Learning 3.0 – Technology and implications on Pedagogy & Learning Styles

Web 3.0 has arrived. The learning 3.0 technologies would eventually turn out to be one of the critical factors to impact the future of traditional learning and teaching styles. These tools are already being implemented to maximize the benefits of learning. Mobility will be one of the key focus of Web 3.0. Emantras took the opportunity to introduce a few concepts on Learning 3.0 at the annual PADLA Conference which was held on 7th Nov 2007.

Click on the below link to view the presentation - http://www.emantras.com/Learning%203%200%20Final.ppt

From Passive to Active Learning

Created by: Michael Lamendola

Director - Digital Education, Emantras

“So, this character that looked like a file folder with eyes, arms and legs starts talking to me about the insurance billing process, right? Then he starts asking me questions, but I didn’t know the answers. This folder-person told me it was okay, and where I should go to learn for more information. I went back, studied again, and the character let me go on to the next topic. Weird, right? Here let me show you…”

Water-cooler talk! It’s what you talk about, the day after the Super Bowl or when the iPhone was announced. It’s buzz, hype, or something of interest that just needs to be shared. As an online administrator, my aim was to have my students talking about online classes around their water-coolers.

Afterall, why should an ad for a new movie be more exciting than someone’s personal education or training? Consider that FOX wanted you to pay $10 for a ticket to see The Simpsons Movie (www.simpsonsmovie.com) this summer. FOX went all out with interactive websites, teasers, and promotional partnerships to promote the movie (not including cost of development). As an educator, your school may require someone to spend over $30,000 on a degree, and you’re putting together PowerPoint presentations with a few pictures you found on the Internet.

It may seem trivial, but both activities are vying for attention. Education is inevitably becoming more mobile and customizable which is great for the end-user. Going a step further, education must become more engaging and do a better job at reaching students at their teachable moments. MySpace, Yahoo!, and casual gaming feature simple activities that attract everyday people to spend hours on their sites. The average camera angle in a television show doesn’t last longer than a few seconds because our attention spans have become so short. For your material to really sink in with a student, the same approach should be taken.

Rapid eLearning tools such as Captivate (www.captivate.com), Articulate (www.articulate.com), and PresentationPro (www.presentationpro.com) are excellent for starters. I am cautious not to overuse these programs, though – too much of the same thing becomes static and plain in the context of your catalog of courses.

If you have your own graphic designers in house, work with them on developing activities around objectives and new, creative ways to deliver content.

Textbook publishers can also help with the development of custom online courses, but this may require you to commit to textbook adoption. If you’re going this route, remember that online course development will vary from publisher to publisher, and students should have a consistent look and feel from course to course.

One of my most rewarding experiences as an academic dean was hearing that my online classes were bringing families together. In an Environmental Earth Science class (a general education course of an Associate degree program), my student’s child would ask about the animations and activities she saw on her mother’s computer screen. This class included vivid colors and fun exercises to reinforce the learning objectives. Soon after, the child became genuinely interested in the environment, wanted to learn more, and started reading more about forests and pollution.

This moment was achieved by delivering friendly and engaging content that begged to be touched and discussed, rather than passively read. Most will agree that a combination of text, images, animations, and exercises are great ways to reach diverse learners. However, these tools should be carefully designed and administered to achieve the ‘water cooler’ talk we all strive for.

--If you’d like a demo of the course described or would like to discuss anything further, contact me at michael.lamendola@emantras.com

HALO – Bridge the knowledge divide with an innovative enterprise training approach.

The Purpose

The Untied States Distance Learning Association (USDLA – http://www.usdla.org/) celebrated its first annual National Distance Learning Week (NDLW – http://www.ndlw.org/) with productive ideas for distance learning and the use of technology to facilitate learning. Maintaining the theme and spirit of the week-long event, NDLW used a new technology to allow easy access to information and also pushed small knowledge pieces to the participants through a product called HALO (Highly Accessible Learning Objects). HALO is a product designed and developed by the digital education company Emantras.

About HALO

HALO is based on the ubiquitous “widget” platform which drives information and learning to the client desktop. The value of any learning or training program is the accessibility of knowledge and enabling clients to receive and participate without having to leave their desktop, allowing increased accessibility. HALO incorporates new modalities of enablement making education available agnostic to geographic boundaries.

Emantras delivers learning to the “desktop” with its revolutionary HALO platform. SCORM/AICC and learning strategies allow easy accessibility to knowledge, thereby enhancing performance. HALO incorporates the same principle by literally creating a direct pathway between the learner and the knowledge source. You may have heard of “widgets”, now experience the HALO effect using widget technology. For more details about Halo visit http://halo.emantras.com

The Process

HALO was introduced and implemented at the National Distance Learning week program sponsored by USDLA. All registered members were given the opportunity to download HALO free of cost. HALO turned out to be a real success, providing an ideal platform for USDLA to share announcements, event schedules, articles, surveys and SCORM content. Participants and members had direct and easy access to all pre-conference and post-conference materials that were readily made available at their desktop.

HALO comes with a comprehensive administration module that allowed the USDLA to select and deploy content of various formats, thus enabling them to measure the success and effectiveness of the event during various sessions held through out National Distance Learning Week. In addition, the open APIs allowed integration into legacy infrastructure for enterprises that want to administer from a singular location. While HALO has been designed to meet most online learning and training needs, it was further customized based on specific requirements and needs identified by USDLA to increase the effectiveness of using HALO during NDLW.

The Outcome

The HALO widget performed flawlessly and the participants enjoyed the convenience of a cutting edge tool. HALO was downloaded by many participants at the National Distance Learning Week and providing an easy way of managing and distributing content. NDLW participants had direct access to multimedia content right on their desktop thereby helping make NDLW a successful event.