Mobilemind

People pay money for stories. People tell stories. People learn from stories. What is the story in recent elearning you've taken or developed?

In his book, A Whole New Mind, Dan Pink cites a great quote from Ursula K. Le Guin:

The story—from Rumplestiltskin to War and Peace—is one of the basic tools invented by the human mind for the purpose of understanding. There have been great societies that did not use the wheel, but there have been no great societies that did not tell stories.

Stories are powerful things. I love hearing, learning from and re-telling (sharing) stories. Last October, I met Dan Bliton of Booz Allen Hamilton at Learning 2007. We'd just seen Dan Pink's presentation and Mr. Pink (there are 2 Dan's in this story, but "Mr. Pink" sounds so Pulp Fiction) mentioned his upcoming book on manga. Manga had been on my radar for about a year and this seemed like an interesting area, and an area of shared interest with Dan Bliton.

One thing led to another, and now Dan Bliton is going to share a presentation he's done on on Stories, Comics, and Manga - Oh My! Making Learning Stick For Your Audience! Dan's presentation shares insights and lessons learned in several markets and from Booze Allen Hamilton's award-winning learning organization. A take-away job aid and web site references summarize the approaches discussed and list additional resources

The live e-seminar will be this coming Thursday, March 13, 2008 10:00 A.M. PDT (yes, daylight savings time, the USA switches this weekend) and you can register for the e-seminar for free here:
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=472090

As always, I'm looking forward to the presentation. Dan (Bliton) has a lot on stories and will even have a web comic embed in the live presentation. We might even riff a bit on manga and comics as catalysts for elearning storyboarding and user-contributed content.

I'm quite interested in the read-write nature of manga in Japanese culture. In fact, I'm already going to pre-order Dan Pink's manga book, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need which is due out on April 1, 2008 (no Foolin).

A shame I won't have this in time to chime in with and ask for comments on Johnny Bunko from the other Dan. That said, the session will still be really good, and is always better with the discussion with the live audience.

The interaction, the audience and the re-telling (or the desire to re-tell) is part of what makes an event a story, and what makes the word transcend the page. With fond memories of reading The Left Hand of Darkness in my high school sci-fi literature class, I'll close with another Le Guin quote.

The unread story is not a story; it is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.

—Ursula K. Le Guin

Labels: events, learning

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I updated the public Elearning Events Google Calendar with major industry events from April through October 2008.

Updates and additions include CLO Spring Symposium, Learning Systems 2008, WATS, Training Leadership Summit, and Learning Impact Summit, as well as events in the early Fall.

Labels: events

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Unsurprisingly the CEA (CES organizers) have banned Gizmodo and are looking at further sanctions.

CEA's take on CES Gizmodo prank: Banned!

This results from the earlier presentation-fouling pranks, Gizmodo CES horseplay reported all over the web.

Lesson learned for presenters & trainers, prepare for the juvenile-- turn off IR ports/devices/remotes you don't need or tape them over, or make sure they provide some basic security. Require pairing for BlueTooth devices, turn off the "Discoverable" setting, and so forth. Mac users should pair their infrared remote or even disable it if not used. Wired connections are preferred.

I'm almost surprised there haven't been widely-publicized incidents with wireless mics at conferences, yet. I guess we'll all need secured ultra-wide band wireless microphones soon.

Labels: events, rant, technology

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<rant> Dear WebEx, please help your product become less sucky. We live in a web world. People use different web browsers, different Java versions, different OS platforms, and some people even (gasp) have smartphones. I had a horrible experience with your product today. Bad enough for me to spend the time writing this rant. Bad enough that I will now to my best to cancel or avoid any meeting requiring me to join a WebEx meeting.

I think we've all had other challenges and bad experiences with your product in the past. For me this relationship has got to end unless you can change. I 'll no longer budget 10 extra minutes to get into a WebEx meeting, and then be distracted for the first 15 minutes of my co-workers actual meeting as I install, cancel, uninstall, reinstall, check and change browser settings, get Java versions, then download WebEx Meeting Manager, deal with WebEx support and eventually give up on the WebEx meeting.

