eLearning eVolution

I recently attended an online webinar along with approximately 349 other people distributed throughout the world. There may have been even more attendees than this, as some attend as a single online participant but have a room full of people behind it. Even though seated here all by myself in my home office, I left at the end believing that I had a more intimate experience than if this had been a seminar in a physical conference room.

Why? Many reasons, but I will describe one – I was able to interact and actually influence the presentation by nature of the feedback I contributed. I did this through chat. I did this by adding my thoughts in text to the whiteboard. And we were all encouraged to do this by the brave presenter willing to take on the challenge of making this a true educational experience, not just a one-way push of information.

The bottom line is that I doubt I would have had the opportunity to do this if seated in row 50 of a dark conference room with a PowerPoint presentation on the big screen at the front. So an intimate, engaging experience no longer means small class sizes in the online world. I’m not entirely sure that means big is better, but it can be pretty darn good.

To see for yourself, view the interactive recording of “5 Games in 50 Minutes” with Lou Russell.

- Donna Christopher, Elluminate Marketing Director

It’s the title of an article by Charlene O’Hanlon that was published in THE Journal in March, which is about the need for educators to adopt technology products for education. It’s not only good for the students, it makes an educator’s job even more interesting.

For me it means that it’s critical for educators to get on the bandwagon for using Web 2.0 and online collaborative technology–like Elluminate Live! and our soon-to-be launched LearnCentral social learning network–or get left in the dust.

If you’re going to NECC, stop by our booth #3542 to learn more about LearnCentral, as well as new enhancements to the Elluminate Learning Suite, like best-in-class breakout rooms.

Elluminate aside, there is so much wonderful educational technology out there, it boggles the mind! Now, I have to admit, all this blogging and twittering stuff put me off at first, but I’ve grown to understand the power and benefit of it. The same is true of tools that are designed to transform teaching and learning. So my advice, is to just jump right in. A good place to start is LearnCentral, where you get a free vRoom when you join. Tours will be starting next week.

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

Gary here. Giving Beth a break today.

For those of you that don’t know, Seth Godin, marketing guru, has a blog. And he also answers all his e-mail. In fact, in one of them, he turned down the opportunity to use Elluminate gratis for some of his web interaction with his clients.

I got the feeling from his reply to me and from reading his posts and his books (and this is my feeling, not a quote or paraphrase from Seth) that Seth doesn’t like the “webinar format” because of some of the plaque surrounding the typical “bad” webinar:

• bad powerpoint
• no interactivity
• bad powerpoint
• and bad powerpoint

So when I saw this post by him, I was intrigued.

Has Seth begun to come around? Does he not realize that chat, sychronized with audio, is the beginning of true collaboration on the web? That web collaboration NEEDN’T BE ABOUT POWERPOINT?

It is kind of hard to get across that my product is really useful since I am vendor scum and people assume I will lie, but I and my peers live ALL DAY on Elluminate Live! and an as yet unannounced new product from Elluminate (ahem…) and I really HATE the phone. If I am on the phone with somebody doing work or teaching or even just shooting the breeze – I want to draw! I want to take notes! I want to see their notes! I want to make snide comments from the peanut gallery (when appropriate)! I want to show my desktop or a web page or an application I am working on!

Not to mention, that with my cool Yamaha PJP-25UR echo cancelling mic and speaker, I get better audio quality across VoIP on my PC than I do on my standard phone. (I feel like Liz Lemon on 30 Rock pitching Snapple.)

So Seth, the door is still open. Redefine the word webinar to yourself. In fact, throw it out! Use Elluminate (or, G-d forbid, another tool) on your Mac or your PC and truly collaborate in real time beyond your phone and text chat. Think the phone and text chat are great for creative thinkers and teachers? Wait til you take the next step.

Cheers,

Gary Dietz

The Elluminate Center of Excellence program recognizes achievement in live eLearning and web collaboration, highlights best practices, and showcases those organization on the “learning-edge” of adopting synchronous pedagogies for teaching, learning, and related business processes.

This year’s 2009 Elluminate Centers of Excellence include:

- Broward County Public Schools for utilizing Web 2.0 and distance learning technologies to manage organizational change while implementing a structured approach to training to reach a large volume of individuals needing just-in-time training.

- Center for Distance Learning and Innovation for providing equitable access to educational opportunities to almost 1000 students in 113 schools throughout Newfoundland and Labrador in a way that makes distance transparent.

- eLearning Broward for significantly increasing attendance of live and recorded online workshops to include thousands of adult students, enabling them to improve academic skills, increase proficiency and confidence with technology, and increase number of diplomas earned.

