From the good folks at Half-Baked Software Inc. (based in my hometown at the University of Victoria, B.C., Canada), the people who brought you the semi-famous quiz software 'Hot Potatoes' comes Quandry. It is "an application for creating Web-based Action Mazes. An Action Maze is a kind of interactive case-study; the user is presented with a situation, and a number of choices as to a course of action to deal with it. On choosing one of the options, the resulting situation is then presented, again with a set of options. Working through this branching tree is like negotiating a maze, hence the name 'Action Maze'"

Version 2 is in beta and should be in full release later this month. In essense, one each page the software prompts you to create a set of questions or actions that result in different branches, allowing you to easily create simple HTML-based role playing simulations.  - SWL

[EdTechPost]

I could never get Hot Potatoes to work acceptably, but the idea was a good one. In the 70's we built lots of Action Mazes for various Navy training programs and I have used them occasionally since. I'm glad to see someone thinking about them again. What next? Programmed Instruction makes a comeback? Oh, wait, that's what e-Learning is supposed to be ...

4:46:36 PM    

Macromedia - Flash Player for Pocket PC. This seemed not insignificant when it comes to delivering rich media educational objects to handhelds. Somewhat quietly (at least to my ears) the folks at Macromedia have been assembling their own elearning strategy and tools. One to watch, if there past results are any indication. - SWL  [EdTechPost]

I want to figure out how to add the Macromedia site to this weblog - if they don't offer an RSS feed, I will put them in the navigation links.

4:42:59 PM    

Via a seemingly small reference in David Wiley's blog, Autounfocus, comes mention of this application being developed by David and others in the Department of Instructional Technology at Utah State, that hints at where learning object repositories and object browsers need to go and seem to be going - towards more direct integration with authoring tools and tools that help instructors apply instructional design principles in (re)assembling objects.

(But isn't this already the promise in large part of LCMSes within the scope of the training industry? I wonder what will end up being the difference between existing authoring tools aimed at industry [either ones like IBM's Knowledge Producer, DazzlerMax, Avaltus Jupiter Studio or Cisco's Virtuoso, or else any of the ones being bundled or built directly in enterprise LCMSes] and the ones being built in post-secondary institutions and for that market? I can guess but I expect some analysis of this would be useful for a continuing elucidation of the need for a CMS product-type separate from LMS/LCMS offerings and why LORs are evolving the way they are.) - SWL

1:46:39 PM    

A powerpoint presentation by Jean Adams and Gareth Morgan (from the elearning content comapny NewMindsets- it's Canadian!) that describes the shift to learning object just-in-time training as being '2nd generation elearning, for what it''s worth. - SWL 

- via [carvingCode]

1:06:08 PM    

At some point in the not-so-distant-future I may well have to start looking for work again (funding and other circumstances are currently uncertain at best.) So I have been doing some thinking and some searching about what is it I can do, what I have done before and what is it I want to do.

Which lead me to this helpful little document by the folks at Sage Learning Systems. While I've worked more in higher ed and its focus is more on industry training, much of the job types and skills seemed relevant. I'm sure there are lots more of these types of documents out there (anyone have other references) but this at least seemed like a place to start. - SWL

1:04:03 PM    

"SciQ just went live. It's a K-12 theme for CAREO that is being used to push learning objects into the classroom in Alberta."

Go see the one of the products of D'Arcy's (and many others at U of Calgary) long hours of work and an actual implementation of learning object respository software! Exciting stuff! - SWL

- from [D'Arcy Norman's Learning Commons Weblog]

1:01:56 PM    

"Kevin Kruse writes an open letter to Click2learn CEO Kevin Oakes in response to the latter's contention that enterprise software providers (such as, say, SAP or PeopleSoft) will not make major inroads into the learning management system market. With a few telling points, Kruse outlines some probable scenarios where this could be exactly what happens. His main advice to LMS vendors? Well, not in so many words, but: bail." - comment and link reposted from [OLDaily]

I think the truth lies somewhere between these two positions, and one would certainly be naive not to be paying attention to a few of these behemoth enterprise players.

12:58:53 PM    

Everybody is writing about e-Learning ROI all of a sudden. Bryan Chapman is the latest. My article in the next eLearning Developers' Journal (April 14) will add to the glut. I can't go along with Jay Cross on this one, and I think most of what I see online is either superficial or misses the point entirely. Forget about the online calculators, too.

ROI is a serious topic. It isn't the be-all and end-all, but it isn't irrelevant either. Join the Guild to see my point of view, and to find out how to *really* handle ROI.

10:16:07 AM