The Educational Value of Apollo 11

In 1961, when President John F. Kennedy announced the goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade, it was a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG). No country had ever put a man on the moon but a mere eight years later the goal was accomplished. The country geared up and achieved its goal.

What Kennedy did not do was announce "by the end of this decade we will teach more math and science" or "by the end of this decade we will have more standardized tests" or "by the end of this decade we will lengthen the school day."

No, instead he set a goal and motivated the country to work toward that goal.

The educational value wasn't in the education at all, it was in achieving the goal. Education is a means to an end, it is not the end.

When we think of education and learning and development efforts we need to ignore the education and learning pieces and reach for the goal. Learning and development professionals need to be focused on organizational goals...not learning goals.

Enabling the organization is the goal, achieving BHAGs is the mission, bettering the position of people or the company or organization is what we need to achieve. More tests, more training or more homework is not a GOAL. Yet, too often our training and education efforts get in the way of achieving goals.

Our goals need to drive learning, learning cannot be accomplished without goals, without difficult to reach and seemingly unattainable goals. We cannot spend all our time tweaking training when BHAGs need to be met.

Take the lesson of Apollo and putting a man on the moon as a lesson in goal setting...once a goal is set, a vision brought into focus, the learning will follow.

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Funny Look at the Future

Spending a lot of time thinking about the future of learning and the future of technology, it is nice to be grounded every once in a while. Here is a short little video that is funny and grounding.

*Some implied swearing but nothing audible (its beeped)



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Play Games: Become an Engineer

If you have an interest in becoming an engineer or know someone who does. Or if you just like designing vehicles, bridges, buildings, consumer electronics, then there are a lot of really great games for you to check out. Here are a few.

Coconut Run

The Coconut Run Challenge is Issued.
In this game, your job is to design a cart to transport coconuts over a rough and tumble terrain to a coconut shredder. You design the shape, size and other attributes of the vehicle. WARNING: I find this game addicting. Check out Coconut Run when you have a lot of time to devote to building a better coconut cart. You might also want to check out the Particle Pro game at the site as well.


Edheads': Design a Cell Phone

Screen for designing the ideal cell phone.

I always love Edheads's stuff and here is another great example. Design a cell phone. In the game you have to consider design parameters like cost, target market and functionality. You then design the phone by selecting different functions which each have a cost associated with them. You have to pick correctly or you end up over budget or with features your target audience doesn't want. Once you design it, you can conduct a focus group meeting and even view sales results. This is a great game for thinking about design parameters, trade offs and designing for a specific audience.

West Point Bridge Design Contest

Testing the bridge.

This software can be used in a national contest sponsored by West Point (yes, THE West Point.) The downloadable software introduce the player to engineering through an authentic, hands-on design experience. The software provides the tools to model, test, and optimize a steel highway bridge, based on realistic specifications, constraints, and performance criteria. Once you have your bridge built, you can drive a truck across and see how it holds up.


The Brain Strainer

A machine that doesn't quite launch the rocket.

So you think you can be a rocket scientist? This game lets you build a machine (like mousetrap) that helps you launch a rocket. You need to consider simple machine parts and how different materials react to different surfaces. Give The Brain Strainer a shot and launch to the moon.

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Blogger of the Week

Thanks to E-Learning Tyro for naming Kapp Notes the "Blog of the Week" for July 05, 2009 to July 12, 2009. You can read the criteria and entry at Planet’s Pick of the Week Ending July 12, 09.

So thanks to E-Learning Tyro for the shout out.
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Learning in 3D Book Information

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

READING LINE:
How the Immersive Internet will shape the future of learning and work within the Enterprise.

DESCRIPTION:
Learning in 3D provides a clear and cogent analysis of how emerging immersive technologies are changing the nature of business in general and the role of the learning function within the enterprise in particular. Via a comprehensive set of early-adopter case-studies, the authors describe how 3D environments will shape the future of learning and work within the Enterprise. This book also offers an ideal resource for those responsible for teaching the next generation of learning on the Internet. It describes how learning needs to be adapted to 3D environments and includes the tools that learning and development professionals will need in order to advance 3D learning within their organizations.
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Learning in 3D Summer 2009: Class Two

Border crossing created in Second Life for use at Loyalist College.
This class began with a tour of the border patrol work done by Ken Hudson and others at Loyalist College. It took a while but we were able to get everyone assembled and then toured the area and where able to see both the automobile crossing and the location used for air transportation training as well. Impressive.

Here is a video about the project at Loyalist.


We then discussed the Seven Sensibilities of 3D Learning developed by my co-author Tony O'Driscoll.

Here is a video he created on the topic.


We then discussed how 3D learning is a form of storytelling and how learning in third-person might just be a more effective method than learning in first-person. Here is a link to the concept in a blog post I wrote called Accidental Learning and the Power of Stories.
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Amusing Monday Video

It's Monday, its the summer, we'd all rather be outside. So as a bit of cheer, here is a great video about relationships between clients and vendors. Imagine if the behavior of e-learning clients in terms of purchasing services from e-learning vendors seeped into everyday occurrences. If that happened, the resulting would occur...


*Special thanks for Carl, Jenn and Donna for alerting me to this great video.

One possible remedy is to write awesome e-learning RFPs. Might I suggest a resource?


Also see, Top 5 Funny and Semi-Learning Related Videos. If you want even more laughs on this Monday.

