Vodcasts

Today has been another banner day in the technologies for learning arena. I have painstakingly learned how to create a vodcast AND download it to my iPod. I am now trying to figure out how to do the RSS feed without feeding my whole blog. I just want to know how to syndicate specific files. If any of you have suggestions, I am open to trying them.

To create my first vodcast, I started with a PowerPoint that had each term and formula from chapter one of CPCU540: Finance for Risk Management and Insurance Professionals. I used Audacity to record myself reading the terms as I advanced the PPT slides and saved the voice as a separate file, which I originally added to the PPT file.

Through trial and error, I discovered that if I saved all slides as jpeg images, I could import them into Windows Movie Maker, then add the audio there. I also finessed my timings there, then created the movie, which saved it in a .wmv format. From there I used my Cucusoft converter, which I bought last year to convert my purchased CDs and DVDs to iPod files. This automatically created an mp4 file, which I then went to iTunes and imported. It's not in the iTunes store, so I'm the only one that can access it.

I'm really glad we had the discussion on the last weekend about copyright. This is something that I have always been very conscientious about, but there were some good reminders and great information. Because of that session, it occurred to me that I couldn't just use this content to make my own podcasts and distribute them without permission because the definitions are the words of someone other than myself. That could have been embarrassing, at a minimum.

This was the thing I was most excited to learn about when I signed up for this class, and I finally got it. I am checking into getting these distributed, so I don't know where these vodcasts will live in the future. Even if nothing comes of it, I will have had a great learning experience and I will be able to study for my CPCU540 test in a new and exciting way. Stop laughing, it's true.

It's all coming together

I have had several successes this week in the eLearning Technology arena. To set the stage, my employer has hosted a Trainers' Institute for at least six years as a live, face-to-face event. However, budget cuts eliminated that this year. In an effort to keep the momentum and learning of that event, my team decided to put on a virtual event. For 4-5 hours each day this week, we are offering 60-90 minute sessions via WebEx by Fugent. We have a broad range of topics and have made full use of WebEx's meeting manager capabilities.
Since we don't have Training Center on WebEx (not yet, anyway, but we are working on it), for one of the sessions we had breakouts where we divided participants into four groups and gave three of them different phone numbers to call. One group stayed with me, we all stayed in the online session so we could communicate via chat, and each team had their own group of white boards. It was really awesome to see it all come together.
Anyway, I offered a 60-minute session on eLearning Trends, which I recorded. It was very well received, and I am going to see if I can use it for my final project for this class. I had planned on something else, but I have copyright issues and may not have them resolved in time. A side benefit of the class today is that at least one person wants to take this class because I talked about it in my session.
I am still doing the other project for myself, but may not be able to make it available on my web site. That is actually one of my other aha's, which occurred just moments ago. I figured out that instead of recording sound directly into PowerPoint, which will probably make a huge file size, I made the sound recording separately, as an mp3, and added it as a sound object to the PowerPoint. Now all I have to do is time each slide to see how long it takes to read it, then set the animation to advance the slide automatically after that many seconds. It is time consuming, but I believe it will be worth it.
Even though our class is coming to a close, I feel like my learning journey is just beginning. When I think about how far I have come in the weeks since we started, I am filled with anticipation that I can't explain. I have to wonder if it's not a little like an explorer feels when confronted with the reality of his journey and the vastness of what he has yet to learn. As Jean-Luc Picard of the starship Enterprise would say, "Make it so."

Links

As my fellow classmates know, I had a bad experience at a local computer store. One of the many consequences of this experience is that I lost all of my favorite web sites. To hopefully prevent that in the future AND share them with you, I am starting to add them to my blog. I will probably need to organize them differently as I get more links, but this will get me started. The TechRepublic and Kim Komando links both provide tech help; I have found TechRepublic invaluable. I hope you are able to make use of them, too.

Duh!

I didn't realize how much I had been crowding my head with new information until today. Have you ever had one of those "Duh!" moments? In the spirit of self-disclosure and a good laugh for my classmates, I will tell you about it. I struggled so much with getting the mp3 capabilities before we talked about it in class that I think I had blinders on. I posted on Robin's class blog that I couldn't make LAME work. That's because I was being lame. I wasn't pointing it to the right file in the computer, but it looked like I was. When I tried again today, after several days away, I was actually embarrassed. Luckily there was no one here to see me, but you will feel my shame into eternity, since I am blogging it here. Luckily I have an audience of 17, so it will be short-lived, I hope.

Anyway, I managed to get a couple posts out there on my web site, so enjoy it and know that persistence pays off.

Audio files

I finally received my Microsoft LifeChat 3000 (that sounds like a product name straight out of the sixties...from what I've heard), and it sounds beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that it creates lovely files that are too big for this free web tool to accept. I have been working on my own web page through my internet provider, Mediacom. I think I will try it there, and if it works, I will create a link here.

My first audio

I'm so excited! I have FINALLY learned how to create and upload a podcast. Woo hoo! Click here to have a listen. Be warned, there were 15 other people in the room doing the same thing at the same time, so the background noise is easier to hear than me for most of it.

Collaboration is everywhere, if you look for it.

I was in a Microsoft Access Database design class at work for the last two mornings. The instructor asked if anyone had a database in mind that she could use as an example for the class to practice on. I actually do have one, so I shared the details and the class asked questions and brainstormed on fields that I would need to include. It struck me that this exactly the kind of collaborative learning that is the focus of our class.

YouTube

How cool is this - I was on YouTube to show my mom a couple videos (Mom's Overture and Pachelbel Bedtime), when I happened onto a great video of laughing babies one of my favorite Christian Comediennes, Chonda Pierce. The cool part is that I found my niece on YouTube! Her husband Jonathan is very talented with AV stuff, and he made a video of her for a class election. Technology is amazing!

SecondLife

Ok, so I got invited to SecondLife, so I signed up for an account. I had a really funny experience my first time in. I'm standing in the virtual street and other people pop up. I am standing with my back to the screen and there is another person in front of me. One of us moves a little and I see that the other person is wearing a tee shirt and undies. I ask him a question, which I think is how he realized that I was there. As soon as I typed my question in the chat box, he took off as fast as he could off-screen. I'm sure it was his first time too; he either hadn't figured out how to put clothes on or hadn't gotten there yet.
The thing I found interesting, though, is that he was embarrassed about his Avatar's lack of clothing. He was shy, as if I could tell who he was. It was an interesting revelation for me, and I'm not quite done processing it. Clearly he was projecting his own feeling of exposure to his Avatar. I'm sure that is not uncommon and I wonder; is SecondLife just about creating a new identity, or seeing your current identity played out in front of you?

Interesting Facebook blog posting

Ok, I was going to take a break tonight from this class and just work on CPCU and CPLP, but I decided to check out my google reader and found this article that I wanted to share with all of you. It's an interesting read on using Facebook as a learning platform. Basically, the author's premise is that we should go where the people are. What a concept! Here's the link:

http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2007/10/facebook-as-learning-platform.html

This is the first blog posting of his I have read, so I don't know what else his site has to say. Happy reading!

By the way, I have some toys for you. I found them on Microsoft.com. I highly recommend spending some time out there with keyword searches for templates. It's addictive!

15-Minute PowerPoint Timer

10-Minute PowerPoint Timer

1-Minute PowerPoint Timer

5-Minute PowerPoint Timer

Boca Raton, FL

Last week I was blessed with the opportunity to attend a training session to learn about a new online learning development tool, Lectora 2007. The class was held in their Boca Raton office, which is a couple miles from the ocean and miles of beaches. I say blessed because not only did I get to learn a lot about using the tool and I was in a beautiful place, but my husband got to join me. I am going to see if I can add the photos to my actual site, but if I can't, I will add a new post so you can see them.

One particular photo I wanted to comment on is the picture of the choppy waves. My husband and I, on the first full day, spent the day at the beach, playing in the ocean. I had a teachable moment for both of us. We hadn't been in the water very long, and I had already lost my sunglasses (thankfully not the prescription ones!) and almost drowned more than once. I do well enough balancing on land, but an ocean with constant wave motion is another. My husband taught me how to stand and lean into the water and let it carry me a little bit instead of fighting to maintain my balance. Once I figured it out, I decided I no longer needed to cling to his hand for survival.

