Flash – not the comic hero but the software, take some time to browse software and technical forums it generates huge comment. From those who want the iPhone to support Flash to others who will do anything that they can to avoid using Flash. Move sideways and you’ll see another discussion playing out about browsers, a few months ago you could easily find tech magazines and forums about Internet Explorer 6. .net magazine has ran a campaign called bring down ie6

This is nothing knew. In the early 90’s when I started working the designers and the programmers would discuss the merits of the PC v Mac. The PC users didn’t like the one button mouse, the mac users didn’t like the PC interface.

I read the current technical discussions with interest and sometimes they help to get things moving forward. The open source community is a great example of discussion, working together, testing and developing to refine the software.

For developers of e-learning this technical challenge is part of the job. It’s not just simple to say to your client that they need to update to the latest browser or move everyone up to the latest version of flash to get your solution working. Having worked in IT strategy supporting over 8000 users the update to the latest version of a piece of software looks quite straightforward but sometimes isn’t. As a result you might find that you are working with versions of software much lower than you are used to.

As developers we have more software available at our disposal then every before and so much of it is free. When working on a new project one of my first questions is ‘what is the PC/Mac specification’ many companies will have a specification document that you can follow. You may be disappointed if you get the answer that it’s IE6, early version of flash and no sound cards but this is when you need to get creative. My approach is to create ideas first and then apply it to the software. If you have a good idea and a narrative it will work across a range of platforms and you can deploy the version that meets you technical specification. I sometimes that think that it is easy to forget what we have, my first PC had 256mb hard drive and today I’m working around with a 16gig iPhone that can post me a GPS location, play music and I can get my email. This is where I start:

1.    Establish the computer specification
2.    Ask if you can complete a site test before the project hits start up to identify any technical issues early
3.    Focus on creative ideas – you can map good ideas to any platform – recent ports to the iPhone and iPad show this
4.    Manage expectations – if you know what the limitations are then communicate this to the project team
5.    Set up a clone machine in your office – you need to be testing in your target machine

It can be tricky to set up point 5 so you might think about asking the client if you can borrow one of them machines! It can be done I once managed to get a dual boot on Windows 95 using English and Japanese versions.

Keep the technical requirements in mind but don’t be constricted by it. If you start feel like that picking up an old course and see what you did all those years ago. I’d bet that it is still excellent work!

m-learning, mobile learning, learning on the move there are many ways of describing mobile learning and mobile computing. There are a number of machines available from iPhone to netbook but is there an ideal device?

The PC has become the standard for delivering learning with an office environment but the mobile platform is still emerging. Mobile computing has been along for long than many people can remember, most people of the laptop but forget about innovative devices like the PSION and also the Apple Newton. I used both of these devices in the mid 90’s and they were being used within industry. Now I see mobile devices being used by virtually everyone from the mobile phone to the XDA mobile devices used by delivery man to track your parcel.

Within mobile learning we have a range of technical platforms to choose from, allowing choice for the users but providing an issue for developers and organisations. Few fewer of these devices actually share common applications that you can both simply use. Applications for the iPhone and the Android handset are superb but they can’t be swapped and they are usually part of a longer contract for mobile phone services.

Instead of looking for the ideal device or the best application platform HTML 5 may provide much of the functionality that we need, supporting mobile browsers and allowing content to work across multiple devices. During several development projects I’ve reviewed several mobile devices and here are few things that I noted.

