A Blogroll is not something you get at the bakery

Do you have, or know of, any good blogs related to courseware development? If so, please post them here, and if they appear to be relevant to this blog, I'll add them to the Blogroll (located just below the Blog Archive).

Thanks in advance for your contributions!

deLearning - the new Learning

Dear Readers,

It is my sad duty to inform all of you that eLearning has been abolished, effective immediately. After a careful review by some of the most well-respected minds in business and academia, this decision was made, for the good of mankind and other forms of life.

To undo the abject harm caused by the use of computers in the learning process, a new technique has been developed: deLearning. This technique will encourage all people to ditch the convenience of online learning to go back to doing things the way they were done for thousands of years. An application has already been placed with the United States Treasury to use some of the stimulus money to acquire old abacuses, slide rules, and other non-energy-expending (think green!) devices from museums and return them to active use. Also, as part of this new program, bean counters everywhere will have to use real beans. Last but not least, everyone will be taught how to use their fingers to count again (those with disabilities will be accommodated).

deLearning support groups will be set up. These will meet (in person, of course!) in small groups - a typical introduction will go something like this: "My name is Ted and I learn stuff over the computer" - the rest of the people will respond, "Hi Ted". Computer deprogrammers are also encouraged to attend these meetings to help the members overcome this gripping addiction.

Finally, since deLearning is in its infancy, please feel free to post any suggestions here that the Committee may be able to use to fine-tune the process. It is April now - all ideas are appreciated, from wise folks and from Fools.

Your humble blogger, Ted

LearnHub Courseware Development Community

LearnHub (which I first mentioned in this blog in April 2008) now has its own branch of the Courseware Development group. Please take a look around and join if interested. Also, if you would like to contribute lessons (including PowerPoint presentations) and tests to the community, please feel free to do so (I put a test there as an example - those of you who looked at the previous blog entry may be familiar with it!).

Is There an Emmy for Best New Group on TV?

Yup - we're TV stars now - how about that one, folks! Thanks to Mike Langford, Mr. tweetworks, the tweetworks branch of the group was mentioned on Tweetworks TV, Episode 46! In particular, we're mentioned just after the 12-minute mark of the 19-minute show. Cool!

While you're there, you may want to listen to the entire broadcast, as well as some of the other episodes (this is all part of Mike's blog - links to other episodes, as well as other parts of the blog, are available on the Episode 46 site).

Enjoy!

eLearning is so big, it has its own Planet?

E-Learning Planet is a new eLearning site started and run by a fellow who goes by E-Learning Tyro. This Chennai, India-based site has a lot of very interesting features, including some lessons!

Take a look around and post your thoughts here - if you have any suggestions for additions and/or improvements, please email or tweet Mr. Tyro. Thanks!

eLearning Research - Brandon Hall

This company is an excellent source of eLearning information. You can subscribe to their free newsletter, which gives you free access to some of their reports. So far, I've looked at the eLearning 101 and Learning Technology Products 2009 reports, and found those to be very interesting and informative.

There is also a Facebook Group for those of you on Facebook who are interested in this subject.

MyLinkingPowerForum

For those of you who are members of Vincent Wright's groups: a branch of the Courseware Development Group has been set up on MyLinkingPowerForum.

Please look around and join if interested!

Thanks - Ted

tweetworks Courseware Development Group

For those of you on Twitter: since Twitter doesn't have a Groups capacity in its own right, I've set up a branch of the Courseware Development Group on tweetworks - please click this link to join, or to just look around. Thanks - Ted

LinkedIn eLearning Groups

Did you know that, in addition to the Courseware Development Group, there are several other groups on LinkedIn that are related to eLearning? Here are just a few (the ones that I belong to):

• (E-)learning network
• eLearn
• eLearning Advocates
• Instructional Designers
  
• Moodlers

I hope you find these useful!

Twitter

Are any of you using Twitter for eLearning purposes of any type? If so, please explain as a comment to this post.

Thanks - Ted.

Personal Experience: HP Learning Center

I recently took a free online class via Hewlett-Packard's Learning Center: JavaScript: web programming basics. Although the class was not very detailed, it did give a good overview of various aspects of using JavaScript, in a reasonable amount of time (it took me about four hours to complete). Also, the price was right!

The Learning Center now has over 100 free classes, including those that deal with Microsoft products. If you take any of these classes, please feel free to post your comments here!

Happy New Year!!

To My Readers:

I hope you are enjoying this blog, and that you have a great 2009!!

Best regards, Ted

Ted Kopp
Blogger
Courseware Development Group Manager

IT Toolbox: e-learning-select group

Many of you know that IT Toolbox is a very rich and active IT-oriented community site. Among the many groups there is one devoted to eLearning, e-learning-select.

This group has many interesting discussions on it, for example, development product comparisons such as Blackboard vs. Moodle. Also, this group is in the Knowledge Management area of IT Toolbox - if KM interests you, there are a lot of other KM-oriented groups that you can join!

Learning eLearning at eLearning Learning

eLearning Learning is a very interesting eLearning-related community (surprise!) led by Tony Karrer of TechEmpower. To reach a subset of this community dedicated to Courseware Development, click the community logo located on this blog at right, directly below the About Me section.

As usual, please post all comments here - thanks!

New Tools for Learning Club

Very interesting UK-based Ning site - in their own words:

The New Tools for Learning Club works like a Book Club. Every month we'll look at 5 new, upcoming or unrecognised tools and discuss their use for education, training or performance support. The tools will either be free or free trials of commercial tools.

Check it out and comment here!

Work Literacy and eLearning Guild Update

Work Literacy's Web 2.0 for Learning Professionals is a Ning network that supports the following effort (as described on the network's Home Page) - please take a look around and sign up if interested:

Sponsored by Work Literacy and the eLearning Guild from September 29 through November 7, 2008, this network will be THE place for you to learn about Web 2.0 and how social media tools can be used by learning professionals. The goals of the event are to: * Introduce you to new tools and methods for work and learning * Discuss implications of these tools for learning professionals * Prepare you to participate in DevLearn in new ways as an attendee or as a spectator.

LinkedIn Discussions!

now has discussions within its groups! Assuming that you are already a member of the LinkedIn Courseware Development Group, go into LinkedIn, click Groups, scroll down to Courseware Development, and click Courseware Development (the group name itself).

The group Overview page appears, which allows you to start a new discussion directly. You can also click the Discussion tab - you can also start new discussion here, as well as add comments to existing discussions.

As you know, the LinkedIn group is by far our largest branch, and I urge all members of this group to consider adding useful and interesting discussion items!

Light the Fuse!

As you may have noticed, the Courseware Development Group now has 10 branches! The latest branch is on the BrightFuse network.

What is BrightFuse? It is a new business social network with an emphasis on position-seeking (it is affiliated with CareerBuilder). BrightFuse recently added Groups capability, and since the majority of my contacts on this net are eLearning-related, I created the CwDev group there.

Therefore, if you are interested in eLearning, and are looking for a new job, assignment, gig, etc. (or for someone to fill one), I recommend that you join the BrightFuse CwDev Group!

LinkedIn 50-Group Limit

Greetings!

You may have noticed that the LinkedIn Courseware Development Group membership total has temporarily started to decline. LinkedIn has imposed a rule that no member can belong to more than 50 user-created LinkedIn groups. As a result, a lot of members have had to discontinue their membership in some groups, ours among them.

To anybody affected by this (either by the above, or by being unable to join our LinkedIn group) - please do not fret! There are eight - that's right, eight - other Courseware Development groups! If interested in this subject, please feel free to join one or more of these groups - just click the appropriate link under the Group Scoreboard on this blog.

Thank You, Ted
Courseware Development Group Manager

Rosetta Stone and Video Professor

Am I the only one out there who is constantly bombarded with TV ads for Rosetta Stone and Video Professor? Methinks not:

• Has anyone out there tried either of these products? Like? Dislike? Why?
  
• Do you think of either of these as eLearning? If so (or not), what are your reasons?
• Are you developing, or planning on developing, courseware similar to either of these?

Let's get a lively discussion going here!