Quick Time Software Decipher Definitions, Use in Training

Have you worked with Quick Time?

Quick Time Virtual Reality is software that I had only heard about, but was not familiar with. As I researched it became apparent that there were words that I was not familiar with, and before I could understand more about VR tools, I needed to head to Wikipedia and a dictionary to help decipher.

Terms: “fisheye image” “Stitch perspective” “Convert equirectangular” “Visualizations of polyhedra” “Sprites” . Fisheye perspective is an extremely wide angle lens to produce hemispherical images. Stitch perspective is an inexpensive way to produce panoramic images. Converting equirectangular to cubic is the process of converting a fisheye image into panoscan. Panoscan is a camera used with special fisheye lenses to capture competency spherical images used in computer based virtual reality. Sprites are two-dimensional pre-rendered figures. Polyhedra is basically a complex shape, if you click the link below regarding polyhedra you will be amazed at their complexity.
Understanding the terminology, along with reviewing the links below it became clear how Quick Time is a valuable training tool. My laptop is already equipped with the Quick Time software and I was able to access some of the features. The breadth of features is available if you upgrade to Quick Time Pro. Apple has a free manual to download to help understand the features of Quick Time and how to use. It will be exciting to practice using Quick Time to apply to my training needs.

Some links to help decipher the VR terminology:

http://www.worldserver.com/turk/quicktimevr/QTVRlinks.html
http://www.apple.com/support/quicktime/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisheye_lens
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panoscan
http://wiki.panotools.org/Equirectangular
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_uniform_polyhedra

How have you used VR tools for education? Can you share any links?

Brooke

Connect Activity Insights

In the design process it became apparent that a connect activity can be something as simple as a few rhetorical questions for the learner to "connect" the knowledge to a real world application. While designing I had to specifically identify the simple objective and recognized that my connect activities were a part of a larger Module of learning. There were several "Do" activities to educate the participants on the topic, once that is complete, then I could have them complete the connect activity assignment. I used the format of a brainstorming session as a summary activity, to allow the participants to practice the knowledge they had learned about various learning styles and apply it immediately to adjusting branch training delivery styles. I created a YouTube video to describe the instructions and posted it for others to view as an activity idea and see how many people would go to look. I am really interested in the possibility of a personal "brand" and how technology could support that fact. If I continue to perform educational research, gain contacts via Twitter and collaborate information, and generate instructional videos about training, in time, there will be Web presence that can be identified.

Attached is the second video I have made http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jnexpxzWfk&feature=channel. As I watch my own work I really try to not overwhelm the learner by having too much graphics and audio at the same time. However, I realize that I am a little "dry" and in my efforts and may need to bring some more "flash" to the videos. Practice makes perfect.

Have you ever thought of using the web to become an expert on a topic, or to build a network of "like" minds? If so, how did the process evolve? Where is it now?

Brooke

New Computer, New Learning Activities

The last few days have been about a lot of New in my life. Computer crashed and had to buy a new computer. For this week's assignment, we needed to create a "do" activity. Do activities stimulate curiousity and engage the learner to become involved in the learning process. I wanted to create a Powerpoint with narration, created a Wordle, recorded the video with Jing and post to YouTube. I have never posted anything to YouTube so this was a learning experience. I also have not been successful lately with screencasting due to my system and software updates. In the end, I have created a learning activity, the first of its kind for me, that is been published for all to see. Last night I viewed the presentations available on YouTube and it appeared there was a niche for a series of programs that could be viewed to assist a trainer with icebreaker and other activities. The possibilities are only limited to my imagination. I feel so proud that I navigated my way through the "high-tech" systems, and have arrived.....I am published on YouTube!

Here's the links to all:
YouTube video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEpdFL1gYX0
Wordle: http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2410107/student_thoughts
Screencast only: http://www.screencast.com/users/soulfull/folders/Jing/media/1225f042-3a16-4269-a771-7b1dbc414d1d

How about you?


Brooke

Elearning - Building an absborb activity

This week I desgined and built my first e-learning self study in the form of an absorb activity. The goal of an absorb activity is to have the learner read, listen or watch the information to learn. The student is passive and the teacher or learning tool is the source of the information. The design process began with the needs assessment, which was vital to understanding what needed to be solved and taught. After determining the needs I began building the list of objectives for the elearning course. Using the book, E-Learning Design by William Horton as a guideline, I used his techniques on building specific primary objectives supported by secondary objectives to create my purpose for the activity. From the outside it seems "easy" to create a slideshow program to teach a topic, yet designing the elearning is much more in depth. The concept that became clear to me is that elearning is layering. No longer to you think in a linear pattern, you need to design in layers to create a seemless flow for the learning as they click through the e learning. Building Hyperlink, back and next functions and then creating the Knowledge Review were all opportunities to design directional components. In this case I gave the learner some control with the directions through the learning, but removed them in the Knowledge Review to require all 10 questions be answered. Also I created hyperlinks at the beginning based on topics so that expert learners could jump directly to their specific topic, instead of requiring they go through the entire learning if it was not relevant. The audience for the learning will mostly be medium to expert knowledge, and it will be rare to have a novice learner complete this particular learning. One challenge that was a huge time drain was the formatting of PowerPoint's hyperlinks in my Review. The only way to change them from the underlink was to create a rectangle shape over, change the color, reinsert text and then build the hyperlink on the box, not the text. I searched several help sites and found the same instructions. Fixing that formatting took numerous hours that I had not planned. What I learned from this process, is that the design is key! Now that I have completed the process I will design the next one very carefully before ever coming to the computer. Using sheets of paper that can easily be moved, layering them so that I can see the flow. Build only once can be the timesaver to any professional.

