eLearning Resources from eFront Blog |
For those who missed last week’s post “Part 1: Using Facebook as a learning platform” we shared some important links for instructors interested in using Facebook with students.
This week I would like to share my favorite YouTube videos on the subject!
1. Using Facebook to teach: Bullis School teacher Sara Romeyn talks about using Facebook as a teaching tool in her AP U.S. History Class.
2. Facebook used in the college classroom: Continue reading
“SCORM 2004 is dying (if not already dead!).” Now that might seem like a strong statement but it’s the sad truth. For the careful observer there are many signs to support this view, and here are a few of them:
Sign #1: 75% of packages are still on SCORM 1.2, 10 years after the initial release of SCORM 2004 [1] [2]
Sign #2: There is no certification process for tools and packages for the latest SCORM 2004 4th edition. This is the case although several years have passed since 4th release. Currently, someone can be a 4th edition adopter but *not* certified. [3]
Sign #3: ADL itself heavily supports Tin Can as the successor of SCORM.[4]
In essence, SCORM 2004 always lived in the shadow of SCORM 1.2. Now, with the introduction of Tin Can API it seems certain that its adoption rate will decline even further.
Reasons SCORM 2004 Failed
There are a multitude of reasons why SCORM 2004 failed. Here are most prominent (and yes, we refer to SCORM 2004 in the past tense quite deliberately): Continue reading
Today we would like to announce a new version of eFront! 
The most notable addition to this version is Tin Can support. We took the time to bundle also several UI improvements, a WordPress integration plugin, a new introductory course, and a number of additional enhancements to make your favorite learning tool even better.
So check out what’s new!
Tin Can
This is the first version of eFront with internal support for Tin Can. eFront has implemented the 0.95 version of the standard, which is the most recent one. On top of the implementation you will find a robust way to filter down the reports per user, action or module. Continue reading
Polls are now open for The Best of Elearning! 2013 Awards! Now in its 9th year, Elearning! Magazine allows eLearning professionals to nominate elearning products and services each year. Readers and users of elearning solutions can nominate and vote for solutions across 27 different categories until May 1st and The Best of Elearning! Awards will be honored at the Enterprise Learning! Conference & Expo on August 26th at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA, and showcased at ELCE and ELCE Virtual.
eFront LMS has been a Best of Elearning! award winner for the past 2 consecutive years and we need your help to make it 3 years in a row!
If you have 1 minute (and you know you do! 
) please click on the link below to vote for eFront Learning in the following categories:
Here’s all you need to do:
And here’s why your vote matters to us
“In a recent survey, more than 85% of respondents have personally recommended an e-learning solution to a peer over the last 12 months. And, 61% agreed that award-recognition impacted their decision to consider or purchase from the vendor. The Elearning! Awards program formalizes this process by publishing the recommendations of e-learning users and honoring “Best-in-Class” solutions.” ~ ELearning! Magazine
If you’re interested in seeing previous winners (& we were amongst them ) – please click here
Thank you from the team at eFront!
Interactivity is a key component in the learning process. While it’s relatively easy for a teacher in a classroom to interact with the learners and, by ‘reading’ the situation, involve them in the learning process in the most effective ways, it’s much harder for those producing online learning materials. For one thing, they can only make educated guesses at their learners’ needs, state of mind, attitude to and preferences for learning and so on.
So, when developing online learning materials, it’s important to define the content that needs to be learned; determine what the learner must do as a result of completing these learning materials, and so decide on the most appropriate ‘treatment’ for the content. Users must interact with online learning materials to navigate through the materials; amass information and make decisions.
Considering what the learner needs to know or do – rather than what the teacher wants to teach – involves you in ‘interactivity’. So here are ten things to bear in mind about interactivity when you’re developing online learning materials:
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Lee Corbett, Chief Executive at simply elearning. She has years of experience in the elearning marketing in Australia and was the perfect person to gain some insight on what’s happening Down Under.
