Learning and Technology

Element K Blog: Learning and Development Roundup (vol. 21)

2011-08-01T17:55:00.000-04:00

I'm reading: Element K Blog: Learning and Development Roundup (vol. 21)

I'm also working on a presentation for a guest lecture I'm going to be doing at Bloomsburg University. I can't seem to stop working on it, really. I'm obsessed. I spent most of my free time on the weekend on it and should have sent it out this morning, but there is so much to put in there still!

Learning Challenge - Day 15

2011-07-26T11:30:00.000-04:00

I'm in the middle of a bunch of stuff at work here, but wanted to add this before I forgot. I learned how to add a password to a PPT file (easy!):

Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Save As.
Click Tools, and then click General Options.
There you are! Just enter your password and away you go.

I also figured out an easy way to check in and out in SharePoint, but I don't have enough time to explain.

Sometimes learning even simple things make my day!

Learning Challenge - Day 14

2011-07-18T18:40:00.017-04:00

Taking a little time today to learn more about my iPad. I had started some lessons on Lynda.com a while back, but since then the iPad 2 was released and now the lessons have been updated. I'm excited to pick up a few new tips and tricks!

Did you know the lock button on the side can work to either mute or lock the rotation? I'm not sure yet why I'd want to lock the rotation, though. Perhaps if something is viewed better in a certain orientation/layout? I also learned you can mute by just holding down the bottom volume key.

I am also learning about the multi-tasking bar. I have found this by accident on several occasions, but didn't realize how much easier it could make using my iPad.

I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't used the caps lock before. I didn't realise all I had to do was double-tap to get it.

One thing I am not embarrassed to admit I didn't know - when you're on a page which asks you to enter an email address, and the altered keyboard appears - if you tap and hold the period button, you'll get some autofills for the end of a typical email (.com, .edu, etc). I can't wait to try that!

That's all for now... let me know if you have any cool tips or tricks to share!

My chat about Zenler Studio

2011-07-05T13:53:00.000-04:00

I saw this tool in an e-newsletter and this tag line caught my attention:

"World's First Fully Integrated Game-Based eLearning Course Development Tool"

I decided to check it out. Their website doesn't provide much by way of samples and comparison, though they do offer a free trial. A pop-up offered to connect me to live support and after my chat I'm still not sure I want to download the trial. Anyone know anything more about this tool?

Marc says:

Welcome to Live Help, how are you today?

Rachel says:

I have some questions about the tool
Is everything from within PowerPoint?

Marc says:

Our software are add-ons for PowerPoint.

Rachel says:

can you publish certain sections of a course or only the entire course?
Are you still there?

Marc says:

the entire course has to be published

Marc says:

yes

Rachel says:

Is the interface customizable?
I don't see any photos or samples of what a finished course might look like - are there any on the website?

Marc says:

You can have our trial version and test it by yourself

Marc says:

it has all the features as the licensed

Rachel says:

Can you create your own templates?
If so, what tools would you use to create the temaplates? Flash? XML? PowerPoint?

Marc says:

you mean to ask about using your own template

Marc says:

yes you can

Rachel says:

What tools or knowledge would you need to make a template?

Marc says:

POwerPoint

Rachel says:

Can you also customize the quiz templates?

Marc says:

Yes, But the font might not allign properly in some cases

Rachel says:

Ok, thank you

Learning Challenge - Day 13

2011-05-04T23:29:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I learned something interesting while updating a course in Captivate 4. It appears as though the Table of Contents (TOC) that you can automatically create in the publish settings will leave out any slides without titles unless you access the TOC menu and select otherwise.

I noticed that a few slides weren't appearing and after looking at the timelines and making adjustments, I finally stumbled upon the TOC menu.

Duh.

From a demo perspective this totally makes sense. If you are familiar with Captivate, you know that when you're recording a demo there are many slides that go into one "movie" and if they each had a line in the TOC it would be a little overwhelming to the user (not to mention that some slides in a demo are a fraction of a second long and wouldn't really deserve their own line).

Now, if you're developing an entire course in Captivate this could prove to be problematic. All of the slides I created in Captivate (even though they look just like the PPT slides I imported) didn't have a title or label.

Easy fix. In the filmstrip view, I double-clicked each slide that didn't have text next to the slide number. This brought me into the properties for that slide where I added a label (note - you can't use the same label more than once) and saved my changes (both in the publish settings and the actual Captivate file).

Pretty easy. I obviously don't use the TOC option very often. Most of the time I publish out pieces of Captivate, Flash, etc and string together with XML. However elementary, I consider this a victory for myself :)

More on the TOC in Captivate 4 available at help.adobe.com

Location, location, location by Dr. Doll

2011-04-15T12:26:00.000-04:00

I am here on the last day of CAC, watching Dr. Doll present. For me this is the highlight of the week. I always learn something new and leave feeling excited and motivated. Here are my notes. He talks fast, so if something below doesn't make sense, please let me know!

The grab bag -random topics

JQuery mobile - tool to build mobile apps with HTML

Bit.ly - link shortening tool, interview with one of their developer about privacy and analytic data. They will not sell data. Ly at the end of their name means their site is hosted in Libya. Add a + at the end of a bit.ly address and you can see the analytic data for access through the bolt.ly URL.

JotForm and Dropbox - create a form which will automatically send a file to your Dropbox

Slideshare - start a meeting through zip cast using your already uploaded PowerPoint. VoIP, chat, broadcast with Twitter or Facebook all with one click.

Why mLearning?
Access no matter where you are.

Phase 2
Contextual, situated and location-aware mLearning

Present and future
Marker-based and markerless tools

Augmented reality - combining real world and virtual data

Word lens
Demo of reverse words - takes a pic of a sign and translates

Apps that recognize where you are through gps and photo and overlays data about locations (restaurants, nearest Starbucks, etc)

Google goggles - take a photo and it analyzes and pulls info from google search
App that "rebuilds ruins" from photo you take

2d codes
-UPC codes, barcodes
QR codes
-Amazon, blog posts, books to go for more info, business cards to go to your online portfolio?
-NYC parks had game using QR codes
-Campus tours?
RFID codes
-Ez pass
-Library management system
-tracking student attendance using student ids
-disney Kim AR game
-campus tours?

Near field communication
-at museum - Cebtre Pompidou SmartMuse - fields in the floor that visitors use their phones to interact with

AR fun - hallmark app

Learning Challenge - Day 12

2011-04-08T23:08:00.003-04:00

I'm officially over a week behind on my challenge and I've decided not to be so hard on myself. I do afterall, keep my plate pretty full. I am going to finish my challenge though, regardless of how long it takes me, I'll get 40 of these Lenten Learning posts up!

Today's post is about pasteurizing milk. Goat's milk to be exact.

Ivan has a sensitivity to cow's milk. My husband also had it when he was a child and grew out of it, so we are hoping the same goes for Ivan. In the meantime, we've been spending a small fortune on pastuerized goat's milk. We currently have a gallon of unpastuerized goats milk in the fridge. I read a little online, mostly from the following site: http://homesteaderbellesblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-to-pasteurize-milk-from-goats-cows.html

Purchased a few necessities including some cheese cloth, a candy thermometer (which has yet to arrive) and a metal spoon. Turns out I had not one metal cooking spoon. If you've ever been in my kitchen, you'd be as baffled as I was as I turned over the various draws and canisters looking...
So it looks like my process will be:

Wash the cheesecloth (dip in boiling water?), clean the milk containers and pot
Strain the milk into the pot
Heat the milk up to 165 degrees while stirring constantly
Cool the pot of milk in ice water (I may just use one side of my sink to do this)
Put the milk into jugs and put into freezer to cool further

Wish me luck. If it doesn't go well I'm going to dip into Ivan's college fund for one of these contraptions... Ok, well, probably not, but pastuerizing ourselves will save us close to $400 a year!

http://www.hoeggergoatsupply.com/xcart/product.php?productid=4691&cat=49&page=1

Learning Challenge - Day 11

2011-03-28T23:00:00.001-04:00

We go through a lot of eggs in our house. Organic, of course, since non-organic are full of antibiotics and hormones. As you can imagine they can be a bit pricier than the non-organic variety. My husband jokingly mentioned raising our own hens the other day and I thought... well, I don't think our neighbors would like that, but it might be an interesting thing to read up on!

From what I can tell there are 3 important steps:

Selecting your chickens (did you know hens start laying eggs at 5 months old?)
Housing (portable pens are the way to go - "Portable pens make keeping chickens easier and less messy or smelly. The manure is spread around for just a day or two, and then the pen is moved so that your fowl can eat the bugs and fertilize the next patch of lawn or pasture.")
Feeding (whole grains retain their nutritional value no matter what - "Whole grains retain all of their nutritional value, and nothing is ever wasted. What hits the ground does not dissolve. It stays there until a) it is eaten, b) it sprouts and is eaten, c) it sprouts, grows and is eaten. Either way, you win."

Quotes are from this site: http://organicchickens.homestead.com/index.html

Learning Challenge - Day 10

2011-03-27T23:52:00.001-04:00

I have had some issues with writer's block the last week or so. I just couldn't bring myself to write more than a sentence or two about any one particular topic. Combine that with a few lost posts due to technical errors and I was in need of some serious inspiration. So, I turned to my friends for help.

I asked my FaceBook friends for a little inspriation and within 24 hours I had a list of potential topics. The first one I am tackling is:

How to Stop a Toilet From Running

I'm not sure if this is what Abbey meant, but what she posted got me thinking about how annoying it is to have to lift the back cover to get the toilet in our master bathroom from running. This is one of those annoyances that I secretly hope will just go away and next thing you know its a few weeks later and it takes a post on FaceBook to remind me that lifting the cover after every flush is NOT normal (now that I've written this down it seems pretty crazy... maybe I'm not cut out for homeownership...lol).

Well, I watched the movie above, and I am about to go into my bathroom to identify the issue. Wish me luck.

----------------------------------------------

I fixed it! I found two potential issues and took me all of 10 minutes and 3 flushes, but no more running toilet!

Learning Challenge - Day 9

2011-03-21T01:47:00.002-04:00

Once again my motivation has found me so very late at night. Or, early in the morning if you're a glass-half-full kinda gal like me. After putting Ivan down, I came downstairs to look for my motivation for tonight's blog posts and in between google searches and trips to the kitchen for fuel I watched "Ip Man".

Soon, I was totally engrossed. I've always been intrigued by martial arts and since meeting my husband, who has studied on and off since childhood, I have a whole new appreciation and respect for this sport which truly is an art.

Instead of focusing on Ip Man, I turned my attention to Wing Chun itself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_Chun

I've always loved the story and the science behind this discipline fascinates me.

After Wing Chun rebuffs the local warlord's marriage offer, he says he'll reconsider his proposal if she can beat him in a martial art match. She asks a Buddhist nun- Ng Mui, who was one of the Shaolin Sect survivors, to teach her boxing; this still nameless style enables Yim Wing Chun to defeat the warlord. She thereafter marries Leung Bac-Chou and teaches him the style, which he names after her.

Ivan is stirring, so I'll pause here and hope to continue more tomorrow. Or today...

I added a bit more to this entry... and then my computer crashed. I will say the Wikipedia page above is a great read. I'm also including a video below which is also a great overview of Wing Chun.

PS - also added a new iPad tip on my Day 5 post.

Learning Challenge - Day 8

2011-03-20T00:59:00.001-04:00

Did you know Philadelphia was the largest city in Pennsylvania? Yeah. Ok. Maybe that is obvious. It's also the 5th most populated city in the country.

