Medical elearning

E learning for medical colleges

2012-02-02T00:55:00.000-08:00

E learning for medical colleges

View more presentations from tumalapalli venkateswara rao

Exploring Virtual Worlds for Scenario-Based Repeated Team Training of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in Medical Students

2010-09-07T00:48:00.000-07:00

Exploring Virtual Worlds for Scenario-Based Repeated Team Training of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in Medical Students: "Background: Contemporary learning technologies, such as massively multiplayer virtual worlds (MMVW), create new means for teaching and training. However, knowledge about the effectiveness of such training is incomplete, and there are no data regarding how students experience it. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a field within medicine in high demand for new and effective training modalities. Objective: In addition to finding a feasible way to implement CPR training, our aim was to investigate how a serious game setting in a virtual world using avatars would influence medical students’ subjective experiences as well as their retention of knowledge. Methods: An MMVW was refined and used in a study to train 12 medical students in CPR in 3-person teams in a repeated fashion 6 months apart. An exit questionnaire solicited reflections over their experiences. As the subjects trained in 4 CPR scenarios, measurements of self-efficacy, concentration, and mental strain were made in addition to measuring knowledge. Engagement modes and coping strategies were also studied. Parametric and nonparametric statistical analyses were carried out according to distribution of the data. Results: The majority of the subjects reported that they had enjoyed the training, had found it to be suitable, and had learned something new, although several asked for more difficult and complex scenarios as well as a richer virtual environment. The mean values for knowledge dropped during the 6 months from 8.0/10 to 6.25/10 (P = .002). Self-efficacy increased from before to after each of the two training sessions, from 5.9/7 to 6.5/7 (P = .01) after the first and from 6.0/7 to 6.7/7 (P = .03) after the second. The mean perceived concentration value increased from 54.2/100 to 66.6/100 (P = .006), and in general the mental strain was found to be low to moderate (mean = 2.6/10). Conclusions: Using scenario-based virtual world team training with avatars to train medical students in multi-person CPR was feasible and showed promising results. Although we found no evidence of stimulated recall of CPR procedures in our test-retest study, the subjects were enthusiastic and reported increased concentration during the training. We also found that subjects’ self-efficacy had increased after the training. Despite the need for further studies, these findings imply several possible uses of MMVW technology for future emergency medical training.

This is the abstract only. Read the full article on the JMIR site. JMIR is the leading open access journal for eHealth and healthcare in the Internet age.

Access Dermatology - free multimedia educational site by Reuters

2010-07-06T03:33:00.000-07:00

According to the website, Access Dermatology is a multimedia educational platform aimed at delivering continuing education to dermatology professionals that follows a yearly academic syllabus.

The Scientific Skills section includes:

- Webcasts of congress and other scientific meetings sessions

- Image Bank - a library of images on several disease areas with an alphabetical search engine

- Breaking News - drug development, diagnosis and treatment, congress highlights, symposia webcasts, keynote speaker interviews

- Core Papers - series of articles on disease, treatment and novel therapeutic approaches

- Clinical Trials - a guide to key clinical trials in dermatology

This is the link to the Advisory Board of the website. The project is sponsored by Prous Science S.A.U., a part of Thomson Reuters.

The access to most of the resources requires free registration.

References:
Breaking news
Clinical Trials
Congress Reports

Posted at Clinical Cases and Images.

New Tools for Educators in Second Life

2010-07-02T05:09:00.001-07:00

Over 5000 educators use Second Life to teach including Harvard Law professors Charlie and Becca Nesson. The new viewer promises to draw more teachers to the fold as virtual life is a lot easier for newbies and inworld tools are a whole lot more collaborative.

What new tools for educators are breathing life into Second Life?

HTML on a Prim

In Second Life, sharing websites has been slightly cumbersome. In the old-old days, the only way to do it was to open a browser outside the SL platform. While not terribly taxing, it was a pain for students to toggle back and forth.

Those days are long gone, and improvements and upgrades allowed you to set a parcel to a specific web page for viewing, but NOW you can actually WRITE ON the prim, click it, use YouTube, search for images, Google, check email, or even edit a collaborative wiki.

This is an uber cool feature for teachers because it allows them to use a wiki as a live chalkboard. While students will have to refresh their views to see updates, they won’t have to leave Second Life to do it. Sweeeet.

Easy Peasy Menu

In the old viewer, the infamous pie wheel appeared when you right-clicked on yourself. Now, life is not so complicated. There is a menu bar on the right side that hosts all of the options you will need as a new or advanced user.

This is truly helpful to teachers because most of the initial class time spent in world was devoted to trying to show students how to find things like their inventory (hair is really important in creating your second self!). Everything a new resident needs is on this new side menu.

People Locator

One of the fair criticisms of Second Life is that there is never anybody in it. That isn’t actually true, since 65,000 users are always logged in and millions of people have accounts. The problem is, like in real life, people are scattered and pockets of people are hard to find. It isn’t any different than real life; if you were to go to a bank at 3AM, you would hope to find it empty.

Since Second Life is a 24 hour operation with people from every corner of the earth, there is a great chance you are logged in at a time when other folks are sleeping. The new people locator helps you find the hot spot pockets of people. If you want to send your students to do a survey or to observe avatar behavior, they can simply click on the people finder and teleport to the nearest cluster of people.

Easy Talk

The new viewer includes a much easier way to use the voice system. Now there is one simple button to push, and you are able to chat away with your students. The old menu wasn’t hard, but it was a bit cumbersome and not at all intuitive. This one-button approach will help students get connected instantly.

Educators in Second Life

Educators will love the new Second Life viewer because it is easier to use and more functional. Less time will be spent showing students how to wear shoes, and more time can be spent working in groups on collaborative content.

Lots of seasoned SL bloggers have been discussing the new viewer, and experienced users have mixed emotions about the new look and feel of it. How do you feel about the new viewer? Do you think it will be easier for educators to use, or should Linden Lab tweak it a bit before it goes out of Beta?

Image credit: Daniel Voyager
From- MakeUseOf.com

Because Every Country Is The Best At Something

2010-05-28T06:14:00.000-07:00

Because Every Country Is The Best At Something: "

International number ones

Data: http://bit.ly/IntNoOnes

Note: Roll over the main image to see the countries.

DESIGN: David McCandless

RESEARCH: David McCandless, Chris J Hall, Alexia Wdowski, Pearl Doughty White, Caroline Flynn, James Key (yes it was a lot of work!)

ADDITIONAL DESIGN: Matt Hancock, Joe Swainson

SOURCES: NationMaster.com, The CIA World FactBook, Wikipedia, FAO @ The UN, Press Reports

DATA: Explore in this Google doc

Using Digital Storytelling for Creative and Innovative e-Learning

2010-05-05T22:21:00.000-07:00

"This article discusses how creativity and innovation can be enhanced with e-learning systems based on digital storytelling. A story creation model called movement-oriented design (MOD) is introduced for systematically developing effective digital stories, in conjunction with story creation principles articulated by Robert McKee, a Hollywood guru of script writing."

Using Digital Storytelling for Creative and Innovative e-Learning:

Facebook for Learning

2010-04-28T02:53:00.000-07:00

Click here to view the Articulate version

DOWNLOAD

MP3 and Articulate Version (Unzip before viewing)

Slideshare Version

Facebook For Learning? Boleh!

View more presentations from Zaid Alsagoff.

LEARNING SESSION
This week's learning session explored Facebook and how we can use it to facilitate learning. As expected, thanks to the juicy topic 'Facebook', we had a full house (e-learning lab, I mean!). Only 25 were allowed to register, but we ended up with 32 participants, which just illustrates that Facebook is an interesting topic.

LET'S DO IT!

Based on our recent poll the majority of both Academic staff (66.7) and students (67.8) that participated think that IMU should use Facebook for e-learning.

But, where to start?

To get your Facebook social learning space moving, why not for starters create a 'Facebook Group' (especially if you want to have a closed group)?

STEP-BY-STEP
Here are two screencast tutorials exploring how to create a Facebook Group and how we could use it to facilitate learning:

Part 1 - Creating a 'Facebook Group'

Part 2 - Exploring Facebook Group Features

But...

Why not combine Moodle (E-learning Portal) and Facebook to facilitate online learning environments that sizzles :)
Read more...

By- ZaidLearn

drneelesh's Elearning Topic- April 2010

2010-04-20T03:42:00.001-07:00

internet in Medicine Week 8: New Media in Medicine and Education 2.0

Posted: 17 Apr 2010 03:11 PM PDT

I launched the world's first elective course at a medical university focusing on web 2.0 and medicine for medical students in 2008. Now this is the 4th semester and the 8th week was dedicated to new media in medicine and education 2.0. Here is the outline of my presentations.
First slideshow: New Media in Medicine

We don't watch TV on TV any more.
Statistics about Youtube (pros and cons)
ustream.tv; Twiddeo.com
How could a doctor reach the patient? (newspaper, ads, word of mouth)
How can they reach them now? Through online videos such as scivee.tv, thedoctorschannel.com, emedtv.com
Podcasts: Is it easier to read or to listen?

