New Search Engines for Podcasts

Ever feel like you spend a lot of time searching for relevant information on the web. Well now there are some search engines just for searching for Podcast. Take a look at the article in Wired at http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,69664,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

A Wooden Tongue and Simplicity

I found the contrast between two articles this week to be interesting.

Wired magazine’s article “Blogging With a Wooden Tongue” and elearning post reference to Fast Company’s article “The Beauty of Simplicity”.

I have never heard the term “wooden tongue” which is defined in the article as the “language of officialdom; of politics, power and propaganda.” It seems that blogs have become fashionable so many are now written with this wooden tongue instead of with the original intent of sharing or logging ideas. So blogs have now become complicated, more diverse, less simple.

That leads me to the simplicity article which discusses the inroads that companies like Google and Philips are making with taking a simplicity approach to their business and products. The first few paragraphs are great. But when you think about instructional technology I think the quote below is the most applicable:

It is innovation’s biggest paradox: We demand more and more from the stuff in our lives—more features, more function, more power—and yet we also increasingly demand that it be easy to use. And, in an Escher-like twist, the technology that’s simplest to use is also, often, the most difficult to create.

New Learning Technologies Conference

The Society for Applied Learning (SALT) is hosting their winter conference in Orlando on New Learning Technologies. Tracks include Gaming and Simulation, Mobile Computers and PDAS, New Technologies and the Market Place and Knowledge Managment. Any of this sound familiar?! Check it out at http://www.salt.org/salt.asp?ss=l&pn=orlando

Favorite Class

I have found this hybrid class style wonderful. I’ve taken two on-line courses and one face to face class. I’ve found that the teacher makes all the difference in both styles. There was such a contrast between my two on-line courses that I really can’t say that I loved the experience. The first class promoted interaction between classmates on the forums on a weekly basis which I found to be great. I did get a sense of who my classmates were. The second class left little time for interaction and the teacher seldom promoted it. I’m not really sure who those classmates were except for the two or three of us who always posted our work in early. We kind of started an unsaid informal feedback loop that way providing comments for each other. I really don’t know how a software class would work on on-line but sometimes having such a varied level of users in a face to face class is frustrating and I longed for the self-pacing of the on-line course.
The mix of on-line and face to face for this class was great. I was able to meet classmates, learn personalities and feel comfortable emailing them after this class has ended. This building of relationships is important to me as I do not have a team of instructional designers at work. The on-line classes provided a nice break from the weekly routine and really improved my skills in web searching. My favorite class was with Dr. Kapp. I found him to be an intriguing man and loved seeing the technology in use for a class. I loved the scavenger hunt and mystery game for the on-line assignment. Again the teacher has made all the difference in this class. Having a teacher who promotes communication, varies his teaching styles/formats, and is knowledgeable has been rewarding.

Open Source LMS

I’m currently doing research and writing for an undergraduate training grant for MCH. MCH offers the use of an open source LMS called Moodle to all its grantees. I came upon this great article in ASTD’s Learning Circuits.
Wake-Up Call: Open Source LMSBy Sam S. Adkins
http://www.learningcircuits.org/2005/oct2005/adkins.htm

I think this research had helped me nail down my topic for the white paper:  The use of the open source LMS in education? If anyone could provide some suggestions on the in Education part that would be great. Maybe I should narrow it down more to in the university, in health care??

Duke University Digital Initiative (DDI)

Early in the semester, Lee told us about a program in which Duke University was providing iPods to all their students in August 2004. I wanted to investigate this more for my wiki entry on PMP’s and possibly my white paper (still trying to decide which direction to go with that). Duke actually has a Digital Initiative which prompted the use of the iPods. Their website states: “The Duke Digital Initiative (DDI) is a major instructional technology program focused on experimentation, development, and implementation of digital technology in an academic environment. Over a three-year cycle, the DDI will incorporate digital audio, images and video, collaboration tools and tablet and hand-held computing. This Web site serves as a central clearinghouse of information on the DDI for members of the Duke community and the general public.”Duke has also completed a report entitled “Duke University iPod First -Year Experience Final Evaluation Report “ which can be found on their DDI page.Go to DDI Home page at http://www.duke.edu/ddi/index.html to find out more.

PMP: PC vs MAC

Doing research on my wiki entry and found that Greg needs to spend a little more time in the PC World. Yes I know it will be painful for him but you gotta do what you gotta do. There is a PMP (Portable Media Player) that does combine media storage (video, photo, audio) and some PDA functions and then some. It includes a FM radio, personal organizer that syncs with Microsoft Outlook, voice recorder and a slot for media cards.  Of course it doesn’t work with Mac’s at all. And so far that seems to be true with all the PMP’s that integrate media storage with some of the PDA functions. The coolest one I found is the Zen Vision by Creative. It actually won “Best of Show” at Digital Life 2005.

P.S. I found a site called Anything but iPod, sorry Greg.

Moodle and Constructivism

I am doing research on an e-learning platform called Moodle which allows anyone to make online courses. It is similar to Blackboard but it is free. As I’m reading the Moodle background information in Wikipedia, the constructivism learning theory is discussed. So after our class discussion about Greg’s learning philosophy being a constructivist one. I thought a link to some information in wikipedia would be helpful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_(pedagogical)

Podcast comes to HHS

AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) Audio Newscast.  AHRQ has a new dissemination tool for the Agency's research.  It's an audio newscast distributed as a podcast, or you can listen to it on your computer.  Each newscast will include at least one interview to further explain the research.  Also, some of these audio newscasts will be distributed through other dissemination vehicles such as the HHS radio service called Healthbeat, or by AHRQ as one of our regular audio news releases sent to radio stations across the country.  These audio newscasts are distributed through iTunes and Yahoo Podcasts, as well as to other Web sites that provide health information to customers, patients, students, employees, and health care personnel.  An iPod or other device is not needed to hear the newscast.  You can listen to the audio on your computer by going to http://www.healthcare411.org.  This page will include some general information, links to all newscasts, and other podcasts as AHRQ produces them. 

Library of Public Domain Material

Google now offers a Library of Public Domain material. Just think of the use for this in instructional projects. See article on Wired about it.   http://wired.com/news/business/0,1367,69473,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_7

Intranet Development

This is a great information from Jakob Nielsen for designing and working on intranet sites http://www.useit.com/alertbox/portals.html I’m sure I’ll use it since we are going to redesign our department intranet presence during the next 6 months.