Apple iPhone/iPod
You’ll need a developer licence or someone who has one
Development uses the apple development kit that uses objective c
You need to get your app reviewed and approved from apple
Unless you have company license for distribution all your apps will be on the istore

PlayStation Portable
Has browser support and supports flash
Can support a web-cam/camera
Has a slot for a memory card so that you can use your own content
Can be tricky to directly type a url
No contracts
Robust device

Nintendo DSi
Has browser support
Double screen
Memory card slot
No contracts

Android device
Uses open source tools
Lots of developers available
Well supported
Good browser support

Windows Mobile
Support the windows platform
Links with Exchange
Used to create bespoke applications
Can come with a wand for typing
Browser support

Notebook
Larger than other devices
Smaller enough to be mobile
Some times slow to start
Supports windows and Linux operating systems
You can use many of your existing programs
You can develop your own apps and deploy across the notebook

Interesting after reviewing the devices I came to the conclusion that it will be good to develop applications using HTML/5 to allow as many of the devices as possible to use the content. Each device has its own graphic requirements such as screen size but this appeared to be a good way to develop content within a cost effective method.

One hour or 60 minutes or 3600 seconds, the hour is the standard by which elearning development costs appear to be measured. I’ve read with interest several blog posts about development cost per hour but what exactly is an hour of elearning and how is it measured?

In an industry it is valuable to have a benchmark or standard against which price and quality comparisons can be made but with the advances in technology and the range of development tools available is the hour still relevant?

We read and are told that learners work at different speeds at different times and in different ways yet the one hour matrix is readily applied. I’m interested in what constitutes the hour? Is it the time the learner uses the course? Are we using an average? For the development company is it number of screens x number of minutes? I’m not sure of the answer but I’m conscious that as we deliver on different platforms in different modes to an ever wider learner group that an hour used as a standard could be misleading if it’s not applied consistently and everyone knows how it is measured.

Often I read a blog post about company x who are paying £ 000’s for an hour of elearning and want to know whether it represents value. I don’t think that you can make an accurate assessment without knowing more information including the full details of what the developer is being asked to do. Development time using Rapid tools is widely regarded as being less than custom work and its only when you factor in all of the development tasks only then can you start to make an assessment.

In a creative industry like e-learning benchmarking costs will always be a challenging task but perhaps it’s time to think about a basic formula that will provide a base for suppliers and developers to work from.

Over the past few weeks I’ve answered questions about e-learning strategies. I have been involved in the creation of e-learning strategy documents and projects for the public and private sector in the UK and thought that I would share a few of my thoughts.

This isnt’ an exhaustive list but it will provide you with a starting point. I would ensure that any strategy focuses on a number of key areas, these are going to be specific to your organisation but you may want to think about the following:

Participation
Who are the affected parties? What additional training provision will you need to put in place during the project lifecycle? Who are your stakeholders (internal and external)

Technical Issues
What is the current IT platform? How will your e-learning strategy integrate with future IT changes and developments? You need to think about how these are aligned

Content creation and acquisition
Where are you going to get content from? Are you going to develop it internally? What will your quality standards be? You need to think about the creation of e-learning guidelines so that you can control the output.

Feedback systems
How will you measure performance? How will cost of ownership and return on investment be measured? What are the projected costs? How will effectiveness of the learning be measured?

Costs
How will ROI be measured, how will you work with the cost centres within the business

Limitations
Think of the issues that you might have and get these highlighted early

Types of learner
Several things to think about: IT literacy levels, mobile learning, expectations of e-learning

Business Improvement
Where will this be? Cost, Improvement in access to training material, process efficiency?

There are obviously many other things to consider, some of which will be specific to your organisation but but hopefully this will give you  a starting point.

Following on from our top 10 e-learning resources here is our top 10 website resources. These are the sites that we find useful and we use them most days. Everyone in the office has a favourite site and they all feature in the list. Today I’ve been on the Edge website and found out that the sequel to wii sports is the fastest selling game in Japan and Futurelab have more free resources that you can download….and FWA have uploaded their site of the day.

Enjoy!

Smashing Magazine

This website has a design focus but is packed full of free resources and tutorials. This is a great place if you are looking for ideas and inspiration. The free resources that have been submitted cover a wide range of uses from Wordpress themes to Icon sets.

Istock Photo

The images are not free, but the prices are low and the image quality is good. A vast range of images, icons, videos and stock assets that come in useful.

TED

TED comes up on a number of our lists but we keep on finding it useful! A great website to view some inspirational thinkers and to get inspired. Our favourites is still the Jonny Lee remote control.

BBC Learning Zone

A whole host of videos for a range of subjects. Our current favourite is the Royal Navy using computer games during submarine training courses.

The app store

You’ll need an iphone or an ipod touch but if you are ever on the move and need to find something out there will be an app for it. We’ve downloaded GPS devices, flight trackers, games, training apps, News feeds and something that turns the iphone into a torch.

Edge Online

The home of Edge magazine, if you want to find out something about the videogame industry this website has all the news alongside some great articles.

Futurelab

Innovation in Education

Offering a host of whitepapers, articles, links and a lot more. Futurelab also have a range of printed support materials including posters. We’ve just got hold of the their game based learning poster

Harvard Business Working Knowledge

Subscribe to the email for details of the latest papers or download the podcast to listen to interviews. Covers a wide range of business topics and all in manageable chunks. 

Norfolk e-learning forum

Ok, we are a little biased with this one! We are able to get some great speakers to come along to our events, some of who you might never have heard of but they all provide us with great resources from their presentations.

FWA

The favourite website awards. Every day they upload a new website for you to look at. Not strictly anything to take away or download but this site will provide you with a whole host of ideas if you are stuck on your next design project.

I thought that I would share with you my top ten tools for 2009. These are the tools that I find really useful, I might not use them every day but they really help out week by week! I’ve linked out to all the websites so you can go and find out more about them for yourself.

Thinking Worlds

A great piece of software for rapidly developing virtual environments, simulations and game based learning. Our games designers are building learning objects in days!

Twitterfon

You’ll need an iphone but this software lets you update your account when on the move as well as getting your own twitter feed. Get the Pro version to update multiple accounts.

Basecamp

We’ve been using Basecamp since it first came out and we still love it! Great for using with clients and it keeps things nice and easy.

Moodle

Open Source - used by many, lots of commercial support if you need it and a great user community.

Tickspot

Time tracking software, links with Basecamp and it has an iphone app. Easy to use and brilliant for time management on projects.

Wordpress

Can be used for a range of uses including blogs and websites. There is a wide range of plugins available to support your development work. It is also very easy to set up!

BBC Learning zone

A wide range of videos for download from the BBC on a range of subjects and topics.

Web-ex

Online meetings and much more. Very useful for working with clients, showing work and minimising travel. NCSL have made great use of web-ex over the past year.

wordle

A great web app where you can generate world clouds from the text that you provide. Paste in text, rss url or del.ico.us username.

TED: Ideas worth spreading

A whole host of brilliant lectures on a range of subjects, well supported by an iphone app. There are some inspirational lectures available for you to view.

I’ve been on the road quite a bit recently and I’ve bumped into a number of friends and colleagues. IT was nice to get comments that people actually do read the blog!

Hello to all of our readers….I’m not sure quite how many readers we have!

At learning technologies I saw Clive Shepherd deliver his seminar on e-learning in a downturn. He mentioned blogging and how you needed to be prepared to contribute to the blog regularly, how right he is! I’d like to blog a bit more than I do but it is quite tricky to do this every day, although I’m going to try to make a few more blog entries than last year.

This month I’m making the final touches to the first norfolk e-learning forum event of the year and we are working on a number of projects in the public sector. I’ve also taken some time to write a series of short articles about project management which we might upload to the website.

Thank you for taking the time to read the blog, I hope that there is something interesting from time to time…

oh….I bought a PSP at the weekend so we planning to do some R&D as well as road testing an acer aspire one. My first acer aspire only lasted a week before the screen blew!

Working in e-learning I’m often asked by people what the benefits of e-learning are. This can lead to quite a lengthy discussion covering Rapid development, induction modules, animations, instructional design and many other areas of e-learning.

E-learning and learning technology covers so many elements it can be difficult to cover all of the benefits and some of the issues that also arise.

After talking to some of our clients, friends and colleagues we’ve listed some of the benefits that they have come across!

Learning from home
Courses can be deployed over the internet and via a range of devices from Blackberry to a PC allowing the learner to access the content at a time that is suitable for them. Access to online materials also allows part-time, job share and employees who work from home access to training material.

Handheld devices are opening up e-learning to a new user base, check out the blog post on e-learning on a blackberry.

Reduction in travel time
The use of online learning can lead to a reduction in travel time and associated costs, one of our clients reported that they were able to reduce the number of training classes that were held each year. Team members were also pleased that they could reduce their personal travel time.

Deployment across multiple locations
For businesses with multiple locations, e-learning allows for multiple location deployment. It also allows learning to take place in environments where getting trainers and holding training courses may have been difficult. At Real Projects we developed an e-learning course that was used by employees on offshore installations which could only be reached by helicopter and had no internet access. We used a cd-rom to allow learning to take place on the installation.

Learn at your own pace
Many e-learning courses and modules allow learners to work through modules at their own pace. A well constructed module will also take the learner through all of the learning outcomes and ensure that they have covered all of the subject material.

Fast and effective content updates
e-learning content is often stored on a Learning Management System (LMS) that allows learners to access content from a PC, Mac or other device. The content is in an electronic form which means that updates can be performed quickly and effectively with new releases being deployed across an organisation in an instant.

This is not an extensive list, just a few of the benefits that we’ve come across over the past few months when talking to clients.

Every year we get back to the office and it’s right back into things. Bett, Open Innovation and then Learning Technologies - 3 exhibitions in 3 weeks. It makes for a great start back to the year as we always have a number of projects and demos to get ready for our clients.

Bett appears to get bigger and bigger every year, I wonder if it is actually possible to visit all of the stands in one day! There is normally a great buzz surrounding Bett and it is always good to meet old and new friends and look at new and interesting innovations and technology. The RP team will be at all 3 exhibitions so if you’d like to meet up please give us a call on 01603 762772 so we can arrange to meet.

I’m really interested to see how handheld learning and SMS devices are being used and I’ll be on the look out for innovations at Bett and Learning Technologies. Jack Schofield has published articles on the handheld culture in the Guardian this year and I’ll be looking out for content being delivered on anything from an ipod to a playstation portable. In an earlier blog post I wrote about e-learning on a blackberry. I’m really interested to see how these devices and other handhelds are going to be used in the next couple of years.

After each exhibition I’ll be updating the blog and I’m also planning to talk about some of the most exciting things that I see at the next norfolk e-learning forum

At Real Projects we’ve recently been invited to look at a number of touchscreen projects for clients. I looked at the possibilities of touchscreens in 1996, since then the technology has moved on a lot. the technology is now being used in many devices from information points in shopping centres to mobile phones. On the blog one of my first posts was about microsoft sphere. A few weeks before I came across sphere I was at Norwich University College of the Arts and some of the students and technicians had created a very cool table top touch screen to showcase the work of the computer games degree.

It was a very clever use of technology and displayed the students work in a really elegant and clever way. I then read last week about a project in Scotland (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/sep/17/itforschools.elearning) where an interactive desk has been developed. The desk and its possibilities look fantastic. The Guardian article discusses how they could be used in the classroom but I can think of many commercial applications from designers to architects. There are also many custom e-learning applications that could be developed for these touchscreen tables.

After being invited to come up with some design concepts for touchscreens we started to wonder where they were currently being used…we all went out on a march across the city to see where the technology was in use.

• Pubs
• Betting shops!
• The tube
• Shopping Malls
• Train Stations
• Police Information Points
• Mobile Phones
• PDA
• Remote Controls

It was really interesting to see that the technology is already being used in many places and its become part of our technical landscape. I spend a bit of time travelling to clients in London and regularly look at how travellers engage with the video screens in tube stations. I wonder how long it will be before we see interactive adverts using touchscreens. (not on the escalators!)