Learning Technologies Round Up!
New learning technologies are being developed faster than we can process them. This summer, in TRDV 450 Learning Technologies we’ve explored a number of new ideas and applications that relate to learning and performance improvement. From mobile learning to blogs, wikis, and Screenr we’ve talked about many applications that could be used to make workplace learning more efficient, effective, and engaging.
Please add a comment to this post to tell us about an up and coming new learning technology that has promise for future applications in organizations. Be sure to tell us why you have chosen that particular technology and include a link so we can explore it.
RU Training @ Roosevelt University in Chicago 
An up and coming learning technology that I think is great is e-learning. Each of us will end up using it in one way or another. Whether it is through a blog or through e-mail. E-learning is still up and coming because new technologies are constantly coming out which means more new ways for e-learning.
This article explains the various ways we can use e-learning and how learners use it
http://www.about-elearning.com/e-learning-technologies.html
This is a fun article that predicted the “Learning Technology Trends To Watch In 2011”
http://theelearningcoach.com/elearning2-0/2011-learning-technology-trends/
I thought this would be a good read for our group. I just got this in an email.
A peek inside Forrester’s enterprise social rollout
Posted: 10 Aug 2011 09:20 AM PDT
by Josh Bernoff
I know researchers should never use themselves as examples.
That said, I am now deeply involved in Forrester’s rollout of an enterprisewide sharing system and I thought maybe you could learn something from our experience. And I’m going to tell you about it as it happens rather than after the fact. Just keep in mind that your mileage may vary — Forrester is probably not like your company. And it’s too soon to know the end of this case study.
Background: Forrester has now grown to over 1200 employees in offices in North America, Europe, Asia, and around the world. The largest groups are research (including analysts) and sales, but we also have staff in marketing, finance, human resources, and all the other functions of a normal company.
When it comes to sharing, my impression over the last 16 years (there were 65 people when I got here) is that we remain a collaborative bunch. We share; if you ask somebody for help, she will probably help you. Our reports (and my books) are a highly collaborative effort. Clients touch many kinds of staff (account people, consulting staff, leadership boards folks, analysts, finance) and we collaborate around their needs.
But we knew we could improve how effectively we collaborate. Even at this size, most of the collaboration is by email, with some by instant message, phone, video conference, and in person. Our Intranet has been for the most part a document repository. The top management, recognizing this, demanded an improvement, and we built it.
We started with a POST method analysis (People, Objectives, Strategy, Technology), just as we advise our clients to do. Our workforce is highly professional and mobile — our collaboration solution had to be mobile as well. Our objectives focused on improving work within and especially across groups and geographies and improving the pace of innovation, two of the key objectives common to many companies pursuing collaboration systems. A team with folks from both IT and marketing (internal communication) spearheaded the effort. The social element of the new system was designed not only to foster collaboration but to connect people with others who can help them — another key objective.
We call the new sharing system “The HERO Platform,” named after the highly empowered and resourceful operatives (HEROes) that we talk about in Empowered. The main new element is a highly interactive and flexible community layer that now rests on top of the document repository. I won’t describe the technology in any detail; suffice it to say it includes feeds, community features, and the ability for people to follow those communities and each other. Building communities in this system can be a little challenging, but participating as a user is pretty straightforward. It feels a lot like Facebook. (Quick note: if you sell these type of systems, don’t solicit me, I don’t buy or evaluate them. Brief our Content & Collaboration team, who advise clients on them.)
Many of these systems fail because there is no one to evangelize and manage them. This is where I became involved. My role is to help manage the change from within, working closely with the technical, communications, and marketing staff who designed and built the thing.
Our first goal is to get people using the HERO Platform as a matter of course to collaborate. This is hard, because our earlier small-scale collaboration efforts hadn’t been broad enough, and our previous Intranet system had not caught fire.
Here are some strategies we helped put in place to get people using the system:
• Honeypot strategy. Identify early adopters, have them build communities ahead of today’s launch. They will then reach out and invite people into a dialogue. For example, the sales collaboration community is starting a dialogue around effective selling techniques. The research community will start a discussion on big ideas. And in our Forrsale community (which is intended to replace all those “I have a car for sale” emails in our Massachusetts office) we’ll be giving away Red Sox tickets to one person in the Boston area who follows the community. I call these early communities “honeypots” and the key is . . . it’s the community owners working to attract people to them, not corporate.
• Awareness. We did a single company-wide email (since repeated emails tend to annoy). But we’ve created some posters which are going up all over our locations. I used movie graphics and minimalist tag lines to attract attention. This is a marketing effort, even if the target is employees. I also leapt at a couple of chances to address the employee base at our recent all-company meetings. We will be doing additional promotions, not through email, but visible only to people on the platform, so if you’re not there, you miss out.
• Executive leadership. I did a separate training session for Forrester’s top executive team. Employees will pay attention to what the leaders do — if the leaders use it, they’ll follow. And if the leaders don’t, what message does that send?
• A big push, but continuing effort. The launch was a big day — we concentrated all our messages on the launch yesterday and got nearly half of Forrester to participate. But it continues. We’re doing voluntary companywide training on Friday and again later on at times that work for other parts of the world; we have some events planned for the following week, too. Some of the communities weren’t ready to go for the kickoff, which is fine — they’ll help generate interest next month, as will the community managers conceiving new ideas. It’s important to keep the interest up, or this will fizzle out.
• Measurement. We’re looking at activity, but we will also look for indicators like ideas generated, improved efficiency, and reductions in volumes of internal email.
Looking back at Empowered, we said there were five things you needed to get a collaboration system to succeed:
1. Build collaboration systems that extend existing tools (We did this — our system links up to email, mobile devices, our VPN, and the prior Intranet system)
2. Make sure anyone participating gets value instantly. (The honeypots will help with this. People seeing the activity will want to join it.)
3. Dedicate people to the rollout. (My involvement is a start, and we considering what other resources to apply.)
4. Solve 80% of the problem, then stop and listen. (That’s the plan. We know it’s not finished.)
5. Build adoption socially and virally. (The system, as built, includes features that will help with this.)
Will we succeed? Ask me in September and I’ll have a pretty good idea. But I do know I’m having a blast with this project!
The one technology I will be using more is my company’s internal social networking site. It is powered by Jive software. http://www.jivesoftware.com/
Right now a group of other consultants and I teach systems to our new representatives via webinars. What has helped me so much in this class, is the class forums. I have gotten to know so many more people and received more feedback, than I would have, had I been sitting in a classroom. Because the new representatives are across the country we can utilize the internal social network to discuss the system we went over, maybe give some pre-work or post-work, share best practices, and begin to create meaningful dialogue to help our newly hired get up to speed even faster.
I think my biggest challenge is keeping up to date with all of the latest technologies. Here a few sites I have either bookmarked or added to my Pulse app to help me keep up to date.
http://www.engadget.com/
http://gizmodo.com/
http://techcrunch.com/
I was in a recent meeting for a job I’m working at part time, and we were asked to research a platform that would allow to the company to use a software program that marry knowledge sharing, training, and social networking. I’m in the process of helping to write the proposal.
Mzinga OmniSocial is one software platform that is on the table: http://www.mzinga.com/software/software_overview.asp
We’re right now in talks about how the platform can be branded globally but with some indviduality based on each country website, which already has their own localized version of the company site.
We’r also trying to learn how it will work with our current intranet and proprietary information, which of course cannot be made public.
Influencing our decision on what type of platform we’ll use: We’ve received requests from employees now want to dealve more into social networking within the company but also want a platform that they can make partly public to vendors and consumers, with the website branded in perhaps a similar feel as the intranet. I think the company likes the aspect of allowing external stakeholders to see what the company is doing, keeping them informed, as well as having them contribute to the knowledge-sharing and building conversation.