- McMaster University for achieving an accelerated adoption rate of live eLearning and web collaboration technology system wide for distance education, research, and administration, while increasing efficiency and reducing costs for a number of high-profile projects on a global level.

- University Alliance for delivering professional development programs that lower training costs and reduce loss of productivity, while meeting or exceeding traditional face-to-face programs and maintaining level of excellence required by a Fortune 500 company.

- University of Hertfordshire for upporting mission of Blended Learning Unit to motivate and enable academic staff to transform their teaching and learning, engage with colleagues across the higher education sector, and participate in professional development activities.

Click here to read all about their individual achievements and view their recorded submission sessions. Prepare to be inspired!

Have you achieved real-world results using Elluminate technologies? Apply now for 2010.

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

Teri and Aaron attend Tricentia Academy, a small school in rural Newfoundland. Because they are the only two students in their class taking French, their only option was to take an online class through the Center for Distance Learning & Innovation, an Elluminate customer. The students’ experiences were chronicled in a video by Elizabeth Murphy of Memorial University. Get the whole story and hear what Teri and Aaron have to say. Enjoy!

PS. Click here to view other videos by Elizabeth Murphy about learner-centered e-teaching.

Keep on Elluminating!

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

This eSchool News article, “Teclnology Empowers Differentiated Instruction,” caught my eye today. Turns out “differentiated instruction” is what we at Elluminate call personalized, individualized, or student-centered learning. The idea is the same: tailor instruction to individual abilities, needs, interests, and learning style. The part I like is the promotion of 21st-century skills and the reiteration that technology has the power to facilitate DI or whatever you call it.

The article provides a good summary of and lists some practical tools from a recent ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) webinar. So check it out and get some ideas, like having students create something called a webbe.

Here also are a couple of Elluminate stories about K12 teachers who are using technology to provide student-centered instruction. Teacher Raven Sundahl at EBUS Academy developed Wacky Wednesdays as a way to include modalities for all types of learners. Social studies literacy coach Cara Coffina of NYC District 75 developed an online debate program to meet the needs of special needs kids.

Do you have any examples you’d like to share about using technology for DI?

Keep on Elluminating!

Beth – Elluminate Goddess of Communication

Times are tough all over. I was just reading an article, “BCC Faces Major State Funding Cuts” in the Bellevue Community College student paper about the school facing $838,000 in budget cuts for the 2008/2009 fiscal year, including decreasing faculty travel expenses by 50%.

So that means, like a lot of other schools, BCC has to get serious about reducing spending, innovative about meeting the needs of students, and creative about sustaining mission-critical initiatives like professional development. PD, in particular, has been on my mind lately as its often one of the first things cut from a strained budget.

Luckily, BCC will use Elluminate to replace some travel with web conferences. Here are some Elluminate resources that can help you make the case for online learning, meeting, and professional development.
- Top Ten Benefits of Using Elluminate Live!
- Top Ten Ways of Promoting Adoption of Elluminate Live!
- Top Ten Ways of Using Elluminate Live!

Keep on Elluminating!

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

Wondering what the future holds for eLearning? Well here’s the scoop, according to our Fearless Leader Maurice Heiblum.

Here are some highlights:
- Major factors that have influenced eLearning are the Internet, globalization, and social networks.

- The education paradigm has evolved from institution centered to learner centered.

- Today’s students want to be empowered to learn the way they want to learn with a personalized experience.

- Learning has to be flexible, offering a physical classroom, asynchronous eLearning, and collaborative online learning, portable learning, and more.

- The eLearning technology adoption cycle is speeding up.

- To build a success flexible learning framework, you need three foundational elements: infrastructure that leverages computers and Internet, learning and social technologies for all students, and professional development to facilitate online teaching.

Take the time to listen to the entire session recording. You won’t be disappointed!

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

Talk about a great resource! If you don’t know about CIDER (Canadian Institute of Distance Education Research), be sure to check out their upcoming webinars.

And here’s the best part: there’s also a library of more than 40 recorded sessions on just about any topic you could think of, including:

- Online teaching in international contexts
- Use of whiteboards in synchronous online drop-in tutorials
- Using 3D virtual networks
- Problem-based learning in distance education
- Supporting collaboration and community development online
- Engagement through simulation

Take a look. I’m sure you’ll find something that interests you.

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication

I was just perusing the CR 2.0 wiki. This site is devoted to building resources for the classroom and professional-development use of Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies.

Their event series is called CR 2.0 Live Conversations and the sessions are amazing! Plus there are recordings of past sessions. Topics include: educational blogging, Ning, reinventing project-based learning, living with learning disabilities, and much more!

This is another resource you’ll want to check out!

- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication