Julie S
Hi everyone, Here is my Elevator Pitch. I have created a website for my Venture Pitch which is a combination of video, interactive demo, and text. Good luck to all next week!
Continue reading Corporate Personal Learning Platform Venture Posted in: Week 13: Venture Forum A game that focuses on putting you in the shoes of someone who is unemployed, a single parent, and is trying to get through the month. It involves a series of decisions, and includes facts along the way, pointing out the implications of your choices.
Continue reading Game Reviews – Spent Posted in: Week 05: Game-Based Learning
The decisions you have to make in this game and the facts that come along afterwards really makes you realize how easy it is to take for granted the small things in life. I like that once you’re done ‘playing’ Spent they provide you with information on how to help out and where to donate.
I chose to apply for the server job and when the month was over I ended up have just over $600 as I sacrificed almost everything. I also lost my car because I didn’t pay its bills and then lost my job because I didn’t have a car. I ‘played’ Spent again and decided to stick with the same job to see if I would have the same outcome. At the end of the month I only had $150 but still had a job. I found it interesting that Spent doesn’t give you the same scenarios each time and tests you to make sure you can actually complete a task. For instance it tests your skills in math if you say you can tutor your child in math.
I first chose to work as a warehouse worker, but couldn’t save money before the first month ended. So I played again and this time I chose to work as a temporary worker. I was able to save $424 at the end of the month and realized that it was really difficult to save that much money. The game also tested my ethics. For example, I had to ran away instead of paying $500 for my car. However, I thought about what my priorities were when living with $306/week. I put my “kids” as the first on my priority list and then my family/relatives. Each question made me think before making a decision. It was hard to make such decisions because I had to consider not just myself but also my children who are dependent on me.
This game makes me be a little emotional and think twice before making decisions. What a realistic game! I loved playing it. It’d be very helpful for my students in Apprentice and Workplace Math 10 to do some practice on how to calculate and save their income. I’d like to try it as an exercise for my AWM10 students.
Deb
Deb
I ended up with $547 left at the end of the month. To do that I worked as a server, broke the dishes and hid the evidence so a co-worker was blamed and was fired.. at the end I lost my car and lost my job. This was a fun game! 🙂 It would be great for Math and maybe for Planning too.
I can’t believe you hid the evidence! For shame!
Just kidding. But on a serious note, it is a good, realistic exercise in seeing the implications of our decisions.
Emily
I finished the month with $337 dollars, but I wasn’t very happy about it. I was just so focused on the goal of making to month’s end that I sacrificed many things, most notably my own honesty / character. I had no fun, didn’t allow for much fun for my kids, and turned into a more dishonest version of myself… having also hidden the dishes and letting my coworker get fired for it. I did do some good things, like return money to whoever dropped it, and a couple of other minor things… but, overall, I was unhappy in what I felt I had to do to survive. I was spent!
Other than the clean look and (forced) realism of the game (which would be great for all teachers to play to have a bit more empathy for their students & their parents), my favourite part of the game was the option to donate money or get involved at the end.
As a side note, I found it very frustrating that, although I tried at least three times, I couldn’t get the temp job. I thought I had pretty good typing skills! I got pwned for being the apparent typing noob I am. 🙁
After a conversation at work today about personal finances, it was interesting to play this game. It really drove home how tenuous things are for many people – after unexpected health issues or car trouble, it was easy for a series of small things to result in big problems when there isn’t a ‘cushion’ of saving. I played as the factory worker, but will play again in some other role!
I liked this game and thought it brought some value as a teaching tool for Social Justice. I can also see how it could be extended to other lessons. It was engaging and required a minimal amount of committment in order to play. While this is good for the casual observer, such as myself, perhaps it’s okay to have more involved games for students. I can even imagine trying to get a school or department to purchase this type of game.
I reviewed SPENT. It had a very nice interface that kids and adults would enjoy using. I did look at some of the other games and it seems to be above the threshold of decent quality. The Arctic Hunter game was lower quality and reminded me of overly rigid, older educational games of the late 90s. The America’s Army military game was based on the unreal engine and looked amazing in the demos. But I did not take the time to install and play that one.
SPENT was similar to many online games I played. I knew before I even started that it was pretty much set up for me to fail. I wasn’t surprised. The first time I played it, I didn’t make it through the month. The second time I did but with less than $100. I get it. I know the message. I do donate significant amounts every month to local and international organizations. I think it is effective at getting the message across and it does so with some style and an easy to use interface. It is a role playing game but all choices are pre-programmed so it can be a little predictable.
I think that this site could be used within a larger framework of social justice initiatives that currently are being infused into classrooms. Nevertheless, ETEC 522 is all about educational ventures, innovation, and marketable products. With that lens, it is difficult to see how a school or board would spend any money on educational games when there are so many freely available games online. The games would have to be bundled with extra features that add value, such as a student progress tracker, or a social media plugin that adds capabilities to share, discuss, and network with other playing the game. Boards general buy educational tools over educational games these days. I think that educational games are seen as either an out-dated use of ICT or the kinds of things that are freely available online.
I think computer systems and software sophistication is not quite at the point where a “killer educational game” app can be created. We will know it when we see it because it will change all the rules for computer gaming. One possible manifestation of this paradigm shifting app is suggested in Orson Scott Card’s novel, “Ender’s Game.”
In Ender’s Game, there is a game that Ender (the main character) plays while in battle school called “Free Play” or, as it was known by those who ran the school, “The Mind Game.” Free Play contained a wide selection of interrelated games, tailored to the players of the game, and Ender, the main character, pushed the program farther than anyone else. He was the first student to get past the Giant’s Drink game and forced the program to create new and more challenging levels for him to play. In fact, an artificial intelligence, called “Jane”, was later born from code and resources of The Mind Game only after it was pushed along by Ender’s interaction with it.
I am unaware of a program that exists today that not only responds so specifically and personally to a player’s actions but also has the ability to self-design customized new complex levels that challenge that player over time. To be sure, game designers use procedural generation to help make game levels and objects in games look random and unique at run time. But, I think that one possible form that the “killer app” in gaming world will take will be a kind of game with built in AI that truly responds to the user’s actions and make a the game experience completely different for every user that plays it.
As a short reply to this thoughtful and meaty post, I think you’re right on the money in that the best / “killer” games/apps will be ones that adapt to each user and are capable of creating customized things for that user.
Did you see the gameplay innovations that Demon’s Souls brought about when it came out? The way that players (even strangers to you) could help out or leave hints to other playing the game around the world is quite neat, among other things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon's_Souls#Gameplay
It was also lauded (believe it or not) for how punishingly hard it was. It’s a good example of James Paul Gee’s “regime of competence” principle, where gamers excel when met right at the edge of their abilities.
I had not seen Demon Souls and I see why after I checked out the link you provided… I have never owned a PlayStation. I was an avid PC gamer when I was younger (no time now that I work/have kids/doing MET 🙂 so I didn’t see it. I was 100% there on the Doom–>Quake–>Quake2–>Quake3Arena track but after that I completely lost touch. I must say, though, that Quake stand out as the most immerse game experience I ever had. At the time, there was nothing that could touch it! Then, when it went multiplayer online, that was amazing! The people at id software I sure have secured a place in gaming history for what they have done.
Did you play Demon Souls? What was that experience like? It would have been cool if previous players in Quake could have left clues as you mention…
I played this game twice doing different jobs and I never made it to the end of the month. Clearly i need to never be out of a job! Some issues really affected me in a different way than just hearing about them. For example, I believe that there are just some choices that a parent just must make. However, I found myself thinking that I needed to sacrifice the school plays, the shoes, the ice cream etc. The kids really got the brunt of it. This experience really hit home more so than having a conversation/discussion. Powerful!
Kerry-Ann
A simulation that focuses on decision-making and consequences that occur immediately following a disaster (in this case, the Haiti earthquake), through one of three perspectives: a survivor, a journalist, or an aid worker.
Continue reading Game Reviews – Inside the Haiti Earthquake Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 05: Game-Based Learning
I went back to revisit Gee’s 16 learning principles for good games (Gee, 2005) after playing this game to analyze why I found it the most compelling selection. What I came up with is pretty high marks across all the basics.
The game provided identity by including 3 appealing characters, the survivor, aid worker, and journalist. The interactions were direct, simple selections would choose the next course of action. The production aspect was demonstrated when I would take a course of action and the consequences would be demonstrated in a video taken from real events. It allowed for risk taking and even though it was a game I found myself hesitating over choices and not wanting to be even virtually responsible for causing more suffering. I liked the customization of seeing different experiences based on character selection. The agency through each of these was clear, the dialogue was personal and explained immediate consequences to my actions. The design was well ordered, but maybe a little too simple. The options didn’t give a true sense of the complexity or the opportunity for a player to come up with new creative ideas. There were little challenges along the way in the form of text messages from bosses or sponsors. Explanations would come ‘just in time’ which made it easy to understand consequences of actions. I appreciated the design in terms of situated meanings. If someone had tried to explain the complexity of these roles to me in more traditional forms e.g. a news story or an essay, I don’t think I would have had the same understanding of the perspective. Because I was presented with situations in the role and asked to make decisions in that role I was able to get more out of the experience.
The game was pleasantly frustrating. I made the wrong decisions at times and was pleasantly given the reason why it was wrong and redirected to the better answer. I never felt like giving up because I was at a dead end. This was a good example of systems thinking because ever action and consequence was explained in terms of the overall complexity of the situation. It could have been more compelling if there were other players or actions happening unexpectedly in the game. The game offered opportunities to ‘explore, think laterally, and to rethink goals’. When I acted in the role of aid worker I was surprised that my choices to look to the large organizations for the answers in a chaotic situation was the wrong thing to do. It demonstrated why independent and creative thought and actions would be beneficial.
One of the big reasons I liked the game was how quickly I could be immersed because the game included Gee’s principle of ‘smart tools and distributed knowledge’ as evidenced in the aid worker who had the aid already transported to Haiti and his accommodations and the basics established. The distributed learning aspect could have been enhanced through a multi-player option where the 3 character roles interacted. This game did not include a cross functional team aspect but it could easily be enhanced to incorporate this given the richness of the potential characters and interdependencies that would exist in this scenario. I could definitely play before having performance competency because of the ‘smart tools’ built into the game and I understand why Gee argues for these principles to be more engrained in schools – not just in video games.
References:
Gee, James (no date). Good video games and good learning. [PDF document]. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Retrieved online from http://www.academiccolab.org/resources/documents/Good_Learning.pdf
Great work! This game is emotional for me and as a result I never immersed myself into it. Haiti is a neighboring country and have close ties to my country. Their continued suffering even before that disaster has always impacted me. Despite that, this game would be good for the geography classroom; especially in regions that are prone to earthquakes and other natural disasters
I can definitely see how if you had a personal connection to the incident, as you do, you would not really want to immerse yourself into the game. The footage used in the simulation is real footage from after the earthquake. It could be traumatic if you had personal experience related to it. This is an important point, as we would need to use such a tool with sensitivity.
Emily
The use of real footage impacted greatly. The interactive nature rather than passively listening and watching the news made the experience richer. It really saddened me as well Everton. The level of engagement needed to make decisions along with the interactivity of the game is what separates a constructivist experience from a passive one without much impact. Conditions that model reality and realistic propositions and/or situations seem integral to the gaming experience.
Kerry-Ann
Start from the beginning, this game has a great impact emotionally. I was able to “see” what really happened that day when there was an earthquake in Haiti by looking and listening to the footage. It was more realistic and direct than watching the news or listening to the radio at home.
Deb
First of all, I just want to say thanks to the mobile team as you have pulled together a wealth of information on the subject of m-Learning. It’s impossible for me to get through all of the content, by this I mean following and reviewing all of the linked in information, so I’m glad it’s […]
Continue reading Combined Mobile Answers Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Thanks for the comprehensive post.
As for learning languages, I share your pain. I think we often try to do too much and we stay at a very superficial level. My own efforts to learn Japanese have not made me a speaker. The issue is I learned a lot of vocabulary (although a lot of it was highly esoteric, a bad design decision!) but I didn’t practice it in authentic contexts. A proper mobile resource might help scaffold me before and during conversations… beyond a simple phrase book.
Corporate is late to the party with mobile. My own talks with a multinational about their mobile strategy show that it is very much in progress and there are few mature service providers available who can scale solutions on a global basis. Content is focused on performance support, meaning it’s highly domain-specific. Content can also be highly culture-specific given that major corporations have distinctive cultures. This means their content is pretty much beyond our reach… it’s designed in house for in house use. The multinational I spoke with however indicated they are focusing on providing performance support and knowledge refreshment for use in taxis and waiting rooms… when professionals are just about to meet clients and solve problems or explain complex regulations or other requirements.
I wouldn’t worry to much about being stale-dated. Corporate focuses on a chosen lowest-common denominator to ensure they will work over a broad set of devices. Churn in hardware and operating systems updates doesn’t help corporate sales… it drives their IT departments crazy– how can they support everything? It seems the idea of buying everyone a device may be dated… employees have their own devices and want to use them.
Very cool that you tried development! No Canadian cities??????
Hi David,
I think you are right about the language learning in an authentic setting and the mobile application could help a lot – if designed well. I went to Japan for two weeks with my Japanese friend and her family and I was speechless for most of the time because I felt pretty overwhelmed. I would have loved to have a mobile app to help decipher phrases. Even being able to punch in the menu items would have helped so my friend didn’t have to order for me most of the time.
I agree about the content problems in the corporation and my venture project for this course has been focused on researching possible approaches to the challenge. Particularly the metadata which is needed to expose the company specific content in order to take advanatage of it in e-learning applications. I think that the web has really taken off with the concept of folksonomy and something like this is needed to replace the metadata management platform in place in the corporate world. This would mean getting the employees involved in update and maintenance where now there is currently mostly corporate control to ensure standards and accuracy. Which you have to wonder, why bother if there is not content or if the content is so out of date because the limited resources can’t keep up.
Very good point about not needing to worry about the stale datedness of my devices with respect to the corporate enviornment. You are exactly right. Corporate IT hates change and they can’t possibly keep up with the demands of such rapid change.
As for the development – You’re right! No Canadaian cities – these are the training files so you can tell it’s a U.S. software training company! I am using it as a base for my demo as part of my venture program that won’t have anything to do with geography 🙂
I haven’t done any m-learning on my cell phone because I find the device a little too small. This is with the exception of learing to develop an application for display on a cell phone but then I only used it to view the finished product. For mobility overall I do alternate between my Iphone […]
Continue reading Day 1 What When Where.. Posted in: Week 11: Mobiles
Thanks for your post.
