Friday, 13 March 2009
Introduction to SCORM elearning standard for non-techies
SCORM is a standard for online elearning materials for a single user – typically self-paced modules. It stands for Sharable Content Object Reference Model. It’s a very technical specification that governs how the learning materials are created and delivered to learners. The basic idea is that if you create a piece of elearning that is SCORM compliant (the latest version is SCORM 2004) then it can be used in any learning management system (LMS) – so it could be used in or transferred to Moodle, Blackboard, Sakai, Blackboard WebCT, Desire2Learn, SumTotal, or any other VLE.
The first job it defines is how content should be packaged. Data is included in a document called the "imsmanifest", based on XML, which gives the LMS all the information it needs to import and launch the content automatically (without someone having to start editing bits of code). The XML describes the structure of a course both from the learner perspective and as a file structure on the server. Type and name of content is included here, for example.
The second part of the SCORM specification is about data exchange. It specifies how the content ”talks” to the LMS while it is being used. This part of the specification is about delivery and tracking of content. It means that the LMS can find and deliver the content to specific learners and exchange data such as marks and other learner-specific information.
SCORM is a standardized “plug and play” format for elearning modules that was invented by the US Department of Defense but is now acknowledged as the standard across the world. It does not define the look and feel, design or content or even the learning design of the materials in any way. It just makes them easier to use.
Full information on SCORMLabels: e-learning, elearning, learning design, online learning, SCORM, writing elearning
posted by Helen Whitehead 12:27 PM
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Twist in the tale of Robin Hood
Robin Hood as a baddy and the Sheriff of Nottingham as the goody? Only in Hollywood!
Whatever next?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7460634.stm
There are some conventions that it just doesn't work to play with, something that designers of every kind - and including elearning developers - need to remember.
A recent newsletter from usability guru Jakob Nielsen talked about do you put the OK button first and then Cancel? Or Cancel and then OK? The answer is that you follow the convention, which happens to be different for Macs and PCs. Unless you really do want to make things difficult for users and stop them in their tracks, conventions should be flouted at your peril.
How annoying is it that when you save a Microsoft Word document in some other format it asks you do you really want to do that? and the default is No! Microsoft of course wants you to keep files in their format, but it's highly irritating.Labels: elearning, film, learning design, media, usuability
posted by Helen Whitehead 8:46 AM
Wednesday, 21 November 2007
Discovery: topicality of e-learning materials
I love it when materials in a course turn out to be relevant and topical. In my Season of Inspiration writing course at the moment we are this week writing about caves and other underground spaces.
We already have great inspiration from some fabulous photographs from Nottingham's Papplewick Pumping Station Victorian underground reservoir on the day it opened to the public, and Aborigine cave art from my co-tutor's Australian property.
Today, the BBC reports on the discovery of what is thought to be the Lupercal, a mythical Roman cave, the long-lost underground grotto where ancient Romans believed a female wolf suckled the city's twin founders.
And here is the e-tivity which we have offered to our writing participants this week...
E-tivity 7.6: Discovery
Purpose: To write about the thrill of discovery.Task: Something marvellous is found in a cave or subterranean space, it could be rock art, engravings, smuggled treasure, prehistoric artefacts, a mummified animal or person. Describe your discovery and its significance to the local population. What will the discovery mean to those who found it? Will this important discovery end happily or will it end in conflict? Write a poem or story about this marvellous discovery.
Respond: Give a reasoned critique to at least two of the stories posted.
Labels: cave, discovery, e-learning, e-tivities, elearning, etivities, learning design, online writing courses, underground, writing
posted by Helen Whitehead 7:48 AM
Friday, 16 November 2007
Do you use Salmon's 5-stage model or E-tivities framework?
Do you use e-learning or learning technologies such as discussion forums etc. in teaching?
Have you used or adapted Salmon's 5-stage model or e-tivities framework in your teaching? Or have you used it at any time in the past few years?Gilly Salmon's 5-stage model and e-tivities framework have been used successfully to support learning in a variety of contexts, courses, disciplines, types and levels of education from schools to Masters to continuing professional development.
References
I am doing some research to find out how they have been applied in learning and teaching across the world in the last ten years. We know that teachers have used them in a variety of different ways, adapting and developing the models to suit their own purposes. As part of the background to a new book, we would like to find out about the models in practice. The general results of this research will be made available to all practitioners.
