The half-day seminar covered best practice in the areas:

• Understanding SCORM functionality & compliance
• SCORM data parsing advice and how LMS calls work
• Setting-up a content server
• Setting-up a test environment
• Content re-purposing / re-mediation approaches
• SCORM standards testing strategies
• Suggestions for future support & access to on-line resources
• Personal experiences with OLM & e-Learning in general.

The videos above show presentations from the day focusing on SCORM best practice, Project managing e-Learning projects and effective approaches for re-purposing content.
(Please select each seminar video from the On Demand Playlist entitled: ‘e-Learning Best Practice Seminar, London, 15th December 2009′.

Background

Oracle Learning Management (OLM) is a unified learning delivery system that allows organisations to extend training to employees, customers, and partners. OLM offers a wide range of functionality, from on-line classroom management to self-service learner joining options / enrolment. The following link takes you to a video that shows you OLM in action. However, this seminar focused on developing e-Learning content NOT administration features of OLM.

OLM supports SCORM 1.2 and hopefully future releases will support greater SCORM functionality. OLM is tightly integrated with the Oracle Human Resources applications, leveraging existing organisation structures, management hierarchies and employee data.

Working closely with Oracle we  identified the need to offer a forum of sharing in practical skills, challenges and approaches for implementing effective e-Learning solutions, for example: re-mediation, re-purposing and selecting meta-data models are just as important as developing content itself. In addition, learning paths and selecting the most appropriate tracking data from learners should all be part of the initial learning design.

The seminar was presented by Dr Savi S Arora and Jon Turner and leading experts in the field of implementing practical e-Learning solutions.

Dr Savi Arora has been prolific documenter regarding standards for implementing Learning Management Systems, getting content to work, for example and passing tracking data. Dr Savi is the UK Managing Director of Knowledge Hemispheres – an leading e-Learning and New Media production and e-Learning integration company. Also presenting at the conference was Jon Turner, a thought leader and practitioner in the area of e-Learning standards, implementation methodologies and strategy.

Mr Jon Turner is Managing Director of one of Europe’s leading e-Learning companies: Quistor.

For all the latest courses, including courses on New and Social media best practice,including on-line registration for either in-person or virtual attendance please click here.

It has been proved that taking students out of the class room and into an environment that they are more at ease can improve learning abilities.

With online educational tools on the rise, there may be factual statement to Learning having a permanent and more prominent future online.

With the introduction of e-books such Sony’s Wireless Reader and other digital new media tools such as the Apple Tablet, online learning portals and open-source management systems such as Blackboard, Online education seems to be the ideal future of ‘learning your bedroom’.

It is said that they key to learning online is to provide educational experiences that is tailor made to individual students and there needs. This can be done better individually catering to a student’s needs online through online learning specifications, than through a lecture hall or class room where the ratio of student to teacher is probably 3:1.

The classroom is literally taken online, where they may never be any need for a student to physically meet a teacher. With the use of e-Learning packages including tools such as Web-based video, there is no need to have any ‘face-to-face’ interaction so to speak. Even more appealing to students who probably work on their own time or study while working, the lectures can be pre-recorded, giving the option of playback at any point in time.

With lectures being online, you would have guess that submission of work would also be web-based, which it is.

So is this online medium of learning, more anti-social than socially creative?

There is also the blunt question posed, with the rapid growth of Online Learning, where will that put the future of University campuses?

Online Learning is also massively accelerated with the use of social networking sites, where students are now teaching students. Students are creating learning communities among themselves and sharing gained knowledge.  Though it is evident that learning does not have to occur in the classroom, there is also an aware social necessity for learning to occur, where it is not an individual process, no matter how anti-social it may seem. Online Learning is continuing to become revolutionised, with the aid of new media tools and co-operative minds of students.

Online Learning may possibly be the death of traditional classroom learning, and the birth to creative independent learning.

Sony’s New reader is quite impressive as it is able to store roughly 1000 full novels, borrow books from local libraries and download at an immensely fast speed.

The Kindle, known for being  the leading wireless electronic book, is packed with the ability for users to read over 46 different newspapers, magazines and other documents. However there have been criticism to where this e-book is concerned, starting with the price, as it is deemed too expensive costing roughly £300. Now with the introduction of the Sony’s e-book reader there have been comparisons to the size, unlike the Kindle the Sony boast a slim 7-inch sleek fit.  Other comparisons made include the availability of a touch screen facility which Sony has introduced with the electronic device, unlike the Kindle, giving the Sony reader a significant advantage.

Though not yet avaliable to the public, the Sony wireless e-reader should be avaliable in the US for distribution and purchase in December.

With the electronical era already on the horizon there are several traditional things that are being taken over with digital new media, can books be another one to succumb to the pressures of this new era?

Well there is definitely the possibility of that taking place, where traditional books are now in the process to be replaced with digital textbooks. This also gives a wide and new meaning to e-learning. Where e-learning as we understand it is simply electronic learning by means of web-based distance education, with no face-to-face interaction. This type of educational interaction is now being revolutionized, where there is not only expanding by means of interactive learning but also sole traditional learning. This includes the use of upgradable electronic books.

The benefits of having an ‘e-book’ are somewhat obvious, where it is better for the environment (with the absence of paper being used for pages), they are easily upgradable and they weigh a considerable amount less.

There are some issues that  have been taken into consideration, one which poses top priority at the moment is the compatibility of this technology. With the use of an electronic book reader, compatibility of the device and the downloadable text or programs has to be taken into account. There are many different competing e-books on the market and most textbook publishers do not use the same format which can pose a compatibility problem.

Digital Textbooks are just another branch of the e-Learning franchise and with the much-rumoured and overly anticipated ‘Apple Tablet’ this future technology can lead to quite a promising future for eduation and the publishing future.

We’ve been busy putting the final touches to the site, it has been put off on a few occasions, just to ensure it is more consumer friendly and has a much greater accessibility.

The website has been redesigned to make it easier to use and understand the services that we offer, how you can use these services to advance your business or organization and how we can help you in doing this.

The new site our team have been working on now includes our four main areas of expertise which our business engages in, Audio, Video, e-Learning and Web Development and Training. Under each main heading we further branch off into sub-sections, giving a detailed outline of the different types of features that each main topic will contain (ie Audio – Audio Podcast), and how we can help you in developing each area for your organization according to your specification.

We’d love to hear what you think about the new site – so any and all comments are welcome.
To subscribe and listen, head for i-tunes or listen now by clicking on the play button below:

The wonderful featured music is courtesy of the amazing Travis Vega

There has been an ongoing interesting question in “cyber world” that I recently picked up while browsing through various pages.

Who invented podcasting? Never thought to ask, but now that the question has been raised, Lets address the issue.
The idea of providing episodic media content, was developed initially by two persons, Dave Winer and Adam Curry. Both are said to have worked together on the concept and the programming to follow. However due to personal issues the two drifted and there is a now ongoing debate as to who owns the right of being named the “Podfather”, colleagues in both camps have taken sides, and there seems to be a line drawn right in the middle of both. There is also the speculation of data being given over the internet, as to who should be the rightful owner.

So I guess this will still remain an unsolved mystery.

However what is not a mystery is the ingenious idea of what Podcasting really is, what is has done and the future in store for such a creative New media technology.

According to KHL:

Consider Pocasting as a free subscription to a speciality audio magazine.

In the busy world we live in it is getting harder for business to ensure its messages are heard. Modern consumers, especially the young, have become adept at filtering out advertising, making traditional methods less and less effective. The advantage of a podcast is it can be listened to however the user likes.

Whether or not Podcasting is claimed by the rightful father, there is no doubt about it that by using this technology there are numerous media developments and engaging communication that can be incorporated into your website, blogs, business/organization and even home. This not only includes audio Podcasts but also video Podcasts!

To read more about how Podcasting can help you Click Here.

Or tune into our Smooth Groovers Podcast show Here.

Using an e-Learning method of learning gives the opportunity to use features and benefits of technology to further learning. e-Learning technology breaks the mould of traditional ‘classroom’ learning.

With e-learning there are many packages that support the combination of learning using media tools. Packages that combine the media tools together to give an interactive learning experience includes, poMMo, this software combines video, audio, tutorials and quizzes to compete the packaged online learning experience.

Not only beneficial for students and schools or using e-Learning packages as a substitute to classroom learning. This type of learning package can be used in many learning and development stimulations and organisations,  which can be used in a work environment used to induct new employees or as an introduction to a new development within the company. Using the e-Learning packages saves time for the company as well as the employees. It is also more interactive and has the different ranges of interactivity for the student or employees to keep entertained as well as educated.

The development of the ‘e-Modules’ can be designed either to be taken totally online as a public access to all or can be solely designated to a private network limiting the access to the members of the organization via password.  e-Learning is not about making educators obsolete but more as a channel to take advantage of web-based instructional models.

As a company Knowledge Hemispheres is highly involved in the e-Learning medium, where we develop e-Learning portals for our various clients using our own range of media tools, video, audio and embedded video tutorials, including many more. All of which is done produced edited and packaged by our company. We also include ‘Voice-over’ techniques as well as self assessment quizzes and video based tutorials.

To learn more visit our site here www.kh-2.com

Often used in automated voice messaging in telephone banking, the technique “Voice over” has become very popular. As technology evolves new methods of using media are discovered to appeal to the public’s attention, one of which is using the technology of voice over. This is usually done where actors with professional sounding voices are hired by companies to ‘lend their voices’ to various projects.

But is voice over the right technology to use when advertising?

From radio and television commercials, through to corporate and multimedia applications. It has proven to be an effective marketing tool that attracts customers to many different business, by improving the quality of advertisements on a website page, transmission messages through radio and or television frequencies. Even some of the most popular such as movie trailers, where ‘The Voice’ is used to add dramatic effect to picture.

However there are several reasons to really consider using voice-over instead of the traditional marketing techniques, banners and videos. One of which is the most obvious and the most important, is that voice-over is an audio transmission, it has the disadvantage that the only interaction is through a single voice connection. There is often no visual appeal, putting more emphasis on the scripting and the quality of the voice.

Through there are some limiting factors there are however positive sides to doing ‘voice-over’ advertising techniques. By using Voice-over it can be done not only by radio transmission but can also be paired along with text located on a webpage, which caters also for those who are visually challenged. Just like video adverts special effects can be added accordingly but sparingly.

Though not as popular as visual media using voice over can be quite an effective tool, and may prove to be just as effective or even more than other advertising methods.

Click Play for a quick sample of our ‘Voice-over’ Podcast:

For more information on how voice over can help market your business visit our site here www.kh-2.com

The experience of the social web has demonstrated the potential for citizens to engage, create and share knowledge. An interesting example is language networks where people learn from each other in informal, user negotiated ways.

E-learning has the potential to encourage the self-propelled skills of exploration, negotiation, collaboration, and autonomous enquiry. Online digital tools, such as multimedia, have been shown as powerful ways to engage students who are disadvantaged in traditional education. It is also essential that as responsible society we are more sensitive to the requirements of disability and accessibility, or what I prefer to say helping differently abled people. Practically this means access to improved interfaces.

and

http://www.elearninglearning.com

The latter is a great place for consolidated e-Learning blogs.

Interestingly, I noted recently from: Marc J. Rosenberg’s, ‘Building Successful Online Learning in your Organisation’:
that according to him there are 2 types of e-Learning portals: Ones that you can buy and ones that you build.

Marc further suggests that an organisation needs to determine if it is interested in a portal’s functionalty, but not the content that may come with each. If this is the case he suggests that the organisation works with the e-Learning portal supplier to separate the two.
Focus must also be kept on both easy maintenance and upgradable