The term “mLearning” did not exist when I was growing up (and this is coming from a twenty-two year old!) but now it is apart of my everyday life.  As a member of generation Y, I remember my first cell phone.  It was one of those big clunky Nokia phones my mom gave me when I was in the sixth grade.  Since then I’ve had flip phones, sidekicks, touch screens, blackberrys, etc. 

The cell phone has instilled itself into my daily activities.  I use it to look up movie tickets, check the weather, view email, find a local restaurant, or to navigate unfamiliar areas.  The impact is so profound that even Movado was forced to change its positioning.  It now markets Movado watches as fashion accessories, since the cell phone has become our generation’s new timepiece.

Without my cell phone, my level of productivity and multitasking would go way down.  We all know that feeling when we lose our cell phone or leave it at home.  You feel empty, like something is missing.  It’s almost like we’ve lost part of our connection to the world, because we have.  Cell phones continue to be a link to our family, friends, and coworkers, but I have to say I’m more excited about them being the link to knowledge.

On many occasions in the past I would hang out with friends and someone would bring up a very vague question like, “Why is the sky blue?” A few people would try to answer but never really nail down anything memorable.  Nowadays, if I’m out with friends and that same question comes up, someone will whip out their iPhone or Android to instantly look up the answer on Google.

This has done WONDERS to clear up arguments, prevent fights, and ENHANCE the learning experience.  Sometimes we get wrapped up in life or we are having so much fun that we don’t even notice when we are learning something new.  This is the BEAUTY of mLearning – it’s effortless.

As a generation Y’er, I’m sick of textbooks and paper printout packets.  It’s not that we want to take the easy route – we just want to take the route that saves us time and energy.  Give me a kindle, an iPad, or a smartphone to read my book on.  Show me an app that can help me learn something new.  I love my smartphone because it’s portable, convenient, and a lot easier on my back.

New advances in virtual distance programs make higher education accessible to more Americans. Nowadays, for your organic chemistry class, you can perform lab experiments from the comfort of your own home. You can do your assignments at 6 pm or 3 am, and your online instructors won’t mind really have any idea. As long as you get your tests and homework assignments in by the required due dates, you’ll be in the clear. Does it sound too good to be true? Are you excited about embarking upon the e-learning journey, where independent, e- learning reigns free? You should be, as it will be an exciting endeavor. However, with great power comes great responsibility. What are you supposed to do when your friend invites you to go out for lunch when you’re supposed to be studying?  Are you supposed to study on the weekends? Is it ok if you socialize on a Friday night instead of reading for your online history class? Here are some tips you can follow to help organize your time, while enrolled in online courses. If you follow these tips, you can find an adequate balance between your social life and your studies.

Set a Schedule

Although online courses can be incredibly convenient, they are just as time-consuming as traditional courses. In order to learn all the necessary information, you have to give yourself adequate time. It is important to set a realistic schedule for yourself and STICK TO IT.  At the beginning of the course, find out how long it takes you to complete assignments and readings. Also, see when you work more efficiently. Are you a night owl? Or do work best early in the morning? Set your schedule accordingly! One you set your schedule, make sure to NOT schedule any social events during that time period. Tell your friends you can see them on nights/days that don’t coincide with assignment due dates.

Lacking Self-Control? Cut off Your Communications

So you made your schedule, but what do you do when your friend calls you to go out for drinks the night before your big test? How about making sure she can’t call and tempt you to go out in the first place? Turn off your phone, log out of your social networking sites, and GET serious! When you’re studying, concentrate on what you’re doing. This way, you’ll spend a lot less time working.

Reward Yourself for Your Hard Work

It is important to take breaks to make sure you don’t burn yourself out. Schedule breaks in your study schedule. Perhaps you can do work in the morning and meet your boyfriend or girlfriend for lunch. Or study all day and spend the evening eating dinner with your friends. If you study for a few hours, call a friend or family member for a ten minute conversation. This will give you the fuel you need to go back to hitting the books!

The Apple iPad has proven to be wildly popular immediately following its release. It has been hailed as the next substantively different tech gadget, positioning itself as a happy medium between the stodgily semi-portable laptop and the mostly text-call-and-surf smart phone. It weds simplicity and performance, a computer that you can easily fit in a purse. Even before its release, and especially in the months after, educators have been speculating about the iPad’s use in the classroom. Surely, in our increasingly online educational worlds, the iPad would be a boon for students and professors, right? According to a recent Chronicle of Higher article, many educators say doubt it. Here are a few limitations of the higher ed classroom uses of the iPad.

1. You can’t type quickly with your finger.
Although many educators envision that the iPad or a similar tablet gadget will eventually replace heavy textbooks and unwieldy notebooks, combining everything into one neat package, the fact still stands that you can’t take notes on the iPad. The finger-pecking of the iPad works with texting on smart phones, but not so much if you want to write comprehensive notes quickly during class.

2. Annotation is either not possible or difficult.
In addition to taking notes, both college students and professors find that marking class texts is an important part of the studying and learning process. Even those books and texts that are available on the iPad do not have the mechanisms in place to annotate. On laptops and physical texts, underlining and jotting down marginalia is relatively simple.

3. Textbook and other educational material companies have been slow to adapt its offerings to the iPad platform and vice versa.
While many textbook companies have explored the possibilities to expand their offerings on platforms like the iPad, they have been slow to adapt. This is so both because of Apple’s closed system, making it a risk for some publishers to meet Apple’s demands, and because textbook companies are watching and waiting for a potential competitor in the tablet industry that will catch on more quickly at schools and universities.

4. It presents yet another tempting distraction for students sitting in the classroom.
As noted in the Chronicle of Higher Education article (note especially the comments section), professors are especially not completely on board with implementing iPad on a wholesale basis in the classroom. A common complaint is that it becomes yet another gadget that enables students to surf the Internet during class to browse information unrelated to the course. At the same time, however, some professors noted that it was more difficult to hide unrelated browsing on an iPad than on a laptop, which can fold and conceal the screen from others’ view.

Although the iPad has yet to catch a mainstream student audience because of these factors and various others, including the sometimes prohibitive cost, tablets will inevitably become more common classroom fare in the future. As the article notes, if learners can produce ample demand, then the professors will be forced to adjust.

Most college professors have mixed feelings about Wikipedia, and they tend to fall on the negative site of the fence. This, of course, is understandable, as most faculty conducted their own university research back when card catalogues were still being used to find books in libraries. At the same time, however, Wikipedia can be a good tool, if used wisely, when you must research ideas and topics for papers, essays, projects, or presentations. Here are a few tips for using Wikipedia and other online platforms for conducting research:

1. Never use Wikipedia as a source.

Although some professors may be old-fashioned, they are completely justified in not allowing the citation of Wikipedia as a primary source. This is because Wikipedia, although using an inherent system of checks and balances, is created by pretty much anyone and everyone, and articles are all short summaries of information. Wikipedia, does however, provide a great platform for other sources that you can use. Check out the books and articles that are cited at the bottom of Wikipedia articles, which are usually respectable and fair game.

2. Go to a public or university library while conducting online research to have access to academic journals and other online scholarly sources.

A lot of the good, scholarly information available on the web is locked down by databases that require payment. Although more and more solid information is becoming “open”, sites like JSTOR still block access. Instead of paying for articles yourself however, use the Internet at a library or other institution that subscribes to scholarly databases.

3. Avoid using or citing material from non-experts.

This may be a no-brainer for some of you, but it’s best to avoid citing information from the Web that is informal and purveyed by non-experts. These sites include personal blogs, press releases as opposed to actual newspaper articles, and material from content farms like eHow and Demand Media.

4. Never, ever plagiarize information. Cite all sources meticulously, even if you aren’t directly quoting.

I’m sure at some point in your academic career, you were given the lecture about plagiarizing. While you certainly know that copying and pasting word for word is wrong, what many people do is plagiarize without even being aware of it. Putting information into your own words is fine, but you still have to cite your original source. It’s very rare that you’ll come up with completely original insights, so be sure to pay tribute to those who helped you out in your research. You know you’d want the same credit if someone used your work for their research paper.

5. Google the smart way.

One of the most important skills of the 21st century, whether or not you are student, is learning how to differentiate good information from bad information on the Web, since there’s a lot of bad info out there. Although Google recently tweaked its algorithm to get rid of crap stuff on content farms, you will still have to use your own discretion. Change up your keyword searches to get different results, and use Google Scholar and Google News to get more high quality info.

The best thing about pursuing a degree online is the flexibility it affords. The convenience of completing coursework in your pajamas if you wanted to is what makes online schooling such a wonderful option for those of us who want the freedom to set our own schedules. Online schooling also means that you can take vacations whenever you feel like it. As such, you can take advantage of cheaper airfare by going on vacation during off seasons. Of course, you’ll still have to complete your work, but gone are the days when you had to wait till spring break to take a week off at the beach. Here are some tips for managing your online coursework while on vacation.

1. Make sure that your place of accommodation has a fast and solid 24-hour Internet connection.
   This is the most important consideration you’ll want to keep in mind, especially if you are traveling overseas to countries in which Internet connections aren’t as readily available. Some cities have very few free Wi-Fi spots. Although most cities and towns will have “Internet cafes” for tourists, these places are mostly for a quick email check, not several hours of use. The fees at cafes tend to add up, so it’s best to make sure your hotel or hostel has Wi-Fi for customer use.
2. Make a list of all the materials and equipment you’ll need to take with you.
   When we are studying and completing coursework at home, of course, we have all the materials and equipment we normally use at our disposal. However, when you go on vacation, chances are you might forget something. Make sure that you make a list of all the things you’ll need several days before you embark on your journey, including items like your laptop, notebooks, textbooks, as well as some things we tend to overlook, like passwords to particular courses, etc.
3. Plan out all your assignments such that you make time for play.
   If you’re spending some time in an exotic locale while still having to complete assignments, time management become so much more important, as you don’t want to spend your entire vacation doing work. Make sure that you schedule all your homework and study time such that you finish everything in the early afternoon, giving you plenty of time to explore sights as well as experience the nightlife.
4. Set up automatic emails notifying friends, family, and professors that you are out of town but will get back to them as soon as possible.
   Going on vacation, especially if you are going overseas, means that you’ll be in a different time zone than those with whom you usually keep in contact. As such, it’s extremely important to notify your professors that you may not be able to respond to emails immediately. The easiest way to do that is to set up an automatic email notification system on your email account, so that everyone who tries to get in touch with you will know that you may respond later than you normally do.

Pursuing a degree online is one of the most convenient ways to be working toward a professional goal while still making time for yourself. Take advantage of this and go on vacation when you feel like you need the break. At the same time, however, make sure you plan everything carefully so that you have a great time while still getting all your work done. Bon voyage!

In a recent report, consulting firm Eduventures found that online colleges faced the toughest regulatory obstacles in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, New Mexico, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Essentially, these states were the least open to allowing online programs to enroll resident students and otherwise operate inside their borders. And yet, elsewhere across the nation, states have done well to keep abreast with eLearning developments, allowing their students who desire an education to seek it however they see fit.

Part of the trouble that online programs in the Midwest and South face is a result of the U.S. Department of Education’s backing away from creating a nationwide regulatory stance regarding what it means for an online program to function within a state. Instead, the department has left states and online degree programs alone to work it out between themselves, though it did say that programs that do not pass state requirements will not be eligible to receive financial aid.

This mandate is effective this coming July, which means that states have several months to further define how they expect online degree programs to work, what will be allowed, and what will not be allowed. The good news, however, for online and eLearning programs is that the majority of states, around 34, are permissive in allowing the program to not be licensed by state regulators and not keep a physical location within state borders. These two permissions allow online degree programs to flourish healthily.

So what then for states and online degree programs in the Midwest and South? Inside Higher Education suggests that we cannot be sure if they will loosen up their regulations or not, though they suggest that the growth of non-profit online degree programs could be a good indicator that the method of educating students is becoming far more acceptable. States will have to follow or risk being left behind.

Unfortunately, until that happens, those organizations that are new to online learning could suffer under those strict regulations, especially since the federal government has not stepped in to simplify everything. Those same non-profit programs aren’t as well adjusted to regulations as the for-profit counterparts, so they could struggle to meet the complex requirements that vary state-by-state.

So how can new online and eLearning programs learn to deal with and adapt to these different regulations? One thing to try to do is to look at how established online programs work with different states. They should examine successful online programs and try to replicate their own methods as they work to establish themselves.

All that’s left to be seen is how states prepare for the July federal aid mandate.

As you are aware, the contest for graphic designers ended on January 31, 2011. Despite several viral marketing strategies and our personal invitation to over hundereds of graphic designers, this contest received entries from just TWO contestants! Its our pleasure to thank Mr. Mayukh Das and Ms. Shivi Kapil for their interest to participate in this contest.

Mayukh's Entry

Shivi's Entry

Its time for announcing the results! Entries from both contestants were unique and awesome in many ways. Mr. Mayukh’s entry conveyed the meaning of e-learning in a traditional way of representation using appealing color schemes and graphic objects. On the other hand, Ms. Shivi’s entry was simple yet innovative in conveying the meaning of e-learning. Considering various parameters such as design style, use of color schemes, and clarity in conveying the meaning of the contest theme, we chose both Mr. Mayukh Das and Ms. Shivi Kapil as the winners of this graphic design contest. We will share the total prize amount of $20 between them.

Congratulations winners. You will shortly be receiving your prize amount :)

Note: If the contestants agree, we will also share their contact details with you. Watch out our blog section frequently for updates in this regard.

Online education has become a well maintained version of education which combines teaching, learning, and technological communication systems. Electronic learning takes place both in the classroom and outside of the classroom. With new software, children of all grades can attend computer lab classes and utilize the electronic systems to learn from a variety of subjects. Outside of the classroom, electronic learning commences in the form of online courses where students are not required to take courses in a classroom setting, but rather an online version of a classroom inclusive of homework, tests, study materials, and interactive community games.

Whether the learning is web-based or computer-based, e-learning establishes classroom opportunities virtually as well as digitally. Through CD-ROMS and the internet, children are delivered e-learning content, including e-learning games. Without using computer software, e-learning games are available for students of all grades on the web. For basic learning activities geared toward younger children, there are sites such as Fun with Spot, Crayola, Bob the Builder, NatGeo Kids, Dr. Seuss’ University, as well as Ben & Jerry’s Fun Stuff. As far as categories are concerned there are games online for animal learning, art, coloring, comics, crafts, dinosaurs, history, math, music, literature, English, science, space, books, sports, television, architecture, computers, life skills, health, as well as environmental skills.

Websites offering e-learning games about animals include Petcyclopedia, Bow Wow Meow, Animal Planet, Planet Pets, and OWL Kids. As far as art is concerned, KinderArt, Haring Kids, Metropolitan Museum, Animation Learning, Color Matters, Rudiments of Wisdom, and Cartoon Critters each offer e-learning games for grades K-12. Comics which include e-learning games include Tarzan, Calvin & Hobbes, Peanuts, Fat Cats, Ripley’s Believe it or Not, and Garfield. Coloring is taught through e-learning games from Sesame Street, Scooby Doo, Arther the Aardvark, Fisher-Price Coloring, NASA Kids, Magic School Bus, and Peanuts Coloring Book.