The recurring Java and ActiveX hassles I had with the WebEx Windows versions a few years were a recurring mild annoyance. The fact that it is 2007 and WebEx still offers only a 2003 "PowerPC" version for Mac was the last straw. You've known about this for quite awhile. It's embarrassing. You are no longer the only one scaleable and available. Have a little respect for yourself and your victims/users. You are Cisco now for heavens sake. It is not me, it is you. Yeah, sure, maybe we can still be friends.

PS: WebEx competitors, no need to get all smug and happy yet. I'm still looking for something that will exceed WebEx features and works reliably and well on Mac and Windows and Linux, with at least 2 browsers on each platform.

PPS: Besides geeks like me, a couple hundred thousand kids will get OLPC Linux machines. They're selling USD $2 million worth of those things each day for the last few weeks with Give One, Get One. Look into getting those kids and their governments a solution. Might even be good for your business. Even Microsoft is starting to think that way about OLPC.

PPPS: The world has a couple billion mobile phones. Pretty much enough for each of us who can use one, to have two. We use them. A lot. Please figure out how to easily, centrally (?automatically) mute the call from the guy walking past the leaf blower or breathing like Darth Vader. When you've got that licked, see about getting at least a slide show or still shot screen sharing on 3-4 types of Smartphones-- a couple million of us will be happier.
</rant>

Labels: events, learning, rant, technology, virtual classroom

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Last night on TV I saw am advertising spot for the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) initiative that featured Masi Oka (Hiro Nakamura from NBC's Heroes) and then I went and checked online and it looks like the offer is extended through December 31, 2007. If you'd still like to try out the Give One, Get One ("GO,GO") offer, then follow the link or see my previous post. I'm also including links here if you want to learn more about the OLPC initiative or the technical specs of the 'xo' laptop.

While we're all in a thankful and charitable mood, how about helping to stop malaria for $10?

In many developing areas a simple mosquito net can help save children's lives by protecting them from nocturnal mosquito bites (ok, technically mosquitoes are crepusclar instead of nocturnal, but who knew that). Insecticide-resistant mosquitoes are emerging and a cheap $10 net can be quite effective at protecting vulnerable young children when they are most likely to be bitten. Malaria No More is a non-profit that helps procure and distribute such nets. I was lucky enough to be able to donate at Learning 2007 and have gone back and donated again since then.

Malaria No More - Education and Donation Information

Labels: events, learning, Masie, technology

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I'm probably late to the party, but there is an awesome charity opportunity for anyone supportive of the OLPC One-Laptop-Per-Child initiative. I just found out about this through the JiWire newsletter, and it seems to be a great thing for anyone who is both involved in elearning and a charitable individual. Here's the link to Give one, Get One. This offer runs until November 26, 2007 for US and Canada. Now the description from the JiWire Newsletter

After several years of development, MIT's One Laptop Per Child initiative to put computers in the hands of children in developing countries has started to become a reality. And now that manufacturing has started, there's just one week left to give an OLPC laptop to a child in a developing country, and get a matching one for yourself (or for your favorite kid). For $399, the two-for-one deal also includes a huge sweetener: a full year of T-Mobile Hotspot Wi-Fi service, a $360 value in itself (normally $29.99 per month with a 1-year contract). If you already subscribe to T-Mobile, why not take advantage of the special deal, then cancel your current plan? Throw in the $200 tax deduction for the donated laptop, and you may even come out ahead of the game. Not to mention you'll have a great gift for a lucky kid, and do a good deed. Note that is will also be the ONLY chance that US buyers have to purchase an OLPC laptop directly.

Just remember to sign up by Monday, November 26 at LaptopGiving.org. While you're considering it, check out Laptop Magazine's review of the OLPC hardware, especially the 8-year-old's viewpoint!

Labels: events, learning, technology

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I just added or updated 8 events from January to June of 2008 in the Elearning Events Calendar. If you have additional events to add, please contact me at mobilemind@pobox.com.

See the blog sidebar for sample HTML to embed the calendar, or click the link button below to view the calendar as a full page in a new tab or window.

Labels: events

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Short notice, I know, but there is an Adobe online eseminar today (November 14) at 11:00am Pacific time that will essentially repeats the DevLearn discussion panel on Authorware End-of-Development issues that occurred last week at the Adobe Summit. Also worth noting is the availability of preliminary results from the AICC Survey on Authorware End-of-Life Issues and Impacts.

• Adobe Panel Webinar on Solutions for Authorware Users › Wednesday, November 14, 2007 11:00AM - 1:00PM US/Pacific
• Preliminary Authorware Survey Results [PDF available at that link]

As I understand it, the panel discussion will be recorded. I will post a link to the recording area when or if it becomes available to me. The PDF with the AICC survey information has data from about 40 responses. Since last Thursday there have been about a dozen additional responses. The AICC post indicates that the survey will be open for data collection until November 16, 2007 and provides a link to access the survey.

Labels: Adobe, events, technology

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One of the great take-aways of Learning 2006 for me was Machinima. Now there's some IP follow-up that is due for anyone considering using Machinima content for training. I think machinima is a powerful, effective and low cost alternative technique to "from scratch" 2D/3D animation, graphics and video production for e-learning. However, as always, one needs to be respectful of intellectual property (IP). A blog posting that I recently found is a good reminder of that.

But first, a little background. In February of 2007 I posted some information on machinima when I was fortunate enough to snag Tom Crawford as a guest speaker for an Adobe eLuminary web seminar titled Machinima: When Video isn't Video [description at bottom of page here, direct link to recording here (free registration req'd)]. By the way, Tom did the best job I have ever seen of formatting/encoding machinima clips for use inside Adobe Connect, but that may be a whole other seminar topic.

Since then I have been openly wondering about using imagery and recorded screen captures of Flight Simulator X and other tools for training. Hopefully, Microsoft and other vendors will make their IP policies clearer regarding this use case. It seems the use case for the elearning developer is not to use game storyline, but to co-opt it as a graphics or animation generator. I'm really not sure how this plays into their IP policies.

In August of 2007, Mark Methenitis of The Vernon Law Group posted some informative discussion and commentary on Microsoft and machinima on his blog Law of the Game. from the original post, Microsoft's New Content Usage Rules: A Small Step for Machinima –

Microsoft has set forth an interesting new content policy, found here, that seems to be giving the non-profit machinimist a break. In fact, I would go as far as to say this is really what needed to be done, but only addresses half of the issue.

The rules boil down to this: You can use the following games:

• Age of Empires (all versions)
• Flight Simulator (all versions)
• Forza Motorsport (all versions)
• Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3 (when released)
• Kameo
• Perfect Dark Zero
• Project Gotham Racing (all versions)
• Rise of Nations (all versions)
• Shadowrun
• Viva Piñata

to make machinima, provided you put the following disclaimer on it:

[The title of your Item] was created under Microsoft’s “Game Content Usage Rules” using assets from GAMENAME, © Microsoft Corporation.

The blog entry goes on to list the rules Microsoft requires (which you really should read from the Microsoft Xbox.com page), but I prefer Mark's witty Carlin-esque summary.

Consider these the 7 Deadly Sins of Microsoft Machinima. In short, they are:

1. Hacking
2. Obscenity
3. Profit
4. Audio
5. Other IP
6. Fanfiction
7. Piggybacking

When using machinima techniques, I doubt that corporate trainers will ever intend to hack, cuss, directly profit, pirate audio, abuse IP, craft fan fiction or support derivative works (piggybacking), BUT even the best of intents doesn't mean that use for corporate training is legally acceptable to the IP owners. I hope that Microsoft will clarify the IP issues regarding use of game-generated images or image sequences for non-game corporate training purposes at the upcoming Microsoft DevCon 2007 or the related/co-located AvSim 2007 conference & exhibition.

In an interesting and relevant turn, the AvSim 2007 conference features guest speakers including both Capt. Mark Feuerstein, the Project Pilot for Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ 747-8 program and commercial pilot and flight instructor, Erik Lindbergh– grandson of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I wonder what their thoughts on training "fair use" might be.

Labels: blogs, events, gaming, learning, simulation, technology, virtual worlds

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I'm already at Coronado Springs for Learning 2007. I doubt that I'll really do much blogging at all while I'm here. However, as a Masie Fellow, I try to dabble in what may be avant-garde for learning, so I'll try to update my own twitter more often. I also created a L07 (L-zero-7) twitter at http://twitter.com/L07 so folks can follow or @reply.

If you're not familiar with twitter yet, I have some links to share to help you understand twitter or even activate twitter for your phone. You can also find people/events to follow without signing-up.

It is far less avant-garde now, but still quite useful to use a wiki. I'll also try to update the Learning 2007 wiki for session that I am facilitating (or even those I attend) That's all the best of intent though. We'll see what really happens as I head into the blizzard of ideas and activities that seems to define a Masie Learning event.