Hi Cindy,
I can see more companies asking for this type of platform in the future. The diagram on the site shows a cloud-based deployment. Cloud computing is going to be the standard platform in the future. At the present time security is a big issue for most companies. This is not going to be an issue for long. There are so many advantages to cloud computing.
I agree Irene, cloud computing will be huge!
I think you guys are on a good track. You are not allowing your decision to be made solely on a few but you are getting information from employees. I think that is so effective and allows you to look at options and information that will benefit the masses. Good luck on that project.
Two technologies I really liked and plan to consider in the future and promote if they meet the organizations needs. They are mobile learning and blogs.
Mobile learning should be “easy” to promote as our sales force already have iPads in hand…the difficult part is getting our partner vendors to develop (and for the org to finance) partner applications for mlearning. Once we get up and running with elearning I’m hoping to bridge that learning to mlearning.
The other is blogging. This is an interesting concept as I would have never thought about this prior to this class. However, when I see the round robin emails come through from our sales reps with success stories and when the push is on to get so many sales by the end of the week…this would be a PERFECT way to convey both of those rallying initiatives for our sales reps and without clogging the email server. Plus the benefit of blogging is that it can go beyond one sales office…we can info share and motivate across the sales offices throughout the country.
Just two key food for thoughts based on what I have learned so far.
Sue: would this blog be internal or extenal?
At the beginning of this class I was hesitant about using social medias. Now I can’t wait to learn more about creating a blog. I see how useful they can be. Perhaps I will feel the same way about the other medias in time.
Hi Sue,
I was never one who was into “blogging” whether it was for entertaintain or school related but after taking this class I have really taken into it and I enjoy reading them and postng to them and being able to share my thoughts and view points on the particular subject. It sounds like blogging would work great for where you work so everyone is not receiving email updates every 2 minutes! Having a blog would make it much more simple!
Jennifer
Here is a newer technology that I have used at a previous employer. We had annual training sessions for 500+ Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers who had to learn the new standards that they would be using throughout the year as they were checking healthcare organizations. As you can imagine these are very boring sessions, but the information needed to be given. The last year that I was there we used an audience response system for some of the sessions. It kept the people involved in the session and it was different than what they were used to seeing. We got great feedback on the use of the system. It was very easy for the audience to use and the speakers worked with an the training staff to get the interaction incorporated into their sessions.
I found a couple of links that should be helpful for using this technology.
Information about how it can be used created by University of British Columbia and University of Colorado.
Click to access Clicker_guide_CWSEI_CU-SEI.pdf
Also some best practices and tips from iclicker, an audio response vendor.
http://www.iclicker.com/dnn/UserCommunity/BestPracticesTips/tabid/169/Default.aspx
Jan, very interesting. Some questions:
1. were all the doctors in the room or were some of them taking the class remotely?
2. how periodically were the questions posed? Was it as the presentation progressed? If so, was the instructor able to, let’s say, tailor the tak based an overwhelming answer that was wrong or perhaps additional questions that students could pse about the lecture during the lecture so that the instructor always had his pulse on what the audience was thinking?
3. What guidelines was the instructor teaching? If you could share….
4. How long was the class? Did the foctor get anything upon completion? Was this a required course? If so, in what way? Was it just for doctors or nurses, too?
I feel like a new learning technology is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). I feel like this is the way that online learning is going. People want real-time information and want to interact with experts. These courses allow individuals to learn about topics they’re interested in and interact with subject matter experts. When I heard about this I thought it was the logical next step to a learning group embracing learning 2.0, 3.0 and eLearning. I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for many individuals to gather and learn. It almost reminds me of a blown up version of the webQuest. Take a look at this video which explains it in detail. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3gMGqcZQc Here is some more information about it. http://sites.google.com/site/edumooc/
Jessica:
Am I right in saying this is liking a moving wiki, whereby the information is shared in real time but also static in that the information can also be stored for future reading? How do we know the information credible? Are we basing it on the reputation of the person hosting the MOOC? IS this course ongoing – only as long as information is flowing from it?
