Published! AECT Proceedings

Hard work pays off! Published in the AECT 2017 Proceedings

Select Download Full Text to see my paper in the collection: AECT 2017 Proceedings: Practice of Educational Communications and Technology

Course Design and Teacher Actions to Support Non-Traditional Students

Ten Guiding Principles of Instructional Technology and Distance Education Design

General and Online Autonomy Supportive Actions - Part 2

Autonomy Support in the Classroom - The First of the Series

iSpring 8 Test Presentation

I participated in the Beta test of iSpring 8.  This is the interactive presentation that I created as my test bunny.


Instructional Technology and Distance Education Hall of Fame
I guess it will do for something quick.

My Research Agenda

Through a lot of thought, research and study, interest, and general bumps and bruises on my doctoral ride, I can clearly state that I have a research agenda:

Research Agenda
Advancing the engagement of non-traditional distance education students through the use of autonomy supportive teaching strategies.


Hey, that sounds pretty scientific!  So what doe that mean in layman terms?  ...more to follow

Favorite Quote

"The best current evidence is that media are mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes changes in our nutrition." (Clark, 1983)

It still applies today!

ID ...Do you have what it takes?

SCORM KNOW-isms

Over the last two weeks I have received a crash course in SCORM elearning development and packaging thanks to Lynda.com, Adobe, Moodle.org, and a few other websites and books. Below is a random list of a few of my new elearning SCORM know-isms. Some of them are "Duhh!", while others were news to me

- Within Moodle, SCORM packages can be added several different ways:

•     Added to the Moodle shell
•     Added by URL using a URL link to the manifest
•     Added by URL using Download Package Type

-If it is not desired to add a Moodle package to a Moodle shell, the Download Package option is the best since the package needs to be local in order to communicate with the Moodle grade book

- If using the link from Manfest option is used in Moodle, package contents must sit on the same URL as the Moodle server.

- Moodle options for SCORM package types must activated at the site level

-Moodle 2.5 is compatible with SCORM 1.2, not SCORM 2004

-Videos can be linked within an elearning SCORM package from an external source (duhhh!)

-Settings in the source files for the presentation must match settings in Moodle (duhhh!)

- Experience API/Tin Can API is the next generation of SCORM

- Experience API and Tin Can API are the same. Each are used by different groups.  Elearning professionals refer to it as Experience API, while technical professionals refer to it as Tin Can API

-If publishing elearning in Captivate, you must ensure that you use quiz reporting set as percentages and not points. This ensure SCORM compliance.

There is lots of additional information that I absorbed during this crash.  However, above is my random dump of my biggest take-aways.

"To know is to KNOW"
Tammy

Education vs. Training for Higher Ed Types

A couple of years ago I did a post on the differences between education and. training, http://trainingframe.blogspot.com/2012/12/education-vs-training.

This topic is something that I am still very interested in as I hear people discuss actions that are clearly training related in an education environment.  

During the most recent issue of Leadership Journal, published by the Chair Academy, there is an excellent article (page 6) that further delves into this topic. Vaughan (2014) does an excellent job explaining the differences between the two.  He takes it a step further by answering key questions about how trainers fit into academia and how academics fit into the training world.

As a member of the Chair Academy, I appreciate this article, along with the great works they do to further Post secondary leadership. 

Here is the link to the latest issue:

http://www.chairacademy.com/journals/journal_20-2.pdf

Vaughn, R. (2014). Training professors to be trainers (and vice-versa). Leadership Journal for Post Secondary Leaders 20 (2). Retrieved from http://www.chairacademy.com/journals/journal_20-2.pdf

I'm here! ..kinda

I almost became a victim of my previous post. Since that post, I have been trapped in the clutches of the summer doctoral semester and oh it was brutal. I have scar tissue, but I am still here! 

I can proudly say that I am now an expert at educational system (not systems) design, needs analysis, causal analysis, methods and means, instructional technology theory, doctoral dissertation components and analysis, and bad and good instructional technology and distance education research. From my trip to Orlando for preliminary work on my dissertation, I can also say that I am now very familiar with the walk from the 7th floor of the Contemporary resort to the Disney Convention center, all stops in between, and every part of the convention center(Ha!). That week was exhausting! However, it was well worth it. I worked with my dissertation chairperson each day and gained a lot of valuable input on my dissertation topic.

Aside from school, I have graduated from being a mother to being a grandmother (glam-ma). I have perfected my glam-motherly duties and am so excited that we have a mini version of my son. To say that this has been a busy summer would be an understatement! Ciao for now.

Old Blog Waste Land

I decided to take a look at additional Blogger blogs to get a feel for who are my blogging neighbors. Sooo, I selected "next" numerous times to go on to the blogs that come sequentially after mine. What I found was a no mans land of abandoned blogs. Many hadn't been updated since 2011...what!? Blogs updated this year were few and far between. What's up with that? I am guessing that people jumped on the blogging bandwagon with hopes of perhaps having a post go viral, creating a pop cultural meme, or hopes of earning some bucks by monetizing. However, once they found there was actually some work that went into blogging, they said "au revoir". So to those abandoned blogs I say RIP.

Learning New Suff

I always enjoy attending webinars. Of course, some are better than others. The webinars I tend to enjoy the most are the ones presented by Adobe. I always leave their webinars super excited with a new tool in my ID tool belt that can be applied right away. Case in point, I attended the Meet the eLearning legends; Make your eLearning legendary webinar hosted by Dr. Allen Partridge. To say it was awesome would be an understatement. It gave me insight about tools that I didn't even know existed and now I am like, "How did I not know that!?" One such tool was Adobe Kuler, kuler.adobe.com where you can create custom color pallets for use in projects by using an existing image. The webinar also visually addressed some of the differences in what can be done with Adobe Presenter and what can be done with Adobe Captivate, animations, branching, and the best places for stock photos. As much as I try to explain some of these techniques and information to people, a visual is always helpful. I WILL be sharing the recording of this webinar.

With great pleasure, now reading...

Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069, Neil Howe & William Strauss

So far, so good. It is interesting to the read about my generation and how the Baby Boomers and others had such little hope for us...

My PowToon on Chunking and Segmenting

Finally, I finished my PowToon I promised months ago. Even though it took me forever to complete it, it wasn't difficult at all. The delay was just a matter of me not making it very high on my priority list. Did I tell you I am working on my doctorate? :-) It's still not as clean as I want it to be. There are some position and timing adjustments that need to be made. However, this will do for now. As the cultural icon (LOL) Sweet Brown once said, "Ain't nobody got time for dat."

LinkedIn and Crimes of Professionalism

I enjoy logging into LinkedIn and viewing the professional updates that are going on in my network and reading articles and discussions being held in my various professional groups.  LinkedIn is a great tool and I believe its one of the best tools out there for people who are serious about their profession and building a professional network. I have nothing but praise for LinkedIn as a tool.

What I don’t like is when I see people add skills to their profile or become endorsed for skills that I KNOW and they KNOW they do not have.  Some people often forget that many of the folks in their LinkedIn network are actually people who have worked with them or work with them currently and know their skill set. What is especially un-nerving are those people who add skills that are so far from their skill set, education, and background that we might as well call it a crime of professionalism.   What can be done about this?  I don’t know.  However, I wish people would just be honest.

Powtoon!

I stumbled upon Powtoon the other day and I must say, "I like, I like!"  I am working on my first project and it is incredibly easy to use.   Once final, I will share the project. 

PowToon
http://www.powtoon.com/

Now Reading...

The Non-Designer’s Design Book; design and typographic principles for the visual novice, Third Edition, Robin Williams

...figured I needed to brush up on a few things

Fruits of My Labor