Campbell Craig

iBookie Goodness

Campbell Craig — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 03:36:20 +0000

Back in January Apple launched this new education initiative today called iBooks Author. The iBooks Author application looks exciting and I can’t wait until I start my new job and get to play with the iBooks 2 ecosystem. Not just because it’s got people really talking and thinking about education, but because it finally puts a powerful tool into everyone’s hands and says “show me what you can do with this”. Because it’s not your typical e-book system, and allows a lot of interactivity features, I know I can see myself writing a whole swag of different types of books like;

1. Choose Your Own Adventure. I loved these books when I was a kid. Books where you can select which path the story should take, making decisions so you’re more involved in the narrative. Previously, we did this by conditionally turning to one page or another.

2. Tutorial based books. Since the iBooks 2 format allows embedding of HTML 5 code, tutorial material can include actual working examples in each chapter.

3. My Wedding album. Photos, guestbook messages and even videos can be included in a virtual coffee-table book for everyone to enjoy, not just those who paid for a copy of the DVD from the videographer.

4. My portfolio. An interactive portfolio, showing my work in the most effective way, complete with contact information and links to my online presence (or web portfolio pieces). For iOS developers, particularly, this would be powerful marketing.

5. My family history. Genealogy fans can include the old home videos, scanned photographs etc.

6. Band profiles. Since Kay does a lot with various bands, this could have History, trivia, music, live performance videos, photos and interviews.

7. Instruction manuals. Like build your Lego kit, assemble your Ikea furniture, or convert Optimus Prime from a truck into a robot. Run through the process step by step, seeing exactly how everything moves and goes together. Even user guides for software or hardware, or videogame strategy guides.

8. Scavenger/Treasure hunts. I am doing a scavenger hunt for my bucks party and I am informed that HTML 5 widgets can (with permission) access your current location from within a book. Imagine the possibilities of this technology.

9. Client proposals. I am definately wrapping up my pitches in book format, with interactive visuals, estimates, timelines, contact information and a profile of my staff etc.

Anyone else think of anything cool to use this format for? Let me know.

m-Learning framework update

Campbell Craig — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:03:59 +0000

As you all may know, mobile devices have had Web browsers for years. However, developing for them has always been painful because Web developers like me have had to deal with all these cross-browser issues. A lot of long days and late nights can be attributed to getting HTML, JavaScript, and CSS to work identically on various versions of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and so on. IMO, the desktop browser world is completely tame compared to the mobile browser world. The number of different mobile browsers has, historically, been staggering. Every device maker had their own browser, and then even devices from the same manufacturer had huge variations in operating systems, screen sizes, and so on. Some browsers only supported WAP, others supported subsets of HTML, some had full HTML, but no JavaScript. Anyway enough rambling.

The latest incarnations of HTML and CSS offer many new features. For example, HTML5 includes new elements that make web pages more semantic; you can now store data offline, create editable content areas, use drag-and-drop functionality, and much more. With CSS3, you can create round corners without graphics as well as add shadows and gradients. As you know I said in a previous post that I was going to look into the arena of m-Learning and mobile based development.

Well, over the last three weeks I been reading more on HTML5, CSS3 and this cool API called PhoneGap, which Adobe supposedly has just bought (so it must be good). After a few days I finally did a mini shopping list based app. It uses the cool local database SQLite feature in HTML5, and have added CRUD functionality, so next step is to make it look prettier and I might use it as a framework in other projects for more applications (due to the CRUD).

Game Based Learning

Campbell Craig — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 23:26:56 +0000

Doing a bit of research, I have noticed that schools around the world are finally introducing computer-based learning (GBL) in the classroom, and for good reason: It’s a great way to engage students with something they participate in by choice during their downtime. In both 2010 and 2011, the Horizon Report: K–12 Edition, identified GBL as an emerging technology that will impact teaching and learning in the next two to three years. “Games are really effective for increasing the engagement level of lots of people,” Larry Johnson (CEO of the New Media Consortium) explains. “We’re no longer thinking of games as something only kids do — we’re in our third generation of people who have grown up with these games.”

I also came across this site Quest to Learn, a New York City public school that has based the principles of game design and integration in the classroom. Supposedly, each trimester, in each class, students are given a mission — a complex problem they can’t solve at that time. I think this unconventional learning model, in which students play games to introduce and reinforce skills is great. The designed quests that students embark upon are very sequenced, with each one giving them a piece of information they need to solve the complex problem. Students ‘level up’ only after they complete each quest. The approach mirrors how many video games work, and is a natural way for educators to think, set and achieve goals for students who have grown up playing on their computers. The idea of play in learning has been around for a long time and for some weird reason, it ends after early elementary school.

We all in our daily lives, even as professionals, play with objects and concepts to see how they work. If we mess up, it typically doesn’t hold serious consequences. Making failure fun is an important part of games and should also play a role in learning. Sure, there are other obstacles, though to all this game play. Game development is expensive and also some CEOs/managers/teachers don’t understand the technology’s learning benefits. What do you all think?

Simulations and m-Learning

Campbell Craig — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:35:13 +0000

First of all, happy new year to you all, its that time again, BLOG TIME!

As you all know, I have been working on a few simulation concepts at work and for years, simulations have played an important role in the training activities of certain sectors, like the defense, aviation and aeronautical industries in several countries, not just here in Australia. These days, simulations are being adopted in other industries and for a broad range of skills and competence development. Technology and cost barriers are continuing to shrink, opening up the potential for wider adoption of simulation technology. I believe that simulations offer advantages over handbooks and they can complement lectures, demonstrations and give real world practice.

I have also been investigating the mobile Learning (m-Learning) sphere. This is due to a few things, firstly, I now have a tablet based device now, and can definately see a growth market for this. For mobile learning there are two distinct potential markets which I see evolving:

The first one is the market of learning services for people that are without infrastructure (accessibility to internet and e-learning may not be as wide spread in rural or remote areas) and learners in developing economies.

The second one is the market of learning services for people who’s jobs require them to continuously move, people learning and receiving information while visiting various sites and locations, certain types students needing individualized learning education, on the move and while on external projects.

From my research, in the United States, PDAs have already been used in schools and for workers on the move and this thing had significant results in terms of improved learning effectiveness. In Europe, mobile learning is beginning to develop, and telecommunications companies such as Nokia and Vodafone have already integrated these technologies into their training and development systems. So, having said all this, I think this year, I will invest some time into looking into more m-Learning solutions.

Merry Christmas all

Campbell Craig — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 09:41:20 +0000

With Christmas approaching fast, I wanted to take a quite minute to drop in and wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

To all my readers, I wanted to say thankyou, thankyou for taking the time to read my blog and participate in my discussions. I have enjoyed sharing the events of work and other adventures! I hope you all have a wonderful Merry Christmas with your family and a safe and Happy New Year.

I’m taking some time off from blogging, to enjoy this holiday period with my family and friends, but I will be back.

The Sisters Grimm Series

Campbell Craig — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 22:14:11 +0000

One of my work colleagues introduced me to a series of books called the Sisters Grimm. She just finished the first one and gave me a copy to read. Every now and again I read something and get incredibly jealous because the author has discovered a story that has literally been staring us all in the face for decades, but no one figured out how to write about it. That’s exactly what Michael Buckley has done with his Sisters Grimm The Fairy Tale Detectives. Fairy tales are true! The Brothers Grimm were writing about people and creatures they actually knew! There is a Jack in the Beanstalk and Prince Charming and Big Bad Wolf! But having the idea is one thing, and writing a good story is a whole other deal. What Buckley does with his book is take the fairy tale world that Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm made famous and bring it into the 21st century. The main premise is around the Grimm sisters, Sabrina and Daphne, who have been jolted from one horrible foster home to another in the wake of their parents’ sudden and inexplicable disappearance. When Fairy Tale Detectives opens, the girls are en route to stay with their paternal grandmother, a woman they have never met and had no reason to believe even existed. What happens after they come to live with Grandmother Grimm and her friend Mr. Canis in Ferryport Landing, New York, is the sort of excellent (and dangerous) adventure that most young readers dream about. There is a serious mystery to solve involving giant-sized footprints and the nefarious town Mayor, William Charming. There is a fancy dress Ball, some beanstalk seeds and three pigs who are either good guys or not. And then there are the pixies in the woods and their leader, Puck (based on Shakespeare’s character, I know technically not a fairy tale), and a carpet that flies, and a mirror that talks, and a guy named Jack… well you know what Jack does. Anyways, good read for all kids and adults I think.

Can you make me an eLearning doova?

Campbell Craig — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 01:36:42 +0000

A lot of people I talk to when I say I am a multimedia producer with a specialisation in e-learning, they ask me, “Is making multimedia/e-learning easy?” The first thing I answer this by in turn asking whether they have the resources and skill sets needed to do it well. As you all know you need to select media only when it supports a learning need. It is far more effective to build well-executed single-media instructional materials than poorly executed multimedia.

Multimedia by nature adds complexity both to the screen and to the tasks that learners need to perform. By definition, a learning environment or management system is already an unfamiliar and perhaps complex space for even a seasoned web developer let alone an end user. Sure, you can use multimedia to help learners find their way around it. If multiple types of media and content are required, use position and prominence to direct learners’ attention to the most important information. Consistent-looking and consistently placed navigation elements clarify what to do next. I help learners determine how to proceed but don’t restrict their choices unless it’s absolutely necessary (and it’s almost never necessary). Like websites, highly constrained navigation, for example, can make learners feel as if they are being coerced rather than led, with no control over their own learning. I think that learners should always be able to tell where they are and how to get to where they want to go. Moodle is a great platform for this.

As a strong advocate of usability, you need to test screen layout with learners to gauge ease of use, and be willing to make changes. Always provide ways for learners to get help with the technology and with questions about the content. Also consider whether the combination of media adds to the learning experience. Better yet, ask the learners. Is it confusing? Frustrating? Too much?

In my own design work, I make have made sure that the learner can determine when to use additional media (for example, start an animation or video, or listen to a narration or see the text of it. Captivate is great for that) rather than making them turn it off if they don’t want it.

One more fundamental implication of using multimedia in elearning is that experiencing it requires multiple senses. That means you must consider the implications of each medium you want to use on people who have visual, auditory, or other disabilities. That in itself I could write many blog entries on.

So keep in mind when you work on an e-learning system, when someone asks, “can you whack a simple quick elearning solution for me?”, I should return by saying “it’s not as simple and quick as you think”. Thoughts?

HTML5 vs Flash debate again

Campbell Craig — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:27:38 +0000

Dont get me wrong, I really love the idea of HTML5, I have been using HTML for years and Flash just as much, just HTML5 I have a few things that I think about.

1) I have yet to see a technology tool that delivers on the promise of outputs “better than Flash” in every case. While there are great steps in the right direction, the outputs aren’t the same for the types of things that I would choose to use Flash for. I do think we’ll get there with HTML5 and the current craze of I HATE FLASH or DONT USE FLASH! will not benefit the acceleration of this improvement, its just that we just aren’t there yet.

2) Older browsers still maintain significant positions in the landscape. IE6 and IE7 offer extremely poor support for HTML4 or higher technologies. On the bright side, this obscene move to kill Flash completely could also accelerate the demise of these older browsers.

3) Most of the things I build in Flash (been using it over 10 years now) like basic simulations still work using the VM. Nearly identically on every platform. Consistently. Without any required changes. I build once and have confidence that they would just work wherever I deployed them due to the tight control of the platform. Now what? We move to a technology that doesn’t work that way. “Standards” that don’t JUST WORK wherever they are deployed because every browser chooses to interpret the standard differently.

Like I said, I *love* the idea of a future friendly platform. I also love how the standard is growing up to meet the capabilities formerly offered normally exclusively by plug-ins. All I see is Flash is bad. HTML5 will cure the web of those evils. I do not like this negativity, I’m not dropping Flash from my toolbox any time soon. Yes, no doubt I will be using it less but the removal of Flash technology completely from the elearning landscape, particularly given the amount of the usage is in our field. Please don’t diss Flash. He is my buddy.

Multiple intelligences

Campbell Craig — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 01:35:36 +0000

Kay was working on an assignment four uni which lead to her and I were talking the other day about how people can percieve things. Howard Gardner made up this “Theory of Multiple Intelligences” to explain that students vary with their abilities and intellectual capacities. He suggests that there are at least seven ways that people have of perceiving and understanding the world. Gardner labels each as a distinct “intelligence” or, more known as, a set of skills allowing individuals to find and resolve genuine problems they face. He defines intelligence as a group of abilities that is somewhat autonomous from other human capacities, has a core set of information-processing operations, has a distinct history in the stages of development we each pass through, and has plausible roots in evolutionary history. He identifies the seven (7) intelligences such as verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, body-kinesthetic, musical-rhythmic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. I believe that Multiple intelligence has a great impact in education. Traditional schooling heavily favors the verbal-linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence. According to his study, he suggested a more balanced curriculum that incorporates the arts, self-awareness, communication, and physical education. The instructional method that he is advocating appeals to all the intelligence, including role playing, musical performance, cooperative learning, reflection, visualization, storytelling, and so on. Thus, this calls for assessment of methodologies that take into account the diversity of intelligence, as well as self-assessment tools that help students understand their intelligence. Individual differences are indeed an aspect that needs an emphasis in the learning process. As an educator, you should diagnose and analyze the profile (interests, abilities, aptitude) of your learners. In this way, you would know the best methodology to use in every learning situation. Since they are our main focus, understanding their nature (strengths and weaknesses) and facilitating their needs are very essential to have an effective and efficient educative process.

LMSes

Campbell Craig — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:48:57 +0000

Being a elearning developer, you probably have come across the term LMS, or Learning Management System, well there are probably four major reasons why organisations get an LMS – and any one of these is justification enough to make a purchase I think. The core reason is to manage and administer the learning function itself: classrooms, enrolments, course catalogues (offline and online), reports (of competence) and instructors. The second reason is to facilitate learning. LMSs can be used as a platform and a set of tools to build and deliver (or enable) the learning experience, whether as a content module (often referred to as a learning object or LO) or a series of modules within a whole course based on personalised, collaborative and online learning. Third, there is the emergence of LMSs being adopted as an enterprise-wide learning application. No longer just a system for the L&D department to provide for Induction and Competency based training, the LMS is now seen as a system for the entire company to provide for any type of learning and at all levels. Fourth, from my research in elearning over the years, there is a trend towards using an LMS system as a performance management system (to identify performance gaps and succession planning issues in a company); as a vehicle for individuals to manage their own learning (personalised learning ‘spaces’); and as a key tool in increasing employee retention and enrichment.