eLearning eVolution

Hi there, Amber here,

Today I want to talk about a new experience I had here at Elluminate. Granted there are plenty of new experiences having only worked here for about 4 full weeks now, but this one was particularly awesome! Wow, four weeks, happy anniversary to me!

I was sitting at my desk, quietly getting my work done, when Staples arrived with a package for me. I signed for the package not realizing the bundle of fun that had just been placed into my hands. I opened up the package and looking back at me was a Logitech quickcam.

Immediately I began opening the package and installing the necessary software. Once it was all set I opened up my Elluminate virtual office and invited a colleague to join me (you can sign up for your own free virtual office here). This was really a great way to learn the features available with Elluminate. Below is a picture of me conferencing. I took this picture with the same web camera thanks to its snapshot capability.

Ok, I know that I might look a little like a telephone operator but it was important that I turned off the microphone on the webcam, and used the mic with my headphone. It just sounds better that way. Regardless, this was still really cool. With Elluminate I could change the color and condition of the video feed depending on my bandwidth so it wouldn’t slow anything down.

I can see a lot of uses for this application. There may be times in class where showing a picture or explaining what you are talking about just isn’t going to cut it. Sometimes, all you need to do to get your idea across is demonstrate. I can see moderators using this feature often as a way to engage with their participants. It’s even just a great way to stay in touch with friends.

If you already have your own vRoom, I would highly suggest giving this helpful tool a try. If you don’t have a vRoom yet, you can easily sign up for Elluminate’s free 3 user vRoom today and start Elluminating!

That’s about all I have for you this week. Until next time bloggers…keep on bloggin’

Amber Koskela

With the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina upon us, it’s clear that schools throughout the country need to be better prepared for that next disaster, whatever it may be.

In fact, Education Week just published an article about a report by the Southern Education Foundation. The report says the federal government’s response to challenges faced by storm-tossed K12 and higher ed institutions along the Gulf Coast was a “massive failure.” Fortunately, the report also says that it’s not too late to change our course.

So where do we start? Of course, we should be able to look to our federal, state, and local governments for assistance. However, I think it’s important that academia and business work together to develop solutions as well. Case in point: The Hurricane Education Leadership Program (HELP) Team, a consortium of businesses, associations, and nonprofits organized by Intel.

HELP is urging educators to get disaster recovery plans ready NOW! And one key area of any plan should be learning continuity. Recently, we held a webinar about disaster planning, organized by HELP, with guest speaker HELP Team Project Manager Melinda Dinin of Intel. She shared what HELP and its partners, like Elluminate, are doing to develop a 21st Century learning model that can be easily replicated by other states and countries.

Click here to access the recorded session. You’ll also want to check out this related eSchool News article.

We must all, as Melinda Dinin says, start thinking about what we need do today to prepare for the inevitable and to address issues of how we will provide continued learnining. People cannot affort to wait. And, of course, she’s right.

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

Hi there, Amber here,

It’s been a few days since my last post, so I hope you haven’t missed me too much. I have been engaging in the elearning community the last couple of weeks and I must say, it’s been rather exciting.

It’s incredible to think how closely knit a community such as this can be even though the internet is so massive. It’s like being part of a huge club where everyone knows everyone else and where we all have an equal chance to be heard. All of these new networking sites if used well enable us to become more involved in our community. We can all stay connected and interact with each other more then we ever could in the past.

I have been in the process of brainstorming different ways that Elluminate could bring this group of professionals together and engage with each other. I thought that all of us meeting together in an Elluminate session and collaborating could make this happen. And it could be really fun!

But it turns out that Elluminate already does this. We will be hosting the 2007 Elluminati Community Conference in Seattle, WA on October 22nd. The 8:30am to 6:00pm event is going to be a great opportunity to meet with your fellow Elluminati, (noun plural. 1. Elluminate community of users. 2. Where bright ideas meet.) and share your best practices. This day is already jam packed with new ideas and motivating speakers including the on site key note speaker Stephen Laster, CIO of Harvard Business School and online keynote NACOL President and CEO Susan Patrick. Save the date for this event - whether you plan to attend in person in Seattle or online using Elluminate!

You can click here to find out more information about about how to register for the 2007 Elluminati Community Conference. I hope to see all of you there, and meet with you in person!

Until next time bloggers…keep on bloggin’

Amber Koskela

How do you deliver an interactive online meeting experience? This review by Mike Heck of InfoWorld explains how Elluminate Live! V8 does it.

Aside from the fact that this is a great review of our product, I love that Mike brings up what he calls the green factor of online meetings. Be sure to check out this related InfoWorld article. This is a really hot topic today. No question that going online eliminates the need for planes, trains, and automobiles.

In fact, I was just reading today about how frustrating air travel has been for business travelers with the recent wide-spread flight cancellations of some major airlines. With web conferencing technology, you can keep your cool and enhance your green factor!