He made a comment about me letting go of his hand, and I had to remind him that standing in the water was a learning process for me. Once I had observed and practiced the technique, I was able to do it on my own, just like anything else that has to be learned. I wish I had learned that lesson BEFORE I lost my brand new sunglasses. However, I got them for $1 instead of the $10 on the pricetag, so I feel that was an inexpensive lesson.

It turned out to be one of those perfect days, and I have a very funky tan pattern by which to remember it.

Free tip: If you are going to be standing on an extroardinarily windy beach to apply sunscreen, make sure it's not the spray-on kind.

Resources to share

I have just learned a valuable lesson: don't pull up a favorites list in the middle of writing a blog and click on a saved link in order to copy it into your blog. When you go back to your blog entry, you will get to start over! You will never see exactly what I said the first time, as I'm sure I won't remember it perfectly. It went something like this.

I have spent a lot of time researching podcasting lately, among other things, and I have run across some resources that I thought I would share with you.

http://www.alice.org/
I haven't tried this out yet, but it is a free 3d environment created by Carnegie Mellon University.

showme.physics.drexel.edu/bradley/BradleyTeachingACSMarch07/BradleyTeachingACSMarch07.ppt
I ran across this PowerPoint presentation today while looking for podcasting resources. The subject matter isn't important; he is sharing his eLearning methodology and some definitions of different eLearning terms. For some reason the link isn't working here, but if you copy and paste it into your web browser, it should bring up a dialog box asking if you want to open the file.
http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/browser.htm
Also, another great web site but not training related, per se, is University of Michigan's American Sign Language Browser. It's an online dictionary that shows streaming video of someone signing the word you click on. It's awesome!

I have more but will need to share them later.

More tools

I just returned from a two-day beginner and intermediate training session on a new CBT design tool. I made an interesting discovery. I had taken their five-part on-line CBT to learn the tool, but finished the CBT without knowing how to create anything. The CBT's major shortcoming is that it didn't allow for any practice, and the parts weren't consistent. I didn't have a completed title to show for it. Going to the class and building a title myself gave me the confidence to begin a new title myself. Which I tried to do today, but couldn't access the tool because of some funky computer settings. I need to have my people talk to their people to make it work, but I am looking forward to being able to put my newfound knowledge to work.

On a deeper level, it gave me a very real-world example of how important interaction and practice are in any learning. CBTs are fine, but opportunities for practice need to be included or it's just fact regurgitation. I need to remember this experience as I continue building training interventions for others.

Blogging and Collaboration

It occurred to me this week as I was involved in a five-way email trail over the design of a web site, that it would be great if we could all log in to a blog and see everyone else's comments once. So, I created a restricted blog for the five of us and it is a thing of beauty. Not the blog template, so much, but the ability to track changes and share ideas without having to go to email archives to see the whole idea trail.

We are getting ready to add other people into the blog, and it is nice to know that we can have collaboration on the project without making it available to the world. That will come soon enough when the web site is finished and unveiled.

Technology meets ideas

I was talking with a friend and colleague this week, who mentioned in passing that it would be cool to have podcasts of some information controlled by a board she sits on. We talked about it and I suggested that I make a sample for her to present to the board. We are both excited about the possibilities of this new venture. It would be on a volunteer basis for me, but she thought they would be able to spend some cash on necessary software, which I would, of course, get to keep. Another win for technology! The PowerPoint (have I mentioned I love the 2007 version yet?!) is ready other than adding voice to it. I am going to put in a shameless plug for the Horton eLearning Design course, which helped me think through the process of this project, and the outcome is better for my having attended their course.

Many people will be able to benefit from this project, so I am very excited. I don't think I can wait until our next class to create a podcast. Ok, I probably can, but I don't want to!

MS Office 2007

Microsoft Office 2007 has some very cool features. I love the updated designs and templates, especially in PowerPoint. I was able to combine the new templates with something I learned in a Horton eLearning certificate program I took, and I'm so excited. I was surprised to learn during the program that most of their slides in their eLearning module were made in PowerPoint. I was expecting to hear that they were made in a fancy design tool, but they weren't. PowerPoint has the ability to embed logic in the slides, and a new world was opened up to me. I feel empowered to create activities that I never knew I could do. Now I just need something to create.

Des Moines

Today completed the first weekend of our class, and I left full of excitement and ideas. Then I went to a family party and "talked shop" with one of my relatives, who is an IT manager where I work. We talked eLearning, IT considerations, etc. I came home excited to do a little work before bed. I was unable to get into my computer. I don't know why. I am so frustrated with my computer. Is it so much to ask to have a computer that works? We spent a fair chunk of change on it two years ago, so it should not be falling apart yet. That is one downside to technology; it is only as effective as the tools and equipment you have to make it work. Thankfully my husband has a computer tha works, so I am able to do homework.

Today in our group reflection time, we talked more about the best practices and concerns with this course specifically and collaboration in general. As we were talking, one of our group members mentioned a collaborative effort she was involved with where numerous people were involved with putting on an event for 10,000 people. She said it was challenging, but effective. That led to a discussion of the ASTD web site redesign project. We talked about some of the challenges we have had with the design and the group started sharing ideas of what could be represented on the home page if we go with the town square idea. I got so many ideas and I now have a fairly concrete idea in my head. I need to call the designer to get these ideas on paper. The ideas that came out of that 10-15 minutes were incredible and I am pretty sure I wouldn't have come up with them on my own.

The biggest thing I took away from this weekend, aside from what I just mentioned, is a feeling of empowerment. There are applications available that make it possible to do just about anything I set my mind to do. I thought of several ways to use the technologies we used today. For example, I would like to start a blog for the students in a couple of my ongoing courses. I envision a place where I would summarize the chapter and allow the students to post questions to it, similar to a discussion forum. We haven't talked about those in class, but I am guessing that they are something like a wiki. I am looking forward to playing with this technology over the next couple months.

Wikinomics: Ch 11 Review

So do I get extra credit for reading chapter 11?

Wikinomics: Ch 10 Review

Just as the book talked about the perfect storm hitting the business environment, I feel my own perfect storm brewing. Preparing for this class, reading Wikinomics, taking an online eLearning design course and getting involved in a number of eLearning projects have all come together to create an excitement in me that I can't explain. I embrace this new way of thinking and communicating, and it is giving a home to the passion I have for learning.

I am currently involved in a project to reinvent the ASTD Iowa web site. We have made a lot of progress, but we are entering the creative phase. The idea of collaboration has made its way into our design, and I am thrilled to see where it takes us. Our newest member to the redesign team, Cindi Adams, set us on a course that has infused new life into our thoughts as to where we can go. The idea is simple, but so powerful. Let the web site tell our story and be a place of collaboration, not just information. There are so many possibilities, if we just allow ourselves to grab hold of them.

Wikinomics: Ch 9 review

Hands down, this was my favorite chapter. I even read most of the Geek Squad story twice; the first time to myself and the second time out loud to my husband. We got to have some laughs over the Geek Squad job titles, but the deeper impact has been driven home to me as a customer. I purchased a computer from one of their competitors two years ago. I have been having issues with it for the last several months. I took it to the store where I purchased it, as they have a service desk (I use that term loosely). They have had the computer three times and it still has the original problem. Even before reading this chapter, it occurred to me that I could call the Geek Squad to fix the problem. They have made a name for themselves by being really good at what they do, and they can obviously laugh at themselves. In my mind, that goes a long way!

Best Buy's leadership was smart in teaming with Geek Squad. Best Buy was notorious for having sales people who knew nothing about the products they sold, and getting them repaired was worse. I have my own experience there, as well, but that's for another day. The point is that Best Buy recognized a deficiency and collaborated outside themselves to challenge and overcome it. Isn't that the whole point of the new collaborative environment?

There were lots of ahas in this chapter, but one that really stuck out is a comment that we should look for consultancy to be the dominant contractual model for work in the near future. This is something that I have been considering myself for some time, and the current corporate environment is a scary place to be. It is going to become more of a necessity that people have transferable skills. Since many companies are reducing staff, consultants have more opportunities to provide value without being paid employees.

Wikinomics: Ch 7 Review

The internet is about more than finding ways to make more money or get products in front of peope like never before. It can do that, yes. But it can be so much more, as highlighted in this chapter.



The main focus of chapter seven seems to be on getting involved in something bigger than yourself, especially in the service arenas. Katrinalist is just one example. In all the chaos and confusion of trying to find loved ones in a very dark time, one person turned on a light. One person saw the problem, recognized it for what it was, had a vision for what it could be and made it happen.