List of best podcasts
Automatic podcast: Odiogo
Doctor Radio Show: Doctor Anonymous
Lifehacks about how to be efficient online

Being up-to-date: Google Reader, Webicina, Google Alerts, e-mail filters in GMail
Collaboration: Google Docs, Connotea.org, etc.
Clinical Cases: Medting, Clinical Cases and Images, Cases Journal
Conferences: conferencealerts.com, gotomeeting.com
Tools: Second Life, Google Calendar, podcast
Twitter tips

Take-home message: Make your online work as efficient and time-saving as possible.
Second slideshow: Education 2.0

What we have to face: lack of inspiration (educators) and lack of motivation (students)
But we can find motivation and inspiration online
e.g. Ted Talks – Ken Robinson

Why? We're changing (students, even children use different communication channels) – Vision of students;

We're digital natives, Generation Z.
Many examples, statistics about the problems with education
"If you want to teach me, you first have to reach me"
Wikipedia, Quiz.md, mind mapping, Exam General, slideshare, Second Life simulations, thinkanatomy.com, twitter, friendfeed, and many more examples students can use in their studies

Take-home message: The web is full of educational resources. Use them wisely.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

115 Social networking and collaboration spaces

Posted: 17 Apr 2010 01:31 AM PDT

Following Techcrunch's posting on Thursday, Ning's bubble bursts ..., that the new CEO of Ning had written to its staff to tell them that it will phase out their free service and that "existing free networks will have the opportunity to either convert to paying for premium services, or transition off of Ning", there has been a lot of blogging activity about Ning.
Some have suggested that this has been a big PR disaster for Ning, others that this could mean the end to free social media, whilst many more have focused on the alternatives to Ning. I wrote a blog posting on my Social Media in Learning blog about how I thought Elgg might be a good alternative. However there have been many other suggestions, some of which I actually don't think would provide the same functionality as Ning, so this is the reason for today's blog posting, as I wanted to remind you about the section in the Directory of Learning Tools, that (currently) lists 115 social networking and collaboration space tools and services. In this list you will find

public social networks (like Facebook)
private/closed social networking platforms (like Ning)
group and small community spaces
enterprise collaboration platforms (like Elgg)

Clearly the functionality of a tool or service will be important, but other factors will be the cost (ie whether it is free, open source or commercial software), and whether it is a hosted service or downloadable software. When you choose your new platform you may also want to make sure you own the data and content this time, so if this is a consideration, you will need to read the terms and conditions closely.
You may find my comparison of Facebook, Ning and Elgg a useful resource when considering all the factors involved - to ensure you don't jump out of the frying pan into the fire!
Meanwhile, you should also note that Ning has made the following announcement on its blog:

"We recognize that there are many active Ning Networks for teachers, small non-profits, and individuals and it's our goal to have a set of product and pricing options that will make sense for all of them."

Decisions, decisons ..

Ning cancels “free”

Posted: 15 Apr 2010 11:25 AM PDT

Big news today from Ning: no more free networks (and 40% staff layoffs). Hosted services are great – as long as you can pull your data out (a significant value to Google's data liberation project). Many educators use Ning for creating social networks. But, for Ning, ad revenue has not been able to meet their financial needs. Which is why I'm quite pleased that we're using Elgg for our institutional learning/collaboration network at Athabasca University: the Landing. If you decide not to host your own site, at least make sure you can own and export your own data on your terms.
Is this a commentary on "free" as a business model?

Vitamin D deficiency occurs frequently in COPD and correlates with severity

Posted: 15 Apr 2010 08:15 AM PDT

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) levels were measured in 414 (ex)-smokers older than 50 years and the link between vitamin D status and presence of COPD was assessed. The rs7041 and rs4588 variants in the vitamin D-binding gene (GC) were genotyped and their effects on 25-OHD levels were tested.

In patients with COPD, 25-OHD levels correlated significantly with forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1).

Compared with 31% of the smokers with normal lung function, as many as 60% and 77% of patients with GOLD (Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease) stage 3 and 4 exhibited deficient 25-OHD levels lower than 20 ng/ml.

25-OHD levels were reduced by 25% in homozygous carriers of the rs7041 at-risk allele.

76% and 100% of patients with GOLD stage 3 and 4 homozygous for the rs7041 allele exhibited 25-OHD levels lower than 20 ng/ml.

Vitamin D deficiency occurs frequently in COPD and correlates with severity of COPD. The data warrant vitamin D supplementation in patients with severe COPD, especially in those carrying at-risk rs7041 variants.

References:

Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in COPD and correlates with variants in the vitamin D-binding gene. Thorax 2010;65:215-220 doi:10.1136/thx.2009.120659.

http://thorax.bmj.com/content/65/3/215.short

Image source: Lungs, Wikipedia, public domain.

Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, follow on Twitter and Buzz, and connect on Facebook.

Top 30 Library iPhone Apps – Part 3

Posted: 12 Apr 2010 06:55 AM PDT

This is the third installment in a 3-part series listing library-oriented iPhone applications - all links go to iTunes where you can download the apps. If you have a favorite book-related iPhone app that's not listed here, please suggest it in the comments below, and be sure to check out parts one and two!

Book-Related iPhone Apps

eBooks & Audiobooks

	Stanza Cost: Free Stanza claims to be the most popular electronic book reader with over 1 million readers. They offer access to over 50,000 contemporary titles and an additional 50,000 free classics.

	Classics Cost: $.99 This app has over a dozen hand-picked, literary masterpieces in its collection including The Odyssey, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Frankenstein, and Pride & Prejudice.

	Kindle for iPhone Cost: Free This simple app allows users to buy and read Kindle books on their iPhones as well as adjust the text size and add bookmarks.

	Audiobooks Cost: Free Over 1 million people have used this iPhone app to listen to over 2,800 classic audiobooks for free.

	Bookshelf Cost: $4.99 An ebook reader app which supports many different formats with images and formatted text.

	Free Books Cost: $1.99 23,469 classic books are accessible for free through this Free Books app.

Find Local Books
	LocalBooks Cost: Free Similar to UrbanSpoon for restaurants, LocalBooks lets users know about libraries, bookstores, and bookish events near their location.

	RedLaser Cost: $1.99 This extremely useful app lets users scan just about any barcode and receive search results for low online and local prices from hundreds of thousands of retailers. It works particularly well for books and WorldCat has now integrated their catalog with RedLaser so nearby libraries with the item will also appear in search results.

	Bookzee Cost: Free This is a location-based library book search for NYC.

A generation growing up with touch technology

Posted: 07 Apr 2010 03:17 PM PDT

Gartner (a Swahili term meaning "first we will make you give us a bunch of data to register for our site and then we'll charge you a few thousand dollars for simple research reports") is jumping on the touch mania that will continue to grow as more companies release their tablets/slates stating that "50% of the computers purchased for children will have touchscreens by 2015″. I can certainly understand the value of touch over keyboard and mouse interfaces. Children interact almost intuitively with touch interfaces. I'm reluctant to ascribe far-reaching educational implication to this, however. While pundits shall come a'runnin', learning implications are far from clear.

Ethics and Medical students - Medscape interview

2010-04-06T04:07:00.000-07:00

Below are exerpts from an interview with Mr. Ahari on ethics in Medicine and medical education.

Medscape: What are the main threats to professionalism in medicine encountered during medical training?

Mr. Ahari: Medical training is undeniably stressful, sometimes cruel, and tends to cultivate attitudes far different than those that inspired many to become physicians in the first place. From my perspective in drug sales, marketing exploits vulnerabilities created by such experiences that begin in medical school. For example, despite the best of intentions, some doctors (and students in the clinical years) tend to rationalize accepting gifts or engaging in business relationships that less jaded students earlier in their training would clearly identify as a conflict of interest.

Medscape: How can medical students best counteract these threats to professionalism?

Mr. Ahari: I would advise physicians and students to fight hard to stay true to their values. They should remember the noble aspirations that they wrote about in their application essays, what inspired them to commit themselves to this lifelong profession, and their vow to safeguard their patients' health above other concerns. After all, while there are many problems that need to be addressed, [we only have] control over our self.

Medscape: What do you regard as the greatest challenges facing medical students today?

Mr. Ahari: Medical school applicants are partially selected for their devotion to service and their compassion, yet once school begins, little of their training cultivates these values. In fact, modern training drives us towards paternalism and a general dehumanization of our patients. This is so common that some medical educators have formally renamed the student preclinical and clinical years as the "precynical" and "cynical" years. Ultimately, this forces students to struggle to preserve their altruistic beliefs in the face of a culture that increasingly values commodification (viewing healthcare services and skills as commodities) and efficiency.

Medscape: What role do the value systems underlying medical training play, and what shifts are needed to reduce threats to professionalism in medicine?

Mr. Ahari: A significant part of the problem stems from an imbalance in medical cultural philosophies. Some believe that health should be considered a commodity, that health has a calculated value that can be bartered, traded, and sold. Others believe that health is fundamental and intrinsic and that all people are entitled to care by virtue of simply being human, that health is a human right.

Given that such severe health disparities run along socioeconomic lines, medicine seems overly reliant on the former. The trick is to find a mutually acceptable reconciliation of these 2 philosophies to create a financially stable and efficient healthcare system that nurtures all patients and preserves the idealism of physicians in training.

Medscape: What do you believe should be the future directions of medical education?

Mr. Ahari: Medical education must make greater efforts to sustain student attitudes of compassion and service. Furthermore, it must somehow incorporate broader training in what is already a dense curriculum. After all, success in medicine today relies on much more than just the mastery of science. Beyond traditional curricula, modern medical practice requires an adequate understanding of economics, health policy, public health, and ethics. Medical training is already an intense experience, yet the current state of affairs seems to demand well-rounded doctors.

Medscape: Given your former experience in drug marketing, what role do you believe the pharmaceutical industry has in medical education?

Mr. Ahari: While it might seem to be common sense that pharmaceutical education should come from an objective source, amazingly, a significant portion of our education comes from private companies. For example, about 80% of CME funding comes from the drug industry. Studies have shown that the industry is quite adept at incorporating their marketing messages in a variety of methods mistakenly identified as "education" by the medical community — sponsored speakers, detailing, conferences, etc. Current evidence suggests that this education not only influences your typical private physician's prescribing habits, but also the even more "protected" decision makers, such as the formulary committees of major hospitals.

BlackBoard Mobile for Medical elearning

2010-03-23T03:45:00.000-07:00

Blackboard Brings Interactive Teaching and Learning to Mobile Devices

Blackboard Mobile Learn Offers Two-Way Mobile Learning Experience

Now how can we use this in Medical education?

Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) recently announced plans for Blackboard Mobile Learn™, an application that will bring two-way teaching and learning to mobile devices, creating an interactive mobile learning experience for students and teachers on the go.

Blackboard's existing Blackboard Mobile Central™ application already delivers a mobile campus experience that includes news, events, maps and sports among a range of student life and service options. Blackboard Mobile Learn will take the next step by bringing the classroom experience and learning content to the mobile environment, arming campuses with a high quality option to quickly meet the growing demand from students who want to do more with their smartphones and other Web-enabled devices.

With Blackboard Mobile Learn, students will be able to check grades and assignments, add comments to discussion boards, email instructors and classmates and post comments on blogs – all from their mobile devices.

Blackboard Mobile Learn will recreate and enrich the course experience of Blackboard Learn™, the leading Web-based teaching and learning platform, in native mobile applications that in June will support a selection of the world's most popular mobile platforms including iPhone® OS, Android and BlackBerry®. Like Blackboard Mobile Central, Blackboard Mobile Learn is available through an annual license, will be branded under the school's name, and can be downloaded by students and faculty at mobile application stores.

Schools that are interested in experimenting with mobile learning on their campus for no additional charge can enable Wi-Fi access to Blackboard Mobile Learn on devices such as the iPhone and iPod touch® and, through a special partnership with Sprint (NY SE: S), on select smartphones powered by the Now Network™. The no cost options are intended to help institutions get started quickly without extra investments.

Blackboard Mobile Learn will be available initially for U.S. and Puerto RicoBlackboard Learn and the WebCT and ANGEL platforms, will follow.

For more information about Blackboard Mobile Learn, please visit http://blackboard.com/Mobile.

Blackboard mobile could prove to be a handy strategy in Medical education, because of the "two platforms" tool itcan prove to be. Thus a PC or Laptop based elearning environment can be seamlessly integrated with a mobile instrument.

Personalization tools at PubMed

2010-03-19T03:24:00.000-07:00

PubMed® Search Results can be Customized Using My NCBI

[These changes were implemented in PubMed on March 16, 2010.]

Searchers will soon be able to tailor the display of PubMed search results using My NCBI. This will be a welcome change for those who prefer to see search results in the Abstract format, to view more than 20 citations per page, or to sort the order of results. In addition, the number of PubMed filters you can select has been expanded from 5 to 15.

Result Display Settings

The current default in PubMed displays multiple items in the Summary format, 20 per page, and sorted by items recently added at the top. To change this, access My NCBI, click on "PubMed Preferences," then "Result Display Settings" (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: PubMed Preferences in My NCBI

Select either the Abstract or the Summary format. You can change the number of citations to be displayed per page – up to 200, and choose from the sort options of Recently Added, Pub Date (Publication Date), First Author, Last Author, Journal, or Title (see Figure 2). You must be signed in to My NCBI to apply your display selections to your PubMed search results, and note also that a change to the display may result in a longer response time. This does not change the display of single records which will continue to display in the Abstract format.

Figure 2: Result Display Settings.

A two minute Quick Tour, Changing Your Default Display Settings, will be available on the PubMed Online Training page.

Searchers who want the Supplemental Data (e.g., MeSH terms) to always display are reminded to use the Abstract Supplemental Data preference option. For more information about this and other My NCBI preferences, see My NCBI Help: Using Preferences.

Filters

You can also now use My NCBI to select up to 15 filters for PubMed. All filters are displayed as links under "Filter your results" on the upper right of your search results (see Figure 3). Click on any of the filter links to display a subset of your results. To change your filter selections, click on "Manage Filters."

Figure 3: Results filters.

By Lidia Hutcherson
National Center for Biotechnology Information

drneelesh's Elearning Topic- March 2010

2010-03-12T02:06:00.001-08:00

7 Things You Should Know About E-Readers

Posted: 09 Mar 2010 07:39 AM PST

The folks at Educause have put together 7 Things You Should Know About E-Readers. This brief guide details the essentials about these portable devices such as:

What is it?
How does it work?
Who's doing it?
Why is it significant?
What are the downsides?
Where is it going?
What are the implications for teaching and learning?

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Understanding "learning" - some more thoughts

Posted: 04 Mar 2010 10:44 AM PST

My colleagues at the Internet Time Alliance have been thinking a lot about what "learning" and being a "learner" means. This has been part of the ongoing discussion we have been having about the hijacking of terms like informal and social learning by "snake oil sellers".

Jay Cross has become well known for helping organisations understand that learning is either formal or informal.

In my Social Learning Handbook I identified 5 categories of learning: Formal Structured Learning, Personal Directed Learning, Group Directed Learning, Intra-Organisational Learning and Accidental & Serendiptous Learning.

Harold Jarche looked at these 5 categories and grouped learning into 3 types: directed, self-directed and undirected learning.

In his posting yesterday he now refers to learners as being Dependent, Independent and Interdependent

So how do these different terms map together? I've drawn up this table to make it a little clearer,

Recently I have come across a lot of instances of the use of phrases like "managing informal learning" or "formalising informal learning", which might sound as if they make sense, but when you look more closely at what they mean, it's the same thing as saying "directing the learning of self-directed learners" which makes no sense at all!

In my opinion it is just not possible to manage or formalise informal learning - if you do, it just becomes formal learning. All you can do to do is SUPPORT and ENABLE self-directed (independent and interdependent) learners and their learning, which is quite a different thing altogether.

So what about those people who say that you can't let employees be responsible for their own learning, they might not learn the right things(!), let me point you to the article in December 2009's CLO Magazine written by Timothy R Clark and Conrad A Gottfredson, Agile Learning, Thriving in the New Economy, which explains why supporting and enabling self-directed/independent learners should be encouraged:

"As competitive environments increase in speed, complexity and volatility, organizations and individuals are compelled toward a dynamic learning mindset. Dynamic learning is defined as rapid, adaptive, collaborative and self-directed learning at the moment of need."

So as organisational learning departments simply can't respond quickly enough to the ongoing learning needs of the organisation (it takes weeks if not months to put together and deliver a course) , they will need to consider new approaches, so as I put it in my article ..

"The consequence of this for Learning & Development is that they now need to concern themselves more with helping employees become dynamic, agile, self-directed, independent and interdependent - what we might also term "smart" - learners and less with creating and managing learning solutions for dependent learners. Helping employees become smart learners includes supporting them acquire a set of trusted resources and networks, using the most appropriate tools; and having the right mix of skills to make effective use of the tools and (re)sources."

Pedagogy of participation rather than retention

2010-03-07T21:59:00.001-08:00

Want to get a good sense of emerging technologies available for learning and training? New Technology Supporting Informal Learning offers a great "state of the field" analysis of change pressures and tools/methods available as a response.

From the article: "Learning networks capture an essential element in learning today, the simple fact that we don't know what we want to teach…Social networks represent a gradual decentralization of content and contact online…we are currently seeing experimentation in the development of distributed online courses and in software – particularly, the personal learning environment – that support the formation of connections between the far-flung pieces of such courses."

a pedagogy of participation rather than retention...... The intent of such systems is to facilitate the conversation and interaction around episodic learning events in a distributed environment, transforming them from elements in a linear flow-based design to free-floating objects in an environment.

The need for participatory pedagogy is obvious. Many researchers have acknowledged this for decades. Unique today is the ready access to simple technologies that permit high levels of participation at classroom and course levels.

drneelesh's Elearning Topic- January 2010

2010-01-22T04:23:00.001-08:00

iPhone Meditation App by Mayo Clinic - More Apps in the Future

Posted: 06 Jan 2010 03:17 AM PST

Video: Mayo Clinic iPhone Meditation App ($4.99), by MedCity News: Mayo Clinic has launched its own iPhone/iPod touch app: a tool to teach and perform meditation. It's among the first iPhone apps launched by a hospital system. Mayo Clinic is partnering with DoApps Inc. to form a new company that will develop and sell smart phone apps based on Mayo research. References: Mayo Clinic launches mobile app company, meditation app. MedCity News. Related: Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, or follow me on Twitter.

Best Virtual World Ever: Innovation in Organizing Meetings

Posted: 20 Dec 2009 11:37 AM PST

I've been organizing scientific events and medical conferences in the virtual realm of Second Life for years. Though it has some serious limitations.

If you don't have IT experience, it will be quite hard to download and install it.
Costs a lot if you want to upload content.
Creating slideshows is a complicated and long process.

In the last couple of months, I've been a consultant for a Hungarian team that developed Visuland which should be a perfect alternative for Second Life:

Takes about 20-30 seconds to enter: You come up with the idea to organize an event and send the specific links to the potential attendants. They click on the link and get into your conference room in 20-30 seconds.
No need of installation and registration
Real-time voice communication
Real time video-streaming on virtual screens (you can stream your presentation plus your face via webcam at the same time)
Efficient presentation tool -> conferences, workshops, meetings
Editable posters and textures -> personalized rooms, advertisements
Any website, blog, forum can easily create its own virtual place
Public and private chat, transcript can be saved
Zero cost for not commercial users

Take a look at it yourself and see how fast you can enter Visuland. It has one major limitation, it only runs on Windows but will run on Macintosh as well in a few months.

Using Web 2.0 in Libraries Guide

Posted: 16 Dec 2009 06:16 AM PST

The Scottish Library and Information Council along with CILIPS (the Chartered Insitute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland) have published A Guide to Using Web 2.0 in Libraries.

"Although Web2.0 services have been integrated within our organisation, feedback from our members within the Scottish library and information
community indicates that considerable barriers to widespread adoption remain. The greatest challenge seems to be access, as many organisations restrict or block the use of Web2.0 or social networking sites, denying staff the opportunity to experiment with these potentially powerful tools.
In response to demand from members, and in order to address this challenge, SLIC and CILIPS have created these guidelines to highlight the potential of social media within library services and to encourage organisations to reassess restrictive practices regarding access."

They have also published a guide to Improving Libraries for Learners.
via Stephen's Lighthouse
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Next-Gen Libraries Presentation

Posted: 02 Dec 2009 05:04 AM PST

Today I presented a talk on Next-Generation Libraries at the Online Information Conference in London, England. Here's a slidecast of my talk if you'd like to check it out.

Next-Gen Libraries

View more documents from Ellyssa Kroski.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

BMJ video: The man who pioneered the randomised controlled trial

Posted: 10 Nov 2009 03:11 AM PST

BMJ video: "John Crofton pioneered the randomised controlled trial in a 1948 BMJ paper which looked at the antibiotic streptomycin to treat TB. Now in his 90s, Dr Crofton talks to Colin Blakemore about the importance of randomisation and blinding, and how it has helped to make medicine more evidence based." Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, or follow me on Twitter.

Learning Tools Directory 2010

2010-01-15T04:32:00.000-08:00

Learning Tools Directory 2010: "- Jane Knight

The Directory index appears here but the 12 categories are listed below.

Instructional Tools
Tools for creating, delivering, managing
learning and/or providing a social learning environment. Includes course authoring, testing, LMS, CMS and SLEs
Currently listing 290 tools
Live Tools
Tools for delivering live meetings, screen sharing and accessing/building virtual worlds. Includes web, audio, video conferencing, live broadcasting, 3D/virtual worlds
Currently listing 85 tools
Document & Presentation Tools
Tools to create, host and/or share documents, PDFs, e-Books and/or presentations. Includes word processing, presentation tools, PDF
convertors, document and presentation hosting sites
Currently listing 177 tools
Blogging, Web & Wiki Tools
Tools to create blogs, web pages/sites and wikis as well as provide interactivity on those sites. Includes blogging tools, web site tools, wikis, widgets, RSS feeds tools, forms, web poll and survey sites
Currently listing 255 tools
Image, Audio & Video Tools
Tools to create, edit and/or host
images, avatars, audio files, podcasts, screencasts and videos. Includes
image editors, images hosting sites, audio editors, video makers, screencasting tools, video hosting sites
Currently listing 270 tools
Communication Tools
Tools for a range of
synchronous and asynchronous communication activities.Includes email,
voice/video messaging, instant messaging, chat rooms, discussion forums
Currently listing 151 tools
Micro-blogging Tools
These tools are for real-time updating (140 characters at a time) both publically or privately, as well as a range of useful Twitter apps. Includes
micro-blogging, back channel tools, Twitter apps
Currently listing 141 tools
More collaboration tools
These are (further) stand-alone tools suitable for individuals to work and learn more effectively with others - as well as on their own. Includes social bookmarking, calendar sharing, mind mapping, notetaking/sharing, whiteboards, research and other tools
Currently listing 188 tools
Social Networking and Collaboration Spaces
These social media platforms include public social networks as well as tools to create private collaborative, social spaces for groups or communities, as well as enterprise collaboration systems (with multiple group sites). Includes public social networks, networking and community platforms, group spaces, Enterprise 2.0 systems Currently listing 107 tools
Personal Productivity Tools
These tools are for an individual's personal working, learning and/or productivity purposes. Includes mind mapping, information and time management tools, web search, and other productivity tools
Currently listing 149 tools
Browsers, Players & Readers
These tools are useful for browsing the web and accessing web content. Includes browsers, extensions, plugins, bookmarklets, toolbars, readers and players, online start pages
Currently listing 68 tools
Mobile Tools
These mobile tools are for working, learning and/or
productivity purposes.Includes tools for iPhone/iTouch, Blackberry and Android devices
Currently listing 47 tools

The Very Best From ZaidLearn!

2009-12-23T21:32:00.001-08:00

The Very Best From ZaidLearn!: " Zaid Ali Asagoff

“Strange as it may seem, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and formal education positively fortifies it.” - Stephen Vizinczey

Actually, as you learn and acquire knowledge and skills, your ego might amplify your confidence, ignorance and pride, which again could hinder you from going beyond what you have already learned. You become stubborn to try new ideas and approaches, because you have reached a level whereby you are comfortable with what you are doing, and it works perfectly fine to you.

After all these years of exploring and settling down with your own style, certainly you don't want to risk exploring new ideas, and perhaps making a fool of yourself. If you have reached such a stage in life or at work, it is perhaps time to rethink yourself. I am kind of referring to myself, too...

REFLECTING BACK

Since middle 2007, I have posted exactly 360 posts (including this one), and I suppose it is time to reflect back, and share with you a list of those posts that are probably the best from ZaidLearn. So, if you like ZaidLearn or new to it, I suppose this list would be an excellent starting point. Previously, I created a master list and stories collection, but this time around it will include the best of the best, according to my own little formula, which is certainly not scientific.

After more than 2 years of blogging, including studying other learning blogs, I have come to realize that producing 'hit sensations' is not that difficult. If you really want to generate a lot of hits fast, start talking about celebrity trash, controversy, politics, making big bucks, gaming, cars, hate, religion, race, naughty stuff, etc. If you are reasonably smart you can become a 'Britney' hits sensation in no time (please don't be upset! she can't sing!).

What about education? Tough! What about Higher Education? Are you ____!

However, if you do create relevant monster lists of this and that, you can still be a hits sensation reasonably quickly. Also, many people can benefit from your efforts to summarize the best resources out there into juicy lists. I did that a lot in 2007 and 2008, and a few times in 2009. During the process I discovered and learned plenty, and visitors discovered and learned, and seemed to repay back by returning, referring, tweeting, bookmarking, etc. Great!

However, these days there are so many juicy lists around, and excellent educational bloggers that can swoosh them in no time. So, I am not going to feel guilty about focusing more time on sharing my deep thoughts about learning and education (and posting 1-2 times a month) instead, although my hit rate might be effected. So what!

It has been fun, but life must go on. Interestingly, since ZaidLearn started, it has had visitors from 197 countries and 8,387 cities, which just shows how interconnected our world is today. I thought that there were only 195 countries in the world, but according to Google Analytics there seems to be more than 200. Google has always been innovative, so why not here, too.

ZaidLearn has connected me to many learning professionals around the world, and has been an amazingly enriching learning experience beyond any lecture, tutorial, assignment, project or exam could ever achieve. But, what has been most thrilling, is the conversations sparked from some of my blog posts, which have been conversed in other blogs and sites, and sometimes beyond English in the form of German, Polish, Finnish, French, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, etc. Luckily, Google language tools has helped me interpret and learn from these interesting conversations.

During this enriching learning process of blogging, I have even angered and insulted female bloggers (unintentionally), slammed CEOs and learning tools, hurt Moodle fans, and even published an e-book consisting of juicy blog posts from ZaidLearn (+119,000 hits!), but that is something to expect if you are really honest about what you think.

In short, ZaidLearn has been a wonderful learning adventure, and below are a juicy selection of the best blog posts from ZaidLearn.

THE BEST FROM ZAIDLEARN

1) 1st E-Book

69 Learning Adventures in 6 Galaxies (E-book)
A collection of 69 learning nuggets (articles) from ZaidLearn compiled into an ebook. This ebook is divided into six learning galaxies (or themes), which are: Learning, Teaching, Stories, Free e-Learning Tools, Free Learning Content and Free EduGames.

2) Learning & Facilitation

The Secret Recipe to Delivering World Class Lectures
Use Bloom's Taxonomy Wheel for Writing Learning Outcomes
Do you have problems writing learning outcomes/objectives for your content or courses? Or more specifically, do you have trouble finding the right ACTION VERBS to describe what you want your students to achieve from the course, module, topic or unit? Try Bloom's taxonomy wheel(s).
Moodle is an Airport, Not a Total Solution!
If you ask me, Moodle is a good meeting place (airport or space station), or a starting point where we get together to discuss and share ideas, before taking off using both inbuilt and integrated learning tools to experience engaging and enriching learning adventures beyond any single VLE can provide.
The Finnish Education System Rocks! Why?
This article (post) explores some of the secrets behind the world class Finnish education system.
Drop-By-Learning (DBL)
Today, educators seem busier than ever juggling teaching, research, and administration, and by providing them a drop-by-learning option, it will hopefully enable and motivate more educators to learn the skills needed to facilitate effective learning in the 21st century.
Go Online! Go Mobile! Lost in Space!
Coaching Critical Thinking To Think Creatively!
'I very much enjoyed this article, a longish description of how the author (Zaid Alsagoff) revamped a critical thinking course. It wasn't so much the content of the article (though as someone who has taught critical thinking dozens of times I had an inherent interest). Rather, what interested me was the storytelling, the way the author let me into his thinking process. This isn't the sort of article that requires you to agree or disagree with it; we are clearly and entertainingly being told what was done, and why. Would he do it differently next time? Still, we can compare the thinking with our own, compare the process with our own - and that's exactly what I did, and why I enjoyed it. Be sure to click on the slide shows in Slideshare, such as this one.' - Stephen Downes
Teaching Habits
In this 5-part series, I reflect specific teaching habits that inspire students out of learning. Is that possible? Here we go:

Part 1 - Whiteboard And I Are One!
Part 2 - I Have Bragging Rights, Because I Am …
Part 3 - Is PowerPoint Evil?
Part 4 - No Stupid Questions! I am Serious!
Part 5 - Show Up to Throw Up! 21st Century Thinking?

E-Learning 2.0 Workshop (Stephen Downes)
'It would be pretty hard to write a more comprehensive (and kind) summary of my workshop than this by Zaid Ali Alsagoff, who deserves by thanks for acting as my videographer and assistant during the strenuous two-day event. What I like about this post was that the lessons were 'meta' - not so much the bits about web 2.0 technology discussed during the session, but rather about the attitude and perspective on teaching their deployment represents. In my own mind, what we accomplished was best represented in two photos, this one at the beginning of the first day, where everything was ordered and proper, and this one near the end of the second day, where real learning was happening.' - Stephen Downes
Learning Notes From an E-Learning 2.0 Implementation Workshop
The main objective of this hands-on practical workshop was to develop an understanding of the implementation and application of e-learning technologies within an institution of higher education. Also, it explored several web 2.0 technologies that participants could use to develop a collaborative online learning space.
Salman Khan Uses Microsoft Paint to Inspire Learning
Crashing The Workshop To Capture A Great Learning Moment!
10 Secrets To Great Teaching (SlideShare presentation with audio narration)

2 Juicy Ways to Insert YouTube Videos into PowerPoint

3) Resource Lists

A Free Learning Tool for Every Learning Problem?
A collection of the best free learning tools using a Q&A approach. It has proven to be the most popular post on this blog, and has been featured in more than a hundred blogs and sites around the world. Also, you might want to check out the delicious version, which includes more tools, but does not filter them out using a Q&A approach post.
University Learning = OCW + OER = FREE!
A compilation of 250+ University learning related OpenCourseWare (OCW) and Open Educational Resources (OER).

