I made Slideshare’s Best Presentation of the Day

Oh, wow! First, I was surprised that I one of my slideshows made it to the homepage of Slideshare briefly. Well, the same slideshow also was selected by Slideshare for its Best Presentation of the Day today!  I really can’t believe it.

Today, I just happen to take a look at some of the presentations I had uploaded to Slideshare as part of my course, where I had decided to publish all my slides for my “Developing Interactive Learning Environments” course last spring. I just happen to notice that this presentation on “Comparing Instructional Design Models” was approaching 3000 views, which is pretty amazing itself.  So, I happen to tweet that out and hash tagged it with #BestPreso as well for Slideshare’s daily contest.  Now, I really didn’t expect there to be anything of this, because this is a pretty esoteric topic.  I just was happy to see that this slide deck was useful to so many people.

This is so cool! After the news today, the views have gone up as well.  Slideshare has really included quite a few more pieces of data about where your presentations are being seen.  Here’s a screen shot of my stats on this presentation. With Slideshare’s press about this deck, the views are well over 3000 now.

Slideshare continues to be an excellent outlet for making content highly visible.  So, my experiment on whether Slideshare is a good way to share open educational resources.  Thanks, Slideshare for the props! And thanks everyone else for stopping by and using the slides.  I hope they are helpful.

Doing ID theory better

During a session last week at AERA on theory and practice in instructional design and elearning, I piped in with a comment about folks who I thought were doing theory better than those of us in higher education.  In fact, I thought these folks were making theory not sound like theory at all.  They are providing to a large audience of practitioners through their blog posts a wealth of applicable knowledge and skills in very digestible ways.

My comment must have struck a nerve.  After the session, I had three or four folks come up to me wanting the names of the folks I mentioned.  This morning, I got email asking for the names, too.  So, I thought I would drop these names into a post about folks that I read for instructional design and development.  Folks who I think have a lot to teach my student and myself about instructional design.  In no particular order:

Tom Kuhlmann at Articulate
Tom works for Articulate in their user community division.  He spends a lot of time writing posts about graphic, visual, and message design, particularly using Powerpoint (because Articulate is a plug-in to Powerpoint).  But he also writes some ridiculously practical posts on instructional design.  Some of my favorite posts are:

• Build Branched E-Learning Scenarios in Three Simple Steps
• 7 Tips for Better E-Learning Scenarios
• Are Your E-Learning Courses Pushed or Pulled?

Cammy Bean & Kineo
Cammy Bean works at Kineo, a firm focused on design and development.  Cammy is the VP of Learning Design and writes posts at her own blog. In fact, the last post on Cammy’s blog is an interview with Tom Kuhlmann.  Small world.  Kineo, however, writes short elearning tips.  These gems are gold.  I sometimes disagree with their interpretations of some theories, but the posts are valuable.  Ones from Kineo and Cammy that I particularely like are:

• Tip 33: A Shot of Theory – Keller’s ARCS Model
• Tip 20: Six Steps to Effective Tutorials
• New Skills for Instructional Designers

The Learning Circuits Blog
Every month The Learning Circuits Blog hosted by Tony Karrer, CEO/CTO of TechEmpower, presents a “BIG Question” to the elearning community.  Practitioners, academics, and consultants alike offer up their interpretations and responses to the “BIG Question.  I’ve used the “BIG Question” in my own classes for students to consider their responses in comparison to others in the field. Some of the most interesting and favorite questions of mine:

• Predictions and Plans for 2010
• Presenting the Value of Social Media for Learning
• Working with Subject Matter Experts

<Insert Shameless Plug>Viral-Notebook
I thought I might insert a few of my students and my own posts that really garnered some interest and interesting view points as well.

• SCORM, standards in e-learning, and the groceries truck
• The Perfect SCORM: Is there an impact to elearning or not?
• It’s finally happened…to me

That’s enough for now.  I’ll create another post with a few more later, though.  What other blogs do you read that represent theory and practice in the field of instructional design?