If you have any good examples of using the 5-stage model or e-tivities,
please would you take my survey?
http://www2.le.ac.uk/.../smeltsurvey
E-moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning Online
Gilly Salmon, (2004) Routledge Falmer
ISBN: 0415335442
lifelong learning, m-learning, mobile learning, online courses, online learning, online tutoring, technology, universities, wiki-tivities, wikitivities
E-tivities: The Key to Active Online Learning
Gilly Salmon, (2002) Routledge Falmer,
ISBN: 0749431105Labels: collaborative working, e-facilitation, e-learning, e-learning tools, e-moderating, education, elearning, learning and teaching, learning design, learning technologies
posted by Helen Whitehead 12:48 PM
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Integrating Web 2.0 - some doubts
Here are some issues that have been mentioned to me (by academic staff) about integrating Web 2.0 technologies into institutional VLEs, and how they might be overcome.
- Institutional IT policy can be a barrier - you don't know what's available.
Fear of "what people will say"- How to cope with the student who goes "off the rails"
- Managers fear adverse comments about their services and don't see it as constructive.
- Can cause horrendous" problems in mature learners who aren't familiar with the technology.
- Students (esp. mature students) worry about "breaking" the technology.
Labels: challenges, e-learning, elearning, issues, learning design, learning futures, learning technologies, student expectations, Web 2.0
posted by Helen Whitehead 1:52 PM
Tuesday, 19 June 2007
A narrative-based approach to designing e-learning
So - how do you make boring subjects interesting when creating e-learning?
Mandatory training can be dry and boring so there needs to be a reason or motivation to undertake it if the learning is to be memorable and considered valuable. In a narrative-based approach, digital storytelling concepts and multimedia elements can be combined to create an innovative narrative learning structure. Extensive use is made of humour, imagination, reward, anticipation or drama; topics and themes are chosen as likely to be relevant and interesting to a clearly identified target audience. An interesting context or scenario into which the activities are placed can engage and stimulate the learner, assist the activity to have meaning and help students to contextualize content.
References
Brown and Voltz "Elements of Effective e-Learning Design" in The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol 6, No 1 (2005),
Brodsky, M., May 2003. E-learning Trends, “Today and Beyond. Learning and Training Innovations”. http://www.elearningmag.com/ltimagazine/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=56219
Gee (2003), What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy,
--
In their paper "Elements of Effective e-Learning Design" in The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol 6, No 1 (2005), Brown and Voltz suggest Scenarios.
There needs to be a reason or motivation to undertake an educational activity if the learning is to be memorable and considered valuable. An interesting context or scenario can assist the activity to have meaning. In some situations, the context will either be evident or require little explanation, for example, in relevant workplace training situations or in situations where student motivation is known to be high. In other contexts, possibly the majority, where the learning agenda is largely institutional, students are encouraged and assisted by an interesting scenario into which the activities are placed. Scenarios are usually provided by a story, role play, or simulation, within which the activity plays a pivotal role in helping students to contextualize content (Brodsky, M., May 2003. E-learning Trends, Today and Beyond. Learning and Training Innovations. http://www.elearningmag.com/ltimagazine/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=56219).
The scenario will most likely be fictional; however, there is an assumption that the learning or skill gained through the activity will be transferred to future real world situations. This transfer is assisted if the learning scenario raises issues and problems similar to those in the real world; scenarios with this real world correspondence are often referred to as being ‘authentic.’ An interesting scenario will make extensive use of humor, imagination, reward, anticipation, or drama to enhance the activity. It will have topics and themes likely to be relevant and interesting to the target audience. It will make the learning activity seem like an obvious or necessary thing to undertake, given the situation presented by the scenario. Designers of entertainment products have long understood this requirement, and the study of their techniques is of increasing interest to educators such as Gee. In his book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, Gee (2003) suggests that “learners participate in extended engagement (lots of effort and practice) ... in relation to a virtual world that they find compelling” (p. 67). For the effective design of e-learning materials, the target audience must be clearly identified in order to develop scenarios that are likely to engage and stimulate the learning.
[One caveat:] ... if a resource is too much like a game with rules unrelated to real world contexts, then teachers would avoid using it. From this feedback, it is clear that authenticity and interest are highly valued aspects of e-learning design scenarios.Labels: e-learning, instructional design, learning design, online learning, scenarios
posted by Helen Whitehead 8:45 AM