99 Free EduGames to Spice Up Your Course!
99 FREE EduGames (Educational Games) that sounds and looks interesting for Higher Education.
101 Free Learning Tools
A SlideShare presentation exploring 101 excellent free learning tools to facilitate learning and teaching (+40,000 hits!).
The Best EDU Blogs on the Planet!
Check out this collection (of lists) of edublogs that will inspire you beyond your learning imagination.
The Juiciest Learning Professionals on Twitter?
The main reason for assembling this list is to help people looking for top learning professionals on Twitter.
A Growing List of Free Learning Tutorial Sites!
A simple raw list of links to EXCELLENT SITES (with short descriptions) that have or link to tutorials that explore learning tools and online learning.
Amazing Free e-Learning eBooks Collection
A collection of free e-Learning ebooks.
Free Screencasting Tools For Tony!
'Toast! Cut! Cam! Jing! Flow! Wink! You name it, they record it!' A list of free tools to create screencasts (screen-recording or capturing everything happening on the screen).
Any Free Hosted CMS or LMS? (Yes, Obama Says!)
A few free hosted LMS that you might want to explore, before considering investing hardcore money on a commercial alternative.
50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story (Alan Levine)
Alan Levine reviews lessons learned in exploring 50 web sites (tools) for creating content via slideshows, timelines, media mixers, comic strips, and presentation makers.
Do You Want To Learn English As A Second Language (ESL)?
A list of interesting ESL resources that I have discovered until now, and most of them are free. Whether you want ESL content for your IPod, or you want to do an online quiz to test your knowledge, trust me, there are enough resources to last you a few life times (and more).
The King Kong List For Free Medical Online Resources!
A juicy collection of free medical resources, games and courses that you might want to use for your personal learning, or embed in your course/training/program as supplementary or core resources to enrich the students' learning experiences.
Your Top 10 Videos (That Inspire Us To Rethink The Way We Learn)?
My current top 10 list of videos that inspire us to rethink the way we learn and educate. This post also encourages others to list and share their top 10 favorite videos that inspire us to rethink the way we learn and educate in the 21st century.
Is Boltelicious Keyboard Skills Required To Facilitate Online Effectively?
To improve the success of any e-learning or online facilitation initiative, I believe it is vital that educators (and students) have good keyboard and typing skills (say at least 30+ words per minute), so that they can efficiently answer e-mails, forum posts, chat sessions, develop content, projects, assignments, and so on. This post include several free learning tools to improve your keyboard/typing skills.

4) Fun!

Yep, this is basically the outline to my 2nd E-Book. Just need to add an introduction and conclusion and it is ready to be published to the world (or whoever is interested!). It is certainly an enhancement to the first one (filtering out really crap, adding it with better crap!).

Finally, what learning tool should I use to publish it (Scribd again)? Wouldn't it be cool, if we could simply add the blog post links, and on-the-fly an e-book will be generated, which we could then edit, add, and fine tune further. Do such publishing tools exist? Any suggestions?

Alright, ZaidLearn will be taking a one month break at least. Another learning adventure to attend to, and I need to deeply rethink the way I learn and share. But I will still be updating ZaidSwoosh from time to time, with juicy learning nuggets.

Until ZaidLearn returns, Happy New Year and may 2010 be a year of learning, peace and joy :)

CME Xtracredit on the move via iPhone

2009-12-22T23:01:00.001-08:00

Lippincott Continuing Medical Education Institute, Inc. (LCMEI), a wholly owned subsidiary of WKH that certifies more education than any other nationally accredited publisher in the United States recently launched XtraCredit, a novel internet-point-of-care (IPOC) activity for physicians to use on their iPhone and iTouch devices.

IPOC CME allows physicians to receive needed CME credit for finding answers to their clinical questions among approved resources, including LWW medical books and journals, and documenting their experience in a specified way. Users can download the application at no charge; there is a small per-credit fee for each documented search.

XtraCredit allows readers of LWW journals, and users of services such as Ovid to earn CME credit; and publishers can promote this valuable new learning activity to their customers.

The application lets you conduct your research through hundreds of approved online resources such as Ovid, PubMed, Google Scholar, National Guideline Clearing House, OMIM, any of more than 500 hundred medical journals published by Lippincott Williams Wilkins, BMJ group, BioMed Central and others, even for use of EMR-based clinical decision-support such as Clin e-guide and Zynx. Credit is provided under the Internet Point of Care CME rules by the Lippincott CME Institute, Inc.

This app is available through the iPhone AppStore. The application and first use is free. Thereafter One will be charged an introductory price of $4.99 for each completed learning activity.

Check it here-

Medical Education via SMS platform

2009-12-08T23:06:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK - 2digiti, a provider of mobile messaging solutions, announces the launch of its 2digitiCORE, 2digitiENTERPRISE and 2digitiCUSTOM solutions to the healthcare community. These solutions will introduce a new level of interaction, engagement and assessment for healthcare learners, addressing the demand from medical education organizations for more innovation in promoting continuing professional development.

2digiti solutions provide the capability to fully automate outbound communications through a short message service (SMS) platform. “Our SMS-based platform was designed specifically to help reach, educate and measure the knowledge, competencies and performance of healthcare providers, while enabling greater interaction and communication among themselves and their patients,” states Venkat Gullapalli, CEO of 2digiti. “And all of this is done through the one device clinicians never leave home without─the mobile phone,” he adds.

2digiti enables medical education providers to engage in one-to-one dialogue with their healthcare audience, assess their clinical and educational gaps, provide patient education and disease state awareness, and facilitate learner interaction and collaboration with their peers and colleagues.

Traditional platforms such as print and live media are limited by the costs inherent in their distribution channels. In addition, actual penetration into the target audience varies, and is often less than 1%. By comparison, SMS messages costs are negligible, are targeted directly to the mobile phone of the user and can have a penetration into an audience as high as 76%.

“The primary limitation to the widespread utilization of SMS-messaging in healthcare appears to be imagination,” Gullapalli said. “The application of a simple, effective, efficient and ubiquitous platform to impact clinical performance and patient outcomes is within ‘thumbs’ reach.”

About 2digiti: 2digiti is a healthcare technology company focused on providing SMS-based messaging solutions to the healthcare industry.

For more information, visit, www.2digiti.com or email info@2digiti.com

5 tips for authoring Rapid E-Learning Courses

2009-12-08T21:23:00.000-08:00

Posted on articulate.com/rapid-elearning

December 8th, 2009

A manager I know works for a multibillion dollar company that has its own elearning group. However, when she needs to train her staff of about 200, she has no access to the elearning group’s resources. Without rapid elearning tools, she’d be hard pressed to offer her team the benefits of online learning. However, with rapid elearning tools she’s gone from no elearning to dozens of quick hit elearning courses.
While rapid elearning presents opportunities like this, the challenge is that many who build rapid elearning courses are not experienced at doing so. Most of them are one or two person teams who have to do everything from creating their own graphics to all of the course authoring. And there aren’t a lot of places for them to get help inside the organization.
I find that the biggest hurdle is that people approach PowerPoint from a presentation mindset. However, when you build elearning courses, you need to approach PowerPoint in a different way. In today’s post, I want to address some production techniques that can improve your rapid elearning development.
Following are five essential rapid elearning tips for working with PowerPoint.

Use a Blank Slide as Your Starting Point

One of the biggest hindrances to getting away from the dreaded PowerPoint look is the PowerPoint template structure. There’s nothing wrong with templates because they can save you time. But the default PowerPoint templates encourage bullet point lists and boring slides. So I suggest that you get away from using the templates.

Start with a blank slide. Then you’ll get used to building and adding your own screen elements. Personally, I like to start with the title only slide. Then, I go into the master slide and move the title off screen (like you see in the image above). This way I can use the title for information, but the learner doesn’t see it in the published course. This really helps when I need to add hyperlinks, which you can see in the tutorial below.

Step Away from Linear Slides, Think in Layers

By design PowerPoint is going to publish your slides like you’d publish a book. You start at page one and keep turning until you get to the end. This works is many cases. However, when you design your courses in PowerPoint, it’s important to see your slides from a slightly different perspective.

Think of your slide like a bucket of information. You’re job is to connect the information. Sometimes the default linear settings work and sometimes you have to create your own branching and navigation.
When I was a kid, I had an anatomy book where some of the pages were transparent. I could lift up the skin and various organs to get down to the bones. Think of your slides in the same way. Instead of linear pages, they can be like layered transparencies. To the learner it looks like a single slide, but in reality, it’s just a series of slides.

The learners don’t see PowerPoint slides. They see a single screen. All you’re doing is layering information on the screen so that when they click it just looks like the same screen with some new content.
Here are a few examples that demonstrate a non-linear approach where slides are seen as layers rather than linear information typical of a lot of PowerPoint-based courses. They were created in PowerPoint and published with Articulate Presenter.

CA Student Teacher Ratio: David Anderson created this based on a multimedia file he saw online. From the learner’s perspective, it just looks like a single screen, but it’s really made up of about 50 slides.
Exploration: Here’s a demo I created a while back. It’s similar to David’s. The learner clicks a link that jumps to another slide. However, the learner doesn’t see it as a transition from one slide to the next.
Moving box: By using layers, you can create triggers that activate an animation. While the demo is simple, the approach opens the doors to all sorts of interactions.

Make Full Use of the Master Slides

Most of the rapid elearning courses I see neglect the master slides. That means the developer is copying and pasting the same content over and over again instead of using the master slides.

In PowerPoint, you can have as many master slides as you want. If a course has the same content on 3 or more slides, it makes sense to put it on the master slide. First, it’s easier to manage and edit. Second, it improves your publishing time because you only have to publish the master file once rather than the same content multiple times over a series of slides. It’ll also load faster for the learner since they’ll load the master slide movie once and the individual slides will be much smaller.

Add Hyperlinks to the Master Slide

Adding hyperlinks in PowerPoint can be tedious if you need the same links over a series of slides. Why not try using the master slides? The links get spread across all of the slides that use that master. So if you have the same links (like a home button) just add it to the master rather than copying and pasting it on every slide. Where you don’t need it on a slide, just cover it up.

Bonus tip:

I usually create my own shapes for the hyperlinks rather than linking the object. This helps if I decide to switch objects or if I want to quickly move the link around.
Don’t group objects that have hyperlinks. They’ll work in PowerPoint, but probably not when converted to Flash. That’s why I like to keep my links separate from my objects.

Use One File for Graphics & One for Course Authoring

PowerPoint makes it easy to build a lot of your own graphics. This is especially true of PowerPoint 2007 with the new features. PowerPoint 2010 will have even better graphic features.
Because of this, the tendency is to build your graphics and your course in the same PowerPoint file. In many cases, this is probably fine. However, as the projects become larger and more complex, it’s a good idea to have two PowerPoint files for your course. One file is for creating graphics and the other is for creating your course.

I like to create my graphics in PowerPoint. When I have what I need, I right-click and save as an image. Then I bring that image into my course file. One of the benefits of this approach is that your publishing time is faster and you’re less apt to run into those odd issues and glitches that can occur trying to convert PowerPoint to Flash.
Below is a series of tutorials to support the information above and fill in some gaps.

Click here to view tutorials.
The challenge for a lot of people is getting past PowerPoint as a presentation tool and seeing it as a tool to author elearning courses. If you’re going to be successful using PowerPoint for elearning, you have to learn to use it in a new way. Hopefully these tips helped.
What are some of your favorite tips and tricks? Share them by clicking on the comments link.
If you liked this post, you might like these:

Top learning tools of 2009

2009-11-20T05:46:00.000-08:00

Posted on www.c4lpt.co.uk

by Jane Hart

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009
as at 15 November 2009

KEY
F = Free, C= Commercial, W = Windows, M=Mac, S=Server, O = Online
Cells shaded blue are new tools on the list this year
Cells shaded green are tools returning to the list this year

Current ranking in 2009	2008	2007	TOOL			# Votes
Current ranking in 2009	2008	2007	Name	Platform	Cost	# Votes
1	11	43=	Twitter Microblogging tool	O	F	159
2	1	2	Delicious Social bookmarking tool	O	F	95.5
3	18	22=	YouTube Video sharing site	O	F	79.5
4	3	7=	Google Reader RSS / Feed reader	O	F	79
5	7	14	Google Docs Office suite	O	F	78.5
6	5	6	Wordpress Blogging tool	O	F	69
7	20	31=	Slideshare Hosting presentations	O	F	64
8	6	3=	Google Search Web search tool	O	F	56
9=	12	11	Audacity Sound editor and recorder	W M	F	54
	2	1	Firefox Web browser and extensions	W M	F	54
11=	16	31=	Ning Social networking platforms	O	F/C	49
	4	3=	Skype Instant messaging/VoIP	W M	F/C	49
13	8	5	PowerPoint Presentation software	W M	C	47
14=	10	9	Blogger Blogging tool	O	F	45
	9	12=	Moodle Course mgt system	S	F	45
16	17	17=	iGoogle Personalised start page	O	F	37.5
17	13	26=	Wikipedia Collaborative encyclopedia	O	F	36
18	15	16	flickr Photo storage/sharing site	O	F	35
19	23	101=	VoiceThread Collaborative slideshows	O	F	33
20	26=	-	Jing Screen captures/ casting tool	W M	F/C	30.5
21	14	7=	Gmail Web-based email	O	F	30
22=	27	17=	Adobe Captivate Demo and scenario tool	W	C	29
	35=	72=	diigo Social annotation site	O	F/C	29
24	25	22=	Articulate Presenter/Engage/ Quizmaker	W	C	27
25	21	26=	SnagIt Screen capture tool	W	C	26.5
26	26=	50=	Camtasia Studio Screencasting tool	W	C	25.5
27	-	-	Evernote Note taking tool	O	F	25
28	-	-	Prezi Presentation software	O	F	24
29	19	15	Wikispaces Wiki tool	O	F/C	23
30	-	-	Wordle Word cloud generator	O	F	22
31=	-	-	animoto Create videos from your images	O	F	21
	24	17=	Facebook Social networking site	O	F	21
	50=	43=	iPhone/iPod/ Touch and apps	-	-	21
34	35=	43=	PBworks (prev PBwiki) Wiki tool	O	F/C	19
35	59=	50=	Adobe Photoshop Photo/Image editing tools	W	C	17
36=			Blogs	-	-	16
	22	10	Word Word processing software	W M	C	16
38=	38=	43=	Flash Animation authoring tool	W M	C	15
	66=	101=	Google Apps Google application suite	O	F/C	15
	30=	31=	LinkedIn Professional social network	O	F	15
41=	66=	72=	Adobe Connect Web meeting/ conferencing	O	C	14.5
	28	26=	iTunes/iTunes U Music/podcast player and site	W M	F	14.5
43=	-	-	Dimdim Web conferencing	O	F/C	14
	50=	50=	Elluminate Web conferencing	O	F/C	14
	40=	40=	Google Earth Satellite and aerial imagery	W M	F	14
	-	-	Tweetdeck Desktop social software client	W M	F	14
			Wikis and wiki tools	-	-	14
48	65=	72=	Keynote Presentation software	M	C	12
49	59=	72=	Edublogs Educational blogging tool	O	F	11.5
50=	29	36=	Google Calendar Web-based calendar	O	F	10
	-	-	Sharepoint MS Intranet portal and collaboration environment	S	C	10
	44=	-	Wetpaint Wiki tool	O	F	10
53=	44=	26=	Dreamweaver Web authoring tool	W M	C	9
	-	40=	Elgg Social engine	S	F	9
55=	83	-	Bubbl.us Online mindmapping tool	O	F	8
	59=	-	Garageband Personal recording studio	M	C	8
	-	-	Glogster Make an interactive poster	O	F	8
	-	-	Google Chrome Web browser	W M	F	8
	42=	17=	Mindmanager Mindjet Mindmapping software	W M	C	8
	37	26=	Netvibes Personalised start page	O	F	8
	-	-	Posterous Blogging/posting place	O	F	8
	-	-	Screenr Screencasting tool	O	F	8
63	-	57=	Picasa Photo organiser	W/O	F	7.5
64=	-	-	Lectora Course authoring tool	W	C	7
	80=	57=	TeacherTube Instructional video sharing site	O	F	7
	-	-	Udutu Online collaborative course authoring tool	O	F/C	7
67=	-	-	Cirip Micro-blogging platform	O	F	6.5
	34	36=	Google Maps Maps of the US. UK, etc (and mobile version)	O	F	6.5
	38=	17=	Outlook Email client	W	C	6.5
	-	-	Webex Web conferencing tool	O	F	6.5
71=	66=	-	Basecamp Track and manage projects	O	F/C	6
	-	-	Dropbox Sync files online and across computers	O	C	6
			Email	-	-	6
	-	-	Etherpad Real-time document collaboration	O	F	6
	-	-	Flip Digital camcorder	-	C	6
	54=	50=	Freemind Mind mapping tool	W M	F	6
	59=	-	Google Sites Create web/wiki sites	O	F	6
	-	-	GoToMeeting/GoToTrain Web conferencing system	O	C	6
	41=	31=	OpenOffice Desktop office suite	O	F	6
	-	-	Picnik Photo editing tool	W	C	6
	-	-	ScreenToaster Screencasting tool	O	F	6
	83=	50=	Scribd Document hosting/sharing	O	F	6
	54=	-	SecondLife Virtual world application	O	F	6
	-	-	xtranormal Movie-making software	D	F	6
	-	-	Yammer Private micro-blogging platform	O	F	6
86=	30=	12=	Bloglines RSS/Feed reader	O	F	5.5
	-	-	Friendfeed Info sharing tool	O	F	5.5
88=	59=	72=	Adobe Acrobat Pro Create and control PDF documents	W M	C	5
	-	57=	Adobe Fireworks Image editor	W M	C	5
	-	-	Edmodo Educational micro-blogging service	O	F	5
	33	57=	Google Alerts Keep track of new information	O	F	5
	66=	-	iMovie Video editing software	M	C	5
	59=	-	MindMeister Mind mapping tool	O	C	5
	83=	-	Movie Maker Create, edit and share home movies	W	C	5
	31=	-	Pageflakes Start page tool	O	F	5
	83=	-	Paint.NET Image/photo editing software	W	F	5
	-	72=	Paintshop Pro Image editing software	W	C	5
	54=	-	Survey Monkey Survey/questionnaire tool	O	F/C	5
	83=	-	Twhirl Twitter desktop client	W M	F	5
	44=	57=	TypePad Blogging tool	O	C	5

Use of interactive e-learning in Medicine- JMIR

2009-11-19T05:26:00.000-08:00

A Small study on use of interactive e-learning in Medicine

all words <within> are mine.

Technology used- live interactive webcasting using a scan converter, mixer, and digitizer, and video server to embed a presenter-controlled talking head or copy of the presenter’s computer screen (normally a PowerPoint slide) in a student chat room.

Activity studied - 16 students from six countries underwent weekly 2.5-hour live sessions for 10 weeks.<small size, but lets not be choosy.>

Content used included the use of computers by patients, patient access to records, different forms of e-learning for patients and professionals, research methods in eHealth, geographic information systems, and telehealth. - <bias galore!>

Conclusion- The model of synchronous e-learning based on interactive live webcasting was a successful method of delivering an international postgraduate module. Students found it engaging over a 10-week course. Although this is a small study, given that synchronous methods such as interactive webcasting are a much easier transition for lecturers used to face-to-face teaching than are asynchronous methods, they should be considered as <important>part of the blend of e-learning methods.

