February 13th, 2009 by Robin Green
Another mistake that course developers often make is to forget about the LMS itself. Many developers assume that their job is solely to create–not oversee the rollout of–their online course. However, for an LMS-hosted course to be effective, it’s essential to be familiar with the LMS’s interface, features and tools. “If you ignore the influence of the LMS,” Mark Simon writes, “you are also ignoring one of the most important interfaces for the learner as well as the very first hurdle that she needs to conquer en route to the e-learning course.”
Additionally, it’s not always the case that your online course runs smoothly on the LMS. It’s important to understand the publishing settings that are ideal for your LMS, publish a prototype, and test it in the LMS to make sure the course runs without freezing up or causing any other problems.
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Coggno.com provides high-quality LMS platforms.
February 9th, 2009 by Robin Green
Arranging for professionals, experts and professors to create partnerships and enhance a classroom learning system is just what Stevens Elementary School in Seattle had in mind.
“As school budgets have gotten cut more and more, we’ve asked what do the children at our school need and how can the [PTA] help fill in holes or provide enrichment,” Wendy Saffel, a co-president of the Stevens PTA, told Education Week. “There’s a big wonderful world out there with people with all sorts of specialties and information, and we have learned how to tap into those resources.”
With budget constraints tightening on schools across the country and the world, new and creative ways to bring learning systems to life are called for. The use of LMSs, online courseware and collaborative tools can be complemented by experts. Specialists provide a cost-effective enrichment to school curricula.
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Coggno.com provides high-quality LMS platforms.
February 5th, 2009 by Robin Green
“Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” Many Americans subconsciously abide by Mark Twain’s words. Chronic procrastination is not only a problem for LMS and online courseware students, or academics in learning system settings.
Despite our age of efficiency and packed schedules, procrastination remains a giant thorn in society’s side.
However, there are thousands of ways in which society encourages people–young and old–to drag their feet. From last-minute shopping sales to dry, reward-less learning systems, procrastination habits seem to be quietly nurtured throughout one’s life.
Students develop procrastination habits due largely to packed social and academic lives, full of deadlines and friends and tests. Too often, learning systems fail to provide students with the stimulus that keeps them engaged and fascinated. Students put off the work instead of taking their time with it and absorbing it, and test-cramming is just a matter of course.
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Coggno.com provides high-quality e-learning education.
November 28th, 2008 by Robin Green
The idea of using of virtual worlds in a school learning system may at first be dismissed along with the virtual world terminology of guilds, trolls and orcs.
Additionally, many parents whose children’s teachers are adding virtual worlds to the classroom learning system may not like the idea, for a variety of reasons. One is the highly addictive quality of the games, especially World of Warcraft. The possibility of getting kids addicted to virtual worlds in a school learning system setting may not set well with many people.
Another complaint is the advertising industry’s role in virtual worlds. While World of Warcraft doesn’t allow selling in-world items to be sold for real cash, some worlds like Entropia and Second Life employ players–often teenagers–whose avatars go about their virtual lives trying to sell products.
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Coggno.com offers world-class LMS platforms.
November 28th, 2008 by Robin Green
Virtual “worlds,” for better or worse, are an ever-increasingly popular online learning system worldwide. Although media coverage of virtual worlds like Second Life has been on the decline, a throng of virtual worlds for kids has grown even more popular than their adult counterparts. For example, according to the New York Times, tween world Club Penguin has more than 4 million visitors per month. And if kids can learn professions like blacksmithing, mining, first aid and tailoring in virtual worlds like World of Warcraft, why not biology or American history?
BBC contributor Bill Thompson writes, “Second Life and World of Warcraft are not really ‘worlds,’ whatever their proponents might claim. They are sophisticated 3-d environments that allow for a much greater degree of engagement than other tools, and they offer tools for interaction and creative expression that browsers, chatrooms and email do not.” Despite the challenges, teachers are beginning to find a place for virtual worlds and their potential for team learning in real world learning systems.
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Coggno.com is a leading provider of world-class LMS platforms.
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.
November 24th, 2008 by Robin Green
In designing your online courseware, the devil is often in the details. An Eyetrack III study also showed how people tend to read actual online courseware headlines and blurbs. Partial viewing of headlines and blurbs was found to be a common occurrence.
Many people skip the blurb altogether if it’s displayed in smaller font under a headline. And when viewers do read it, they often only view the left one-third of the blurb. They scan the words in that left portion, and if their interest is piqued, they’ll read the whole blurb. For online courseware developers using headlines and blurbs in their course design, some basic information on how readers view web pages is extremely helpful.
November 24th, 2008 by Robin Green
When designing your online courseware, consider your learners’ reading habits. Managing font based on how people read is important in web page and online courseware layout. Eyetrack III’s studies showed that larger font promotes lighter scanning of learning content. Therefore, keep your font on the smaller side (but not too small). This includes your online courseware headlines–larger headlines encourage scanning more than small ones.
Another interesting finding is how people tend to read headlines in relation to blurbs. The study showed that when headlines and blurbs were in similar size fonts and the headline preceded the blurb, participants viewed both. But when the headline was in a larger font than the blurb it preceded, they tended to view the headline and skip the blurb. Why? Viewers reason that since the headline is bigger, the information it contains must be sufficient.