1. Please tell us a little about yourself and your organization
I have been in the elearning and VET sector training world since 2000 when I was engaged by Southbank Institute of TAFE in their Engineering faculty. I have held several committee positions nationally, mainly in the telecommunications and electronics industry skilling areas. I left TAFE in 2006 to set up an elearning department for one of the private mining RTO’s here in Queensland before starting my own business late 2007.
We are a specialised elearning content development company for the mining industry and all of the associated trade areas. We cover a lot of different facets of the sector from first aid, to plant maintenance and everything in between.
Having worked with TAFE I was familiar with a lots of LMS’s but none that wowed me. Then after a lot of research I came across the eFront LMS. I loved the system. For a relatively complex system as far as output goes, it was very functional and for me fairly easy to understand. We matched it against the likes Blackboard, Moodle and Janison it wins hands down.
Anyway, we loved the system so much we started to refer it to our clients and the relationship with eFront has grown from there. Now with the TalentLMS on the market we are so excited about being able to provide clients in Australia with a LMS solution regardless of their size or budget. I can’t wait to see where we are in 5 years time!
2. How would you describe the state of elearning in Australia today?
I should first clarify what I believe to be the difference between elearning and online learning. There has been a lot of resistance from trainers and educators. This is mainly due to job security rather than their dislike for elearning. Online learning (prevalent in TAFE & Universities) is merely taking paper based or video resources and putting them on the internet for students to access, download and view. Whereas true elearning is the development of training content from paper based to learner led resources. This is where you require instructional design and the ability to sit in the participants seat in front of a computer and have the content ‘talk’ to you whilst you ‘interact’ with it. This is the work that we do. We take paper based resources and we use graphical designers, instructional designers, and animators etc to build them into a ‘storybook’ of learning.
In my opinion, the elearning market in Australia is still in its infancy. Online learning is very popular with TAFE’s and Universities, but true elearning is something that the nation is still coming to terms with. Continue reading
Infographics have become ubiquitous and they’re a brilliant way to get clear, useful overviews of what’s happening where! Here I’d like to propose a collection of samples relevant to elearning and learning technologies.
For a closer look at some of our favorite free tools for creating infographics check this post. We also like this article on how infographics can help you produce better elearning courses.
And if you’d like to add your favorite elearning infographic to this list, please put them in the comments below! I feel an infographic on infographics coming on ~ @rgogos
It’s inevitable that any medium designed for ease of communication and networking will be applied to a learning context however many educators are still trying to come to grips with Twitter, and in particular its use in the classroom.
For a comprehensive list of resources on Twitter in the classroom and workplace, check out Dr. Tony Karrer’s list here – and also Edudemic’s 100 Ways to use Twitter in Education.
There are a multitude of ways Twitter can be integrated into classroom teaching, for example: Continue reading
FERGHSC is an online tutoring business based in Sydney, Australia that focuses on supporting students in their final year of schooling (the Australian Higher School Certificate aka HSC) their focus is on developing systems for HSC success through video lessons, interactive feedback such as their essay marking service and website course material, developed by a team of experts.
We had the pleasure of speaking with the FERGHSC team recently and gained some insight into why they chose eFront over other LMS’ and how it helped them create a new revenue stream. Here are a few snippets from the full customer story:
On choosing eFront: “A strong consideration was the ability to monetize our online business model, offering various courses at different price points, however it was the suite of built in modules [in eFront] which we felt allowed us to get started quickly and hit the ground running.”
On what they’ve achieved: “Thanks to the eFront system we are able to continuously built upon our existing courses, adding value through additional lesson material and extra quiz questions. For example, with the math type built in we are able for the first time to offer mathematics courses online and continue to add new material to these courses.”
“The best thing is that students just love the software and find it very easy to use.”
For more check out the full customer story on Slideshare:
Infographics (or information graphics) have been around for many years and recently the proliferation of a number of easy-to-use, free tools have made the creation of infographics available to all. They are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly. By presenting information in a compact and creative format, infographics are not only able to quickly convey knowledge but also engage its viewers – and social media sites have allowed for this kind of content to be spread quickly and easily.
There are many reasons to include infographics in your content strategy – 10 good reasons are listed in this blog post:
We have taken a look at some free tools for creating infographics and here are our favorites: Continue reading