Elearning - February/March 2009 - (Page 12)

News Social Networking Is Highly Popular Among Elearning! Readers Concurrent with staging its annual “Best of Elearning!” awards survey, the magazine conducted another poll of its readers. One of the interesting facts to emerge was that social networking is becoming increasingly important. Fully 43 percent of the poll’s respondents said that they are members of three to five social networks or online communities while an additional 8 percent are members of more than five. On the other end of the spectrum, just 10 percent said that they were not involved in any social networks or online communities. Also, with more collaborative computer technologies become available almost by the day, face-to-face interaction with co-workers is becoming increasingly unlikely, according to results of the survey. Almost three in four (74 percent) of the respondents “work in a geographically distributed team.” Finally, although 27 percent of respondents said that their company is in a “traditional collaboration” stage, 23 percent are into specialized applications and 21 percent are in a proliferation stage. Complete results of the poll are shown in the adjacent table. More Technology Is What Learning Needs According to a report by IMS Global, learning initiatives must be “distinctive by design,” and the design must permeate “all aspects of the experience.” The report “Achieving Learning Impact,” also notes that “whiz-bang products and technologies that don’t fit what educators want to do are not embraced.” IMS says that the education/learning market needs access to greater affordability and greater quality educational experiences. That access, it says, depends on several other key trends: >> >> >> a better design for access to integrated learning resources; access to content collections that are significantly more usable than those of today; and more integrated access to one of the greatest sources of learning resources: libraries. The road ahead will continue to be dominated by return on investment, which will be strongly connected to distinctiveness, the report says. It cites the need for technological support to become largely transparent to the users, reducing the need for costly training and development. A second need is greater use of innovative products that enable self-directed learning with an instructor in the loop. To access the complete Achieving Learning Impact 2007 report, visit: http://www.imsglobal.org/learningimpact2007/ li2007report.cfm Professor Supports ‘Cloud Computing’ George Siemens, the associate director for research and development at the University of Manitoba’s Learning Technologies Centre, is a proponent of the “cloud computing” lifestyle. Cloud computing is using software and data that do not reside locally on your computer. The information is permanently stored in servers on the Internet and cached temporarily on desktops, entertainment centers, tablet computers, notebooks, wall computers, handhelds, sensors, monitors and other devices. Cloud computing incorporates software as a service (SaaS), Web 2.0 and other recent, well-known technology trends. For example, Google Apps provides common business applications online that are accessed from a Web browser, while the software and data are stored on the servers. At Websites like Gmail, Flickr and YouTube, both the software and the data are in the cloud. According to Siemens, the jump to cloud computing is often much smaller than expected, because Web-based software and tools are already an integral part of workflow. For more information, visit the Website www.master newmedia.org. 12 February/March 2009 Elearning! http://www.imsglobal.org/learningimpact2007/li2007report.cfm http://www.imsglobal.org/learningimpact2007/li2007report.cfm http://www.imsglobal.org/learningimpact2007/li2007report.cfm http://www.masternewmedia.org http://www.masternewmedia.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Elearning - February/March 2009

Elearning - February/March 2009 Contents Editor’s Note News Social Networking Popular Learning Needs Technology On Competency Management IT Employment Drops Trendlines Deals Learning Roles in Talent Management Informal E-Learning and Web 2.0 Cover Story: Learning Your Way to Profits Collaboration Trends, Strategies 12 Wishes for LMSs, LCMSs Tips: Recession-Proofing Your Job Case Study: Military Training Case Study: City of Arlington, Va. New Products Pop Quiz Last Word

Elearning - February/March 2009

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