I look forward to doing this each month as I always find that I missed some REALLY great content. October 2010 did not disappoint! Here is the best from this past month

  1. 4 Free Tools to Help Get Your PowerPoint from Good to Great, October 21, 2010
    Continuing the recent trend of PowerPoint in the news , I stumbled upon an article in USA Today that provided some tips and advice for designing more engaging presentations. While the advice was good, for me, more dos and don’ts aren’t really helpful. Tool #1: Oomfo for Charts & Graphs. Tool #2: Wordle for Text-Heavy Slides.
  2. Open Source eLearning Tools, October 13, 2010
    I was just asked about trends in open source for eLearning and particularly open source eLearning tools. Probably one of the better sources on this is Jane Hart’s Instructional Tools Directory. In addition, she indicates if they are free or cost money – which is not quite the same thing as open source. Here’s some of what I pulled out.
  3. The art of Twitter, October 11, 2010
    Learning how to use Twitter as a tool to develop your personal learning network is not always simple, and as with any other social networking tools, there is an unwritten protocol. There is quite an art to getting the best out of it.
  4. Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010: Final list, presentation and more, October 18, 2010
    Yesterday I finalised the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010 list. Many thanks to the 545 people who shared their Top 10 Tools for Learning and contributed to the building of the list. Although this list is available online, I also created this presentation which provides the information as a slideset.
  5. #PLENK2010 the future of education, my vision of the future, October 15, 2010
    This is how I envision the learning future. This presentation came about while following PLENK , a big online course on Personal Learning Environments, Networking and Knowledge. Alan Levine's comment triggered the presentation below, which is a reply to the question he posed : is augmented reality really going to revolutionize the world.
  6. Using Twitter to Transform the Classroom!, October 10, 2010
    "Whereas people might spend a long time composing a comment to a blog post or engage in lengthy, in - depth conversation on a discussion board, Twitter invites more in - the - moment interactions. Interestingly, I was picture-tweeting my holiday during that period using TwitPic (on my IPhone). Having said that, social media has its dark sides , too.
  7. Augmented Reality and M-Learning, October 8, 2010
    Let me pose this scenario: Every day, you walk down the same street. You walk past the buildings, see the crowds and yawn. But on this day, you decide to use your smartphone and look down on the screen. At that moment, you see animation, tweets from people in the area, and you can respond. Interactivity meets reality. Specifically, m-learning?
  8. Don't be tone deaf! Creating tone of voice in eLearning., October 15, 2010
    These are slides from a My Kineo webinar I ran this week with Kirstie Greany. Don't be tone deaf! Creating tone of voice in eLearning. View more presentations from cammybean
  9. The "New" Social Learning isn't a New Thing, October 18, 2010
    For the last few days I've been reading Marcia Conner and Tony Bingham 's book - The New Social Learning. It's an intriguing read, with several interesting case studies from organisations that are using social media to advance their business goals. It felt natural to tell my friends and connections about this awesome book. Sumeet Moghe, 2009.
  10. A day with Dave Snowden, October 26, 2010
    Dave Snowden is a compelling storyteller, mad genius, and irascible Welshman who has pioneered the mash-up of complexity theory and management practice. Dave led a day-long seminar on his version of complexity in San Francisco today. I’m still absorbing the implications. This is brilliant, important work. Each calls for a different approach.
  11. How Visual Clarity Affects Learning, October 14, 2010
    Does your audience reject dense or obscure information? Here's why.
  12. Presence Pedagogy: Needs Some More Dimensions, October 27, 2010
    The other day, I discovered an interesting article, Presence Pedagogy: Teaching and Learning in a 3D Virtual Immersive World , which describes an educational approach for conducting a learning event in a virtual immersive environment. Flying around in VirtualU: Sense of space is important in virtual learning environments.