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

It’s an edumercial. No it’s a podmercial. Whatever you want to call it, Brad Niessen of the Techteacher Network (podcasts for the 21st Century) features Elluminate Live! V8 as part of his WoW (What’s on the Web) series. The podcast is sponsored by Elluminate.

Check out the recording. And you’ll also want to puruse the site for Brad’s podcasts about other interesting, innovative, creative (you get the picture) products, content, communities out there in cyberspace.

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

Hi,

This post is a place for attendees (and viewers) of the August 7, 2007 vRoom Webinar to interact. The link points to the recording of the webinar.

Best regards,

The Elluminate team

Hi there, Amber here,

During my first week at Elluminate I had a chance to speak with Dr. Scott Garrigan.

Dr. Garrigan is the Director of Professional Development with a non-profit organization called the Center for Advancing Partnerships in Education or CAPE, located in Pennsylvania. CAPE is involved in a dual enrollment program with schools and participating instructors to provide high school and college credit to students who wish to learn a new foreign language that may not be offered at their current institution. The list of languages available include: Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Arabic.

This was the first I had ever heard of a program like this existing. I think it is really exciting that communities like this are enhancing our educational system. My high school didn’t offer any programs similar to this, but I think it is a great idea!

CAPE is able to extend its learning capabilities to schools all across Pennsylvania. Some of their instructors are located as far out as California. CAPE makes use of Elluminate to create a virtual classroom and engage students. Here high school students may receive up to 3 course credits that can transfer with them to their college of choice. Talk about awesome. I think now is the perfect time to be a language student!

The organization began about 5 years ago. The programs were offered solely as non-credit enrichment programs. The only language available was Japanese. Fast forward to last year when the program had over 300 students learning Japanese in levels 1 through 4. The program looks to expand to a level 5 Japanese class, where students will be given the opportunity to take the A.P. test. This test will guarantee college credit no matter which institution they choose for higher education.

You can learn more about Dr. Scott Garrigan or the Center for Advancing Partnerships in Education by checking out their website. There you can find a long list of upcoming presentations and workshops. You can also check out recorded presentations and other cool videos in their gallery.

If I have sparked any curiosity with you about Elluminate explore the website at http://www.Elluminate.com, or you could set up your own free vRoom.

Well, that’s about all I have for you this time. Until next time bloggers….keep on bloggin’.

Amber

How does a Product Development Team keep current? The answer, according to Melissa King a writer/researcher at K12, a leading provider of high quality education programs and academic services, it’s continuous learning that’s infused into the development process.

Using a model that’s a combination of formal and informal training, K12 provides a wide variety of professional development opportunities, include brown-bag sessions using collaboration tools (like Elluminate Live!), to enable both local and remote staff members to participate.

Check out Melissa’s blog entry for more.

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

Hi everyone, Amber here,

As you may or may not know I have just recently joined the exciting Elluminate team as the Online Marketing Associate. Before I begin blogging about my experiences, I thought you may want to know a little more about me. I recently graduated from Endicott College in Beverly, MA, where I received a B.S. in Communications. During my four years with the school, I completed several full-time internships with some local TV stations. Yes, I did see my 15 minutes of fame, but it is fading just about as quickly as it came.

I have an interest in blogging and podcasting and thought it would be cool to blog about my experiences at my new job, especially about learning to use a new technology. I look forward to blogging with all of you!

Just in case you didn’t already know, Elluminate has its very own podcast feed! Here are a few different links you might want to check out:

• Podcast
• Center of Excellence
• vRoom Stories

Well, it’s August 1st. What better time to start a blog then at the beginning of a new month? I also picked today because I had my very first “Ah-Ha” moment here at Elluminate. Let me tell you about it.

To learn as much as I can about Elluminate’s web conferencing products, I have been participating in the live training sessions (free to everyone, by the way) available on Elluminate’s website. As I say, sometimes it’s best to learn by doing. I liken this experience with playing a new board game. Who really reads those pesky directions anyway? Sometimes you just have to wing it and jump right in. I really found this form of training accommodating, and not just for me. I can see how future educators should really learn about this format. How could you possibly expect your students to become familiar with it if you don’t really understand it yourself?

Ok, so back to my “Ah-Ha” moment. I was nearing the end of my training session (Part III for Moderators), when our online teacher Amanda brought us to a new screen and showed us how to add multimedia content. Super cool! I thought this could be a fun tool for my own use, but then it got me thinking.

With the recent buzz about self-created videos, the moderator could easily focus attention in a real-time session by showing a short video and guiding discussion about it. This could be accomplished by simply adding in a relevant video from a popular social video site. Or, even better, students could create their own Free vRoom session and publish it next to their own video on one of these sites. Then the students could join this vRoom at a specified time and discuss the video in real time! One of Elluminate’s key words is engage. And what better way to enagage than allowing students a new vehicle to discuss their own creations.

Well, just an idea. Anyhow, I’m out. Until next time bloggers….keep on bloggin’.

Amber