Once again, you fit the stats for smartphone owners… you rarely use it for voice calls. I find that tendency very interesting… are we losing our comfort with talking to people directly? How does that affect our ability to maintain relationships? I think of the “check in” call with my partner… I use it as an excuse to ask questions, listen to her voice tone, etc. I can’t imagine communicating mostly through text (I’ve never sent one).
Do you carry your iPad with you everywhere you go? When you’re on the go, how do you look up performance support information like weather, Google, Wikipedia, reviews, and maps?
Have you ever found yourself in a problem situation needing a relatively small, simple answer or memory refresh? Have you ever used the audio, video or photo recording functions of your device to capture something in the field to share with people either in real time or asynchronously to illustrate a concept?
If someone else paid for your data plan, and you looked at m-learning as an interactive performance support and data capture device in the field… how might you use your iPhone differently?
Hi David,
Actually I am a lot more social these days than I ever was without my mobile devices and believe it or not, I’m less stressed.
I don’t use my phone for voice because I prefer face to face get togethers. I am not replacing voice with text or email. I’m using the technologies quite differently. I’m often using them to organize face to face get togethers.
A good example is coordinating cycling get togethers with groups of friends. I tend to cycle a lot, both on the mountain and road (when not tied to my computer for the MET Program). This summer I was fortunate enough to be able to take August off before coming here to MET full time to finish off my degree. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get the time off so I hadn’t made any plans. However, through email and texting friends throughout the month I was able to string together a set of cycling trips with 5 different groups of friends and family which took me from about August 6th to September 6th as well as from Vancouver, to Whistler, to Pemberton, to Vernon, to Nelson, to Red Deer, AB, to Oakridge, Oregon, and then back home again just in time for the first day of classes.
Because I was travelling (and ad-hoc travelling at that) I think it would have been extremely time consuming and very unlikely that I would have been able to pull this off just by using voice calls. Expense of long distance calls (at the time I didn’t have Skype on my cell) and the extra time it takes – especially when there are multiple people involved.
As far as your questions about the IPAD. Yes, I try to take it everywhere (except on the bike) and guaranteed that if I decide not to take it one day or forget it that I regret it. Even if I have my cell phone it’s not the same. I use the device for all the things you mentioned – Google maps, Wikipedia, reviews, even recipes if I’m at Granville Island and am picking up something fresh for a nice meal. On the cell, while on the bike trails, I use a mapping software built for the trails which tells me where I am on the trail which helps tremendously when we get lost as we sometimes do.
I use the camera on my Iphone extensively. I probably take at least a photo a day and send it to one friend or another to share an experience that I’m having. My friends do the same.– this is again where text and email win out over voice.
The good thing about text over phone is that you can be really quick and dispense with the pleasantries… save those for when you are in person – which for me is when it really counts – forget the phone line.
In response to your question about someone else paying for my data plan. It would be nice but wouldn’t change anything. I already have a 6 GB data plan which I have never exceeded and can’t imagine at the moment how I would – having said that companies are always coming up with new ways that make me use even more data!
Sorry for the long winded reply but hopefully this adds a little qualitative data to your quantitative stats.
– Julie
Thanks for that fantastic reply! I love the details.
One of the curious things about traditional learning is how sedentary it can be. How do you think you might use mobile to help students work in a more wide-ranging, rambling and collaborative manner… the way you do organizing cycling trips, checking maps, and sharing images? How might this affect their skills in teamwork, organization, self-regulation within authentic and situated experiences?
Hi David,
In a word geocaching! Being an active person, I think traditional learning is way too sedentary. When my group was working on the gaming module I came across an article, Mobile Game Based Learning: Designing a mobile location based game by Sandra Schadenbauer in Austria. Schadenbauer talks about the issue of kids growing up with cell phones and games and argues that is time for academic institutions to join the game so to speak. She describes a conceptual model complete with illustrations about how to do it and integrate it with Moodle. She refers to the mobile Moodle as ‘MoMo’. The game is centred around a legend where the students engage in fighting ‘the devil’ in this case. In Schadenbauer case the game is centred on a historical location and related legend. I think the possibilities for this type of learning are really endless. As with all technologies though, this essay is already dated because it uses Flash, which as we now know is soon to be an artifact of the past.
Reference:
Schadenbauer, S. (2007). Mobile Game Based Learning: Designing a mobile location based game.
As I was drafting my final post, contemplating David’s question about product based ventures in the PBA space I noticed that Brenda made a similar post in her Final Post: Emerging PBA for the future. I also see the value in a framework for ePortfolios that support PBAs related to Professional Development in the workplace. […]
Continue reading Final Post – Products Posted in: Week 10: Product-Based Assessments
Julie, I think there is a lot of potential for e-portfolios outside of education. I was an engineer for 15 years and I can’t count how many times I was supposed to have a yearly or bi-yearly evaluation, and it was never completed. There is no doubt that large corporations and HR units could use a system like Mahara for tracking parts of the employee’s performance, goals, 5 year plans, etc. There is a ton of potential here. This is an e-portfolio specific aspect of PBA, but these eport reflections and thoughts are products as well.
cheers
Doug
Thanks for the feedback Doug. Yes, the unfinished evaluation is all too commonplace.
Hi Julie, I agree there are many applications for your idea in the workplace. I think tools that allow people to concretely connect their work with the goals, vision or mission of an organization, and potentially to connect with others who are doing the same thing, would make the typical performance management tasks much more useful.
Andrea
Thanks Andrea – I like like the idea of having the peers connect inside the organization as well – good idea.
My experiences in the MET program opened my eyes to the value of PBAs and informed how I will incorporate them in my future training programs. I used a PBA in my last training program without fully understanding what PBAs are and how effective they can be. In this program I had the learners produce […]
Continue reading Workplace Learning PBA Posted in: Week 10: Product-Based Assessments
Hi Julie, what a cool project! I love that it was iterative, with people getting feedback and revising throughout. Publishing our materials to the big wide world can be a bit intimidating, but it sounds like this process support the best possible products with feedback from you and peers, and a collaborative approach to improving the work. I love your service idea – your learning session becomes not only about people learning new skills but also immediately applying those skills to the business. This would make so much sense in the business world – people are learning and innovating, getting the most out of their time.
Thanks Andrea, you’re right, it was intimidating for the learners to publish their work. At times I had to pre-review their work for them so that they would feel confident enough to publish the product to the wider group for feedback. The good news is that the peer feedback was constructive so the fear of going public subsided quite quickly.
Hi Julie,
As I read your post (specifically the third paragraph, I began to map out your idea of interim products along the way that encouraged assessment. It reminded me a little bit of Bloom’s taxonomy in that in order to achieve the higher levels of learning, one has to do those that come before it. I wonder if there is a model to construct in regards to PBA that includes products, problems, performances, etc.?
Thanks for the thoughts,
Kristopher
Hi Kristopher,
Funny you should mention Bloom’s taxonomy. I’m in another class where I’m now developing a training program for follow up to this program. I’m following Bloom’s taxonomy to organize the instructional plan and activities. I wasn’t as familiar with Bloom’s taxonomy when I designed the first program but you are right – the levels do need to be followed and I’m glad I’m following a more structured approach for this next program. Your question about a model to follow is a good one. I’ve been following some learning theorists, Yrjo Engestrom for one, that are crossing boundaries of education, information technology, and psychology and I don’t think it will be long before there are some new models in place.
I think that there is a market for the IPad in K-12 but I work in the area of corporate training programs and I think that this market is a long way off. One major strike against it is that the IPad is Mac based instead of PC based. This is a disadvantage because the […]
Continue reading Discussion 2 – corporate training perspective Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 09: iPad Apps
Hi Julie,
I definitely agree with you that changing to iPads will take time, which depends highly on the use of which computer companies are used to: PC or Macs.
i believe the Mac generation is aimed towards younger students, who are mostly trained using
macs, therefore may see a major shift in the future. As for now, most companies are familiar with PC because that’s what they’ve been using for so many years.
I wonder what the shift will look like years from now? PC or Macs?
Jenaca
@jenaca – I find your question intriguing – what will be next PCs or MACs? It’s the same question that has been asked since the Mac first came out and focussed so much on the education sector. Exactly your argument – surely the technology of the younger generation will prevail has been used before. But that didn’t happen with the first round of competition for the workplace desktop marketplace and I’m curious to see what will happen next.
The closed architecture of the Mac is part of the reason they haven’t ended up being adopted as well in business. Quite simply there are far fewer applications designed for the Mac because the system is proprietary and therefore it’s more costly to design for. Right now, in Canada anyway, from a mobile application perspetive, the Blackberry has a stronghold over the Iphone. If this were to change then I think we could see a strong impetus for other changes to follow -including the Ipad, including more Mac desktops/laptops.
One thing to think about is the heavy investment in PC infrastructure across so many companies. The cost of transitioning a whole company’s infrastructure from PC to Mac, and the cost of an interim transition of maintaining and providing support for two architectures, and the staff training that would be required. This is surely to prevent a massive transition from happening for a while. Which is not to say it will never happen. I like both platforms for different reasons. Mac is better for design and entertainment and the PC is better for business. Which one is better for learning? Personally, I think Mac wins hands down, particularly with the invention of the IPad and it’s potential. I’m not sure Mac will ever want or need to go into the business specfic market. Interesting thoughts to contemplate.
Hi Julie,
Thanks for touching on a perspective that we didn’t give all that much attention to; the corporate sector. The fact that so many companies are entrenched in PCs really disadvantages the iPad in moving into this market. The cost and time to make the switch may outweigh the actual benefits if what the iPad has to offer is not that much more than what can be done now current devices.
You mentioned some companies actually blocking iPads from the network. I wonder if this is due to the perception of the iPad as still a media consumption device so companies are trying to discourage iPad network use for gaming, video and music downloads?
As you mentioned, with more businesses creating mobile applications this may open the market and create a shift to the iPad but as other tablet devices compete closely, companies may decide to go with android device to avoid the shift from PC to apple OS.
@Jay. Good question – why were they blocking the IPad. I had a chance to ask a bit about this question and in one case the answer was the additional load on the corporate network. IT didn’t want the network to slow down for the business applications. This implies as you suggested, that the employees would be using it for non business purposes. In the second case the IT department wasn’t ready to support these devices. They were testing and doing analysis on them and it would only be a matter of time before they eventually added them to the ‘acceptable and suppported’ device list. I found it interesting that it was even physically possible to blog a connection to the internet based on the type of device.
I think you’re right that the increasing applications for mobility and non traditional interfaces (finger vs. mouse), motion sensing and the like may speed up advances in technologies like Android devices and provide options to the IPad. It sometimes seems to me that the IPad is the only ‘game’ in town because I own one and am so intrigued by it. It will be great if the IPad drives further innovation in the Android market.
As a small business owner I’ve been nervous about jumping onto the cloud bandwagon even though it seems to be cost efficient to do so. Maybe it’s the name cloud. There is something non-permanent about the name that makes me nervous about using it as a foundation for running my business. I’ve always thought a […]
Continue reading What is in a name? Cloud Computing. Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 08: Files in the Cloud
Hi, Julie – great post!
To me, the bookends of your piece resonated with me the most. I hadn’t previously thought how the term cloud could scare people off – that it carried with it suggested impermanence. It’s a bit of a lesson in how much the name of something can make or break it, no matter how good it is.
I like how you finish by looking at clouds from another perspective – how they follow you, and that they’re not inflexible. Perhaps how constant they are, even though they may move and change constantly.
Your thoughtfulness of the word itself had me thinking some other great cloud-based thoughts:
Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I’ve looked at clouds that way.
But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way.
I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It’s cloud’s illusions I recall
I really don’t know clouds at all
– Joni Mitchell
Beautiful!
Julie,
I guess the name has to do with ever presence of the cloud despite one’s location. In addition, we have low and high clouds indicating that some are out of reach and well secured.
Everton
Hi Everton,
The name definitely seems to be evoking lots of thought and discussion on what the new type of computing experience means. When I first heard about the cloud, last year while researching James Cameron’s film Avatar (most of the post-production was done on IBM’s newly-created Gaia cloud system), I admit I was a bit confused – isn’t that just a fancy name for what the Internet already does? The more I looked into it, better I understood how it is more than just connecting computers wirelessly. Each device, from tiny handhelds to tallest CPU tower, is connected in a nebulous way, can easily join with other devices and other users, or remain independent systems. Whether they are high or low clouds, as you mention, is a comforting way of feeling solid and secure in such an intangible atmosphere.
Of course, if were are bringing poetry into the discussion, I wouldn’t be me without mentioning You-know-who… how Antony talks about cloud formations: “That which is now a horse, even with a thought the rack dislimns, and makes it indistinct, as water is in water.” (A&C, IV, xiv, 9-11) and how the flow of information, all that important data that we keep on various devices can vanish somewhere safe until it is needed again.
Kyle
I instruct adults in the workplace and I don’t plan to use blogs in the classroom. However, I maintain a blog for my company mostly for personal reasons to explore and post ideas that are relevant to my field and interests. I found that WordPress works best simply because I was introduced to it through […]
Continue reading Blog site review Posted in: Week 07: Blogs
Hey Julie,
Thanks for your post! I am very new to blogging so I found this a very interesting topic for me to learn more about and share my findings with my team. I also agree that WordPress is a great blogging site, its not only easy to use but also very easy to navigate around.
Jenaca
Julie,
Do you have any intention of using wordpress with your adult students? I think it would work magic for you. I think you could get twice the work done that you do f2f. Currently, I am able to expose my students to additional concepts and content that f2f would allow me to do. My students are currently on midterm but the class doesn’t stop. From home they are still able to participate in class activities through wordpress.
Everton
Hi Everton,
I actually started with Wikis with my students and it was very challenging for them. Maybe it would have been easier to start with a blog. I also had a discussion forum for them but that didn’t work the greatest either. They seemed too indoctrinated to their old ways (specificaly email) and were resistant to change. Now that I’ve been exploring blogs more and seeing how it’s used for this course site I might try it in the future. I had a website setup where I posted all the content but it was actualy a lot of work to do the formatting of the web pages. A blog may have been the better format actually. I’m also restrained by the company technology policy. In this case they didn’t have a blogsite and they do not allow company information to be posted anywhere externally.
Glad to hear that your work with blogs is successful. It’s encouraging.
Thanks,
Julie
Hi Julie,
Thanks for your comments and your post. You bring a unique perspective as you are looking at training in a workplace environment. You mentioned that your students weren’t receptive to a wiki. If you were to use a blog in a workplace teaching environment, what features of a blog would encourage their engagement? Do you think you would use blogger or WordPress?
Also, if you had used blogging in your course, do you think it would have added to the learning experience? How would you have used blogging in your course?
Juliana.
Hi Juliana,
I would use WordPress over Blogger because I find it more professional. I think that if I used the Blog it would have been easier than the static web pages to design – the format is built into the templates. It also could have enhanced the experience because it’s interactive so the students could have posted comments on the weekly educational material. I think this would have been most beneficial for the regional participants where there was a bigger time difference. I think I would have done away with the discussion forum because I could get the same effect by having them engage in the discussions using the reply form like this. The biggest hold back would be whether or not the corporation had a blogging application setup. I think its unlikely that a corporation will let their employees go offsite to engage in discussions about internal business issues.
Hi Julie,
Thank you for sharing your experience. Just like you, I also like WordPress.
Its Dashboard is easy to use and there are lots of features that I like, including the Custom Menu.
I was also surprised to see that even my students (secondary level) are indoctrinated to their old ways. I created a Q&A section for them so that they can leave their questions there for me to answer, but they still prefer emails. If WordPress had an email function, then it’d be easier for my students to send me an email directly from the blog. That’s the part that’s missing from WP.
After your experience using the ETEC 522 blog, do you think your students would like the use of blogging if there is an email function?
Deb
Hi Deb,
I think the email function would definately help. I had the students requesting email functions with the Sharepoint site. It was huge but I suspect it’s a crutch and I would really like the students to progress with the new tools. It’s a challenge though. Change takes time.
I like the custom menus too but I found out when we did our team assignment for gaming that not all WordPress blogs have this functionality. It made me go exploring a little more with the different templates. I wish I had more time for explorations!
It’s funny that you should mention WordPress. I have not used it very much and have not explored the arena of Blogs like others, but I did notice that WordPress tends to appear a bit more professional and laid out than others. As well, the functionality appears to be a bit better. A note to self next time I need a Blog!
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
bcourey 11:26 am on November 27, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Julie…your link says that the video is private, so we can’t view it from this link.
Brenda
Julie S 3:55 pm on November 27, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Brenda,
I’ve updated the setting and the link. Please let me know if you still have problems.
Sorry about that.
jarvise 10:18 am on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
now that I went through your presentation, I’m wondering why we don’t all target corporate learning? It seems that this culture is just more open to new innovation in methods, given that they promise results, and are likely to work. As I view presentations and developed my own, I am frustrated by the fact that the traditional education system is so resistant to change. Those of us who work within it can attest to the fact that those ideas that seem to make it in are those that continue to maintain and validate the status quo rather than push the system to rethink its structures. It’s unfortunate, but to make money in elearning, it seems that a focus on the private sector is the way to go. You have clearly laid out the market and need here, and have identified how you are differentiated. I’m sold, even if I’m still unsure what metadat means. You have convinced me that you know, and I’m good with that. So how do I get in to this market? You have me thinking now… If I had the money, I would invest in this venture.
Emily
Julie S 11:05 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks for your feedback Emily. The Corporate market definitely has the funds but it is hard sometimes to know where the next big thing is going to be. Everything that I have been reading in the marketing research says the workplace learning market is going to be significant for the reasons I put in the elevator pitch. You’ve nailed the challenge for this pitch – who the heck knows what metadata is so I have to try to visualize what they will get for addressing the problem.
Deb Giesbrecht 5:44 pm on November 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Julie,
Great elevator pitch – loved the music and graphics. There is a lot of information to consume in a minute, but I really think that you touched on an important gap (and marketable one) within the system. Corporate learning is a huge niche that can easily be tapped as it impacts overall investments of a growing company. It is certainly something that I deal with on a daily basis. Your venture looks well thought out and researched, and certainly something that I would seriously consider investing in. Your concept appears very feasible and doable. You leave the viewer interested at the end – a nice touch.
Deb
Julie S 11:11 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Deb,
I’m in the midst of reviewing your venture and thought that you would have a pretty good understanding about this problem area which is nice because I wasn’t expecting anyone to have a background in these underlying systems concepts. In reading some of the replies I’m wondering if I should have just focussed on the market for elearning and not tried to get the sense of the metadata problem across. I’ll need to think about this a little more.
hall 1:10 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Julie S.
I am interested. Your elevator pitch definitely caught my attention. It highlighted some keys points which are needed in failing educational system. I think the graphics and music selection are very good. The idea is very good one, corporate learning has revolutionized our education systems. Many educators moving away the traditional educational system to one that actively incorporate the learners. Thus, your product will attract a large market.
I think drawbacks to your pitch were the amount written material and the font size of words. But overall it is a good presentation.
