Don’t Get Too Comfortable – The Landscape of eLearning is Changing Lesley Blicker Director of IMS Learning and Next Generation Technology Academic Innovations

Wanted… Visionaries looking towards the future of eLearning delivery models People interested in the state of learning management systems, immersive learning environments, interoperability, Web 2.0, and how it all fits into T&L Academics wanting to close the gap between current baby boomer teaching practices and next gen student learning styles

On the Agenda Today My representation of the eLearning timeline What is Web 2.0 and why all the fuss? ** Next Generation Learning Management Systems Personal Learning Environments Virtual Worlds ** Big chunk

The Bar, Presently Concepts Critical thinking Scaffolded and/or quest- based learning Problem-based learning; solving real world problems Knowledge Application, Synthesis Skills Analysis

We Need to Raise the Bar Concepts Critical thinking Scaffolded and/or quest- based learning Problem-based learning; solving real world problems Knowledge Application, Synthesis Skills Analysis

eLearning Time Line 1.Internet courses, first and second iterations of LMS  Home-grown course applications followed by vendor-developed “enterprise-level” LMSs (D2L, Vista, BB)  Beginning of Open Source Entrants (Moodle, Sakai) Overarching web design? 1990s… 2004 Dot-com era

2005…2010 "Web 2.0: a knowledge-oriented environment where human interactions generate content that is published, managed and used through network applications (coined by Tim O’Reilly in 2004)” –From Wikipedia Interoperability Mashups 3D immersive environments, future of web- interface eLearning Time Line Overarching web design?

Characteristics of Browser-based content, with client-server relationship (information pushed out one direction)

Characteristics of ware.com/html/ ww/100/2008/ winners.html

Characteristics of

Summary Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0 Web 1.0 = Linking to documents/static Web pages Web 2.0 = Linking people Socialization + Applications + Technology =

Has its own Categories From 101 Web 2.0 Teaching Tools, tools. Nov 2007http://oedb.org/library/features/101-web-20-teaching- tools

Aggregators

Uses of RSS in Education Keep current in news, education, politics and professional organizations Receive updates to your favorite blogs Subscribe to and network with educational bloggers in your field of study Share your feeds with other educators and vice-versa Make announcements to students after class Track student blogs and wikis Subscribe to Podcasts Students can track each other's blogs or share their feeds with each other, creating a collaborative research environment Students can become more globally aware by subscribing to news and current affairs sites Source: CR2.0 (Classroom 2.0) Wiki. ttp://

Gives students the opportunity to express differing perspectives on information and resources through informal organizational structures Assign students to create sets of bookmarks on particular topics (Teachers/faculty) To create sets of bookmarks on particular topics (Teachers/faculty) Can then share sets of bookmarks with others when working on collaborative units Uses of Bookmarking in Education

M. Wesch video, Information R/evolution (3:11) M. Wesch video, Information R/evolution Everything is Miscellaneous, by David Weinberger The New Organization of Information

Examples – Asynchronous and Synchronous Gliffy (video) Mooseworks: Web Conferencing (WebEx demo) Real Time Minute – J. Finklestein

Wikipedia 684 million visitors annually More than 75,000 active contributors Over 10 million articles in more than 250 languages In English, there are 2.38 million articles Source: wikipedia.org

Source: Mashable at

rockyoucom/ Cable in the Classroom video

Mashups Definition: Web applications that combine data from more than one source into a single integrated tool Microsoft PopflyPopfly Yahoo Pipes 7 Cool Mashup Sites video NYC Google - Subway Route Mashup

The Best Education Mashups Source:

Studying Earth Science? Earthquakes in the Last Week uses Google Maps with data provided by the U.S. Geological Survey to show earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or greater in the past seven daysEarthquakes in the Last Week Uses of Mashups in Education

Where are We Heading Next? Learning Management Systems In the 3 rd Phase of Add-Ons and Bundling  Adding more tools in general  Adding Web 2.0-like tools or proprietary mashups  Going some measure towards integration with other software or increasing interoperability via open APIs  But may still lack sufficient agility for early adopters who think the current IMS format is too limiting

Current IMS (CMS) – What’s the Beef? Unilateral publication formats Labeled as false start; replicated existing classrooms Assumes more passive consumer of information Monolithic and they don’t play well with others (API’s not truly open) – lack of interoperability

IMS (CMS) – Future Will be a part of a mix of systems for tracking learning experiences Will run side-by-side at institutions with other more flexible and interoperable approaches Primarily will handle administrative functions Will morph to an LMOS (Learning Management Operating System), backbone for layering

LMOS from The Nose, Blog by Al Essa The learning platform of the future will need a substrate that performs the mundane but essential bookkeeping functions such as authentication, authorization, and integration with back-end systems. The LMOS should look more like the linux kernel: a lean, mean traffic cop that sits below the application layer and mediates access to common services.

PLEs (Personal learning environments) Virtual or immersive environments Mobile technologies as add-ons (field based measurements, competency tracking, assessment) The Offerings

Personal Learning Enviornments (PLEs) A space at which the learner is at the center and can select or add resources without moving from that point Carousel metaphor

Contrary View – Leigh Blackall Questioning the PLE: Why do we need a PLE when we already have the Internet? The Internet is my PLE, ePortfolio, VLE what ever. Thanks to blogger, bloglines, flickr, delicious, wikispaces, our media, creative commons, and what ever comes next in this new Internet age, I have a strong online ID and very extensive and personalised learning environment. Source: die-you-too-ple/

Virtual Worlds

Immersive Virtual World Options Second Life Croquet Sun Microsystems Wonderland Johnson Center for Virtual Reality

Current Academic Technologies  Learning management systems  Plagiarism software  Limited video streaming  Podcasting  Wikis, blogs, RSS feeds  Simple games and simulations, and early use of ILEs  Content authoring tools (lodeStar, Raptivity)  Web conferencing tools (WebEx, Elluminate)  3D imaging software (Autodesk) and spatial technologies (GIS)  Learning Objects/Repositories and Emergence of federated search capabilities  Web 2.0/Social technologies (Facebook, Google Docs, You Tube), social bookmarking, folksonomies, cloud tags (more limited in academia to date)

What’s Coming  Continued explosion of Web 2.0 tools  Folksonomies, social bookmarking, tagging  Immersive vritual worlds as learning environments  Simulations – more need for people to create subject- specific scenarios and branching rules  3D modeling, robotics, GIS, “mashups”  Mobile technologies (as add-ons)  Receding importance of the IMS; move towards an LMOS  PLEs, packaging of ILEs and digital 2D assets in a new form of an IMS  Move away from 2D digital assets to 3D in LORs  Reduced need for 2D Web designers, increased need for 3D game/graphic designers  Interoperability !!!

Lesley Blicker Director of IMS Learning and Next Generation Technology Academic Innovations W: C: Website for Next Generation Technology in MnSCU Lesley’s Blog: