I recently received feedback from someone who has read the E-Learning Concepts and Techniques E-Book. Arianne sent the another link that she has found quite useful for her research on online education, AcademicInfo.net, as an additional resource to those listed in Chapter 3.

Thanks, Arianne!

The HTML version of the E-Learning Concepts and Techniques e-book is slowly being posted and can be found at http://iit.bloomu.edu/Spring2006_eBook_files/. I ran into a problem with the long URLs in the References. They don't wrap in Firefox so I had to find a way to allow the entire URL to be seen within the confines of the content's container. I've tested in most browsers and with the exception of Netscape, it seems to look okay.

Summary: Debriefing of eLearning Concepts and Techniques Spring 2006

Debriefing provides an opportunity for reflection and is actually part of the evaluation phase of the instructional design process and is part of many other processes as well. Some methods or processes like the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and CMM Integration (CMMI) require substantial documentation of all debriefing or evaluation sessions as a way to improve the processes used to do business.

Heading List

• About This Class
• What was the purpose of the eBook project?
• What were some of the strategies used during the semester?
• What about learner expectations?
• What about the podcast?
• Reflection Questions
• Comfort Level
• Communication
• Instructional Design Process
• Other Processes
• Feedback and Reward
• Closing Remarks

About This Class

There were some things I purposely did not reveal about this class. This is because some things are difficult to understand without the benefit of prerequisite knowledge. Certain concepts and procedures remain abstract until experience makes them concrete. My intention was to create instances through the project and other assignments so certain issues would become apparent and concrete before we discussed them in class.

I did not expect things to be perfect. From an instructional design standpoint, how much learning actually comes from perfection? Non-examples are a critical part of learning. On the other hand, I have faith in the process so I feel comfortable with and have experienced the value of a certain amount of imperfection while, at the same time, knowing the project can still be successful.

With enough practice in using the processes, a person can let go and enjoy working on the project rather than working on the processes while completing the project. Think about learning how to use a tool or learning a procedure, once the process or procedure becomes integrated into muscle memory, a person can focus on other aspects of the job at hand. This relates to the journey of becoming an expert in the field as well as learning how to relax and enjoy what you do.

Many things were orchestrated to provide every participant with an opportunity to experience and practice all aspects of the process. This is one of the reasons I strived to achieve consensus throughout the project.

What was the purpose of the eBook project?

It was important to use an actual eLearning project; one involving just as many potential "issues" as other eLearning projects.

It was important to provide each participant with an opportunity to "experience" the processes involved in completion of project such as:

• Instructional design
• Communication
• Working in groups
• Creativity
• Critical analysis

It was also important to provide maximum learner control regarding the choice of topics and path to completion of the pieces of the project. This project was a fairly novel project. We did not have the benefit of having standards and guidelines in place. This means we had to work these things out as we progressed through the project. The downside of this meant the project became more complex. The upside of this meant everyone had an opportunity to experience a novel project. Novel projects are generally much more difficult to complete. If this were a game, we would be operating at expert level and we would have accumulated a lot of experience points.

What were some of the strategies used during the semester?

I wanted the project to unfold according to the needs of the participants and so I attempted to allow for maximum participant control when possible. I also tried to model the process throughout the semester.

In my experience, allowing participants to struggle through process without providing all the answers tends to produce lots of critical moments that allow me, as the instructor, to maximize "learning opportunities"; learning on demand, which is how people learn informally on the job. The need for more information in order to complete some task drives the desire to learn and tends to make the learning experience more meaningful.

I also expect a very high degree of cognitive functioning and performance. On the other hand, I tend to individualize instruction and evaluation for each participant based upon his or her current knowledge and skills so long as the material and objectives of the class allow for this individualization of output.

What about learner expectations?

Having mentored other previous constructionist projects, I have observed a difference between adult learners and younger learners:

• Adult learners tend to experience a high degree of confusion during the experience with a high degree of satisfaction upon completion.
• Younger learners tend to experience a low degree of confusion during the experience with a high degree of satisfaction upon completion.

What does this say about the way we "naturally" learn and how our educational system has impacted that natural ability to learn? It is also interesting that most employers seem to want employees who know how to learn on their own. If this "natural" ability to learn makes people more employable and more successful in life, why is finding people with this skill so difficult?

What about the podcast?

The eBook focused mostly on text and graphics. The podcast allowed participants to experience working with audio files. Audio without the visual component is a different way to present the instructional message and allows everyone to use parts of the instructional design process to produce instruction in a different medium.

Because the file sizes are larger, sharing the files while collaborating via distance becomes more difficult and produces a new set of issues with eLearning.

Completing the podcasts also allowed for discussion of accessibility issues. In order for some learners to access the instructional message, every podcast needs an accompanying transcription; a text equivalent for non-text elements. This is not always done. Case in point: the Institute for Interactive Technologies podcast series does not yet have transcripts available. We are in the process of adding transcripts. It does take more time and effort but if the target audience includes people that cannot access the audio for whatever reason, it should be made available in alternative forms.

Reflection Questions

The following questions can be used to reflect upon everything that has occurred over the course of the semester and we will discuss these as part of our final on Tuesday night. Please feel free to post feedback regarding how the class went for you as well as suggestions for making the class a valuable learning experience for future students.

[Back to heading list]

Comfort Level

• Did you feel in control during the process? Why or why not?
• If you did not feel comfortable, what fear or fears were involved? What can you do to be more comfortable the next time?
• What part do culture and generation play in comfort level with a project like this?

Communication

• What types of communication tools or methods were used?
• What worked? What made it successful?
• What did not work? What hindered success?
• What types of things can be done to maximize communication and collaboration in future projects?

Instructional Design Process

What worked and what was lacking during the eBook project and creation of the podcast during the following phases?

• Analysis
• Design
• Development
• Implementation
• Evaluation

Other Processes

• What worked and what was lacking during the creative process for the eBook project and creation of the podcast?
• What worked and what was lacking during the critical analysis process for the eBook project and creation of the podcast?
• What about working in groups?
• What about the process of collaboration?
• What about achieving consensus? How helpful was it to see the results of the survey?

Feedback and Reward

• What things provided feedback and reward for you during the process?
• What things were missing? If those things were provided, how do you think it would have affected your learning experience?
• What things taught you the most?

Closing Remarks

You have accomplished quite a feat in this project. I am certain some of you were not sure it could be done when we started class in January. Even with a high level of complexity as well as the added effort of working, collaborating, and striving to reach consensus in such a large group, the sum total of the work produced this semester is really amazing. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and it is my highest hope that the experiences from this project will serve you well in all your future endeavors.

Summary: Completing Our eBook Project

The semester is coming to an end and our eBook project is coming together very nicely. I'm sure many of us will be very surprised with the outcome. We have been able to accomplish something quite extraordinary in a very short span of time. Such is the power of collaboration.

When you think about truly successful projects, a group of dedicated people working toward a common goal can accomplish seemingly miraculous things. Such is the power of the synergy.

Heading List

• Title
• Acknowledgements
• Citations
• Copyright and Licensing
• Resources

Title

We discussed the title briefly at the beginning of the semester. Now it is time to choose one. Kathy suggested the title of the class, eLearning Concepts and Techniques. It is interesting to note that when I Googled this title, the first item in the list was this blog.

There was one book about eLearning Techniques for Dreamweaver but I don't see a lot of texts with this title out there.

If anyone has any other suggestions, please feel free to comment. We have about a week yet to decide.

Acknowledgements

It would be nice to include a short bio for all authors and major contributors. We most definitely need to include acknowledgements.

Citations

I have been searching for any kind of information about accessible citation methods. I found some interesting information on American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Press Guidelines for Authors. APA reference citations are the preferred method.

I have not been able to find any information on accessibility issues regarding the use of abbreviations such as page as "p." or pages as "pp." I imagine most screen readers will read "p." as page and "pp." as pages and as long as we mark these up as abbreviations, we should be okay. I will keep looking though. If I find any research or user testing that suggests spelling out page and pages, I will let you know.

I also found some web pages with the reference, to cite that particular page, formatted in multiple citation methods such as Accessibility: Is your website causing you to loose potential clients? by Leslie Durand on EzineArticles:

• MLA Style Citation: Durand, Leslie. "Accessibility: Is your website causing you to loose potential clients?." EzineArticles 22 August 2004. 03 May 2006 <http://ezinearticles.com/?id=909>.
• APA Style Citation: Durand, Leslie. (2004, August 22). Accessibility: Is your website causing you to loose potential clients?. EzineArticles. Retrieved May 03, 2006, from http://ezinearticles.com/?id=909
• Chicago Style Citation: Durand, Leslie. 2004 Accessibility: Is your website causing you to loose potential clients?. EzineArticles (August, 22), http://ezinearticles.com/?id=909 (accessed May 03, 2006)

When providing the citations for EzineArticles, it looks like server-side code is used to create them because the retrieved or accessed date is the current date, which is very user-friendly.

Copyright and Licensing

Since there will be a web page with links to the different formats of the eBook and support documents, we can include our copyright and licensing information on that page possibly in the form of a Creative Commons License. Because our eBook will most likely be downloaded, we can include the copyright and licensing in the eBook file as well. Melanie and John have agreed to work on some copyright and licensing texts.

Resources

• American Federation for the Blind Press Guidelines for Authors - http://www.afb.org/section.asp?SectionID=46&TopicID=202&DocumentID=2359#references
• Leslie Durand Accessibility: Is your website causing you to loose potential clients? - http://ezinearticles.com/?id=909

The first of the podcasts produced by this class has been posted as a part of the Institute for Interactive Technologies podcast series. It is entitled "eLearners" and was produced by Ann Kieser, Kathy Kollar, and Julie Schmidt. More podcasts will be posted in the future.

Summary: Formatting for the eBook Project

We discussed several issues regarding formatting the articles and chapters this week in class.

Heading List

• Summary of Formatting Discussion
• Support Files

Summary of Formatting Discussion

Some people have very nice layouts for their articles. Please save a copy for your portfolio. We are separating the content from the presentation, temporarily, until everything is put together.

Before you submit your article to the appropriate chapter group, please:

• Remove all borders.
• Remove the columns so content is in one column only.
• Style your headings accordingly. After thinking about putting everything together, each article title should be a Heading 2 since the book itself will use the title and each chapter will be a Heading 1.
• Choose a brief quote from within your article. This quote will be displayed at the beginning of the article.
• Make sure your citations are in APA style

The links for the APA web sites are:

• Citation Styles Handbook: APA - the writer's workshop
• APA Citation Guide - Ohio State University: University Libraries

Support Files

I created a folder on the web server for support files. The base URL is http://iit.bloomu.edu/Spring2006_eBook_files/

Create a folder, name it and place your support files in the folder. When referring to your files, use the base URL and append your folder and file names. For example: if I create a folder called "accessible_pdfs" and place a file called "example.pdf", then the url will be http://iit.bloomu.edu/Spring2006_eBook_files/accessible_pdfs/example.pdf

Please use underscores or hyphens rather than spaces when creating folders and naming files.

If you are unable to zip the folder and files, you will need to send me the files and let me know how to name the folder.

Summary: Sample Template for eBook Project

The semester and our eBook project are coming to a close. Floretta has created a sample document.

Heading List

• What do you think?
• File

What do you think?

Please take a look at the file and provide feedback.

File

• eLearnng.doc
• eLearnng.rtf

Summary: Instructional Design Skills and Techniques: How do you guarantee project success?

"If you are uncomfortable, then your skills are lacking and your technique needs practice."

