620 - LMS Systems Stretched? A Virtual Global Work Day for Elliott

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - April 28, 2010.
#620 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
54,943 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
Host: LMS & Learning Systems Forum - Chicago - June 10 & 11

1. LMS Systems Getting “Stretched” By Changing Learning Modes.
2. A Virtual Global Work Day for Elliott Today - Sign of the Times?
3. Learning 2010 Website Open - 5 Keynoters Announced.

1. LMS Systems Getting “Stretched” By Changing Learning Modes: Many organizations are celebrating their 10th Anniversary with their Learning Management Systems (or even longer).  While these systems have been updated and customized over the years, in recent months we have been hearing a lot of concern, frustration and focus from CLOs about the emerging “gaps” between their current LMS and the rapidly evolving content and delivery modes. For example, one financial service firm has had their current LMS for 11 years. It has done great on delivering, tracking and helping to manage e-Learning, compliance and training initiatives. But, their CLO expressed these rapidly emerging needs and concerns:

* Video: They are moving towards widespread use of video, both in the form of stored, on-demand video as well as User Content Videos. The LMS (and its companion LCMS) are really being stretched by the use of video.
* Mobile: They are deploying a range of mobile devices from Blackberries to even the new iPad. The content formats of learning for these devices is changing and the LMS “portal” pages are not really adaptable to the smaller screen.
* Performance Support Orientation: This firm is also deploying a significant amount of Performance Support instead of learning modules. And, the LMS is once again sort of out of synch with the Knowledge Elements of the “just-in-time” content/resources.
* SharePoint and Social Collaboration Platform Connectivity????
* Changing Tracking and Search Capabilities for Federated Content.
* Readiness for eReaders?

The CLO feels the LMS is a workhorse but pretty “tired”. In these tight budget moments, they are not inclined to procure a replacement. So, they are using a combination of work-arounds, customization and looking for Web Services. This is not unusual. The need for a fresh look at Learning Systems (LMS, LCMS and more) is at the heart of our LMS & Learning Systems Forum in Chicago on June 10 and 11th. Registration is now open at http://www.masie.com

2. A Virtual Global Work Day for Elliott Today - Sign of the Times? When I looked at my Schedule today, I smiled thinking about what a “Virtual” day it will be. Here is a slice of where I will “be”, while working from The MASIE Center LAB in Saratoga Springs:

* Video Taping a 20 Minute Dialogue Provocation for a Learning Meeting in London. (sending it over as a Flash video)
* Design Meeting with a Health Care Company for a 60 minute ISDN/IP Video Keynote and Interview next week.
* Briefing Insurance Training Professionals all around the US for a Lunchtime Conversation via Webinar.
* Skype Coaching Calls to a CLO in London and a CEO in Hong Kong.
* Hosting an Evening Worldwide Online Debrief of Bono’s ONE Campaign GRIOT Program for Malaria Spokespeople (participants from Africa to North America)
* Testing iPad Screen Sharing with a Colleague in New Mexico, who is working with High School Tutors.

I counted 7 different modes of virtual collaboration technology being deployed: IP Video Conferencing, ISDN Video Conferencing, Skype, Conference Call, Webinar Software and Screen Sharing. It is interesting to see how seamlessly we start to reach for the connective tech that fits the moment and is compatible with our collaborators at the “other end”. It was funny to respond to my gang of breakfast colleagues at the coffee shop this morning when they asked, “are you traveling today”? Yes, to several continents, but staying in the same zipcode.

3. Check Out New Learning 2010 Site - 5 Keynoters Announced - http://www.learning2010.com

Yours in learning,
Elliott Masie
email: emasie@masie.com

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* LMS & Learning Systems Forum.
* Video for Learning LAB & Seminar.
* Learning 2010 - Oct 24 to 27 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com

619 - Netflix Founder Invests in Online Learning, Volcano Results in Videoconferencing Surge

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - April 20, 2010.
#619 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
54,939 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
Host: Learning & Government Briefing - Washington, DC - May 3!

1. Netflix Founder Invests in Online Learning Venture.
2. Video Conferencing Surge after Volcanic Impacts.
3. Instructor Agility with Synchronous Delivery Blends.