This has gotten me thinking about how I could use Web 2.0 technologies to improve my world. A couple examples come to mind. My children are in Bible quizzing through our church. Wouldn't it be great if we had a hosted site where kids could ask questions about what certain verses mean and get an explanation they can understand?

Also, I am involved in missions work with my church. Our denominations has missionaries throughout the world. What a great thing if we could post needs on a bulletin board and match them up with those who can provide for those needs.

One person really can make a difference!

Wikinomics: Ch 5 Review

My learning officer has been talking about Second Life, which I am looking forward to learning more about. When I read about it in Wikinomics, I thought about checking it out. Now that I'm blogging about prosumers, I decided to pull up the web site. As of now, there are 9,606,853 registered users in Second Life. This is a virtual video game with almost 10 million people in it. It's mind boggling and totally doable.

That's the biggest thing I took away from this chapter. We consumers have this amazing power that most of us don't realize we have. We can have a major role in designing our own experiences like never before in history. It is no longer the only assumption that companies will create what they think we need and we get to buy it or not. For companies that understand that, they have a chance of succeeding in this new era of Web 2.0. For those who expect business as usual, we can pretty well guess that their time is short-lived.

One specific industry that is experiencing the growing pains of Web 2.0 is the music industry. The entire system is so entrenched in the existing legal environment that they are quashing the creativity that they could be profiting from themselves. They just don't know a better way and can't seem to be able to imagine one. That reminds me of a billboard: If it's imaginable, it's doable. The music industry would do well to consider a new paradigm for dealing with users who mash music for the pure pleasure of the ability to do it.

To quote the book on page 148, If you do not stay current with customers, they invent around you, creating opportunities for competitors. They invent around you. That's the thing; consumers now have the infrastructure to create value where it was only possible for businesses to create it. The digital environment has reduced the cost of doing business drastically; dreams really can come true, at a price that most of us can afford.

So far this book has mainly discussed the up-side to the prosumer movement, and it does get into some concerns later. For now, I'm left to wonder: is it all it's cracked up to be? What about people who intend harm instead of good? How easy is that to make happen?

Wikinomics: Ch 4 Review

Wiki. Podcast. Vodcast. Blog. Prosumer. Business Web. Socialtext. Ideagora. I had never heard of most of these three years ago. My head is spinning with all the terminology I have been learning around eLearning. Ideagoras were the focus of chapter four. I like to think of ideagoras as dating services for businesses. They bring people together. There is a romance period while they get to know each other, then they slowly begin to trust each other.

I have been researching the possibility of podcasting for my company. I have been going outside our walls for help on this issue, because it doesn't exist within our corporate walls. This is mainly because our IT department has quashed it according to a trainer in another business unit. I was just talking to one of my leaders about it today, who said that she was recently talking to a techie from Canada. He observed that U.S. businesses are spending so many resources on locking down our systems that we can't innovate and we are frequently trying to fix the problems that occur when one security update doesn't play well with another one. Projects that take months or even years to complete in the United States can be completed in days elsewhere. Wow.

Wikinomics: Ch 3 Review continued

One of the great things about being married to my husband is that he likes talking to me beyond the perfunctory conversations that most married folks have. What's for dinner? Will you please help so-and-so do such-and-such? We enjoy discussing the things we are learning independently, so I have been using him as a sounding board.

We talked about the idea of open source in general and Brian Behlendorf specifically. I told him how Behlendorf created Apache; not for the money but for the opportunity to have a more useable tool. He was ridiculed for not charging a fortune for the technology. The fact that he didn't charge for it is surely one of the main factors in its success; it was readily available for the right price. The fact that 70% of web sites run on Apache indicates that he was successful at creating what he set out to create. Sometimes it really isn't about the money.

Wikinomics: Ch 3 Review

My 13-yr old came home the other day and said that he left his science book at school, but it was ok because he could see it online. Apparently their textbook vendor has placed their books online. I thought of that as I read that California is doing the same thing. It makes looking for information in a text book much easier because of the search capabilities instinctive to computers.

