Category — Module Discussions

I use it every day and still find it fascinating.

Moodle is an open source Learning Management System (LMS) that provides a framework for elearning course delivery.  The LMS is a shell through which “customers” offer course content.  Moodle provides a wide range of tools to facilitate online interaction between students and offers the administration functionality required to enroll, grade, and monitor student and teacher users.

Face 1 – Market Type

Moodle is being used in the K-12 sector and corporate training but has found its biggest niche at the post-secondary level in fully online courses and blended classrooms.

Face 2 – Offering

Moodle offers two services.  The first , branded as Moodle.org (the product) is a completely free and open source software platform.  The second, Moodle.com (the service) is a company that offers hosting, support, and customization through country-based Moodle partners that pay royalties to Moodle (which are then used to support development of the product).

Face 3 – The Buyer

Moodle the product is usually acquired at an institutional level (school, school board, university, corporation).  Due to the free nature of the product the decision to utilize Moodle does not always come through the usual channels and often takes a grassroots approach as instructors and technicians pilot the platform.

Moodle the service is purchased by organizations who wish customization of the product, in-house training, and feature development.

Face 4 – Global Markets

As an open source project, Moodle has the benefit of a large client based contributing back to the product.  As such, the Moodle interface has been translated into 81 different language interfaces (Moodle, n.d.).  Since content is developed by the customer, the product is viable in any wired market.

Moodle partners offering a wide array of paid support services operate out of 33 different countries offering a wide range of language support and local suppliers (Dougiamas, 2007).

Face 5 – Development of the Market

Within the scope of the wired marketplace, learning management systems are well-supported and in growing demand as institutions look to offer online or blended learning environments.  Additionally, acceptance of open-source software is gaining acceptance for use at the enterprise level with successful products like Linux, Apache, Firefox, and OpenOffice being recognized as equivalent or superior to their commercial counterparts.

Face 6 – Learning Technology Competing with Other Forms of Learning

While the impetus for competition varies globally with jurisdiction, there seems to be a trend in wired markets for elearning technologies to augment or replace traditional classroom settings (Howell, Williams & Lindsay, 2003).  Whether this is market driven where students are demanding the flexibility to study at their convenience and maintain work schedule; or government/corporate policy to reduce cost in infrastructure spending on brick and mortar learning spaces.

Dougiamas, M. (2007). Moodle: A Case Study in Sustainability. Retrieved Sept 24, 2009 from
http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/cs-moodle.xml.

Howell, S., Williams, P., & Lindsay, N. (2003). Thirty-two Trends Affecting Distance Education: An Informed Foundation for     Strategic Planning. Retrieved September 28, 2009 from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall63/howell63.html.

Moodle (n.d.). Moodle UTF-8 Language Packs.  Retrieved September 24, 2009 from http://download.moodle.org/lang16/.

I use Adobe Captivate at work, and it is an easy tool to use to capture application and web simulations. I couldn’t find too much information in my Internet search, so I have had to rely on my own experience through this analysis.

Face 1. Market

The way this software is developed makes it an easy tool to develop training material. The ability to capture screenshots and video sceen movement permits the training developer to capture step-by-step demonstrations. As well, it is easy to create activities that guide users through steps. For use of text instruction, this application is limited. Powerpoint has more options. However, there is no reason Captivate cannot be used in other markets. In Calgary, I know that Alberta Health Services and Shaw Communications both use Captivate in their training of staff. Captivate has received the CODiE Award for Best Corporate Learning Solution, a Business Software Satisfaction Award, and a Technology & Learning Award of Excellence.

Face 2. Offering

Captivate offers infrastructure. The software provides the tools for creating interactive content, simulations, and quizzes without the need for multimedia experience. Check out these websites for more information: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/captivate/articles/whatsnew_cp4.html and http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/faq/

Face 3. The buyer

Captivate is purchased for training. Although, this software can be purchased in K-12 or higher education situations, the type of learning is typically skill related and suites the training environment the most.

