lodeStar Learning Web Journal

By Robert N. Bilyk

The two words replay in my mind. They came from two teachers who attended the Associação da Comunidade Educativa de Aveiro (ACEAV) conference in Aveiro, Portugal. I was a guest presenter and I asked the audience to respond to a prediction that Clayton Christenson makes in his book "Disrupting Class". I'm paraphrasing, but the prediction goes something like this: In 10 years, computer-based, student-centric learning will account for 50 percent of schooling in U.S. Schools. If you haven't read, Clayton Christenson's book, please read it. For me, it was insightful as Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat", but focused on education. I asked the audience in Aveiro that if they were to become more active in eLearning or, as they called it, bLearning (a blend of computer based and classroom based education), what would they need. The answer was time and tools.

I thought back to 1997 when I founded Cyber Village Academy. Cyber Village Academy was intended to reach out to seriously ill children and provide them with a portal to learning during times when they felt well enough to learn. It was intended to provide sick kids with a learning experience that was ready when they were and could adapt to their needs. As it turned out, we served some sick kids, but we served national competition skaters as well and dozens upon dozens of homeschoolers who didn't want traditional public school and couldn't afford private school.

For teachers, we addressed the issue of time by providing at least two days per week when teachers could support students online, and develop curriculum and activities. To reiterate, we provided at least two full days per week with each teacher equipped with her own office and computer. Our first choice of tools, however, Authorware and, later, Flash was too difficult for teachers to master and integrate into our first learning management systems. Something needed to be invented - and that was the LodeStar authoring tool.

Prior to my most pleasant time with ACEAV in Portugal, I had the great fortune to represent LodeStar Learning at the 2nd Pan African Forum organized by Merlot Africa Network (MAN) in Dakar, Senegal. I asked post-secondary teachers the same question that I posed to teachers in Portugal. Interestingly, instructors from all over Africa began to spell out their need for professional development in the design of open education resources (learning objects). I was struck by their eloquence and the sophistication they brought to the discussion.

I was also struck by my own shortcomings. In Dakar, I needed a French-English translator. For the most part, participants understood my English, but I couldn't understand their French. In Portugal, teachers could understand my English, but I know less than five words in Portuguese. I studied French and German in school, but that learning has all but evaporated. I was embarrassed. When I conducted a workshop in Luxenbourg, the same feelings came over me. Every participating instructor spoke multiple languages. I spoke one.

I make these admissions because visiting with teachers in Dakar and Aveiro has caused me to be reflective about my own educational experiences and the role that eLearning or blended learning can play in improving the educational experience. In that reflection, I hear a number of voices. I hear the voice of Cherie at Cyber Village Academy who helped students learn history first hand through prima facia diaries and records and accounts that weren't filtered through someone else's perspective. I hear the voices of Tillman Ragan and Patricia Smith who have listed instructional strategies that are effective for each type of learning or the voice of Dr. Michael Allen who writes, "Forget what you've learned about instructional design and do something interesting", or John Taylor Gatto who writes about the harmful effect of schooling (versus education) in his "Weapons of Mass Instruction". Certainly my French language classes in high school were weapons of mass instruction. I can still hear the annoying voice of the French teacher, "écouter et à imiter". We followed with mindless recitations of French sentences. If we can't have truly immersive experiences in language instruction, surely we have computer-assisted instruction that is much more effective.

From all of the voices that seem to conflict and confuse, I hear a chorus. It's true that we should forget about instructional design and do something interesting -- but only if we treat instructional design as a recipe book. Effective education can't be created from a recipe book. It's true that computer-based, student centric learning can be a large part of a student's diet, but not as computer-based education is today, but as it is envisioned by Clayton Christenson in his book.

I do believe that teachers need time and tools. I believe that if teachers are not part of the process of creation and given time by their administration, they will become subscribers to static content -- a new form of the textbook -- with a table of contents that dictates the curriculum and aligns to academic standards and shallow tests.