I was in Philadelphia this week and thought I'd read up on the city and share some facts I found interesting. There were so many to choose from and I know I'm not doing this amazing city justice, but here are my top 10 facts about Philly:

Philadelphia was the birthplace of American opera, with William Henry Fry's “Lenora” (1845) probably the first public performance of an opera by an American composer. (Source)
In 1768 the interesting yellow spread, mustard, was first produced by Benjamin Jackson in Philadelphia. (Source)
The first computer ever was born in Philadelphia. (Source)
The Philadelphia Zoo was America’s first. It still proudly serves thousands and thousands of visitors each year. It was, by the way, founded by Mr. Benjamin Franklin himself. (Source)
Philadelphia is credited with giving birth to such culinary sensations as the cheesesteak sandwich, soft pretzels and TastyKakes. (Source)
Philadelphia confectioner Elizabeth Coane Goodfellow (1767-1851) gave America its first lemon meringue pie. (Source)
The United States' first stock exchange was in Philadelphia, as well as the first ever bank in US soil. (Source)
Philadelphia has the most number of public art pieces among all US cities. (Source)
Fairmont Park with over 8,000 acres is the largest city park in the US. (Source)
The first flag of the United States was sewn in Philadelphia in 1777 by Betsy Ross. (Source)

Learning Challenge - Day 7

2011-03-15T23:11:00.001-04:00

How sad is it that I am only a week in and already losing count? I just had to peek at my blog and then come back here to add 'day 7' to the title. It's my first time blogging from my iPad and I am already putting my Lynda.com lessons to good use.

My husband just started playing guitar...

What was I saying? Oh. Right. Today I am going to admit something embarrassing. No, not that embarrassing, but still not something I'm proud of.

I don't know what the difference between hail and sleet is.

I've used the terms interchangeably and assumed everyone did the same until today. My husband, our babysitter, Ivan and I were chatting and I made a comment about the sleet (or maybe I said hail - as you can see I haven't read any of my google results yet) and then my husband made a comment which I can't remember but brought me to admit my lack of knowledge about the difference. To my comfort, it didn't seem like either of them had a strong grasp either, but maybe I'm just remembering it that way to try to make myself feel better. (aren't I a great storyteller?)

Regardless, my real comfort came when my google search of 'hail vs sleet' yielded over 39,000 results.

So what's the difference? From wikiAnswers:

Sleet is a weather phenomenon that occurs mostly in winter storms. The clouds where the sleet falls from are warmer than the air below. The sleet begins as rain and, as it falls, freezes, becoming rather small ice pellets.

Hail, on the other hand, is a weather phenomenon occurring in summer storms. Rain falls from the warmer bottom of storm clouds. Updrafts in the storm lift the rain to the upper, colder regions of the storm clouds, causing the rain to freeze. As the newly formed hail falls, it gathers more moisture, then is caught in another updraft, lifting it up to freeze again. Each time this happens, the hail becomes larger.

I know what you're thinking...if hail if frozen rain, than what is freezing rain?

Aside from these two is freezing rain. This occurs when the ground is at a freezing temperature and the air is warmer. Rain falls and freezes instantly, causing a sheet of dangerous ice on streets, sidewalks, power lines, etc..

Well, now I know.

My Blog List

2011-03-15T12:58:00.000-04:00

Do you have a blog about learning? Please send me your info! I'd love to check it out and am also planning on doing a list of learning blogs in an upcoming post. I'd also add to my list on the right side of my blog.

Learning Challenge - Day 6

2011-03-14T23:23:00.062-04:00

Nothing out of the ordinary today, but for some reason I had a knot of tension in my stomach by the end of my work day. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep over the past two weeks - my 14 month old has been waking 2-4 times a night for long periods of time - maybe teething as he's also popped 4 teeth in that time and pushing through one more. Regardless, I left my office with my shoulders so tense they were even with my earlobes.

I went through the routine of the evening...dinner, bath time, laundry, etc. As the night progressed I felt slightly better, but it wasn't until I came downstairs after putting Ivan to bed that I found my relief. As I entered the kitchen I could hear the soft sounds of my husband's guitar playing in the adjoining room. A warm, sweet melody with those happy harmonics we both love so much. I sat on the floor beside him and let the sound wash over me and take my stress with it.

As I headed up to bed this evening, the thought crossed my mind to skip today's learning challenge. Then I reflected on what had just happened with me and I thought I'd spend a few minutes reading and writing about music therapy. Having studied music from the performance side of things, I have a little bit of knowledge of what music therapy is, but as I suspected, not as much as I thought.

Wikipedia's definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_therapy

"Music therapy is an allied health profession and a field of scientific research which studies correlations between the process of clinical therapy and biomusicology, musical acoustics, music theory, psychoacoustics and comparative musicology. It is an interpersonal process in which a trained music therapist uses music and all of its facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual—to help clients to improve or maintain their health."

From the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA): http://musictherapy.org/

"Music Therapy is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music therapy program.

Music therapy interventions can be designed to promote wellness, manage stress, alleviate pain, express feelings, enhance memory, improve communication, promote physical rehabilitation."

In my visit on the AMTA site, I stumbled upon a link to a video from January, detailing possible rehabilitation treatment methods for Congresswoman Giffords: http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/facing-rehab-exhaustion-exhilaration-love-12734567

In the video, it is stated that music therapy can improve neuroplasticity, which they define as the brain's ability to re-wire around injured areas. More about neuroplasticity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity

It's all so incredible... I am going to wrap it up here, although I'd like to continue reading and learning about music therapy, but I will say:

Music is an incredibly powerful tool.
I am grateful that music is so much a part of my family's life. It is literally what brought my husband and I together and is often the tool I use to calm or excite my son. It is also, as it was tonight, a glue that binds us to each other, that keeps us connected and ... stress-free :)

Learning Challenge - Day 5

2011-03-13T23:59:00.003-04:00

Nicholas heard my many hints about how much more productive I could be if I had an iPad. He got one for me for Christmas and it has changed my life. Seriously, I am getting so much more done.
The other night, I took a little time (in between diaper changes) to watch some videos from Lynda.com on the iPad. If you haven't heard of Lynda.com you should check it out. Great, easily digestable chunks of knowledge presented in videos and screenshare with voiceover. I love it.

I only got through the first 3 chapters, but below are some highlights of what I learned about my iPad:

Double-tapping the shift key = caps lock
Tap, hold the , key and flick = '
Double tap space bar for . (my BB also does this, I like it, except for when I try it on my PC see... doesn't work)
Technically an iTunes feature, but when you click on the capacity it changes from size to number of songs/items, etc.
From Two Ideas - to scroll within a frame, use two fingers in parallel, within the frame

Did I ever tell you about the time I tried to touch my computer monitor to close a window? There are about 20 more chapters to get through, but I'll add to this another day. Way past my bedtime!

Learning Challenge - Day 4

2011-03-12T23:14:00.001-05:00

Friday morning I woke up early to take advantage of some quiet time to get a little work done. I got myself set up to make updates to a self-paced web-based training (WBT) I finished just before my maternity leave. I carefully marked the script, opened up Captivate and dug out my mic. I had captured some scratch audio for an alpha version of another WBT a few weeks back, so I didn't bother to test the quality of my audio.

The first sentance of the first slide had to be updated with the year. I chose to re-record the whole first sentance. I selected the audio and hit record to record right over. When I played it back my heart sank. When did my office become a wind tunnel? I looked around... nothing could be creating that noise. In fact, we have two less computers in the office since the WBT had been created. I looked at my mic... could it be time to replace my trusty mic? It had been free with a webcam after all. How long could I possibly expect it to perform with decent quality?

Why does this stuff always happen on my day off?

I thought again. What was different from last year? I turned to Google, thinking... it's this darn Vista!! Sure enough, I found several articles to support my theory. Vista's automatic audio settings are set pretty low. I adjusted mine following this demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w35awlUQegs

Still windy. I pinged two of my co-workers to ask if they had similar issues. Tim, my wonderful, always responsive, very helpful co-worker of nearly 6 years came to my rescue, yet again. We ran through everything... I tried different programs to test my audio, no dice. Finally he said, "I'm sure you've done this, but did you check to see if your external mic was selected in Captivate?" Sure enough, that was the issue. Apparently, Vista uses the internal mic as default.

So, my lesson, besides having more evidence that Vista is poop:

I am not immune to user-error.

and/or

Always check the most obvious solution.

*hides face in shame*

CAC - Dr. Doll's Mobile with a Twist

2011-03-11T16:42:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to post my notes from Dr. Doll's talk at Fall 2010 CAC. I did stumble upon his notes, and figure this is a good start: http://iit.bloomu.edu/?p=709

Learning Challenge - Day 3

2011-03-10T10:21:00.002-05:00

I was going to post today about the iPad training I started last night, but since I only got through the first 3 episodes, I'll hold off and post a more comprehensive summary of what I learned later in the week.

Instead, today's post is about cleaning. I subscribe to a few newsletters from realsimple.com and yesterday I got one that I couldn't ignore: 19 Surprising Kitchen Cleaning Tips

I won't list all 19 (you can visit the link above to view them all), but will highlight the ones I found most useful. I have yet to try some of these, but if you have, please comment and let me know how it worked for you!

Cheese Stuck to a Grater: To make grater cleanup a breeze, spritz with nonstick cooking spray before grating cheese and the residue will wipe right off.
Stains on Plastic Storage Containers: Tomato sauce and other acidic foods leave stains on plastic that even the dishwasher won't remove. Set those plastic pieces out in the sun to naturally bleach the stains away. (Rub lemon juice on especially stubborn spots first. Baking soda also works well in bleaching color out of plastic, and it helps get rid of strong odors.)
Refrigerator Spills: For liquids such as pickle juice and milk, simply place a microfiber cloth on the spill and wipe it up. Even better, the microfibers are slightly abrasive, so if the jam jar has left a ring on the refrigerator shelf, wet the cloth with warm water and gently scrub the jam away. To get rid of meat and poultry juices, use paper towels soaked with a diluted solution of bleach and water, since juices from meats can carry bacterial contaminants that can remain trapped in cloth dish towels and microfiber towels.
Stains Burned onto Casserole Pans: Fill the pan with warm water, add a fresh dryer sheet to the bottom of the pan, and let soak for 15 minutes. Wash and rinse thoroughly. Alternatively, fill the pan with hot water, add a handful of baking soda, and soak for the same amount of time. Scrub with the abrasive side of a scrubber sponge, rinse, and then wash.
Cooked-on Egg: Add a bit of water to the skillet and return it to the heat for a few minutes. This will loosen the egg and allow you to wipe out the pan effortlessly.

Here are two from the article I can vouch for:

Residue on the Exterior of a Pot: Clean aluminum (without color or decorative finish), copper bottoms, stainless steel, or glass using a paste made from Bar Keepers Friend, a powdered cleaning agent (from $6, barkeepersfriend.com), and water. Wet the surface first and scrub with a soft, damp cloth. Do not leave the paste on for longer than a minute. Rinse and reapply if necessary.
A Messy Barbecue Grill Rack: As soon as the last burger comes off the grill, brush down the rack with a stiff, long-handled brush and close the lid. The dying coals will continue to burn off anything that remains on the grill, and it will be well seasoned for next time. If you have a gas grill, leave the heat on for a few minutes after brushing. If you brush the rack down after every use when it is still hot, there's no need to remove it for cleaning.

Learning Challenge - Day 2

2011-03-09T07:36:00.002-05:00

As we were driving home from town last night I replayed the day in my mind, trying to find a piece of knowledge to share here. My mind wandered to the chicken and dumplings (yes, they are that good) and how easy the recipe turned out to be. My initial thought was to post:

I learned how to make chicken and dumplings.

...but I'm not sure that following a recipe constitutes learning. As I pondered, I realized that meal was one in a series that I've been afraid to try. I think about making it, look up a recipe, and then shake my head in disgust at the various ingredients that do not exist in my pantry, time I don't have and clean up I'd like to avoid.