E-learning games for learning about dinosaurs include Curse of T Rex, Discovering Dinosaurs, Jurassic Park Institute, Walking with Dinosaurs, Follow a Fossil, and Dinorama. Crafts are taught through interactive e-learning games from KinderArt, Magic School Bus, Let’s Try Origami, Balloon Twisting, Elmer’s Glue Crafts, and Out of the Box. History is taught through Maya Adventure, Triumph of the Nerds, 1900 House, Color Me Egypt, Enter the Middle Ages, History of Video Games, The Revolutionaries, America’s Story, and Life in Ancient Civilizations. Math games are found at Math Stories, Math Advantage, Figure This!, Escape from Knab, A+ Math, Cool Math, Brain Bashers, and Math Goodies.

Children of all levels can continue their musical education through e-learning games from Amanda’s Melodies, Disney Music, Play Music, Music Genre Sampler, Learn About Instruments, Intro to Reading Music, Guitar Lesson World, and Creating Music. Science tips are found from Cool Science, Strange Science, Extreme Science, Brain Pop, Amusement Park Physics, Exploring Leonardo, Skateboard Science, Volcanoes, and Your Weight on Other Worlds. Space education is expounded upon through games from Amazing Space, NASA Observatorium, Space Camp, Space Kids, Astronomy for Kids, Sea & Sky, Understanding the Universe, Star Child, and You Wanna Be an Astronaut?

Sure, online education suffers from scam artists who steal people’s money in exchange for worthless pieces of paper. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find a reputable, valuable online program—you just have to do some research first. From the course style to financial aid, take a good long look at any college you are seriously considering, as well as your own needs, before you jump into any online program.

1. Is this college or program accredited?
   Accreditation is sort of like Consumer Reports, but for college programs. In accreditation, third party agencies evaluate a school or program’s curriculum, teachers, and overall merit, and only if they meet certain standards will the school receive accreditation.
   National and regional accreditation are two types of accreditation that are awarded to an entire school or institution. You can check the Department of Education’s database of accredited colleges to see if your school has these credentials. Programmatic accreditation may be important for you if you’re pursuing a particular type of degree, say nursing or business, where certification by a professional group is helpful. You can check the Bureau of Labor Statistics website for your desired career, to see if programmatic accreditation is necessary for your job.
2. Does it participate in the Department of Education’s federal financial aid program?
   If you’re interested in getting any of the federal government’s money to help pay for your education, in the form of grants, subsidized, and unsubsidized loans, your school has to participate in the Department of Education’s financial aid program. Ask the school’s financial aid officer if you’re unsure, and make sure you fill out the FAFSA 6-8 months before you enroll.
3. Does it offer merit or need based financial aid?
   Besides money from the government and private lenders, you may be eligible for grants or other scholarships through your school. See if they decide financial aid packages based on merit or need: if you’re a stellar student, merit will be better for you; if you’re facing financial hardship, a need-based package is probably a better bet.
4. What type of online classes does it offer?
   Not all online classes are created equally. In fact, there are four distinct types, ranging in their flexibility and time commitment. Some are self-paced, meaning students work through the syllabus independently, without due dates. Others have due dates, but give you flexibility about when you log on to watch lectures or do assignments. Synchronous classes require students to get online at certain times, to chat with professors or peers. Finally, hybrid classes have some in-person requirements at a nearby college, while still keeping some of their curriculum online.
5. How much professor/peer interaction will it have?
   A truly great online program will give students full access to professors and peers, in the same way that a traditional program would. See how closely students work with their instructors—a  very interactive program will have video chats, instant messaging, and frequent emailing between professors and students.
6. Can I really make this commitment?
   Online college can offer a very flexible alternative to regular school, for people who need to continue working or taking care of other obligations. Be realistic with the time commitment you can make, however, and don’t overload yourself with course work that you can’t realistically complete. Is it possible to work full time and go to school full time? Yes. Is it enjoyable or easily managed? Probably not. 
7. Does it have everything I want?
   If you’re going to the local college near you, you probably have to accept whatever major or price tag they have to offer. Prospective online students should remember that with online school, you don’t have to settle. You’re not hindered by geographical location, so you can find a program with the specific focus you want, the right type of classes, and with a good price tag. You just have to look around.

For a few years now, it’s been all about Web 2.0, the new and current avatar of the evolving face of the Internet. This version is more interactive, it allows you to voice your opinion and be heard, and it lets you take an active part rather than just be a passive bystander. It’s a great tool for communication because you can reach the far ends of the world with just a computer and an Internet connection, and it makes the commonest of men as famous as kings and queens.

While we all know that Web 2.0 can be used for marketing and entertainment purposes, we’re still unaware of how it can be used as a training tool. Corporations spend millions of dollars in training their employees and getting them to adapt to their ways of doing things. With Web 2.0 tools, training becomes easier and more personalized. Also, these tools lend themselves to customization and sustenance. The advantages of Web 2.0 as a training tool include:

• Information can be tailored to the needs of any organization. With Web 2.0 tools, it’s easy to adapt any training material and tweak it to suit your company and the kind of employees you need to train.  
• From the sheer volume of information, it’s easy to assimilate only what you really need by filtering out unnecessary content and retaining what’s necessary to your training needs. 
• Information and tools are accessible from any location and are not confined to any physical area or place. This means that training can be conducted anywhere, and at very short notice too. 
• New information can be added as and when available to the training module by keeping tabs on your sources through RSS readers and aggregators.
• There is a wide cross section of tools available to make the training more effective – audio, video and text combine to form multimedia presentations that pack a more effective punch than just the written or spoken word alone.

However, in spite of all these advantages, Web 2.0 tools for training work only when:

• There are ways to authenticate and validate information from multiple sources that contradict each other. 
• There is no fear of technology in those being trained 
• There are adequate safeguards to protect the information from being stolen or being tampered with.
• There are ways to deal with and overcome the failure of technology when it happens. The danger of keeping all your data online is that technology could let you down in more ways than one when you need it the most.

If organizations can find ways to maximize the potential of Web 2.0 tools for training and minimize their disadvantages, that’s when these tools live up to their billing.

In today’s society, we can obtain a lot more than just music and movies online – we can even achieve an education. Being in charge of making sure that students have the opportunity to actively practice what they are learning, an Instructional Designer is responsible for designing and developing learning experiences. Simply pouring heaps of content into PowerPoint slides and Word documents and asking students to read it all does not create an interactive experience. As An Instructional Designer, one is responsible for knowing how people learn, and is in charge of creating ideas on how to help individuals learn better. The simple function of an Instructional Designer is to create learning and facilitate practicing.

However before they can do so, the audience for the course must be known. Once you know who you’re talking to and what their skill levels are, then you can begin the extensive task of actually putting the training program together. As you begin, you must never forget the importance of organization. If you cannot easily navigate your way to the information needed, it cannot be expected of the students. An easy way of keeping things in order is by creating an outline.

When you are creating an online world designed to give students a realm where they can find engaging learning activities, it is important to think outside the box. The stereotypical thought of e-learning is that students just sit at their computers to take an online class. But that is not so, thanks to the boom of technology. In fact, our society has witnessed over the last half decade that online learning can be much more than simply studying on a laptop. Today’s e-learning tools go beyond computers and extend into the realm of MP3 players, podcasts, blogs and more.

While students can still take online classes on their laptops, they can also download podcasts of a course’s lecture to their phones or MP3 players to review wherever and whenever they have time. Flexibility is important as it can take away some of past limitations.

A professor’s blog is a great place for posting a course syllabus, any necessary assignment changes, or other important information such as due dates. In addition, by providing each student with their fellow classmates contact information (e-mail and cell phone number), study groups can be arranged fast and effortlessly. These sessions can allow students the chance to answer any questions they may have about the material they are studying.

Something important when you are learning is being able to check your own progress along the way. Having access to ongoing grades for each course a student is taking can enhance their effort and impact how they study their subjects. For example, maybe you didn’t know you needed to spend more time on Math than Science. With self-checks on progress, you will know where your weaknesses lie so that you work on strengthening them.

Another great tool for e-learning is about availability. Students need to be able to communicate with their professors on a regular basis. This can be achieved through instant messages or over the phone. No matter which outlet is used, that communication must take place.

There are multiple different e-learning tools out there. Some may only fit a certain criteria, so it is important to know all of the resources you have to work with. In the end, it is all about learning and practicing.

What do professors who teach online courses really think about teaching online? It depends on who you ask. Scott Brady, geography professor at Chico State, and Jay Halfond, Dean of Metropolitan College & Extended Education and Associate Professor of Administrative Sciences, have different views about online education.

Scott Brady, who has taught at least one online course every semester for nine years, stated, “You come up will all these things as a teacher, like whether you’re going to tell a joke at the five-minute mark, or whether you’re going to ask a certain student something. I don’t know if I can put that into an online environment. I can’t bring everything to an online course that I can with a traditional course.”

Regarding online teaching, Halfond, who taught both online and traditional courses for several years, said, “[With online classes] it is easier to make thoughtful, substantiative contributions, much more so than in the classroom, where you might get 30 seconds to talk. It encourages students to think more deliberately and write better.”

A study performed by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities – Sloan National Commission on Online Learning included interviews of administrative and faculty members. The study showed that 64% of faculty felt that it takes “somewhat more” or “a lot more” effort to teach an online course compared to teaching a face-to-face class. The report, Online Learning as a Strategic Asset, includes the results of 231 interviews of administrators, faculty, and students at 45 public institutions located across the nation and more than 10,700 comments from faculty members that teach a variety of subjects.

According to the above mentioned report, a large majority of the instructors stated their primary motivation to teach online was to “meet student needs for flexible access” or because it offers the “best way to reach particular students.”

According to the study, many faculty members were dissatisfied with the support services and the incentives provided by public universities. Faculty members ranked seven of eight support dimensions as below average, including support for course development, course delivery, and students; intellectual property policies; recognition in tenure and promotion; and incentives for creating and delivering online classes. The only support structure rates as average was technical infrastructure.

In Volume II of the report, which is available at the same website, the majority of faculty members with online teaching or development experience stated that the learning outcomes of online classes are as good or better than face-to-face instruction. Also, over 85% percent of faculty members with online course development experience stated it takes “somewhat more” or “a lot more” effort than traditional classes.

According to Janet Poley, President of the American Distance Education Consortium, tenured colleagues or department chairs, in some cases, advise professors to stop teaching online if they want to get on a tenure track. “Because the perception is that if the online teaching is going to take more time than face-to-face, what they should be doing is teaching face-to-face and getting their research projects started,” Poley said. “If the incentives aren’t matched up administratively, then you’re going to have people who at a minimum are frustrated.”

Online learning is increasingly popular, so colleges and universities will have to figure out a way to meet the needs of professors.

It’s an issue that’s being dogged by controversy after the other; what with state-run public schools being up in arms against the funds that are allotted to virtual charter schools because they’re not limited to admitting students from one district alone and with for-profit organizations supplying learning materials and online curriculum, allegations of corporate profiteering are rampant in the online K12 schooling environment. But even with all these controversies, K12 online schools offer various benefits for middle and high school students:

• Those who live in small towns and don’t have access to quality public schools stand to gain the most because they’re provided with access not just to the right study materials and lessons, but also because they have qualified teachers to guide and instruct them and because they get to interact with students from various geographical locations. Students find that the experience broadens their horizons and allows them to see beyond the perspective and periphery of their hometowns. 
• For parents who prefer to homeschool their children but have no clue as to how to set an organized study schedule or buy the right homeschooling material, online charter schools are a boon because they provide students with a computer, Internet connection, and various other materials needed to learn online. The moms only have to supervise their kids as they engage in reading, writing, arithmetic and various other activities. 
• The curriculum is more practical in nature and may involve varied activities that are not offered in regular high schools. So your repertoire is wide and your skill sets varied. 
• Schedules are flexible and lessons can be completed at the students’ pace instead of the student having to keep pace with the school – this works out well for students who are skilled in other aspects like sports, music or the arts and devote most of their time to practice and competitions. 
• If the student is dedicated, he or she can finish high school in less time than it takes at regular schools. Online schools offer a fast track route to your high school diploma if you’re dedicated and determined to get there earlier. 
• Although the lack of face-to-face interaction between teacher and student and the lack of camaraderie and communication with fellow students is often cited as a reason to eschew online education in the K12 environment, in some ways, this turns out to be a boon rather than a bane. Students are spared of peer pressure and are at less risk of developing habits that could derail their education and turn them onto the wrong path.

Online K12 schools are here to stay, and for students who are not averse to treading a new path, they’re a good alternative to your usual public school.

E-learning has picked up speed in university settings with the advent and rapid expansion of online courses over the last 10 years, as well as the use of e-learning platforms like Blackboard to supplement traditional courses. Virtual university libraries emerged as the next logical step to aid college students in the e-learning process. The idea of universities’ virtual libraries making e-books and research articles available to students online is nothing new. But until now, the virtual university library has primarily been a supplemental thing the cherry on top of a physical library where real volumes of real bound books sit in neatly organized rows. What’s new is the idea of eliminating physical books from libraries entirely and moving all or at least the lion’s share of books and research articles online.

I read an interesting article in USA Today recently that explores how the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Applied Engineering and Technology Library lays claim to being perhaps the first university library to make its on-site collection available only online. You’ve probably heard of people going paperless with their bills. In this case, the library has gone bookless. You heard it right you won’t find any bound books sitting in this university library. This virtual library isn’t shrimpy either. Students have access to 425,000 e-books and 18,000 electronic journal articles from this bookless library.

The reason an accomplishment like this is possible is due to the fact that today’s modern students are well acclimatized to reading books and conducting research online. The introduction of products like the Kindle and Nook have facilitated a move to reading books online for leisure. Online degree programs are continuing their push toward making textbooks available online along with everything else. It only makes sense that you can find complete library resources online and even instant message librarians for help.

The article also discusses how some university libraries have greatly reduced the number of bound books they have on their shelves, instead investing in collecting more online books and materials. Many physical books have been moved to off-site storage at these libraries, where they are available on request. In addition, many university libraries are beginning to devote less space to books and more space for study and meeting space.

Is UT San Antonio’s bookless library a sign of things to come? This remains to be seen.

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Harold Jarche
• Donald Clark

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Virtual classrooms – Democratizing education” by Arunima Majumdar.
• “Learning culture and social media” by Joost Robben.
• “ Using case studies/scenarios for new application training” by Rupa Rajagopalan.
• “7 simple rapid e-learning tips & free PowerPoint template” by Tom Kuhlmann. 
• “Starting a training program – 5 things to keep in mind” by Sumeet Moghe.
• “Augmented reality and m-learning” by Craig Weiss.
• “7 tactics for training in recession” by Donald Clark.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Recent technological advancements have allowed eLearning developers to track learners’ eye movements as they complete various tasks within a specific lesson or course module. This technology can be extremely useful in two areas: 1) long-term development of courses and 2) short-term/real-time feedback for instructors. Essentially, this technology could greatly improve educators’ ability to improve how eLearning practices can best serve students.

The potential comes from a current trend in research to find new ways to evaluate students’ engagement with eLearning material. One specific project that seems to be breaking new ground in this area is AdELE (adaptive elearning with eye-tracking). Those behind AdELE say that such technology could improve both the teaching process and the learning process. Authors of another recent research paper, titled “Eye-tracking Users’ Behavior in Relation to Cognitive Style within an E-Learning Environment” agree, especially in regard to the way technology could help users personalize their eLearning experience, saying that there are “two implications in the design of e-learning and hypermedia applications: a) the psychometric tool and theory are both suitable for identifying types of users and b) the [Cognitive Styles Analysis] reveals differences in information processing and may be used as a personalization parameter.”

Results of general research concerning eye movement among those who learn via different cognitive styles can significantly help eLearning developers to create more efficient courses in the long term. By reevaluating and constantly updating courses, educators can ensure that their content and methods are benefitting students. After analyzing the eye positions and movement as well as score results of a particular test group, developers could filter from their content the less relevant material. Additionally, they could help create customizable applications within each module that allow different kinds of learners to select how the information is presented in order to best meet their particular learning style.

Furthermore, with this technology, instructors could monitor how their students process the information and work through the course. For example, the data concerning students’ eye movements could be stored in each student’s account, so that the instructor and student could make adjustments to the course as needed. If a student’s data suggests that he or she has recently been tired while studying, the student could schedule a different study period. If a recent set of scores are low, the instructor could check to see how the student looked at the course material and reassign it or present it in a new form in order to help the student. Of course, such an application would have to be used with care, otherwise the instructor could find him or herself wading through files of raw data rather than interacting with students.

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Sasha Scott
• The CommLab India Blogging Team

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “The misuse of common terms in the learning and development industry” by the ElementK Blogging Team.
• “Strategies for learning and performance support: a summary” by Clive Shepherd.
• “Training for a critical incident in a 3D virtual environment” by Karl Kapp.
• “How to revamp your learning model” by Ryan Tracey.
• “Using teleseminars for training” by Connie Malamed.
• “Digital instructional media design 101- graphics“ by the Upside Learning Solutions Blogging Team.
• “Seven steps for using more rich media in learning” by Ellen Wagner.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Brandon Hall – Workplace Learning Today team
• Karl Kapp
• Clark Quinn

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Corporate handwriting – why typography is important in e-learning” by the Saffron Interactive team.
• “Make course updates easier” by the E-learning Brothers team.
• “Call center application tutorial for Standard Chartered Bank” by the Kern Learning Solutions team.
• “UI design tips for touch screen apps” by the G-Cube Solutions team.
• “Think like a product designer” by Connie Malamed.
• “Optimizing web media for mobile learning“ by the Upside Learning Solutions team.
• “Social learning and LMS marketplace” by Craig Weiss.
• “Think workscapes, not training” by Sumeet Moghe.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Tony Bates
• The Upside Learning Solutions team

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “The Evolving Social Organization” by Harold Jarche.
• “Blended learning – Benefits to organizations” by the CommLab India team.
• “Going from classroom to blended learning: Put it all in the blender and hit go!” by Debora Gallo.
• “E-learning outsourcing: 5 keys to make it work” by the Upside Learning Solutions team.
• “Do you really need instructions on how to use an e-learning course?” by Tom Kuhlmann.
• “Product review: SoftChalk 6 – Rapid content authoring tool” by Craig Weiss.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Tony Bates
• David Hopkins
• The Upside Learning Solutions Team

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Is social media hype or reality?” by Gautam Ghosh.
• “What’s your training design superpower?” by Trina Rimmer.
• “Anatomy of an e-learning lesson: Merrill’s first principles” by Shelley A. Gable.
• “Finding your place in Instructional Design” by Connie Malamed.
• “Social learning without the technology – 7 patterns to try out” by Sumeet Moghe.
• “Top 10 LMS or LCMS trends and forecasts” by Craig Weiss.
• “Want to build better e-learning courses? Think beer” by Tom Kuhlmann.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Tony Bates
• Karl Kapp
• Michael Hanley

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “A case for templatized e-learning content” by Rupa Rajagopalan.
• “What to take into account when choosing a mobile device for learning?” by Inge de Waard.
• “Analysis for e-learning projects” by Connie Malamed.
• “How beautiful does e-learning need to be?” by Patrick Dunn.
• “22 social learning strategy questions to answer before your next lesson” by Renee L. Robbins.
• “Performance consulting: finding the best solution from the training, informal learning, performance support mix” by Jane Hart.
• “8 tips for creating impactful graphics in e-learning” by Arunima Majumdar.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

It’s time for the first online contest of this year This is a contest for graphic designers and other e-learning professionals who are interested in developing graphics. This contest will be open till January 31, 2011. The winner will receive a prize amount of $20. Click here to view further information about this contest.

Regards,
E-Learning Planet Team

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Gina Minks
• The Articulate team
• Jay Cross
• The Upside Learning Solutions team

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Real learning – let’s not confuse it with completing templated exercises” by Charles Jennings.
• “Here are 3 factors you should consider before you plan a training solution” by Sumeet Moghe.
• “10 tips on using tables in your e-learning courses” by Tom Kuhlmann.
• “Challenges with the Cloud” by Manish Mohan.
• “Creating safer peer-to-peer learning experiences” by Eric Davidove.
• “If you build it, will they come?” by Craig Weiss.
• “4 ways to build interactive courses like an e-learning guru” by Jeanette Brooks.
• “10 visual design ideas for designing guru-style e-learning” by David Anderson.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Mark Berthelemy
• Tony Bates
• The Upside Learning Solutions team

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “12 user centered issues for sustainability of learning projects in international settings” by Inge de Waard.
• “Designing e-learning for IMPACT” by Lars Hyland.
• “New models for Indian education” by Viplav Baxi.
• “Collecting data from an e-learning pilot” by the Integrated Learning Services team.
• “Text-to-speech overview and NLP quality” by Tony Karrer.
• “E-learning templates” by Connie Malamed.
• “Total cost of ownership for LMS” by the G-Cube Solutions team.
• “Articulate, Moodle, and SCORM” by Joe Deegan.
• “True or False? Using True-False Quiz Questions is a Total Cop Out” by the Mindflash team.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Beth Kanter
• The Upside Learning Solutions team
• Michael Hanley

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Top 7 things to consider before implementing SCORM for mobile devices” by The Upside Learning Solutions team.
• “Future is now: what e-learning pros can learn from interactive marketing” by MariAn Klein.
• “Content commerce: the “Halo” effect for e-Learning through social media” by Shrinivasan.
• “The impact of Internet and web in K-12 education, higher education, and adult education” by Priya Gopalakrishnan.
• “Moodle pros and cons update” by Joe Deegan.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

3D environments can be incredibly engaging, interactive and cost effective when supported by the right technology and functionality. For several years now, trainers, business professionals and educators have been experimenting with 3D technologies and techniques, and much has been learned. Following is a listing of important tips for any successful 3D e-learning, training or collaborative experience.

1. Provide a Road Map
   Just as in real life, it is important that your attendees are provided with specific details on the location of the event and how to get there. It’s important to provide attendees with basic steps on how to login to your meeting and how to move around in the world they are using. The first problem that new users in 3D environments tend to face is navigation. How do I get my avatar where I need to be or sit down at that table? Non-gamers have a hard time walking around using arrow keys and tend to collide with things. Having attendees appear already in their seats can minimize many issues. Likewise, flying, teleporting and using portals within a virtual world is also very cool but not the kind of things people want to figure out when late for a meeting or class.  Try to look for 3D platforms where navigation and set up is simple, takes minutes.
2. Make it Real
   Realism is an important part of fidelity that addresses how life-like the 3D experience appears.  For example, do avatars move in a natural and convincing way? Do they make eye contact when they look at each other? Do their lips move appropriately while speaking? The key to an immersive movie viewing experience is the suspension of disbelief. We have all watched low budget movies with poor and unconvincing graphics and sets. No matter how great the dialogue or story line, you probably struggled to “get into” the movie. The attendee’s mind should have minimal obstacles in accepting the virtual venue and other attendees as reasonable likenesses of what is being simulated. If others appear as flat cartoons incapable of neck movement or the ability to walk without “ice skating”, then the business professional or student is constantly being reminded that the environment is not real. Realism is important because it helps the virtual world to “get out of the way” so that attendees can focus on the goals of the gathering.
3. Don’t Forget the Props
   As any good teacher knows, the more visuals you have the better. The best 3D worlds are those that allow users to mouse click directly on the object, person or content with which they want to interact with and provide the ability to clearly read content from anywhere in a virtual environment. The best interface for viewing content involves two capabilities: first, users should be able to zoom their focus in on content without actually having to move their avatar closer to it.  A second important capability for viewing very small content is an in-venue floating window. This technique forces the selected content to enlarge and float in reading position within the 3D environment.  
4. Offer an Alternative for Sound
   Many users do not have a headset or are behind firewalls that do not allow them to connect to the Voice Over IP channel required for most virtual worlds. The best dial-in solution is one that turns the attendee’s telephone receiver into a VoIP headset, for all practical purposes, and usually is offered as part of a virtual world training package.
5. Out-of-World Experience
   Make sure your materials are working correctly not only within the virtual world, but outside of it as well. Browsing the Internet and viewing web-base applications is a requirement for most 3D virtual training and meeting platforms. Platforms that have taken the time to integrate the operating system’s native browser into their 3D engine will have much better compatibility and provide a more consistent viewing experience for virtual attendees.  

While the fusing of two unrelated works of art is not particularly new, an emerging trend in the world of books is what’s been dubbed the “literary mash-up”. The whole idea seems somewhat absurd, but these books sell. And they sell well. Today’s most current trend in mash-up basically takes a work of literature from the established Western canon, and then injects it with a pop cultural artifact.

The first of these mash-ups was an appropriation of Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice. The novel was re-envisioned as “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” which, as the title suggests, is imbued with elements of zombie fiction. The latest installment in the Austen mash-up series is a prequel entitled “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls,” which was just released two months ago. Others in this milieu include the upcoming Android Karenina and the already released “Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters“.

The original author of the Pride and Prejudice book, Seth-Grahame Smith, was inspired by fan boy characters, and the other books, I suspect, take several leaves out of the fan fiction oeuvre. In fact, the Quirk Classics book series is essentially well-written fan fiction published in book form and widely disseminated. Again, fan fiction is nothing new, but the phenomenon has now spawned an almost exclusively Internet following.

What does this all mean for e-learning, then? While e-learning researcher Rebecca W. Black suggests that there are several English Language Learning (ELL) possibilities within fan fiction itself, I firmly believe that fan fiction can be seen as an important extension of e-learning in general.

What is interesting about e-learning, aside from the online platform that grants wider accessibility, is the fact that it actively seeks new ways to teach old ideas. What an e-learning educator can take away from literary mash-ups is this: Teaching a concept can sometimes best be accomplished by appropriating something the student can understand—in this case, zombies or sea monsters—and melding it with the new concept. This inspires confidence in the learner, perhaps even interest. Interest breeds passion, and passion is a feeling that is sorely needed in education, both online and traditional. Why? Because with passion, a student does not simply learn one lesson. Rather, she learns the ultimate lesson, a lesson that continually educates—the love of learning.

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Sahana Chattopadhyay
• Clark Aldrich
• The Upside Learning Solutions team
• Tony Bates

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Shortcuts to effective learning” by Mark Berthelemy.
• “A manager’s 5 commandments to e-learning visual designers” by Shrinivasan.
• “A few practical tips on storyboarding” by Jeffery Goldman.
• “How to create a “Zoom and Pan” effect in Powerpoint for e-learning” by Joe Deegan.
• “Instructional Designers are content neutral” by Connie Malamed.
• “LMS template – comparing vendors analysis – Apples to Apples” by Craig Weiss.
• “How to design e-learning that’s memorable and budget-friendly” by Cathy Moore.
• “Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy: examples from the online world” by Vikas Joshi.
• “Help L&D transition to T&D” by Archana Narayan.
• “Changing our ‘Trainer’ mindsets” by Sumeet Moghe.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Tony Bates
• Clark Aldrich
• Clark Quinn
• Jane Hart

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Future of learning – mind boggling” by Donald Clark.
• “Media overload in instructional web pages and its impact on elearning” by Priya Gopalakrishnan.
• “A manager’s 5 commandments to instructional designers” by Shrinivasan.
• “Using Twitter in a face-to-face workshop” by Jane Hart.
• “Top 5 tips on how to make courses SCORM compliant” by the Saffron Interactive team.
• “Elearning example: Branching scenario” by Cathy Moore.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

E-learning is a relatively new entrant to the field of education, but with the way technology is taking off and advancing today, it’s no surprise that e-learning is making rapid inroads into traditional academia. Today, the emphasis is on learning, not on the media or vehicle that allows, supports and promotes it. And with all the forms of technology that support e-learning – computers, laptops, mobile phones, and even MP3 players – it’s no wonder that e-learning is poised to create history in the world of academics.

Although e-learning is advantageous to anyone who wants to learn, there are some people who benefit more than others:

• Those who are pressed for time: Busy entrepreneurs who go back to school to earn their graduate degree benefit because they can learn on the go, whenever they have time rather than when they’re able to access their study resources. Moms who juggle homes and lessons can look over their lessons when they have a few minutes to spare rather than have to set aside hours to learn from boring and old-fashioned books.
• Those who are limited by location: It’s a typical case of the mountain coming to Mohammed if because Mohammed cannot go to the mountain – when you’re constrained by distance, the best way to learn is through technology. You don’t have to make extreme sacrifices and relocate to where education is being offered; rather, learning is delivered directly to your hands, thanks to mobile technology.
• Those who are tech-savvy: Although most people would consider the fact that e-learning requires you to understand and be able to use technology with some degree of comfort, I would say that for people who are tech savvy, it offers a convenient and sophisticated way to continue to learn. They’re not hampered by books and other traditional study material; rather, with content being pushed to their phones and other handheld devices, they’re more at home with learning using smart devices.
• Those who want to set their own pace: E-learning allows you to customize the way you learn. You don’t have to worry about the rest of your class or be afraid that you cannot keep up. Rather, you can dictate the pace of your lessons and learn according to your own timetable.

Today, applications and software platforms are being created for the dedicated purpose of fostering e-learning. And as time goes by, there will be more standardization and uniformity across the technology that runs e-learning, thus allowing more people to join this bandwagon and broaden their horizons.

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Mark Berthelemy
• Tony Bates
• Upside Learning Solutions team

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Integrate Your E-Learning with Google Docs” by the Integrated Learning Services team.
• “The Secrets of SaaS Training: Delivery” by the VMG’s Leveraging Learning team.
• “3 Ways to Introduce the Element of Surprise into Your Online Training” by the Mindflash team.
• “The Dark Side of Online Interaction” by Joitske Hulsebosch.
• “Gain Attention – What’s the Fuss?” by Archana Narayan.
• “How to Create a Visual Hierarchy” by Connie Malamed.
• “Developing a Layar Application” and “The Real Cost of a Free (Open Source) LMS” by the Upside Learning Solutions team.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

We are trying to consolidate the blogs of Indian learning professionals and companies from various sources. You can view the consolidated list on the following page:

http://elearningplanet.com/library/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=216

Please post a comment if we missed the blog(s) of an Indian learning professional or company. We are readily available to update this list as and when new bloggers enter into the blogosphere.

Regards,

E-Learning Planet Team

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Tony Bates
• Sumeet Moghe

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Top 10 considerations for Choosing an E-Learning Vendor” by Shrinivasan.
• “5 Unlearnable Elements in Your E-Learning” by Archana Narayan.
• “Expanding on the Nine Events of Instruction” and “Stock Photo Sites: How to Choose the Best One” by Connie Malamed.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Brandon Hall Team
• Clark Aldrich
• Michael Hanley

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Antithesis for Social Media Adoption: 10 points to answer for getting buy-in” by Shrinivasan.
• “Agility and Autonomy” by Harold Jarche.
• “Encouraging Employees for Innovation” by CommLab India E-Learning Team.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• David Hopkins
• Tony Bates
• The Articulate Team

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Motivating The Instructional Designer” by Connie Malamed.
• “How to convert the toughest SME” by Cathy Moore.
• “Inspiring Designs to Keep Your E-Learning Courses Looking Fresh” by Tom Kuhlmann.
• “How to facilitate synchronous learning for real and virtual learners using technology?” by Geeta Bose.
• “Creating 3D Graphics – Isometric Views With Orthographic Projection” by Abhijit Brahme.
• “How useful is strategic planning for e-learning?” by Tony Bates.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Mark Oehlert
• The Articulate Team
• The Kern Learning Solutions Team
• Karl Kapp

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “How Managers Learn” by Jay Cross.
• “Encourage Avatar Customization in a Virtual World Class” by Karl Kapp.
• “How to use Twitter for Social Learning” by Jane Hart.
• “Instructional Design and Experiential Learning” by Archana Narayan.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Clark Aldrich
• Rory Chalcraft
• Karyn Romeis

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Teacher to Instructional Designer: Interview Questions” by Christy Tucker.
• “6 Reasons To Use Amplify for Collaborative Learning” by Rupa Rajagopalan.
• “Five Tips for Creating Graphics for Mobile Devices” by Abhijit Brahme.
• “1st things first – convincing everyone to use social media” by Gina Minks.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Articulate Team
• Karl Kapp
• Michael Hanley
• Upside Learning Solutions Team

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Informal Learning enthusiasts: the Learning & Development profession can’t afford you no more” by the Bunchberry & Fern Team. 
• “10 Things To Know If You Don’t Speak English” by David Moxon.
• “10 Ways To Design For Emotions (Part III)” by Connie Malamed.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Ellen Wagner
• Beth Kanter
• Upside Learning Solutions Team

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “What does a Program Manager for Social Media in an Education Department do?” by Gina Minks. 
• “How professionals learn” by Clive Shepherd.
• “Elearning on a Shoestring – Produce content in 10 hours, and a budget of $ 0.0” by Sumeet Moghe.
• “A framework for social learning in the enterprise” by Harold Jarche.
• “When or When Not to Use Open Source LMS?” by Manish Gupta.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Sahana Chattopadhyay
• Tony Bates

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Online Success – a recipe for learners and facilitators” by Taruna Goel.
• “Teaching in Social and Technological Networks” by George Siemens.
• “Sequence: The critical link to execute successful e-Learning projects” by Shrinivasan.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Ellen Behrens
• George Siemens

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Create A Video Hotspot Question In Quizmaker’09” by David Moxon.
• “How To Use Google Buzz. The Unofficial (and Frequently Updated) Guide.” by TNW’s Social Media Channel.
• “Here’s How to Add Personality to Your E-Learning Courses” by Tom Kuhlmann.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Beth Kanter
• Harold Jarche

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Elearning in Second Life” by Ken Allan.
• “Hate to Learn?” by Archana Narayan.
• “Navigating an Online Course ( #Articulate Engage Interaction)” by Tracy Hamilton.
• “How to Effectively Architect Information for Your Elearning Course” by Sumeet Moghe.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Clark Quinn
• G-Cube’s blogging team
• Michael Hanley

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Bouncy, bubbly or British? How To Choose Voice Over Talent” by Connie Malamed.
• “Here’s how I’m approaching Personal Knowledge Management” by Sumeet Moghe.
• “Conferences Go Paperless — How Learning, Remembering, and On-the-Job Application Suffer” by Will Thalheimer.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Michael Hanley
• Karl Kapp
• Tony Karrer

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Here’s a Quick Way to Create Your Next E-Learning Template in PowerPoint” by Tom Kuhlmann.
• “Use Learning Paths to develop the right Learning Strategy” by Sumeet Moghe.
• “The Aldrich Framework for Assessing Authoring Tools” by Clark Aldrich.
• “Thinking Differently About Training Evaluation” by Tom Werner.
• “The Idiot’s Guide to Storyboarding!” by Geeta Bose.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Stephen Downes
• Harold Jarche
• Michael Hanley
• Mike Bogle

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “How Fonts Take a Starring Role in Your E-Learning Courses” by Tom Kuhlmann.
• “Checklist of Social Learning Strategies” by Kevin Jones.
• “General Considerations for Mobile Learning (mLearning)” by Abhijit Kadle.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Karl Kapp
• Stephen Downes
• Harold Jarche
• Donald Clark

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “The Six Hats of a Trainer“ by Sumeet Moghe.
• “Is education ‘blinded’ by snow?” by Donald Clark.
• “Here’s How to Be an E-Learning Superstar in 2010” by Tom Kuhlmann.
• “Understanding Your learners: All things that you can do wrong” by Archana Narayan.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Best Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Karl Kapp
• Jane Hart
• Stephen Downes
• Harold Jarche

Best Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Using Serious Games and Simulations: A Quick and Dirty Guide” by Clark Aldrich.
• “Social learning in the enterprise” by Harold Jarche.
• “What Avatar can teach us about creativity in L & D” by Sumeet Moghe.
• “1000 tweets but still not sure why” by Clive Shepherd.
• “Second Life Scripting Colour Code Explained” by Ken Allan.

Here are the aspects we look into a blogger or a blog post when selecting the above list.

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week.
• The number of positive comments from visitors.
• Ideas to develop an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies.
• Useful information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry.

Congratulations winners!

Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Jay Cross
• Karl Kapp
• Mike Bogle
• Zaid Ali Alsagoff

Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “eLearning Development: 4 Tech Considerations When Using Videos” by Sushil Kokate
• “Web 2.0 and Change Present Challenges to Many Learning Executives” by Jay Cross
•  ”How To Design Custom PowerPoint Templates for E-Learning (Plus 8 Free Templates)” by Tom Kuhlmann

Bloggers of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Bloggers of the Week” are:

• Clive Shepherd
• Michael Hanley
• Harold Jarche
• Kevin Jones

Blog Posts of the Week

The “Best E-Learning Blog Posts of the Week” are:

• “Future of the training department” by Clark Quinn
• “Innovation in Indian Learning Industry” by Manish Mohan
• “Virtual Worlds, Simulations, and Games for Education: A Unifying View” by Clark Aldrich
• “5 Essential Rapid E-Learning Tips” by Tom Kuhlmann

We just wanted to keep you posted about a possible change in our approach towards E-Learning Planet’s “Pick of the Week”. So far, we have been selecting only one blogger and a blog post as our favourite pick of the week. Based on our experiences while selecting the best blogger and blog post, we realized that more than one blogger and blog post deserve to be listed as our pick. Therefore, we now want to be more generous in our listing criteria by increasing the number of best bloggers and blog posts, rather than sticking to just ONE. By doing this, we also feel that you will get to know more interesting and useful blog posts.

Stay tuned and check out our blog section on the second half of every week to gain access to our weekly roundup of informative blog posts related to the learning industry. Have a good day.

Regards,

Sathish

Greetings and thank you for visiting elearningplanet.com! We recently crossed over 0.1 million unique page visits in just 11 months since our launch last January. Thanks for all your visits and support.