IDT 7095/8095 Project Showcase

Tonight is the project showcase for my IDT 7095/8095: Developing Interactive Learning Environments II course.  The overwhelming majority of this course is based in working with a “live” external client.  At the beginning of the semester, student teams select clients from proposals I have received.  Then students work all semester with the client to analyze, design, develop, implement and evaluate a solution to the proposed problem.  As part of the showcase, student teams will present an executive summary of their projects’ problems, solutions and evaluations. This semester there are four strong teams.

CBL Designs repurposed text-based instructional job aids for shortening maintenance currently in use at most Long John Silver’s restaurant locations. This redesign incorporated the use of multimedia to attract and motivate learners from 16-25 years old. Their client is Maredith Adsit, Training Developer for Long John Silver’s Restaurant, based in Louisville, Kentucky.  CBL Designs combines the expertises of Kristy Conger, Amanda Bevis, and Jeremy Larson.

Design Domicile created a Web-based course to teach written and audio medical terms in Spanish used in a clinical setting. Their client is Dr. William Brescia, the Director of Instructional Technology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center – College of Medicine.  Design Domicile’s primaries are Carmen Weaver, Stacy Clayton, and Joey Weaver.

Innovative Design Taskforce developed Web-based, self-paced, and on-demand training that equips subject matter experts at International Paper to write adequate and well-structured assessment items.  Deborah Adams, Manager for Enterprise Learning Services, is their client.  Innovative Design Taskforce employs Terica Butler, Federico Gomez, and Dot Hale.

Top Stone created a refresher course for Leadership Values for managers to review instructional material and modeling videos through AutoZone’s learning management system.  Their client is Kevin Thorn, the LMS administrator at AutoZone.  Top Stone’s team includes Linda Sadler, Luther Bradfute, and Suha Tamim.

In addition to the primary project, students are also learning project management.  We follow Lynch and Roecker’s (2007) Project Managing e-Learning: A Handbook for Successful Design, Delivery and Management, which is based on the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).  In addition, we supplement with the Fast Forward MBA in Project Management, which has a wealth of examples and templates built in.

On top of the instructional design models from previous courses, including Morrison, Ross and Kemp and Dick, Carey and Carey, we emphasize rapid prototyping as a development model. So, you can see that students are doing a tremendous amount of work and learning.

Bookmarks for March 17th through April 13th

These are my Jumptags for March 17th through April 13th:

• Problems with ADDIE –
• Moving Your WordPress Site and Database « Weblog Tools Collection – here comes a time you may have to leave one web host for another. No matter the reason the idea of relocating an entire website – especially one that has been online for sometime – can seem very daunting. With a WordPress based site – I found it easi…
• You Are Not a Gadget: The Continuing Case Against Web 2.0 – Jaron Lanier was a pioneer of "virtual reality" in the early 1980s and in his book, You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto, he makes the case for …
• Horizontal Attention Leans Left (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox) – Web users spend 69% of their time viewing the left half of the page and 30% viewing the right half. A conventional layout is thus more likely to make sites profitable.
• Teach Science and Math – Estimates are about 80 percent of Math Education at the K-12 level is strictly focused on solving math problems without any real-world context (Computational Thinking and Math Maturity: Improving Math Education in K-8 Schools, Dave Moursund, 2007). S…
• Space Station Close Encounters With Space Junk: Project Based Learning Activity that Involves an Inquiry Approach – The space station's near misses with debris are a continual issue, which provides excellent resources for scientific project and problem based learning in science.
• The Periodic Table of Periodic Tables / – The web has hundreds of periodic tables and dozens of collections of periodic tables — but it never had a periodic table of periodic tables. Until now. Researched in profound and excruciating detail over the course of a couple nights on Google, we p…
• Fred Wilson’s 10 Golden Principles of Successful Web Apps | Carsonified – In February 2010 Fred Wilson, a New York based tech investor, spoke at the annual Future of Web Apps Miami conference. His talk, clocking in at just under
• Envisioning the Post-LMS Era: The Open Learning Network (EDUCAUSE Quarterly) | EDUCAUSE – Although central to the business of higher education, the LMS has also become a symbol of the status quo that supports administrative functions more effectively than teaching and learning activities.
• Write Better CSS With Best Practices | Pro Blog Design – Everyone has a slightly different approach to CSS. That's part of the reason it can be a nightmare to edit someone else's code. But there are a few good practices you can use in your CSS to make your stylesheets easier for you to read, and easier for…
• Techniques for Squeezing Images for All They’re Worth | Webdesigner Depot – An image’s dimensions on screen are measured in pixels: width and height. An image's quality is determined by less tangible factors: composition, mood,
• What Students Expect from Instructors, Other Students – Some years back The Teaching Professor featured an article highlighting Mano Singham’s wonderful piece describing how he moved away from a very authoritarian, rule-centered syllabus (reference below). It’s one of my very favorite articles—I reference…
• Starting Out Organized: Website Content Planning The Right Way – Smashing Magazine – So many articles explain how to design interfaces, design graphics and deal with clients. But one step in the Web development process is often skipped over or…
• Free Stuff – Educational Technology – ICT in Education – The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book lists over 100 projects with objectives, defined grade level or age range, links to additional information (including how-to's) about the project, and tips for teachers planning to use the project.

Bookmarks for February 9th through March 17th

These are my Jumptags for February 9th through March 17th:

• Free and legal music downloads – Jamendo – Download and listen to over 20,000 albums, legally. Use BitTorrent or download directly to discover and share new artists. All content is Creative Commons or "Art Libre" licensed.
• Philip Hutchison Talks SCORM and E-Learning — Campus Technology – In this candid and eye-opening interview, Philip Hutchison, a household name in SCORM and the man behind Pipwerks, gives his thoughts about the current state of SCORM and e-learning in general, touching on subjects such as how he became one of the go…
• BBC News – The web: vital statistics – As part of the BBC's SuperPower season, exploring the power of the internet, BBC News explores how the web works.
• The Role of Disruptive Technology in the Future of Higher Education (EDUCAUSE Quarterly) | EDUCAUSE – # Truly disruptive tools will force new thinking and new approaches to ensuring student learning in higher education.
  # Technology enables online learning, which potentially qualifies as a disruptive innovation in education.
• Free HTML/CSS Template for Download – DesignM.ag – A few weeks ago we published a tutorial How to Design a Blue Marketing Company Layout in Photoshop. Our friends at SnobbySlice have taken that design, coded it, and made it available for free download. The template includes the homepage design that w…
• 55 Latest Examples of Perfect Slideshow Presentation in Web Design | Inspiration | instantShift – As you already seen in our previous posts about slideshow presentation designs that representing the key information in slideshow presentation is a hot trend , Daily Resource for Web Designers and Developers.
• Flickr: The Library of Congress’ Photostream – Images from the Library of Congress' photostream in Flickr.
• Two Ways To Remove A Color Cast From A Photo With Photoshop – Removing color casts in Photoshop. Easy techniques.
• Color Theory for Designer, Part 3: Creating Your Own Color Palettes – Smashing Magazine – In the previous two parts of this series on color theory, we talked mostly about the meanings behind colors and color terminology. While this information is
• UsabilityPost – Does Your Website Suffer From These 7 Usability Mistakes? – Tips and insights into good design and usability
• Project Cartoon: How Projects Really Work (version 1.5) – How Projects Really Work (version 1.5) How Projects Really Work (version 1.5)
• Malcontent Blogger | bLaugh – Source: ReviewMe Domain: MalcontentBlogger.com
  <img class="comic" title="Malcontent Blogger" alt="Malcontent Blogger" …
• The Whole Internet Truth | bLaugh – Source: Wikipedia Domain: WikisGoneWild.com
  <img class="comic" title="Where is the Secret of Life?" alt="Where is…
• Applying Mathematics To Web Design – Smashing Magazine – “Mathematics is beautiful.” This may sound absurd to people who wince at numbers and equations. But some of the most beautiful things in nature and our universe…
• Here’s How to Add Personality to Your E-Learning Courses » The Rapid eLearning Blog – Tom Kuhlmann offers up advice on how to integrate script fonts into your elearning courses for personality.

