Heres what's new

Here’s what’s new for me in just the past two months:

• Self-published website – personal home pages, with my professional resume and links to portfolio pieces


• Personal web log called Lee’s Learning Log


• Blogroll with a number of interesting feeds


• Furl Archive


• Dell laptop


• Two search items on Technorati


• Gmail account


• Skype account


• Contributions on a Wiki


• Flickr account


• Audible account


• Flat screen monitor


• Wireless mouse


• MP3 player


• Recording and editing software

Plus,

• A presence on a professional discussion board with my own avatar


• A new understanding of SCORM, Codec, CSS, DHTML, XML, RSS, LMS, tagging, podcasting, coursecasting, social book marking


• Some forays with the social Web 2.0 that enables and encourages participation through open applications, services and interactions

In addition, I have the usual other stuff:

• Cell phone


• Voice mail account


• Three e-mail accounts


• AIM screen name

… not falling too far behind the digital natives of the millennial generation.

The paradox of constructivist e-learning

A constructivist learning philosophy works for me. I enjoy researching new information and finding answers to questions I hadn’t previously thought to ask. I especially appreciate when such questions and resources are provided by an expert teacher to support my learning.

Lee’s Learning Log displays the results of my efforts. My blog entries reflect a constructed knowledge process and provide a record of how I plan to leverage my learning. This space is a perfect knowledge-management system.

A constructivist approach is well-suited for e-learning. Interactive-technology (including hypertext) provides an environment where learners have great opportunity to pursue individual learning paths. In this context, the learning environment presents multiple perspectives on the content, is complex and ill-defined, and emphasizes the construction of knowledge by the learner.

These 3 characteristics of an on-line learning experience are closely associated with an approach called the Cognitive Flexibility Theory (CFT), which focuses on the transfer of knowledge and skills beyond the immediate learning situation. This theory supports the use of hyperlink pathways that connect specific, context-dependent assets (media, text, images, sound, web pages, assessment items or other pieces of data). For example, a term referenced in the lesson text might be linked to a Glossary definition in another part of the learning program.

And there is the paradox. E-leaning experiences are facilitated through inter-connected hyperlinked material, yet SCORM-conformant Learning Objects are compartmentalized and independent of learning context.

A primary feature of a Sharable Content Object (SCO) is reusability, which means that each SCO must be a stand-alone chunk of content for learning purposes. To design an on-line course, then, requires a hierarchical, table of contents structure for lessons and other learning objects. With such a rigorously controlled external sequence of instructional events, we’ve lost context-dependencies and the “cognitive flexibility’ of a constructivist learning environment. For example, we can no longer link to a Glossary from within a SCO, nor can we launch any other object at all (including a Glossary or a help file) when another SCO is already open.

To create effective e-learning that results in meaning as well as just knowledge, today’s Instructional Designer must develop a new bag of tricks.

SCORM-conformant e-learning

I’ve decided to implement my current e-learning project within a learning management system (LMS). The LMS under consideration is SCORM-conformant, which means that I need SCORM-conformant development tools.

The plan is to author the web-based learning content using Dreamweaver. As a result, I need to find out how to make Dreamweaver files “trackable” in a LMS application.

One of the primary advantages to creating learning content that conforms to SCORM standards is interoperability. This feature of the development process provides additional flexibility in choice of LMS, by making sure that content developed for one SCORM-conformant LMS can be delivered on any other LMS.

A SCORM-conformant system aggregates blocks of content called Sharable Content Objects (SCOs), using metadata (the Reference Model) to tag the objects with a SCORM “wrapper.” Each SCO then is able to communicate with the LMS separately, through an XML file with a series of JavaScript calls to the learning content. This process constitutes the SCORM Run-Time Environment, which determines how the content works when it’s displayed in the LMS.

The good news is that there’s a SCORM Runtime Wrapper Extension for Dreamweaver that automatically inserts all the necessary JavaScript code and HTML tag attributes.

The next consideration involves finding out how the requirements for creating Sharable Content Objects will impact the organization of lessons and modules in my e-learning program.

A Sharable Content Object is a small, discrete unit of digital instruction. A SCO can be as small as an image, text, or audio used to support e-learning, a block of information such as a procedure or a concept, or a meaningful assembly of smaller objects like a lesson, a unit, or a course.

There are 3 rules of SCORM e-learning development.

1. SCOs cannot be directly linked to other SCOs, in order to maintain independence and reusability.


2. The LMS may only have one SCO open at a time.


3. SCOs may not launch other SCOs.

The implication of these rules is that the sequencing and navigation information must exist outside of each SCO. In fact, the XML file, or packaging manifest, is what contains this information - in a table of contents, which, when displayed in the LMS, allows a learner to navigate a hierarchical sequence of lessons or other objects. I now know that I need to implement a modular and linear approach to content development, rather than a circular, hyperlinked architecture.