August 26th, 2009 by Learning Systems

Being asked to “please try again” is something that’s happened to most of us in the learning management system community. There’s no shame in it. Juggling all the different subscription, banking, social network, email, and other account passwords is overwhelming. And it seems like more and more websites are creating increasingly complicated password requirements. 

Your old stand-by password is suddenly no good anymore. Some sites want a mix of numbers and letters in your password. Some require more than 5 or 6 characters. Others want a combination of lower-case and capital letters, others a mix of both plus numbers, while the most horrible sticklers require a more-than-six-character mix of both cases plus numbers. 

Some very efficient, clever, and/or über-organized people have found tricks for remembering passwords. For example, I read about one trick where you take the first and last letters of the website name, and stick your usual password in the middle, adding perhaps a number or two that you always use. I read about another trick too, but I’ve forgotten it. Just as I’ve forgotten the passwords to oh-so-many subscriptions, networks, and other sites.

I know I’m not alone. And that’s why universal login, that magical feature that learning management systems and other e-learning platforms are beginning to adopt on a wider scale, is so smart.

For organizations and schools delivering e-learning content to large numbers of students, accessibility and ease are essential. And universal login provides this in a simple and logical way.

To aid organizations and all users in their virtual learning environment access, Coggno has recently integrated RPX with its learning management system. Accessing your training or other e-learning content is now simpler still.

Coggno no longer requires users to create a Coggno account, providing instead a smorgasbord of login options. Through the RPX app, users can now access Coggno using identities from major sites such as Google, AOL, Yahoo!, Twitter, WordPress, MySpace, and Facebook.

RPX helps solve a problem for many e-learning and other software providers: how to bring all the most popular login options into a single and intuitive login interface. Coggno’s LMS users can now avoid the frustrations of forgotten passwords and signing up/in with a separate Coggno user ID.

RPX allows users the option of signing up using identities from a range of sites, or to continue using an existing user ID. Additionally, learners who log on to Coggno using an ID from another site are able to bring over their contacts from that site.

The RPX application makes creating and deploying elearning content simpler for Coggno’s courseware authors, and most importantly, creates a better training experience for all learners. RPX uses a range of protocols to authenticate a website’s users, as well as automatic upgrading (no libraries necessary), simple testing, data synchronization for user profile updates, and no vendor lock-in. RPX prevents user frustration with forgotten passwords, and being asked to please try again until you’re ready to simply create a whole separate account. 

The single-sign-on format allows Coggno’s learning management system users to skip the process of creating and recalling a Coggno login account, and get to the fun part–accessing, learning, creating, updating, and delivering multimedia e-learning content. 

August 19th, 2009 by Learning Systems

One great way for educators to leverage their knowledge and expertise on a subject is by creating short lessons or learning management system courses and putting them on the Coggno e-learning marketplace. Coggno’s intuitive UI (user interface) and simple-to-use tools provide easy course creation for all educators, with no need for IT help at any point.

Coggno’s online learning marketplace was created to facilitate the fast and effective transfer of knowledge. Learning material and online courses are increasingly simple to create–and are no longer simply fun additions to a traditional classroom. In fact, online course content is beginning to make the difference between a good class and an amazing one.

Recent studies have blown out of the water the antiquated notion that online education is simply “better than nothing,” or an on-the-side supplement to a traditional classroom. A recent report tells us just the opposite. 

The 93-page study on online education, conducted by SRI International for the Department of Education, found that “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.” Just a few years ago, e-learning wasn’t much more than a lesser, electronic version of traditional in-person courses. Now, online education is beginning to actually surpass the face-to-face versions.

We have to look at the tools that are available now on LMSs for educators and trainers. For example, using Coggno’s text tool, video tool, SCORM publisher, template tool, audio tool and assessment tools, educators are able to easily and quickly create dynamic e-learning material either for in-class use or for publishing on Coggno’s e-learning marketplace. And choosing from Coggno’s apps such as BB FlashBack, Rapid Unison, and the Apple Podcast Producer, educators can engage their audience in active, visually- and audibly-interesting learning content. 

Podcasts are one exciting medium, offering a host of pedagogical possibilities. Podcasts are convenient and optimally portable, and appeal to many different kinds of learning styles. They can be used to both supplement and reinforce course learning material, or renew learning activities. They can also serve as announcements, reminders, and updates to be heard by everyone using the learning management system.

In addition, many educators and trainers find that responding to learners’ unique cultural backgrounds, interests, and world knowledge results in a more interactive and dynamic learning experience. An LMS can be an invaluable tool in not only tracking learners’ progress, but in providing an organizational and educational tool that caters to the needs of all learners.

Coggno’s suite of course development tools enables interactive learning that lends itself to differentiated instruction. Coggno is a growing LMS course platform that understands that all learners are distinct–and that this fact enriches, rather than detracts from, the quality of a learning system that caters to all learners. 

Studies show that about 70% of students are strong visual learners. While listening to someone lecture for hours doesn’t suit many visual learners, watching a dynamic speaker demonstrate an idea will. Visual learners are sensitive to body language, and often have an advanced ability to “read” people. So in your content, include videos with demonstrations, simulations and screencasting.