I believe that the LodeStar authoring tool has a role to play, as it exists today and even more so as an open system that enables organizations like ACEAV in Portugal and the University of Cheikh Anti Diop in Dakar to build upon its architecture and help to create dozens of templates that embody dozens of strategies that help teachers in their respective disciplines.

eLearning or bLearning are wonderous processes fraught with multiple challenges. To meet these challenges, teachers need time and tools. We are now planning updates to LodeStar to make it a better tool and buy the instructor more time. Stay tuned to this web journal to learn more.

As educators, we are hopeful that technology can help make meaningful connections between the subjects that we teach and the relevance to students' lives. We look for students to be inspired and to inquire into the historical, political, geographical, scientific, literary, technological, artful, physical world around them. We look for students to be motivated, civic minded and connected and on and on.

Lately, in that pursuit, we are the beneficiaries of a frenzy of development around the concept of Web 2.0. On a daily basis we redefine what is possible based on a new tool that has popped up on the web and that has a different take on collaborating, cataloguing, referencing, presenting, and storing. Web 2.0 tools are often free or inexpensive, easy to use and what they produce can be publicly accessible and can help our students.

The bonanza of Web 2.0 tools is like the Wild Wild West, a rapidly changing and expanding frontier. We look onto these tools from the relative comfort of our 'East Coast' establishments -- our learning management and content management systems, our authoring tools …our pedagogy.

Of course, this is not an either-or proposition. Learning Management Systems serve a very powerful function. They afford privacy and protection. Faculty can submit their intellectual property and not fear having their rights vanish into the public domain (although, of course, there is Creative Commons). Faculty can use material copyrighted by others and be, to a greater degree, protected by an LMS that gives students a look at that material for a finite period of time and a passworded log in. Students are guided through material by design. The sequence of the material, how it is 'chunked', how the students are assessed -- are all part of that design.

But LMS and authoring systems that contribute to LMS's can be rather stagnant compared to the daily new opportunity that Web 2.0 affords. Moodle and Blackboard offer a handful of approaches to presenting and collaborating on content. The wild wild web 2.0 offers dozens.
LodeStar Learning has long had its eye on Web 2.0 technologies. A little background is helpful here to show that our commitment to harnessing the power of Web 2.0 didn't happen overnight. You may be interested in some of the milestones.

In May 2004, we first began using the Google Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to enable instructors to query the Google databases from within our LodeStar eLearning authoring tool. We used a powerful technology called Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Web Services to enable the LodeStar client to leverage the power of Google for the benefit of teachers and students. We still use Web Services, and it’s at the heart of a powerful new collaboration between LodeStar Learning and a major Learning Object Repository vendor. (But that's the subject of another article.)

In September 2005, we began using Representational State Transfer (REST) through services provided by companies such as Yahoo. From the teacher's point of view, he/she simply typed in a word and got a tray of images - whether we were using SOAP or REST was of no consequence to the teacher.
The point of introducing this alphabet soup is to make one point clear. Teachers were interested in efficiently finding resources across the web. We were interested in using available technologies to make that happen. In the very near future, we will once again implement a powerful new approach to making this happen more efficiently.

In the spring of 2008, we introduced Mapper, which enabled instructors to match their instructional content to points on a Google Map using latitude, longitude and zoom level. Students could navigate a Google Map and see matching content in the form of images, text, animations, video, audio and quiz items or they could navigate through content and watch the Google Map pan, zoom and display the appropriate location markers.
In the summer of 2008, we introduced Syncher, which enabled instructors to synch up an audio podcast (streamed in from any source) with instructional content that either resides in a learning object or in external services such as Blip.TV and TeacherTube videos.

For the past year, LodeStar has had the capability of embedding Web 2.0 applications, but we have not built the needed easy-to-use interfaces for instructors to leverage these resources. Our plan for LodeStar 5.8 (summer 2009) is to make these interfaces available so that an instructor can easily embed a Web 2.0 application into a SCORM object using LodeStar and upload the object to a learning management system or learning object repository.

The following link displays a LodeStar object that walks the viewer through several embedded Web 2.0 resources. (This was made possible with LodeStar 5.7 - but the next iteration will be huge improvement.) We discuss the purpose of the resources and what we perceive as the value proposition for instructors and their students.

We'll then follow up with a discussion in our Creative Educators Using LodeStar group in Curriki. Our goal is to arrive at an interface that makes sense to instructors and that helps them to use Web 2.0 applications easily and effectively.

So here is the link to the learning object:

http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Coll_bbilyk/Web20Apps/BrancherWeb20.zip/Web_2_0/index.htm

And, if you want to participate in our CEUL group discussion in Curriki, here is how to join:

Join the LodeStar Community

If you know of some terrific Web 2.0 apps, please share by adding your comments to this blog.

By Robert N. Bilyk

When I began envisioning the LodeStar eLearning authoring tool in the late 90s, I had three very strong realities in mind. First, instructors are very very busy people. Second, there is a plethora of strategies that instructors can use in their online learning that increases the probability that learning will take place. Third, instructors are very very busy people. I began prototyping LodeStar with those realities in mind.

By the time Mark Burrs and I incorporated LodeStar Learning in March, 2003, we were well on our way to addressing the first reality. We made LodeStar easy to learn and easy to use for very busy people. Secondly, we incorporated all of the instructional strategies that one would ever hope to use in an eLearning authoring tool. Well, not quite. That has been a work in progress ever since we began.

Today, I’m happy to report that that work in progress is evident in LodeStar version 5.7. The continuous improvement of LodeStar through its successive versions is evidence that we’re committed to keeping the tool simple enough for busy people to learn and use, but also powerful enough to enable instructors to incorporate effective instructional strategies in their eLearning and leverage the power of video, audio and animations in their lessons.
We’re committed to the idea that a teacher can choose a LodeStar template in order to mobilize an effective instructional strategy that is appropriate to the type of learning being promoted. Our latest template called Flasher is evidence of that.

Flasher was inspired by a friend of mine who is tasked with creating multimedia learning objects for a major university. She liked our Flashcards template, but wanted an engine with simple multiple choice questions, so that it would restrict the possible answers a student might give.

We created Flasher as a marriage between Flashcards and Brancher (another LodeStar template.) Flasher enables an instructor to create a series of quiz items. The student answers questions. Missed questions get repeated at variable intervals. This is a well known instructional strategy called variable interval queuing.

Some may argue that answering multiple choice questions represents the lower end of the continuum in terms of student performance. We are mindful of that, but also recognize that this type of activity has its place. Students need to understand the terms, concepts, and procedures, and rules of a particular field of knowledge before they can begin to engage with the content at a higher level: make decisions, make judgments, problem solve.

So then, how can an instructor move on to engage students at that higher level? In support of higher order thinking, we created Brancher. In version 5.7, we continue to refine Brancher and expand on its capabilities. With Brancher, instructors have the ability to create menus so that students can choose their learning path. With Brancher, instructors can stream in audio podcasts, videos and even embed one YouTube video per learning object. Finally, with Brancher, teachers can create problem solving scenarios or procedural decision points that take advantage of Brancher’s branching capability.

An example

With the continuous improvement and expansion of LodeStar, we’re helping instructors climb the ladder. Instructors can climb from the use of LodeStar in rehearsing students on terms and concepts to the use of LodeStar in supporting cooperative learning, decision making and problem solving.

Climbing the Ladder has been a theme at LodeStar Learning. The LodeStar authoring tool was designed to help instructors climb the ladder and create engaging, effective eLearning matched to different types of learning. LodeStar 5.7 furthers that design.

Also, in support of the theme, we are working in concert with Instructional Designs Incorporated to plan an instructional design workshop. The goal of the workshop is to continue to address the needs of busy faculty, but to help instructors choose the right instructional strategy for the type of learning they wish to promote and, where possible, to put that strategy to work with the LodeStar authoring tool.

If you are interested in this type of practical instructional design workshop for your faculty, please email me at

for a preliminary draft of the workshop syllabus. We’d love to hear from you.

By Robert N. Bilyk

This is a hastily written article that has two purposes: one is to correct a sin of omission, and the second is to introduce an interesting tutorial on the subject of preparing video for online learning.

First, the sin of omission.

Recently, Sheri Steinke (Anoka-Hennepin Community College), Jerry Mefford (Hennepin Technical College) and I presented at ITEACH/RSP in Minneapolis to a wonderful audience.

In my part of the presentation, I demonstrated how easy it is to grab the address of a flash video stored on services like Blip.TV and paste it into your learning object created with the Brancher template. (See the tutorial link below, for more info.)

As a result of the presentation, many in the audience will go home or to their office and try incorporating video into their learning objects – and fail. This will be where the cognitive dissonance will set in. It should have worked; it didn’t. (Just like the vegetable slicer that I purchased at the fair.)

I neglected to discuss one very important concept.

An instructor pasting in a Blip.TV address is in effect pasting in a network resource into a LodeStar Brancher activity. The operative word is NETWORK. After that he will preview the activity locally on his hard drive. The operative word is LOCAL.

So, here’s the catch: By default, the Flash player that LodeStar targets prevents a local resource from accessing a network resource. By default.

If the instructor were to make a leap of faith and simply export the activity to Moodle, Desire2Learn or wherever, suddenly we have an activity that is sitting on the NETWORK accessing a NETWORK resource. Network to Network is good. In contrast, Local to Network is bad. Network to Local is bad. By bad, I mean a potential security risk.

So what do you do to mine the riches that LodeStar’s video capabilities offer? The answer is follow these steps to tell the Flash Player to allow you, the instructor, to preview activities locally that access network resources. So here are the steps:

Launch the tutorial from the link below.
Right-click on the activity.
Select Settings from the Flash Player menu.
Click on the ‘Advanced’ button.
The ‘Settings Manager’ page will display. On this page, click on the link titled ‘Global Security Settings Panel’
Click on the drop down menu and select ‘Add Location’.
In the ‘Trust this location’ field, type the following, if you installed LodeStar in the default location:

C:\Program Files\LodeStar

If not, type in LodeStar’s location on the hard drive.
Click on the ‘Confirm’ button.
Select the ‘Allows Allow’ radio button.
Exit the page.

Return to this page, by repeating the directions to ensure that your changes were saved.
You’re done.

Will your students need to do this? Absolutely not, because they are accessing your learning activity on the network. Network to network is good.

Do you have to do this each time? No, just once per machine.

If you followed the instructions, you instructed the Flash Player to allow an activity in any location underneath C:\Program Files\LodeStar to communicate to the network.

If, for any reason, you do not think this is a good idea, then do not make changes to the Global Security Settings. Simply preview your work without observing the video and then upload to a learning management system, learning object repository or to a network server. Your video links will begin working.

And now, to learn all of the ramifications of including video in your online learning resource, click on the tutorial link below:

http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Coll_bbilyk/PreparingVideoforOnlineLearning/BrancherVideoProducer.zip/Video_Producer/index.htm

By Robert N. Bilyk

The power of the eBook has come to LodeStar. With the same ease that instructors can create any LodeStar learning object, they can now create their own eBooks.

Instructors will find eBooks a powerful new addition to their communications strategy. Currently, instructors create learning objects to engage learners with the content. They commonly use discussion forums, email, chat, and the phone to communicate with students. Now they can create an electronic book that can be downloaded by the student, taken offline, bookmarked and annotated.

Instructors use the same procedure to create an eBook as they would to create any other LodeStar activity. They choose the eBookMaker Template and turn it into a project. They fill in their content, fill in the IMS Manifest, and then export. One of the export options in LodeStar 5.5 is – you guessed it – ‘eBook’!

But why create an eBook? I’ll list the top 8 compelling reasons.

1. eBooks are easy to read. Students can quickly adjust the font size, page width, and page layout. The text rendering in such products as Adobe Digital Editions* is excellent.

2. eBooks are easy to search. Students can type in key words and quickly find matches in the text. Student can easily move from match to match and then bookmark those matches that are relevant to them.

3. Students can take an eBook offline. The LodeStar-generated eBook is easily downloaded into the Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) reader and stored in the ADE library.

4. eBooks are easily updated by the instructor. In today’s world information changes at internet speed. Planets get downgraded to dwarfs. Countries change names. New theories and discoveries render old views obsolete. Instructors can change content and quickly publish the new edition.

5. eBooks created with LodeStar can display text, images, and animations.

6. eBooks are green. eBooks don't kill trees unless, of course, students print out the eBooks, which is very easy to do.

7. eBooks can be downloaded into readers like the Sony PRS series of readers. The eBook produced by the LodeStar authoring tool follows the International Digital Publisher’s Forum EPUB specification. Students can use handheld readers, like the Sony PRS 505, that support EPUB.

8. eBooks are gaining in popularity. Today thousands of eBook titles are available for pure educational use, but also for commercial use. Dozens of eBook shops exist on the web such as eBooks.com. The future for eBooks is bright, particularly as new cell phones and mobile operating systems emerge on the market and are likely to embrace open specifications like the IDPF EPUB.

Some examples:

To view some examples of eBooks created with LodeStar, see these stored in Curriki. In the first example, note the inclusion of captioned images and animation.

(Be sure to install Adobe Digital Editions. In Curriki, click on the Download button.)

http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Coll_bbilyk/InstructionalDesign

In the second example, view a traditional book layout with chapters.
http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Coll_bbilyk/TheFourthHorsemaneBook

Steps to creating an eBook in LodeStar 5.5

Step One:

Encourage your students to download the Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) reader. The download takes less than a minute for students at DSL Speeds, and renders eBooks beautifully. ADE also supports PDF files.

Adobe Digital Editions can be downloaded at http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/

Step Two: In LodeStar, select the eBookMaker template.

Step Three: Add pages and enter in your content.

Step Four: Check the Metadata Application Profile. Select Tools > Metadata Application Profile. Select Mode and then click on ‘OK’ (Class Server users will have to remember to switch this back to Default before publishing to Microsoft Class Server)
Please note: For eBook publishing, any of the profiles will work, except the Default Profile.

Step Five: Select Tools > IMS Manifest Maker. Fill in the following five items:

General-Learning Object Title
General - Coverage
Lifecycle - Contributor Identify > Name
Copyright - Description
Classification - Discipline

When you're done, click on the 'Save Manifest' button.

________

Step Six: Export your eBook Select Export > Create Export File.

The wizard will guide you step by step through the export process.
On the last page of the wizard, select eBook from the pull-down menu.
Click on the 'Create Export' button.
By default your eBook will reside in the LodeStar Exports folder under the project title. The ebook will be named [project name].epub

Step Seven:
Upload your eBook to a publicly accessible web site or to your learning management system as an attachment.

Here is a critical point. If you link to your eBook or make it available as a downloadable attachment, then when the student clicks on the eBook, he or she will get the following message:

Do you want to open or save this file?

On some servers that recognize the mimetype of an eBook, you will see the name of the eBook ending with .epub. The student can then choose to either run or save the eBook.
On most servers that don’t recognize the mimetype of an eBook, you will see the name of the eBook ending with .zip. The student should then choose to save the eBook, but with the extension ending in .epub. That’s critical. The downloaded file must end with .epub.
The student can then use the following steps to load the saved .epub file into Adobe Digital Editions.

1. Launch Adobe Digital Editions.
2. Go to the Library View.
3. Select ‘Add Item to Library’
4. Browse to the location of the downloaded eBook file, select and open.
5. The eBook is now available for student annotation, bookmarking and searching.

We hope you enjoy this new capability of the LodeStar eLearning authoring tool. If you create some examples, let me know at support@LodeStarLearning.com.