Cloud Computing -The Next Big Change
Applications are usually stored locally on the computer and require a large amount of disk space for file storage. Major software upgrades can be very costly requiring new hardware for desktops and infrastructure, especially for large companies. The decision to make such an investment is not always easy, especially during these hard economic times. For these reasons and others, Cloud Computing is going to change the future of technology.
A Cloud Computing System is made up of two parts, client, the company and the cloud, the system. Interface between the two units is through the Internet. Software is installed on the client’s network allowing them access to the cloud system. All applications used by clients are stored in a central location, the cloud, which is comprised of computers, servers and data storage systems. In reality, the only application needed by the client is the software allowing access to the cloud. Company software can be accessed anywhere there is a network connection. If you have a Gmail or Yahoo account, you are accessing a cloud system.
Cloud Computing can be save a company an incredible amount of money. Purchasing new hardware to meet system requirements for large applications will no longer be necessary. The need to staff a large IT department could be reduced along with the number of in-house servers.
Although cloud computing offers many benefits, convincing a company to turn over its network and private data to an outside company is going to be a challenge. Maintaining a network in-house gives a company the feeling of being in control. If there is a problem you can talk to someone employed by the company not a stranger. This is not the case with a cloud system. Worries over who might have access to your data and what they can do with it will be a major concern for a company. I remember how difficult it was to enforce data storage on the network instead of the hard drive. I can only imagine how difficult it is going to be to persuade a company to use a cloud system.
For more information on cloud computing please visit the following website:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cloud-computing.htm
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/google-apple-cloud-computer.htm
http://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/us/en/
One of the most valuable Learning Technology tools I have embraced as a result of this course are blogs. While I have been a fan of different blogs for the past couple of years (including a wonderful one about the Cubs entitled “A League of Her Own”), it has only been through TRDV 450 that I have been exposed to so many blogs that can be useful in the training and development area. For example, the Rapid E-Learning Blog (http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/) contains many succint, useful tips for developing e-learning. A consultant that my organization has worked with in the past also offers a number of resources focused on the integration of learning and technology (http://www.tagoras.com/resources/). The beauty of blogs, in my opinion, is that they are able to keep up with the latest research and communicate to a wide audience on a regular basis. As a result of this course, and my continued appreciation for all the great blogs out there, I will be organizing my computer “favorites” to include a folder comprised entirely of learning technology blogs.
Hi Sue,
Do you mind to share your folder? I think that would be an awesome resource.
Unfortunately, I have not started this task yet! I’m waiting until after I’m done with the course. But, I can share some additional links I’ve compiled. Stay tuned!
Ditto:
Question does anyone want to start a extrernal folder that we can keep updating? If I satrt will you guys contribute?
Cindy
That’s a great idea Cindy. How do you think we should proceed?
Kathy
Professor Iverson
I am anxious to keep up with the technologies I have come in contact with during the two summer 2011 classes I took in the area of TRDV. Early in TRDV450 we were introduced to Microsoft Word 2010 which was a trial. As the trial comes to an end I would like to know if anyone has any suggestions whether the purchase is worth it or will the 2007 version be sufficient for future RU TRDV courses. The 2010 version was a little different and had a learning curve associated with it but it worked for the assignments without a hitch.
This morning the news reported that mobile technology now has the capability to pay bills. I find that I am more aware of technology based topics in the news.
i watched this youtube video which provides information about gaming http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22pw_sO3O9g. It is entitled “Gaming for the Greater Good”. This one may have been shared in class prior but I just had the opportunity to view it.
