Original Post:
When looking through this paper, it brings to ones memory learning to write out for sealed out the information for sealed bids on instruments for the music classroom.
My Comment:
As you mentioned, most end users will never understand or appreciate the amount of resources required in product development. As someone that has been working with computers since the days of punch data cards and magnetic tape, I’m continually amazed at the advances in technology and equally amazed that there hasn’t been a more significant impact within our public school system.
I have many middle school students that list video game designer as a career choice. I always encourage my students to go after their “healthy” desires but at the same time I want them to understand the challenges and the amount of work involved. Relating back to what your theme, it takes work and a high degree of talent to create products that are financially viable and suitable for customers.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Goins Billy LMO Week 3 Reading Activity Response 1 to Amanda Beery
Original Post:
Moodle is a free Course Management System (CMS)that many teachers are using to create online courses for their classes. With the outcome features students can complete tasks on Moodle and receive a grade that the teacher can then use in their grade book. This is good for students as well because they can easily monitor their progress as they complete various activities and desired outcomes. These outcomes can be grades or statements of completion, something students can think of as a list and check them off as they go.
My Comment:
While looking at this week reading and doing some online searching, I came across a complete Moodle Package called “Moodle-in-a-Box.”
http://education.ncsa.illinois.edu/resources/software_tools/moodlebx.html
As you can tell by the link, this product has been packaged by the University of Illinois and contains Moodle and all the required supporting software such as Apache server, mySQL data base and other features.
If you’re interest check out the link there are step by step instructions for setup and use.
Though I didn’t get very deep, I actually installed this in my classroom and it ran on an older Pentium 4 machine. With just a little time reading, installing, and setting up, I now have a Moodle server in my classroom.
Moodle is a free Course Management System (CMS)that many teachers are using to create online courses for their classes. With the outcome features students can complete tasks on Moodle and receive a grade that the teacher can then use in their grade book. This is good for students as well because they can easily monitor their progress as they complete various activities and desired outcomes. These outcomes can be grades or statements of completion, something students can think of as a list and check them off as they go.
My Comment:
While looking at this week reading and doing some online searching, I came across a complete Moodle Package called “Moodle-in-a-Box.”
http://education.ncsa.illinois.edu/resources/software_tools/moodlebx.html
As you can tell by the link, this product has been packaged by the University of Illinois and contains Moodle and all the required supporting software such as Apache server, mySQL data base and other features.
If you’re interest check out the link there are step by step instructions for setup and use.
Though I didn’t get very deep, I actually installed this in my classroom and it ran on an older Pentium 4 machine. With just a little time reading, installing, and setting up, I now have a Moodle server in my classroom.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Goins Billy LMO Week 3 Reading Activity: LMS Choice
Study Island is a Learning Management System (LMS) or perhaps more accurately based on size, content focus, and emphasis on alignment with state educational standards called a Learning Content Management system. Study Island provides hosting and training content for school systems and home users across the United States.
A semi-formal study released in 2008 showed Chicago area schools in the first year of using Study Island had greater improvement in meeting or exceeding standards on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) over fifth- and eighth-grade students within the state not using study Island (Magnolia Consulting, 2008). This particular study became a key endorsement for the sale and integration of Study Island within Illinois school districts, including my own. Should a single study, which when read thoroughly admits that other factors may have contributed to the outcome, be the sole foundation for selecting and implementing an LMS?
A condensed version of online strategist Godfrey Parkin’s (2005) selection process suggests the following steps:
1. Form a LMS selection team, representative of all user groups.
2. Define the operational process and learning objectives.
3. Create a list of critical elements and factors that must be met.
4. Discuss the plausibility and budget for options available for implementation and long term support for training, administration, and infrastructure.
5. Research and refine a list of potential LMS systems that are equipped to meet current and future needs.
6. Determine a framework for evaluating systems that are plausible and meet established needs and objectives.
7. Review demos, references, and solicit information from current users.
8. Conduct interviews with a short list of potential providers and vendors and negotiate contract.
An RFP is more than comparing prices. It could be compared to researching contractors for building or improving a home. The process should seek to determine which vendor is best suited to meet established needs and objects within budget and operating provisions, is well established and a successful performance history.
Along with the established current goals, future needs and services should be outlined and addressed. Due to the ever evolving nature of technology, it is important to establish a long term plan for sustainability and innovation.
References
Magnolia Consulting, LLC. (2008). Case study research of Study Island in Illinois. Retrieved from http://www.studyisland.com/salessheets/Case%20Study%20Summary%20State%20of%20Illinois.pdf
Parkin, G. (2005, April 30). The LMS selection process in a nutshell. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://parkinslot.blogspot.com/2005/04/lms-selection-process-in-nutshell.html
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Goins Billy LMO Week 2 Reading Activity – Response 2 to Vendelin Schneidt
Original Post
SCORM and Cell Phones: What’s the Connection?