  13. 5 Steps to Enterprise Social Learning, October 13, 2010
    Step 1 – Strategize : There is no one “right” Social Learning strategy, and there is no one right way to develop one. The approach to strategy development depends on several factors such as your organizational structure, existing learning programs, organizational learning culture, and the value executives place on informal learning.
  14. PowerPoint 2010: Using the Shape Union & Subtract Tools for eLearning, October 14, 2010
    by AJ George. Over the last two weeks I've introduced PowerPoint 2010's Shape Union and Shape Subtract tools. Now I'd like to give a quick example of how you could incorporate this into your eLearning projects made with PowerPoint. added a 2 pt width and height bevel to mine to give them some dimension. Select the Fill category.
  15. Nuts and Bolts: How to Evaluate e-Learning by Jane Bozarth, October 5, 2010
    Evaluation is something that every instructional designer talks about, but few actually do. This may be because designers only know about the Kirkpatrick “Levels.” Here are two alternatives that may be far more practical.
  16. Network Learning: Working Smarter, October 22, 2010
    Tweet “In the period ahead of us, more important than advances in computer design will be the advances we can make in our understanding of human information processing – of thinking, problem solving, and decision making…” ~ Herbert Simon, Economics Nobel-prize winner (1968). In California, Ray Prock, Jr. Network Learning. EverNote).
  17. You Say "eLearning", I say 'Online Learning". She says "Distance Learning". Does it Matter?, October 6, 2010
    Practitioners, analysts, proponents and critics of this thing we do with learning and technology solutions will frequently use all of these terms interchangeably to describe the discipline of using technology for connecting learners with learners, teachers, content, experts and experience.
  18. The university lacks capacity to change education, October 23, 2010
    Make no mistake, dramatic changes are occurring in education. These changes, due to the reluctance of the academy to map activities to the reality of the external world, are driven by external innovation. Quite simply, higher education is not in control of its fate as it has failed to develop the capacity to be self-reliant in times of change.
  19. The informal learning debate, October 7, 2010
    The debate at Oxford Union this Wednesday on informal learning was very interesting, more so because some wonderful people on Twitter were actually relaying it blow-by-blow and also because I was testing my multi-tasking skills by juggling between the Twitter conversation and the PLENK session! Informal learning doesn’t provide that.
  20. Teaching Online Courses – 60 Great Resources, October 25, 2010
    I received an inquiry about resources that would help instructors who are about to move into teaching online courses. It made me immediately think back to my first experience with an online session. Because it was their first ever public session and my first ever online session neither of us knew what we were doing. No problem, right? Katrina A.
  21. Bad eLearning is a Thing of the Past!, October 11, 2010
    We’re always looking for ways to improve our eLearning content. came across a post on eLearningWeekly about “ 5 Ways to Improve Bad eLearning &# that I wanted to share. Here are his main points and my comments on how to improve bad eLearning: 1. Open up the Navigation. like the idea of letting the users control their own navigation.
  22. Cartoon: “The millennials are testing much better since we changed true/false to like/dislike.”, October 29, 2010
    Cartoonist Mark Anderson shares the personal anecdote behind today’s cartoon: I’m not a last minute kind of guy. check and update my calendar regularly, I never miss a deadline, and I usually arrive just a minute or two early wherever I go. But sometimes you have to wait until the very end for a great cartoon. Millennials like that.&#
  23. Switch for social media, October 20, 2010
    I read the book Switch some time ago. Change management is definitely one of my favorite fields! Even though I am now not using the field as consciously as when I was guiding organisational change trajectories, I feel when I work on introducing social media I may apply it too and could improve. First a short intro of the ideas put forward in Switch.
  24. Waiting For SuperExecutive: Why Executives Should Get on the Enterprise 2.0 Bus, October 27, 2010
    I recently took in the film Waiting for Superman. It’s a real eye-opener to the travesty that is K-12 education in the United States. Go see it. That stated, the following thoughts entitled “Waiting for Superexecutive” is a call to action for executives to get on the Enterprise 2.0 bus inside of their organizations, if they haven’t done so already.
  25. #mLearn2010 Augmented Reality and Mobile Learning - some lessons learned by Gunnar Liestol, October 21, 2010
    Gunnar is a curly person with glasses, who just gives an AMAZING presentation!! Please if you can, look this research up! It is so strongly build (sustainable, new, well-thought throug). Just amazing! Mostly working with digital media, on the textual level (the individual digital text and the new genres of new media). Two similar test groups.
  26. Four minute-video on the Rule of 3?s, October 23, 2010
    There are always three things. YouTube link.
  27. Simplicity in Presentations and Why it Matters, October 30, 2010
    This morning, the Times of India newspaper was an ad-fest. Someone on the newspaper design team had decided that providing a page that was just a third of the original paper size would be a clever way of introducing a large advertisement before readers even saw the front page. Turns out, they're not as smart as they think they are. cient for us.
  28. Mobile Learning: Book Review, October 17, 2010
    Recently, I was sent a copy of Gary Woodill’s latest book, The Mobile Learning Edge. He also provides seven principles for effective mobile learning. The Principles are; Employees are adults who learn differently from children. Employees learn from solving problems that matter to them. This is not a “how-to” book. If so, why now? Goodill: a.
  29. The beauty of notes, October 12, 2010
    Erasmus also advised every student and teacher to keep a notebook, organised by subject, “so that whenever je lights on anything worth noting down, he may write it in the appropriate section.” What Erasmus could not have foretold was that his words of wisdom would still ring true almost exactly 500 years later but using the latest technology.
  30. PowerPoint 2010: Using the Shape Union Tool, October 1, 2010
    by AJ George. Two of the coolest new tools in PowerPoint 2010 (especially if you like to make your own graphics) are the Shape Union and Shape Subtract tools. Previously in PowerPoint, if you wanted to join two shapes you would use the Group tool. This new feature is actually a bit hidden, as it does not appear by default on your Ribbon.
  31. How to Create Color Schemes in PowerPoint to Match Your Brand, October 26, 2010
    A favorite feature added to PowerPoint 2007 is the design theme. This lets you quickly modify your slides by changing templates, color schemes, and fonts. It opens the doors to thousands of quick customizations. Today, I’d like to share a free PowerPoint add-in that lets you expand your color scheme options. Quick Look at Color Schemes.
  32. Work = Learning, October 20, 2010
    "Change is so fast and furious that work and learning blur into one activity." Jay Cross, et. Working Smarter in Terra Nova Circa 2015 Jay Cross and his colleagues at Internet Time Group have recently published an interesting article on the evolution of work. Learning what you need to know, when you need to know it 2.
  33. Open for use?, October 25, 2010
    Open for use? View more presentations from Steve Wheeler. Above are my slides for today's keynote at the EDEN Research Workshop here in Budapest. I'm talking about open educational resources and open scholarship (a form of open educational practice), as well as the power of social media to give every learner a voice. Nuff said.
  34. Hotseat and Mixable - social learning in and out of the classroom, October 6, 2010
    Purdue University are doing some very interesting things to incorporate Facebook, Twitter and other social media into activities both in and outside of the classroom. I've already posted about Hotseat , which is described as follow. Now, there is also Mixable (see image above). Didn’t bring your laptop with you?
  35. Why The iPad Is a Learning Tool by Sesh Kumar, October 26, 2010
    The iPad continues to draw attention and to drive change in mobile computing. Here is a summary of its specific benefits for education.
  36. Organizations and Complexity, October 20, 2010
    I’ve discussed this table before, but I’d like to put it all the links together to highlight what we need to do with our organizations and structures to deal with complexity. From the evolving social organization we developed this table to show the differences between three archetypal organizations. Simplicity. Complication.
  37. How do you manage information?, October 25, 2010
    The most critical skill that individuals need to master today is how to manage information. All other so called “21st century skills&# converge on this skill. Critical thinking, detecting erroneous information, growing a personal learning network, and other skills and mindsets are reflected in how we manage information.