Here are the wiki pages for the sessions that I am directly involved with:

• e-Learning 101: Fundamentals and Futures (with Tomás Ramírez) [Sunday - 9:00am to 3:45pm]
• iPhone and Learning (w/ Ez Yap & Jared Frisby, both from Apple, and Masie Fellow Judy Brown) [Tuesday - 1:30pm to 2:30pm]
• SCORM: 10 Years After and 10 Years Ahead (hmm, lets see who I can get to guest star. Any volunteers?) [Wednesday - 8:30am to 9:45am]

I think Larry Israelite has made me a (dis)honorary member of the Liars Club (Learning Edition), so I may be a drop-in at his More Lies About Learning session too. (btw, check out his Lies About Learning book now in paperback).

Whew. It's late here (1:20am Satuday) and I have lots to do tomorrow.

Please consider contributing to any of the wiki pages, or sending a tweet. I'm interested to learn what ideas you might have for the L07 twitter and how we could use it. You might even comment here on the blog.

Labels: events, learning, Masie

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I added a few more items to the Elearning Events Calendar (to subscribe via iCal or view HTML see this entry). Recent additions include:

• Adobe eSeminar: Gaining Efficiency with SME Captivate Use, Friday Oct. 19, 2007 (register here)
• Workforce ADL Co-Laboratory, Elearning Summit, Oct 29-30, 2007 in Memphis, TN
• AICC Meetings January 28, 2008 - February 1, 2008, hosted by Adobe Systems in San Jose, CA
  

Labels: events

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It seems like just a month ago (ok 2 months ago) that Apple sent me an email with information on the first iPhone Tech Talks. Now more iPhone Tech Talks are scheduled during October and November for Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Atlanta. As a bonus, despite the proximity to his residence, I can assure you that my friend and anti-fanboy curmudgeon Jeff will not attending the Minneapolis session.

See Apple iPhone Tech Talks for details.

• Boston, MA 10/09
• Philadelphia, PA 10/11
• Washington, DC 10/12
• Seattle, WA 10/22
• Minneapolis, MN 10/25
• Atlanta, GA 11/05

I'm excited to be going to Learning 2007, but sad that the iPhone Tech Talk in Seattle conflicts with it.

PS: Yes Jeff, I do have an iPhone once again, even if I am not sorry that I returned my initial iPhone after 7 days. It did help that it was now $200 less. Note that unlike others, I am NOT whining about price slashing. I love the new price, and I paid activation twice and a re-stocking fee once-- unlike the loudest whiners. Also, unlike them, I'll cheer when the price goes down again. So there. Don't complain about what you paid then or others pay now. The parable of the workers in the field strikes me as somewhat relevant. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? -- see Mathew 20.

Labels: Apple, events, technology

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The Society for Applied Learning Technology (SALT) has a call for papers. Abstracts are due September 15, 2007. Authors of selected abstracts will be contacted September 30, 2007. Papers are due January 20, 2008 and the SALT New Learning Technologies Conference is February 20-22, 2008.

Paper/presentation topics include:

• Mobile Computing, Handhelds & PDAs
• Knowledge Management Systems
• Gaming and Simulation for Training and Job Performance Improvement
• New Technologies & the Marketplace
• Instructional Systems Design

For more details see: http://www.salt.org/fl/orlandoP.asp?pn=call

The SALT Conference for 2008 and several other events have also been added to the Elearning Events Calendar (See February 2008 for the SALT Conference).

Labels: events

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I'm taking a short vacation. When I get back, I'll update the Elearning Events Calendar and blog a bit about an organization that has recently done 1 million hours of coaching.

Labels: blogs, events

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Apple just sent me an email with information on iPhone Tech Talks that are scheduled for

• Los Angeles, CA 08/02
• San Francisco, CA 08/24
• Chicago, IL 08/28
• New York, NY 08/30
• New York, NY 08/31

It looks like an interesting day,and I will admit to a small amount of "return-ers remorse"

Bring your notebook, your code, and your iPhone After a morning of in-depth presentations and demonstrations, you'll work with the experts to design, code, debug and test your solutions on iPhone. Access to your code is required.