Do you have dozens of cell phone chargers lying around your house, tucked in drawers and closets? I do. When I began reading about SCORM, my mind began scanning for an analogy to take this term and make it applicable to every day life.
My Comment:
That is a perfect comparison and explanation. In an article that I came across the writer mention that the functionality of the SCORM concept was often compared to that of a Rubik’s Cube™ (Duncan, 2005) in that the modules could be moved and relocate into different courses or across different types of management systems.
Duncan, S. (2005). The U.S. Army’s impact on the history of distance education. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 6(4), 397+.
SCORM and Cell Phones: What’s the Connection?
Do you have dozens of cell phone chargers lying around your house, tucked in drawers and closets? I do. When I began reading about SCORM, my mind began scanning for an analogy to take this term and make it applicable to every day life.
My Comment:
That is a perfect comparison and explanation. In an article that I came across the writer mention that the functionality of the SCORM concept was often compared to that of a Rubik’s Cube™ (Duncan, 2005) in that the modules could be moved and relocate into different courses or across different types of management systems.
Duncan, S. (2005). The U.S. Army’s impact on the history of distance education. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 6(4), 397+.
Goins Billy LMO Week 2 Reading Activity – Response 1 to Kenya Ayala
Original Post by Kenya
Learning management systems (LMSs) are mostly for smaller businesses that require training of employees on a smaller scale. Course management systems (CMSs) are used primarily by universities, like Full Sail University that focus on the coursework and delivery to the students. Databases are similar to that of LMSs but on a scale directly related to education and focus on course rather than content. Learning content management systems (LCMSs) are used primarily by large institutions like the military that must deliver content materials to a large amount of people/learners, such as in the four major military branches. Personal learning environments (PLEs) are more learner focused like LMSs but can easily take on qualities attributed to the other systems, depending on the amount of users.
My Comments
As I mentioned during the Wimba session this week, in order to best understand each of the platforms I refer back to the purpose of training. In a business setting where LMS systems are typically deployed, there would be smaller and more specific types of training that would more than likely be driven by job tasks or company policies.
In a CMS, you have a wide variety of programs and learners whose purpose for training is to complete a course program for a certfication or degree.
Finally on a larger scale there exists the LCMS, which is similar to the LMS in that it is focused on the individual learner and their required job or skill.
Learning management systems (LMSs) are mostly for smaller businesses that require training of employees on a smaller scale. Course management systems (CMSs) are used primarily by universities, like Full Sail University that focus on the coursework and delivery to the students. Databases are similar to that of LMSs but on a scale directly related to education and focus on course rather than content. Learning content management systems (LCMSs) are used primarily by large institutions like the military that must deliver content materials to a large amount of people/learners, such as in the four major military branches. Personal learning environments (PLEs) are more learner focused like LMSs but can easily take on qualities attributed to the other systems, depending on the amount of users.
My Comments
As I mentioned during the Wimba session this week, in order to best understand each of the platforms I refer back to the purpose of training. In a business setting where LMS systems are typically deployed, there would be smaller and more specific types of training that would more than likely be driven by job tasks or company policies.
In a CMS, you have a wide variety of programs and learners whose purpose for training is to complete a course program for a certfication or degree.
Finally on a larger scale there exists the LCMS, which is similar to the LMS in that it is focused on the individual learner and their required job or skill.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Goins Billy Wk 2 Project: Utudu Setup
1. Goins, Billy
2. Prior Project Selected: Student Comic Books
3. Creating Comic Books is from website I created with Flash, Dreamweaver. The unit topics covered include creating a comic book style storyboard, editing digital photos, and assembling the comic using desktop publishing software. However for the purpose of this assignment, I will complete the introduction and the storyboard lesson portions of the unit.
4. Original EMDT course: Digital Media and Education Applications, November 2009.
5. Initial Appraisal of Udutu Scenario: My initial appraisal consisted of Udutu’s Self Directed Learning Scenario template. For this project, students will create a storyboard product, which will serve as the assessment portion for this lesson and as a working draft for their final product. I believe that this template will allow students to work at their own pace, view/review media driven instruction, and best suit the more practical applications of the lesson.
6. Original project link:
http://web.me.com/billygoins/EMD573/index.html
Goins Billy LMO Week 2 Reading Activity:ADL/Standards/Scorm
Introduction
The official Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) website provides a very detailed overview of the organization’s history and purpose. Under the direct care of the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (OUSD P&R), the ADL Initiative was created in 1997 and given the task of standardizing and modernizing the delivery of training and education. On January 12, 1999, Excutive Order 13111 signed by President Clinton tasked the DoD to develop and lead a partnership with business and university groups for the purpose of creating standardized training software and related services. (http://www.adlnet.gov).