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NOAA: Advice for Federal Agencies about Virtual Worlds & a Great Interactive Example

Waiting for the tsunami to hit on NOAA's island in Second Life.

Check out this article, Living NOAA's Second Life

It is about how the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)--a government agency--is using a virtual world to reach into the future and it has some great advice on considerations before launching into a virtual world.

My advice to other federal agencies interested in virtual worlds is to define your goals before you break ground. Use the numbers in terms of visitors, time spent on the site, etc., to help refine your design and improve your conversion rate to your goal.

Start small by focusing on a topic that is of interest to local management. Wow a manager with an easily understandable and relatively cheap application. Don't be shy about asking questions and fostering a sense of community development...as described by Eric Hackathorn who is, among other things, co-chairman of the Metrics and Research Working Group at the Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds

They are also working on some forward thinking applications for virtual worlds and data sets.

One recent prototype we call Second Earth attempted to blend the capabilities of tools like Google Earth or Microsoft Virtual Earth with the collaborative capabilities of Second Life. You can fly through and remotely collaborate about a real-time dataset.

Some resources and articles on the topic:

NOAA Comes to Second Life
(great images)

A New Wave of Learning

Meteora (SLURL Link to NOAA island)

Okeana
(SLURL Link to NOAA island)

If you haven't checked out NOAA's island in Second Life, you really need to have a visit.

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Designing a Virtual Immersive Environment for Learning? Some Considerations.

Supervising a construction project.
Here are a few considerations when thinking about developing a virtual learning environment in a 3D world.

Synchronous or Asynchronous. One of the first decisions to make in designing a 3D Learning Environment (3DLE) is to determine if the learning will occur in a synchronous environment led by an instructor or an asynchronous environment where the learner proceeds at his or her own pace. Or will it be a combination of both? Virtual blending. This decision will influence much of your design and building of the in-world environment.

Sequence and Instructional Elements. Designing the 3DLE requires careful consideration of the entire educational experience of the learner. What happens first? What is the pace of the instruction? How do learners interact? Where and when should a debrief occur? Drawing out the learning event helps it function more smoothly and effectively.

Environment and Structures. The creation of the environment in which the learning takes place is an important consideration. This involves determining the level of realism but, even more than that large decision; it requires consideration of the type of structures and spaces that are created to facilitate the learning.

Consider the Debrief. One important element of learning in an interactive environment is to provide a proper level of debriefing so the learner can understand the experience they had and reflect upon their learning. In fact, reflection is a critical element in learning. The debriefing process can be important for both a synchronous learning experience as well as an asynchronous experience.

Design Outside of Reality. Since one strong advantage of virtual learning worlds is that they can be used to create extraordinary places and have the ability to transport learners back in time, into the future or to the heart of danger. Create environments that excite the senses, that are fun and that are educationally challenging.

Don't forget to Storyboard. Because the development of a 3DLE is complex and multi-layered, many developers first design the 3DLE with a storyboard and actually build the environment only after the storyboards have been created and the learning event “walked through.” The step of creating a storyboard helps to ensure that environment that is create encourages the desired learning and that the expensive development process run more effectively because of the visual indication of the process. This is similar to the storyboard process used to create movies or other types of online learning.

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Learning in 3D Summer 2009: Class One

Getting the class together in SL.

Recently, we had our first summer class of the course "Learning in 3D," the class focuses on how to create 3D learning spaces and how to use those spaces effectively to promote learning and to leverage the wonderful attributes of 3D.

First we talked about different levels of Gamers (Game 1.0-4.0). To find out what level gamer you are, consider playing Gamer Rater. (created by an awesomely talented group of students (Nicole Clark, Heather Gee, Aaron Kennelly and David Robbins..special thanks to Heather Gee for key updates.)

We then discussed the definition of a Metaverse and went on to discuss a little about the evolution of avatars.
Evolution of avatars (thanks again Heather Gee).

We then discussed different kids focused simulations, simulated games and virtual worlds like:

Simulations at Edheads.

Disney's Hot Shot Business

Club Penguin

America's Army

River City Project

We then discussed some Second Life statistics to see how big that world has become.

We then discussed the metaverse hype cycle and how the death of virtual worlds have been greatly exaggerated.

We then jumped into the virtual world of Second Life to have a look around and in an upcoming week, we'll be jumping into Protosphere to gain a corporate perspective on these worlds.

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Triathalon Training Should be the Model for All Learning

Recently, I completed my first-ever sprint triathlon. in Avalon, NJ. It is called the Islandman Triathalon. It is called a "sprint" for real triathlon pros because it is so short, they sprint it. For me, I just called it a triathlon.

I was able to complete the 1/4 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 5K beach run in 1:34. My wife is a great athlete and she joined me in the race. She was a little faster at 1:21, she finished number 17 in the women's master's group. My son even ran a kid's triathlon. The family had a great time competing in the event.
Karl and Nancy before the start of the Islandman.
The neat thing about the event is the preparation that goes into running a triathlon and the different levels of mastery. Being my first "tri" I was really nervous about what to expect and about the transition between swimming and biking and between biking and the run. The "veterans" had it all worked out. They knew what they were doing. Me, as a newbie, lacked some really nice-to-have equipment but still managed to compete within the race and finish.

One-third of the race is over, off to the bike.
To run the tri, we trained for six weeks. We started slowly and then worked our way to full preparation. Sure, I could have used a few more weeks but doing a little bit every day was a helpful way to prepare my mind and body.

Dismounting the bike to begin the run.

So what lessons can be drawn between training for a triathlon and creating effective learning?

First, doing a little bit each day can lead to big results. One day we would swim, one day lift weights, etc. The training eventually became more and more involved. We didn't start out doing all three sports, instead we built a foundation (base) and went from there. When creating a learning program, instead of doing an 8 hour mind dump onto the poor learners and expecting them to remember everything they have been taught, it is much better to provide a little bit of instruction on a regular basis and build knowledge over time. With technology tools, this is very possible.
The run portion was through the sand, tough to move quickly in sand.
Second, preparation is important but you need experience at "the real event" to solidify the learning. I looked at all the YouTube videos on Transitions. Here is a sample. Spoke to people who have competed in tris and really did my homework but nothing can prepare you for race day except being at race day. In the learning and development field, we have a lot of tools for preparing people for the real work activity but when it comes right down to it, the person has to perform in the actual environment to actually understand the thousands of nuances involved. We, as learning and development professionals, can do a lot to prepare our learners but in the end, they need to experience the "real thing" and be prepared for chaos of the real job but realize that the preparation and their own acumen will get them through the experience. We are the trainers perparing them for "the big event."

Third, training for a tri needs to be difficult. I would not have had the confidence, motivation or belief that I could complete the triathlon without having had some grueling training sessions and even running a full version of the race before the actual race day. The difficult but rewarding practice enabled me to be successful on race day. Too often in learning events, we "dumb down" questions, scenarios and exercises so the learners don't get frustrated or think they are being "tricked" but, too often on the job and in real-life, situations happen that are tricky, difficult and frustrating. If we don't prepare them with the proper training for the difficult situations they will encounter, we are doing them a disservice. The practice triathlon was tough but it was critical to my success in the actual race. Our learning events need to be tough.

I'm looking forward to applying these rules to my development of learning events and to bettering my time next year!
Felt good to be done!
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Preventing Violence

Poster highlighting domestic violence conference.

With all the talk on this blog about violence in sports and video games, I wanted to take a moment to talk about preventing violence. The past few weeks, I have had the privilege to work with wonderful people at the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV).

This wonderful organization works tirelessly to help prevent domestic violence and they do a lot of training. The PCADV trainers are away from home frequently. On these trips, they provide education and awareness to health care workers, law enforcement personnel, welfare caseworkers and others about domestic violence and how to recognize and prevent it. They are beginning to place some of the instruction and information online and that is where I was able to provide some insights.

Karl teaching about instructional design to members from of the PCADV.

Through a grant, Bloomsburg University is helping to create online learning for PCADV and to provide the trainers with knowledge and ideas on how to place some of their information online. Obviously a topic like domestic violence requires face-to-face instruction and information but there is some room for online learning opportunities as well. I am helping them to figure out what goes online and what should be face-to-face.

I want to thank Nancy, Tracy and everyone else for such a delightful learning opportunity working with the group and helping to make them better designers, developers and deliverers of instruction.

As a fun little side note: I learned not to use the phrase "rule of thumb." I had used the phrase in class and then Laurie jokingly said, "who wants to tell him about the origin of the phrase?"

It turns out that rule of thumb, in some circles, was thought to refer to a rule in the 1800s that stated it was permissible for a man to beat his wife with a stick as long as the thickness of the stick was smaller than the thickness of his thumb. While this origin for the phrase is up for some debate. (see Wikipedia "rule of thumb"), it is still a good idea to always remember that domestic violence is a horrible crime and we all need to be involved to prevent it.

Hopefully my conducting the classes will help in some small way and soon, I am sure, they will be putting some great information into online learning events.

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Webinar and Workshop: Post Cards from the 3D Edge: Learning in Second Life

In a few weeks, on August 12, 19, 26 and September 2, 2009. I will be giving a workshop titled "Navigating Second Life" which will provide educators, corporate trainers and others with information on how the 3D world of Second Life can been used to foster and promote informal and formal learning by presenting the basics of Second Life and describing how those basics can be used to create meaningful instruction. The sessions are from 1:00 – 3:00 PM Eastern Time.

If you are interested in a sneak peak check out the overview session conducted on July 27 from 1:00-2:00 PM Eastern Time.

Here is a description of the introductory session:

Visiting a strange new 3D virtual world can be confusing. Where do you go? What do you do? How do you dress? Where are the “coolest” places to go? This Soapbox session will introduce you to exciting and interesting places within the 3D world of Second Life. The tour will be conducted with an eye toward learning and develop applications. Your tour guide will show you how certain learning designs like role-plays, scavenger hunts and conceptual orienteering are being employed to provide realistic, productive and useful learning.

The visit includes “post cards” of educationally focused sites. It will give you hints, techniques and insights into creating educational opportunities within 3D spaces. We’ll discuss what works and what doesn’t work in 3D and see examples of both. You don’t want to miss this exciting tour.

If you want to sign up for the initial session or the entire workshop, go to InSync Navigating Second Life Class. Sign up quickly, class size is limited.
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What Sports Teach Our Kids and Why Video Games are Better.

Violence at a Youth Hockey Game.