1. Netflix Founder Invests in Online Learning Venture: I am intrigued by this clip from The New York Times: “Reed Hastings, the founder and chief executive of Netflix, used the Web to make it easier for us to rent movies. Now Mr. Hastings, who is also a former high school math teacher, is using the Web for a less entertaining, more educational cause — teaching math to kids. On Tuesday, Mr. Hastings will announce that he has financed the acquisition of DreamBox Learning, a start-up that uses online games to teach math, by Charter School Growth Fund, a non-profit investment fund for charter schools.

Mr. Hastings said that he thinks netbooks will be ubiquitous in schools in a few years, creating huge opportunities for online learning software. “I think we’re on the edge of a real inflection point where the hardware becomes so cheap that Web learning is really throughout the schools,” he said. “But what I noticed is there’s really not that many people working on the software.” DreamBox was started last year and creates personalized lesson plans, hidden in games, based on which concepts children understand or need to work on.”

The recognition of the role of online learning assets as viable investments by entrepreneurs like the Netflix founder are intriguing indicators of the growth and expansion of this part of the education marketplace.

2. Video Conferencing Surge after Volcano Impacts: There has been a marked spike in the use of high definition and Skype-level video conferencing in the past week, triggered by the Volcanic ash disruption of air travel from and to Europe. Several of our Learning CONSORTIUM members have reported dramatic increases in the use of and demand for video-based meetings, including video embedded in webinar systems. One group changed their IT policy to allow for Skype video calls (which had been blocked on the network) in order to allow for sales and service meetings to proceed after travel was restricted.

Just as SARS and 9/11 were inflection points for the growth of business video conferencing, this may be another key moment. We encourage TRENDS readers to investigate enterprise readiness to leverage a wide range of video presence and connection technologies across the organization.  FYI - there are a few spaces open in our Video for Learning LAB & Seminar in May - http://www.masie.com

3. Instructor Agility with Synchronous Delivery Blends: Speaking of video, we are also tracking an increased use of blended modes of classroom instruction that include bringing subject matter experts into the room via video and also allowing several students to participate from a remote site. While this is a wonderful design challenge, it also requires instructors to dramatically increase their agility and manage both the technology and process. Some organizations are starting to use Teaching Assistants (TAs) in classes with these hybrid blends to support the trainers, remote experts and distributed students.  It is also time to look at better trainer “cockpits” that allow wireless control of multiple resources and a back-channel for remote students.

Yours in learning,
Elliott Masie
email: emasie@masie.com

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* LMS & Learning Systems Forum.
* Learning & Government Briefing.
* Video for Learning LAB & Seminar.
* Learning 2010 - Oct 24 to 27 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com

618 - Learning Gestures, Storing Video and Elliott in Atlanta

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - April 14, 2010.
#618 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
54,936 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
Host: LMS & Learning Systems Forum - June in Chicago!

1. Learning Touches and Gestures.
2  Storing Learning Videos?
3. FIRST Robotics in Atlanta - Meet Elliott.

1. Learning Gestures: There are 3 powerful gestures in the new iPAD. I can stretch or shrink a picture and easily turn a page in an iBook. But, we are just starting to think about gestures/touches that would support learning. Check out a dialogue and brainstorm at  http://bit.ly/bptYsY

2. Storing Learning Videos?: Organizations are rapidly growing their collections of short video clips that can be used by employees for learning and support. The big question is where to store these videos for access, tracking and contextualization. Will the corporate “YouTube” be your LMS, LCMS, Sharepoint or a point solution? This is one of the key questions we will explore at our annual LMS and Learning Systems Forum to be held in Chicago in June. Information at http://www.masie.com

3. FIRST Robotics Championship - Meet Elliott in Atlanta: Friday and Saturday of this week, I will be in Atlanta for the National Championship of the FIRST Robotics Competition. Imagine thousands of high-energy high school students and their mentors competing with their problem solving robots. For learning professionals, it is an incredible experience to witness. I am honored to be on the Board of Directors of FIRST, which was started by inventor Dean Kamen. If you are in Atlanta and would like to meet up and see the competition, send me an email to emasie@masie.com

Yours in learning,
Elliott Masie
email: emasie@masie.com

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Virtual Leadership: Skills for Leading Distributed Teams.
* LMS & Learning Systems Forum.
* Learning and Government Briefing.
* Video for Learning LAB & Seminar.
* Learning 2010 - Oct 24 to 27 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com

617 - Hotdog Vendor with iPAD, Virtual Leaders Publish Context

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - April 12, 2010.
#617 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
54,921 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.
Host: LMS & Learning Systems Forun - June in Chicago!