Hi Jennifer
Thanks for sharing the link with information about what is going on in the industry. I saw that it was updated with current news and I noticed the recall of the Ford trucks from yesterdays news I saw on tv was one of the items discussed. This blog site undoubtedly gives important and up to date information and is not too hard to access. Do you know how they can go about getting the customers and clients to embrace these technologies? When people actually use the blog site and realize how easy it is to navigate it they would use it, provided the information is of interest to them. My observation is that this usually happens slow, sometimes it seems to be one person at a time.
I agree that it usually takes some time to get people to adopt to these new technologies. I know that the sales staff always references the blog in contact and conversations with the clients to continue to drive traffic to the blog site. I think the most important thing about increasing adoption is that they continue to put the most up to date and interesting topics on the site, which they are really great about doing.
After taking this course, I think that organizations will benefit from incorporating Web 2.0 technologies into their day to day activities. I think blogs, wikis and social media can provide a huge benefit to organizations as they allow individuals to contribute ideas and processes where they might not had a voice in the past. My current organization is just starting to incorporate blogs into their internal technologies with limited success, but I think there is unlimited potential in how it can assist the organization. I think that if management continues to push the benefits, individuals will utilize the blogs to contribute their thoughts, experiences and ideas which will help new and existing employees in their roles. I also think that using wikis can drive teams to work together in a more organized environment, saving time and frustration on projects. Externally my organization is using blogs to inform customers and clients what is going on within the industry. Please feel free to check out http://blogs.cars.com/ to see how they are using this technology with success. I think they just need to work on how to get internal employees to embrace these great technologies as well!
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. You wrote that blogs have had “limted success” in the organization where you are employed; and that management should “push the benefits”. I think that it is awesome that there is management support for the initiative.
Why do you think that there has bee limited success? Have you had the opportunity to look at want other organizations are doing? Do employees have the opportunity to share success stories?
I think there is limited success because it is such a new technology to the organization. Employees have not taken the time to see the benefits of the information being posted to these blogs. I think that as people start talking about the information on the blogs, it will drive the usage of the blogs.
I think it is always going to be a challenge to get employees to embrace new technology. I think organizations must really make sure the new technology has a benefit to both employee and the organization. That way if emoloyees find a real benefit they are not slow to jump on the band wagon.
One thing that is happening within our organization is the use of sharedpoint. I find it is real important for me to visit our departments website frequently because people are not updated through email. They are placing valuable information on our sharedpoint website and it is real embarrassing to show up to meetings unprepared because you didnt read thei nformation on shared point or go over the agenda. So I see a true benefit to this site and I force myself to use it.
Hi Darlene,
To your point about technology, it is really important that it does make sense and that is supports work and isn’t perceived as exta work. Otherwise people will not use it.
To your point, people are so used to having information pushed to them- and then they complain that there mailbox is full. The organization where I am employed sends weekly email messages outlining key points and including links to the full communication (located on the intranet). This is helpful but it is still my responsibility to read the complete communication.
Hi Linda and Darlene
I apologize- my communication was addressing Linda’s comments not Darlene’s questions above.
I agree! I think that when people see the added value they tend to adopt the technology more quickly. It is very much the “what’s in it for me” philosophy. If you can see how this will help you, you are more likely tol use the technology.
Jennifer:
I feel like you: I’ve learned so much after having taken this course. Question though: Why wouldn’t management dial down a bit and perhaps choose employee thought leaders within the company to promote the new site. i think peer word of mouth is more powerful. You say they’ve had limited success. What are the powers that be doing to promote adoption of the new technologies? What types of information are on the site now? What’s the navigation like.
Hi Colleagues,
I wanted to comment on the ones that I think have the most promise for the organization where I am employed. The organization is global and spans many time zones; and the industry is data driven. Therefore, mobile learning will provide employees anywhere, anytime, access to information. We have already started using augmented realities (as I have discussed this semester). This offers an excellent collaboration tool. I also think game-based learning will offer some advantages with making learning more engaging.
Mobile learning is the new big development in e learning! Would you mind telling us more about the applications and products your organization is planning to use or should consider as they move forward?
Hi Kathy,
To address you question about mobile learning in the organization where I am employed-the training departmentment is conducting a pilot to consider the iPad as a delivery modality and how iPads can be incorporated . The pilot team provided an update at the last departmental meeting. There have been issues with technology interface. And there were issues with flash. I have not received a more recent update. As far as smart phones, company employees can access outlook.
Please add a comment to this post to tell us about an up and coming new learning technology that has promise for future applications in organizations. Be sure to tell us why you have chosen that particular technology and include a link so we can explore it.
This semester we have discussed a number of upcoming learning technologies that have promise for future applications in organizations i.e. mobile learning, gaming, virtual, etc.
I conducted a google search to ascertain if there were any out there that perhaps had not been discussed so far. I wanted to include an overview of what is out there including some that may not have been discussed so far this semester.
I located an interesting article entitled, “The Horizon Report 2011 Edition” (http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/HR2011.pdf). The purpose of the report is to discuss the potential impact on and use of emerging technologies in teaching, learning and creative inquiry.
The report highlights six technologies to watch in the “near term”, “second adoption”, and “long-term”:
Near term horizon (within the next 12 months):
• Electronic books-Modern electronic readers support note-taking, research activities, and are beginning to be used with immersive experiences to support social interaction.
• Mobiles –access to information, social networks, tools for learning and productivity, etc.
More information about mobile learning: http://www.educause.edu/Resources/Browse/Mobile%20Learning/17505)
We discussed the use of mobile learning with the last blog assignment. And a number of colleagues discussed in the Webquest assignment.
Second adoption horizon (next two-three years):
• Augmented Reality- “layering of information over a view or representation of the normal, world, offering users the ability to access place-based information in ways that are compellingly intuitive.”
This semester some of us have shared information about Second Life and Protosphere in several forums and the also with the recent Webquest assignment.
More information on augmented reality: http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutAugme/156810 and http://www.logicalchoice.com/software/augmented-reality-for-teaching-learning/next-big-wave-of-learning-technologies/ (please scroll down to watch the You tube video
• Game-based learning- the greatest potential for games in learning is the opportunity for fostering collaboration, problem-solving, and procedural thinking.
We also discussed gaming in our last blog assignment.
More information on game-based learning: http://www.newmedia.org/game-based-learning–what-it-is-why-it-works-and-where-its-going.html
Far-term Horizon (four-five years):
• Gesture-based computing- “moves the control of computers from a mouse and keyboard to the motions of the body via new input devices”. This has been depicted in science fiction movies.
More information and You Tube videos on gesture-based computing: http://education-2020.wikispaces.com/Gesture+Based+Computing
• Learning Analytics-“loosely joins a variety of data-gathering tools and analytic techniques to study student engagement, performance, and progress in practice, with the goal of using what is learned to revised curricula, teaching, and assessment in real-time.” It “aims to mobilize the power of data-mining tools in the service of learning, and embracing the complexity, diversity, and abundance of information that dynamic learning environments can generate”.
More information about learning analytics: http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/2010/08/25/what-are-learning-analytics/
Darlene, I must agree with you this was an amazing class. I found it reveal a lot of information to me in such a short time. I must admit I was one of the nay sayers when I came into the class. I opposed social networking and I also through my peers and Kathy must admit my brain has been stretched. I also find myself looking at other opportunities to learn electronically. Although I am still not 100% for games being tied into learning in the work place, I see where there is an opportunity for learning. Right now my organization is working real hard to give us the best elearning tools to help us perform in the work place and I really do appreciate how it is personal and convenient. I would like to see them continue upgrading the software. Mobile learning seems to have great opportunity also but I dont see that being a great opportunity for my organization, I see it more of a resource for information not learning. We use E Element K a elearning tool that I find amazing. I was actually on it a few days ago reviewing some diversity information I wanted to present at work and it gave me the tools I needed. http://www.elementk.com/products/e-learning
I like the fact that it is self pace and has great reference guides.