Introduction

Recently I appeared on a local radio talk show to speak about some of the benefits of Video Games for education. It is a popular topic for radio talk shows because it is somewhat controversial and many people have strong opinions on the topic (not really based on fact but strong opinions never-the-less.) You can listen to the show and see some of the interesting comments at the link Educating through video games -- Radio Smart Talk, Tuesday, June 23

On the show one of the callers accused me of just pointing out the positive aspects of video games and ignoring the negative aspects and then he went on to explain why organized kids sports were so much better at teaching kids life skills like, teamwork, cooperation, sportsmanship, over coming adversity, etc. Then he contended that video games can't teach ethics, empathy or other important skills. The implication is that kids learn far more positive lessons in organized kids sports than playing video games.

This is a common argument and seems to have merit on the surface but it has always bothered me. Do sports always teach these laudable values? Are organized kids sports "perfect" teachers of morals and teamwork while video games are "evil."

To determine if this is right, I did some research to find out just what kids learn playing organized sports.

Lessons Taught via Organized Kids Sports

Here are some of the lessons:

Humiliation builds character.
This lesson was taught by basketball coach Micah Grimes who's high school girl's basketball team beat a winless opponent 100 to zero. According to one article "The defeated, scoreless team had eight girls on its varsity roster and about 20 girls total in its high school. The team was winless over four previous seasons. The school for those girls specializes in teaching students struggling with 'learning differences,' such as short attention spans or dyslexia."

The opposing coach denies running up the score (which is up for debate) and in a letter to the editor, he wrote "We experienced a blowout almost 4 years ago [not 100 to 0] and it was painful, but it made us who we are today. I believe in the lessons that sports teach us. Competition builds character, and teaches us to value selflessness, hard work, and perseverance." So I guess the lesson from coach is if you humiliate another team 100 to nothing you are making them better.

According to Coach Grimes, he wasn't humiliating that team or running up the score, he was simply teaching those girls a valuable sports lesson, he was building character by humiliating them by as large a margin as possible so they'd be better later...that's the sports logic. I'm sure those girls are better today having been beaten by 100 points, 80 just wouldn't have the same "positive impact."

Here is the coaches letter. And here is an article on the game.

Kick the other team when they are down.
While it is debatable if Coach Grimes ran up the score or not (although it is tough to score 100 points in basketball no matter who the opponent is without trying), I do know for a fact that in some soccer leagues, ties and ranking are not only based on how many games you've won but are based on score differentials. The difference between the number of goals your team scores and the number of goals scored against you. What that means is the more goals a team scores in one season the more likely they are to win ties and to even have a higher overall ranking. This practice encourages running up the score which I have witnessed (17-0 U10 boys.) The incentive is to score as much as you can against a weaker opponent because you then have more goals overall. Kick them when they are down, you'll be rewarded for it later.


Winning means everything so do it at all costs.
In an unfortunate incident, two men, Michael Costin, a hockey coach, and father Thomas Junta got into an altercation. It occurred when Junta became angry about slashing and checking in what was supposed to be a non-contact hockey scrimmage, which Costin was supervising. Junta saw another player elbow his son in the face and yelled. Costin replied, "That's hockey." The two men then got into a scuffle near the locker rooms. The boys father, Junta, punched Costin repeatedly in the head and Costinlater died of head trauma.

Read the article here.

Here are additional stories, not at the level of life or death, but of adult mis-behavior at kids sporting events..

The first paragraph from above referenced article is chilling: El Paso youth football games were always rowdy events. But in one memorable year there were two stabbings, a gunfight, and numerous attacks on officials -- all caused by parents taking their children's games too seriously...After one huge melee one parent stabbed another in the head with a down marker while 8- and 9-year-old players watched in horror."

Lessons learned? Perhaps a new use for a down marker. Maybe the kids were learning problem-solving...if you don't have a knife handy and you want to stab someone, think of outside the box...what else is sharp enough at a football game for me to insert it into someone's head. Another valuable sports lesson.

It is ok to scream, insult, yell obscenities and even injure certain people, if you don't agree with them.
Here a just a couple of referee and umpire abuse stories. I am sure you've witnessed some yourself. These are from the National Association of Sports Officials who, unfortunately, have a long list.

In November 2004, a soccer referee was attacked by a youth coach at halftime of a match between 8- and 9-year-olds in the East Bay city of Albany

A parent body-slammed a high school basketball referee after he ordered the man’s wife out of the gym for allegedly yelling obscenities during a basketball game. The referee was treated at a hospital for a concussion and released after the attack.

Roger Bratcher, a father of a T-ball player was briefly jailed after an outburst against an umpire during a game involving 5- and 6-year-olds. The accused threatened to beat the umpire moments before walking onto the field and starting a fight with Eddie Smith, who was officiating the game, according to the criminal complaint. A girl who was playing in the game suffered a minor injury when she was struck in the face during the scuffle.

Also see Violence in Kids Sports for more examples.

And read Abrasive coaches, parents threaten youth sports.

Cheat to win, lie if need be.
In order to win the Little League World Series, coaches illegally played a boy who was two years older than any other boy in the league. First time I saw the boy on TV, I knew he was older than 12 but apparently his parents, coaches and others were clueless...ask long as they were winning.

And the false birth certificate didn't help either. The boy who dominated the Little League World Series in 2005 with his 70 mph fastballs was ruled ineligible after government records experts determined he actually is 14, and that birth certificates showing he was two years younger were false..."Clearly, adults have used this boy and his teammates in a most contemptible and despicable way," said Stephen D. Keener, president and CEO of Little League Baseball in South Williamsport, PA.

