I attended the eLearning Guild’s Annual Gathering in Orlando last week, and I was very impressed with the generally optimistic atmosphere. Unlike other conferences I have attended this year, staff members freely acknowledged, albeit unofficially, that attendance may have decreased compared to years prior but not as much as feared. The collaborative and congenial atmosphere created by leaders Heidi Fisk and David Holcomb has propelled the eLearning Guild to the top of pack— association and conference wise. It helps that there is a “free” level of Guild membership. Secondly, the Guild’s singular focus on eLearning makes for strong workshops and sessions. Thirdly, since the group is privately owned, leadership and management are passionate about maintaining the mission and the vision. I hope this dedication can continue, but I am starting to sense a drift.

The term “Rapid eLearning” is often used to describe the conversion of an expert’s PowerPoint slides into Flash SWF files with a software package like Articulate Presenter. However, the phrase “Rapid Interactivity” hasn’t been as prevalent.

On Wednesday, March 11^th at the eLearning Guild’s Annual Gathering breakfast, I will be heading a discussion on ways to increase interactivity. I am looking forward to learning from those bold enough to join me at 7:15 in the morning. Creating eLearning that asks the learner to first think and then do should be the goal of all designers and course developers. It is a journey that needs to travel beyond the matching, sequencing and other standard drag & drop exercises that have become common place. 

I do not have statistics, but I would venture a guess that the amount of activity on LinkedIn must be escalating during this recession. My network of 300 people has certainly increased their usage. Do we have more time on our hands? Is LinkedIn the networking power tool of this recession? LinkedIn is an outstanding use of social networking technology for learning.

DeFacto mentoring and learning occurs daily in LinkedIn groups with the use of shared questions and answers. I have LinkedIn set as my home page and use the built-in blog feed application that brings in every blog connected to my network. I realize this technology usage is old news (see Tony Karrer’s blog) but with the recent clamor about Twitter, it is time to once again tout the desktop tool everyone seems to be using. To learn, to connect, and to do so with people of shared interests.

I am helping a game-based learning client work on a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant (thank you for the tip, Anne Derryberry). My thoughts are connected to our Games Can Teach blog’s on-going discussions concerning the definition of game-based learning and the different types of gaming as well as the research needed. To be sure, there have been ample grants to universities for various studies on the aspects of video games and learning which has provided evidence based research to act on. This interest in video games and learning has had an influence on my practice. We recently developed a new version of an ATOD prevention curriculum, which in 2004 used arcade games to reinforce the lecture style slide shows.

I’ve had about a week to settle back in after giving a presentation at Training 2009 on the open source LCMS, Moodle. As I mentioned last week, I had a packed audience but received mixed reviews. We have been utilizing Moodle for over two years for several client projects. The Moodle pedigree stems purely from higher education, so it was not designed for corporate use as a generic LMS. Moodle.org seems to have little interest in adapting to fit the needs of companies that want to train thousands of employees using hundreds of courses (see threaded discussions on the site-wide grouping feature). Nevertheless, there are many specific corporate training initiatives that Moodle is perfect for. Click here for my presentation.

Tony Karrer asks a great question in his blog post: “What is good writing?” It is really all about context. Although I agree that concise and bullet-pointed writing can be worthwhile in certain contexts, I do believe that teaching fundamentals is the first priority of a K-12 writing curriculum.

When you attend a conference you expect the keynote speeches to deliver inspiration. Training Magazine’s conference held this week in Atlanta did not disappoint. In fact I found myself laughing loudly and crying softly while listening to Tuesday’s keynotes.

First a note about economic impact: Yes, attendance was down, especially pre-conference participation. The headline of the Show Daily magazine read: “Game On or Game Over” Oops…double meaning? My article on project managing game and simulation development certainly came out at a pretty inopportune time.

I am in a quick turnaround from speaking at the ASTD TechKnowledge ‘09 workshop and flying today to Atlanta for Training Magazine’s Annual Training 2009 conference for two speaking sessions. I am adjusting my two lectures (Managing eCourse Development, It’s a Team Approach and Moodle Doodle: Building Online Courses Using the Open Source CMS, Moodle) to account for people’s preoccupation with the current economic downturn. (Click on header to read more.) Watch for my Wednesday Blog post for more details!

As an eLearning entrepreneur, I want to address topics centered on managing projects and people. People are most definitely in the news this past week as we hit unemployment levels previously unseen by many in the workforce. I have had several conversations with individuals who have lost their jobs. My advice to them and all those currently employed is to always think like an entrepreneur. Here are my top ten quick tips: (click header to read more...)

Thank you to Louis Loeffler’s blog for this link to the writings about informal learning and professional development. His comment about Richard Elmore, professor of educational leadership at Harvard is worth reading.The article (link) on how instructors can get continuous professional development through Blogs is another endorsement of informal learning! Last night in class I asked my professor how many education professors maintain Blogs. You can probably guess the answer. There is no stopping the Internet “informal learning revolution” regardless of whether trainers or educators adopt.