Archive
Games as Part of the Curriculum
May 17th On-line Panel to Discuss the Role of Games in Education
Games and the Curriculum
This coming May, Excelsior College will be hosting a webinar on games in education. I am extremely honored to have been chosen to be part of the panel that will get to discuss this topic and will hopefully be part of a team who can help determine and share what we can learn from using games in education.
While attempting to get a larger idea of who will be at this webinar, as well as the specifics of what will be discussed, I was very thankful to be able to speak with David Seelow, Director of Writing Programs & the Online Writing Lab School of Liberal Arts Excelsior College. David gave great insight on numerous aspects of not only the symposium, but eLearning, games, and higher education as well. The highlights of his interview include:
- Discussion on the importance of exploring alternative learning methods that leave the traditional lecture mode of delivering material
- Theories behind using games as motivators, methods of recognition, ways to engage social involvement and cooperative learning
- Information on the topics and bios of myself, Ben Devane, Dr. Joey Lee, Professor Lee Sheldon, Dr. Tobi Saulnier, and finally, Clark Aldrich, the panel speakers
- Seelow’s opinion on who will be attending the symposium
- The symposium framework/agenda for May 17th
Interviews of the panel members that were conducted by Excelsior College will appear online in the college’s blog forum. Mine should appear sometime this week!
For full interview read on.
1. What are the highlights of this symposium and what can be learned from attending?
The purpose of the symposium, “Games and the Curriculum: Towards a New Educational Model” is to explore alternatives to the traditional lecture mode of delivering curriculum and also propose new ways of designing curriculum that engage 21st century students. Public schools remain in a state of crisis wrapped up in the vestiges of the No Child Left Behind legislation and test taking mania engendered by those policies. Test taking thwarts teacher creativity and stifles student development. Higher education inherits the problems of secondary education and must find ways to engage and retrain students over the course of a student’s academic career. Furthermore, distance education has arrived and more and more traditional institutions are going online witnessed by the emergence of MOOCs. Online education demands more engaging curriculum sprung free for the lecture center’s professorial wisdom and what Paolo Friere called the banking model of education, i.e. the teacher deposits knowledge in a passive learner. Today’s learner must be a producer of knowledge and a critical thinker.
Games contribute to student development in learning in a number of new ways. Let’s begin with motivation. In Glued to Games, Rigby and Ryan evidence the motivating, near addictive power of games to attract and retain student attention. Students spend hours at a time engaged with video games. Wouldn’t we all like to see that motivation applied to course work and social problems? A second major principle of game based learning is the room for exploration. Games allow learners to fail in a safe environment and then learn from their attempts without the fatal consequences of failing a test. Related to this exploration, is the scaffolding built into most games. Early levels of a game tutor the learner in how to play the game. As the student moves up various levels of the game, the learner meets and exceeds progressively harder challenges giving the student progressively more achievements and recognition.
This builds learner self esteem and reinforces motivation. In a sense, this game based design operates that educational psychologist Lev Vygotsky’s “zone of proximal development” whereby students are pushed to their outer limits or stretched to learn to their fullest capacity. This principle contradicts the dumbing down of curriculum we so often see today. Learners like the challenge and the accomplishment of meeting a series of challenges.
Likewise recognition, when I watch a golf tournament I am preoccupied by the Leader Board posted around the golf course. Who doesn’t want to be recognized? It makes us feel good. What about fun? Games are a blast. How many students consider their classes to be an exhilarating experience? Many games developers like Ralph Koster have argued for the centrality of fun to the game experience, and I would like to see a curriculum infused with fun. We first learn about the world through play, why should we stop having fun when trapped in a row of seats in the classroom or stuck to our couch in an online class? The need to spring out of our seats leads to another fundamental principle of game based learning- projects and problem solving. Quest to Learn (http://q2l.org/), partial brain child of gaming expert Katie Salen now at Depaul University in Chicago, is a school in New York City based entirely upon game development and project based learning that has transformed education. Games, including puzzle based games, require problem solving and few skills better prepare students for the workplace then problem solving skills and strategic thinking.
Finally, I would mention social involvement and cooperative learning. On one hand games thrive on healthy competition, and, on the other hand, they often involve large social networks and group knowledge bases. As a professor, I often see students struggle to produce a few written pages, but you look at the public forums supporting World of Warcraft (e.g. WOWWiki, http://www.wowwiki.com/Portal:Main) and you’d be amazed about how much knowledge learners produce for each other. Ideally, this knowledge is shared in an open, global environment and Excelsior College (www.excelsior.edu) like other institutions, is committed to Open Educational Resources and the democratization or open access to learners worldwide.
These are just a few of the things participants will learn about and discuss during the webcast. Of course, the best thing about symposiums is the potential for new knowledge to emerge from the interaction of such superb panelists.
2. Can you give further insight to as why you are excited about the speakers/panelists?
Yes, Excelsior College is thrilled to have such a distinguished mixture of experts from both the corporate and academic world to talk about game based learning. I can only touch on a few areas these experts will speak about. Let me start with your own expert Jon Aleckson. Jon’s model of micro collaboration in MindMeld (http://www.mindmeldbook.com/) is a model for 21st century thinking. In online learning, collaboration is critical. The professor is no longer the be all and end all of the college learning experience. At Excelsior Colleges, our online courses require at a minimum the close collaboration of instructional designers, subject matter experts, and program directors (we are kind of like project managers). Hopefully, Jon will speak about the indispensability of collaboration in online game development.
Ben Devane, a leader at the Digital Worlds Institute (DWI) at the University of Florida (http://www.digitalworlds.ufl.edu/), is a young innovator with many creative ideas. For instance, he currently runs a special project teaching middle school students programming skills used in game development. The involvement of higher education in the public school system is a great leap forward in preparing our kids for the future. In terms of higher education, Ben has been involved in a Gaming Against Plagiarism initiative (http://blogs.uflib.ufl.edu/gap/). In this initiative, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, librarians played a critical role in content development. Plagiarism is a national epidemic and an innovative approach to plagiarism prevention is something most people want to hear about.
Speaking about public education, Dr. Joey Lee teaches at Columbia University’s Teachers College in the Games Research Lab, the country’s premier teacher training college (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltASfvmmxZs). Dr. Lee leads two fascination projects that employ games to teach real world problem solving skills. One project involves motivating students to become scientists and the other “greenify” project helps students use gamification skills to address climate change (see Gamifying Education at http://www.gamifyingeducation.org/about).
Switching back to higher education, Professor Lee Sheldon, is co-director of Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)- http://www.hass.rpi.edu/pl/gaming one of the nations leading game design programs. Lee is a true pioneer in games and higher education. At Indiana University he first developed an entire course based upon a game. In other words the course is managed like a game. He has extended this work at RPI and recently published a tremendously innovative book entitled The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game (http://www.amazon.com/The-Multiplayer-Classroom-Designing-Coursework/dp/1435458443).
All progressive educators will be keen to learn about Lee’s successful experiments in transforming the classroom experience.
Back to the corporate side of things, Dr. Tobi Saulnier, CEO of 1st Playable Productions, LLC (http://1stplayable.com/) in Troy, New York is a tremendous entrepreneur and leader of women in business. Tobi is currently working on a very low budget writing games for Excelsior College’s Online writing Lab. This game will be housed on the Owl but downloadable for mobile devices and integrated into a pilot study with five community colleges. This is a step toward the design of games to support the need for improvement in student writing across the country.
Finally, and, in some ways, most importantly, our expert moderator is Clark Aldrich (http://www.clarkaldrichdesigns.com/). Clark is a leading national force in online learning (e.g. Learning Online with Games, Simulations, and Virtual Worlds: Strategies for Online Instruction), the design of simulations, and a genuine voice of education reform (see the Unschooling Rules Project). In addition to his extraordinary work in education, Clark has been a long time leader in corporate training. I want to point out that when I say curriculum and education, I also refer to training curriculum in both the corporate and military worlds. Workforce development and military training are vital components in the country’s overall educational purpose. Clark brings a national reputation to the symposium.
3. Why should people attend this year’s Excelsior College symposium addressing the role of games in education?
I believe I have answered this in my extended response to your previous question. In summary, people will learn a variety of innovative ways to reinvigorate the curriculum at all levels of the education system. These ideas are cutting edge and point to the future of 21st century learning.
4. Who do you expect to be there this year?
Ideally, I would like to see a large cross section of people from the education and gaming world. I certainly expect all faculty and administrators interested in distance education and online learning, advocates of the Open Educational Movement, instructional designers, and progressive faculty interested in new teaching strategies and pedagogy. I also hope to see a number of creative minded students both online and in person. Finally, I hope to make some initial inroads into a corporate audience interested in cutting edge training models and maybe some military education specialists who have long been supporters of simulations as learning tools. Eventually, I really want to bridge the public education audience and professional development administrators. Perhaps, next year we can aim for a small international audience.
5. Any additional information you may want to add?
Only that Excelsior College, like all our panelists, is committed to Open Educational Resources and the global sharing of knowledge in a cooperative fashion. We all know that the great universities like Stanford, Harvard and M.I.T. are now involved in sharing resources but we want to show even small colleges can make large contributions to education.
6. Could you describe the tentative schedule/bullet points of the topics you will be discussing?
I would like to suggest we adhere to the original design of symposiums articulated by Plato thousands of years ago. A group of distinguished experts address a common topic in a limited time frame. The discussion is spontaneous and flows like an intelligent conversation. I would expect, such a vibrant conversation will touch on some of the topics I alluded to earlier:
- How to reinvigorate the higher education curriculum
- Game Based Learning Pedagogy
- Games and educational reform
- Best Practices in curriculum design
- The future of online learning
- The value of collaboration
- The classroom as a game
Managing eLearning is written by the Blog team at Web Courseworks which includes Jon Aleckson and Jillian Bichanich. Ideas and concepts are originated and final copy reviewed by Jon Aleckson.
Learning Games Intrigue Association Executives at Great Ideas
As stated in a recent blog post of mine, I was able to attend ASAE’s Great Ideas Conference in Colorado Springs March 10th through the 12th. Furthermore, I presented a session with a friend and client of ours, Bill Schankel, CAE from the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers and am excited to say the session was well received. Our session, “Game On! The Power of Online Games and Why Associations are Playing Along,” seemed to spark interest amongst participants in the possibility of using games and simulations to educate and motivate. Even better, after the conference, Bill found out that their Tech Tower Trivia game (created by Web Courseworks) won a Gold Circle Award for Innovative Communications that will be awarded at their Membership, Marketing and Communications conference this coming June.
Interestingly enough, Matt Riley of National Court Reporters Association was also in attendance at Great Ideas and raved about the 2000 or so members who have played the game “Courting Disaster,” which was also created by Web Courseworks for NCRA to simulate the unique challenges that court reporters may face in day-to-day interactions.
What’s the point? Gamification is sweeping the eLearning nation. Beyond our session at the conference, Marsha Rhea, talked about Gamification as one of her five big ideas on transitioning to a new learning culture for associations. She talks about learning through games as helping to provide more self-directed learning to an association’s members.
Some notes on Marsha’s ideas: While mLearning (mobile learning) goes without saying, it is a great idea to look at content as a positioning statement for your association. Tying your identity to your content and vice versa can serve numerous purposes within your association. Also, while everyone keeps talking about MOOCs and their impact on eLearning, I’m looking for the first association that requires the completion of a MOOC to satisfy a training course. I’ll keep you updated on this, though, as I have enrolled in a MOOC on Gamification myself, that starts this coming Monday!
Disclaimer: Web Courseworks develops and offers custom serious educational games and simulations, as well as our learning management system, CourseStage, and a hosted, development tool for creating and publishing courses, CourseCreate.
Managing eLearning is written by the Blog team at Web Courseworks which includes Jon Aleckson and Jillian Bichanich. Ideas and concepts are originated and final copy reviewed by Jon Aleckson.
Team Predictions for 2013 eLearning
Year after year, predictions are posted about what is to come in eLearning development. Experts use polls, percentages, and general trends to forecast what will happen in the upcoming year. I have been part of this group as in the past I have posted general eLearning predictions based on what I have learned in the industry. This year, I wanted to do something different. My team at Web Courseworks consists of programmers, instructional designers, project managers, a sales team, and management department, to name some, and who better to make predictions about 2013 than a team of people whose work delves into eLearning and its related topics every day? So here it is, 2013 eLearning predictions created by my team at Web Courseworks.
The Future of HTML5 and mLearning
To my surprise, everyone seemed to be dreaming about HTML5, though the topic of HTML5 brought predictions at all ends of the spectrum. A few people, such as Kelsey, one of our Multimedia Developers stated that “2013 will be the year that flash developers will need to learn HTML5 as eLearning takes a huge step further into the mobile scene,” and another Multimedia developer, Brian, further predicted that the because “HTML5 will continue to be on the forefront of eLearning,” this demand will drive the development of easy-to-use templates. Aileen, our Vice President of Business Development, agreed that “Online quick guides that are interactive and responsive to what the user is looking for on the job creates efficiency and maximizes learning beyond the classroom,” so these on-the-spot demands will increase the necessity for mobile and table accessibility.
As to the discussion of who will be most interested in mobile learning applications and benefit the most from mobile learning platforms, Karissa, one of our Marketing Coordinators believed that the adoption of mLearning will continue to “lag except in markets with specific on-the-job training use cases.” She said tablets are ideal for some very specialized use cases (such as on-the-job training for those in numerous healthcare professions), though while tablets are increasing in prevalence in the workplace, they haven’t yet gained widespread adoption. 
Shawn, an Instructional Designer on our team, went with only a slightly different position, as he believes that “Opportunities for new customers in health care, government compliance, and finance industries will explode” while “new customers in the defense, federal government and manufacturing/labor industries will all but disappear.”