Face 4. Global markets

Captivates largest markets are the wired Anglophone countries and the Asian countries with quality Internet. However, the software’s trial version comes in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japenese, Korean, and Spanish. Abode products are available internationally and Adobe is a world leader in software development.

Face 5. Development of the market

I am not sure how to answer this one; however, I imagine , since this market is business driven, that it supports export oriented learning technologies and substitution of imports. In efforts to be more cost efficient, most businesses will import alternate training where applicable. As well, Captivate publishes in AICC and SCORM compliant files, allowing for export of content to various LMS. In my work, we are using Captivate to create training for patient care applications. The content being created has been exported to neighbouring health service teams using similar applications.

Face 6 . Learning Technology Competing with Other Forms of Learning

Captivate is a very useful tool, but not the only tool available for creating interactive eLearning and simulation. With the advances in Web 2.0 tools, there are a number of alternate ways of communicating similar skills-related training. For example, Elluminate allows for demonstrations and slides; Lectora creates highly interactive modules using easily created variables and actions, and it has the capablility of containing video, animation, and graphics. WebEx demonstrations can be recorded and saved. The market is saturated with options, which is probably why Captivate is on version 4 and continuing to fight to be a market leader. Captivate tends to compete in the market as an Abode product and not as an individual product. Captivate can be purchased with Photoshop Elements, Premiere Pro, Flash, Illustrator, and various other products used in eLearning and corporate settings.

I use Captivate at work and I have found that there have been really amazing changes in this program from version 1 until now (ver.4). It is obvious that this product continues to improve in order to maintain a steady presence in the market place. Captivate is only a piece of Alberta Health Services training tools. We also use Corel Paintshop, Lectora, Flash, and MS Frontpage. I believe that Captivate serves a purpose and is a useful tool, but it could not satisfy all of our training needs.

Anyone else have experience with this software?

Hello Everyone:

Regarding e-learning tools, products, and services, here is a very short list of LMSs and CMSs links:

http://plone.org/

http://drupal.org/

http://www.joomla.org/

http://www.desire2learn.com/

http://www.elluminate.com/

Cheers,

Barrie

I am not very familiar with any learning software but i have studied K12 a little. I will cube them. http://www.k12.com/

Face 1. Market

They are as their name suggests focused on the K12 educational market

Face 2. Offering

They offer mainly content. They have all the courses for students to do online learning K thru 12

Face 3. The buyer

K12 mainly sells to state governments in the US who then offfer it to their citizens as an option to state schooling. K12 is also getting a few students whose parents are buying the training for them, mainly american expats in countries with no american school offering.

Face 4. Global markets

K12’s largest market is in the US. They are now going overseas to families seeking an american education, i.e. countries with quality internet without translation but all over the world, asian countries, latin countries, middle eastern countries. So a large market in the U.S. and a much more pulverized market elsewhere.

Face 5. Development of the market

If we look at the specific market they are going after it is a market that supports import of content and infrastructure. These are foreigners who want an american education or americans abroad who are looking for an american education. If they decide to grow their market then it would have to be analized country by country.

Face 6. Learning technology competes with existing forms of learning. Both in the US as well as oversees the family decides if this is the best option for their children versus the state education in schools or the local offerings oversees.

I decided to “CUBE” Desire2Learn as this is one of the learning management systems I have had experience using as an online teacher.  Their corporate website may be found at http://www.desire2learn.com/.

Face 1 – Market Focus

Public Schools (in particular, middle and secondary schools) and higher educational institutions.  Alternatively, corporations, associations, healthcare and government agencies may find use in D2L products to training and educate their employees.

Face 2 – Types of Offerings

Desire2Learn’s (D2L) flagship product is its learning management system called the Desire2Learn Learning Environment.  This is an educational infrastructure-type product.  D2L’s Learning Environment is a web-based system that allows administrator and instructor users to create, teach, deliver, and manage course content to potential student users.  This extensive and complex platform includes systems such as grading, internal communication, and user database.

