what are your thoughts and experiences in mobile learning?

Posted on August 4, 2008 by Doc

Greetings all,

Are you using a mobile device to read this blog entry?

Do you use a mobile device to access and post in a Web-based LMS or CMS course site?

Do you download learning applications to your device?

What are the promises and/or pitfalls that you anticipate for the innovation of mobile learning?

Is it a flash in the pan or will it become a regular entry on the menu of e-learning offerings?

These and many other questions are running through my mind as I open up this discussion about the nature, management, and use of mobile learning and mobile devices by learners to access server-driven and client-side learning applications.

I welcome your brief but cogent comments in reply on these issues and any other related topic in mobile learning,

Doc

Posted in customer experience management, emerging educational technology, human factors in information systems design, instructional design, knowledge management, learner experience, mobile computing, mobile learning, online learning and teaching, strategic management of technology innovation, user experience | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

measuring and applying learning style for online courses

Posted on July 28, 2008 by Doc

Greetings,

My take on learning style is that it is a name for an empirical concept (with respect to learners) that we commonly call “preference.”

Our experience informs us that there are several components to what we call “individual differences” and that understanding these differences can help us support individual learners.

I think of these components as follows:

  • ability (prior knowledge)
  • capability (intelligence)
  • motivation (extrinsic and intrinsic)
  • preference (learning styles)

That support should be considered more vital, the more you conceive of learning and knowledge as something at least in part that is highly individualized or “idiosyncratic.”

With this conceptual framework, I conducted an experiment to see how learning style might relate to learner satisfaction in the context of contrasting course delivery modes (traditional classroom instruction vs. e-blended).

My literature review and the (significant) results of my study have influenced my thinking about the use of visual materials in courses (and the highly visual nature of online courses), especially where learners self-identify as having a more visual preference and/or I measure learning preferences using learning style “inventory” such as the free Web-based questionnaire and automated data analysis described in my presentation).

Here is a Web-based PowerPoint of my conference presentation (optimized for Internet Explorer browser):

http://www.programhouse.com/webpres/phecel09pres1.htm

And here is a link to the published research paper in an online (open access) journal (requires Adobe Reader for file in .pdf format):

http://www.programhouse.com/phlsijhssv2-2-12.pdf

Your comments are welcome in reply,

Doc

Posted in conducting research online, emerging educational technology, human factors in information systems design, information architecture, instructional design, knowledge management, learner experience, online learning and teaching, strategic management of technology innovation, user experience | Tagged , , , , , , | 72 Comments

what is important to you as a user?

Posted on June 26, 2008 by Doc

In this blog entry, I would like to invite discussion on an essential ingredient in the design of information systems: the user – you and I and everyone who uses computer software and Web sites. I am predicating this discussion on this single fact: the experience of the user determines how and if these systems are used for their stated purpose – or at all.

Although the study of the user experience is addressed by many overlapping specialties (human-computer interaction (HCI), usability, information architecture, etc.), more often than not, the users and their needs and preferences often get short-changed in software development.

That’s where I would like to take up this topic and invite your brief but cogent comments in response to the following question. What do you feel is an important issue in the design of software and/or Web sites from your perspective as a user (or the user populations that you serve)?

Posted in conducting research online, customer experience management, human factors in information systems design, information architecture, user experience | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

knowledge management

Posted on January 12, 2008 by Doc

In this blog entry, I would like to open up discussion about the nature and management of one of our most valuable resources: knowledge. Although its nature and use can be quite elusive, the emerging field of knowledge management draws upon our collective inquiry and seeks to harness it for use in our professional lives.

I welcome your thoughts about the nature and use of knowledge in this context and any ideas that you have about how we might effectively manage it as individuals and organizations. Of course, as we are using a blog, it is a great candidate as an example under this topic.

Posted in blogs for research, conducting research online, content management, digital repositories, human factors in information systems design, information architecture, knowledge management, management of information systems and technology | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

your thoughts about online research

Posted on August 23, 2007 by Doc

In this blog entry, I would like to invite comments on the use of the Internet and the Web in support of any stage in empirical research: from finding a problem area and conducting a review of the literature to collecting and analyzing data and disseminating the results.