However, the founder of the Bronx league in which the boy was allowed to play took no responsibility. He stated, "I trust all the parents in the league to present original documents," said Paulino, who was flanked by team members and parents. "If the parents lie to the league that is not my problem." Did he look at the kid? Didn't the obvious skills gap raise a red flag? The boy clearly not 12. When it means the difference between winning and loosing, some things like rules tend to get overlooked. Ooops. The lesson? cheat if you can get away with it and look the other way if it means you can win a few more games.

Read the story here.

If your team has bad players, get rid of them anyway you can.
Mark R. Downs, a T-ball coach, was convicted of offering an 8-year-old money ($25) to bean an autistic teammate so he couldn't play in an important game was convicted Thursday of two lesser charges against him, and evaded more serious charges. The lesson? Kill the weak, autistic kids shouldn't play baseball, not seeing sportsmanship here, empathy, ethics...anyone? Maybe the coach was teaching the value of money?

Here is the sad article.

Playing Time is Life and Death
In Philadelphia a father pulled a .357 Magnum on his son's football coach, enraged that his son wasn't getting enough playing time -- in an Under-7 Pee Wee football game. Teamwork is the lesson, the father and the coach were working together to get more playing time for the seven year old (sorry under 7).

This comes from an excellent article on the topic titled: Parents, coaches who need time-outs Adult violence at kids' sports sets a terrible example

Conclusion

Ok, ok, you say, "but Karl these are a few isolated incidents, you are just picking out the most violent incidents." Unfortunately, this is a growing trend. Nationwide, incidents of violence among parents involved in youth sports quadrupled between 2000 and 2005 according to Fred Engh, founder and CEO of the National Alliance for Youth Sports. The National Association of Sports Officials receives more than 100 reports annually that involve physical contact between coaches, players, fans and officials.

These are real incidents of violence as opposed to the fictitious violence portrayed in some video games. These are real people pulling real guns, using real fists and endangering real lives. I ask is a child safer playing a video game where the interactions are not real or participating in an event that is likely to turn violent? The kids are witnessing real role-models behaving horribly.

Contrast the violent, win-at-all-cost narcissistic attitude that exudes from kids sports with the traits taught by video games (according to a joint commission of the National Federation of Scientists, the National Science Foundation and the non-profit group, the Entertainment Software Association.) The positive traits of video games:

• Many video games require players to master skills in demand by today’s employers—strategic and analytical thinking, problem solving, planning and execution, decision-making,and adaptation to rapid change.
  
• Video games can be used to practice practical skills and important skills that are rarely used, to train for high-performance situations in a low-consequence-for-failure environment, and for team building.
  
• Video Games offer attributes important for learning—clear goals, lessons that can be practiced repeatedly until mastered, monitoring learner progress and adjusting instruction to learner level of mastery, closing the gap between what is learned and its use, motivation that encourages time on task, personalization of learning, and infinite patience.

When you contrasts the lessons learned from kids sports and compare the worst in kids sports (which is becoming the norm) with the worst in video games...kids sports are far more violent, dangerous and corrupting than an innocent video game where no real persons are injured, threatened or endangered.
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On the Air: Speaking about Video Games on NPR Station WITF

On June 23rd, I am a guest on local NPR station WITF which is a public broadcasting network for central Pennsylvania (where I live). The discussion starts at 9:00 AM EST.

Check out a preview of the interview, Educating Through Video Games. Please stop by a leave a comment or two. What do you think about the topic? What questions would you like to have answered? What examples can you think of that show video games are good for learning?

If you want to listen to the interview live on the web go to 93.3 live. Remember, it starts at 9:00 AM on June 23rd.

Also, as part of the radio interview process, I wrote an article about the role video games can play in education. So checkout Eyes on Our Educators - Central PA Magazine, July 2009 to see the article. Again, please stop by and a leave a comment and your reaction to the article.

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Enterprisewide Development Application: STT Trainer

The lesson layout screen for STT Trainer.

I had a great conversation and demonstration the other day with Scott and Stephen from STT Trainer. The product supports rapid authoring of simulation-based training for IT applications. It is designed for collaborative development of simulations across an organization.

The application allows you to create a demo of how a piece of software works or provide guided practice or even test the learner with no hints or help. The software also has a great Laser Beam function.

The Laser Beam function helps a learner find relevant interaction spots quickly.When activated, it lights up to lead the learner's eye to the interaction spot. This speeds up finding an icon, but still requires the learner to select it by themselves.

Portal showing all the course options which are easily accessible from one menu.

If you are thinking about an enterprise roll-out of ERP or other software, STT Trainer is one option you should investigate. It is one of those best kept secrets that should not be a secret.
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Simulations and Learning how to run a "Code"

My presentation at the Johns Hopkins Medicine Simulation Center was a lot of fun. I got the chance to work with a great group of educators and demonstrate an interactive audience response system and several computer-based simulations. During the course of the workshop, we had lots of fun discussing the best methods for transferring knowledge from Boomers to Gamers.

As part of the workshop, I got to experiment and see some of the medical mannequins and tools they use to help train future nurses.

I got the opportunity to run a "code" with a life-sized simulation dummy (we called him Mr. Wham) in Johns Hopkins Medicine Simulation Center. The computer controlled patient was given a heart attack and a team of nurse educators and myself (who played the patient's son)then simulated the process of trying to save the patient--complete with injections and CPR. It was interesting.

Helping out with a simulated "code."

The simulation was timed and observers behind a one way piece of glass evaluated our performance.

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Innovations in Learning Technology and What it Means to Nursing Education

Today I am presenting to a group at Johns Hopkins concerning nursing education and technology.

Here is a link to a page that contains the handout.


And here are the slides for the presentation.

NursingInnovations in Learning Technology and What it Means to Nursing Education

View more OpenOffice presentations from kkapp.

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Tips for Teaching Problem Solving Skills

One of the best methods of teaching learners how to solve a problem is through the use of case studies and branching stories.

A goal of a problem solving e-learning module is to present a problem to the learner that closely approximates an actual situation the learner will encounter on the job.

Include the following in your case study to teach problem solving:

 Provide practice

 Needs to be realistic

 Job related

 Relevant to the learner

 Encourages learner to think


Once the problem is presented, have the online learners analyze the available information, develop a course of action, and explore their decisions as they relate to the case according to pre-developed questions which branch from location to location.

During this process, the learners need to be encouraged to use metacognition*. The process of solving the case allows the learners to apply the rules, procedures, and concepts learned earlier to a new problem in a safe environment. The effective e-learning module asks questions to guide the learner through the process but doesn’t actually “give answers.” The learners need to develop solutions on their own. Online this can be a link to a “coach” or “mentor.”

Solving problems in a safe environment provides the learner with a high level of comfort when he or she actually encounters a similar situation on the job. The investment in time to develop and administer cases studies is paid back in terms of increased learning and retention of information.

*Metacognition

Metacognition is simply the educational term for “thinking about thinking.” Learners need to be taught to think about how they think.

Research suggests that emphasis on metacognition during training significantly improves the subsequent ability of the learners to solve problems. Typically, an expert problem solver monitors his or her performance while solving a problem. The expert will analyze how they are looking at the parts of the problem, access the logic they are using to reach a conclusion, predict outcomes, compare and contrast with former problem solving sessions, weight their conclusions and then offer a solution to the problem.

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Learning in 3D Outline

Tony posted the outline for Learning in 3D on his blog Learning Matters...check it out.

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Learning in 3D Manuscript is Done!

Here it is the 403 double spaced manuscript for Learning in 3D...the book Tony O'Driscoll and I have written (with input from tons of others.) The book is scheduled for release in early 2010. Now onto making sure the images meet the needs of the publisher.
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Examples of Using Virtual 3D Spaces for Learning

Here are some interesting examples of using virtual worlds for learning, manufacturing and business:

In the manufacturing arena, the level of complexity of today’s assembly lines cannot be accomplished with two-dimensional visualization. A virtual 3D world is needed to make sure all of the manufacturing equipment and human employees work together flawlessly. The use of a 3D world can lead to significant savings. A small manufacturing plant can realize an annual savings of one million dollars and a 5 to 1 annual return on investment. A medium size plant can realize an eight million dollar savings with an 8 to 1 return on annual investment and a large manufacturing plant can see a $50 to $100 million annual savings with an annual return on investment of as high as 10 to 1. Read the article here.

At the car company of Mercedes-Benz, the use of a virtual world simulating the manufacture of an aluminum component for an S-class coupe saved the company time and money. Initially after the assembly line was conceived and developed, a compression-modeling die did not manufacture components correctly in the virtual world so changes were made until the virtual world produced the correct part. If the problem had not been discovered and changed in the virtual stage, it would have been a three to six month delay and several thousand dollars to repair the process on the actual production floor. Overall use of the virtual world has resulted in cost reductions of up to 30 percent in several areas of vehicle planning for the luxury car company. [from paper-based article: Tambascio, S. (2004) The virtual world meets the factory, Tooling & Production (2004) pages 38-40]

IBM’s Academy of Technology held a virtual conference and annual meeting and estimated a savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars. With an initial investment of roughly $80,000, IBM estimates that they saved over $250,000 in travel and venue costs and more than $150,000 in additional productivity gains (since participants were already at their computers and could dive back into work immediately) for a total of $320,000.

Grades in a program at Loyalist College to prepare students for service as a Canadian Border Patrol Officers increased 37% over a two year period after the introduction of a virtual role play within a virtual learning world. Loyalist College Border Service students participate in a simulated Canadian border crossing using Second Life - created by the Virtual World Design Centre, Loyalist College, Belleville, Ontario.



As an added bonus, here is an article describing how virtual reality and assembly simulations in manufacturing are being combined.

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Implementing New Learning Technology? Choose the Right Pilot Group

Before a large scale implementation of any new learning technology, you really need to run a pilot group. You need to catch problems on a small scale and then adjust, correct and modify based on the feedback and experience of the pilot group. Skipping a pilot of a new technology is a dangerous gamble. It could be, as they say, "career limiting."

So I suggest a carefully chosen pilot group, but, you might ask, what does that pilot group "look like"? Here are some suggestions if your are implementing a virtual learning world or Highly Immersive Vitual Environment (HIVE).

• High Technology Comfort Level—You don’t want to provide initial access to virtual worlds to a group that is not comfortable with technology. Choose a group who has historically used and embraced technology and are comfortable using technology as a productivity enhancer. This is especially true since navigation can be difficult at first within virtual worlds.
  
