I’ve used a bunch of desktop authoring tools – Lectora, Dreamweaver, Authorware, Captivate, and Articulate to name a few. I haven’t really used a lot of web-based authoring tools though. I was kind of out of that aspect (development) of e-learning at the time they started becoming more mainstream. Recently, I’ve been exploring collaborative web-based options for a report I’m writing and was reintroduced to MyUdutu (from Udutu). I had used the tool once a couple of years ago for a class and watched a demo of their Facebook integration over a year ago. They also sponsored a cocktail hour at one of our conferences so I owe someone a beer or two – probably Roger Mundell.

I spent an hour or so with Roger from Udutu looking at their authoring tool and have to say I’m really kind of blown away as to its capabilities. It’s a very flexible and very versatile product. In analyst speak, it is “robust.” I wish it had been around when I was pulling my hair out learning Authorware.

Let me say up front I’m NOT getting paid to plug MyUdutu, and am not endorsing it over another product, I just want to share some notes from the demo because I think its one of those ‘best kept secrets no one knows about.’ We used my old account for the demo and the course I did for school was there and so unbelievably lame (fair warning if you see bits and pieces in the screen shots. Not my best work : )

Although the tool is often used by SMEs due to its simplicity, it definitely has enough features to satisfy instructional designers who need a lot more than linear solutions. Below are several scenario templates. You’ll have to click them to make them larger.

I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of assessment options. You could really get quite inventive with this. Roger showed me how you could select parts of an image  for instance or learn a language.

Some other tidbits in bullet points::

• Any platform – Mac, Linux, Windows environment
• Cache flash (ability to bring content in before you need it – good for learners dial-up) (Yup you heard right. Dial-up)
• Ability to save your courses so you don’t freak out about losing courses that exist on a server other than your own.
• Reusable learning objects at multiple levels (folder, course, etc.)
• Semi-complex branching
• Flash templates
• Easy to add multimedia like movies
• Learner flexibility (Take only what you need, start where you stopped, etc.)
• SCORM conformant
• Glossary that aggregates items entered
• Plug in for Moodle
• Can also be installed on your server
• Did I say boatload of templates?

I was surprised to learn that the tool is FREE as an SaaS solution. However, it will cost you $5 per learner/course if you want Udutu to host it for you. If you want it on your own server there is a licensing fee. The business model they use is really one of added value. Udutu staff can handle all aspects of building courses collaboratively from the whole enchilada to just one little thing. This seems ideal when you don’t have the type of department with dedicated graphic designers or multimedia producers.

I thought it was funny when I asked about users…seems to be a tool used by rogue designers (many clients are people circumventing their current solution (LMS, LCMS, etc. Seriously.)

I’m pulling together some answers to interview questions and will post those later.

Today is my first blogoversary. I took my blog out for a nice dinner at Applebee’s last night and let the staff sing to it like this (I wonder it they get training for that?). [I'm totally kidding].

Since my first post a year ago, my blog has become an important tool much like my minivan, my new bistro pots & pans (shiny, shiny BTW), and my binoculars. Like my van, my blog gets me from point A to point B with a little fuel in the form of commenters. Like my pots and pans its content nourishes me. Like my binoculars, it hangs around my neck and zooms in on things that I want to take a closer look at. It’s also a big time-sucking pain in the ass at times (like my kids ; ) except it behaves nicely at Applebee’s. I wish I had actually taken my blog out. You can get your own blogoversary widget here. Dinner optional.

I have this horrible tendency to close the door on what was old and move on. School, jobs, neighbors, etc. And I feel real bad about it.

At a workshop in North Carolina last month one attendee I was having breakfast with told me it was a trait of Scorpios (which I am). I looked it up.

“Part of the negative side of the Scorpio nature is a tendency to discard friends once they cease to be useful, but the decent native is aware of, and fights this tendency.”

Geesh. Cease to be useful? Sounds like an old shoe.. I guess if I ever gave up this platform (blogging) for communicating, you’d all be old shoes. Old Manolo Blahniks of course because you are all so very classy : )

Social Networks are Scorpio-friendly. They foster relationships and help you make and keep connections.

One example of this was an interview I conducted for the Qualitative Research class I took this past semester. I interviewed someone who attended our IiL07 conference in an effort to explore her experiences with the online community portion of the event. (We used Leverage Software and a Facebook group to support the conference).