As you are aware, “Planet Library” is your one-stop source to access useful resources on e-learning. Through this library, we are also trying to build a list of male and female voice talents.

Here is how this list can help you, as a voice talent for e-learning.

The list will include brief details about your voice over services along with your contact information and voice samples.

Listing details about you and your services help you advertise your services to e-learning vendors and professionals all across the globe.

I am excited to convey that elearningplanet.com offer these benefits to you absolutely FREE of cost. You need not pay for including the details of your services on “Planet Library“.

If interested to include your services in the list, please e-mail the following details to elearningtyro@gmail.com

• Name
• Contact Information
• Website and blog, if any
• Voice Samples

After receiving these details from you, your profile will be listed in one of the following URLs:

• Profile of Male voice Talents in: http://elearningplanet.com/library/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=371
• Profile of Female Voice Talents in: http://elearningplanet.com/library/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=372

Good luck and expecting your contribution to help us build the list. Thank you in advance.

Regards,
Sathish
http://elearningplanet.com

The ‘Blogger of the Week’ is Jane Hart. 

Last week, Jane posted five blog posts with each featuring a tool of e-learning interest.

The ‘Blog Post of the Week’ is ’Why you want to use scenarios in your elearning‘ by Cathy Moore.

In this useful post,  Cathy shared an interesting story-based presentation to describe her views on using scenarios in e-learning courses.

Congratulations Jane and Cathy!

The ‘Blogger of the Week’ is Mike Bogle. 

During the previous week, Mike posted six useful blogs posts. Some of his informative posts include:

• What is Leadership in Education?
• Survey of Academic Opinion on eLearning
• Taking a Job in the Faculties 

The ‘Blog Post of the Week’ is ’A Case Study of Micro-Blogging for Learning at Qualcomm‘ by B.J.Schone.

In this useful post, Schone shared the slides from his presentation at DevLearn 2009.  The presentation briefs how micro-blogging can be used to facilitate discussions and knowledge sharing between employees across different geographical regions.

Congratulations Mike and Schone!

The ‘Blogger of the Week’ is Michael Hanley. 

During the previous week, Mike posted five useful blogs posts including:

• Free-to-use e-learning development 13: Windows Media Encoder
• Free-to-use e-learning development 12: Microsoft Producer
• Is free software really free? Open e-learning development
• Open source e-learning development 11: Moodle

The ‘Blog Post of the Week’ is ’Knowledge Screen: How to Create Rapid Video Learning‘ by Gabe Anderson.

In this useful post, Gabe shared an awesome demo course with slide-level video in Articulate Presenter. Gabe also shared an informative interview with his customer who shared his experiences creating online video and Articulate content.

Congratulations Mike and Gabe!

The ‘Blogger of the Week’ is Karl Kapp. 

Last week, Karl Kapp posted seven interesting blogs posts. Some of his useful blog posts include:

• Become an Investigator with Online Games
• Audio in E-Learning
• Selling Social Media for Learning
• Recent Second Life Happenings: Going Corporate
• The Higher Educational Bubble Continues to Grow

The ‘Blog Post of the Week’ is ‘Put your learners on a diet – consider a pull-based learning approach‘ by Sumeet Moghe.

In this useful post, Sumeet shared his thoughts on pull-based learning approach.

Congratulations Karl Kapp and Sumeet!

The ‘Blogger of the Week’ is Zaid Ali Alsagoff. 

During the previous week, Zaid posted seven interesting blogs posts. Some of his useful blog posts include:

• Thousands of Free Online Courses
• Medpedia -  A New Medical Knowledge Sharing Model
• Mobile Learning: Transforming the Delivery of Education and Training
• MedWorm – The Ultimate Medical Resource Search Engine

The ‘Blog Post of the Week’ is ‘Transfer of Learning – Theories and Implications‘ by Taruna Goel.

In this useful post, Taruna wrote about the theoretical views on transfer of learning. In addition, she shared her thoughts on the practical views and implications for designing, developing, and delivering training.

Congratulations Zaid and Taruna!

The ‘Blogger of the Week’ is the blogging team of Upside learning Solutions. 

During the previous week, the team had posted three interesting posts. One of the posts listed several factors that need to be considered when selecting an open source LMS. There was also an interesting post that emphasized the need for blended learning. The team also shared its thoughts on the significance of e-book readers in e-learning.

The ‘Blog Post of the Week’ is ‘Learning = Fishing‘ by Evan Abbey.

In this useful post, Evan justfied how learning can be compared to fishing.

The ‘Blogger of the Week’ is Karl Kapp. 

During the previous week, Karl Kapp posted eight blog posts. Through these posts, he shared links to several useful resources on game-based learning and virtual worlds.

The ‘Blog Post of the Week’ is ‘15 Most Important Generic Questions to ask Subject Matter Experts when designing an Educational Simulation‘ by Clark Aldrich.

In this useful post, Clark Aldrich listed the top fifteen generic questions you can ask when interviewing subject matter experts for educational simulations.

Congratulations Karl Kapp and Clark Aldrich!

The ‘Blogger of the Week’ is Tony Karrer. 

During the previous week, Tony posted four blog posts. In one of his posts, Tony shared his thoughts on the need for digital asset management as part of e-learning projects. He also shared his views on narrowing the gap between face-to-face and online presentations.

The ‘Blog Post of the Week’ is ‘Scenario-based Learning‘ by the blogging team at Kern Learning Solutions.

This useful post links to a presentation that helps you understand the characteristics and effectiveness of scenario-based learning. The presentation also includes several examples that brief how scenario-based learning is designed.

The ‘Blogger of the Week’ is Harold Jarche. 

Last week, Jarche posted seven blog posts. Through these posts, he shared links to several useful learning recources. Jarche also shared his thoughts on:

• Recombining organizational DNA
• Networked community management
• New challenges of management

The ‘Blog Post of the Week’ is ‘How to Create a Visual Design for Your E-Learning Scenario‘ by Tom Kuhlmann.

Through this interesting post, Tom shared several useful tips to create a visual design for an e-learning scenario.

Congratulations, Jarche and Tom!

The survey includes meaningful and critical questions; it just takes 2 minutes for you to complete this survey, and your responses could help Manish to identify the following details:

• Latest salary range of e-learning professionals belonging to different functional areas.
• Impact of global economic slowdown on salary hikes for the financial year 2009-2010.

I am sure you will also participate in Manish’s survey and motivate his great initiative. For further details, visit Manish’s post on Unofficial eLearning Salary Survey 2009.

Hello all,

I am excited after viewing the Web statistics of this site today. elearningplanet.com just crossed over 50k page visits!…a remarkable figure achieved in just four months since its launch on Jan 10, 2009.  

Click here to view addtional Web statistics details (as of May 14, 2009). 

Thanks for all your support and keep visiting elearningplanet.com for more interesting announcements and information!

We are glad to announce the ‘Planet’s Pick of the Week’ (May 03, 2009 to May 10, 2009).

The ‘Blogger of the Week’ is Dan McCarthy, who owns the Web site, http://www.greatleadershipbydan.com/

The ‘Blog Post of the Week’ is ‘Here’s How to Achieve Rapid Section 508 Compliance‘ by Brian Batt, who made a guest blog post on http://www.articulate.com/blog/

We select the ‘Blogger of the Week’ based on the following parameters:

• The number of informative, innovative, and self blog posts in a week
• The number of positive comments from visitors

We select the ‘Blog Post of the Week’ when a post meets one or more of the following parameters:

• Includes useful information on developing an e-learning course with trenchant instructional design strategies
• Provides information on the latest technology, news, and events in the e-learning industry
• Includes information that is useful and neutral to all e-learning professionals

Click here to know more information in this regard.