  
• Mix in Some Not So Comfortable Folks as Well-If everyone in your group loves and has a high comfort level with technology, you are not going to get an accurate view of how the technology will roll out to the entire organization. So, while it is good to have a lot of people with a high comfort level, make sure you recruit some people that are not so comfortable (if eveyone is uncomfortable with the technology then the pilot will not be successful so you need a mix.)
  
  
• Choose a Relatively Small Group—With lots of employees spread out all over the place, it is important to start the virtual world project with a manageable group so that any initial unexpected complications can be worked out efficiently with a group who understands that the technology adoption cycle will have a few “rough edges” before it is completely perfected.
  
  
• If you are in a regulated industry, get Legal and Regulatory Personnel Involved from the Beginning—Form a committee that includes individuals from the legal and regulatory department. Many questions concerning the use of virtual worlds will be encountered by legal and regulatory personnel and the earlier the department or departments is involved, the better. Even if you are not in a regulatory environment, you might want to check with those folks.
  
  
• Get Information Technology Personnel Involved from the Beginning—Just as Legal and Regulatory need to be involved early, so does the information technology department. Inevitably with new technologies, complications will arise, you need the IT staff on board to help quickly overcome technical options. This is especially true with virtual world technologies.
  
  
• Choose a Group Interested in the Potential of Virtual Worlds—Choose a group interested in the business advantages of HIVEs. They will spend more time and effort working through the technology to get it working correctly and they will tend to be more comfortable with technology issues they encounter because they will see the busines potential. The pilot group needs to have both technology savvy individuals as well as people focused on business outcomes.
  
  
• Choose a Group that is Easy to Track—Choose a group that will provide you with access and data when requested. Develop methods of keeping in touch with the group to foster an exchange of ideas and input into the issues and advantages of the virtual world interactions.

Any more ideas? Any disagreements?
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Final Top Ten Annoying Technology Phrases

A few entries ago, I asked for some help in figuring out the Top Ten most annoying technology phrases...here is the list with some wonderful input. Check out the original post and be sure to check the comments. They are especially good for some laughs.

10. No, no move your mouse to the left (or right or anywhere "Back-seat computer driving")

9. Are you a Mac or a PC Person? (Parody here, not totally appropriate for work) Collection of PC v. Mac Commercials

8. I thought I sent you an email about that!

7. No, I didn't get that email, can you resend?

6. Didn't you read my Tweet? (or any Twitter related terminology "retweet" or "neeweeter". See Twitter Terms for more...as if you need them.)

5. "This will change everything!" or "This is a game changing technology."

4. "That's so old, I blogged about it last week."

3. "I'm a Web Evangelist"... or "Web Guru" or... "Web 2.0 Expert" or on the other side "I'm a web casualty" or "I'm a webreck."

2. "Why would I want to blog?" (or Twitter or Join Facebook or...)

1. "It’s not about the technology..."

Honorable Mentions:
My company blocks_____(get a web enabled phone)
Sent from my Blackberry (or iPhone)

How did I do, was your top not included? do you have a new one? Add a comment.
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Violence in Video Games: Really Not Fun

Mortal Combat, Death from Above.
So we always thought violence in video games was gratuitous and unnecessary but game developers keep saying, "that's what makes games fun." Well, it turns out violence does not make games fun. It's gameplay...of course, haven't gamer's been saying that for year. We'll we needed some scientists to "prove" it.

An interesting article All That Gore Gets in the Way of Gameplay over at Wired, indicates that violence is not necessary to have fun. According to Wired:

In a paper in January’s Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, a group of researchers found that violence might be the least compelling part of our favorite videogames. In fact, sometimes it gets in the way of the fun....The results? The amount of violence in a game did not predict how much gamers enjoyed it. When researchers asker players to pick their favorite titles, the highly violent games did not enjoy better word-of-mouth than less-violent ones, nor were they more likely to inspire players to buy a sequel. In fact, for some players rated violent content as “weakly negatively” related to enjoyment: The more gory the game, the less they liked it. (The only exception was a small minority of players who scored high on scales of aggression.)“Violent videogame content adds little or no unique predictive variance to player enjoyment,” as Andrew Przybylski, a doctoral candidate in psychology and clinical social science at the University of Rochester in New York and his colleagues concluded in their paper.

So destroy, crush and mutilate your violent video games...just because they are violent doesn't mean they are fun.
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Fun and Games in June

Here are two game conferences which might be of interest. June is a busy month for me so I will not be attending either one, but, if you are close by, you may want to attend one of the conferences:

Pittsburgh
The first is the Game Education Summit. This conference will take place at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) in Pittsburgh, PA, on June 16-17.

Confirmed speakers and attendees include executives from Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Sony, THQ, Blizzard, Divide by Zero Games and Obsidian.

The academic conference, the only one of its kind, will offer an ambitious seven tracks, covering course overviews, opportunities to hear from industry professionals, sessions on narrative writing; showcasing creativity and development tools for traditional games, as well as sessions on games for “serious” applications such as government and health care training. A special track will cover the IGDA recommended curriculum. Interested parties can register for GES at gameeducationsummit.com. Early Registration for the conference is $349 per attendee. At the door registration will be $399.

Harrisburg
The other conference is the the Learning and Entertainment Evolution Forum (LEEF) at Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Pennsylvania.

The schedule for the two-day event, set for June 18-19, will include more than a dozen case study presentations that explore and analyze the use of games, simulations, virtual worlds and console games for learning and performance. With titles ranging from Consultative Sales in a Virtual World to Developing Entrepreneurship with Series Games, each 2-hour case study session will include a high-level overview of the project, hands-on engagement, and group analysis of how to apply the project’s best practices and lessons learned.