She explained how at past face-to-face (f2f) events she ended up with a stack of business cards that went nowhere after she got home because she got busy with work. However, with online social networking she is staying in touch and feels this online element increases the likelihood of staying in touch with the people she met. The ‘tendency to discard’ is less likely. The effort it less.

Connections are a beautiful thing to support lifelong learning – a trait we hope our learners develop. What better way to continue the conversation- to continue learning – than to stay connected.

You may want to consider how social networks can work for those one-time events you coordinate at your organization – especially those that include people outside of your organization. Shortsighted maybe, but I never used them in conjunction with a one-time face-to-face event made up of people who seemed not to be otherwise connected. I imagined social networks being used in organizations more for established work groups (everybody in this department), for projects involving people across work groups (for those working on this new implementation), for those with shared roles (leadership), and for those working through a specific curriculum (bootcamp for newbies).

For example, I once coordinated a group event (that included some training) for a group of claims adjusters who were periodically called into service for a catastrophe – hurricanes, etc. This was a group from various companies, geographic locations, and levels of experience. I guess looking back my shortsightedness came from working in a closed environment. Outsiders (those that didn’t work for the company) were connected to the organization by email cc’s and that’s about it. Think how much employees would have learned from experts in the area of handling catastrophes had there been a community. And, it would have been therapeutic for working under those high stress conditions.

The increased sense of connectedness that has been suggested by the research around blended learning provides some credibility. Although my qualitative research project was not full-scale and by no means can be considered definitive, it does provide some interesting avenues for further research.

Perhaps this is all no-brainer stuff but with 1/3 of corporations blocking social networking sites like Facebook, bringing online social networking in-house is probably one of those battles you want to pursue even if you have to look for a behind-the-firewall solution.

How creative are you? A test via the Creativity at Work Blog. I’m 49% vs. 51% – a whole brain thinker! Go me.

It all started with a Wiki. You know. You start one and it becomes all consuming. “Wow, it’s two o’clock already?” or “you guys are on your own for dinner” type of consuming. It’s like starting a blog.

The Brandon Hall Wiki we use internally (actually we have tried several over the past couple of years) is MediaWiki which was written for Wikipedia. This past week though, I’ve been busy exploring other Wiki platforms.

A class I am taking requires me to set up three knowledge bases on learning theories. Some people used PowerPoint, some used Word, a couple had pages on their Websites but I decided to use a Wiki even though this isn’t a collaborative project. I used pbwiki, a wiki designed for educators, and loved it. Nice templates for classes. Easy. (I won’t share my school wiki because I think it sucks right now. After I’ve been graded with an “A,” maybe).

I’m using WikiSpaces for some workshops on Emerging Learning Technologies. I like this platform too. I found that multiple people can’t edit at the same time though, so have set up pages for each attendee to work in. There’s some nice, easy to use plug-ins. I thought since others will be leading the workshop at different times during the year, it’s nice to get the agenda and content out there along with a place for people to work. It’s not done yet either. Of course, that’s the nature of a Wiki. I guess that’s what I like.

This “never done” aspect of collaboration raises some interesting questions when it comes to a class Wiki that is graded. When I turn the knowledge base assignment in (provide a link via the university’s Blackboard LMS dropbox), can I continue to work on it? When does the professor actually review it? It’s a roll of the dice for procrastinators. (I think it would feel like cheating).

My daughter (11) set up her own Wiki this week using WikiSpaces. She was home from school and watching what I was up to on the workshop Wiki. I had her act as a workshop participant and go through my little 10-minute explanation/demonstration on – you guessed it…wikis. I asked her, what do you think? She said, “Mom, can I have one?” (successful training!)

It’s always fun for me to watch a child  learn. She has excellent computer skills and her choice of uploading photos of Beefaroni and a Sphynx labeled ‘things I like’ cracked me up (those running for the award ‘Mother of the Year’ apparently feed children Beefaroni). I imagine she’ll have a fully functional Wiki to share with her friends shortly. (FYI for your kids…parental controls on our PC running with Vista allowed her to set up an account but not access her Wiki. WTF? Anyway, she was up and running in 10 minutes and I removed controls).

And, finally, I’ve been in the Complexive Wiki that George Siemens and Tony Karrer set up for the Corporate Learning: Trends and Innovations online conference. It is also on the MediaWiki platform.