Conroy
Julie S 11:12 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Conroy,
My big challenge was tryint to give a sense of the problem without going into too much detail so I was hoping this was a good balance. I was actually thinking about increasing the font but didn’t get back to it. Thanks for the reminder.
– Julie
mcquaid 2:52 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi, Julie.
I thought your music and graphics / transitions were spot-on – very “business-like”. I also thought your ending was a good one. It made it seem like even a small gain in the market would yield large results (although a show like Dragon’s Den often highlights how tough it is to get even just 1% of some markets) – a good way to whet someone’s appetite or pique their interest enough to explore your venture further.
There were a few things that could be done to improve the pitch:
– it exceeded the maximum length
– my eyes were very busy during it, but not in a good way. I was all over the place, trying to read things that weren’t on the screen long enough or were a bit small
– not exactly sure what your business is about, other than just corporate learning
Cheers,
Stephen
Julie S 11:21 am on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for your feedback. This venture is for a pretty niche market so I was really concerned about whether or not I could get any sense of the problem across. I wasn’t trying to get you to fully understand the problem or read the slides in detail. If you look at the Wikipedia entry for metadata you’ll get a bit of an idea about how complicated it seems for people to try to describe what it is.
When I’ve done work in this area in the past it has always been with a company where there are experts on staff who understand the metadata problem so this was a first for me. I’m glad I was at least able to get your interest. I thought that what I really need to get this pitch more successful was a set of demo screens that would show the business value but I didn’t have time given that I just came up with the idea when I started on this project.
I was thinking of Dragon’s Den when I did the stat for the 1% so I like that you caught this. I knew that I could explain it better once I got to the venture part. However, I didn’t go into detail because David had said not to worry so much about the financials because we wouldn’t have time.
Thanks for taking the time for the feedback.
bcourey 3:30 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Julie,
I was very impressed with your presentation, even though I have no corporate experience at all…although, when I consider the learning needs of our employees who are NOT teachers in our board (and there are hundreds) I must say that our organization could use a platform such as yours.
You used a very good combination of videos and text and I was impressed with your use of graphics – very professional appearance. You described your pain point well – the disillusionment with current training programs – I can recall some dreadful modules for my WHMIS training and my Violence in the Workplace training – really sad little learning events that left me cold, so your idea of providing a customized training platform is a great one. I agree with you that for industrial training, the current elearning systems are not very useful.
Your market is well researched and the potential is huge – this is a growing area for ventures. I really enjoyed the interactive part of your presentation – an additional feature I have not seen in other pitches yet. It shows that you have done a great deal of research. I believe that your venture has great potential for return on investment.
Brenda
Julie S 11:29 am on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Brenda,
I appreciate the feedback of your non-corporate perspective. You’ve shown me an insight into the educational industry where of course there are positions other than just teaching and therefore mulitple perspectives just like in the corporate world.
I’m so glad to hear that you tried out the interactive part. I was experimenting with layering information and ideas in the venture pitch. I would have liked to have more time to combine the two to really demonstate the power of the solution but that will have to be saved for another time.
Thanks again for your feedback,
Julie
Keisha Edwards-Hamilton 7:20 pm on November 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Julie,
Great Pitch. Great concept. Very good use of graphics and I really loved the interactivity you add to your presentation. Your idea is well researched and I am very keen to learning more about this opportunity.
Keisha
Julie S 11:32 am on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Keisha – I spent quite a few hours on that interactive component and wasn’t sure if it would work. I’m so glad to hear you liked it.
Thanks for your feedback,
– Julie
andrea 8:48 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Julie,
Great pitch, and a great idea! “Corporations who invested heavily in e-learning and were disillusioned by the results have realized the need for more a personalized approach to training.” The big systems – which cost hundreds of thousands per year for the infrastructure alone – didn’t always deliver the value people wanted. I really like your idea, and would be interested to see it in action as both an employee and an instructional designer.
Andrea
Deb Kim 10:51 pm on December 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Julie,
Your elevator pitch looked very professional. I liked the images and the music you presented in your pitch. However, as it had too much information and images/diagrams in a short pitch, I had hard time focusing and reading things that appeared and disappeared so quickly. In my opinion, it could’ve grabbed more attention if your explanation (your voice) was added to it.
I liked your venture pitch. It was a lot better for me to read your venture pitch and understand what those diagrams in your elevator pitch meant.
Great work, overall!
Deb
khenry 5:46 pm on December 4, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Julie,
Thank you for adding to our experience and analysis by contributing a corporate focus. This is actually an area I am interested in as well. I agree with Deb’s comments. Your pitch looked professional indeed but too much information to digest and read. I also had a challenge with this very thing. You could use less text and still get your point across actually.
I really liked the interactive aspect within your venture pitch and the clean presentation. I like the clear presentation of your product details which really offered essential elements that I think you could have zeroed in on some more in your elevator pitch.
Kerry-Ann