Final Project Presentations

All final project presentations are creative and well designed. It’s interesting to see everyone’s interests and projects. I can see how these projects will be amazing when complete. The projects range from teaching children how to respect others to a site where alumni can access information to corporate world trainings. Overall, I really enjoyed all the presentations.

In some ways I would like to have built a project non related to my work. I think it will allow me to be more creative and I would not need to worry about confidential information. I chose a project that could be used for work because I have very limited time while working and going to school full time. This class has brought more awareness to other types of technologies as possibilities for future projects. I am excited to share some of them with our Corporate training team and possibly reapply.

Elluminate Online Class Session

Today we had an online class session on Elluminate. I've had Elluminate class sessions in other classes but this session seem to run with less problems. The difficulty is that only 1 person can be heard at one time and if someone else wanted to share information then either they would text or ask if they can turn on their mic. I do think having the option to take the class online would be a good backup for those who may not be able to make it to class on occasion. In my case, I work in Oakland and there were times where I had to miss class because of a emergency where I just had to be on the premises until the issue was addressed. This would have been a great opportunity for me to be online for class and be available at work if needed.

It could be difficult for people if the internet connection is extremely slow and we are trying to follow a presentation. I think for those instances, the presentation could either be linked or sent via email. I did have some minor difficulties pulling up the presentations and following the presenter but I think in the end it was a good online session.

Socialtext Eugen Lee

Our speaker Eugene Lee talked about some interesting points about the learning environments in the corporate world. As an employee of the corporate world, I can fully understand the lack of use of technology. I also, understand the privacy and confidentiality of the company because we have so many competitors that we do not want to compromise the brand. I can see the need and certain applications can be utilized at facilities but only if it can remain within the four walls. Anything from troubleshooting to asking a colleague a simple question is where these tools can be of benefit. I see my company slowly implementing some tools but we are definitely behind the times.

Xtranormal Assignment

Here is the link to my Xtranormal movie on Connectivism.

http://www.xtranormal.com/profile/2530859/

Connectivism

Today we worked in groups and talked about criticisms of connectivism. We came together as a class and discussed all the questions about connectivism and had some great heard some good view points. Is connectivism a theory or a principle? Here is my podcast. I used Flash and iMovie 6 to create it and took way too many hours! :(

Final Project Idea

My final project will be to develop an e-learning for PepsiCo, more specifically Hot Fill. There have been some conversations in corporate regarding e-learnings for new employees who are located worldwide. PepsiCo, being that it is such a large company has Hot Fill sites in many countries. Due to the current economy, PepsiCo's annual training was modified due to lack of funds. It was modified so that current staff members would perform the trainings normal taught by Purdue University professors. The corporate training team has identified many suggestions to minimize the cost of hosting trainings at a single location. E-learning trainings was one of the highest priority suggestions. As of now, I am unsure of how I will build it out. I may use Flash or a screen casting program.

Minds of Fire Article

This article talks about how learning has evolved from people getting and processing information/knowledge in a more isolated individual way to people getting together and processing information together to create body of knowledge that is not static but evolving and collaborative. Learning and knowledge has moved from the halls of universities to the web. Because of advances in technology and utilization of social networking tools, how this knowledge is shared, organized and expanded takes on new meanings and implications of knowledge acquisition. While experts have an "authority" in putting specific information "out there", any person has the right to use and review that information which in turn adds to the depth if not breath of that topic. Knowledge is now far more accessible to people who may not have had opportunities (time, money, formal education) to access it. I am privileged to be in the US where we have access to uncensored information via the internet. I think of people in China and Cuba who blog at the risk of incarceration.

Elaine Wheery Presentation Meebo

Elaine's presentation was very interesting in comparing the history of classical music to technology today. She compared how the development of classical music came about through inventors over the years. It was interesting to see her interpretation of how the internet is following the same path. Her presentation was truly telling a story.

Expert Presentation

Tim's expert presentation on WebEx was informative and I find that this program can be a useful tool. I have heard of friends using WebEx and they are extremely happy with the ease of use. I have not used WebEx but I have used Raindance at work, which is similar in features. It seems these types of programs do not allow more than one person leading the meeting. I guess that makes the meeting less confusing if only one person facilitates the meeting at a time. I do like the option of giving access to any individual within the group.

A Whole New Mind – Design

The significance of the first sense Design is that design is just as important as the utility of an item. Companies are now recognizing the importance of design and realize that to be competitive they have to make a good product that is effective and appealing.

Democracy of Design discusses how design has been historically for people with money. Design is now accessible for everyone at any budget. Target is given as an example where a well-known high-end fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi who once only provided fashion now designs clothing for the mass populations.

The Design Portfolio is a great resource that gets a person to start thinking about design and resources for accessing and learning about design. The portfolio offers listings of museums, magazines, activities, and guiding principals for design (i.e., Robin Williams’ Contrast Repetition Alignment and Proximity). Who knew that the Real Simple magazine that sits on the back of my toilet is a design resource. On some level I knew I preferred one tool over another, but what I valued most was the utility of the item—I never really thought about how much design innovation went into the tools before they made it onto the store shelves—I figured I was buying the better toaster based on the ratings from Consumer Reports, not just a cute chrome red toaster (which matches the cherry red trivets on my stove).

Meebo

In preparation for Thursday’s speaker I opened an account at www.meebo.com. I could see the benefits to having a site that organizes and consolidates chat/IM sites. I only use yahoo for IMing with people in my address book and that is very minimal. When I am online it is for a specific reason usually not to chat. I’m online mostly to research topics or have it opened in the background while doing homework. I looked through the chat rooms but didn’t see any topics of my interests. I’m not sure if the chat rooms are updated by who starts them or were they the most popular rooms for that moment. I didn’t spend much time browsing the site.

Google Wave

Elizabeth and Dru did a great job presenting Google Wave. One of the benefits of Google Wave is you can invite members to contribute to a discussion and collaborate. I like the idea of allowing only certain people to contribute. I probably won’t be using it because of how slow it updates posts. I guess if 2 people were having a discussion it wouldn’t be much of a problem but when there are collaboration in numbers it might be an issue. It will be awhile before I jump on this one.

Twitter reading app

I don’t really understand the whole Twitter/Tweeting thing. After a few minutes on Twitter last week I still don’t understand how to use it. Trying to follow the tweets and re-tweets was a little overwhelming. I found the experience much like trying to decipher code. So much information and responses were updating every few second that I couldn’t read any one post without it being bumped to the middle of the page. So I uploaded an app to my iPhone called TweetDeck. Much like Twitter, I don’t know how to use the app. Maybe I can benefit from a Twitter iPhone app E-learning.

A world of connections

I found the term “Enterprise 2.0” interesting. I can see where social networks and blogs can be beneficial to the work place but it can also be an added task to some or even a distraction. Just over the last few months employees have been given the option to install instant messaging through Outlook to communicate internally without having to email to ask simple question. I still find myself emailing to document conversations just to CYA.

Some benefits may include that information or communications can be sent across all nine Gatorade plants. Employees can share out their experiences or problems they have to seek guidance. But doesn’t email already do this?

The drawbacks could have to take the time to read multiple posts about a subject that does not affect a specific facility. This can be time consuming in an already fast paced environment. Setting aside time to check or even post a comment takes time that most people find they don’t have.

As new technologies emerge for the business world, people will need support around time management and setting priorities so that using these technologies is seen as an asset and not a time burden.

Emerging Technologies in E-Learning

Emerging Technologies are innovative ways to get people to network, learn and collaborate with each other. Working in the corporate world, I am seeing how the emerging technologies have become more prevalent in the last couple of years. Our CEO, Indra Noyi has now started blogging and employees can find her blogs in our internal website. Though, what she has to say may be very important for the company as a whole but not a ‘must read’ for me who finds myself fighting fires on the production floor on a daily basis.

While blogging is rare PepsiCo has utilized web conferencing over the last few years. Web conferencing is helpful. Although I like to travel, the thought of traveling to a plant in the middle of nowhere to attend training is rarely appealing. I really enjoy the option to attend a web conference and be home just in time for dinner.

Currently E-learning is non-existent and as sites have been benefiting from web conferencing they too could benefit from E-learnings. E-learning based material can provide a standardize way to deliver information to groups of people throughout the company.

First week of class...

The first week of class was quite interesting. After introductions we jumped right into defining Web 2.0. For the most part, the groups all had similar descriptions. This was also the first time I heard the term Connectivism. What is it really? It's what I do on a daily basis at home, work, and school. Connectivism = Networking via Social Networks, blogs, webinars etc...

The way we use the internet and technology today may not be how we use it five years from now or even two years from now.