April 27th, 2011 by Robin Green

The online education content community should be taking notes from the book publishing industry. It’s an adapt-or-perish world in which those who embrace technology such as tablet computers and apps are able to thrive, while those who stick to the same old packaging are doomed to die off.

Metatextuality is key here. If your content has it, you are entering the world of the average internet-user: a world that’s dynamic and constantly in dialogue with other sources.

The death of textbooks
With more and more students getting their degrees online, education technology is wildly expanding. Not only online education students are finding textbooks irrelevant, but those who attend brick-and-mortar schools are increasingly opting out of buying the course textbooks.

In many subjects, textbooks are going the way of the dinosaurs. While textbooks like language, philosophy, and other humanities remain necessary, many other course textbooks such as biology and math are becoming obsolete as students use Google to find the answers they’re looking for.

All the information is out there, and students no longer depend on textbooks to find it in a consolidated format.

The transformation of one publishing house
In a recent Reuters article, Mark Egan profiles the innovative New York publisher Nicholas Callaway, who saw wild success with the publishing of the children’s app book “Miss Spider’s Tea Party” on Apple’s iOS platform. His company began publishing regular paper books in the 1980′s but now concentrates its energy exclusively on iOS app versions.

With an openness to more dynamic story-telling methods, Callaway’s company transformed from a traditional publishing house to a technologically innovative one.

From stories to learning Content: the transformation of your learning system
Just as you can tell a story in a number of ways, you can teach in a number of ways, in an endless number of formats and media. The way we interact with stories, news, educational content, and all kinds of information online offers a range of possibilities for online education systems.

I also loved the concept of another successful publishing company described in Egan’s article is DMC Worldwide, whose most recent venture is Copia Interactive: social e-reading.

“We think there is space around the book for community to grow,” said Seth Kaufman, Copia’s vice president of marketing and merchandising.

Copia Interactive, still in beta, allows users to not only buy books, but also inteact with one another. They can annotate books, publishing their comments and reactions.

When Kaufman explains Copia to publishers, he likes to tell them, “There are many friends I have who would never buy a Sarah Palin book, but if Jon Stewart annotated Sarah Palin’s book, they might buy that book.”

As online education content developers, how might we tap into the potential of metatextuality?

How to make your online learning content metatextual
If it’s online, information has the potential to be interactive and metatextual. Meaning, it can refer to information outside the text, like linking pages in a blog. It can create and be part of a vast network of information—there’s no limit to its scope.

Education, with or without professors and textbook companies who stubbornly stick to traditional methods, is moving in that direction.

In order to adapt and thrive, online education platforms must join the publishing industry and offer an interactive and metatextual learning experience to their learners. Platforms like Coggno offer a simple way to tap into the interactive potential of online learning for those both beginner and expert learning content developers.

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Coggno.com provides premier educational training.

March 16th, 2011 by Robin Green

As I wrote in a recent post, LMS certifications in wedding planning are on the rise due to an increasing interest in customized weddings.

How many times have you been to a particularly unique or creative wedding? Or flipped through a Facebook album (perhaps of someone you don’t even know directly) of a wedding that caught your attention?

Customized, creative weddings are all the rage and more and more soon-to-be-married couples have their own wedding ideas that they would like help fleshing out. Many also don’t have a specific idea, but would like some help figuring out what their perfect wedding would be. This is where wedding planners come in, and the reason why LMS wedding planning certification is an increasingly popular endeavor in the U.S..

One example of a customized wedding I recently attended was what I’ll call a “green wedding”. It took place near Burlington, Vermont, on a hill with a beautiful view. At the reception, all plates and cutlery were compostable. Drinks were organic and their provenance was local breweries and wineries. The food was mouth-wateringly delicious, and the pig they roasted came from a local organic farm which uses free range and humane practices. Actually, local and organic were two characteristics applicable nearly to everything, from the table clothes to the fruits and vegetables. Wedding favors for the guests, pots of oregano, basil and other herbs, also served simply and beautifully as the table centerpieces.

During the ceremony, the bride and groom’s spiritual beliefs were written into their vows, and their attire was symbolic as well, straying purposely from the traditional white gown and tuxedo. In short, everything was customized and in line with the bride and groom’s beliefs.

My friend, the bride, is now considering an LMS certification in wedding planning—or creating an LMS course herself, since she now has the experience of planning her own wedding under her belt. In fact, her then fiancé had twisted an ankle during an ultimate frisbee match the week before, leaving my friend in charge of instructing the wedding help and calling most of the shots concerning the details.

Wedding planning, the affair of managing, coordinating and planning a wedding, is something that people are increasingly paying for in order to truly enjoy a non-stressful wedding. Although my friend claims she enjoyed her wedding, she also admits she was totally overwhelmed with all the details, and was happy when it ended.
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Coggno.com is a premier LMS software platform.

November 28th, 2008 by Robin Green

I’ve said that adults and young people alike may be engaged by courseware systems that apply gaming concepts in their interactive and narrative designs. But what about teachers who want to go beyond websites, courseware systems, whiteboards and discussion forums in their classroom blended learning environments?

BBC contributor Bill Thompson recently attended ReLIVE08, a conference on the education and research uses of virtual “worlds”. At the conference, he learned about the creative ways in which virtual environments are being used in areas as diverse as language teaching and urban planning.

Sarah Robins-Bell, co-author of Second Life for Dummies, gave a paper in which she looked at 75 different virtual worlds and created a classification scheme that may helps courseware system teachers understand similarities and differences between diverse worlds like Everquest, Club Penguin, Second Life and World of Warcraft.

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Coggno.com provides high-quality LMS platforms.

November 26th, 2008 by Robin Green

While listening to a teacher lecture for hours doesn’t suit many visual learners, watching a dynamic speaker demonstrate a lesson does. Visual learners are sensitive to body language, and often have an advanced ability to “read” people. Many visual-spatial learners aren’t able to depend on their ears for information, so they develop incredible visual and intuitive abilities.

Visual-spatial learners do well with courseware systems that employ not only color-coding, pictures, graphs, and charts, but stimulating videos. Courseware systems may include videos with demonstrations, simulations and screencasting to cater to visual learners. In a courseware system video, a speaker should use a great deal of body language as well as references to diagrams and charts, as well as images.

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Coggno.com offers high-quality online training courses.

November 24th, 2008 by Robin Green

How can you help prevent your readers from skipping over any of your precious courseware system content? Follow some simple guidelines to help ensure that learners won’t skim or even skip passages.

One way is to keep your sentences short. You’re aiming for a sense of flow in your courseware system content. Along with a natural voice, short sentences will help maintain text fluidity.

Additionally, in each section, the first two paragraphs should state the most important information. Courseware system learners generally read the first two paragraphs to understand what they’re about to read, and in some cases, to decide whether it’s worth reading. Another way to help prevent light scanning is to begin subheads, paragraphs and bullet points with information-charged words. Readers will take note of them when scanning the left side of your content with their F-shape behavior.

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Coggno.com is a leading provider of world-class LMS platforms.

November 21st, 2008 by Robin Green

An important game feature to include in your courseware system is the allowance for trial and error. If a student fails to successfully complete a level, he or she should be given another chance or multiple chances until it’s completed. If a student fails at the third level, allow him or her to start over at the third level. A student shouldn’t have to begin again at level one.

Additionally, sure to include rewards, feedback, and motivation for your courseware system students. Most computer and video games have a system of points, lives, and boosters to provide the player with a sense of how they’re doing, as well as make them feel good if they’re performing well. Making it easy to score points or secure boosters or bonuses will encourage your courseware system learner to keep going, as well as make his or her learning experience more rewarding and fun.

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Coggno.com offers premier online training courses.

November 21st, 2008 by Robin Green

Some games give instructions in written text, while others provide a guided tutorial where you play the first level of the game, or an introductory level, with assistance. Just remember–the student’s likeliness of becoming instantly engaged, as well as the danger of becoming immediately discouraged, depends largely on the first few moments with your courseware system.

Just as all video and computer games become gradually more challenging as they go, so should your courseware system. Begin the course with basic tasks, and work upward from there. This is another reason to keep the method with which your learners interact consistent throughout your courseware system–as levels become increasingly difficult, your learner won’t want to be hassled with learning new rules.

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Coggno.com offers high-quality online training courses.

November 21st, 2008 by Robin Green

Most video game begin with some kind of narrative to get the player invested in the game. Present your courseware system learners with a dialogue between two people, or as a series of images that relate a sequence of events.

Creating a narrative helps to reel the learner into your courseware system. Visuals and dialogue are a winning combination, but both aren’t absolutely necessary. Be creative and let your learner indulge in the story. He or she is about to interact with the courseware system, and you’re setting the tone for them to get started.

Following the game model, guide your learners, setting clear instructions about they are meant to interact with the course. Clarity is essential–there’s nothing more frustrating than clicking a mouse a dozen times when all you needed to do was press enter. Make the method of interaction simple and consistent.

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Coggno.com offers high-quality LMS platforms.