Of course since I no longer have an iPhone and I'm not in L.A., San Francisco, Chicago or NYC, I won't be going. I'm sure Jeff will notice the conspicuous absence of Hudson, WI as a venue-- and feel no disappointment whatsoever.

Labels: Apple, events, technology

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I just got back from the roving Adobe on AIR barcamp event in Seattle. The bus is cool, the APIs are cool, the AIR product/environment is cool, and the whole event approach is cool. It really struck me as a "2.0" seminar, in the "Web 2.0" sense- early feedback from users/participants, user-driven, high-tech, effective and appealing UI, adaptive, editable, lots of APIs and mash-ups (Flikr images, twitter feeds, JSON APIs and geo-tagging with GPS location data).

It was both organized and ad hoc. Both a tech-y learning event and a corporate mark-com session. A great chance to learn and see what's been done, work with experts, expand your network, and/or submerge head-down in the wireless network if you need to get a little business done online.

I really like that I came away with all the same materials and content that I would have had at a "1.0" seminar at a downtown hotel, BUT it was something that had community, something that will have its own lifecycle and a sort of harmonic sustain. This approach is something I could interact with and engage as it was on its way here, and something "sticky" that I'll want to check back in with and follow as it goes forward. Those are the things that you don't have with classic seminars-- and I'm also going to monitor the Google code site with examples and check out the twitter and camera live-feeds as they wind their way to Vancouver, back to Portland, a week-end diversion to Las Vegas, and then an event in L.A. (then Dallas then Denver- check a map first next time guys).

Good luck to Adobe with AIR and to the remote and local participants who join in the experience. Even if you're not into the product, you should check out the approach and think about creating your own mash-up like this for training and collaboration sessions-- its really quite effective. I'll be editing down some video interviews I did with the Adobe team and then submitting that to the Masie Learning Consortium site next week.

Labels: events, learning, technology

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I'm changing the address to send invitations or new elearning event information due to a barage of unsolicited commercial messages and scams... even with SpamAssasin and re-routing through Gmail there were about 10-20 junk messages per day.

Effective immediately, please send any invitation or request to post a new elearning event to .

Access to the calendar remains the same, see Google Calendar for Elearning Events for details.

Labels: events

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Yesterday at LMS 2007, Elliott showed a bit of the "shift happens" presentation about the changing world for learners and the job market. It's been posted and talked about all over the web, but I am re-posting/linking here for the benefit of attendees. Here's a brief summary drawn from the original post and a link to it (PPT available there).

The Fischbowl: Did You Know?:So, instead, I decided to take David Warlick up on his idea of telling the new story. I put together a PowerPoint presentation with some (hopefully) thought-provoking ideas. I was hoping by telling some of these 'stories' to our faculty, I could get them thinking about - and discussing with each other - the world our students are entering. To get them to really think about what our students are going to need to be successful in the 21st century, and then how that might impact what they do in their classrooms. It would also help the faculty that are not currently participating in my staff development join the conversation.

There is also a great, tighter 6 minute version posted here:

http://scottmcleod.typepad.com/dangerouslyirrelevant/2007/01/gone_fischin.html

Labels: events

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I've added this month's ITEC conference to the Elearning Events Calendar (thanks to Mark Tomlinson of ACNS for the invite & reminder). I also added I/ITSEC and a few other shows and events. Later this week I'm at LMS 2007 and in the coming days, I'll add a few more Masie Center events, and see what I can do to flush out the Fall trade show schedule in further detail.

Labels: events

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I added several 2007 events to the Elearning Events Google calendar, including:

• SALT New Learning Technologies (Jan 31 - Feb 2)
• ID+SCORM (April 5-6)
• IMS Learning Impact (April 16-19)
• Energy Industry CBT Alliance (April 23-25)

I have entries clear out until the end of November 2007. However, oddly there are no May events (?yet). If you know of an event (in May or not) send an iCal invite or email message to

Link: Elearning Events Calendar

Labels: events

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The Elearning Events calendar has been updated with major elearning events through June 2007. View it here at Mobilemind in the side bar, or see the full page view of the Elearning Events Calendar [Subscribe ].

There is also an open call for presentations or contributions for iLearn Paris January 29-31, 2007 - presentation abstracts due December 15, 2006.