The need for standards
Image source: Academic ADL Co-Laboratory
The above graph illustrates the flow or evolution of ideas and concepts and follows to the point they become accepted standards. In addition to compatibility issues, the establishment of standards increases efficiency and minimizes costs. Summarizing the an example by author Atsusi Hirumi, if the cost to create a multimedia instructional unit is $1,000 and if 1,000 organizations pay that cost individually to create their own unit, it would result in an expenditure of $1,000,000. Comparatively, if the institutions shared the development cost each institution would pay $1 each. (Hirumi, 2005)
Balancing the details
In describing the functionality of the Shareable Content Object Reference Module (SCORM) concept, military representatives often compared it to the “Rubik’s Cube™” (Duncan, 2005). A SCORM provides the ability to take stand-alone sequences of content be reused or applied to different courses or move entire courses from one Learning Management System (LMS) to another. SCORM libraries or media repositories allow these segments to be stored, retrieved, and used simultaneously across different learning environments and by multiple users. Two important considerations when constructing a learning module are the granularity and reusability. Granularity could be described as the level, size, or amount of content. Too little or too much content will impact the overall reusability of the module, meaning its ability to be used in multiple courses or learning environment.
Sequencing
In order to progress and complete SCORM based training, users must have a clear path of navigation. Learning paths provide a limited or predetermined path through course material while branching offers a non-liner method that is dependant on the individual’s response to a question.
Organizing
Returning to the idea that SCORM objects are stored and shared training segments with a wide and varied group of users, organization is essential. Metadata provides a common nomenclature for indexing objects for storage and searches and provides useful information and descriptions for potential users.
Closing
The ADL Initiative continues to provide an effective standardized means for developing and distributing learning content that is easily integrated into a variety of platforms such as LMS.
References
Duncan, S. (2005). The U.S. Army’s impact on the history of distance education. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 6(4), 397+.
Hirumi, A. (2005). In search of quality: An analysis of e-learning guidelines and specifications. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 6(4), 309+.
The official Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) website provides a very detailed overview of the organization’s history and purpose. Under the direct care of the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (OUSD P&R), the ADL Initiative was created in 1997 and given the task of standardizing and modernizing the delivery of training and education. On January 12, 1999, Excutive Order 13111 signed by President Clinton tasked the DoD to develop and lead a partnership with business and university groups for the purpose of creating standardized training software and related services. (http://www.adlnet.gov).
The need for standards
Image source: Academic ADL Co-Laboratory
The above graph illustrates the flow or evolution of ideas and concepts and follows to the point they become accepted standards. In addition to compatibility issues, the establishment of standards increases efficiency and minimizes costs. Summarizing the an example by author Atsusi Hirumi, if the cost to create a multimedia instructional unit is $1,000 and if 1,000 organizations pay that cost individually to create their own unit, it would result in an expenditure of $1,000,000. Comparatively, if the institutions shared the development cost each institution would pay $1 each. (Hirumi, 2005)
Balancing the details
In describing the functionality of the Shareable Content Object Reference Module (SCORM) concept, military representatives often compared it to the “Rubik’s Cube™” (Duncan, 2005). A SCORM provides the ability to take stand-alone sequences of content be reused or applied to different courses or move entire courses from one Learning Management System (LMS) to another. SCORM libraries or media repositories allow these segments to be stored, retrieved, and used simultaneously across different learning environments and by multiple users. Two important considerations when constructing a learning module are the granularity and reusability. Granularity could be described as the level, size, or amount of content. Too little or too much content will impact the overall reusability of the module, meaning its ability to be used in multiple courses or learning environment.
Sequencing
In order to progress and complete SCORM based training, users must have a clear path of navigation. Learning paths provide a limited or predetermined path through course material while branching offers a non-liner method that is dependant on the individual’s response to a question.
Organizing
Returning to the idea that SCORM objects are stored and shared training segments with a wide and varied group of users, organization is essential. Metadata provides a common nomenclature for indexing objects for storage and searches and provides useful information and descriptions for potential users.
Closing
The ADL Initiative continues to provide an effective standardized means for developing and distributing learning content that is easily integrated into a variety of platforms such as LMS.
References
Duncan, S. (2005). The U.S. Army’s impact on the history of distance education. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 6(4), 397+.
Hirumi, A. (2005). In search of quality: An analysis of e-learning guidelines and specifications. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 6(4), 309+.
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