Project Showcase April 22 at 6:00 pm in 301 Ball Hall

IDT 7095/8095 Project Showcase
6:00 PM – 7:30 PM,  April 22, 2009
Location: 301 Ball Hall

Dear friends,
I would like for you to add April 22 at 6:00 pm in 301 Ball Hall on the University of Memphis campus to your calendars.  Within our Instructional Design & Technology 7095/8095, project teams will be presenting synopses of their projects for this semester in a Project Showcase of live clients.  Their work represents approximately $15,000 – 20,000 worth of instructional development.  In the showcase, each team of students will present a 15-minute overview of their project and product. This is a professional presentation, and the content of this presentation will represent an executive summary of their projects.  I particularly encourage current students in our programs to attend in order to have a stronger vision of the requirements of the course and how your coursework prepares you for this course.

This semester there are four strong teams.

Design Domicile created a Web-based course to teach written and audio medical terms in Spanish used in a clinical setting. Their client is Dr. William Brescia, the Director of Instructional Technology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center – College of Medicine.  Design Domicile’s primaries are Carmen Weaver, Stacy Clayton, and Joey Weaver.

CBL Designs repurposed text-based instructional job aids for shortening maintenance currently in use at most Long John Silver’s restaurant locations. This redesign incorporated the use of multimedia to attract and motivate learners from 16-25 years old. Their client is Maredith Adsit, Training Developer for Long John Silver’s Restaurant, based in Louisville, Kentucky.  CBL Designs combines the expertises of Kristy Conger, Amanda Bevis, and Jeremy Larson.

Innovative Design Taskforce developed Web-based, self-paced, and on-demand training that equips subject matter experts at International Paper to write adequate and well-structured assessment items.  Deborah Adams, Manager for Enterprise Learning Services, is their client.  Innovative Design Taskforce employs Terica Butler, Federico Gomez, and Dot Hale.

Top Stone created a refresher course for Leadership Values for managers to review instructional material and modeling videos through AutoZone’s learning management system.  Their client is Kevin Thorn, the LMS administrator at AutoZone.  Top Stone’s team includes Linda Sadler, Luther Bradfute, and Suha Tamim.

Along with the IDT faculty and the project clients, I hope you can make it.
~michael

Warning: Constructivists read at your own risk!

As I reminisce on my undergraduate Education Psychology course and graduate courses that promoted the need for incorporating constructivist practices in the classroom to “prove” you are a student-centered educator, I often contemplated the effectiveness of the constructivist teacher in the classroom. Before revealing my perspective, let’s identify some key points related to constructivism.

5 keys of Constructivism

• Constructivism is not a theory of learning instead it is philosophy that underlines various theories and combines them to form an epistemology
• Constructivists promote the need for the learner to discover their own knowledge to enrich their experiences
• Other names for constructivism are discovery learning and inquiry-based learning
• According to constructivist, new knowledge acquired by the students must be re-constructed in the learners’ mind which involves eliminating any discrepancies to develop a knowledge structure that is meaningful to the student
• Constructivist practices are usually prominent in science classrooms

Additionally, Tuncer Can stated on a blog post that students in a constructivist environment demonstrate the following qualities: self-controlling, realistic, scientific, and value generator just to name a few.

Before progressing let’s consider the following scenario: An algebra teacher is ready to introduce her students to the concept of pi (3.14) in the geometry portion of the lesson sequence. The students are enrolled in regular education classes and some have a solid understanding of basic algebra, while other students are lacking the necessary foundational skills to be successful with this concept. A constructivist would see this as a valuable opportunity to allow the students to discover the meaning of pi (3.14) through manipulating shapes, measuring shapes, comparing objects, etc.

However, if the students possess limited to no background knowledge of pi (3.14) are they truly able to construct their own knowledge? Will their knowledge of pi (3.14) be totally misconstrued or partially inaccurate? Are these inaccuracies acceptable because the student may have an epiphany and pi (3.14) will transform to knowledge in their minds? Do constructivists take cognitive overload into consideration when learning? How soon does the teacher intervene, since in the constructivist classroom the teacher is the “coach”?

Constructivism is a learning philosophy that has the potential to expand on a concept once it has been grasped by the learner, but if learners have limited knowledge are they able to construct (build) their own learning without the appropriate tool-background knowledge?

Being student centered means you take the needs of your learners first before delivering the instruction. A student centered educator is cognizant about the abilities of their learners and utilizes the instruction to bolster student achievement. When an educator has the students’ instructional levels, behavior characteristics, and effective strategies in their repertoire they are ensuring students are the primary focus from the development of the objectives to administering the evaluation. When learning is not achieved, the student-centered instructor determines the weaknesses and strengths of the learners and devises a plan on “how” to re-teach the concept/skill to achieve learner mastery.

Developing an in-depth knowledge regarding teaching and learning in order to diagnose and remediate instruction instantaneously to prevent frustration during instruction, and avoiding the possibility of a students’ motivation levels plummeting is student-centered instruction. Continuously providing students with motivational techniques to increase their confidence and performance level in the classroom promotes a student-centered environment. According to Dr. Kate Kinsella (2010), the research on motivation and learning states the most critical success factor for students is the ability for them to perceive themselves being successful. It would be quite difficult for a learner to perceive success while struggling to “discover” a new concept!  Delivering instruction customized to your learners needs and sustaining motivation in the classroom are the main ingredients of a students centered learning environment.  All of this can be accomplished in a classroom where the educator skipped the final exam essay question requiring him/her to support the constructivist viewpoint in an undergraduate Educational Psychology class!

References

Cruickshank, D., Bainer , D., & Metcalf, K. (1999). The act of teaching (4^th ed) . Boston, MA : McGraw-Hill.

Can , T. (2007). Constructivist learner. Retrieved March 13, 2010 from Constructivist Education: http://constructivist-education.blogspot.com/.

Kinsella, K. (2010 March). Accountable student engagement in the READ 180 classroom. Webinar presentation presented on WebEX.

Reiser, R., Dempsey, J. (2007). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology(2^nd ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson

Guest blogger: Terica Butler is a former middle school reading/language arts teacher. She taught in an urban school setting for six years. After teaching, she transitioned into the role of an Implementation Consultant for Scholastic. She now has the opportunity to serve teachers and students in Memphis, Tennessee and other large urban districts.  Terica is presently pursing a doctoral degree from the University of Memphis. Her interest in education include: urban education, professional development for teachers, instructional design embedded in technology.  After completing her degree, Terica plans to continue improving the lives of teachers and students in school districts across the country!

It’s finally happened…to me

I’m excited to say that it’s finally happened to me.  Today, one of my presentations, “Comparing Instructional Design Models,” made it to the home page of Slideshare — even it was only for a little while.  Earlier today, I received the following email:

Unfortunately, I missed capturing the link on Slideshare’s homepage.  But I have to say that I am “Wowed!”  I heard all this today from a colleague and friend Kevin Thorn, who said he saw one of my presentations get tweeted.  So that’s pretty cool.  Somebody I don’t know (that’s Mike Taylor) found one of my presentations and decided to share it.  That’s awesome!  Glad I could help.  Since this was new to me, I decided to search twitter to see if I could find out who all were interested in my presentation today.  And I found this:

Now, I am pleased to say that my friend Kevin (that’s him above as LearnNuggets) retweeted the original tweet, and then it got retweeted multiple times.  The folks who retweeted the presentation include folks that I admire and follow myself, such as Cammy Bean at Kineo and Dr. Allison Rossett at San Diego State.
So, what’s the stuff that caused this reaction?  It’s this presentation:

I decided this semester that I would publish all my slides for my “Developing Interactive Learning Environments” course into Slideshare just to see what happens.  I guess I got my answer.

534 views.
5 favs.
2 embeds other than me.

So, why has this presentation resonated with others?  What did you like, dislike, or abhor about it? Thanks everybody for making me feel appreciated today.

Putting it all together: What I learned from teaching adults

As the opportunity arose to teach, I was hesitant because of the enormous responsibility I felt to ensure that the content presented would be understood and applied by the students in my class. As I began to teach, I had no idea the impact this might make on their lives. These individuals were characterized as the nontraditional student (NCES, 2002).  My concerns were whether I was going about the right way to teach such a group of adult learners.

I was eager to know if there were strategies for teaching adult learners. I had heard the term pedagogy, but through various workshops and conferences I was introduced to the term andragogy. What was the difference and did it matter? Malcolm Knowles (1977) laid the foundation that differentiates adult learners. This began my pursuit to further my own education to meet my needs, which has brought me through the Instructional Design and Technology program. In these courses I have learned theories, strategies and design principles to support learning.

The first lesson learned was from the ARCS model by John Keller. One particular element that stands out is relevance. Adult learners have an immediate need to make application of their learning. These learners bring life experiences that assist in integrated new knowledge into prior knowledge. Durff’s Blog, Making Connections illustrates the schema we have and for adults it is about making the connection quickly.

A second lesson I learned was internal motivation and self-direction. There comes a time where most of us consider learning as a life-long process and embrace the challenge. Our desire to learn improves understanding of concepts as it relates to our work, interests, and daily living. In Melanie Booth’s installments on adult learning, she sheds a different perspective from her toddler’s actions. Her first three installments illustrate perspective, growth, and experience which adults bring with them to the classroom.

As I teach adults, I am also an adult learner. The lessons learned from teaching adults along with my desire to further my education have connected more pieces to the puzzle. What pieces can you add about adult learning?

References

Knowles, M. S. (1977). The modern practice of adult education: Andragogy versus pedagogy (8th ed.). New York: Association Press.

National Center for Educational Statistics (2002). Findings from the condition of education 2002; Nontraditional undergraduates (NCES 2002-012). U.S. Department of Education, NCES. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Thompson, M. A., Deis, M.H. (n.d.). Andragogy for adult learners in higher education. Retrieved February 23, 2010 from http://business.clayton.edu/mthompso/02%20Allied%20Academy%20Paper%20F inal.doc

Guest blogger: Amanda Bevis manages the Madison County Adult Education program in Jackson, TN.  Her prior work has gained her experience in healthcare, computer programming, and in the university setting all utilizing her computer experience. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Instructional Design and Technology.

The Perfect SCORM: Is there an impact to elearning or not?

SCORM is a standard. That is the bottom line. It is a way to move content across Course Management Systems (CMS) and Learning Management Systems (LMS). It is a way to package information and move it between various conformant platforms. Standards make our lives easier. Imagine going shopping for a queen size mattress and none are the same size. Standards are important, but if SCORM is just a standard, then is it important to learning?

Some elearning professionals believe that SCORM is mandatory for anyone who is developing elearning. On his blog, Tony Karrer espouses the importance of SCORM as a standard for elearning when creating any content for an LMS. Other elearning professionals vigorously defend the standard because of improved interoperability of content across learning systems. Despite the heavy protection from some SCORM camps, others in the blogosphere admit to a variety of SCORM issues such as the difficulties non-technical users, such as teachers and instructors encounter, when trying to implement this standard.

Despite the many opinions elearning professionals have, the question still remains: Is SCORM important to learning? In my opinion, SCORM has nothing to do with learning.  First, learning is personal, and individuals learn in a variety of ways. Just because your elearning content is SCORM compliant doesn’t change how the learner will understand it. All it does is guarantee your learner can view the same content on more than one SCORM compliant system. SCORM standards do not affect other traditional methods of learning. Second, SCORM is only important to elearning distribution, not learning.  Having standards in elearning can be good, but standards do not change how people learn. Third, SCORM has nothing to do with the quality of the instruction. If the instructional design is poor, all of the SCORM in the world won’t help one bit.

Do you believe SCORM has an impact on learning in general? Do you think all elearning should be SCORM compliant? I look forward to your comments.

Guest blogger: Stacy Clayton is an IT Specialist with over 8 years of experience in Higher Education. She is employed at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She manages websites, web conferencing, interactive development, and video services. Her interests are in creating elearning content and improving the way technology is used in the classroom at the university level.

Image courtesy of throwthedamnthing at http://www.flickr.com/photos/9473541@N02/2074888762/