Labels: events

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On November 10th at 10am Pacific [1pm Eastern] I'm hosting an Adobe eSeminar on Improving Elearning Experiences with Captivate 2. The presenter is Paul Clothier who will demonstrate design approaches and Captivate techniques that will help you create more compelling content. He has come clever menu example and will discuss use of FLV video with Captivate.

I'm looking forward to this one because I know Paul and most of the session will be demonstration. Last week at Learning 2006, Elliott Masie had everyone on a "2 slides" PowerPoint restriction. That wasn't quite achieved, but the principle did lead to more engaging discussion.

Register for the Captivate 2 seminar online. The same page will enable you to register for that session, as well as the December session with Dr. Michael Allen. Both sessions are also listed on the Elearning Events calendar that I maintain.

Labels: events

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I'm back from the Adobe MAX Conference where I did a session on Elearning Standards. I hope to get my content posted to the Adobe site this week. If you missed MAX, John Dowdell has nice terse summaries and links to the relevant detailed summations. The more punctual speakers already have their presentations available on the MAX site.

Meanwhile, I updated the Elearning Events Calendar with a few events going out as far as March 2007 (EuroTAAC) and June of 2007 (Training Directors Forum).

Next week will be really interesting at the Learning 2006 Conference organized by Elliott Masie. It is the first time I will be attending as a Masie Fellow and I will help facilitate some of the "Great Debates" like, Instructional Design is Dead and Rapid Elearning: Speed or Quality. There will be a mock boxing ring and participants are encouraged to take strong positions instead of the typical wishy-washy "it all depends" positions so easy to adopt in the world of instructional design. The Masie Center has lined up some great thinkers and speakers, and the Learning Wiki will be reprised this year as an asset and forum for participants.

Labels: events

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The Adobe Elearning Luminaries eSeminar series resumes on October 20th. During the series I'll be hosting presentations and discussions from speakers including Chris Howard of Bersin & Associates, Dr. Michael Allen of Allen Interactions, and Paul Clothier. Seminars are one hour long on Fridays, starting at 10:00am Pacific [GMT -8:00]., and occur on October 20, 2006; November 10, 2006 and December 1, 2006. See the Adobe eSeminar registration page for details or check the Mobilemind Elearning Events Calendar. Here's more information on the first session

Mobile and New Delivery Technologies for On-Demand Learning & Information
Discover the proven solutions and emerging trends identified by Bersin research that will help managers and developers select, recommends, implement, and effectively deploy on-demand learning solutions. Chris Howard, Principal Analyst at Bersin & Associates shares key results of their recent industry study. Learn how training organizations and corporations are using technologies and strategies including:

• Mobile solutions
• Podcasts & MP3 recordings
• Blogs, Wikis and eBooks
• Online books and reference materials
• Online communities

Speaker:
Chris Howard is a principal analyst at Bersin & Associates. Chris has worked with hundreds of customers in the deployment of online learning solutions. He is recognized as an industry leader on the unique infrastructure issues that companies face as they embrace new paradigms for distributing and managing knowledge. Recently Chris has published the 7-step approach to selecting an LMS, our Best-practices in Leadership Training, Application Simulations:What Works, and Content Integration Challenges. Chris is a regular speaker at industry conferences including Online Learning, Training, and ASTD. He holds a B.S. in computer science and an M.B.A. from the University of Houston.

Register here.

Labels: events

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Thanks to an email from friends at Mohive, I've added a few European events to the November Elearning Events Calendar.

• World of Learning
  November 14-15
  Birmingham, UK
  
• Personal Forum by HR Norge
  November 28–30
  Trondheim, Norway
  
• Online Educa
  November 29-December 1
  Berlin, Germany

As usual, dates, location, description and site links are provided in the calendar.

Labels: events

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I've already received feedback on my Elearning Events Calendar and am posting a few online events to the calendar. I just added an ASTD event, Virtual Classroom session- What's Next in eLearning, with Tony Karrer, Ph.D. Next up, I'll be adding entries for the Adobe eLearning Luminary Series that starts in a few weeks with guest speakers such as Chris Howard of Bersin & Associates and one very special guest.

Labels: events

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When I was at Macromedia, there were always a slew of tradeshows to attend, and I often had to juggle conflicting schedules and opportunities. I regularly pulled together a calendar with all the various events from different sources to help with planning and preparation. Now I'm trying out the new Google Calandar application on my domain and I set-up a public calendar with the major trade shows and events for elearning. The calendar currently includes events from Adobe, AICC, ASTD, Elearning Guild, I/ITSEC, Masie Center, and VNU. For example, you can see October Elearning Events.

Elearning Events Calendar
 HTML view
 iCal/.ics link
 XML view

Anyone interested in adding an elearning event should send an invite or email to me at .

Labels: events

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I had a great time at the Questionmark User Conference last week in San Francisco. Thanks again to all the Questionmarkers who made it such a wonderful experience.

My presentation was on Monday, with Robby Robson from IEEE LTSC and Eduworks, and Chuck Allen from the HR-XML Consortium. You can download a copy of the presentation here: 2006 Elearning Standards Panel (562K, PDF).

Eric Shepherd of Questionmark acted as the moderator did a great job of introducing standards and the panel, and explaining how Questionmark supports standards. Robby Robson addressed the rationale for elearning standards, and provided a sort of "state of standards" overview. I gave my take on ADL and AICC, and an overview of the elearning PENS specification (Package Exchange Notification Services). Chuck Allen explained how HR-XML works to allow "arms-length" partners and intermediaries to interact using web services. A very practical use of web services and XML gateways to enable secure transactions for HR, like resume extraction, background checks, assessments and more. Take a look at the presentation if you're interested in any of this.

I went to a few other sessions and overall, I'd highly recommend this conference to everyone who uses Questionmark. Fantastic uses cases and best practices from other customers, friendly & helpful folks everywhere, focused technical sessions with their tech teams, a chance to steer product directions, and great keynote speakers like Elliott Masie and Allison Rossett.

Labels: events

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This one looks interesting, and doesn't require travel.

Elearning Simulation and Games Symposium February 8-10, 2006 | Online

Based on the published agenda, I'd check out these sessions:

• The State of Simulations and Games in e-Learning (Clark Aldrich)
• Everything You Know About Simulation is Wrong (Rich Mesch)
• Engaging Learning: Effective Simulation Games By Design (Clark Quinn)
• Mobile Learning Games and Simulations (David Metcalf)

There are several interesting sessions on using Adobe Flash for elearning, and it looks like Frank Hanfland of safety-kleen will be updating and expanding his Macromedia MAX 05 presentation with additional information on ROI and business drivers for elearning simulations.

Registration is $495 USD for Guild members or $619 standard rate. Joining the guild for $99 is definitely worth it; you get discounts for their conferences as well as the online events, and access to the eLearning Guild library of polls, research and articles about elearning.

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Almost Live was a great local sketch comedy series done in Seattle. For years (1984-99), a troupe of talented Seattleites did topical humor and inside jokes on Boeing, Microsoft, and local neighborhoods. It came on right before Saturday Night Live, and was the best 25 minute warm-up that SNL never knew it had. Even if you've never lived through grunge rock, slipped on a slug, or been near the Microsoft campus, you'll enjoy bits like "What's Weak This Week", "Sluggy Come Home", "COPS- In Redmond" and the Dibert-eque "Middle Management Suck-ups." Sometimes re-runs show-up on Comedy Central. Look for it. Breeze Live is another little gem, and one that makes me proud, since I'm involved with it. This quarter we're running a whole series of Live sessions on elearning topics. I'm acting as moderator and am focusing on topics that you'll care about from knowledgeable guest speakers. Topics like "The Future of Elearning", "Rapid Elearning", and "Understanding SCORM". Speakers include, Jay Cross, Sam Adkins, Chris Howard, Nina Pasini, Bryan Chapman, Eric, Shepherd, David Holcombe and others. See more topics and register for upcoming Spring/Summer 2004 sessions here: Elearning Seminar Series. I will also try to keep the Events links on the right side of this page up to date with topics and dates. Breeze Almost Live is my name for the archived sessions from the Breeze Live Elearning Seminar Series. Some sessions are recorded meetings, others are self-paced Breeze presentations. All are good, (credit the speakers, not the host). Even better, you can "time travel" without a Tivo and catch these at your leisure. More recent sessions done with Breeze 4 offer an automatic index into the session based on layout changes, chat entries, key words and a few other key events. Breeze does all that automatically when recording. The thumbnail below highlights the "toggle" for the index and search and shows the index/search pane. See the archives for yourself here: eLearning Recorded Seminars

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