The focus of chapter three was on tools like Wikipedia, the user-created encyclopedia. The relatively few people who have heard of Wikipedia detract from it stating that it can be udpated by anyone, so it can't possibly be considered reliable. However, the authors point out that because anyone can edit it, inaccuracies are uncovered and corrected more quickly than conventional encyclopedias. While it is wise to read and verify, it is overreacting to consider it without merit.

I recently used Wikipedia to look up the definition of Web 2.0 before I got my copy of Wikinomics. There were many entries, but the first actually provided a very thorough description. I am sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. Who knows? Maybe some day I will be a contributor to Wikipedia and I can be corrected with the best of them...and the rest of them.

Wikinomics: Ch 2 Review

I was very excited to share with my husband that I had created and posted to my very first blog. I offered to let him read it, which he did. I asked what he thought and he said, "It sounds like you are very educated." To the untrained ear, that might sound like a compliment. However, it didn't sound like one. He said from what he knew of blogs, they were from the gut and were usually not even spell-checked. When he said that he didn't know my intended audience, of course I told him that it would be fellow students and my professor. He said I would get an A. I'm still not sure that's a ringing endorsement, so I will try to "keep it real."

Chapter two discusses how a number of forces are aligning themselves to create a business revolution. The real thrust of this chapter is that the internet is no longer about web sites that are created and update their content whenever someone points out that it hasn't changed in several months...or years! The winners in the new environment will be the ones that create "vibrant communities."

This chapter also introduced, at least to me, N-geners. As it happens, I have two children in the N-generation, as well as two in the next unnamed generation. I loved reading about TakingITGlobal and the learning that is taking place there. Our children are connecting to the world in ways we never dreamed at their age. They can have electronic "pen pals" across the world and can communicate so quickly that it seems like they are in the next room. Teachers can share lesson plans with teachers around the globe. The collaboration and exchange of ideas excites me just to read about it. I feel a rush of possibility that is dizzying.

It has long been a frustration of mine that the public school system in general uses the data dump method of instruction so pervasively. The really successful programs are ones that engage children's minds and allows them to be creative and find the fun in learning. As a professional educator, I have learned that when people are having fun and their emotions are engaged, the learning is deeper and longer-lasting.

Coase's law was a little tough to read, as my employer is mandating tremendous budget cuts and people are losing their jobs. I see the point the authors are making, though. In training we talk about not reinventing the wheel, but it seems to be a big leap for businesses to look outside their own walls for processes that have already been developed. Those businesses that can look outside their own walls are finding innovations they may never have come up with on their own.

Sorry, dear, I tried!

Wikinomics: Ch 1 Review

We've been hearing a lot about web 2.0 lately, but what is it? This was a topic of discussion in my workplace just this week. One of my coworkers had heard of it but had an idea that it was a new and improved technology. Thanks to Wikinomics, and a wikipedia entry, I was able to tell him what it is.

Web 2.0 is not a new technology; it's a collaborative way of using technology that used to be reserved for large corporations. I am reminded of a TV commercial where a dam inspector sees a hole in the side of the dam and sticks his chewing gum over the hole. That's not going to hold for long, and when it blows, there is no stopping it. The possibilities with Web 2.0 are like that proverbial torrent; the collaboration that is made possible through technology is amazing.

Just this past two weeks I have been in a teleconference with over a thousand people calling in from around the world, as well as an online learning class that has participants from across the United States and even beyond our geographic borders. I personally am hosting my company's first web-based INS21 insurance course and have people joining from four time zones. For the first time, associates in remote locations are able to take instructor-led classes that previously were not available to them.

Several of the stories in the text resonated what's right with sharing and peering, two of the principles of wikinomics. The first had to do with the opening story. A company that was part of a very secretive industry used the idea of peering to get answers to a very serious problem: how to get to gold that they knew was there but couldn't find. They had a number of choices, but two possible outcomes. They could keep their information secret and continue trying to find the gold on their own, possibly bankrupting the company before they found it; or they could invite others to join the search and possibly keep their company alive. They chose to abandon the old way in favor of a new and scary way, and they won big time.

The second story I really appreciated talked about CAMBIA researchers who used talented pools of scientists to solve food security issues in nations that can't afford it. Using idle resources to help others is one of the great benefits of Web 2.0.

I am really looking forward to the rest of this book and this course as I learn how I can be a more active global citizen. With an internet connection and a computer that works (most of the time), the sky is the limit.