  38. 10 Reasons Not to Ban Social Media in Your Organization, October 5, 2010
    This post from Jane Hart ais a motherlode of great (short) comebacks that anyone can use when discussing social media with nay sayers and entrenched silo organizations. In the post from Jane there are some outstanding contributions from some very experienced people in the social media sector.
  39. A lawyer’s advice for a learning professional, October 18, 2010
    Stephen Ellis is a partner at the law firm Tucker Ellis & West. Thanks to David Maister’s blog (which Maister discontinued in January 2010), I came across a commencement address Ellis gave at Case Western Reserve School of Law in May 2008. Here’s the title of Ellis’s address: On Being a Happy (and Successful) Lawyer.
  40. Recent Research on Interactive Learning, October 8, 2010
    This list of existing research and articles on interactivity in learning was put together by Janhavi Padture, Director of Research, Analysis and Strategy at Harbinger Knowledge Products. That is the Question!!!
  41. mLearning Feature Sets: Possibilities Wide & Deep, October 31, 2010
    It has certainly been a "month of Sundays" since I last posted to this blog and I offer apologies for not sharing more throughout what has proved to be a very busy and productive summer and fall season. Figure 1 1. Basic Communications. Training Delivery. Information Access. Social Networking. Content Creation.
  42. Forget Photoshop, PowerPoint 2010 Rocks for AHA-G!, October 18, 2010
    BEING ATTACKED! First, I must make it clear (once and for all!) that I do not work for Microsoft (or get paid in any way by them!), and I am also NO GREAT SUPPORTER of Microsoft products in general, including Microsoft Office 2010. blog), or presentations quickly ( EFFICIENCY )! Thirdly, Apple fanatics are going to say, "What about Keynote?" AHA-G?
  43. Flex based widgets, October 19, 2010
    Have you ever used Adobe Captivate widgets? Widgets can enhance the type of content you can create with Adobe Captivate. You can leverage the complete capabilities of Adobe Flash via widgets. Once created, widgets can be used any number of times just like any other Captivate object. This really helps in creating engaging rapid elearning [.].
  44. “Since the way we run universities now is such a train wreck, what’s a better way?”, October 22, 2010
    Recently over at The Chronicle of Higher Education, Marc Perry provided us with a gem; “ What If We Ran Universities Like Wikipedia ?”. One of the commenters, “drjeff” posited the title of Marc’s post should have been “Since the way we run universities now is such a train wreck, what’s a better way?”. Bless you ‘drjeff’. Dated. Antiquated. m game.
  45. Your Enterprise 2.0 Strategy Is Flawed – Now Embrace It, October 21, 2010
    Organizations are looking for the bulletproof collaboration strategy. I often hear, “How are you going to do XXXX?&# I might reply that “my plan is to do YYYY, but if it doesn’t work we will try something else&#. The reaction takes people off guard because they think there is a right way to do all this social stuff. It just is.
  46. Three Critical Skills Learning Professionals Need Now, October 15, 2010
    News flash: The organizations that training professionals serve are moving faster than ever to respond to customer needs. Big shock, right? What will be a huge shock is that training directors, trainers, and instructional designers must develop new skills in order to stay relevant in 21st century business. 8211; General Eric Shinseki, former U.S.
  47. Review: Gary Woodill’s The Mobile Learning Edge, October 31, 2010
    In the context of having my own book on mobile learning in press, I’m well-primed to review Gary Woodill’s The Mobile Learning Edge: Tools and Technologies for Developing Your Teams. It could be awkward as well, as I could be considered to be a competitor, with no vested interest in helping. Which raises the question of the audience.
  48. Failing to See Money Hiding in Plain Sight, October 4, 2010
    I've discussed ethnography, especially digital ethnography, several times taking note that, whether we use ethnography in marketing or design research remains irrelevant to the methods employed. What matters is whether we develop the research questions around the assumption that sociocultural practices provide the data source for answers.
  49. Count What Counts, October 8, 2010
    Are we measuring what really matters in organizations? ROI, market share, profit margin, cost savings, EPS, P/E ratio, EBITDA, and employee job satisfaction are common measures in business organizations today. While these are relatively easy to measure, the question we should be asking ourselves is, “Is this what we want to know?” Giving to others.
  50. QR Codes: It’s not all about the phone you know #QRCode, October 26, 2010
    Regular readers will know I like QR Codes and am trying to get them used more in learning and teaching, in the classroom as well as out of it. There are plenty of links to content on this, including mine, so please see the ‘related’ links at the bottom of this post for a couple. Desktop QR Code Reader : www.dansl.net.
  51. Place-based Learning and Mobile Devices – Part I, October 11, 2010
    Treasure maps, letterboxing, scavenger hunts and geocaching all leverage environmental markers to guide a participant from one location to another. Just as geocaching enhanced earlier forms of interpretive tours or location-based hunts to a wider audience, smart phones are pushing the potential of place-based learning into uncharted territory.
  52. mLearning – Domestic style, October 24, 2010
    The evolution of mobile technology has brought the term mLearning (mobile learning) into the mainstream in the last year or two although it’s been around for a number of years. What is mLearning? mLearning behavior family Life 2.0
  53. Learning culture and social media, October 7, 2010
    If we talk about learning in organizations, many people will think of courses that are offered by the company’s training department. If we say e-learning, this is often associated with web based training modules. This is what we mostly refer to as “formal learning&#. What do you do when you are stuck with a problem at work? Culture.
  54. What did the Romans ICT do for us?, October 10, 2010
    In our schools, ICT is often held up as an example of modern thinking - an essential for today's classroom. Yet what real benefit has the massive investment in ICT infrastructure really brought? But it's hard to find examples where real, systemic and long-lasting benefits are being seen that would justify the spending. This was in 2003!
  55. Free-Range Education: The Urgency to Integrate FREd in Corporate Training, October 3, 2010
    Have you ever thought of something radical and then mustered up the courage to share it in a forum of your peers? managed to garner a hands-down vote of idiocy [a solid #3 on the scale above] from my corporate training colleagues when I dreamed up the concept of Free-Range Education and the accompanying acronym FREd.
  56. NO Next & Back buttons!, October 21, 2010
    An example of an immerisive elearning course where the primary navigation does not have Next and Back buttons.
  57. 6 Techniques that Stimulate Recall in eLearning, October 29, 2010
    If you’re familiar with Gagne’s nine events of instruction , you know that one of the early steps in the instructional design model involves stimulating recall of learners’ prior knowledge. Typically, this step is listed after gaining attention and stating the training’s objectives. We hope you found this post helpful.
  58. Are You Playing e-Learning/LMS Help-desk?, October 31, 2010
    My organization is just finishing up its compliance period and I have gotten my share of calls and e-mails from staff regarding their courses. For As long as I have been in e- learning, the majority of the calls I’ve received from users have fallen into one of the following issues: A pop-up blocker on the user’s computer is enabled.
  59. How Do You Learn to Write Effective Voice Scripts?, October 13, 2010
    I am very fond of fairy tales. As a kid I had two big books of fairy tales and used to get excited thinking about the chocolate house as described in the Hansel and Gratel story and also used to imagine the wonderland,the woods and the castles. YouTube has lots of versions of these fairy tales. All the episodes are very well presented.
  60. Digital Instructional Media Design 101- The Design Of Interaction, October 21, 2010
    Last month our ID team got their feet wet with the learning campaigns in the Age of Empires II – Age of Kings. d recommended that all IDs play the game for a few hours to understand how different ‘gamey’ elements are from the conventional ‘interaction’ we use in conventional courseware.

Hot Topics October 2010