- Grandfather Stalking Wolf about tracking and wilderness survival techniques

Our eLearning skills and techniques should firmly be rooted in good instructional technology skills and techniques. These skills and techniques require practice. Generally, the more we practice the easier things get.

Through our class project, we are not just studying eLearning concepts and techniques, we are immersed in them. We are using them and dealing with them in a job-specific, project-based exercise, which, according to research, is the best way for people to learn and apply knowledge. Some people are still skeptical, which is okay as this is a normal part of the learning process. Please remember this when you are out working with others that are also skeptical about the process. Remember to collaborate and always think win-win!

[More about Instructional Design Skills and Techniques: How do you guarantee project success?]

Summary: Criteria for Our Project Solution

Last night we reviewed the results from our class survey and were able to begin to list some criteria in order to find a solution or plan for completing our project.

Heading List

• Criteria
• Using Levels as Part of Our Solution
• The Assignment

Criteria

The following criteria were identified:

• Must be finished by semester's end - May 9 is last class. Drop-dead date is May 12.
• Must be instructionally sound
• High need for consistent look and feel
• Must include directory path and naming conventions for support documents
• Should follow accessible "instructional design field" methods for citations and references
• Possible minimum/maximum lengths
  • If you advocate this as an instructionally-based requirement, please provide references to supporting research.
  • If you advocate this as a technically-based requirement, please provide rationale.
• Anything else?

Susan and John are checking through the survey to make sure all criteria have been identified. In looking at the list today, I realize I forgot to include the criteria for our target audience.

Using Levels as Part of Our Solution

Remember, you can define levels of completion. In other words, completion level 1 must be achieved in order to have a deliverable for the project. Other levels can be attempted if there is time before the final project deadline. Here is an example:

• Completion level 1 - Word doc with styles correctly marked and basic style sheet; support material self-contained
• Completion level 2 - more elaborate style sheet for Word
• Completion level 3 - HTML with basic CSS; support material self-contained
• Completion level 4 - more elaborate CSS for HTML
• Completion level 5 - support material integrated into HTML document structure

This can be one way to mitigate risk in some projects.

The Assignment

Within your groups, come up with at least one solution that addresses our criteria.

• Send the solutions to me and I will email them to everyone.
• This will give people a chance to incorporate other ideas into their own solution.
• We have until next Tuesday.
• Next Tuesday (March 28), we will meet at 6:30 PM EST to discuss the solutions.

Summary: Podcasting

Julie Meyer, one of our MSIT graduates, joined me to talk about podcasting today. We met in Centra and recorded the session. Afterwards, I recorded a separate session on how to use Audacity to put together a podcast. The links to the executable versions of the sessions as well as the PowerPoint file used are included here for your convenience.

Heading List

• Executable Files of Recorded Centra Sessions
• PowerPoint File Used in Podcast Session
• Additional Links

Executable Files of Recorded Centra Sessions

Two different sessions were recorded. The executable versions of the sessions are available here:

• .exe - Podcasting by Julie Meyer and Pam Berman
• .exe - How to Use Audacity by Pam Berman

The section on how to find the number of bytes for the "length" attribute of the "enclosure" element for RSS 2.0 did not show up in the "How to Use Audacity" recorded session. I've included the MP3 properties graphic for one of our podcasts here:

The value of "length" is equal to the number of bytes for the file, which is 15,413,464.

PowerPoint File Used in Podcast Session

The PowerPoint file used in the Podcast session is available in the following formats:

• Podcasting.ppt - 2003 PowerPoint version
• Podcasting_97-2003.ppt - 97-2003 PowerPoint version
• Podcasting_HTML.htm - HTML version of the PowerPoint slides

Additional Links

Julie has provided some additional links to resources at Penn State Great Valley:

• Penn State University's testing grounds for educational podcasts
• MP3 file of software engineering data-mining course overview
• MP3 file of Doctor Laplante's course overview