1. Avraham the Hot Dog Vendor and iPAD App?
2. Virtual Leaders Must Publish Context!
3. Learning Focus on Resumes - Career Idea.
4. 3D Book - Great Read.

1. Avraham the Hot Dog Vendor and iPAD App? I did some fun research this weekend with Avraham, the hotdog and pretzel vendor that is located next to our Manhattan apartment. Avraham is from Egypt and works long days selling hotdogs, skewers and knishes to Broadway Tourists and locals. I gave him a new Apple iPAD and we brainstormed possible “Performance Support” uses of a wireless tablet. Read the findings on our iPAD Learning Lab Blog at: http://tinyurl.com/ipadhotdog (Hint: Language Help, Ordering Supplies, Nutrition and Homework Help are some of the ideas generated at Avraham’s stand.)

2. Virtual Leaders Must Publish Context! The MASIE Center has been conducting research on the needs of distributed workers. We hear a very clear demand from remote workers for virtual leaders to rapidly publish CONTEXT following corporate policy changes. In other words, if the company shifts policy on a subject (eg. new commission models or entry/exit in a new market), the remote workers want their direct manager to publish the backstory and other context to help them understand and trust the new policy. This publishing may be a conference call or a regular focused blog to the team. We urge Virtual Leaders to add Context Publishing to their habits and rituals. (Note: There are a few seats left in next week’s Virtual Leadership LAB & Seminar in Saratoga Springs - http://www.masie.com)

3. Learning Focus on Resumes - Career Idea: Consider adding one more section to your resume - “Learning Focus”. This is a section, towards the bottom of your resume, reflecting your current and ongoing learning interests and activities. This is a perfect way to reflect your commitment to learning and also is a perfect trigger for conversations during the interview.

4. Learning in 3D Book - Great Read: Check out “Learning in 3D” by my colleague and friend Tony O’Driscoll from Duke University, which he wrote with Karl Kapp. They create a foundation for considering and deploying 3D Worlds and Virtual Worlds (like Second Life) for learning and collaboration. They are both excited about this innovation space as well as being researchers on the advantages and challenges of using 3D for learning in 2010. Information about the book at: http://www.learningin3d.info
 
Special Announcement: We are very excited to announce our 6th annual LMS & Learning Systems Forum, which will be held in Chicago on June 10 and 11th. This is a critical time for organizations to look at current and legacy LMS systems and consider what to do as learning formats and requirements evolve. Elliott Masie and Jonathan Kayes will co-host this annual event. http://www.masie.com

Yours in learning,
Elliott Masie
email: emasie@masie.com

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Virtual Leadership: Skills for Leading Distributed Teams.
* LMS & Learning Systems Forum.
* Learning and Government Briefing.
* Video for Learning LAB & Seminar.
* Learning 2010 - Oct 24 to 27 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com

616 - iPad for Learning LAB Blog Opens

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - April 2, 2010.
#616 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
54,909 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.

iPad for Learning LAB:

Tomorrow morning at 9:30 am, we will be receiving our 3 iPads and a briefing from Apple for The MASIE Center.

We’ll be doing immediate testing on the “affordances” for learning that may be created by this new device. Jonathan Kayes (our CLO), Lauren Boughton (our Producer), Tom King (MASIE Lab Researcher for ePubs), Erin Anderson (our recent college graduate editor) and Elliott Masie will do a series of immediate experiments on the iPad. We are looking for affordances such as:

* Learning Apps: What might a $3 or $20 Learning App look like and accomplish?
* Media Shifts: How could one develop a module that deeply leverages multi-touch?
* Learner Expectations: What might devices such as these do to learner expectations for content and interaction?
* Marketplace Disruptions: What is the equivalent of the iTunes Song for 99 cents in learning?
* Missing Capabilities: Explore the role of video-conferencing, flash and other elements currently absent from the iPad.

Some of you are a bit hyper-eager and will get your iPad tomorrow. Some are waiting. And, many think that there too much hype and buzz. If you would like to follow and participate in our MASIE Center LAB tests and experiments, you can go to:

http://www.ipadlearninglab.com

This is a free and vendor-neutral blog that will take a deep look at the Learning dimensions of the iPad. Feel free to add your thoughts, experiences and questions.

Yours in learning,
Elliott Masie
email: emasie@masie.com

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Virtual Leadership: Skills for Leading Distributed Teams.
* Learning and Government Briefing.
* Video for Learning LAB & Seminar.
* Learning 2010 - Oct 24 to 27 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com

615 - Outsourcing Friends, Slipper Learning, Patent on Whiteboard Writing

Learning TRENDS by Elliott Masie - April 1, 2010.
#615 - Updates on Learning, Business & Technology.
54,909 Readers - http://www.masie.com - The MASIE Center.

1. Friends-R-Us: Outsourcing Friends and Social Media.
2. Constriction Constricts Learning.
3. Warning: Another Patent Claim on Classroom Teaching.

1. Friends-R-Us: Outsourcing Friends and Social Media: As professionals and large organizations consider the appropriate use of social media, a new industry has started to provide outsourced assistance.  We were recently contacted by the CEO of an about to be launched company, “Friends-R-Us”.
They will offer several key services:

* Managing Your Facebook or LinkedIn Account: For busy professionals, they will go in every day and provide interesting stories, updates and make up engaging tidbits to provide you with a great presence online. They will also accept your friends and more. For extra fees, they will Twitter on your behalf every day, hour or with the Gold Plan, every 15 minutes.
* Leasing “Friends”: Some senior executives are quite worried that they won’t have enough friends showing on their accounts or following them on Twitter. This group will lease you “Friends” in blocks of 50. You can define the demographics or region of these friends.

The CEO of Friends-R-Us was quite interested in expanding their services to support Social Learning and has considered starting a division to outsource learner’s collaborative assignments in online education processes.

2. Constriction Constricts Learning: The MASIE Center is always on the look-out for interesting and divergent research on learning and cognitive science. Researchers working in Alaska have found an unexpected relationship between footwear and short term memory. Based on a study of 580 learners, those wearing tighter or uncomfortable shoes had a much lower memory retention than those wearing older and more comfortable shoes. The highest performance came from learners wearing soft moccasins. Similar results were found for both classroom and on-line learning. The researchers speculated that the ability to wiggle toes during learning difficult new concepts of procedures was related to cognitive retention.  Follow-up studies are underway now to monitor learners toes real-time during long duration classes. We did an informal LAB study here in Saratoga and I must report that my own mastery of JavaScript went way up as I was wearing my soft moccasins and dropped off when I wore my tuxedo shoes from my wedding.

Corporations may need to rethink their foot dress code if these results are validated in future studies.

3. Warning: Another Patent Claim on Classroom Teaching. There are a number of “highly questionable” patent claims being made in lawsuits by groups these days. Yesterday, another suit was filed by a company called YouLearn! They were issued a patent in 1991 that claimed they invented writing on whiteboards and flipcharts in a left to right, horizontal manner.  These “business process” patents are granted if an applicant can claim to have invented something unique without any disputes of prior art. Since corporate trainers are doing a lot of writing in this manner, we would advise it would be safer to start to write in either an upward or downward slant. Our legal team does not think that Hebrew writing that is right to left is covered by the patent. But, this is an example of the risk of these poorly reviewed patents. You can, of course, license their technique of horizontal left to write writing for only $12 per one-day class. Many companies are thinking of settling to avoid the cost of litigation.

Once a year, we celebrate April Fools Day here in the United States with a few jokes and satire. May your April 1st be a bit lighter. If you want to add your own item to this list, send me an email to emasie@masie.com

Here is the link from last year’s April Fools Day:

http://trends.masie.com/archives/2009/4/1/572-pets-in-class-management-by-twitter-random-modules.html

Yours in learning,
Elliott Masie
email: emasie@masie.com

MASIE Center Seminars, Events and Services:
* Virtual Leadership: Skills for Leading Distributed Teams.
* Learning & Government Briefing.
* Video for Learning LAB & Seminar.
* Learning 2010 - Oct 24 to 27 - Orlando, Florida.
* Membership in The Learning CONSORTIUM
Info and Registration: http://www.masie.com