In the event you don’t know what a wiki is, here’s one definition:

A Wiki allows web pages to be created and edited using a web browser, usually by multiple people. Wiki software is classified as collaborative software; software that helps people work on a common platform. Wiki software runs the Wiki on a Web server and the Wiki engine implements the wiki technology. Most Wiki engines are open source meaning the code is openly available to the public.

(Here’s a nice comparison of Wiki software and Wiki farms.)

What’s your Wiki favorite?

George Siemens has organized a free online conference around Corporate Learning: Trends and Innovations. Registration is required. You can register here. Once you’ve registered, add yourself as an attendee on the Wiki.

I’m thrilled to have been invited to participate and will join this rockin’ line up:

• Tony Karrer
• David Snowden
• Jay Cross
• Rebecca Stromeyer
• Richard Straub
• Clark Quinn
• Steve Mahaley
• Gaurav Rastogi and Jai Ganesh
• Roger Larsen
• Donald H. Taylor
• David Wilson
• Rae Tanner
• Bill Bruck
• George Siemens

If you wish, you can engage in dialog through online forums – forming connections and exchanging ideas and visions on corporate learning.  Per George, all sessions will be recorded and available within a few minutes after the session for people who cannot attend at that time. Hope to connect with you!

I’m kind of a widget nut. A widget, if you don’t know, is a third party item that can be embedded in a web page. So on this blog, the pictures of all the gorgeous people on the right (you know who you are) is an Explode social networking widget where I’ve met many education bloggers (and keep it there so you can meet some too) and the Facebook logo is a widget (actually called a ‘blog badge’ on Facebook) where you can link to my profile and befriend me or others if you choose. I’m sure there are some widgets and plugins that drive people nuts. For instance I recently disabled the Snap plugin because I didn’t think it provided value to readers of this blog (it created little clouds next to links).

Anyway, I ran across Clive’s post this morning about “unresolved communication” on blogs. This is when you leave a comment but don’t receive follow-up…you have to remember to go back and read the post to see if there are additional comments and who the heck has time (or memory) to do that? One alternative is to respond to someone via email if you’re notified of posts via email. I’ve done that but it’s not ideal if you wish to keep the conversation going within your blog and perhaps entice others to contribute.

Another alternative is the Subscribe to Comments plugin. Although plugins are not widgets I think they provide a function that is similar and useful. It allows you to subscribe to subsequent comments on a blog entry you’ve made. Here’s a link for the WordPress plugin. I don’t know about other platforms but welcome input and other comments on how you keep track of further comments on a blog.

Steve Woodruff of Impactiviti, a consultancy for pharmaceutical training, and Karl Kapp, a learning industry business consultant, have developed’ Pageflakes,’ a training blogger portal site.’ I think this site has value for those who’ wish to access a variety of training blogs without using a reader. Thanks guys for listing this blog under the corporate page!

Here is a link to an E-Learning 101 report I wrote. (2 MBs, PDF, Zipped) You are encouraged to share this report with colleagues and post it on your Web site and/or your organizations Intranet, citing Brandon Hall Research as the source. (This report may not, however, be modified or resold.) More free downloads are available when you sign up for the Brandon Hall Research weekly newsletter (bottom left of this blog).

• What is e-learning?
• What types of organizations use e-learning?
• How do you know whether e-learning is right for your organizations?
• What is e-learning used for?
• How does someone learn online?
• What if someone is not very good on the computer?
• What does e-learning look like?
• How is e-learning different from Web sites?
• What type of interaction is used in e-learning?
• Why would I use traditional classroom instruction over e-learning?
• What different types of e-learning tools are available?
• What type of team does an organization need to implement e-learning?
• How do I know what tools and methods are right for my organization?
• What industry standards are associated with e-learning?
• What is asynchronous and synchronous e-learning?
• What is blended learning?
• What type of infrastructure is required to support e-learning?
• What are the advantages/disadvantages associated with e-learning?
• How do you measure the effectiveness of e-learning?
• How long does it take to develop a typical e-learning course?
• What are the various delivery systems for e-learning?
• What is an LMS? LCMS?
• What is beyond the e-learning of today?

This primer includes a sixteen page glossary of e-learning terms from ADDIE to WYSIWYG.