Hi Linda,
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I must say that I agree that each technology must be examined and evaluated relative to the organizational learning strategy. While there are a lot of exciting new emerging technologies, the adoption has to make sense for the organization and support the employees being more productive- otherwise- you may have an expensive toy on your hands.
Roxanne, I think you make a great point and I think this is really where I have been going all the time. I think the technology organizations choose to use my be aligned with their goals and purpose. Otherwise it may just be bells and whistles and absolutely nothing is accomplished using it.
Linda
Yesterday when I accessed the elementk web site that you provided the link for, I navigated through it and came upon the information about certification. This is a site I looked at during the course of our class (probably submitted by you) but I didn’t get as far as I did this time. Does your organization recommend their certification programs for the employees as a way to verify their ability to know the information? We covered a lot of information this summer and you may have already shared this information. In any event, I think the site is great as you do.
The certification is like a plus. How my organization has it set up is. You are rquired to pick three courses and you have to finish them within 12 months. a report is sent to your managers. I dont know if the report comes from HR or directly from elementK. When it is time from your review it is stated if you completed your courses and this part of your performance development.
It is amazing to me how many power packed technologies were included in one summer class. At first glance of reading the syllabus, my initial thought was – so many technologies, so little time. I am reminded now of an old saying: Once the mind has been stretched, it never goes back to its original form.
From Human Performance Technologies and Blogs to Self-Paced E-Learning, I have a new attitude. I have a new outlook on Social Networking tools because of information from class lessons and the contributions from classmates. Now I benefit from the connection I have with a network of phenomenal people and the intelligence I read in the outstanding Graduate Program in Training and Development at Roosevelt University blog site is second to none. The assignments gave me the opportunity to activate my newly acquired understanding of technologies including Distance Learning Technologies where we created WebQuests to share with others. How phenomenal was that? The research alone brought out the skillfulness in everyone and the lessons learned from reading all projects are priceless.
Participation was made simple because of the encouragement from peers who commented on posted assignments, not to mention the stellar guidance from the instructor. As the class comes to an end I will say that it will be tempting to turn on the computer to see what our next assignment will be.
Thanks for the lessons that I have gripped. I will have them with me forever.
Hi Darlene,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I agree that this class has opened my eyes to an whole new world- and really motivated me to stay current!
Thank you so much Darlene–what nice comments about our class. You are a very enthusiastic learner–which makes teaching easy! Start thinking about your post-class learning goals–no need to stop stretching your thinking about technology when class is over.
“To The Cloud”
Each day there is another breaking news article about some major tech company going to the cloud. Cloud computing is the new wave and is already caught the attention of education.
On July 21, 2011, Acer , the fourth largest computer maker in the world, announced that it will be acquiring iGware, a cloud technology company in the U.S. In June, Apple unveiled iCloud.
Cloud computing is a style of computing which allows off-site servers to store resources and computer programming. The infrastructure is supported by the provider and not the user. It provides additional access to technology while helping to avoid paying for services not use. Think of it like using other utilities, gas, electric. Someone else has the manages and maintains the infrastructure.
As Illinois continues its “Race To The Top” in education, P-20 schools have already begun to partner to utilize this resource and learning technology with IlliniCloud . By utilizing this service, schools are expected to cut costs and improve school curriculum. Other states have expressed an interest in sharing in this technology, as stated in a recent article in SmartPlanet .
As someone interested in workforce development, the opportunities available with cloud computing are endless.
http://www.cio.com/article/686515/Acer_to_Buy_U.S._Cloud_Technology_Provider_IGware
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20068773-37/jobs-announces-apples-icloud-storage-service/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing
http://www.illinicloud.org/
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/business-brains/illinois-schools-create-cloud-cooperative-to-extend-technology-resources/17334