Furthering the HTML5 and mLearning discussion, Matt, another PHP Programmer thinks that “HTML5 will start to change LMS UX to have more of an application feel rather than just a bunch of web pages strung together.” On the other hand, Ed, our Product Specialist, felt that instead of HTML5 affecting the user interface, instead “there will be much discussion regarding whether [HTML5] is really the best way to design apps for mobile devices.” He goes on to argue that this discussion alone will only go to help refine implementation processes, and that more “Tools and frameworks, such as PhoneGap, will also assist with bridging the areas that HTML5 stumbles on.”
Tin Can/Experience API’s Position in 2013
Tin Can/Experience API was another topic that brought some debate amongst the group. It seems that while our Product Innovation Specialist, Andy, believed that “More LMSs will integrate learning record stores for Experience API,” one of our programmers seemed to differ in opinion. Craig, a Web Courseworks PHP Programmer, believed that
“Tin Can API will lose some of its luster in 2013 as the costs and difficulties of actually implementing it become more apparent.” Experience API has been at the forefront of a lot of 2012 discussion on the future of eLearning. I was interested to see the opposing views of the departments, and I will be even more interested to see if the demand will outweigh programming and maintenance costs.
More MOOCs?
Another hot topic of 2012, the future of MOOCs was a theme of discussion for the year 2013. For those of you who don’t know, MOOCs are “Massive open online courses” that have been developed and opened to the general public—for free. “Even if MOOCs turn out to be a transitional technology…the concept will contribute a lot to the body of research about the internet as a tool in education,” says Lisa, one of our LMS Support Specialists. Katie, an Assistant Project Manager, agreed that MOOCs would be “hugely popular and that even higher education facilities that are traditionally class-room based will move toward more online education.”
If more MOOCs are developed, what will that mean for the Instructional Designer? Well, Tim, an Instructional Designer here at Web Courseworks, believes that it will lead to an increased “need for large-scale instructional design as more universities, and other educational facilities will follow the examples of Harvard and MIT and start to create their own MOOCs”—that would make sense as commonly classroom-based courses will need to be converted to something accessible online. It may mean, that universities will have to outsource and/or hire more personnel—will this bring more business to eLearning development companies? We’ll find out.
The General Opinion for 2013
So what exactly did the team of Web Courseworks decide for the year 2013? A real certainty about one thing: that with Technology comes great unknowns, and that as demands for eLearning change, so will the products that make it happen.
Managing eLearning is written by the Blog team at Web Courseworks which includes Jon Aleckson and Jillian Bichanich. Ideas and concepts are originated and final copy reviewed by Jon Aleckson.
GAME ON! The Power of Online Games
My Session at the Great Ideas Conference 2013
This year’s Great Ideas Conference will be held March 10-12, 2013 at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, CO. I am especially excited for this tenth anniversary, because I will be co-presenting “Next Generation Learning: GAME ON! The Power of Online Games and Why Associations are Playing Along” with Bill Schankel, Senior Director of Marketing of the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers. This conference has always been one of my favorites, as not only do I get to present on a topic that intrigues me, but furthermore, I can connect with peers and hear the “Great Ideas” of others.
Highlights of the conference this year include “Two Fascinating and Brilliant General Sessions”. Sally Hogshead will be presenting at the Opening Session. She is a New York Times best-selling author and NBC’s Today Show Commentator, and will be discussing how to develop a fascinating brand. The Closing Session will be led by Simon Bailey, a thought leader and author who will help you transition from average to brilliant. The Great Ideas Conference also holds education sessions that range from Creativity Stations and Photo Sessions, to Mobile Playgrounds and Micro-Skills Sessions.
Bill Schankel and I have decided to tackle the topic of online games, and the power that they hold in the association realm. Games seem to have an unmatched ability to create and unite a community. Associations can capitalize on this trend by using online games to help recruit new members and spark the next generation’s interest in their profession. We hope that this session helps others learn from our organization’s successful venture into this area, and furthermore helps clarify what contributing factors one should consider when developing and deploying a game-based learning initiative at his/her own organization.
Managing eLearning is written by the Blog team at Web Courseworks which includes Jon Aleckson and Jillian Bichanich. Ideas and concepts are originated and final copy reviewed by Jon Aleckson.
Active Learning at Conferences
Educators have come to understand the need to engage learners in all facets of education. Even face-to-face environments need hands-on learning activities so that participants are actually getting involved in the subject matter. When it comes to eLearning, it has been a challenge for distance educators to build activities into an online program that will force the learner to first do something and then secondly, reflect on the content. I am lucky enough to be able to attend and speak at many conferences throughout the year, and it has been a challenge that I have faced as well. I began to brainstorm ways in which I could engage the listeners and remove the lecture format that usually drives conference sessions.
As you may have read in my previous blog posts, I recently attended the ASAE Healthcare Associations Conference 2012 and co-presented “Professional Development Portal Triage: Planning for Distance Education Success” with a client from the Alliance for Continuing Education in Health Professions, Mary Martin Lowe, Director of Learning and Competency Development. For this session, we developed a card game that focuses on getting the participants to think about both success factors and other components of developing an online initiative including a Learning Management System and extensive courseware. I’ve been really excited about this concept because instead of the typical lecture format where you are basically showing a bunch of PowerPoint slides and talking to session participants who may or may not be engaged, using an active method can help with actual retention and absorption of the content.
It was interesting for me to see the results of this card game at the ASAE Healthcare Associations Conference 2012, as this was a unique “guinea pig” set of groups. As each group tried to create the best common hand with the most success factors, it seemed at first that a table of executives who were very strategic in their planning were going to win with the most cards. As the activity continued, though, I would introduce a new challenge to the teams, this usually forced the teams to lose a card/cards if they did not initially have the right cards in their deck. I introduced two challenges, and then there was a recovery period (draw additional cards from deck) to mimic a road of trials. The winning group switched from the strategic executives to the team who was actually losing at first, but made very tactical decisions for the final challenges. It’s great when a learning activity brings energy to a session!
Managing eLearning is written by the Blog team at Web Courseworks which includes Jon Aleckson and Jillian Bichanich. Ideas and concepts are originated and final copy reviewed by Jon Aleckson.
Promote Active Learning through Games
My Session at the ASAE Healthcare Associations Conference 2012
I have had the pleasure of attending ASAE conferences in the past, but my first visit to the Healthcare Associations Conference will take place this week. Attracting around 200 attendees from the Healthcare Association realm, I am especially excited to not only connect and learn from others, but also to share. On this Friday, November 9th, I will be co-presenting “Professional Development Portal Triage: Planning for Distance Education Success” with a client from the Alliance for Continuing Education in Health Professions, Mary Martin Lowe, Director of Learning and Competency Development. I’m not only excited about having an opportunity to share with healthcare association professionals the benefits of eLearning, but I am also enthused about how Mary and I have decided to present our topic.
Snapshot of Cards Created for the ASAE Healthcare Conference 2012
This session will go a bit differently than usual as we have developed a card game to use during our presentation, instead of the usual lecture-format. I feel it’s important to walk the talk, as some may say, and this activity will promote a collaborative environment in which many people are sharing and active learning is taking place. This game is presented in a road of trials theme containing challenges that must be overcome. It is created for groups of three and will encourage these groups to compete while building the best common hand of “success factor cards”. The idea behind this is that we focus on both successes and challenges in the online medical education internet portal and content delivery. The title of our session is “Professional Development Portal Triage: Planning for Distance Education Success”. What does triage mean in this context? Well, Merriam-Webster says it’s “the assigning of priority order to projects on the basis of where funds can be best used, are most needed, or are most likely to achieve success”—and that’s what we are trying to accomplish.
Other benefits of using this type of presentation include it pushing participants to share common experiences. From my own personal involvement and understanding of workshops, I can say this promotes lively discussion. It is from previous experiences and errors that we can best learn how to be successful in the future. I am enthusiastic about what this presentation can bring in regards to the development of online education products, and also for bettering collaboration and effective delivery of one’s own online learning products.
Managing eLearning is written by the Blog team at Web Courseworks which includes Jon Aleckson and Jillian Bichanich. Ideas and concepts are originated and final copy reviewed by Jon Aleckson.
Experience API: Will it sweep the eLearning nation?
AKA Tin Can
While at the Learning 3.0 conference I had the opportunity to speak with Michael Rochelle of Brandon Hall and Aaron Silvers of ADL on the new emerging Experience API (also known as Tin Can) and have been given great insight. Experience API is coding that tracks a person’s learning activity even if that activity is housed outside an LMS. An example, would be learning activity game on a moblie phone. This phenomenon is being talked about increasingly because of the need to track informal learning, especially learning effects taking place on tablets, phones and Internet sites like YouTube. A big question exists, though, as to where all of these new, informal learning event records are going to be stored. The ADL is suggesting the creation of a Learning Record Store (a database). This will not replace the Learning Management System (LMS) but it will generate a lot of action on the part of LMS companies. Look for Learning Record Store (LRS) modules arriving soon. The ADL is funded by the Department of Defense and was responsible for bringing us SCORM. Although SCORM 2004 failed to fulfill its promises, SCORM 1.2 was widely adopted. 
This time ADL has done it right by not leaving it up to the LMS companies to comply. The base Learning Records Store code is accessible, thus diminishing the power of the LMS to obfuscate the standard. Gone will be the battles between content producers and Learning Management companies on what compliance to SCORM means. The fact that the Defense Department is behind this new interface standard means all managers must watch adoption of this new standard closely. My caution to eLearning managers is that it will be easier to use the API from the content side than it will be to make sense of it from the storage and report side. Your IT department will need to accept that the LRS will need plenty of custom programming and IT will need to be comfortable with a LAMP environment (Linux, Apache, My SQL, PHP). Also, Tin Can or Experience API provides no advice on how you display the data, therefore, a lot of custom work will need to be done on the report side and dashboard side. So keep in mind this is a very happy place in the future that should show more promise and acceptance than what we’ve seen in the past.
To listen to the full interview click below:
Update Required To Play MediaUpdate your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.
Managing eLearning is written by the Blog team at Web Courseworks which includes Jon Aleckson and Jillian Bichanich. Ideas and concepts are originated and final copy reviewed by Jon Aleckson.
Is the LMS Dead?
Reflecting on this in Chicago October 24th!
During the past few years, I have seen a lot of discussion about whether or not Learning Management Systems (LMS) are dead. Recently, cell phones and tablets and the strong use of social media has disrupted the concept/meaning of what an LMS is. Over the past ten years, the implementation of LMSs have been used then reused for numerous different purposes within different professional environments. Originally, companies were choosing to use an LMS in their Human Resources departments to train and track workforce learning. In a new twist in the corporate sphere, departments are using a different LMS to train outside sales forces and/or distributors on product knowledge. Furthermore, the use of eLearning has pushed to associations who wish to either give their members the option, or require their members to continuously fulfill professional development courses. To add to the confusion, higher education often uses the term CMS versus LMS, because to them the system is maintaining all online course content. So when people use the term LMS (especially in the context of its demise) what exactly are people talking about?
This October 24th brings great excitement for me as I have been asked to participate on a panel discussing the future of the LMS at Training Magazine’s Learning 3.0 Conference being held in Chicago the week of October 22nd. I was asked to be on this panel because of my experience with the open source system called Moodle. In preparation for this discussion I have been doing research on the argument that the LMS is dead, and furthermore reflecting on what it is that makes people think this. After researching numerous studies, blogs, and books, I have come to find that the consensus seems to be that the LMS is most definitely not “dead”, but that it is being applied to solve business objectives in different ways, depending on context.
CLOmedia.com covered this topic in 2010, with an article that not only reviewed the history of eLearning and how it came to be today (well, in 2010), but also emphasized the necessity to find a delivery medium that is “right” for different types of learners/context and for the type of information/education that is delivered. Ed Cohen argued in this article that most jobs “require not only that training be documented, but also that learners actually prove that they know the material…this is what learning management is about”. He goes on to include that while companies may be actively combining their original learning management systems with new media and social features—that it does not destroy the concept of an LMS, instead it enhances it; we are “adding capabilities to existing practices that already occur within our daily lives”.
The aLearning blog (a blog that focuses on the association space) which features posts written by Ellen Behrens had a great article on this subject which included a similar proposal that the “LMS hasn’t passed into the realm of obsolete yet”. After reviewing a white paper released by NetDimensions on a similar panel to the one I will be participating in, Behrens came to the conclusion that instead of dying out, the LMS will be significantly changing in the years to come–most likely to continue including successful ways of providing access across the world, smart ways to measure learning, and lastly, implementations of social features that allow both association members and non-members (learners) to interact and connect. She argues that the LMS, while continuously changing and morphing, isn’t gone and most likely won’t be. Instead, it is a system that has to stay updated with the times and needs of the corporations. What Cohen and Behrens speaks to is the impact of social media and mobile on the LMS. This leads to outside system challenges to the predominance of the LMS. This includes white labeled social media platforms and digital asset management systems that function as knowledge centers for educational assets. This is somewhat ironic, because an up to date LMS should provide these features. Even more ironic, is that higher education systems like Blackboard and Moodle have used discussion forums (social interaction on a topic) for the last decade. They were the pioneers of social media.
I want to touch on one last blog post before adding further to this argument, because quite honestly it’s a good one with an incredible amount of valid points to as why the LMS is not only still very much alive, but not seeing “death” anytime soon. David Wilkins wrote a lengthy but passionate blog post entitled “A Defense of the LMS (and a case for the future of Social Learning)” on his blog, The Social Enterprise Blog. To put in short, Wilkins has determined that all, yes all, people who have determined that the LMS is dead or unusable have not been exposed to, or at the minimum paid attention to, the capabilities of the LMS at the present. He pushes the claim that most articles or blogs on the subject are giving opinions about the features of the LMS five years ago, a management system 
without the ability to do more than 27 different things that he lists out as current features of leading LMS solutions. He furthers that while not every client uses all the features that are available in an LMS, because the LMS still has the ability to include them, it provides one solution to many problems that corporations and associations face. I call this the “lag effect”. Individuals are using their “turn of the century” view of an LMS to evaluate today’s LMS. In fact, I would argue that many Learning Management Systems have too many features and try to be all things to all types of buyers.
I don’t believe that the LMS is dead, yes my livelihood depends on it, but the facts are that institutions like “software systems” that help meet strategic objects. The cool part (and often challenging for buyers) is that there are hundreds of systems that use the LMS moniker. The emergence of open source Learning Management Systems like Moodle and Saiki, expand buyer choices. And the relevance of open source again depends on context. Who are you and what educational mission or initiative do you have?
The LMS in name has been a critical part of educational distance education efforts for over two decades. Use of the LMS is growing—growing in the number of associations/corporations/organizations that need it, growing as a system by incorporating new features especially in the social/mobile realm, and growing to become a single learning solution that assists many institutions in achieving their goals.
Whether or not you need an LMS depends entirely on who you are, what your goals are, and whether you need formal versus informal training. A bit ago, I published a white paper entitled “When Is the Right Time to Adopt an LMS Into Your Association?” (email and name required to access). In this white paper I encourage associations to really define what it is that your association needs and to put emphasis on figuring out whether informal or formal learning is the goal. An LMS may not be needed for some non-profits because there is no need to track and verify learning. The educational activities may all be considered informal. Yet, if you are a business and you need to track the competencies of your employees, you need a Learning Management System.
(Full disclosure: Web Courseworks markets a Moodle based LMS to non-profits, associations, and corporations for specific educational initiatives.)
Managing eLearning is written by the Blog team at Web Courseworks which includes Jon Aleckson and Jillian Bichanich. Ideas and concepts are originated and final copy reviewed by Jon Aleckson.
Healthcare Associations to Meet
Learn, Network and Connect in Chicago this November
Though I have had the pleasure of attending many conferences held by ASAE, my first visit to the Healthcare Associations Conference will take place this coming November. This event attracts around 200 attendees and provides the opportunity to hear from numerous guest speakers, including the two keynote speakers Mark Graban and Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz. I am especially excited about this conference because it gives people the opportunity to connect with others in similar professions, facing similar challenges—it truly serves as a conference that is unique to the needs of healthcare associations.
While attempting to learn more about what was offered in this conference, I was very thankful to be able to speak with ASAE’s Senior Director of Learning, Mark Milroy, CAE, who generously gave his time to answer a few 
questions about the Healthcare Associations Conference 2012, and to shed light on some new exciting aspects of this year’s conference.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What are some highlights of the conference?
This event isn’t a huge gathering where it’s easy to miss seeing people. The intimate nature, with around 200 attendees, provides a great opportunity for some valuable networking to occur. That’s been cited as one of the greatest benefits of this event by previous attendees.
We have an exhibit area with industry partners offering products and services of interest to the people who work for healthcare associations–and of course, there’s the opportunity to win prizes!
At the end of day one there will be a networking reception that provides attendees with the chance to mix and mingle with one another.
We have a really great selection of education sessions on a variety of topics ranging from finding your career path in healthcare associations, pitching to healthcare media, governance issues, minding your personal health, and much more.
Who do you expect will be there this year?
This is the fourth year for this event and it typically draws about 200 attendees, mostly senior-level executives from associations throughout the healthcare sector. What’s great about this conference is the opportunity for these people to connect with one another, perhaps in ways that their members might not. It’s a great way to network and find out which organizations might be dealing with similar issues to yours.
What talks/events are you most excited for?
We have two keynote speakers who bring unique dimensions to the conference. We open with Mark Graban, a consultant, author, and blogger whose new book, Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements, explores how the ideas of lean production and other concepts from the world of manufacturing are applicable in the healthcare arena. His message deals with the idea that continuous improvement belongs to everyone in the organization, and he’s going to share stories about some phenomenal changes brought about by implementing these processes.
Our closing speaker is Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, who is co-author of a fascinating new book called Zoobiquity. She is a cardiologist at UCLAMedicalCenter, but she has worked extensively with the Los Angeles Zoo. Her book looks at how many of the conditions that humans face, such as heart problems, cancer, stress, and OCD are also found in the animal world, and that there is a great deal that human medicine can learn from our veterinary brethren. Hers is a compelling message that all too often we dismiss possible areas for collaboration because we let preconceived notions get in the way.
Why should people make sure to attend this year’s Healthcare conference?
This conference is unique because it’s the one event from ASAE University designed specifically for a sector of our membership. An estimated 21 percent of ASAE members are affiliated with an association within the healthcare sector. Unlike other ASAE programs where there might be a session or two relating to the management of healthcare-related organizations, that is the sole focus of this event. Everyone speaks the same “healthcare language” here and understands the challenges and opportunities of working for members who are in primary care, allied health, research, hospitals, long-term care, or any of the other disciplines within this sector.
Any other additional information you may want to add?
We are back in Chicago this year! We’ve alternated between Baltimore and Chicago the past three years, but we’re back in the WindyCity at McCormick Place this year.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I am very excited to be heading to Chicago this November to attend the Healthcare Association Conference 2012, and furthermore to present at the conference on November 9th. A client from the Alliance for Continuing Education in Health Professions, Mary Martin Lowe, Director of Learning and Competency Development, will be in attendance to co-present “Professional Development Portal Triage: Planning for Distance Education Success” with me, and I’m enthused about having an opportunity to speak with many healthcare association professionals about how eLearning can benefit the medical world’s education system.
If you would like further information on this years conference feel free to browse their brochure.
Managing eLearning is written by the Blog team at Web Courseworks which includes Jon Aleckson and Jillian Bichanich. Ideas and concepts are originated and final copy reviewed by Jon Aleckson.
eLearning Simulations: Choose Your Own Adventure
Do you remember the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books you may have read when you were little? Each decision you made would correspond with a page number in the book which you were supposed to immediately turn to. Different decisions elicited different results. A few weeks ago I published a blog post on Virtual Patient eLearning Simulations. These simulations mimic real life experiences and have been a hot eLearning technique used by medical education associations for professional development. This prompted me to think about and share how this realistic simulation method applies to eLearning outside of the medical realm.
Essentially, two basic types of courses exist in the eLearning world. The first is a linear progression in which the learner clicks the next button to go thru a course page by page. The other option is a scenario-based course in which choices and consequences help teach the learner in a more realistic manner. While different methods work for different cases, building scenarios where the learner can actually put into practice what they are learning from the course can be a great way to reiterate course material. So, here is a list of the top five reasons why scenario-based eLearning questions can be beneficial in your eLearning course:
1. Simulations help learners think as experts, not as students. The point of many simulation based eLearning designs is to get the learner to think as an expert instead of as a student. It is important that the student is immersed in a real-life situation of the expert—it is a matter of gaining experience that may not be available to them otherwise. It is about learning the relationship between things, and then forming gut reactions about how to deal with those found relationships.
2. Simulations keep learners interested. Let’s be honest, even the best students have trouble keeping interested while partaking in an information dump/lecture. Consistently reading through large clumps of text, and then clicking the next button to do it all over again is not always the best way to engage and appeal to your learners. By forcing your learners to engage in the program, the students are separated from the text and content and placed directly into learning and doing.
3. Simulations incorporate consequences. It is important that scenario-based courses allow the learner to fail. Because this system works on direct application of knowledge, students have to approach the challenge just as they would in a real-life situation where one will not always succeed. This technique becomes a great way to actually encourage the learning of students by understanding the consequences of failing in particular ways. Would the consequences be minor? Would they be large? Questions are answered in a virtual environment, hopefully dismissing the need to learn by failure in a real-world instance in the future.
4. Simulations help give detailed reports on student progression. Unlike the traditional grade book that calculates student quiz scores and tests and averages them out at the end of the year, realistic simulations allow instructors to view students’ answers to each challenge that comes their way. They can examine how the virtual consequences both positively and negatively affect the student, and furthermore, see the pace in which students learn how to be successful. By using the records of mouse clicks, keystrokes, and time-elapsed while a learner is making a decision, the educators can infer when a student is feeling comfortable with a scenario or topic.
5. Simulations connect information to real-world experience. How often in your academia careers have you found yourself asking “When will I ever use this?” Scenario based eLearning questions provide the answer. eLearning simulations not only introduce learners to the content, but they are introduced to the real-world experiences in which the content may be helpful. The scenarios place students into an atmosphere they will likely experience in the future. The e-Learning simulation then places a problem into that atmosphere that can be solved using content the learner has come across earlier in the program. It is a learning-by-doing technique in as close to a real-life environment as one can virtually achieve. It gets students to the point in which they’re seeing connections between actual objects and content rather than theorizing the connections from an outside perspective. These simulations require learners to be engaged with what’s happening on screen and as part of that engagement, think outside of the traditional in-class student perspective as they may be used to. This type of learning furthers to force the student to make a choice about the success or failure of what they are doing—much like what people are compelled to do on a daily basis of their real-life careers.
A screenshot from a simulation designed by Web Courseworks to test ethics in a virtual courtroom.
Full Disclosure: Web Courseworks has designed and developed a robust branching authoring tool within its CourseCreate product. Narrative decision-making tools from its scenario building engine can accommodate simulations of any level of complexity.
Managing eLearning is written by the Blog team at Web Courseworks which includes Jon Aleckson and Jillian Bichanich. Ideas and concepts are originated and final copy reviewed by Jon Aleckson.
Jon Aleckson, PhD - CEO of Web Courseworks Ltd.
Visit me on Amazon.com
Subscribe to Web Courseworks'
EDGE newsletter.