Virtual
If you want to hear my take on games and simulations you can catch me on May 21st at Tony Karrer's E-Learning Tour of which I am participating and hosting the games and simulations leg of the tour. Check out the details here.
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You are Your Avatar: Your Avatar is You

* Here is a link to alternatives to Second Life. Otherwise, here is a couple of research articles about behavior in Virtual Worlds.


Abbott Bundy and Karl Kapp...the same in and out of world.
Your virtual world avatar is more an extention of yourself than you think!

In fact, most people behave in a similar fashion within a virtual world as they do in the physical world. Researchers at California State University in Los Angeles have found that “People don’t go online to leave their bodies behind and find new selves, but instead seem to be taking their offline selves, including their biological selves, with them.”

In the study, published in the “Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology” the classic sex differences in play preferences of fifth graders, characterized by rough-and-tumble games among boys and intimate conversations among girls, existed even after youngsters adopted a range of personas for virtual encounters In fact, only 13% of the participants decided to switch genders. The vast majority stayed true to their gender and their physical world behavior even when they changed genders of their avatar. Check out the full article at Playing for Real in a Virtual World.

In another study, researcher Paul W. Eastwich at Northwestern University found that “interactions among strangers within the virtual world are very similar to interactions between strangers in the real world.” Even in the area of racial bias. Eastwich goes on to say “You would think when you're wandering around this fantasyland … that you might behave differently, but people exhibited the same type of behavior -- and the same type of racial bias -- that they show in the real world all the time.”

The sense of who a person is and what they represent is clearly reflected in the online behaviors of their avatars. One's sense of self is merely extended into the virtual space. Read the article Researchers Find Racial Bias in Virtual Worlds for yourself.

As you can see, much can be infered from how you choose to represent yourself as an avatar within a virtual world. You can change hair styles, body type, skin tone, and other elements of the avatar to create just the right look for the virtual extension of your physical self and, it turns out, you act the same way in world as you do in physical space whether you mean to or not.
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E-Learning Tour

Abbott Bundy giving a tour.

On May 21, Tony Karrer of eLearning Technology is hosting and providing an E-Learning Tour of which I am participating by hosting the games and simulations leg of the tour.

A full description of the tour and critical information is below. It is a great line up of current trends and concepts within the field and you should sign up if you've got the time, it will be highly informative.

Event Description

One of the hardest things to find are real-life examples of different kinds of eLearning solutions. On May 21, Learn Trends will be hosting a free online event where the people who have developed interesting eLearning solutions will demonstrate and briefly discuss what they've done.

Moderators:

Bob Mosher - Performance Support Tools
Judy Brown - Mobile Learning Solutions
Karl Kapp - Games and Simulations
Tony Karrer - Self-Paced and Other eLearning Solutions

More information about the moderators can be found at eLearning Tour description.

Demonstrations will showcase a variety of different kinds of eLearning. We hope they will vary from practical solutions to common problems to leading edge solutions

Time: May 21, 2009 from 9am to 12pm (Pacific Time Zone)
Location: Online
Event Type: webinar

For more details about the event, you can visit and comment at eLearning Tour-May Learn Trends.

Hope to see you there, virtually.

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Avoiding the Virtual Ghost Town

It can be lonely in a virtual world with no friends and nothing to do.
One common mistake organizations make in designing learning experiences in virtual worlds is failing to have specific learning objectives, either formal or informal, for the intended interactions. Some organizations create a virtual space with only vague learning outcomes and no formal assessment plan. Then, after a few months of inactivity, no visible learning outcomes and frustration, the organization drops the virtual world because it doesn’t seem productive.

The lack of learning in these instances is not a result of a failure of virtual worlds; rather it is a result of poor instructional design. Virtual worlds, like other types of planned learning events require attention to instructional design to meet their desired goals. Even if the goal is to foster informal learning, the virtual world environment must be structured appropriately to encourage and enable interaction between and among learners. If not, the result is a virtual ghost town. No one comes to visit and the place is empty.

When creating virtual learning environment, the basic tenants of instructional design still apply as they do with any new technology that enables learning. Organizations do not need to completely throw away the concepts of aligning objectives, tasks and measurement just because a new technology is available. A systematic process is required to ensure that optimal learning can occur.

Having said that, the development of a 3D learning event is far more complicated than the creation of a few slides and a couple of multiple choice questions. Ultimately the design process for creating a virtual learning world requires a modification of the traditional skill set of an instructional designer—a modification, not a totally new approach.

As a result of the modification, the design and development efforts for 3D learning events require a higher level of effort both in time and resources. The process demands both a careful crafting the learning environment (the context) as well as the mapping of the content to the appropriate Learning Archetype, the creation of learning spaces, activities and planned interactions.

You don't just "whip up" a virtual learning space or educational event, planning and foresight is required. Once a space is created, various learning events can happen which might be more impromptu but initial work is required to make the space appropriate for the type of learning interactions you envision within the virtual worlds These worlds aren't a panacea, they are another tool and need to be treated as such.
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iPhone Learning Links

We all know how much fun an iPhone can be with over a billion apps. Here is a great list of the 100 Best iPhone Applications for Learning. Check it out and download a few.

I have to admit my favorite is still solitare (not sure it is "learning") but I know that one day I will defeat that game!

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