page of the web site for my book Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning . If you scroll down you can see simple interactions that can "spice up" your e-learning. Take a few minutes and browse the content.

Clark Aldrich's blog entry for the big question has a great list of games and simulations that you need to check out.

PowerPoint Based

Here is a presentation I did called Parts of the Stove. The reason for this presentation is to show what can be done with PowerPoint and a digital camera. Imagine, instead of a stove that it is a piece of equipment or machinery. It is a little crude and could use some interactions but the concept of simple design and capturing content with a camera can be expanded upon for a number of e-learning designs.

Avoiding Death by PowerPoint. This presentation is not an e-learning presentation per say but it is a presentation using e-learning technologies to quickly get information to learners or people who would be interested in the topic. I think it is a good use of e-learning tools to develop "rapid instruction."

Informal "e-Learning"

The best example (and I am sure many of you have seen it) is the Learning 2.0--23 Things created by Helene Blowers. Brilliant e-learning or rather Learning 2.0.

Here is a quick tutorial on How to Build Tiny Prims in Second Life. I view this as e-learning since the person watching the video is getting instruction on how to build in the world of Second Life. This can be used for many different training applications using the world of Second Life as a platform for creation of the learning.

Here is a link to a blog entry (another form of informal learning) by my friend Mike Qaissaunee called Web 2.0: Wikis Explained. I consider both the entry and the video as a learning package.

Podcast

I consider e-learning podcasts e-learning and I know Mark Frank would agree with me on podcasts as e-learning as he wrote about it in his entry, Two examples of eLearning.

Check out Gordon's & Mike's Information and Communications Technology PodCast very informative in the areas of technology. Scroll down to the entry Airport Security, RSS Explained, Bluetooth Marketing and Updates
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Bad News for Employers...Retirement Age is Dropping

When I speak and consult with corporations, I often bring up the concept that the retiring boomers are going to be leaving the workforce in a few short years taking with them years of invaluable experience. Experience that cannot easily be replaced, I raise this alarm so that companies can begin to think about capturing all that lost knowledge before it disappears and using some of the tools of the gamers to do it.

Inevitably, someone will say, "Don't worry, Karl. We boomers are going to be healthy and strong and we are going to work well past the 'traditional' retirement age so, at our company, the boomer retirement exodus is not going to hurt...we are going to work a lot longer than people think."

Unfortunately for those companies and many others, the statistics do not support that view. In fact, the retirement age is consistently getting younger and younger. Check out this post Retirement Changes Dramatically Over the Years.


This chart and the post clearly indicate that boomers are not going to work as long as they think they are. Therefore, your company needs to think seriously about transferring knowledge from the boomers to your incoming gamers before it is too late. Do you have a plan?

Read David DeLong's book Lost Knowledge for some great information about the looming boomer retirements and subsequent shortage of knowledge in the workforce. It will scare you a little. After you read that book and you want some practical examples of how to transfer the knowledge, read Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning. It'll supply you with the tools you need to transfer knowledge successfully.

__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Great Leads and Misc Information...tying it all together

Sometimes, things just all seem to come together at once.

A number of alumni and friends of Bloomsburg University's Instructional Technology program have sent me some great links and they are all about wildly different things but all are related to the gamer generation. Check them out.

• Here is one titled Most-Praised Generation Craves Kudos at the Office from Alison Stone. It talks about the gamer generation and their desire for feedback and praise...a desire, that I believe, comes from the immediate feedback from video games. Nothing provides faster, more constructive feedback than a video game. You know instantly if you are on target or wrong.
  
  
• Here is an article Swedes open embassy in Second Life of course it is about Sweden opening an Embassy in Second Life courtesy of Katie Rebilas. If you still don't think 3D worlds are important, you really need to look at what is going on. Even if Second Life does not become the learning platform of choice for 3D interactions, there will be an on-line 3D component to training programs in the very near future.
  
  
• Here is short piece on Cigna's efforts to educate young cancer patients about their disease through the use of a video game from a 2002 alumni Brandon Beaver. The article, Cigna offers free video game for young cancer patients explains about the disease and tries to take some of the mystery out of what happens to the patient in a way that they can relate to...video games.

A lot is happening in terms of using games to teach about a serious, life-threatening disease, using a 3D world to set up an embassy of a country and figuring out how to work with the new generation of employee. The gamer generation is hitting the world stage and impacting everything it touches.

Are you ready? If you want to be more prepared, pick up Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning

__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Training Day Blog: Virtual Surgery

This week over at the TrainingDay blog, my post is called Surgery Anyone? Virtual Surgery That Is. Stop by the site and leave a comment, you could win a free book.

__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Guilty of Overhyping Tech?? Come Back to Earth

Ok, so sometimes I may hype a new technology because I think it is cool or because it looks neat and well...what looks neat might not be so practical. Therefore, every once in a while, it is good to come back to Earth. So I got a big kick out of the posting by Jacob Nielsen called Usability in the Movies -- Top 10 Bloopers

My favorites are:

The Hero Can Immediately Use Any UI

Break into a company -- possibly in a foreign country or on an alien planet -- and step up to the computer. How long does it take you to figure out the UI and use the new applications for the first time? Less than a minute if you're a movie star.

The fact that all user interfaces are walk-up-and-use is probably the single most unrealistic aspect of how movies depict computers. In reality, we know all too well that even the smartest users have plenty of problems using even the best designs, let alone the degraded usability typically found in in-house MIS systems or industrial control rooms.

To that I say...yeah but that's what we try to teach our students to do.

And, hey Will Smith did crash the alien ship in Independance Day...he had some trouble...like moving from Director to Flash.

The 3D UI

In Minority Report, the characters operate a complex information space by gesturing wildly in the space in front of their screens... Gestures do have their place, but not as the primary user interface for office systems

But it just looks so damn cool!

"This is Unix, It's Easy"

In the film Jurassic Park, a 12-year-old girl has to use the park's security system to keep everyone from being eaten by dinosaurs. She walks up to the control terminal and utters the immortal words, "This is a Unix system. I know this." And proceeds to (temporarily) save the day.

Having started my career using a Sun Solaris Operating system, I struggled through many chmod, lprm and kill commands...I was a lot older than 12 and still had trouble. That is until one of the techies told me to do a rm*.* at the root directory...that fixed everything:) It even helped me to get a new job.

The entire list is great. Check it out.
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Good Use for Technology

I think this is a great image. Hope you get a kick out of it as much as I do.


__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Request for input on Definition

I am attempting to define the term "3D Synchronous Learning Environment"


Here is what I have so far:

Being immersed into a 3D environment as an avatar for the purpose of learning while being guided by another person who, in the form of an avatar, is providing instructions and/or guidance.

Please comment, critque, add/change or modify. Any input you can provide will be helpful. Use the comment function below (you know how this works).

__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Does Your Organization Allow Trial and Error

Organizations (corporate and academic) need to encourage trial and error. Trial and error is how break-through innovations are created and the way many of the gamer generation have been taught to learn.

Gamers are used to making a mistake or failing, but they don't see this as a major problem. They call the concept "failing forward fast." This means that they gain incremental knowledge through repeated failure. A mistake in a video game is not the end, it is just another chance to figure out the problem and try something else. And a really BIG mistake is just a chance to play the entire game over again.

Consequentially, it is important that gamers have an opportunity to try out new ideas and concepts in working and learning environments. They should be encouraged to try various ideas, approaches and techniques to see what happens.

Organizations, teachers and managers should not view failure as an absolute. In fact, encouraging trial and error encourages entrepreneurial activities (and every successful entrepreneur has at least one story of failure.) Organizations that embrace the gamers' experience in overcoming failure will be successful.
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Understanding Virtual Worlds Articles and Links

Here is a link to an article I wrote called Defining and Understanding Virtual Worlds for ASTD's Learning Circuits.

And here is a good companion piece if you haven't read it already, check out Another Life: Virtual Worlds as Tools for Learning at eLearn Magazine.

One of the authors of that article is Tony O'Driscoll who I am workign wth on an article about 3D synchronous learning environments for the E-Learning Guild.

Tony has a great concept called "The Seven Sensibilities of 3D Spaces." Read his post Virtual Worlds Going Mainstream.

Here is a snap shot of me and Tony discussing our article at IBM's location in Second Life.

__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Testing: Not a Reliable Predictor of Future Success

I see more and more organizations (schools and corporations) reaching toward "tests" as the answer for effectively screening employees and determing success. I think tests (assessments) are an inaccurate and artifical way of measuring competence. Actually, some of the best students I have had did not do well on tests but they were creative, entergetic and full of great ideas, not to mention hard working. They just weren't good on tests.

However, as a nation we are moving toward tests and assessments as a validation of knowledge and future potential...not good.

Here is an excerpt from Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning on the topic of tests. Based on a true story, it explains that tests don't always work.

I was getting desperate for some money the summer between my freshman and sophomore year in college. I couldn't find a job anywhere. Rent was due, no food in the fridge, It was bad. I even considered canceling my cable subscription. Finally I learned of an opening for a cashier at a branch of a national drug store chain. It was my last resort.

Securing the position was not easy. The interview process was intense. It involved a battery of tests; psychological, drug, and mathematical. I did satisfactorily on all three and was hired. Finally, I had a job. It lasted three days.

The first day, after the end of my shift, the amount of money in my drawer compared to the amount indicated by the register tape was off by five cents. Not bad for a beginner. The second day it was $2.50 and the third day it was closer to $5.00. I left voluntarily.

The problem…doing math under pressure. Sure I could do the math on a paper and pencil test when I didn’t have fifteen people in line waiting to buy lottery tickets and tooth paste without exact change. But calculating change in a pressure situation… I got flustered and gave the wrong amount. Some people would tell me and some people would keep the extra change—so much for the math and psychology tests.

So when people tell me tests are the answer to increasing performance and productivity and that they are necessary to "measure" learning...forgive me if I snicker just a little.
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Accidental Learning and the Power of Stories

So today I am all ready to write a blog entry based on an article,"Why is Work Looking More Like a Video Game?" in the online version of the NY Times but then a link over on the side catches my attention. I click and am highly interested.

The link is to an article titled This is Your Life (and How You Tell It). The article describes how psychologists are starting to research how people tell their life stories as a method of gaining insight into the personalities of people.

The article notes that:

Researchers have found that the human brain has a natural affinity for narrative construction. People tend to remember facts more accurately if they encounter them in a story rather than in a list, studies find; and they rate legal arguments as more convincing when built into narrative tales rather than on legal precedent.

So, yet another arguement for including narratives in all types of learning events.

But what I thought was also interesting was when the article discussed research involving how people replayed events in their lives.

Psychologists have shown just how interpretations of memories can alter future behavior. In an experiment published in 2005, researchers had college students who described themselves as socially awkward in high school recall one of their most embarrassing moments. Half of the students reimagined the humiliation in the first person, and the other half pictured it in the third person.

Two clear differences emerged. Those who replayed the scene in the third person rated themselves as having changed significantly since high school — much more so than the first-person group did. The third-person perspective allowed people to reflect on the meaning of their social miscues, the authors suggest, and thus to perceive more psychological growth.

And their behavior changed, too...a subsequent experiment showed that members of the third-person group were much more sociable than the others. “They were more likely to initiate a conversation, after having perceived themselves as more changed,” said Lisa Libby, the lead author and a psychologist at Ohio State University.

Dr. Libby and others have found that projecting future actions in the third person may also affect what people later do, as well. In another study, students who pictured themselves voting for president in the 2004 election, from a third-person perspective, were more likely to actually go to the polls than those imagining themselves casting votes in the first person.

Think of the implications for learning. Can we get our learners to think in third-person when dealing with leadership or communication issues and can we get them to visualize future activities in the positive so they exhibit the desired behavior?

Maybe at the end of a safety class, we should require the learners to visualize being safe in third person. In a leadership class, ask the learners to visualize a time when they were not good leaders in third-person and have them replay the event and then deconstruct it so they can objectively see what behaviors need to change.

You could do the same thing with new trainers or teachers. This would be a great technique with teenagers as well.

I think this also helps make an arguement that third-person simulations or game environments might be a more effective learning tools than first-person envrionments.

Intersting article and it shows the power of the web as I found the article completely by accident just by clicking on an a link that caught my attention. The power of informal and accidental learning.
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Knowledge Summit

This year at EduNeering's Knowledge Summit (a private educational forum for EduNeering's clients), I had the opportunity and privilege to co-present with Scot Osterweil on the topic of games for learning. It was a lot of fun.

Scot is the project manager for MITs the Education Arcade and is currently running "Learning Games to Go," a federally funded project designed to develop mobile games that teach math and literacy to underserved youth.

He presented on the concept of the four freedoms of play which are:

• Freedom to Experiment
  
• Freedom to Fail
  
• Freedom to Try on Identities
  
• Freedom of Effort

He also gave one of the highest ranking presentations at the Serious Games Summit. He is a great thinker about games and has some really interesting ideas on how to design a game for educational purposes.

I presented on the topic of integrating games into a corporate setting and how educational games can enhance compliance training.

It was fun and interesting to speak along side Scot. We share many of the same ideas and concepts about games, play and education.

Here is a short video clip of Scot speaking on the topic of the four freedoms of play. It is not footage from the Summit but he is covering the same topic in this clip.

__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

My New Training Magazine Online Column

Over at the ManageSmarter site, I've started writing a column called Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning. The first installment is titled Defining (or Redefining) a Gamer.

It is part of Training Magazine's efforts to provide more web-only content.

Let me know what you think.

=========================================================================
Running an online background check on a babysitter is one way in which doing a background check is legitmate not just for a business but for personal use as well. To help do that there are websites online where you can search for people, generally called something like a people search engine.
===============================================================================
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Parts of the Stove: Simple Tools for Effective E-Learning

Here is a short "e-learning program" I developed called Parts of the Stove. The purpose was to show how you can use a digital camera, PowerPoint animation and a tool like Adobe's Breeze (which now has another name.) It is a little old but still shows the power of such tools.

You can see that with just a few simple techniques and animations you could create instruction on your equipment or machines and have an instructive piece built with no knowledge of complex programming tools. Knowledge of PowerPoint and how to use a digital camera and a photo editing software package as well as a PowerPoint to e-learning tool.

The overall presentation is a little crude in some respects but is meant merely as a demonstration of possibilities.

Disclaimer: I don't have any vested interest or financial interest in the Adobe Breeze product, it is just the tool for which I have access. Articulate can do the same job as well as others. In fact, I recently saw the Articulate Engage program for which I was impressed.)
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

TrainingDay Post: Musings About PowerPoint

This week over at TrainingDay blog, my post is titled PowerPoint Musings.

I think PowerPoint is a ying/yang thing. You need to approach it as a balance between content, ideas, bullet points and interaction with the learners.
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Graduation Speech

Bloomsburg University Students in Line to Receive Diplomas.

At Bloomsburg University, the commencement address is provided by a member of the faculty instead of hiring an outside speaker. This means the presentation is more focused on Bloomsburg and the faculty member is someone that many of the students know.

This year, I had the honor of speaking at the morning ceremony to the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Science and Technology. I spoke to over 500 graduates and twice as many parents, friends and relatives.

Here is the transcript of my speech.

Thank you.

First of all I would like to extend my greeting to the parents, friends and relatives of the graduates. You should all be very proud. I am honored to be here today.

To the graduates, you are graduating at a time of unprecedented technological advances. Research is finding cures for diseases. Laboratories are creating products to improve our daily lives and the Internet has changed everything from how we shop to how we consume media. (In fact, I think I have seen a couple of you in a video on YouTube with Green Day or something like that.)

Today, I want to talk to you about a technology that impacts your daily lives, a technology that many of you have embraced and continue to embrace.

That technology is video games…that’s right, video games.

• How many of you graduates have played a video game?
  
• How many of you have played a video game to relieve stress?
  
• How many of you have played a video game when you were supposed to be studying?

As 2007 college graduates you are truly products of the video game age just as your baby boomer parents were products of the televisions age. In fact, last December I was standing in Rongos behind two students and one student said to the other, what are you asking your parents for this Christmas. The student said, “I’m letting them off easy this year, I’m only asking for three things.”

“Three things”, the other answers…”what are they?” He said, “a PlayStation 3, a Nintendo Wii and an Xbox 360.” The other student said, “Yeah, me too.”

At any given moment over 1.6 million people are playing a video game. Some claim that the video game industry is bigger then even Hollywood.

Many of the graduates in this audience were born in 1985, not coincidentally, the same year as the Nintendo Entertainment System, the puzzle game Tetras and the fun and quirky game Dig Dug and the same year “Where in the World is Carman Sandiego" hit schools across the country [Speakers note: This got a huge round of applause.]

As you have grown from the terrible twos into brooding teenagers and finally into fine young men and women, video games have grown from the early beginnings of Pong into games with more sophisticated graphics, content and interactions among players. Today, video games are everywhere. In fact many of you have video games on your cell phones…If I am not mistaken; I think some of you are playing a video game right now on your cell phone. Or maybe you are just texting your friends about where to meet after graduation. Tell them ttyl and focus up here. [Speaker's note: I actually said tyyl and then the graduates shouted out it’s ttyl and I said, “See I continuously learn from my students."]

As children of the video game age, you have grown playing games like Civilization, Super Mario Brothers, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Halo and Halo2 as well as the game The Sims.

Fortunately and unknowingly, these electronic games, regardless of their content have taught you many valuable lessons.

In the next few moments I want to share those lessons with you and your parents who are, by now, shaking their heads in disbelief. The lessons you learned playing video games will serve you well in the future and I implore you to apply these lessons as you move through life.

First, video games teach that failure and disappointment are opportunities for learning and growth. They teach you to be resilient. Let me give you an example from some of the rigorous, scientific research I did for my book. One day in my basement my wife and two boys were playing a video game based on the movie, the Incredibles…you know with Mr Fantastic, his wife stretch, and his invisible daughter and the little boy Dash. At this point in the game we were controlling Dash who was running around a tree and down a path. My wife picked up the controller and proceeded to run Dash directly into the tree. She tried again and ran Dash directly into the tree again with out veering. She did this 15 times and on the 16th time, she got around the tree and down the path.

How can you not learn to be resilient when a video game gives you multiple chances to try the same thing over and over again until you get it right. Video games teach you that if you work hard enough, you will learn the skill, technique or knowledge you are seeking.

As a video game player you must use every mistake or set back as an opportunity to get it right on the next try. And, when you do…that success gives you confidence to try an even more difficult task which in turn encourages you to try an even more difficulty task. The act of succeeding at difficult tasks is highly motivational.

As anyone can tell you, mistakes are inevitable. It is how you handle them that make the difference. View every mistake, set back and failure as a chance to learn, improve and move on. Do not dwell on mistakes.

Next, video games teach you to problem solve. Every time you pick up a controller, you are confronted with a problem. Much of the time spent in the game requires to you work through mazes, solve puzzles find objects and figure out what your Sim character really wants when its says “rello, rah rah, raha rah.” And to find clues. When you are confronted with a problem in the video game, you must break the problem in to its elements, reconstruct those elements and put them back together again to win.

You will be confronted with all kinds of problems in life. The first is how to get out of the parking lot after graduation. But you will also be confronted with problems like “how to pay the rent?” or which job to take or where to live. People will also confront you with problems, from your boss, relatives, co-workers and maybe even the IRS. Some problems you will need to solve independently but other problems you will need to solve in a group or a team. Be a person who solves problems.

Third, and this might be counter intuitive but video games to you how to cooperate and work in teams. There are even games specifically designed to teach you to work in teams. These are called Massively Multiplayer Online Role-play games or MMORPGs (there will be a quiz afterward). These games require team work and cooperation. Each person is assigned a specific role and they must accomplish that role. Life is similar

Let’s look at how you play a game in your dorm or apartment. You get a group of friends together and decide the best trade off the controllers, you might say to one friend, “Hey I know you are good at driving so you do that level and I’m good at solving puzzles so I will do that level.”

In life you must work on teams and joining with people that shore up your weaknesses and magnify your strengths. Be a team player

Finally games teach you to be life long learners. Well made video games require you to take knowledge from one level and apply it to the next. Life is the same way. Be a life long learner.

Know that Bloomsburg university has prepared you to move to progressively more difficult levels in your life.

Today, you complete the college level but don’t put down that controller yet, tomorrow you move to the next level. For some of you it may be the “graduate school Level” for some it is the “undecided level” (and as an aside if you are undecided Bloomsburg has a great masters’ program in instructional technology you may want to consider, the professors are a little quirky but) for others it maybe the “Professional Level” or the “Premed Level” for other still it might be the “move back home level” (this hopefully is a short level)

But regardless of what level, know that Bloomsburg university, actually more than video games has taught you to be resilient, a problem solver, to work cooperatively and to become life long learners. Those lessons will help you to be successful

And finally remember, today is not “Game over” instead, its “Congratulations, you’ve made it to the next level!”

It was an honor to speak and I really enjoyed the graduates. I hope they had as much fun listening to the speech as I did presenting it.
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Out and About: Presentation at ASTD Mid-NJ Chapter

Here is a picture of the great folks from the ASTD Mid-NJ chapter. The photo is taken from the presenter's perspective.
Last night I had the pleasure of speaking to the Mid-NJ Chapter of ASTD on one of my favorite topics “Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning.”

It was a great event. I got to see a former students, CAC members, meet people whom I’d only spoken to on the phone and got to meet again Steve Woodruff whom I met at SPBT last year and with whom I’ve corresponed a number of times. Actually, Steve arranged to have me speak at the meeting.

The audience asked great questions, made good points and made me think about some of the assumptions in my presentation…a great success all the way around.

You can link to a write up on the even from the Mid-MJ ASTD blog at an entry calledTraining the Gamer Generation

You can read Steve’s impressions of the events on his Impactiviti blog with an entry of the same name called Training the Gamer Generation

Several attendees asked about downloading the sides from the presentation. You can download the Games, Gadgets, and Gizmos: Transferring Knowledge from Boomers to Gamers slides here.

If you attended the event, please drop a note or comment. It would be great to have you contribute to this blog.
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Learning Circuits Big Question: Avoiding Death by PowerPoint

This month the Learning Circuits Blog Big Question is about PowerPoint.

The question: PowerPoint: What is Appropriate? When and Why?

I decided to create a demonstration showing good and bad uses of PowerPoint to make a particular point.

You can watch the short presentation (less than 10 minutes) by clicking on this link to the presentation Avoiding Death by PowerPoint. The presentation shows animated examples and how I converted some traditional slides into slides that are much more effective.

I thought with a subject like PowerPoint...visuals were a must.
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

CAC Digest: 2007 Event

Twice every year our Department of Instructional Technology holds its capstone event. Our Corporate Advisory Council Event. Alumni and professionals from the field return to the Bloomsburg Campus to participate in the event. The first day of the event is when Corporations show off what they are doing in terms of learning and e-learning to each other and to the students (who are all potential employees).

On the following day, the tables are turned and the students present their solution to a mock e-learning RFP.

The final day consists of a business/curriculum meeting between the staff of the department and the corporate professionals, a chance for students to interview with companies and always a great "trends in the industry" presentation by our own Helmut Doll.

Here is a link to the assignment and subsequent student proposals. Remember these are all students who created these documents.

Here is a digest of the CAC links, both in the blog and on alumni blogs (a first), of the 2007 event.

• Kapp Notes: Spring 2007 CAC
  
• Kapp Notes: Spring 2007 CAC: The Phoenix Group and Xerox Corporation Presentation
  
• Kapp Notes: Spring 2007 CAC: NXLevel
  
• Kapp Notes: Spring 2007 CAC: Black and Decker
  
• Kapp Notes: Spring 2007 CAC: Banker's Edge
  
• Kapp Notes: Spring 2007 CAC: Pal-Tech
  
• Kapp Notes: Spring CAC 2007: ESP Systems
  
• Kapp Notes: Spring CAC 2007: Ardent Learning
  
  Thursday and the CAC Teams of Students
  
• Kapp Notes: CAC Meetings
  
• Kapp Notes: CAC Teams: Elan
  
• Kapp Notes: CAC Teams: Think e-Design
  
• Kapp Notes: CAC Teams: A New Day
  
• Kapp Notes: CAC Teams: Emagine
  
• Kapp Notes: Bloomsburg University's CAC Event
  
  Alumni Blogs about CAC
  
• Nicole's Blog
  
• Joe Mendrzycki's Blog
  
• Stacey's Blog

If I missed any alumni blogs, please let me know, I'll be glad to add. This event is held every November and April and is a great place to look for potential employees and to learn about the field. It is open to the public so let me know if you are interested.
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Hard Sell: Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning

One issue I address in Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning is how to overcome the fear some managers, tenured faculty and executives have of online games and "newfangled gadgets." This unspoken fear can make the "selling" of games, gadgets or gizmos for learning difficult.

First, if we look at it from their perspective, we would be a little fearful as well. They don't know how to play with them or use them. They are unknown. The managers and executives refer back to what they know. As would anyone.

Executives, faculty and managers know what happens in a classroom: they've been in dozens. They know where to sit if you are not particularly interested (in the back), they know how to ask a question (raise your hand), they even know how to pretend to be interested (ask a question concerning the last thing the trainer said). They now even have a vague idea of what happens in online learning. Click to the multiple choice question, answer it until you get it right and move on.

Not so with an online game or simulation. Not so with using an MP3 player or a video iPod. An intuitive interface to a person who has grown up with games, simulations or gadgets is not intuitive to someone who has only learned to use technologies later in life (early 20s and beyond.)

A person can go through a period of deep frustration when they repeatedly fail at mastering a game or using a gadget properly. If this happens, the person will then assume that everyone will have the same problems and therefore, the game or gadget is not productive...a waste of time and money.

So one method is to team up a non-techy (boomer) with a techy (gamer) and allow the gamer and boomer to learn together how to work a gadget or play a training game. This is the concept of "Reverse Mentoring" which has been around for a number of years.

The real advantage here is that not only will information be exchanged concerning the game or gadgets, but the pair will also transfer other knowledge that can be valuable to the organization.

Think about the design of training classes or mentoring sessions, do you team up younger employees with veterans? If you are in a college, is the "new faculty orientation" devoid of experienced faculty...can you bring the two together?

Do you set the expectation that employees should learn from each other in a mutually beneficial way? Do you encourage the experienced employee to take the time to share war stories and let them know that younger employees can help with the technology?

Do you encourage younger employees to pay careful attention to the stories and information conveyed by the veterans. Sometimes younger employees need to be told what is important to learn and how it is going to be taught...through stories or observation.

Designers of learning events need to also set learning expectations within the organization not just within e-learning or classroom learning events. Let all the employees know that they can learn valuable information from each other regardless of their tenure with the organization. Learning is not top down.

Also, just received an article from The New York Times that states that the newest world being conquered by video games is that of retirees. One nursing home operator with 18 campuses around the country and 19,000 residences is installing Wii consoles at each location.

Maybe the problem with gadgets and games is the interface. An easy-to-use interface may break down a perceived bias against games, maybe games aren't the problem, maybe it is the interface.

__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

TrainingDay Post: Combine Simple Games and Information

This week over at TrainingDay blog, my post is titled Combine Simple Games and Information.

Why not create distracting "casual games" that also educate customers or employees. Why do all the learning games have to be "serious." Let's make learning games fun and learning more "accidental" than forced. Perhaps less focus on Immersive Learning Simulations and more focus on fun and games. Fun is motivational and engaging.

Also, thanks to Bart at Virtual Learning Worlds for leading me to the game I posted about on TrainingDay.
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

MP3s for Everyone

I have been having a “technology in schools discussion” with one of my readers who mentioned that it is too expensive to place electronic gadgets like MP3 players or iPods in schools and since every student can’t have one, we shouldn’t use these gadgets.

As he states

Many schools ARE attempting to integrate new technology, but really, most can't afford the newest technology. You can't integrate cell phones or media players or PDAs into the curriculum UNLESS EVERYONE HAS ONE. Otherwise it is just an unfair advantage to those who do.

I don’t buy the too expensive argument. At all. Instead, it is a matter of priorities.

I think schools can afford MP3 players if they are clever about it. I did some pricing of textbooks.

• Physical Science book for 6th grade $63.97
  
• Mathematics book for grades 6-8 $52.47
  
• Spelling book for 7th grade $16.95 (consumable)
  
• American History for 7th grade $67.47
  
• Reading book for 6th grade $47.97

Total text books: $248.83

You can purchase one Phillips 30GB Player player for $159.00 (retail price no educational discount) that can fit most, if not all of the information from those text books. Additionally, the Sony player allows for displaying JPEG image slide shows on the 2-inch color LCD. Replacing only three of the more expensive books in the list of textbooks would more than pay for the MP3 player.

The player could be issued every semester just like books. The Sony MP3 player could be bar coded and tracked if you are worried about them being stolen. So the cost of using a MP3 Player with images is comparable if not MORE cost effective than textbooks.

Why more cost effective? Because the school district could update them every year without having to purchase a complete new set of textbooks. Just upload the new content. Also, teachers could customize the content on the MP3 player by creating their own MP3 files. So schools would gain customizable, updateable content containers for a price equal or less than the price of textbooks. Plus they are more portable and many kids (but not all) already have portable MP3 players. These would just be for the kids who didn’t have them.

As an added benefit, a student could carry with him or her, every book that they needed for every class. This would enable schools to cut down on time between classes because students would not need to go to their locker between classes because all the content would be on the 30GB MP3 player. More time for education.

But we can’t do away with textbooks, you may say.
Ok, let’s look at what schools are spending on other items. Like football uniforms (the same schools that ‘can’t afford’ MP3 players for all the students.)

Again, I did some pricing:

• Youth football Jersey $28.50
  
• Youth football helmut $89.99
  
• Shoulder Pads $37.99
  
• Youth Football Pants 25.90
  
• Protective Mouth piece 14.99
  
• 7 Piece pad set 14.99

Total = $212.35

For less than the price of a football uniform, students could be equipped with MP3 players. Schools find money for textbooks and football uniforms, yet they can’t find the money for MP3 players?

Integrating technology into schools is not an issue of affordability, it is an issue of priority.


__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Learning Through Reality-based Video Games

Here are three reality-based video games...what can they teach us about creating effective learning events?



Over at Tony Karrer's eLearning Technology, he has an entry titled Learning from Sports Games where he writes how a video game (MVP Baseball) has helped his son learn the rules of baseball.

My son has been playing MLB '07 The Show, a similar baseball game, and one thing that struck me was that in the tutorial section, the player is put into a number of game situations where he must bat and field. The situation is specific to the player. So, my son plays first base, every once in the while, he is in the field and the ball is hit to the first baseman so he practices what he needs to do. The ball isn't hit to center field or the pitcher. It is hit to where my son can get specific practice.

Situated practice for an actual situation. Great use of video games for learning. In fact, as my son moves through the Spring Training the system has the following message:

"Fast forwarding to your career player's next event." Now that would be a great learning strategy.

As developers and designers of learning events, we should have our learner "fast forward" to specific tasks they need to complete to be successful on the job and then provide specific, guided practice to them in a virtual environment.

In Tony's post, he refers to a blog entry by Tom Crawford called Rules of the Game. In that entry, Tom talks about how the football sensation Amobi Okoye learned to play American Football.

As Tom states:

When Amobi came to school in the U.S. he had apparently never heard of (or at least certainly never played) American football when an assistant coach encouraged him to try out. While he had the physical abilities, he didn't understand the rules of the game. So what did the coach do? Gave him Madden Football (a very popular video game series from Electronic Arts) and told him to go play.

Amobi's coach is not the only one to use this tactic. In fact the great coach Joe Paterno has been using this trick as well (as reported in a 2005 issue of Sports Illustrated). I wrote about it in Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning

Joe Paterno has been coaching the Penn State football team for over forty years. One trick he has adopted is providing his quarterbacks and receivers with copies of the Penn State Playbook on PlayStation 2 memory card. The players put the card in to the game Madden 2006 and practice plays and run routes virtually. This allows them to be better prepared to run routes and make moves during practices and on game day.

In a similar vain, doctors at the Virtual Reality Medical Center in San Diego use the racing game Midtown Madness to treat patients who have a fear of driving after traumatic car accidents.

On the medical front, a colleague of mine told me he invited a friend who was a surgeon over for dinner one night and was explaining to him about his new Nintendo Wii system and, almost embarrassingly mentioned that he had a game that mimicked surgery called "Trauma Center." Once the surgeon started playing the game, they couldn't get him to eat dinner...he was hooked. He really enjoyed the similarities to actual surgery.

And studies show that surgeons who play video games three hours a week decrease mistakes by 37 percent in laparoscopic surgery and perform the task 27 percent faster than their counterparts who do not play video games...so, you want your surgeons to play games.

Tom Crawford also writes "It makes me wonder what commercial-off-the-shelf games we could be using to help our employees understand the rules of the game."

Interestingly a multiplayer on-line game might just do that for people trying to learn business from a macro-level. You chose a company name, an industry and start producing products but you also have to worry about competitors and other players who will try to out produce you and steal your marketshare. You can borrow money, open additional businesses and try to climb to the top of your industry against others trying to do the same thing. The game is called Industry Player Business Simulation Game.


I like the idea that you compete against others just like actual businesses. You get animated employees to help you make decisions and move along through the process.

Video games have a lot to teach us about how to create effective learning...use the rules and parameters of actual situations to challenge the learner to perform actual tasks in virtual situations. Give the learner "game situations" in which the learner must apply specific knowledge to a specific situation. Use the parameters of actual situations to provide guidance and instruction to learners. Find a video game that contains concepts you want to teach and give it to your learners.

__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Disastrous E-Learning Might Be Good

This week over at TrainingDay blog, my post is titled Disastrous E-Learning Might Be Good

When you consider how to change the behavior of learners, you might want to take a page from the Hollywood disaster movies and add that flair to your e-learning.

-Also, don't forget, you can win a book if you leave a comment on the TrainingDay blog...unfortunately, it's not my book (yet).
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide

Video iPod Comes to Your Glasses

Let's continue the iPod discussion. While schools are banning iPods as fast as they can (see Hire that Kid!), several companies I work with have placed Standard Work Instructions onto iPods. Actually onto video iPods.

The idea is that a worker, away from his or her computer, can quickly look up a specific work task and view a 30 second video of how to perform that task. The Just-In-Time learning allows the worker to see what he or she needs to do and then perform the task.

If you have ever tried to interpert written instructions, you know just how valuable a short video can be for helping to understand exactly what you are supposed to do. A video can show how parts work together or the correct way to move an item from point A to point B.

In fact, my son's Karate instructor uses that exact same technique to refresh his memory of Katas. A Kata is a sequence of moves, kicking, punching, dodging. So, my son's Karate instructor has 100s of Katas loaded onto a hand held video player which he keeps in his pocket. When he want to remember the exact sequence of the Kata, he pulls it out and reviews it. He then teaches the moves to the students.

In this case, he uses the video player to refresh his memory and to enhance his instruction.

In Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning, I write about the use of Visual Job Aids on a portable video player created by a company called EduNeering. Here is some of the passage.

In a recent study at a client organization, one hundred workers in a pharamceutical manufacturing facility needed to learn a new procedure. Fifty of them were given the typcial paper version of the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), and fifty were given the Visual Job Aid version. In a writen test of SOP knowledge, only 42% of those who received the paper SOP passed the test, while 82 percent of those who learened using the Visual Job Aid passed.

Now take that video iPod to the next level and create glasses that allow you to view the video heads-up. This is what a company called MyVu has done.

They have created glasses that you hook up to a video iPod and then can see a "large screen" version right in front of you. Imagine a few modifications to create a heads-up display of a piece of machinary and then provide video-based instructions on how to repair the equipment or make adjustments. Think of the learning implications of the use of a heads up video display powered by a pocket sized iPod...schools will go nuts.
__

Recommended Games and Gadgets
Recommended Books
Content Guide