What changed? It wasn't the meal that was daunting, but the recipe. I found a recipe that I could follow. One that only used 2 bowls and 1 pot. A recipe that didn't involve dissecting an entire chicken for 2 pounds of meat. So the real lesson? Instead of giving up the meal, try a different recipe... or...

Instead of being overwhelmed by something complex, break it down into the simplest steps...

There are so many ways this can translate into learning, work and life in general.

Instead of looking at the finished meal and thinking of how much effort went into it, think about the first step - boil the chicken. What other examples do you have where this approach could help?

*a special thank you to my husband for discussing this with me as I was writing. You make sense of me when even I can't :)

Learning Challenge - Day 1

2011-03-08T19:14:00.001-05:00

I learned a valuable lesson last night:

Eating soup and cuddling a 1 year old at the same time is not a good idea.

I probably should have learned this earlier, as there have been many a stain on clothing from this very thing over the last year. This time, though, my delicious, homemade, chicken and dumplings wound up on the floor (and all over an assortment of Ivan's books, toys and one of his sneakers).

Ok, so maybe the lesson should be in how to react to this type of incident.

Don't cry over spilt chicken and dumplings?

I reacted with a loud gasp as the bowl went tumbling onto the floor and heard my husband ask if everything was okay from the other room. Part of me wanted to cry. I'd worked a 10 hour day and was so hungry and ready for that dish I spent so much time making Sunday evening... but I looked at Ivan and thought how I'd like for him to react to this situation. And then I laughed... and so did Ivan.

Learn something new every day... or Lenten Learning Challenge

2011-03-08T18:46:00.000-05:00

I'm been a bad blogger. I'm going to be honest... I don't think about my career much after hours these days. I spend most of my free time cleaning, cooking, feeding and chasing after my 1 year old. Oh, and changing diapers. Gone are the days of 2 minute diaper changes. I've now entered the world of 10-20 minute diaper (and often full outfit) changes which include chasing a nude child around the house and spontaneous games of pee-a-boo. I'm not complaining though. Most days I'd take a dirty diaper (or three) over working late.

Lent started yesterday and in an effort to better myself, I am going to learn something new every day. Should be easy if the old adage is true. I'll start with the 40 days of lent, but I'm hoping this will also spur more learning and technology related posts as well.

I've started a personal blog to capture my progress in some of the other ways I'm challenging myself during lent and beyond. Stay tuned for that, hope to go live by the end of the week.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T17:55:00.001-05:00

Joy Love Story Holiday

Create photo new year's cards with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

CAC - David Weatherbee

2010-11-10T15:28:00.002-05:00

David Weatherbee from Weatherbee Media is presenting on some very cool new technology.

Beware - this crashed IE... Cool interactive drums: http://www.squidder.com/flardrums/

I need to look into this a bit more!

FLARs = Flash-Based Augmented Reality
http://www.bing.com/search?q=Flash-Based+Augmented+Reality&src=IE-SearchBox

CAC - Mark Burke from ViaAcademies

2010-11-10T14:51:00.002-05:00

Today Mark is speaking about entrepreneurship. Mark is the CEO and founder of ViaAcademies which is a very cool virtual interactive arts academy, with a focus on music.

I have to sneak out for a bit to visit with my son. Sad to miss Mark's presentation...

CAC - Jay Kellet - Choosing a Learning Managment System

2010-11-10T14:25:00.005-05:00

When I was in grad school, I had the good fortune to have a project working with Jay Kellet as my client. Not only was he a great client, but it was an incredible learning experience. Today he is presenting some tips on choosing an LMS.

1. How NOT to choose a LMS:

The one with the most features
The one with the highest price
The one with the lowest price
The one that bolts on to an existing system
The one we build ourselves
The one where the salesperson always says "yes"
The one that helped you build the RFP

2. The perfect LMS

"None of the features you don't need"

3. Choosing the perfect LMS

Understand the underlying business problem(s) you are trying to solve
If corporate-wide, have an executive sponsor
Get the right people involved, but not too many
Consider users
Consider courses
Consider course assignments
Consider reporting

My notes are not complete because I, sadly, had to skip a portion of this presentation, but you can check out TestTrack LMS here: http://ttlms.com/

CAC - Connie Malamed Presentation

2010-11-10T13:38:00.003-05:00

Connie Malamed is giving us an awesome presentation on visual design. She has written a book on this - Visual Language for Designers.

She did a great job of pointing out how visual design can help us as instructional designers as we battle the retraints of our learner's working memory. As she says "our brains are primed to understand visuals." Here are some of her guidelines...

Research -inspired design guidelines:
1. Organize for perception: Leverage the effects of early vision
2. Reduce Realism: Fewer colors, less detail, etc
3. Connect through emotions: Capture attention, evoke a visceral reaction, increase brain activity, make it memory
4. Make the abstract concrete

She also reccomended a book called Design for Non-Designers by Robin Good. Now I couldn't find that, but I did find The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams.

You can also find her on her blog: theelearningcoach.com
Twitter: @elearningcoach

Back at CAC!

2010-11-10T13:12:00.002-05:00

Follow Bloomsburg University's Department of Instructional Technology's CAC conference this week!

http://www.kaplaneduneering.com/kappnotes/index.php/2010/11/cac-presentations-2/

Twitter hashtag #bucac: http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23bucac

Participate in CAC virtually!

2009-11-18T15:40:00.002-05:00

Dr. Kapp is live blogging and also providing streaming and recordings of the events today. View more here: http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2009/11/fall-2009-corporate-advisory-event.html

A few of us are tweeting also using the hashtag #bucac: http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23bucac

Guest Blogger - Karen Schweitzer: 15 Web 2.0 Tools for eLearning Instructors and Students

2009-09-26T23:34:00.001-04:00

The Internet is loaded with free web 2.0 tools to make eLearning more effective and productive for students and instructors. These tools are perfect for creating online courses, managing classes, web conferencing, file sharing, communication, collaboration, video streaming, and more. Here is a list of 15 web 2.0 tools for eLearning instructors and students to try:

MyiCourse - MyiCourse provides software that can be used to create and publish educational material online. With this site, users can create one course or a whole university that can be viewed publically or privately.

Yugma - Instructors looking for a free way to conference with their students need look no further than Yugma. This free web conferencing software allows you to conduct online meetings, desktop sharing, and conferences with up to 20 attendees.

Mikogo - Mikogo is a free screen sharing tool that works well for online presentations, demos, remote support, and webinars. This tool is free to both private and commercial users.

Twingr - Microblogs are the perfect way for eLearning students and instructors to collaborate, learn, and share online. Twingr is makes it easy to create your own microblogging community.

Diigo - Diigo is a free research and collaboration tool that allows you to highlight and add sticky notes to the web. This tool assists students in creating a pool of resources for projects.

JotSpace - This online whiteboard is a real-time collaboration tool for editing and sharing information. JotSpace allows you to use markers, photos, chat, stickies, and more.

WetPaint - WetPaint allows users to create a social website built on collaborative thinking. With this tool, instructors and students can build websites containing a mix of blogs, wikis, social networks, and forums.

OpenHuddle - OpenHuddle is a free tool that allows you to interact with as many attendees as you choose. With this tool, users have full access to the video, chat, audio, and drawing board tools.

KeepandShare - With over 700,000 users, KeepandShare is the perfect place for groups to keep, share, and comment on files. This secure site can store documents, calendars, photos, bookmarks, lists, and more.

Dabbleboard - Dabbleboard is a collaboration application that features drawing, chat, and uploading capabilities. Signing up for a free account gives you access to the whiteboard interface with unlimited collaborators.

Animoto - This site allows users to create free videos with user-selected music and video files. Animoto utilizes cutting edge technology to develop a high-end finished product in wide screen format.

Gimp - Gimp is free image manipulation software for enhancing and retouching images. This software package also includes a customizable interface and hardware support.

Viddler - Viddler is a free video streaming tool for sharing your videos with students or instructors. Your videos can be up to 500MB. Tags can also be placed in the timeline for explanation purposes.

CourseLab - With this free web authoring tool, users can create free e-learning courses with no prior programming experience. The courses can then be published on the web with very little effort.

Moodle - Moodle is an online course management system that can be used to create e-learning sites. With this free software, teachers can create assignments, blogs, chat rooms, forums, and more.

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes for OnlineCollege.org, an online college resource.

How long it takes to design and develop one hour of eLearning?

2009-08-19T10:15:00.003-04:00

I hear this question on a regular basis and I am thrilled that Dr. Karl Kapp and Robyn Defelice have put together this survey.

Their article is published on Learning Circuits. They also have posted great entries regarding this on their blogs:

http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-long-does-it-take-to-develop-one.html

http://dishingdesign.com/blog/2009/08/15/dinner-is-served/

Didn't get a chance to weigh in? The survey is still open!

OT: Back and bigger than ever...

2009-08-05T13:26:00.004-04:00

...and I don't mean that figuratively. My three month hiatus was on account of a, currently onion-sized, addition to our family.
That's right! We're expecting. Every little flutter and kick brings a new clarity to my life and priorities... and unfortunately this particular blog didn't land too high on the list. Not to worry, though! I've been getting the itch to post which started with our team blog at work and now includes Twitter updates, as well as updates to the Lung Cancer Awareness Blog.

I'm fixing to started posting here again soon. First I'm concentrating on kickstarting the fundraising for the upcoming Free to Breathe event in November. Read more below...

http://participate.freetobreathe.org/goto/rachel

Lung cancer is the #1 cancer killer of American men and women; it kills more people than breast, prostate, colon, liver, kidney and melanoma cancers combined. The Free to Breathe® event that I’m participating in will raise awareness of the disease and funding for vital research.
Please help me help my friend

I met Stephanie shortly after we moved into our new home. I was invited by one of our neighbors to a girls night out and Steph had the seat next to mine. We found out we both had an interest in music and it wasn't long before Steph had talked me into auditioning for the Susquehanna Valley Chorale. The picture to the left is us after performing last fall.

So besides being one of my first friends here and helping me get accustomed to the area again, Steph has also been a huge inspiration to me.

Steph was diagnosed with stage 4 Lung Cancer over a year ago. She has never smoked and doesn't have any of the other risk factors generally associated with Lung Cancer.

Steph is a wonderful wife and mother of two beautiful little girls. She is determined not only to fight Lung Cancer for her family's sake, but she has also become an advocate.

Her physical and emotional strength have inspired me to live life to the fullest. Instead of sitting around wishing I had more time, I am making time to do the things I want to. I am finally singing again - and its all because of her.

I am committed to helping Steph with this fight however I can. Will you please consider donating a few dollars to the cause? No amount is too small and all donations are greatly appreciated!

Thank you all for your support!

Rachel T.

eLearning OLF - eLearning 2.0 and Beyond: Session 201 New Media, So many options to try

2009-04-23T14:01:00.002-04:00

I'm currently attending a session by Douglas E. Welch, from The WelchWrite Company. His presentation is a great overview of web 2.0, why you should test out different new technologies and included great links to tools:

Audio Conferencing: talkshoe, Blog Talk Radio, FreeConferenceCall, Skype
Video Conferencing: iChat, TokBox, Oovoo, Skype, Stickam
Live Video Streaming: uStream.tv, Stickam, Qik, Mogulus
Whiteboards and Wikis: DimDim, Meeting24.tv, PBWiki, MediaWiki
Blogging and Microblogging: Blogger, Wordpress, Typepad, Twitter, FriendFeed
Video Sharing: YouTube, Blip.tv, Vimeo, Viddler, Seesmic, 12Seconds, Utterli
Link Sharing: Tumblr, StumbleUpon, Delicious

One thing I thought was missing from his presentation was a section on Picture sharing, so, I'll add some of my top pics: Flickr, Photobucket, Webshots, Tinypic, Twitpic, Dailybooth, and lots and lots more...

