lodeStar Learning Web Journal

By Robert N. Bilyk

From its first pre-alpha release, a week before 911, the LodeStar authoring tool has been a perpetual work in progress and that is how we still regard it to this day. We have just completed LodeStar 6.0, which addresses some of the areas where we needed improvement and, as importantly, lays the foundation for some of the things we want to build in the future.

Our imaginations are still on fire. In this journal entry, I'll cover what's new in the alpha release. For those interested in diving a bit deeper, I'll cover the value proposition of LodeStar 6.0 that lies just under the surface. The first showing of LodeStar 6.0 will be at Realizing Student Potential/ITeach 2010 in Minneapolis on February 27th. If you're interested in receiving the beta release when it is available, get on our list by emailing support@LodeStarLearning.com

LodeStar 6.0 Features

Simpler interface

The port over to the MAC isn't quite done for the alpha release, but we're moving in that direction. In preparation for the MAC and a more universal design, many of the image and text area functions are available in toolbars that pop-up when the user double-clicks on an image or html text area. All of LodeStar's reliance on dynamic link libraries and other operating system dependencies have been removed.

In addition to interface changes that make LodeStar more MAC friendly, the work area is larger and the buttons are labeled. The help pages appear under the Help menu so that they don't confuse instructors who return to their projects and see a help page instead of their data.

The Text Editor supports indents and bullets and inline images and makes use of Flash Player 10's expanded capability.

More efficient search

LodeStar's built in search function is based on web services. The instructor types in a key word or search phrase with or without boolean logic. LodeStar efficiently retrieves the thumbnails without delay. The instructor can then immediately transfer the image to the image area with a button click or display the original website. The instructor retains control over how the image is transferred (i.e., automatically scaled, crop-able, or preserved.)

Cleaner resizing of images

We received many comments that LodeStar doesn't scale down images well. A lot of this is purely the limitation of scrunching down a large image into a small box. Nevertheless, we tackled the problem to the extent that we could and that has resulted in a marked improvement in image quality.

Vector Graphics editor

LodeStar 6.0 has a built-in vector graphics editor. Vector graphics retain their sharpness and look great regardless of how much they are zoomed in or out. Instructors can import images into the editor and add labels, arrows, and other basic features. They will be able to construct diagrams and charts with lines, rectangles, polygons, arcs, chords, pies and more. The graphics are automatically imported into the activity as flash graphics, which look great. Optionally, instructors can print their graphics or save them as jpegs or png image files. In the near future, the editor will support saving graphical objects to a library or uploading them to the Equella repository.

Native support for tools

In earlier versions, LodeStar required Internet Explorer to preview activities. In 6.0, LodeStar previews in the user's default browser whether it be Chrome, Safari, Firefox, IE or some other browser. This is the first step to integrating LodeStar more closely with the desktop. In the future that will extend to editing images, audio clips, and other media.

Question Types

In the alpha release, Brancher supports two additional question types (i.e., Matching and Categories) that can be used in a variety of ways. More question types will be added as LodeStar progresses from alpha to beta to its gold release.

With Matching, for example, instructors can label the anchored tiles as 1, 2, 3, etc, and then ask the student to drag randomly ordered tiles to their matching number in a sequence. Secondly, instructors can list terms and ask students to drag their matching definitions to the correct spots. Optionally, instructors might list only one term and have a randomly ordered list of possible definitions. This would work as a drag and drop multiple choice question.

With Categories, instructors can create labeled columns and a list of items that need to be placed in either the left or right column. The activity can start simple and then increase in difficulty from page to page. One page might stress generalities so that students easily see how items fit into one category or the other. But later pages might practice students against over-generalization. Are tomatoes fruits or vegetables, for example?

Create eBooks

LodeStar 6.0 now fully supports the International Digital Publishers Forum .epub specification for eBooks. The alpha release enables instructors to publish eBooks from the eBookMaker and Brancher templates. In the future, more templates will be included. With LodeStar 6.0, instructors can disseminate eBooks (flowable text, graphics, and chapter headings) to students who use the following devices:

• Apple IPhone, ITouch and IPad
• Sony Reader
• Barnes and Noble Nook
• And many more. For a full list, see http://www.epubbooks.com/ebook-readers

And More
In addition to the features listed, LodeStar 6.0 represents improved support for the Equella repository, Web 2.0 integration, and SCORM.

Diving a Little Deeper

With the upcoming release of LodeStar 6.0, it is time to reconnect to the original concept of LodeStar and invite more institutions to share in the full realization of what LodeStar can be.

We invite institutions to share with us their instructional design needs and how we can work together to leverage LodeStar's innate capabilities and realize some common goals.

At its very core, LodeStar is a mechanism for simplifying a complex set of tasks. LodeStar understands how to step an instructor through a series of tasks by reading an xml file that is embodied in a template. LodeStar's output is xml that can be translated into anything, on the fly. LodeStar also has the ability to load in code, dynamically.

One practical outcome of this architecture is that universities could potentially use LodeStar to translate one-off projects based on JAVA, Flash, Flex, AJAX or whatever into reuseable projects that can be re-configured by faculty.

An example is the MIT Simile Timeline project. To work with MIT's Timeline, an instructor would need to understand a little about AJAX and XML. With LodeStar, instructors step through the SimTimeline template and repurpose the MIT timeline according to their own needs, without knowing a jot about AJAX.

