Interactive text messaging revisited

The long awaited meeting with Mark Cody of 02 took place this week. I was hoping to find some new and innovative way of closing the loop on training courses that were delivered outside the bounds of a Learning Management System. As we have been looking at new ways of delivering content ie such as via an iPod, how could we be sure that the material had been watched and understood? Inside a Learning Management System, you would be given a test which would capture and store your results.

Using Interactive messaging you can send messages and quizzes to anyone who owns a mobile. They can be asked a number of multiple choice questions and their answers could be easily texted back directly into a database. Excellent for uses in compliance training to register the fact that they have received and understood the message.

This technology could also be used for reminders, snap surveys and opinion polls as well as marketing and customer service uses. Anyone who has called the AA after breaking down will know that while you wait in your car they send you a text containing the name, company and registration number of the vehicle that will come to your rescue, together with the estimated time of arrival. A really good tool for enhancing the customer experience methinks.

We are currently looking at setting up a pilot to explore its uses in e-learning; so if you are based in Yorkshire and Humberside and employ under 50 people, contact us we may be able to help you

PSP - exciting new developments

Ok so I know that I've harped on about the joys of iPods and podcasting when used for training. I haven't really touched on the use of other gaming consoles like the nintendo DS and PSP. Well, I haven't really looked into the DS yet, but I have it on good authority that it could be used as a training device, I just need to figure out how you get stuff onto it. The PSP however, I have had considerable success with. I have managed to load training videos onto it, powerpoint presentations and I have accessed web pages and pocasts from it. It also has a larger screen that the iPod, and small speakers. Plus you can pick them up for a very reasonable £130! You do need to convert any video into the relevant mp4 format (there are different mp4 formats for different devices) but this is not difficult to do. But what has got my mind racing is this:



This little eyeToy camera is coming soon as an add-on for the PSP together with VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol - basically allows you to make voice calls over the web - heard of Skype?) Imagine if you can access the web, you can use Skype or an instant messaging service to talk in real time with your tutor and actually see them too! How cool is that?

3D TV on the horizon

Was reading an article on http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/5356176.stm which states that 3D TV could be with us pretty soon. How does that relate to e-learning you may ask. Well I know it seems pretty pie in the sky at the moment, but imagine the possibilities particularly for real-life training simulations. Imagine hospital staff being shown by 3D images how to lift a patient correctly or administer drugs to the correct area of the body. Or a machinist being shown how to clean down a machine safely. There are many applications where 2D just isnt rich enough and where face to face was really the only way forward.

At the meeting I went to at the Learning Light, the speaker demonstrated a handheld device that when pointed at a piece of paper on the table, it showed a screen with a 3d man walking across it and by walking around the piece of paper, you could see the man from all the different angles. It was very clever and I couldn't help thinking that one day soon, in much the same way as my kids marvel at stories of my first telly, my grandchildren will listen in awe as I tell them that I held one of the first devices that conveyed holographic images.

PSP additions

Ok so I know that I've harped on about the joys of iPods and podcasting when used for training. I haven't really touched on the use of other gaming consoles like the nintendo DS and PSP. Well, I haven't really looked into the DS yet, but I have it on good authority that it could be used as a training device, I just need to figure out how you get stuff onto it. The PSP however, I have had considerable success with. (special thanks to Bomski in our office who has been invaluable when I needed help with video creations and conversion) I have managed to load training videos onto it, powerpoint presentations and I have accessed web pages and pocasts from it. It also has a larger screen that the iPod, and small speakers. Plus you can pick them up for a very reasonable £130! You do need to convert any video into the relevant mp4 format (there are different mp4 formats for different devices) but this is not difficult to do. But what has got my mind racing is this:



This little eyeToy camera is coming soon as an add-on for the PSP together with VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol - basically allows you to make voice calls over the web - heard of Skype?) Imagine if you can access the web, you can use Skype or an instant messaging service to talk in real time with your tutor and actually see them too! How cool is that?

3D TV on the horizon?

Was reading an article on bbc.co.uk which states that 3D TV could be with us pretty soon. How does that relate to e-learning you may ask. Well I know it seems pretty pie in the sky at the moment, but imagine the possibilities particularly for real-life training simulations. Imagine hospital staff being shown by 3D images how to lift a patient correctly or administer drugs to the correct area of the body. Or a machinist being shown how to clean down a machine safely. There are many applications where 2D just isnt rich enough and where face to face was really the only way forward.

At the meeting I went to at the Learning Light, the speaker demonstrated a handheld device that when pointed at a piece of paper on the table, it showed a screen with a 3d man walking across it and by walking around the piece of paper, you could see the man from all the different angles. It was very clever and I couldn't help thinking that one day soon, in much the same way as my kids marvel at stories of my first telly, my grandchildren will listen in awe as I tell them that I held one of the first devices that conveyed holographic images.

X-men or e-learning?

We had a meeting with some of our UK and transnational partners and took the opportunity to show them some of the new technologies that we are currently researching. Pictured below is Rod Knox CEO of Virtual College, wearing the latest in video and 3D Glasses.



We were able to project e-learning modules from an iPod into these and are looking into developing some training simulations to run in them.

Also below is Me (Abby Dacres) with Lukasz Arendt one of elearn2work's transnational partners, Theresa Williams, Project Manager UK & transnational and Dan Jordan Senior Technical Developer Virtual College.




Ok so it does look a little unconventional, but the elearning experience is pretty cool. I can't see your average person sitting on a train with their ipod just yet, but a lot of businesses do employ youngsters and what better way to engage them?..these glasses can be used with gaming consoles as well as computers and many hand held devices. Perhaps they could be loaned out on the proviso that the training be completed. The learner could then be tested via a Learning Management System to close the loop on the training experience. You saw it here first!

X-Men or elearning?

We had a meeting with some of our UK and transnational partners and took the opportunity to show them some of the new technologies that we are currently researching. Pictured below is Rod Knox CEO of Virtual College, wearing the latest in video and 3D Glasses.



We were able to project e-learning modules from an iPod into these and are looking into developing some training simulations to run in them.

Also below is Me (Abby Dacres) with Lukasz Arendt one of elearn2work's transnational partners, Theresa Williams, Project Manager UK & transnational and Dan Jordan Senior Technical Developer Virtual College.




Ok so it does look a little unconventional, but the elearning experience is pretty cool. I can't see your average person sitting on a train with their ipod just yet, but a lot of businesses do employ youngsters and what better way to engage them..these glasses can be used with gaming consoles as well as computers and many hand held devices. Perhaps they could be loaned out on the proviso that the training be completed. The learner could then be tested via a Learning Management System to close the loop on the training experience. You saw it here first!

Learning light event

Attended a talk by Ron Edwards - Ambient Performance at the Learning light event last night. The talk was around using new technologies to deliver learning. There was a lot of buzz around using iPods and PSPs, I am pleased to say. There were a lot of devices and software solutions that I hadn't considered,such as online gaming, so I will be looking into those. Also some of the stuff we had been doing surrounding the use of GeoVid was new to the speaker and other experts in the room; so I felt quite proud that we too, were at the cutting edge when developing new ways of delivering content. Much information was shared, which is what these meetings are all about so I felt that it was a great success. Ron Edwards has an excellent blog; I have placed a link to it in the side bar. Go check it out and keep yourself in the elearning "know".

Learning Light Event

Attended a talk by Ron Edwards - Ambient Performance at the Learning light event last night. The talk was around using new technologies to deliver learning. There was a lot of buzz around using iPods and PSPs, I am pleased to say. There were a lot of devices and software solutions that I hadn't considered,such a sonline gaming, so I will be looking into those. Also some of the stuff we had been doing surrounding the use of GeoVid was new to the speaker and other experts in the room; so I felt quite proud that we too, were at the cutting edge when developing new ways of delivering content. Much information was shared, which is what these meetings are all about so I felt that it was a great success. Ron Edwards has an excellent blog; I have placed a link to it in the side bar. Go check it out and keep yourself in the elearning "know".

More training onto ipod

Had a problem a week or so ago where I wasn't able to get our Flash training modules onto iPod or PSP because of the way that they were created. Well I did a bit of lateral thinking and came up with using some screen capture software to run through the training module. All I had to do then was convert the resulting avi movie to MP4 and I was able to load into iTunes and the PSP software (cant remember what they call it)and subsequently onto the iPod and PSP. The quality was fine except that the mike on my laptop picked up sound from me moving my hands over the keyboard. Perhaps I can set it up so that it only records the audio from the training material and not external input. (Although how useful would that be? being able to narrate whilst you show someone how to access software or use the internet...you could develop a training video very quickly and cheaply for people to play later.
OOh sorry I forgot to tell you the software I used: Snagit8 and ImToo both are available for a free trial download...give it a go and see what you can do!

More training onto iPod

Had a problem a week or so ago where I wasn't able to get our Flash training modules onto iPod or PSP because of the way that they were created. Well I did a bit of lateral thinking and came up with using some screen capture software to run through the training module. All I had to do then was convert the resulting avi movie to MP4 and I was able to load into iTunes and the PSP software (cant remember what they call it)and subsequently onto the iPod and PSP. The quality was fine except that the mike on my laptop picked up sound from me moving my hands over the keyboard. Perhaps I can set it up so that it only records the audio from the training material and not external input. (Although how useful would that be? being able to narrate whilst you show someone how to access software or use the internet...you could develop a training video very quickly and cheaply for people to play later.
OOh sorry I forgot to tell you the software I used: Snagit8 and ImToo both are available for a free trial download...give it a go and see what you can do!