Detailed study here-
Use of Live Interactive Webcasting for an International Postgraduate Module in eHealth: Case Study Evaluation | Jones | Journal of Medical Internet Research

drneelesh's elearning topic- Nov 2009

2009-11-19T03:55:00.001-08:00

---

drneelesh's e-learning topic

November 2009

ResearchGATE MasterBlog: The best of the scientific world
A Google Wave Cheat Sheet

ResearchGATE MasterBlog: The best of the scientific world

Posted: 16 Nov 2009 12:49 PM PST

scienceroll.com

It's a pleasure to announce that I will manage the MasterBlog of ResearchGATE, the biggest scientific community site. My job is to find and select the best content written by scientists in the community and share these with the readers. Here is what I wrote today in my new ResearchGATE blog:

Today we start streaming the best content produced by the ResearchGATE community here by sharing selected blog entries and microarticles. Blog entries will cover a wide variety of topics from all disciplines while microarticles are a summary of a peer-reviewed publication in 300 characters or less. We hope you find this blog useful and if you are a researcher, academic, journalist, or someone who uses research, we encourage you to join our community.

And an excerpt from the press release:

Efficient communication is the key to scientific progress, which is why the world's largest academic networking platform ResearchGATE is offering so many tools for exchanging ideas, papers, schedules and more. The latest application, to be introduced this week, makes it even easier for the 180,000 members to share news, thoughts and research results: Every profile within ResearchGATE now contains a personal blogging function.
Users are offered the choice between publishing just within their network or to a greater audience through their public profile. They can also submit entries to ResearchBLOG, the new public channel of the ResearchGATE scientific community. The highest quality posts from individual members are aggregated here to provide a reputable source for science news, commentary, research, and innovation from all fields of enquiry.

A Google Wave Cheat Sheet

Posted: 14 Nov 2009 05:37 AM PST

oedb.org

The Google Wave Info blog has published a quick list of commands for use in Google Wave with the Google Wave Cheat Sheet. This mega-list provides syntax definitions in the following categories:

Search Cheat Sheet
Status
Participants
Date Search
Folders
Attachments
Tags
Gadgets
Expressions
Phrases
XML Search
Wave ID
Zero Inbox
Saved Searches
Filters
Folders
Language Filter

Cloud Computing ( for healthcare) in Plain English

2009-11-12T04:46:00.000-08:00

With Cloud computing gaining more and more traction in Business processes, healthcare management services too are moving in the same direction.
Cloud computing is now routinely offerred as net-based Electronic medical records (SaaS). Many CDSS applications, as well as billing software and services have moved to the cloud. Many more functions are shifting to the cloud soon.

Its time all us health care services providers learn more about cloud computing.

Originally on http://janeknight.typepad.com/

Commoncraft have just released their latest video: Cloud Computing in Plain English.

Using a simple story of a growing florist business, this video explains - in 3 minutes - the basics of cloud computing: how it works and why it makes sense for businesses and individuals.

You can view the evalution copy here: www.commoncraft.com/cloud-computing-video

It covers

The difference between on-site computing and cloud computing
The financial benefits of cloud computing
What makes cloud computing secure and efficient
How cloud computing impacts consumers

null -

Cloud Security 2.0 (java.sys-con.com)
Traditional SaaS vs Cloud enabled SaaS (horicky.blogspot.com)
Web 2.0 in health (neeleshbhandari.blogspot.com)

Recommended I.T skills for Medicos

2009-10-28T05:19:00.001-07:00

Everybody understands that a 21st century Doctor needs to have decent Information technology skills. These IT skills would help in making the person a better clinician, use data more effectively and make fewer errors.But what are the skills needed to make a good doctor?

Below is a presentation enumerating the I.T skills required in a Medical student before admission and at the end of graduation.These have been recommended by 3 top Medical schools under University of California and can serve as good reference guidelines.

Recommended IT skills for Medicos -

Related article

Kindle in Medicine (meducationtechnology.blogspot.com)

20 Free Interactive Multimedia Resources for Educators

2009-10-05T02:23:00.000-07:00

20 Free Interactive Multimedia Resources for Educators: "

Finding interactive multimedia resources online is a great way for educators to enhance teaching and learning in their classroom. From web apps to interactive whiteboard activities, the Internet is loaded with high quality resources that students will enjoy. Here is a list of 20 free resources for educators to try out this year:

TeacherLED – TeacherLED provides teaching resources for use with interactive whiteboards. The interactive whiteboard resources contained on this site are for math, English, and geography. Teachers can also find information on how to create their own interactive whiteboard resources.

Crickweb.co.uk – This free site offers 169 educational resources that educators can use with interactive whiteboards. Educators will also find 15 free games for kids between the ages of 4 and 11. The site also links to more than 100 other free resources online.

What2Learn – What2Learn offers free game-based learning for students. Teachers can also use this site to track progress, access more than 1,000 interactive resources, and create original games.

Interactives – Interactives offers free interactive games and activities that can be used by educators to enhance learning in the classroom. Interactives cover math, science, language, history, and art.

SMARTboard – SMARTboard provides several free online activities that educators can use with or without interactive whiteboards. The activities cover elementary, middle, and high school education.

BrainPop – The BrainPop educational site offers animated and interactive games that students can play online. There are games for science, social studies, English, math, arts, music, health, and technology. * Small selection of free content. Majority of content requires paid subscription. PD

FunSchool – FunSchool offers free online games for K-6 students. Throughout this site, educators will find hundreds of entertaining yet educational games sorted by grade level.

Visuwords – The Visuwords site is a free online interactive graphical dictionary and thesaurus. To use this site, simply type in a word to find a neural network of word associations and meanings.

FunBrain – Within the FunBrain site, educators can find dozens of interactive educational games that younger students will enjoy. The games help with math, reading, and other subjects.

BGFL – The BGFL site offers free online activities and games that can be used with an interactive whiteboard. Throughout this site, educators will find resources for foundation, primary, and secondary education for English, science, mathematics, and other subjects.

SimplyBox – SimplyBox is a free web app that gives you the capability to capture and organize sections of web pages. The web sections you collect are organized into boxes that can be easily shared with students or colleagues.

Rader’s Numbernut.com – This all inclusive math warehouse offers free online activities that students of all ages can use to improve math skills. The activities can be used on your computer and also work well with interactive whiteboards.

ScribLink – ScribLink is a free online whiteboard that can be used to collaborate in real time with students and colleagues. With this site, you can draw, upload images, chat, voice conference, and transfer files.

PrimaryGames – This fun learning site features games for language arts, math, social studies, science, and more. The site was launched by a science and technology teacher who originally created the games for his own classroom.

eField Trips – eField Trips allows students to take virtual tours of exciting monuments and attractions around the United States. Each tour features a virtual experience, field journal, and “ask the expert” question and answer opportunities. To access the tours, you must sign up for a free account.

Tramline – This site is loaded with virtual tours and field trips that students can take to explore the world of science. The tours explore everything from ecosystems to prehistoric life.

Mathsframe.co.uk – Mathsframe offers several free math resources that teachers can use with interactive whiteboards. The resources cover calculating, counting and partitioning.

BookBuilder – With this site, you can create, publish, share, and read digital books to your students. BookBuilder is perfect for teachers who want to customize learning through original books that will interest students.

Classtools.net – Classtools.net offers free tools that teachers can use to create their own interactive games to embed into blogs, wikis, websites, and more.

Earthtrips – Earthtrips allows students to take a virtual tour into the history of the earth. In this virtual tour, students are presented with raw information so that they can study earth science as professionals.

My thanks to education writer Karen Schweitzer for this quest post. Karen is the About.com: Guide to Business School and she also writes reviews for OnlineCourses.

drneelesh's elearning topic- Oct 2009

2009-10-05T01:45:00.001-07:00

drneelesh's Elearning Topic Oct-2009

Heading to Athabasca University

Posted: 01 Oct 2009 08:01 AM PDT

I have accepted a position with Athabasca University and, as a result, will be leaving my current position at University of Manitoba. It was a tough decision. I've enjoyed working at U of M – particularly with Peter Tittenberger, Director of Learning Technologies Centre, one of the most creative/innovative leaders I've ever had the pleasure of working with.

When presented with an opportunity to work with Terry Anderson, Jon Dron, Rory McGreal, Griff Richards, and others (I don't think I'll be working directly with Debra Hoven, but will enjoy the conversations, I'm sure!), the prospect of fertile soil for innovation and discussion is too great to resist!

I'll post more about position details and work tasks soon, but at this stage, my work will be positioned with the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute and the broader university community in developing a virtual media lab. It appears I'll be able to continue my current focus of online conferences, workshops, elearnspace newsletter, and related activities. In addition to planning a November 1 start date at Athabasca, I have a somewhat hectic speaking schedule for the rest of fall (Portugal, Vancouver, Norway, Barcelona, Toronto, New Zealand).

I believe we are at an exciting time in higher education, where new technologies, new pedagogies, and even new institutional structures, will converge to produce an unprecedented period of innovation in learning and learning sciences. Change, at personal, professional, and organizational levels is today's educational zeitgeist.

Video: Presenting to an Attending physician

Posted: 26 Sep 2009 04:51 AM PDT

The video below was created by Nova Southeastern University - College of Osteopathic Medicine (NSU-COM) to help second-year medical students prepare for communicating patient information to an attending physician. Presenting to an Attending physician Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, or follow me on Twitter.

Texting while driving increases crash risk 23 times

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 04:26 AM PDT

From the NY Times:

Texting while driving Lifts Crash Risk by Large Margin, far surpasses the dangers of other driving distractions. When the drivers texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater than when not texting.

36 states do not ban texting while driving; 14 do, including Alaska, California, Louisiana and New Jersey.

95% of drivers said that texting was unacceptable behavior. Yet 21% had recently texted or e-mailed while driving.

50% of drivers 16 to 24 said they had texted while driving, compared with 22% of drivers 35 to 44.

Embedded video from CNN Video

Embedded video from CNN Video

Related:
CNN: Boston trolley driver was texting at time of crash which injured 20 people http://bit.ly/11vRN6
Stay Alive, Don't Text and Drive
Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, or follow me on Twitter.