Technically, the steps that guide an instructor are defined in XML. The output is translated into something that the MIT program understands through XSL.

The key point is that instructors don't need to know anything about the technologies named in the previous two paragraphs.

A little background might be helpful here.

LodeStar had its roots in a tool called VisiQuiz but, more importantly, in a framework called Jet (Java in Education and Training). The Jet Framework was first installed in an implementation of Lotus' LearningSpace. The idea was to provide a framework that would enable instructors to do more with educational content than simply present text and graphics. The idea was to provide a framework wherein one could transform educational content into activities that promoted learning of concepts, rules, procedures and principles.
Frameworks can mean anything. In my early days of computer-based training, frameworks ranged from simple programming languages, which represented the events of instruction at a higher level than C or PASCAL, to visual programming environments. My first step away from C programming into an authoring system was with TenCORE, which at the time was totally language based. The author used a set of commands and parameters to display text, draw stick figures and ask questions.

In the late 80s, a number of visual authoring systems appeared: HyperCard on the MAC (circa 1987), Course of Action (Authorware) on the MAC (circa 1987) and then, with the advent of Windows (1990), Authorware and Toolbook and many others. One of my favorites was Authorware because with nine simple icons or building blocks, one could create the rich learning experiences that involved the learner in interacting with LaserDisc video, reading text, dragging and dropping objects, categorizing, making decisions, navigating through virtual worlds and anything else that the author imagined. The icon, like the Lego® brick, performed a simple, discrete function but when used in combination with other icons, the resulting compositions seemed limitless. But more importantly, Authorware could be taught to non-programmers - to teachers and instructional designers.

Through the 90s, we established programs at Saint Paul College to train not only its own teachers in Authorware but to train teachers all across the state through on-site classes, interactive television and satellite broadcasts. We also trained developers from companies like 3M, West Publishing (Thomson-Reuters), EMA, Hutchinson Technologies, Department of Human Resources, Department of Revenue and many others. Many successful corporate training products emerged from those trainings but on the public side, one tough realization emerged: teachers were rarely afforded extra time to develop computer-based activities. Once the grants ran out, teachers were left squeezing products out of their own time.

In 1997, I was invited to start Cyber Village Academy. Our first learning management system was Lotus LearningSpace; our first authoring tool was Authorware. Each week, teachers were given three full days to develop lessons, post activities, help students online and perform the many tasks that teacher do. Two days per week, teachers taught students on-campus. Our teacher were busy. They were inventing a school from the ground up. No authoring system, however simple, was going to work for them. There just wasn't enough time.

In the evenings, I returned my attention to the JET framework and how that might apply to solving the problem of time and productivity. The vision was a tool that was independent of any specific learning management system - a tool that would enable teachers to match an appropriate instructional activity to a learning objective. I imagined teachers selecting from a host of templates, applying their content and involving students in categorizing, defining, analyzing and investigating, and climbing up the taxonomy ladder toward applying their knowledge with problem-solving, synthesizing and evaluating.

This vision of LodeStar was further enhanced, refined and amplified when I joined forces in 2002 with Mark Burrs, a Flash programmer and instructional designer. We incorporated LodeStar Learning in 2003 and released the tool to the general public for the first time.

The vision of LodeStar has not changed. Today, LodeStar is as important as ever. New technologies that emerge seemingly on a weekly basis underscore LodeStar's role rather than displace it. New, emerging technologies are redefining how learners can potentially interact with content. Activities can pull in content from RSS feeds, Web Services, Web Mapping Services, podcasts, embedded Web 2.0 applications and more. Something needs to make it easier for instructors to leverage these real-world possibilities. A lot of very useful content, for example, is beyond the ken of traditional teachers because it is on the internet but not plainly viewable through browsers.

One concrete example is real-time data. It is one thing for a teacher to summarize in a paragraph that there are many earthquakes of a certain magnitude and they occur most frequently along specific fault lines; it is quite another for the data to flow into a lesson and be visualized on a map and present students with the opportunity of drawing their own conclusions. Let's take a step further. Now the teacher, by design, offers students the ability to merge in data about population centers or other geographically locatable data that is germane to the learning objective. In addition, the teacher mashes in activities that help the students not to over generalize or under generalize or draw the wrong conclusions about their interactions with real-time data.

LodeStar 6.0 can potentially make it much easier to integrate real-time data because it understands how to work with RSS feeds, Web Map Services, REST and other web services. The code is in place but some of it is still not fully accessible to instructors through simple templates. That work remains to be completed. LodeStar 6.0, however, moves us far down the path. We look for future collaborations with academic institutions to leverage LodeStar's internal capabilities and put them to use in real projects.

In summary, LodeStar has the innate ability to pull in images and data feeds; draw vector graphics; format text; format pages; incorporate sound, video and animation; and engage students in a variety of activities and instructional strategies. It also has built-in wizards to build IMS manifests and apply Creative Commons licensing.

In the future, it will live up to its full potential and broaden the number of instructional activities and experiences that instructors can generate for their students. In the meantime, all of us can enjoy some of the new features of LodeStar 6.0 that bring us closer to the full realization of our instructional design goals.