And to anyone out there that is overwhelmed with the incredible amount of tools coming out, pretty much daily, you're not alone! Trying new tools for a sense of awareness of what is out there is a great thing to do. You don't have to be an expert, but know enough to be able to brainstorm the possibilities!

I would highly recommend Douglas Welch's presentation/website/Twitter stream to anyone who is new to Web 2.0!

E-Learning 2.0 and Beyond – Practical Real-World Solutions Using New Technology Approaches

2009-04-23T13:39:00.002-04:00

Today I am attending the eLearning Guild's Online Forum on eLearning 2.0 and Beyond. Tomorrow I'll be presenting!

Vote for the most Engaging & Popular Serious Game 2009

2009-04-07T09:58:00.002-04:00

I know I still owe you all a few blog entries from the Online Forum from last week, but, since this is on the same topic I thought you might enjoy.

http://www.applyseriousgames.com/pages/entriesSG2009.htm

Demo 7 Serious games here and vote for the best!

eLearning Guild OF Serious Games: 201 Developing Entrepreneurship with Serious Games

2009-04-03T16:15:00.004-04:00

The second session I attended was led by Joel Hobbs, President and CEO and Laura James, Director of Design from ViaVivo, Inc.

Joel and Laura presented several games they developed for the Acton Foundation's MBA curriculum. Their reasons for making games were excellent and are of value to anyone who is trying to get buy-in for incoporating gaming into learning:

Learning happens as we interact with real-world situations
Intelligence is not static, but emerges from interaction
Transfer occurs when the learning is personal, meaningful and relevant
Games enable learners to apply skills in a safe environment, collaborate with peers, manipulate complex systems relationships that are hard to grasp otherwise
Games help players learn from discovery and mentorship

I'll be honest, I actually took so long to post this because I just spent the last hour playing Robo Rush. In Robo Rush, the player sells robots door-to-door and is able to tell via visual cues from the customer which robot would best suit them.

An important theme I saw here that I also saw in Dr. Hayes' presentation is discussion. After each of these games were rolled out, the team at ViaVivo did what they referred to as an "after-action review." This was their opportunity to discussion with the players how the game went, what they learned and how they could apply all of it to the real-world.

Definately some great information in this presentation! I've got notes from three more sessions to type up, so stay tuned and don't forget to go play some ViaVivo games: http://www.actonsims.com

eLearning Guild OF Serious Games: 101 Games, Communities, and eLearning

2009-04-02T18:03:00.003-04:00

Dr. Elisabeth (Betty) Hayes, Professor at Arizona State University led a thought-provoking session on gaming, communities in gaming and what the implications are for eLearning. She based a lot of what she spoke of on the popular game, "The Sims", which is considered the best-selling game in history.

Betty's presentation was centered around gender differences in gaming. She presented the stereotypical differences to us:

Female gamers want:

modeling of game play
forgiveness of errors
to benefit others
to interact by talking
to create things

Male gamers want:

explanation of game play
punishment of errors
to win
to interact by fighting
to destroy things

Is this really true? She pointed out some studies, including research of her own that may prove otherwise, saying, "Gender differences in visual-spatial skills disappear after only a few hours of game play".

Betty also presented a case study of sorts in "The Sims" environment which demonstrated how through knowledge of the game, integration of game content, game play and social interaction a user was able to achieve learning about a significant social issue for thousands of participants.

Overall, this was an incredibly fascinating presentation. Betty is an excellent speaker and left a lot of time at the end for discussion, which as she pointed out in the case study, is the key to enhancing learning through games.

eLearning Guild's Online Forum: Let's Get Serious...Games!

2009-04-02T13:06:00.002-04:00

I just attended the first session of the eLearning Guild's Online Forum: Let's Get Serious...Games! I have to say, I am thrilled so far! I am so glad I was able to attend and its making me even more excited to present later this month. I'll be posting some notes from each of the sessions below. Check back soon for more!

Web 2.0 Quotient

2009-03-27T22:30:00.003-04:00

During his presentation at AG09, Thomas Stone mentioned a Web 2.0 Quotient test, put together by a colleague of his, Manish Mohan.

My score was 98 - Web 2.0 Savvy:

You are aware of social networking tools and services. You are open to trying the new tools and services. However, you chose your services and stay with them. You contribute to
the content being created on Web 2.0.

Take the test here and let me know how you scored!

Virtual Conferences

2009-03-23T09:15:00.002-04:00

I've been looking into free and cheap tools, resources, etc and stumbled upon this excellent blog post from the Patins Project Rapid Fire Blog titled:

FREE Virtual Education Conferences, Literacy Today and Tomorrow, Tech Expo 2009!

Unfortunately for me, I have conflicts with all four of the conferences list, but hopefully one of you out there will be able to attend! If so, please let me know how it went!

AG09 - 409: Blending Web 2.0 Technologies with Traditional Formal Learning

2009-03-11T15:53:00.013-04:00

I recently watched a recorded webinar led by Tom Stone from Element K. I really enjoyed it and am very excited to see him present live.

Tom opened with the following quotes:

"Asking what people are going to build with Web 2.0 is like asking what people are going to write on paper." -David Weinberger, co-author of the Cluetrain Manifesto, via Twitter, re-tweeted by Tim o'Reilly

10 years ago Wikipedia, Linux, and so on seemed impossible in theory. But they were possible in practice. -Paraphrasing of Kevin Kelly, of Wired Magazine fame, noted the above as a keynote speaker at the Learning 2008 conference

Find out your Web 2.0 quotient score (by Manish Mohan):
http://manishmo.blogspot.com/2008/10/web-20-quotient-version-11.html

Think of Experts and Expertise:
Discussion Forums -> Ask an Expert!
Blogs -> The Expert Writes!
Podcasting -> The Expert Speaks!
Social Networking -> Locate an Expert!
Social Bookmarking -> Experts share their favorite bookmarks!
Wikis -> Everybody's an Expert or Experts Share / Collaborate!

Web 2.0 technologies are best used for:

Knowledge Base
Informal Learning
On-Boarding
Brain Drain Protection
Eliminate Bottlenecks
Gen-Y / Millennials

Tom says that the internal wiki has been live for two years at Element K and he has yet to have to roll-back a page because of bad edits. Wiki was created with seeded content which forced users to visit the wiki as reference, which progressed to them editing the wiki.

A Wiki is a garden. Use "gardeners" to occasionally weed and clean up!

Tips for blending elearning with ILT:

pre-class prep-work
post-class follow-up
post-class topics as elearning modules
post-class performance support

Adding Web 2.0 to the Blend:

links from course outlines/overviews
link from within elearning courses
pre-class use
in-class use
integration with extended formal learning events
post-class follow-up
have participants take notes on class which they would then share with their teams

Why a wiki instead of a flip-chart? It will live on after the class. More participation by those who may not raise their hands normally.

AG09 - 304: Leveraging Online Workplace Communities for Learning and Development

2009-03-11T14:47:00.006-04:00

In a session with Omar Nielson from Genetech. They have rolled out an incredible networking platform call "The Gene Pool". The tool is called Clearspace, produced by a company called Jive.

Omar just made a great observation about users - learning 2.0 technologies help people who are "non-extroverts" contribute. These are the people who would normally be avoiding eye-contact, not raising their hand in class... So yet another benefit! You can use these technologies to reach (and engage) those who you might not be able to even in live on-site instruction.

Every hour there is a new blog post at Genetech!

Omar's criteria for"Low-Hanging" Opportunities:

Highest attended courses
Multi-day programs
Phased / reoccurring training programs
Popular enterprise resources

Three Golden Rules for Adoption:

Create a "SAFE" inviting community!
Allow "TIME" for adoption
Provide the option to create "FUN"

Community Rewarded:

Recognition
Validation of Ideas
Higher Performance
Increased Job Commitment

Success Factors:

Learning through others
Relevant contributions
Ideas exchanged
New employee connections
Growth

Awesome session!

eLearning Guild's Annual Gathering 2009 - Live blogging!! (kinda)

2009-03-11T14:24:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I had every intention of blogging live during this conference. However, I learned on my flight to Orlando that the battery in my laptop was no longer taking a charge.

So, I've been taking notes that I am going to type up on my breaks. So some posts may appear out of order, but I'll fix that later!

Follow from home: http://www.elearningguild.com/content.cfm?selection=doc.1106

Good Tweets from AG09

2009-03-11T11:02:00.014-04:00

http://twitter.com/EJagger:

@bschlenker "Misinformation happens anyway. 2.0 just captures it." Right you sir! #ag09
"Asking what people are going to build with Web 2.0 is like asking what people are going write on paper." D. Weinberger #ag09
Thomas Stone, to have a session in Friday espresso learning session on overcoming roadblocks to implementing web 2.0 #ag09

http://twitter.com/jzurovchak:

#ag09 B Schlenker just referenced Wesch's The Machine is Using Us video. Check it out if you have not already viewed it.
#ag09...another theme from Brent - Web 2.0 is about doing - not just consuming.
#AG09 Thinks BEYOND Second LIfe! There are many platforms: Protospher; Olive; Multiverse; VastPark; OpenSim; lots and lots of others..
#AG09 Don't forget the Serious Games Institute or ThinkBomb for information and research.

http://twitter.com/oxala75: "

Recall activities aren't usually helpful or necessary - people can look information up" P. Schank #ag09
users over 45: fastest growing cohort on SL? #ag09

http://twitter.com/delanotho:

#ag09 eLearning is about People, NOT technology. The "e" is for everybody - B. Schenkler, "Learning 2.0 for the Beginnr"

http://twitter.com/annemscott:

3 golden rules for online community adoption: create safe inviting community, allow time for adoption & provide option to create fun! #ag09

http://twitter.com/bearclau:

@ag09 ID Zone: Storytelling notes http://tinyurl.com/bybfdv #ag09

http://twitter.com/rachelyvazquez

A Wiki is a garden. Use "gardeners" to occasionally weed and clean up! - Tom Stone #ag09

Twitter on Nighline

2009-02-28T12:53:00.002-05:00

Just booked my travel for eLearning Guild's AG09!

2009-02-19T23:25:00.004-05:00

I am sooooo excited to present and attend eLearning Guild's Annual Gathering! Booking my travel finally makes it seem that much more real. In a few short weeks, I'll be in Florida!!

I'll be presenting my topic, Using Wikis in Instructor-led Training on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday morning I'll facilitate a Breakfast Bytes discussion on Best Practices for Working with Offshore teams. Friday morning I will be leading an Espresso Learning session on Incorporating Wikis into Daily Team Activities: Generating Stakeholder Support.

Check out my bio page. I took that picture while I was sitting on the floor in my hallway and it only took 21 tries to get it right. I will laugh every time I see that pic!

Please let me know if any of you are planning to attend!

Learning Languages at busuu.com

2009-02-18T18:10:00.004-05:00

I started practicing my Spanish tonight at http://www.busuu.com/. It has quite a bit of free resources, tutorials, etc. Each lesson is broken down into the following:

Vocabulary
Reading comprehension
Writing (native speakers grade you)
Chat (with native speakers)
Exam

If you pay for a premium membership you can get some other features including a transcript of the lessons to download in PDF format and a podcast of the lesson.

While I was reviewing the vocab for the first lesson, I received a chat request from a native Spanish speaker who was learning English. We chatted for a while, he in English and me in Spanish to practice. We helped each other when we stumbled and there was also a built in translator (not completely accurate, but pretty good). If the conversation stalls there are phrases or conversation starters build into the chat window as well.

After our brief conversation, I moved back into my lesson and it wasn't long before I received another chat request. This time it was from a native Turkish speaker learning English. We chatted for a while in English and I tried to be as helpful as possible.

Overall it was a great experience! I am excited to have an opportunity to learn Spanish in this type of environment. Another fantastic example of Web 2.0 at work. How better to learn then by practicing with people from around the world?

What would you want from a book on 3D learning environments?

2009-02-06T15:02:00.002-05:00

My former-professor, Dr. Karl Kapp is at it again, writing another book. This time the topic is 3D learning environments.

He's posed the following questions to his blog readers:

"What would you like to see in this book?"
"What questions do you want answered?"
"What types of case studies would be of interest?"
"What should be the focus of the book?"
"What do you want to tell us about a book like this?"

Take a minute and visit Kapp Notes to add your input on his book!

33 Twitter Tools and Resources

2009-01-30T11:30:00.016-05:00

I have been adding to my post on 7 reasons to Twitter all week and decided to make Twitter Tools and Resources its own post.

I'll continue to add to this! Please let me know if you have any tools or resources you think belong on this list!

Twitter Resources:

Twitter Tools:

Twitter’s Demographic Reach

2009-01-29T12:04:00.002-05:00

What age group do you think Twitter most appeals to?

12-17 year olds?
18-24 year olds?
35-44 year olds?

According to this article from the Blog Herald:

"...the site’s largest age demographic is 35-to-44-year-olds..."

The majority of the audience I target at work would probably fit into this category. How about you? How does this change the way you view Twitter as a potential learning tool or rather... twool?

7 reasons to Twitter (plus other helpful Twitter info)

2009-01-27T13:38:00.029-05:00

I mentioned on Facebook recently that I am officially addicted to Twitte r. To which several of my friends replied with the usual questions:

What is Twitter?
What's the difference between Twitter and Facebook?
I don't get it, why should I use Twitter?

I admit, it took me a while to wrap my head around the concept. I mean, a bunch of status updates?? Any of you who use it frequently will know that its much more then that.

What is Twitter?
Wikipedia defines Twitter as:

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends... Users can receive updates via the Twitter website...or through applications...

Twitter in Plain English

So yes, it is status updates, limited to 140 characters...but I think the term micro-blogging is a much sexier way of describing it.

What's the difference between Twitter and Facebook?
Maybe its because I'm hungry, but the way I see Facebook is like a 6 course meal. Its got email, IM, pictures, video, games and apps...

Twitter is like a granola bar. It's just what you need, when you need it. Hopefully my reasons below will explain this further, but you can read more about Facebook vs Twitter at TwiTip.

Like Facebook, you can Follow a friend's Twitterings. Unlike Facebook, it is far more accepted to follow someone who do you don't know at all, simply because you are interested in what they have to say.

Why Twitter?
Everyone's reasons will be a little different, but here are my top 7 (in no particular order):

140 characters: This limitation, while it seems uhh.. limiting, is actually a great feature for me. I, like so many others have a rather short attention span and this limitation keeps posts short and sweet!
Advertising: I use Twitter to let my network know when I have a new blog post or when I am going to be presenting at a conference. I have also used it when fundraising or advocating for the causes I am passionate about.
Research: I follow others in my field who I see are posting articles, resources or tools that could be helpful to myself or my team.
Help and feedback: I can quickly see how my network feels about a new tool, project, etc.
Networking: I have made and strengthened relationships with some very excellent people in my field.
Journal: I often use Twitter to keep track of resources, articles, etc that I will come back and refer to later.
Mobile: I can Twitter from almost anywhere... My phone, any computer, and I'm not limited to using my browser. There are a slew of Twitter Tools out there!

Other lists on Why Twitter:

Questions for all of you out there:

Why do you Twitter?
Do you have any other helpful Twitter tools and resources?

gLearning Challenge

2009-01-23T12:00:00.003-05:00

Brent Schlenker from the eLearning Guild came up with a brilliant idea! Read a snippet from the Annual Gathering 2009 site below:

Attention all e-Learning professionals! The gLearning Challenge is your chance to use the slew of free and easy-to-use Google tools to showcase your e-Learning design chops. Your entry must use any, or many, of these free Google tools to create a course, a module, or even some informal learning. Get Creative! Win Prizes! Be crowned the Master of gLearning!

Brent also writes about his excellent reasoning behind this event on his blog.

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with! I may just take on the challenge myself!!

OT: Make the deadliest of all cancers, LUNG CANCER, history!

2009-01-13T17:50:00.002-05:00

A message from my friend, Stephanie:

I wrote a piece ("Make the deadliest of all cancers, LUNG CANCER, history!"), along with excerpts from a citizen letter crafted by the Lung Cancer Alliance with hopes of getting it included in the Citizens' Briefing Book. Now we need YOU to go to this site and vote for it. You just need to create a password. I'm not asking for money or even much time. Please vote, and then forward this note to all your friends to vote for it. Only the top rated issue can make it in the book that he receives. This is what it is:

Citizen's Briefing Book Portal 5:00pm
Official Web Site of The Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team
From the Change.gov website... "Share your ideas on any issue facing the new administration, then rate or comment on other ideas. The best rated ideas will rise to the top -- and be gathered into a Citizen's Briefing Book to be delivered to President Obama after he is sworn in."

Keep in mind, people can also vote it down, so we need to get plenty of affirmative votes. You may also look around the site and vote down those issues that may be lower priorities for you, giving you "double" power to help this and other issues surface that may be important to you. Can you help? It's easy...our briefing is at:
http://citizensbriefingbook.change.gov/ideas/viewIdea/apexp?id=087800000004m0H (if the link doesn't take you straight there, you can search for lung cancer to retrieve it)

Please help. Thanks so much!!

--Stephanie

Google Sites Tour

2009-01-13T16:30:00.001-05:00

I am in the process of trying this out - Has anyone out there worked with Google Sites?

How do you like my Wordle?

2009-01-12T17:34:00.002-05:00

From their site:
"Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends. "

What We Learned in 2008

2009-01-11T14:59:00.000-05:00

Check out the recording for this Classroom 2.0 LIVE! conversation:

"Peggy George, Kim Caise, and Steve Hargadon host the Classroom 2.0 year-end show: "What We Learned in 2008." We hope you will come and tell us all about the new ideas, techniques, tools, books, conversations that made 2008 special for you. We'll also virtually celebrate the growth of Classroom 2.0 this past year, and get your ideas for what 2009 should bring!"

Recording (audio): http://audio.edtechlive.com/cr20/CLASSROOM 2.0 YEAR END 2008.64K.mp3
Recording (full): https://sas.elluminate.com/p.jnlp?psid=2009-01-02.0956.M.40DF4BDE608F483B376A5F23018C2B.vcr

Notes from the show: http://wiki.classroom20.com/2008+Wrap-up+Show+Notes

Interesting uses of Web 2.0 in Obama Administration

2009-01-05T10:35:00.006-05:00

The Obama administration is utilizing Web 2.0 in a variety of ways. This is fascinating to me and I've compiled a short listing of resources and articles on this topic below. I will continue to add more as I stumble upon them. If you know of any others, please add them in the comments!

Change.gov: Virtual office of the president-elect with video weekly addresses, newsroom, blog, etc.

Inaugural Blog

Twitter: No Twittering since Nov 5th

Govtech 2.0 is a reality in DC: Video of and short article on Vivek Kundra, tech advisor to Obama

Web 2.0 in Obama Administration: Entry from IBM Center for The Business of Government, great compilation including quotes from:

LINK - Live Presedential Inaugural Gala 2009: "The Gala's Technology Serving Humanity LINK-live program features live video streaming and web 2.0 online activities from celebrations taking place in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, among other venues!"

Merry Christmas from the Troychocks!

2008-12-24T16:34:00.000-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Twitter love song

2008-12-23T12:26:00.001-05:00

Check 1:41 to see a great list of reasons why people heart Twitter!

Carnegie Mellon University to Host Second Annual Game Education Summit, June 16-17, 2009

2008-12-18T17:14:00.001-05:00

Looks like a great conference!

The article

Conference website

Wikis in Plain English

2008-12-17T16:53:00.002-05:00

A co-worker sent this around recently and several days later I saw this on someone's Tweet or FriendFeed... I wish I could remember who, but, either way its a great way to explain Wikis to anyone!

http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english

7 Random Things Meme

2008-12-16T10:12:00.006-05:00

Thank you to Brent for tagging me in his post yesterday. This seems to be the blogging equivalent of a chain letter, but due to my recent case of Blogging Block I am going for it (maybe it will cure me).

So here are 7 random things about me... At the bottom of the page I will tag a few of you to continue the chain!

1. I can sing in 6 languages.
I actually have a degree in music which required me to study languages throughout college. I took a few semesters of French, German and Italian. In high school studied Spanish and have picked up bits of Latin along the way. While I don't understand many of the languages without help of a dictionary, my pronunciation is pretty good. For my senior recital I sang in Spanish, German, French, Italian and English...

2. I have a very distinctive laugh.
Ok, if you have met me in person you are already aware of this. But, people tell me I have a unique laugh. To make matters worse, I laugh A LOT. It makes it very difficult to sneak in and out of the office. Every visit has several occurrences of "I thought I heard your laugh!".

3. Jill was almost named Diane.
I love animals and have always been surrounded by dogs, cats, bunnies, etc. When I was in college I adopted a Garfield-esque stray cat and named him Jack. After moving to NJ and starting to commute, I thought Jack would benefit from having a friend. I inquired about adoptable female cats and wound up with Jill (what kind of sucker adopts an animal during their other pet's yearly checkup?). I came home to tell my husband who said, "Jill? I think we should name her Diane... You know, like the song." Picture below taken in 2005.

4. I blog to improve my writing skills.
I try to put myself into situations that make me uncomfortable. Usually if I'm uncomfortable it is because I'm not confident about whatever it is I am doing and putting myself in that situation will help me to deal with or become better at whatever it may be. I have always been terrified of speaking in front of groups (not such a good thing when you want to be a performer) so in college I took public speaking instead of interpersonal communications, I applied (and got) a job which would require lots of public speaking... before I knew it, I was a lot more comfortable and even when I wasn't I came up with coping techniques to get me through. I feel writing is another weakness. This blog is one of several ways I am working on that!

5. I have an almost entirely pink kitchen.
It started 5 years ago with a countertop mixer and now almost every small appliance is pink (except the blender). I have pink oven mitts, pink chip clips, pink mixing bowls, pink serving utensils, etc... Most of this is pink ribbon items due to having so many people in my life affected by breast cancer. Of course, it helps that pink is also my favorite color...

6. I sing in public every Sunday.
I have two songs I lead at church every Sunday and am learning more in hopes of someday cantoring.

7. I secretly wish I could make a living being a personal shopper or interior designer.
Seriously. I am totally unqualified, but if this elearning thing doesn't pan out, or if my record deal falls though, those will be my next career options...

You have been tagged!

Karl Kapp, Greg Walsh, Stacey Bennett, Robyn and Brandy, David Flanagan, JC Lee

The Four Simple Rules:

Link your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.
Share seven facts about yourself in the post.
Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
Let them know they’ve been tagged

OT: Magazines make a wish come true - Just in time for Christmas!

2008-12-04T21:36:00.001-05:00

My team has adopted a wish through the Make-A-Wish Foundation and I have organized a magazine fundraiser as our first fundraising event:

http://www.magfundraising.com/kpmgtbl

Please help us make a wish come true! We hope you will help support Make-A-Wish by ordering or renewing your favorite magazine subscriptions online and sharing our site with your friends and relatives. With your help, we can raise the money needed to purchase a computer for a child with multiple disabilities. He will use this computer to communicate with his teach and classmates. We appreciate your support.

Magazines are a great gift and it is a great cause!

Drooling over Delicious

2008-12-04T18:58:00.003-05:00

Today I re-discovered Delicious.

I checked it out several months ago but just didn't get it. Today, when I looked again, it made sense. I imported my bookmarks and thought - why didn't I do this sooner?! Basically it automatically imports the bookmarks stored in your browser, sorts them and even tags them with some information. Then you use the site to tag your bookmarks further. You can share or hide your bookmarks which is great for my blogging and twittering. Now I can access all of my bookmarks from wherever I am!

Questions is, why can't bookmarking our content be this easy?

Now just when I am ready to publish my post, Brent twitters about Delicious Library 2.0

I am sure to have delicious dreams tonight!

Rachel Presenting at elearning Guild's Annual Gathering 2009 Conference

2008-12-03T14:12:00.001-05:00

I will be presenting on what else... Wikis! The conference takes place the second week of March. Details are not yet posted, but when they are you will be able to find them here: http://www.elearningguild.com/content.cfm?selection=doc.24

Rachel featured in this month's T&D mag!

2008-12-02T11:38:00.002-05:00

I am featured as one of eight future leaders in the December issue of ASTD's T&D magazine. Check it out on page 43: http://e-ditionsbyfry.com/Olive/AM3/TDM/Default.htm?href=TDM/2008/12/01

I guess that means I better start beefing up my blog entries! :)

OT: Free to Breathe

2008-12-01T11:30:00.004-05:00

With the help of my friends and family, I was able to exceed my original fundraising goal! I wanted to share some photos of the walk with all of you:

Thank you again for all of your support and please take a moment to look below at the startling statistics on lung cancer. Along with fundraising, awareness and education are a huge part of fighting this disease!

Wishing you all a healthy and happy holiday season!

Sincerely, Rachel

----------------------------------

Some things you might not know about lung cancer:

Lung cancer kills over 160,000 people a year in the United States. Lung cancer will kill:

Over 60% of new cases are never smokers or former smokers, many of whom quit decades ago.
Only 15% of lung cancer patients live beyond five years. In fact, over half of lung cancer patients die within one year of diagnosis.

For more information:
http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/facing/facts.html
http://www.nationallungcancerpartnership.org/index.cfm?page=lung_cancer_info
http://www.lungcancer.org/reading/about.php

Corporate Advisory Council (CAC) Conference

2008-11-25T14:39:00.002-05:00

Last week, I attended the CAC Conference at Bloomsburg University.

The agenda was altered slightly to include a half day workshop from Dr. Helmut Doll. Unfortunately I missed his workshop, but good news for me is that he posted his resources on his blog!

Dr. Karl Kapp has also provided a re-cap of the week's events on his blog.

Thinking Green

2008-11-11T01:42:00.000-05:00

One of the reasons we are exploring Wiki use in ILT is to be more green. I also strive to be as eco-friendly as possible at home, reusing and recycling in every way we can think of! In honor of our dedication to being green at work and home, I've compiled a list of 100 recycling facts:

Recycling paper instead of making it from new material generates 74 percent less air pollution and uses 50 percent less water. (EPA, 2008)
Recycling a 3-foot-high stack of newspapers can save one whole tree.
Recycling aluminum saves 95% of the energy needed to produce new aluminum from raw materials. Energy saved from recycling one ton of aluminum is equal to the amount of electricity the average home uses over 10 years. (Keep America Beautiful, 2006)
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a 100-watt bulb for 20 hours, a computer for 3 hours, or a TV for 2 hours. (EPA, 2008)
Americans throw out enough iron and steel to supply all the nation’s automakers on a continuous basis.
Americans throw away enough glass bottles and jars every two weeks to fill the 1.350-foot towers of the former World Trade Center.
Glass never wears out -- it can be recycled forever. We save over a ton of resources for every ton of glass recycled -- 1,330 pounds of sand, 433 pounds of soda ash, 433 pounds of limestone, and 151 pounds of feldspar.
States with bottle deposit laws have 35-40% less litter by volume.
If all the glass bottles and jars collected through recycling in the U.S. in 94 were laid end to end, they'd reach the moon and half way back to earth.
If every American household recycled just one out of every ten HDPE bottles they used, we’d keep 200 million pounds of the plastic out of landfills every year.
Styrofoam is un-recyclable- you can't make it into new Styrofoam. The industry wants you to assume it is- don't BUY it!
Each year American throw away 25,000,000,000 Styrofoam cups, enough every year to circle the earth 436 times.
If only 100,000 people stopped their junk, mail, we could save up to 150,000 trees annually. If a million people did this, we could save up to a million and a half trees.
The junk mail Americans receive in one day could produce enough energy to heat 250,000 homes.
Producting one pound of recycled rubber versus one pound of new rubber requires only 29% of the energy.
$1 out of every $11 Americans spend for food goes for packaging.
Americans dump the equivalent of more than 21 million shopping bags full of food into landfills every year.
An aluminum can that is thrown away will still be a can 500 years from now!
There is no limit to the amount of times an aluminum can be recycled.
A 60-watt light bulb can be run for over a day on the amount of energy saved by recycling 1 pound of steel. In one year in the United States, the recycling of steel saves enough energy to heat and light 18,000,000 homes!
To produce each week's Sunday newspapers, 500,000 trees must be cut down.
Recycling a single run of the Sunday New York Times would save 75,000 trees.
If all our newspaper was recycled, we could save about 250,000,000 trees each year!
If you had a 15-year-old tree and made it into paper grocery bags, you'd get about 700 of them. A supermarket could use all of them in under an hour! This means in one year, one supermarket goes through 60,500,000 paper bags! Imagine how many supermarkets there are in the U.S.!!!
The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.
The average household throws away 13,000 separate pieces of paper each year. Most is packaging and junk mail.
Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a 58% water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution!
The 17 trees saved (above) can absorb a total of 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year. Burning that same ton of paper would create 1500 pounds of carbon dioxide.
The construction costs of a paper mill designed to use waste paper is 50 to 80% less than the cost of a mill using new pulp.
Americans use 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour! Most of them are thrown away!
Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year!
Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.
American throw away 25,000,000,000 Styrofoam coffee cups every year.
Every month, we throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper. All of these jars are recyclable!
The energy saved from recycling one glass bottle can run a 100-watt light bulb for four hours. It also causes 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than when a new bottle is made from raw materials.
A modern glass bottle would take 4000 years or more to decompose -- and even longer if it's in the landfill.
Mining and transporting raw materials for glass produces about 385 pounds of waste for every ton of glass that is made. If recycled glass is substituted for half of the raw materials, the waste is cut by more than 80%.
About one-third of an average dump is made up of packaging material!
Every year, each American throws out about 1,200 pounds of organic garbage that can be composted.
The U.S. is the #1 trash-producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person per year. This means that 5% of the world's people generate 40% of the world's waste.
The US population discards each year 16,000,000,000 diapers, 1,600,000,000 pens, 2,000,000,000 razor blades, 220,000,000 car tires, and enough aluminum to rebuild the US commercial air fleet four times over.
Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of 100 acres per minute!
A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.
Motor oil never wears out, it just gets dirty. Oil can be recycled, re-refined and used again, reducing our reliance on imported oil.
In 2007, the amount of paper recovered for recycling averaged 360 pounds for every person in the United States.
Every ton of paper recycled saves more than 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space.
By 2012, the paper industry’s goal is to recover 60 percent of all the paper Americans consume for recycling, which is approximately 60 million tons of paper.
86 percent (approximately 254 million) of Americans have access to curbside or drop-off paper recycling programs.
In 2006, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each but only recycled an average of 23 percent. That leaves 38 billion water bottles in landfills.
Bottled water costs between $1 and $4 per gallon, and 90 percent of the cost is in the bottle, lid and label.
In 2007 we spent $16 billion on bottled water. That’s more than we spent on iPods or movie tickets.
Plastic bottles take 700 years before they begin to decompose in a landfill.
If everyone in NYC gave up water bottles for one week, they would save 24 million bottles from being landfilled. One month on the same plan would save 112 million bottles, and one year would save 1.328 billion bottles from going into the landfill.
Glass containers are 100 percent recyclable, and recovered glass is used as the majority ingredient in new glass containers.
The national recycling rate for glass containers is just over 25 percent, according to a 2005 study by the U.S. EPA.
In contrast to tap water, which is distributed through an energy-efficient infrastructure, transporting bottled water long distances involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels. Nearly a quarter of all bottled water crosses national borders to reach consumers, transported by boat, train, and truck. (Earth Policy Institute)
Bottled water companies do not have to release their water-testing results to the public, whereas municipalities do. (Natural Resources Defense Council)
Mount Rumpke is the highest point in Ohio at over 1000 feet, it's no Mount Everest; however, Mount Everest is not made up entirely of garbage. Mount Rumpke is literally a mountain of trash and is located in the Rumpke landfill.
Recycled plastic is also made into plastic lumber, clothing, flower pots, insulation for sleeping bags & ski jackets, car bumpers and more.
We use about 392 cans per person per year.
Aluminum cans typically have a recycled aluminum content of about 55%.
62.8 billion or 63.5 % of aluminum cans are recycled annually.
Recycling aluminum saves about 95% of the energy it would take to produce aluminum from its original source, bauxite.
The average American uses 142 steel cans annually.
The steel packaging recycled in 2000 would yield enough steel to build 185,000 steel framed homes - the equivalent number of homes in Wyoming.
In 2002, 25% of all new homes will be framed in recycled steel.
The steel from the more than 84% of appliances (39 million) recycled last year yielded enough steel to build about 160 football stadiums.
Recycling just one car saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone.
95% of scrap automobiles were recycled in 2000 in the US, at a rate of 25 cars every minute.
Through recycling each year, the steel industry saves enough energy to power 18 million homes - one-fifth of the households in the US.
Recycled steel is made into steel cans, building materials, tools - in fact, almost everything steel.
75% of each tree that is cut down for paper is not used in a paper product
98 tons of various resources are required to make one ton of paper
Paper made from recycled paper uses 70% less energy
Iron and steel are the world’s most recycled materials
Asphalt is the most recycled material in the US topping the charts. 80% of asphalt is recycled.
According to the EPA, the US recycles 32.5% of its trash yearly.
The most commonly recycled plastic is PET denoted by plastic identification code #1. PET bottles begin life as soda or liquor bottles.
Plastic marked with the numbers 3, 4, 5 and 7 often gets thrown into a landfill by government recycling programs - it’s too difficult and expensive to recycle.
Plastic bags and film are recycled into composite lumber, an imitation wood made from plastic. In 2006, enough plastic bags were recycled to build 1.5 million composite lumber decks.
Less than 3% of plastic bags are recycled.
Aluminum is the most valuable material in the average recycling bin.
According to The University of Tennessee Recycling one ton of aluminum cans saves 37 barrels of oil.
If you recycled all the aluminum cans the average person consumed in their lifetime it could power a TV for 130,000 hours or in other words 14 years.
Worldwide 50% of recycled paper is created from pre-consumer waste such as unsold magazines, books and newspapers; only about 33% comes from household or “post-consumer” waste.
Recycling glass generates 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than creating new glass.
350,000 aluminum cans are produced every minute!
Because so many of them are recycled, aluminum cans account for less than 1% of the total U.S. waste stream, according to EPA estimates.
During the time it takes you to read this sentence, 50,000 12-ounce aluminum cans are made.
The first real recycling program was introduced in New York City in the 1890s. The city’s first recycling plant was built in 1898.
By 1924, 83% of American cities were separating some trash items to be reused.
New Jersey has the highest recycling rate of all the states–56%!
Speaking of diapers, a cloth diaper washed at home costs 3¢ per use. A disposable diaper costs 22¢ per use. The difference can add up; a typical baby will use about 10,000 diapers!
Between 5 and 15% of what we throw away contains hazardous substances.
McDonald’s saves 68,000,000 pounds of packaging per year just by pumping soft drink syrup directly from the delivery truck into tanks in the restaurant, instead of shipping the syrup in cardboard boxes!
The Washington, DC-based Institute For Local Self-Reliance calculates that recycling creates 36 jobs per 10,000 tons of material recycled compared to 6 jobs for every 10,000 of tons brought to traditional disposal facilities.
According to a recent study by iSuppli Corporation, a market intelligence provider, only 9.4% of Americans recycled their cell phones last year, 36.8% stashed their old phones in a drawer somewhere, and 10.2% actually threw their phones in a bin or delared these lost.
“Only about 50% of the computer is recycled, the rest is dumped. The toxicity of the waste is mostly due to the lead, mercury and cadmium – non-recyclable components of a single computer may contain almost 2 kilograms of lead. Much of the plastic used contains flame retardants, which makes it difficult to recycle.”
According to the US National Safety Council, there are now over 300 million obsolete computers in the US. It is estimated that there are over a billion personal computers in the world at present.
Every day, American businesses generate enough paper waste to circle the Earth 20 times.Sources:

http://earth911.com
http://refillnotlandfill.org/
http://www.nrc-recycle.org/
http://www.environment-green.com/
http://www.oberlin.edu/recycle/facts.html
http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html
http://thegreenroutine.net/interesting-recycling-facts/
http://totalrandom.wordpress.com/2008/05/27/fun-facts-2/
http://www.chevroncars.com/learn/wondrous-world/recycling-facts
http://www.clearwater-fl.com/gov/depts/solid_waste/docs_pub/facts.asp

Can't be at DevLearn this week?

2008-11-10T20:41:00.002-05:00

Keep up with what's going on!

DevLearn 2008 PageFlakes

eLearning Guild LinkedIn Group

Twitter:

Blogs you can't live without - from trainingzone.co.uk

2008-10-31T13:09:00.001-04:00

http://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=190432&d=680&h=608&f=626&dateformat=%25e-%25h-%25y

"If you’re a learning professional who already blogs, there will probably be few names on this list that you don’t already know. If you are just beginning to dip a toe into the world of social media, you could do worse than to start with these folks (note - this is not intended to be a definitive list by any stretch of the imagination). In no particular order:

1. Jane's E-learning Pick of the Day. Jane Hart provides an invaluable service to the L&D community by reviewing a useful tool every single day, many of which are free. She also compiles lists: tools favoured by the community (including you, if you’d like to contribute); L&D Twitterers, social networks for L&D professionals, etc.

2. Informal Learning Blog. Jay Cross is the CEO of the Internet Time Group and the person accredited with coining the term elearning. He is passionately committed to informal learning and (in my view) should be prescribed reading for learning professionals.

3. OLDaily. Stephen Downes is a like a walking, talking aggregator who seems to know about any- and everything. His provides short signposts to other blog posts, offering his comments on them. He has another blog called Half an Hour, where he calls it like he sees it, and at far greater length.

4. Cognitive Edge. Dave Snowden is proudly Welsh and a gifted, outspoken and sometimes controversial complexity theorist. His posts address issues and lessons from both his professional and personal experience.

5. Brandon Hall Analyst Blog. Janet Clarey is a senior researcher at Brandon Hall. She calls a spade a spade and relates ideas and challenges in a way that readers can relate to, often with an appealing touch of irreverence.

6. Blog of Proximal Development: Konrad Glogowski is a passionate learning professional seeking ways to understand the challenges facing the developing world and to address them.

7. E-Luminations: Kobus van Wyk is involved in an initiative that seeks to address the technological inequity faced by teachers in the poorer parts of South Africa, encountering obstacles most of us wouldn't even think of.

8. Connectivism Blog: It's probably not too much of a stretch to call George Siemens one of my de facto learning gurus. He is the originator of the connectivism learning theory. I also really recommend his (free) online conferences.

9. Donald Clark Plan B: Donald is a dyed in the wool iconoclast. Sometimes I get the impression that he sits down and wonders, "Hmm, which sacred cow can I desecrate today?" Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes I don't, and sometimes I get downright annoyed, but it all makes for interesting debate.

10. Growing Changing Learning Creating: Just the title of Tom Haskins's blog should pique the curiosity of any innovative learning professional. He addresses ideas and challenges covered by those four words, particularly where they overlap."

Vote!

2008-10-31T12:11:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to encourage everyone to set aside some time to vote on Tuesday. Donald Trump agrees...

http://www.votehour.org

LinkedIn Applications

2008-10-30T10:17:00.002-04:00

Got the following email from LinkedIn today (see below)! MySpace added applications somewhat recently (as I mentioned in a previous post, I had deleted my account and missed some updates!). Seems like these sites are taking a cue from Facebook, which has applications since day uno. In my opinion, Facebook is still superior in its capabilities... but I am excited to see what the competition comes out with!!

"Today we're announcing many more ways to interact with your network on LinkedIn. Whether it's a new way to create projects and collaborate, share information, customize your profile, or gain key insights, the new LinkedIn Applications deliver.

Click here and you'll be able to add applications that enable you to:

Work collaboratively with your network.

Box on LinkedIn: Share files and collaborate with your network.
Huddle on LinkedIn: Private workspaces to collaborate with your network on projects.

Share information and keep up to date with your network.

Amazon on LinkedIn: Discover what your network is reading.
TripIt on LinkedIn: See where your network is traveling.
SixApart on LinkedIn: Stay up to date with your network's latest blog posts.

Present yourself and your work in new ways.

Google Docs on LinkedIn: Embed a presentation on your profile.
SlideShare on LinkedIn: Share, view and comment on presentations from your network.
WordPress on LinkedIn: Promote your blog and latest posts.

Gain key insights that will make you more effective.

Company Buzz by LinkedIn: See what people are saying about your company.

Get started by clicking here to visit the Application Directory and add any of the applications listed above."

http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=application_directory

OT: Free to Breathe - Please help me save my friend!

2008-10-29T17:10:00.004-04:00

On November 1st, I will be walking in honor of my neighbor, fellow choir member and friend, Stephanie Haney. Last year, she was diagnosed with Stage IV, metastatic lung cancer. She has never smoked, has not been exposed to any considerable amount of second-hand smoke and doesn't have any of the other typical risk factors associated with the disease.

Stephanie is a wife and mother, with two beautiful young daughters who she is fighting cancer for. Her story is well captured in this article, which was published in the local paper on Monday of this week.

Some things you might not know about lung cancer:

Lung cancer kills over 160,000 people a year in the United States. It will kill:

Over 60% of new cases are never smokers or former smokers, many of whom quit decades ago.
Only 15% of lung cancer patients live beyond five years. In fact, over half of lung cancer patients die within one year of diagnosis.

Please help me support the fight against this horrible disease. Any donation is appreciated - even $1 or $5 will bring a little more hope to Steph and her family.

Donating through this website is simple, fast and completely secure. It is also the most efficient way to support my fundraising efforts:
http://www.firstgiving.com/racheltroychock

Thank you so much for your support and please pass this along to anyone else who may be interested in helping this cause or learning more about this disease!

For more information:
http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/facing/facts.html
http://www.nationallungcancerpartnership.org/index.cfm?page=lung_cancer_info
http://www.lungcancer.org/reading/about.php

OT: TED Talks - Healing and other natural wonders

2008-10-28T11:52:00.002-04:00

I sent this to my friends and family last night and thought I'd share it on my blog this morning.

16 minutes might seem like a long time to give up, but I think this short talk was well worth the time. From the website: "Dean Ornish talks about simple, low-tech and low-cost ways to take advantage of the body's natural desire to heal itself. "

What I found the most interesting was the research he speaks about regarding cancer patients and how changing their diet and lifestyle will increase the length of their life. He mentions prostate and breast cancer specifically.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/dean_ornish_on_healing.html

Bio: Dean Ornish is a clinical professor at UCSF and founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute. He's a leading expert on fighting illness -- particularly heart disease with dietary and lifestyle changes.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/speakers/dr_dean_ornish.html

My relationship with Web 2.0

2008-10-27T23:06:00.004-04:00

When did it get so crazy? I spent all night sorting through over 2,000 emails in my Gmail inbox. Hundreds of emails from friends and family that I never responded to. To be honest, I'm surprised I still have friends (obviously you can't chose your family, so they are stuck with me).

I'm now down to 29 unread messages and 119 read messages. I did not just delete them either! I sorted and read, labeled important items... I would feel accomplished, except that I have 4 other email accounts which need the same treatment.

I blame the Web 2.0 movement for the overwhelming neglect of my email. Dozens of Google alerts, hundreds of blog updates, alerts from MySpace (I went so far as to delete my account for a while - really because I believe it gave me a virus), Facebook, eBay...

I have also been traveling several times a month for over a year now working on implementing one of these Web 2.0 technologies which has also lead to the neglect of my email and... life in general. It would be too difficult to pin-point when it happened...

So, really, the more important question isn't when did it happen... Its how to deal with it.

In my search for help I found one program called Digsby. Some of you may have seen my Tweets about it. It combines all of my emails, all of my instant messaging programs and all of my social networking sites into one simple to use list. It is incredibly customizable and just... wonderful.

http://www.digsby.com/

I'm probably too far gone for this to really save me, but at least its one step closer to sanity. Enjoy and if you have any other sanity-saving tools, please feel free to leave them behind in my comments.

I need all the help I can get.

The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning

2008-04-16T13:10:00.003-04:00

Right now, I am listening to a great presentation from the author of "The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning", Calhoun Wick.

More about Cal: http://www.forthillcompany.com/about_us/team/team_cal_wick.html

More about his book.

Corporate Advisory Council (CAC) Conference

2008-04-16T12:53:00.005-04:00

Today I am attending CAC at Bloomsburg University. Read more about this event below (taken from http://www.cacconf.com):

"Every year dozens of professionals in the field of e-learning travel to Bloomsburg Pennsylvania to attend the Institute for Interactive Technologies’ (IIT) Corporate Advisory Council (CAC) Conference. The conference is a three-day event that provides corporate professionals with an opportunity to see the latest in e-learning software and to become educated in instructional technology as well as give back to the field.

The first day of the conference is a showcase of the latest and greatest e-learning technology. Individuals from multimedia development firms, large corporations, and e-learning companies present e-learning software to each other for comments and critique. It allows individuals attending the event to gain a glimpse into the e-learning projects and products of other organizations. Some of the firms presenting at last year’s event included SumTotal, TestTrack, and EduNeering. The day culminates with a tour of the IIT’s state-of-the-industry lab and the under construction technology center in downtown Bloomsburg.

The second day provides a truly unique experience for corporate professionals. On the second day, graduate students who have been working for 10 weeks on an e-learning Request For Proposal (RFP) present their recommendation to the corporate professionals who role-play the part of a client. The students present the recommendations and a working prototype of the training. They then participate in a 15-minute question and answer session. The professionals ask students about their technical solution, instructional solution and proposed budget. The students, in turn, must defend their work and provide reasons for certain recommendations. The professionals gain insight into the e-learning industry as well as learn about the capabilities of the students. Many professionals indicate that they are able to learn a great deal about the technical aspects of e-learning from the student research and presentations.

After the presentations, the students and the professionals share a meal together and discuss the various aspects of the e-learning field. The meal is an opportunity for professionals and students to discuss the e-learning industry in an informal and relaxed atmosphere and to get to know each other a little better.

The third day is when the IIT presents information about its curriculum and projects to solicit input from the field. The professionals have the opportunity to provide ideas and direction into the course of studies at the IIT. In addition, the students present projects that they have been working on for government, corporate, healthcare and educational organizations. This provides the students with a second opportunity to present to the CAC. After the presentation, the CAC members who are looking to hire multimedia or e-learning developers conduct interviews with the students and extend job offers.

The CAC Conference is a win-win event. The students win because they get to see leading edge e-learning software and gain insight and feedback from actual corporate professionals. In addition, they get an opportunity to interview with professionals who have seen the work that they are capable of performing.

The professionals win because they are able to see leading edge e-learning software, network with other multimedia professionals and learn about writing and responding to RFPs for e-learning. Professionals also gain insight into the general direction of the e-learning industry and how are given the opportunity to interview students after having observed them in a professional, high-pressure environment.

The IIT program wins because the professionals indicate which areas to emphasize and which areas need to be strengthened. Often new software is introduced to the IIT through the CAC event. This keeps the program state-of-the-industry. "

Where is the world is Rachel??

2008-04-15T23:44:00.004-04:00

Well, thats what my friends have been saying! I have been doing so much traveling that people are throwing in references to Waldo on almost every conference call. Since September I've been traveling almost every week to places like Orlando, Baltimore, Dallas, Chicago and of course... New Jersey!

Why am I traveling? Wikis!!!! I would tell you all about it, but I don't want to ruin the surprise for those attending DevCon this year:

http://www.elearndevcon.com/sessions.asp

"KPMG is in the midst of developing a series of ILTs (Instructor Led Training Sessions) that will utilize Wikis in place of a student handbook. Less waste, more interactivity! Learn how we did it and what our future plans are to integrate this technology going forward."

WYOU - Interview with Dr. Karl Kapp

2007-12-10T13:06:00.001-05:00

http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2007/12/roll-tape.html

Well done, Dr. Kapp!

Bloomsburg U Tailors Online Learning to the Deaf

2007-11-28T16:25:00.001-05:00

http://campustechnology.com/articles/56259/

Incredible use of Wimba's virtual classroom. Definately worth a read. I am very proud to call myself a Bloomsburg Alum. I actually minored in Deaf Ed for a few years... Maybe its time to go back! :)

Wiktionary

2007-08-21T15:20:00.001-04:00

http://en.wiktionary.org

I am starting to think WWW stands for Wikis Wrule the World...

Lobes of Steel: New York Times Article - Thanks Pete!

2007-08-20T11:04:00.001-04:00

My friend Pete sent me this article on exercise and how it affects the brain:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/sports/playmagazine/0819play-brain.html?ex=1345176000&en=70ec7d22ef2dece6&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Blogging at work

2007-08-15T10:56:00.001-04:00

So I've finally done it! I started a team blog. Unfortunately, its not a public affair, but I am happy to report we have several members of our team actively contributing.

There are bugs to work out regarding the RSS feeds and our firewall, but I am very excited! I hope to have more to report as it develops.

wikiHow - The how-to manual that anyone can edit!

2007-07-31T14:05:00.001-04:00

http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page

This is great! There are so many great wikis popping up everywhere and I found this one when I was searching on how to remove a stamp from an envelope: http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-a-Stamp-from-Its-Envelope

I know, its less then a $1... but its such a waste to throw them away!

Anyway - there are lots of great how-to instructions on here. Check it out!

Simpsonizeme.com

2007-07-28T15:52:00.001-04:00

Always wondered what you'd look like if you were on the Simpsons? Find out at http://simpsonizeme.com/. Very fun!

Visual Link Languages - Adobe Site of the Day

2007-07-27T11:34:00.001-04:00

From the Adobe website... "Providing Spanish teachers and students a rich set of resources in a fun and interactive environment, this site offers everything from vocabulary and grammar topics to information about conjugation, pronunciation, and culture. Developed by the U.S. Institute of Languages, this site was built using Creative Suite, Flash, and Photoshop. "

http://www.visuallinklanguages.com/spanish/DLC/dlc.html

I went through a few sections and found this extremely engaging! I love the conversation simulation and how you can translate the test by rolling over it. Great site!!

Google Alerts

2007-07-13T15:59:00.001-04:00

I love Google. I have a feeling I'm not in the minority on that, but have you met Google Alerts yet?
If you have an interest in a specific topic, news story, competitor, sports team, or even just want to see what people are saying about you on the web - try out Google Alerts. Having your news come to you is fun!
I've been using it for a few months now, and my advice is as follows:

Be as specific as possible in your search terms
If there is a specific term that you want, make sure to use quotes
If you are experiencing an overflow in your inbox, revise your search terms or create a rule that sends the alerts to a folder other then your inbox

Where in the world is Rachel???

2007-07-12T19:58:00.000-04:00

Well... for a few days, I am in Pennsylvania at my home, but then I'll be off to Utah for Rapid Intake's DevCon! I can't wait!!!

DevCon is a fantastic conference. The presentations focus on development tools, best practices and techniques. This will be my 3rd year attending.

The value for your money is incredible at this conference - only $849 for 3 days and all of your meals! Check it out:

http://www.elearndevcon.net/

Wiki Pedagogy

2007-05-01T12:19:00.000-04:00

Brent posted a link to a great paper, written by Renee Fountain on Wikis. The article contains a comprehensive definition and examples which include examples in education (all but one in French). Renee writes about the potential that Wikis have in education and provides some guidance around use. She even shows "How to wiki." A great resource for the wiki enthusiast. Thanks Brent!

http://www.profetic.org/dossiers/dossier_imprimer.php3?id_rubrique=110

lynda.com Offers Free Video Training for Apollo Alpha

2007-03-21T11:07:00.000-04:00

Article: http://www.javascriptsearch.com/news/press/070320lunda.html

Access: http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=378

"Join Mike Chambers, Adobe's Senior Product Manager for Developer Relations, as he gives an exclusive, hands-on glimpse of the alpha version Apollo: a powerful new development tool from Adobe. Web developers fluent in Flash, Flex, HTML, JavaScript, and Ajax have been promised a smooth transitional tool for building cross-platform desktop and hybrid web/desktop applications, and Mike shows just how Apollo fulfills this promise."

Get the free alpha of Apollo at Adobe Labs.

OT: New President of Woolrich is a Bloomsburg Grad!

2007-03-20T15:08:00.000-04:00

Woolrich Inc. has promoted two executives to replace Roswell Brayton Jr., the president and CEO who died March 12.

James Griggs, who has been vice president of finance, was named president, and Charles Aides, senior vice president of apparel manufacturing and sourcing, is the new board chairman.
Griggs, a Williamsport native and Bloomsburg University graduate, has been with Woolrich since 1987. He was named to the board of directors last year.

Aides joined Woolrich in 1989 as manager of the southern/western division in Ailey, Ga., and moved to the corporate headquarters in Woolrich, Clinton County, in 1994. He was named to the Woolrich board in 1997.

http://www.pennlive.com/business/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/business/1174351208134670.xml&coll=1

Enlightening Games Group lays groundwork for online games study, research at Indiana University

2007-03-19T11:00:00.000-04:00

They will also be planning an annual conference.

http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/5157.html

Cisco buys Webex

2007-03-16T16:17:00.000-04:00

http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2007/corp_031507b.html?CMP=ILC-001

Cisco Announces Agreement to Acquire WebEx

Acquisition Furthers Cisco's Vision for Enabling Collaboration in the SMB Market

"SAN JOSE, Calif., and SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 15, 2007 -- Cisco and WebEx today announced a definitive agreement for Cisco to acquire WebEx. WebEx is a market leader in on-demand collaboration applications, and its network-based solution for delivering business-to-business collaboration extends Cisco's vision for Unified Communications, particularly within the Small to Medium Business (SMB) segment.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cisco will commence a cash tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of WebEx for $57 per share and will assume outstanding share-based awards, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $3.2 billion, or approximately $2.9 billion net of WebEx's existing cash balance. The transaction will be accounted for in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and the acquisition of WebEx is expected to close in the fourth quarter of Cisco's fiscal year 2007. Cisco anticipates this transaction will be neutral to its non-GAAP FY2008 earnings.

The acquisition has been approved by the board of directors of each company and is subject to various standard closing conditions, including approval under Hart Scott Rodino and similar laws outside the U.S.

"As collaboration in the workplace becomes increasingly important, companies are looking for rich communications tools to help them work more effectively and efficiently," said Charles H. Giancarlo, Chief Development Officer at Cisco. "The combination of Cisco and WebEx will deliver compelling solutions accelerating this next wave of business communications.

Cisco believes the network is a platform for all forms of communications and collaboration, and WebEx's technology and services portfolio complement Cisco's leadership in the Unified Communications and collaboration market, while providing Cisco with a new and unique business model to expand its presence in the fast-growing SMB market," Giancarlo continued.

"Cisco and WebEx share a vision of web collaboration as a key to accelerating business processes and critical to durable competitive advantage," said Subrah S. Iyar, CEO of WebEx. "Cisco's global reach and customer focus will help us extend our core web collaboration applications and continue to broaden the services we offer through the WebEx Connect platform."

WebEx's service portfolio includes technologies and services that allow companies to engage in real-time and asynchronous data conferences over the Internet as well as share web-based documents and workspaces that help improve productivity, performance and efficiency of workers in any size organization. WebEx's subscription-based services strategy has been key to its success, and Cisco plans to preserve this business model going forward.

Following the close of the transaction, WebEx will become a part of Cisco's Development Organization while maintaining its unique business model. Mr. Iyar will report directly to Mr.Giancarlo.

WebEx was founded in 1995 and held its Initial Public Offering (IPO) in July 2000. The company has close to 2200 employees. For FY2006, which ended December 31, 2006, WebEx reported revenues of $380 million."

If you follow the link above you can also access the infomation for a conference call with Cisco Chief Development Officer Charles Giancarlo and WebEx CEO Subrah Iyar to discuss the acquisition.

Immersive Learning Simulations - recorded webinar available

2007-03-15T08:19:00.000-04:00

I attended the eLearning Guild's webinar on Immersive Learning Simulations a few weeks ago. The webinar was conducted by Steve Wexler, Director of Research and Emerging Technologies at the eLearning Guild and Clark Aldrich, author of "Simulations and the Future of Learning," and "Learning By Doing."

The webinar was based on the 360 report that has survey results from over 1,000 eLearning professionals.

You'll find the link to the recording and report synopsis here: http://www.elearningguild.com/pbuild/linkbuilder.cfm?selection=doc.1348

Sign up to vote - What will employees, in 2009, use as their PRIMARY tools for everyday learning in the workplace?

2007-03-14T18:45:00.000-04:00

Post your prediction:
http://home.inklingmarkets.com/market/show/3714

You can check the ticker at the bottom of this page.

International Events of the Flash Commmunity

2007-03-13T12:50:00.000-04:00

http://osflash.org/events

This was posted to the FigLeaf Flash Coders listserv. Has a pretty good assortment of events for Flash users and you can export to XML, iCal and HTML.

Fig Leaf Discussion Forums

2007-03-12T13:08:00.000-04:00

Several weeks ago I signed up with Fig Leaf's "Flash Coders" listserv. I like it so much that I just joined the "Flash Newbie" as well. I had heard of Fig Leaf through a friend of mine and am considering looking at them for some advanced Flash training.

Anyone have any experience with Fig Leaf? I'd like to hear it!

Do schools today kill creativity? (Ken Robinson, TEDTalks)

2007-03-08T14:52:00.000-05:00

Managing Editor of Forbes cries after The Today Show takes away his Blackberry for a week.

2007-03-07T11:04:00.000-05:00

I got a Blackberry last month. As of right now I think I could live without it. I've done without the Internet for almost a week while on vacation... regardless, this is a scary clip! Am I one of the 1 in 8??

Get your own vRoom!

2007-03-03T13:24:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, my co-worker, Jeff, and I were having some problems trying to meet via NetMeeting. He was in NJ and I was in PA. I would usually have tried Centra next, but it takes a little effort to create a new event, etc.

A few weeks ago, I had signed up for a vRoom from Elluminate (http://www.elluminate.com/vroom/) and we gave it a shot.

It worked like a charm and best of all – its free! It has all of the functionality of Centra (green checks, appShare, text chat, breakout rooms, etc). The only drawback is that you can’t have more then 3 participants at a time (not for free anyway), but the fact that you can just click a link and be right in your room is great! You can also invite others via email right from your vRoom.

I'm glad I signed up! Jeff and I were able to have a very productive meeting and I'll definately use my vRoom again.