300+ Resources to Help You Become a WordPress Expert

Posted: 18 Sep 2009 12:13 PM PDT

Webdesigner Depot has published a mega-guide to making the most of the WordPress blogging platform. Whether you're just starting out or a regular user you won't want to miss this huge list of 300+ Resources to Help You Become a WordPress Expert in the following categories:

Theme Roundups, Theme Templates, and Theme Frameworks
Tutorials and Tips
Plugins
Tricks, Customizations, and Hacks
Galleries and Inspiration
Blogs, Articles and Other Resources

Rubin's Pathology textbook is searchable on Google Books

Posted: 18 Sep 2009 04:47 AM PDT

The book embedded below is searchable - try it:

Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, or follow me on Twitter.

Find Your Colleagues and Future Mentors on Twitter: Search for Doctors by Specialty

Posted: 03 Sep 2009 04:02 AM PDT

Twitter Searches You Didn't Think Were Possible: Search By Profession http://is.gd/20GoN

Search By Profession on Twitter by using TweepSearch - example: http://bit.ly/129ATE

Hospitalists on Twitter: http://bit.ly/2relH
Cardiologists on Twitter: http://bit.ly/j8p4i
Radiologists on Twitter: http://bit.ly/NlvoB

Find Out Who Follows Whom on Twitter http://whofollowswhom.com - For example, who do all cardiologists on Twitter follow?

"Is Twitter necessary for physicians and other medical professionals?", asks KevinMD http://bit.ly/181vHF - It's not necessary but it may be useful.

Related:
Lists of Medical Bloggers and Twitters Categorized by Specialty
Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, or follow me on Twitter.

Academic Libraries Are Undergoing a Quiet Revolution

Posted: 18 Aug 2009 08:09 AM PDT

The UK's Guardian newspaper covers some of the changes happening in today's libraries with Louise Tickle's Academic libraries are undergoing a quiet revolution. The article proposes that "Being a librarian these days is all about technology and customer service; no time to stick your nose in a book".

"Applying for a job in a university library because you "love reading" isn't going to get you very far these days. These hallowed repositories of academic knowledge have changed beyond recognition over the last decade, and the people recruited to work in them have to be willing to embrace new technologies and customer service with an alacrity that would likely horrify the shushing custodians of the past."

Chunks of Info.

2009-09-29T06:28:00.000-07:00

Chunking Information: "

If we ran a contest for the favorite esoteric word of Instructional Designers, the term “chunking” might win. It’s one of those terms you never hear until you enter the world of online learning or writing for the Internet. Chunking is a great concept that’s worth diving into, so let’s examine the purpose of chunking and how to accomplish it.

Chunking Defined

Chunking refers to the strategy of breaking down information into bite-sized pieces (Oh, that’s the visual!) so the brain can more easily digest new information. The reason the brain needs this assistance is because working memory, which is the equivalent of being mentally online, holds a limited amount of information at one time.

Why We Chunk Content

George A. Miller formulated the chunk concept in 1956, as he presented evidence that working memory is limited in capacity. Although Miller stated that working memory could hold seven (plus or minus two) chunks of information at once, it is now thought that the number is closer to three or four. Also, cognitive researchers now know that the capacity of working memory depends on the type of information, the features of the information and the abilities of the person under experimentation.

The pearl of wisdom here is that if a learner’s working memory is full, the excess information will just drop out—as in disappear. That’s a big challenge for a course designer. It means that if you are explaining something complex and the learner must hold several factors in mind to understand it, you’ll need to chunk information into, well … bite-sized pieces.

Chunking for eLearning

Chunking is particularly important for online learning. Without an instructor to answer questions and to guide the learning process, eLearning content has to be organized in a logical and progressive way through chunking. Chunking doesn’t only work for your typical linear instruction, it also works for learning objects, for non-linear approaches to learning as well as discovery learning, because it groups together conceptually related information. Content that is conceptually related is meaningful, making it easier to understand.

Strategies for Chunking

Now that we can proudly say our working memories are basically sieves, what strategies can eLearning designers implement to overcome this?

Have a Solid Internal Structure. Use a chunking strategy while determining the content hierarchy of a course. As you determine how modules, lessons and topics will be organized into a logical and progressive order, start with large chunks of conceptually related content and use these as your modules. Divide modules into smaller related chunks and these will become your lessons. Continue with this process until content is broken down to the topic level. As you become more familiar with the content, fine tune the internal structure.

Chunk at the Screen Level. When you have a solid internal structure, organize the content so each screen consists of one chunk of related information. Depending on how you design, this could be at the topic level, at the detailed learning objective level or at the concept level. As a guiding rule, avoid introducing multiple topics, learning objectives or concepts at one time.

Also, think in terms of working memory. Will the chunk of content require the learner to hold more than a few things in memory at one time in order to understand it? If so, break it down again. Fortunately, the visuals and text in multimedia courses can lessen the demands on working memory.

Turn Bits into Chunks. If you have lots of unrelated facts, then you have to chunk in the opposite direction. In this case, use any strategy that turns individual bits of information into meaningful chunks. Working memory is just as willing to hold four chunks of information as it is to hold four bits of information. For example, you can remember four letters as well as four words. By finding ways to group together small bits of information into a chunk and you’ll help learners process more at one time.

Related Articles:

Less Is More

10 Relevant Facts About The Brain

[Reference: Link to George Miller's milestone article from 1956: The Magical Number Seven.]

Post from: The eLearning Coach

Twitter+messaging in Medical communications

2009-09-25T04:08:00.000-07:00

Will Twitter Change Healthcare? Ask it!

Posted: 22 Sep 2009 01:31 PM PDT

Obviously not, but it can provide us with some new solutions. That's why I wanted to share askCH, an interesting project.

AskCH is a one-of-a-kind healthcare tool. Send a healthcare cost or definition question in the proper format, and receive the answer with a link to find detailed information!

So you can send messages via Twitter such as:

Cost of [drug name] near [zipcode]
example tweet: "d askch cost of lexapro near 37211"
Generic for [drug name]
example tweet: "d askch generic for plavix"
What is [drug name]
example tweet: "d askch what is lipitor"
What is [health issue]
example tweet: "d askch what is diabetes"

Actually, I gave it a try and asked them "what is COPD". The reply was "Sorry, we don't have a description for copd."
We will see whether people start using it as its success depends on that.

Texting while driving increases crash risk 23 times

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 04:26 AM PDT

Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, or follow me on Twitter.

100 Most Educational iPhone Apps

Posted: 02 Sep 2009 06:47 AM PDT

The folks at Accredited Online Colleges have put together a mega-list of the 100 Most Educational iPhone Apps. Each app has a brief description and a link to the iTunes store where it can be downloaded. Applications are divided into the following categories:

Brain Exercises
Quizzes and Flashcards
Math
Science
Geography and History
English
Reference Materials
Art
Languages
Productivity

How to use Twitter for teaching: Professors share their real-life experience

Posted: 31 Aug 2009 04:58 AM PDT

From JS Online: Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel:

Professors experiment with Twitter as teaching tool http://bit.ly/HP4RZ

Facebook may be the social medium of choice for students, but Twitter has found adherents among professors. Twitter is helping them build community in their classes in a way that appeals to the Facebook generation.

Some students are assigned to live tweeting: publishing the speaker's thoughts on Twitter during the presentation.

Twitter helps students develop key skills: listening, information-gathering, multitasking and succinct writing.

Twitter allows professors to post links to what they're reading - students "follow" them.

Professors "listen" to conversations students have with each other on Twitter to gauge what questions they have.

Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, or follow me on Twitter.

5 Videos: Mayo Clinic staff training for using Twitter

Posted: 23 Aug 2009 04:54 AM PDT

Mayo Clinic held Tweetcamp II in April 2009 to provide basic training for staff in using Twitter, and to suggest practical applications in the health care environment. Five training videos were posted on YouTube. See the rest of the playlist on YouTube.

TED Talks: David Pogue: Cool new things you can do with your mobile phone

Posted: 08 Aug 2009 04:41 AM PDT

TED Talks: David Pogue: Cool new things you can do with your mobile phone The New York Times tech columnist David Pogue rounds up some handy cell phone tools and services that can boost your productivity and lower your bills (and your blood pressure

Medical elearning

E learning for medical colleges

Exploring Virtual Worlds for Scenario-Based Repeated Team Training of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in Medical Students

Access Dermatology - free multimedia educational site by Reuters

New Tools for Educators in Second Life

HTML on a Prim

Easy Peasy Menu

People Locator

Educators in Second Life

Because Every Country Is The Best At Something

Using Digital Storytelling for Creative and Innovative e-Learning

Facebook for Learning

Related articles

drneelesh's Elearning Topic- April 2010

Book-Related iPhone Apps

eBooks & Audiobooks

Find Local Books

Ethics and Medical students - Medscape interview

BlackBoard Mobile for Medical elearning

Blackboard Brings Interactive Teaching and Learning to Mobile Devices

Related articles

Personalization tools at PubMed

PubMed® Search Results can be Customized Using My NCBI

Result Display Settings

Filters

Related articles

drneelesh's Elearning Topic- March 2010

Related articles

Pedagogy of participation rather than retention

Related articles

drneelesh's Elearning Topic- January 2010

Learning Tools Directory 2010

The Very Best From ZaidLearn!

CME Xtracredit on the move via iPhone

Medical Education via SMS platform

5 tips for authoring Rapid E-Learning Courses

Use a Blank Slide as Your Starting Point

Step Away from Linear Slides, Think in Layers

Make Full Use of the Master Slides

Add Hyperlinks to the Master Slide

Use One File for Graphics & One for Course Authoring

Top learning tools of 2009

Use of interactive e-learning in Medicine- JMIR

drneelesh's elearning topic- Nov 2009

drneelesh's e-learning topic

November 2009

Cloud Computing ( for healthcare) in Plain English

Recommended I.T skills for Medicos

20 Free Interactive Multimedia Resources for Educators

drneelesh's elearning topic- Oct 2009

drneelesh's Elearning Topic Oct-2009

Chunks of Info.

Chunking for eLearning

Strategies for Chunking

Twitter+messaging in Medical communications

Cost of [drug name] near [zipcode]

Generic for [drug name]

What is [drug name]

What is [health issue]