Have you built an Elearning program? Or other teaching program? What challenges did you face and how did you overcome?

Brooke

Educators incorporating new technology

As educators dedicated to incorporating new, emerging technologies we will often be stalled by broad controls or individuals that do not yet see the value of trying new methodologies. It is important to me to understand how to use my current environment in the workplace, and still be able to try new software, or new opportunities for teaching my employees.

At home, Adobe Acrobat Professional had been installed on my personal laptop, and I have already had access to the software. I have used PDFs in many situations when I did not want my pages altered or edited. To complete this process, I perform a “Save As” and just change the “Save Account Type” to a .pdf file. I did practice the steps in the assignment, and did not encounter any problems.

At work, however, it was a completely different story. As a corporate trainer, we have situations where a .pdf file would be a great resource. My laptop has Adobe Reader installed, but our security controls limit me from downloading anything additional on my work laptop. I then made some inquiries to see how many people have full access to Adobe. It appeared it takes something similar to an “Act of Congress” to be authorized to full Adobe, which I found very surprising. So I continued to pursue some options I could use to overcome broad system controls. When I scan documents to my laptop, they automatically appear as a .pdf and I can use them with my Adobe Reader. I printed this page with my Discussion content, scanned it to my laptop, and created a .pdf document that I can use in Adobe Reader.

What challenges have you faced in the workplace trying to incorporate a new technology for educational purposes?

Brooke

Course 3 Reflections

Finished up course 3 yesterday. The objective of this course was to instruct how to collaborate and learn in a virtual environment. As educators, we must be aware that our learners are incorporating virtual environments in all aspects of their lives, and we need to be prepared to interact with them on a new platform. The process of this curriculum allowed me to learn about new technologies and how they could be applied to education. We were tasked to first document the learning with a blog and link with our Twitter account to record our findings over the six weeks. Building mock classes and integrating with others taught us to understand the planning process and what evolution occurs, and privacy considerations, when a class becomes part of a social network platform. The instructor must build a thoughtful template for the learning, but the amazing growth occurs when the students collaborate. Managing the information overload is a key factor to successfully reviewing the assignments given to our learners. The realization that I can be linked to experts in my field, and draw upon their knowledge and resources is a fact that will help elevate my overall skill level and performance. Next to Number 4!

Brooke

Monolithic view of Education - Jean Piaget video

After viewing the following video from Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtNdLKqPCyI discuss the Monolithic view of our educational system.

Our education system has been rooted in a methodology of learning that has been effective for hundreds of years; but now as a global culture, we are experiencing a technological revolution. To answer whether our education system is rooted in a monolithic model of instruction and learning, I had to first go to Webster’s Dictionary to understand what the term monolithic actually meant. There were several definitions, “consisting of one piece; solid or unbroken: a boat with a monolithic hull; constructed of monoliths or huge blocks of stone: the monolithic monuments of the New Stone Age; characterized by massiveness, total uniformity, rigidity, invulnerability, etc.: a monolithic society, or Electronics: of or pertaining to an integrated circuit formed in a single chip. Education styles will always lag behind new technology, but successful teachers must take the role of a visionary and be adaptable to changing environments. The definition of the word monolithic intrigued me as we are evolving into a global mass of information, shared and connected through the internet similar to the electronics definition of the integrated circuit forming one chip. As a society we are moving from a rigid and uniform approach to a collective of many parts that create one unit.

Educators must be visionary, but the bureaucrats and administrators must also be open to new ideas and new methods to deliver curriculum. Piaget asked, “Are we forming children who are only capable of learning what is already known? When we continue to do something just because it worked in the past, we will miss opportunities to grow and can be impacted by competition. In the last few months, as I have returned to school, it is obvious to me that I had an enormous gap of knowledge and understanding of new resources, technologies and was not being as effective of a trainer as I could have been. There is new life in the way I teach, what I talk about with my students, how I relate to them on their level. The dedication to education is being able to meet the student where they are as each generation changes.
As educators we need to teach our students how to create new knowledge, how to spark passions for learning and develop their natural talents. Piaget said, “We should try to develop creative and innovative minds capable of discovery from preschool age on, throughout life?” However, we cannot abandon what has worked in the past, using history, examples, scenarios and case studies as methods to teach students problem resolution is still effective. If we can teach minds to interpret, analyze and make appropriate decisions, then they are equipped with skills to follow passions and develop talents.

After you view the video, what do you think?


Reference
Ccaldero. (Producer). (2007). Swiss psychologist jean piaget. [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtNdLKqPCyI.