Final Eight

To my readers:

We are now down to 8 Courseware Development groups due to the following reasons:

• Nuvvo has been apparently deactivated
• Konnects has apparently gone to a paid-membership-only platform

Please continue to join and participate in the other groups as desired.

Thanks - Ted

WizIQ Blog

To all of you who are interested in the WizIQ online learning system:

I am happy to report that they have started a blog - please visit this blog - it contains many interesting articles!

I've also added this blog to the Blogroll,

Just Don't Overdo It

Some of you are on Facebook. Most of you who are on Facebook probably like to play games - usually, the price is right (free!). As long as you don't overdo it, I highly recommend The Sims Social from Electronic Arts - you can learn a lot from this game (wow- eLearning!):

1. The object is to enhance your property (indoors and outdoors), and to maintain it. You learn cooperation because without the help of Facebook friends who also play, you will get nowhere.
2. You learn organization because various things you buy have to be put in their proper place.
3. You learn maintenance because various items need to be cleaned and/or repaired, and outdoor spaces need to be kept weed-free.
4. You learn budgeting because you have coins and points that can be spent in a variety of ways.
5. You even learn a bit about relationships, i.e., what type of in-game friendships you should have, and should not have, depending on your actual relationships, both online and real-world!

Have fun, and remember, it's only a game!

More Do-it-yourself eLearning

Recently, my vehicle wouldn't start, so assuming the battery had drained, I decided to jump-start it with another vehicle. I followed these steps:

• Googled 'how to jump start a car'
• Visited this site
• Printed the relevant pages
• Successfully did the jump-start
• Drove the vehicle, parked it, tried to start it again, and the battery drained again

It then became apparent after inspecting the battery that the battery probably needed replacement. To disconnect the old battery, and connect the new one, I followed these steps.

• Googled 'how to disconnect a car battery'
• Watched this YouTube video
• Disconnected the old battery and took it to the store
• Had them test it, and, after confirming its demise, bought the new battery
• Googled 'how to connect a car battery'
• Watched this YouTube video
• Installed the new battery, drove the vehicle, parked it, and it started OK!

The moral of this story is not that I got my vehicle running again - it's that eLearning is all around you, even in this informal form!

pcLearning4U Newsletter

To my readers:

As some of you know, I am growing my personal computer training business, pcLearning4U. As part of these efforts, I have started a free email newsletter. The next edition of the newsletter will be published shortly, however, due to anti-spam rules, I have to limit delivery to subscribers.

The good news: subscribing is easy - just click this link and the form will walk you through the very easy subscription process - hope to see you on the list!

Thanks - Ted

eFront eLearning blog

I've added the eFront blog to the Blogroll, authored by Christopher Pappas. This is a very good eLearning blog, which features, among other things, Christopher's list of the top eLearning and workplace learning blogs. From the blog, you can also do other things such as subscribe to the eFront newsletter and like the eFront Facebook page.

I urge all my readers to take a look at this site and participate as desired!

LinkedIn 1000!!

I am happy to report that the LinkedIn Courseware Development Group has reached 1000 members!

Also:

• There is increased interest in the Nuvvo group
• I'm adding new people to the Twitter list as often as I can find them

As usual, your input into this blog is greatly appreciated!

Thanks - Ted

The LinkedIn Group is Closing in on 1000 Members, but...

And this is a big but, folks - the other Courseware Development groups are generally not growing at all.

The good news is that my business, pcLearning4U, is slowly improving. The result of this, however, is that I don't have as much time to manage and contribute to these groups. Therefore, I would greatly appreciate your input into the following:

1. I'm going to keep LinkedIn alive (obviously!), also Facebook and Twitter (due to the popularity of these platforms). I'm thinking of shutting the rest down - please make your case for keeping any of the others alive.

2. I'd also like your thoughts regarding items to post to this blog - this is not a one-man show.

Thanks in Advance - Ted

eLearning Guild Facebook Page

For those of you who are members of the eLearning Guild, or otherwise are interested in the Guild:

The Guild is moving its Facebook presence from a group to a page, and they are encouraging people to "like" their page.

For more information, please see this Facebook message.

GoToMeeting

To everyone:

I am thinking of using GoToMeeting to do some remote training. Have you used this application for eLearning? If so, what are your experiences? Also, have you used GoToWebinar and/or GoToTraining?

Please post your comments here. For more information, click here.

Thanks - Ted

Prezi

I'm trying out the free version of Prezi, another presentation tool. Prezi allows you to put together simple presentations using a canvas (rather than successive slides), and pointing to and zooming on various parts of the canvas. The editing mechanism is a bit counter-intuitive (it uses an attached-bubble mechanism similar to mind-maps and fractals). The paid version probably has a lot more features. Will keep you posted.

Twitter List added to Group Scoreboard

To all:

Due to lack of activity in tweetworks, I've added the Twitter eLearning list to the Group Scoreboard. The tweetworks group still exists.

If you want to be on the Twitter list, please contact me via Twitter (tedkopp).

Thanks - Ted

Need a Job? Have a job to post? Use LinkedIn?

To all my blog readers:

Did you know that LinkedIn groups now contain Jobs sections? The Courseware Development group job board is now open for business!

Note that this board just got started - if you have any courseware or eLearning-related positions, you are encouraged to post them on the board! If you are looking for such a position, feel free to look at the posted jobs (check back frequently), and follow up as desired.

Please contact me if you have questions.

Thanks - Ted

Blogger Search

Blogger has added a search feature! Just type in your search criteria in the box just below the Group Scoreboard and the search will return results in this blog, items linked from this blog, the blogroll, and the web!

The results will appear just above the most recent blog post. To close the search results, click the X at upper-right of the results.

Have fun!

Quizinator

I'm now trying out another free test-creation tool - Quizinator, courtesy of Kim Komando. More to follow as I create some demonstrations.

For more information, click this link.

If he's high on eLearning, shouldn't everybody be?

Courtesy of Coggno and TechCrunch, some interesting comments from Bill Gates:

In Five Years The Best Education Will Come From The Web

Enjoy!!

Blogger Comment Moderation Now On

To my readers, and fellow Bloggers:

Per suggestions in How do I block Chinese Spam Comments, all comments on this blog will now be moderated. As usual, all appropriate comments regarding courseware and eLearning are welcome and encouraged!

Thanks in advance for your understanding.

Ted

The Big 12 is now 10, and the Big 10 is now 12

and the Pac 10 is now 12, and, uh, some of these may be 16 soon, and, whatever blah blah blah.

Anyway, the 12 Courseware Development groups are now 10, due to the elimination of the Twine groups by Evri, and by a lack of response from BrightFuse as to why the CwDev group was eliminated.

If not already a member, please join and participate in one or more of the CwDev groups.

Thanks - Ted

English Only, Please

To everyone:

My apologies to those of you who don't speak English, but due to the proliferation of inappropriate comments posted to this blog in non-English languages, I must enforce an English-only rule.

Thanks for your understanding. Comments are welcome, but please keep them clean and relevant.

Best regards, Ted

IT4ALL

OK, folks, enough with the gloom and doom already...

IT4ALL (Integrating Technology for Active Lifelong Learning) has moved off of Ning (presumably due to pricing issues) and now has its own site! From the About page:

IT4ALL website was established on November 22, 2006 as an open and not-for-profit website. Initially, the site was built around Moodle, a course management system with the name, Integrating Technology: Exploring New Domains (IT-END). On August 2009, IT-END started offering Moodle for Teachers (M4T) workshops and took on a new look and name: Integrating Technology for Active Lifelong Learning (IT4ALL).

Today, IT4ALL Moodle provides free online workshops in professional development, formal and informal education, collaborative instruction and learning, and lifelong learning. The workshops are run by experienced online facilitators who volunteer their services. Access to the pages on IT4ALL Moodle is free and open to all. The site carries no advertising, nor do any of the links to other sites involve sponsorship or payment. The site currently has a one time registration fee of $39 for some of the workshops. However, scholarships are available to anyone who cannot afford the registration fee.

In addition to the IT4ALL Moodle workshops, IT4ALL has expanded and now includes a social network, a IT4ALL Wiki, individual and group mentoring services, web hosting, consultation, and support.

The aim of the the social network is to build a community of learners and educators for the purpose of connecting and engaging people of all cultures in collaborative lifelong learning.

The web hosting is an additional service IT4ALL provides for educators and organizations who wish to create courses using Moodle, Joomla, Forums, Blogs, and MediaWikis. The team at IT4ALL also provide specialized web hosting & installation of VLE, ongoing support and consultation on technology and pedagogy related subjects.

This is a very good social network! For more information, please visit the IT4ALL website. Thanks, Nellie!