D2L also offers other services including delivery, hosting, content, training and support.

Face 3 – Who is the Buyer?

For public schools, the buyer is likely to be a school district as opposed to a single school itself.  This is due to the relatively high cost of the system which would not make it feasible for a school to purchase it for its own use.  Upper school board management or school district e-learning staff would likely make the purchasing decisions.

For higher education institutions, since staff and student populations are generally larger than elementary or secondary schools (and therefore have greater budgets), individual faculties or the entire institution itself may choose to purchase D2L’s learning management system to deliver or support its courses.

Larger healthcare, corporations or government agencies, where there is a need to train and educate large numbers of staff members, may choose to use this learning management system for these purposes.

Face 4 – Global Markets

As internet access expands across the world, so too is the growth of online education.  Public schools, higher educational institutions, corporations, healthcare, and government agencies around the globe, where internet access is widely available, are the target markets for D2L.

Face 5 – Development of the Market

D2L’s vision is to be a global leader in providing e-learning solutions to their clients.  They have won a number of awards for technology innovation; however, these awards were presented by North American based associations and institutions.  In order for D2L to meet their global market aspirations, greater computer and internet access in regions with restricted or poor availability needs to be realized.  Though this may be beyond the scope of D2L’s line of products and services, infiltrating these markets by providing products and solutions that meet their current technology capabilities may help to develop and expand D2L’s global market.

Face 6 – Learning Technology Competing with Other Forms of Learning

For various reasons, many educators who use traditional methods of teaching (e.g. chalkboard, paper and pencil exercises) may refuse to or be afraid to integrate technologies in their teaching practices.  However, most would still agree that computer skills are a highly important component of a modern education, especially since these skills are transferable to many potential occupations.  Encouragement through professional development, training, and follow up support are necessary to assist colleagues with technology use.

D2L’s Learning Environment could be used in conjunction with traditional teaching approaches following a blended learning model or be used to replace traditional classroom teaching and learning by placing courses completely online.

Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro

Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro is software used to create information and general presentations, online training materials, web conferencing, learning modules, and user desktop sharing. The product is entirely Adobe Flash based.  This product could be used by many organizations including government, corporate institutions and universities.  http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro/elearning/ .

The Market

At quick look this product is very multifunctional.  In keeping with the elearning market niche Connect Pro could be used by high schools, universities and corporations who are interested in online training.  Really anyone who wants to make a presentation could use it so it may even be a useful tool for elementary schools.

Types of Offerings

Adobe offers Connect Pro as  software that could be used to build infrastructure within an organization.  It is a program that allows the user to create content, deliver training and manage the participants. 

Who is the Buyer?

This product would most likely be purchased by a large corporation under license or governmental agencies to have all instructors use the product for training their employees.  Teachers or independent instructors could buy single copies of the software and invite their students to attend their e-course as all the students will need is a web browser and the Adobe Flash Player.  My expectation is that Connect Pro is used mostly in higher education for classroom modules or entire web based courses.  I would expect students themselves would not be purchasing this software but either the instructor or a centralized official would purchase and mandate its use across an organization.

Global Market

This product can is available in many languages including English, French and Spanish and is useful anywhere there is reliable internet infrastructure.

Development of the Market

Connect Pro is supported in any market where reliable internet infrastructure is present and language spoken is English, French or Spanish.   The instructor or organization supports the use of the product through their funding the user or learner only needs internet access.  Many universities, governments and corporations can import the software by license agreements or low investment hosting by Adobe. 

Competition with Other Forms of Learning

Connect Pro will work best with well developed learning systems.  Developed nations with reliable internet structures will be able to use Connect Pro in unison with existing forms of learning.  Connect Pro will provide options for organizations to increase learning opportunities for users who are looking for alternative mediums to train or educate themselves.

RE:  ZOHO WIKI FOR EDUCATION (A service provided by ZOHO Wiki)

http://wiki.zoho.com/Zoho-Wiki-For-Education.html

FACE 1: MARKET FOCUS

ZOHO Wiki for Education is intended for public schools (K-12) and higher education (college and university).

FACE 2: TYPES OF OFFERINGS

ZOHO Wiki for Education is a learning and content management system, providing schools with space to design interactive, on-line courses for students.  Here, teachers would develop virtual classrooms so that students and teachers can remain connected outside the physical classroom.  As well, ZOHO Wiki for Education provides post-secondary institutions with space to allow (a) college graduates to share information and to build knowledge, (b) research students to collaborate on reports and to share research findings, and (c) faculty members to design course curriculum.

FACE 3: THE BUYER

ZOHO Wiki for Education is for the typical public school market and for higher education situations.

FACE 4: GLOBAL MARKETS

ZOHO Wiki has global markets in India (an “Asian” country), the US (an Anglophone country), and internationally: http://www.zoho.com/contact.html

However, this does not mean that ZOHO Wiki for Education specifically is available in all global markets.

FACE 5: DEVELOPMENT OF THE MARKET

It seems as though the markets of the US, Canada, Japan, and India support the import of content and infrastructure:

http://www.zoho.com/in-the-news.html (Press Releases)

http://www.zoho.com/zoho-in-the-news.html (ZOHO in the News)

http://www.zoho.jp/ (Japanese ZOHO Wiki Site)

http://www.zoho.com/awards.html (ZOHO Awards)

However, for ZOHO Wiki for Education may only apply in the Anglophone countries and possibly in Japan and India.

FACE 6: LEARNING TECHNOLOGY COMPETITION WITH OTHER FORMS OF LEARNING

ZOHO Wiki for Education works with a well-developed learning system in that this e-learning service/product is designed to enrich and to enhance the teaching-learning process by providing e-learning space for, but not limited to, collaboration, research, communication, showcasing, and participation.

face one – MARKET FOCUS

A little about CambridgeSoft.com  and its ChemDraw program:

CambridgeSoft is the leading supplier of Internet browser and webserver based life science desktop software, enterprise solutions, chemical databases and consulting services to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries.

CambridgeSoft offers a complete line of desktop software for chemists including ChemDraw, the industry standard for chemical structure drawing and analysis.

Cambridge Soft introduced, on August 17, 2009, an e-Learning course for new users of ChemDraw software.  The software program is described below.

The * ChemDraw Ultra 12.0 Suite
by CambridgeSoft
Media: Download for Macintosh

Cost is $2330 USD (offered at academic pricing of $890)

http://scistore.cambridgesoft.com/ScistoreProductPage.aspx?ItemID=5548

face two – TYPES OF OFFERINGS

The e-Learning course that I am focusing on is a complimentary product to the purchasers of the ChemDraw software program.

CambridgeSoft offers prepackaged courseware and online training to support that courseware.

It provides online instructions (delivered in modules) as well as an assessment of certification at the end of the course.  You are given access for one full year to ChemDraw Basic e-Learning Course @ $250 USD per individual license (offered at scistore.cambridgesoft.com @ $150).

ChemDraw Basic E-Learning Course

Media: Online

http://scistore.cambridgesoft.com/ScistoreProductPage.aspx?ItemID=5837

face three –WHO IS THE BUYER?

Interested clients include Students, Educators, and Government Employees in the Chemistry / Biology fields.  This particular online course caters to new users of the ChemDraw packaged courseware.  They also offer bulk uploads  – for many students from one organization seeking access to the course.

This could be used by all the teachers in the science department of one school, or perhaps it would be a district initiative to get the program for use at all the schools in all Science programs.  Not only could it be used as an instructional enhancement, but could allow students to work on chemical models in 3-dimensional space.  The e-learning program would instruct the teachers and students alike, on how to use the tools in the ChemDraw software.  In industry, such as the Ministry of the Environment, analysts would use the software for their lab write-ups in their analyses of samples.  The e-learning software would appeal to Ministry labs inplementing the ChemDraw program for the first time, in order to train all scientists on staff as to the effective use of the software application.

face four – GLOBAL MARKETS

CambrigeSoft has offices in the US, Europe (including Germany and France) and Asia Pacific.

They offer support in English, German, French and Japanese.

So CambridgeSoft is catering to Wired Anglophone Countries, European countries that speak English, as well as a few European countries that require translation.  They also market to Asian Countries with quality Internet access, specifically in this case Japan.  This would also appeal to special situation such as military or marine use for scientists in those fields.

face five – DEVELOPMENT OF THE MARKET

The e-Learning that CambridgeSoft is offering is an export oriented Learning Technology.  It is designed to support the global customers of its prepackaged courseware.  This is a well established company with a lengthy line of software products that are being used internationally.

face six – Learning Technology competing with other forms of learning?

This Learning Technology works with a well developed system.  This company sets the bar for other learning technologies of this category.  The development of this e-Learning media download shows expanded support for its customer to use their prepackaged software for effectively.  It will draw more customers into the purchase of its software products, if they know that they will be supported by tutorial programs.  This learning technology is more effective than instructor-led training since the customer will seek help for the particular application that they are employing, and will want to refer back to the instructional software many times, and any order that makes sense to them.

Faronics Insight ©  http://www.faronics.com/html/Insight.asp is a networked computer software that can be used to train and monitor computer use across multiple workstations.

Face 1: Market Focus Insight targets the educational and business markets

Public school, higher ed and business training.

Face 2: Types of Offerings

Content and Infrastucture

Face 3: Who is the Buyer?

Bought regionally (provincial school boards, municipal libraries) or at a faculty level in universities and colleges. Large business may also be a buyer.

Face 4 – Global Markets

Wired Anglophone and European market with language skills

Face 5 – Development of the Market

Market Supports Import of Content and Infrastructure Category.

Face 6 – Learning Technology Works With a Well-Developed Learning System

Interestingly this program is a piece of tech that facilitates tech ed  and is therefore a self fulfilling niche. It requires networked workstation and IT personnel to help set up and  troubleshoot, but the software is quite user friendly.

The Insight software not only allows for live multi-workstation demos but students/learner peer present and can pose questions on the fly, in an anonymous fashion if so chosen. I see this as an extremely valuable tool for knowledge building communities.

Smartboard Cubed

Smart Technologies, the maker of the Smartboard, was founded in 1987. They create interactive whiteboards, interactive pen displays, interactive digital signage, wireless slates and software. The interactive whiteboards are becoming commonplace in today’s classroom.

Face 1: Type of Market

Smart Technologies supplies Smartboards and other interactive technologies to every level of educational or corporate training.

Face 2: Type of Offerings

Their main offering is the Smartboard interactive whiteboard. This comes bundled with Notebook 10 software. The whiteboard is connected to a pc which it controls by using touch (human hand, electronic pen etc). The company provides training for their product in the form of online tutorials, videos, manuals and webinars.

Face 3: Who is the buyer?

Smartboards are typically bought by individual schools and school districts. Some school districts are purchasing this product and putting them in every classroom in certain schools while other districts are leaving the purchase decision to the individual schools.

Face 4: Global Markets

Smart Technologies is presently concentrating their efforts on the English speaking ‘wired’ countries. Given its ties to Intel and Microsoft it is easy to imagine them expanding globally.

Face 5: Market Development

The North American and English speaking European markets would support this product. Worldwide they account for more than 53% of all such devices sold. In North America their market share is 62%.

Face 6: Learning Technology Integration

The Smartboard is becoming more and more common in today’s classroom. It is replacing blackboards, whiteboards, maps, charts and other visual teaching aids. Its interactive nature allows students to quickly and easily interact with the technology.