The effectiveness of a course depends on the designer’s tapping into the right resources. These include not only the tools offered by the learning management system, but the students themselves. By understanding learners’ needs and learning styles, educators and subject matter experts are better equipped to create more helpful, engaging, and successful online courseware.

With more organizations and schools adopting their own learning management system, the traditional style of creating and distributing knowledge is being redefined. Whether it’s corporate training or classroom pedagogy, Web 2.0 technologies, LMSs and other online tools are seeing an end to the days in which one person dominated the floor and simply dispensed information to an all-ears audience. The classroom now involves the student, and holds their attention and interest, in ways it was never able to before.

August 12th, 2009 by Learning Systems

One universally important element of an effective learning management system course is early and detailed communication with students. What kind of information is essential to provide early on in a e-learning course?

Teach students about course navigation with the use of videos, taking advantage of the simple-to-use video creation tools that LMSs like Coggno offer. Video tours are an easy and fun way to reach students quickly and effectively with important information. And presenting this information in a visually interesting way will help ensure that this important information is delivered successfully. 

Of course, the three basic tenets of human communication are gesture, speech, and visuals. So the online fusion of these three elements recreates the natural ways we humans communicate in face-to-face communication. Using these three aspects–especially the emotional signals of tone and voice–helps you to create a sense of trust in the virtual learning environment.

Another guideline to successful communication with students–and something that will help ensure their comfort and ease working with your e-learning course–is developing a clear course outline or syllabus. A syllabus provides a space for courseware developers and educators to break down into simple bites the course expectations and goals for learners. This information must be presented before any actual learning begins, to ensure best communication with students.

Especially for first-time e-learners, it’s best to understand what they can expect from a course as early as humanly possible. Your course outline should include some critical info about the online course. In the course outline, stress the importance of familiarizing oneself with the LMS and exploring all the different features. Students should understand where all the different content can be found in each section of the e-learning course. Advise learners to check the LMS on a regular basis for class updates, assignments, or announcements. Describe in minute detail what happens when students miss an assignment or a class (if there are classes,) as well as how exactly students will be graded, and any other bits of critical information.

One more useful function of the syllabus that will help avoid later problems is an outline of the plagiarism policy. Although most of us understand that plagiarism is prohibited, it’s not uncommon for people to be unsure what exactly qualifies as such. Though real and intentional plagiarizing is all-too-common common, unintended incidents of cheating also happen and cause a big mess for everyone involved. But with your help, such situations are preventable. The fact is that many people are just uninformed about how to cite sources properly.

The solution? Attach a citation guide like MLA or ATA style to your syllabus explaining the correct way to cite articles, books, websites, and other published works. 

Helping learners feel at home in their virtual learning environment, confident in their navigation skills, and clear about expectations and course processes can be achieved using a few simple tools. These include a well developed syllabus, videos, and citation guides (which are easy to find online). Quick and clear establishment of the features, tone, and objectives of your e-learning course will help avoid any confusion or problems in the future. It will establish a harmonious and dynamic learning management system experience not only for your learners, but for administrators and course instructors as well.

August 5th, 2009 by Learning Systems

Unfortunately, it still comes a surprise to many e-learning content developers–and often too late–that in writing material for a learning management system course, less is more. This general rule of thumb applies particularly to the writing voice and creating readable and engaging content through concise and simple language. 

Of course, when creating e-learning material, there are many choices to be made. You’ll decide about everything from navigation to graphics, visual and audio media, to a tone of voice in your writing. Pay special attention to your writing style. A powerful or weak writing style can make or break an online course. 

Good courseware is based on an author’s personal experience and subject matter expertise. And since there are an infinite number of subjects out there–not to mention the many kinds of learning styles and pedagogical methods–it follows that an appropriate writing style will vary depending on the content.

Regardless of this fact, many courseware developers still have not discovered their authorial power in regards to the writing voice. The trend in e-learning content writing has followed a “voiceless writing” model, in which students are provided with a formal tone and text without style or affect. The traditionally preferred writing style does away with any trace of an author’s voice or personality. 

However, a burgeoning community of e-learning developers are creating content with more voiced writing. Particularly in an e-learning context, studies suggest that students respond with more interest to a voice with personality, in contrast to a formal and impersonal tone. 

It’s true that in some cases, a bland tone is simply unavoidable–and that’s OK. But to create content with that blandness as the ideal isn’t wise. And too often, course creators fall into the trap of intentionally creating difficult-to-read content in order to impress learners, or so that students will have greater respect for the content. This is a bad idea.

What’s the best solution? Clear, concise, and relevant content.

Once you’ve prepared your course content and infused it with an interesting writing style and your own enthusiasm and passion for the subject, next comes the revision process. This is a major aspect of keeping your course writing concise and clear. Put your course through what writers call “deep revision.” Look over your course and ensure that no sections, paragraphs, graphics, etc. look clunky, out of place, dull, or extraneous. Just as you used your powerful writing voice, use your authorial power to scrap whole pieces that don’t seem to fit. Any unnecessary piece must go. 

Especially in online training courses, learners require content to be to-the-point, engaging, and one hundred percent relevant to what learners will need to perform tasks later on. These may be new skills, company policies, or any other critical information.

Just remember: voiceless writing in an online course is worse than a live but bland and boring lecture. E-learning strives to be better than that. When developing content for a learning management system, keep your writing clear and concise, but most importantly, your own.