I welcome your comments on this topic whether you have already performed any of these tasks online or not. Consider any Internet-based software and activity in your comments: from email, instant messenger, and Web-based conferencing software to Web-based discussion forums or Web-based survey (questionnaire) sites, such as: http://www.surveymonkey.com

Using the Internet for at least some part of your research can be invaluable. Conducting online bibliographic search of journals for research articles is a very efficient method of performing a review of the literature. Although this is usually performed through subscription based online bibliographic databases (that are typically available through college library services), there are many free sources of research information available on the Web. For example, I am conducting historical research on the informal and social learning and adoption of innovation during the Italian Renaissance that (I believe) was the driving force behind that artistic, scholarly, and cultural revolution. Although I take research trips to Italy, I am fortunate in being able to access many original sources of correspondence and publication on Web sites associated with museums, such as manuscripts by Galileo at http://fermi.imss.fi.it/rd/bd?lng=en).

Sometimes, using the Internet can make the difference in completing your research. When I conducted a survey of faculty use of Internet-based software to support scholarly research, I offered an email alternative to the print questionnaires so that users could choose a method of data collection that was preferable. I included questions regarding the mode of data collection and the returned data suggested that a significant part of the subject sample would not have responded without the email option. The completed email questionnaires contributed to the overall number to achieve an acceptable response rate – allowing me to proceed with the study. Another finding in that study was that faculty used Internet software such as email mostly for discussing and planning research – and more often with colleagues of similar interests outside of their academic department or university.

Your comments can be as brief as you like, so let us know what you think about conducting research online.

Thanks,

Doc

Posted in blogs for research, conducting research online, knowledge management | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

management of information systems and technology

Posted on March 11, 2007 by Doc

In this blog entry, I would like to open up discussion about management of information systems and technology. I welcome your thoughts about the nature and use of information (in general or specific instances) and any ideas that you have about how we might effectively manage information systems and/or technology as individuals and in organizations.

Of course, as we are using a blog, it’s a great candidate for specific discussion or as an example under this broader topic.

Posted in management of information systems and technology | Tagged , | 34 Comments

to blog or not to blog…

Posted on February 3, 2007 by Doc

… is that the question?

Perhaps Shakespeare’s Hamlet poses it better in the affirmative: “To be, or not to be: that is the question”

Like Hamlet, I have reflected on existence, but in my case the existence of something I use for online communication, teaching, and learning: my blog (and blogging in general). And I am left with a soliloquy – reflecting on its meaning and purpose, but without taking action. Perhaps it is still too early in its (educational) application to see what can evolve from this form of online journaling.

With varying or waning interest in comments outside of the classroom session or the truckload of spam that I have to filter out, I have begun to wonder about its existence (for more thoughts on this, see the discussion here on the specter of moderation).

And unlike many bloggers who enjoy more regular posting of their thoughts, I am more interested in the educational nature and value of comments, so I try to keep my blog entries more like discussion starters.

I have compared its educational use against other online software tools, such as discussion forums, wikis, chat, etc. Each one seems to have its own set of learning “affordances” and outcomes (both positive and negative), so I am hesitant to dismiss it outright.

Into this soliloquy, I stumbled upon a refreshing view about the relative value of blogging for educational purposes in an online article by Kara Dawson in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

My reading of it propels me again to consider action – to consider how I have been using this blog and it may need to be situated among the preferences of learners and more in the context of learning interaction (such as linking to this blog from within discussion posts or other sections of my Web site for extended reading and discussion, as in the Palimpsest Idea Post).

It’s too early to say how I will further act upon it, but the wheels are turning again, just as they did when I launched this blog and let the discussion forum and chat (on my home page) take a back seat in educational communications. Now it’s time to consider how a wider palette of online communications can be more selectively used to extend and enhance learning onsite or in the virtual classroom of course management systems.

I welcome your comments in reply,

Doc

Posted in about this blog, blogs for research, conducting research online, content management, emerging educational technology, instructional design, knowledge management, management of information systems and technology, online learning and teaching, user experience | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

strategic management of technology innovations

Posted on October 16, 2006 by Doc

I would like to open up discussion about something that is the heart of planned change in how we learn and work: strategic management of technology innovation. I welcome your thoughts about the nature of technology innovations (in general or specific instances) and any ideas that you have about how we might effectively manage them as individuals and in organizations.

Posted in blogs for research, conducting research online, human factors in information systems design, innovation, management of information systems and technology, strategic management of technology innovation | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

information and ethics: a conundrum?

Posted on September 9, 2006 by Doc

As the first entry in this discussion about ethical issues associated with information management and use, I invite your answers to the question posed in the title of this post. Webster’s dictionary defines conundrum as “1 : a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun 2 a : a question or problem having only a conjectural answer b : an intricate and difficult problem.”

If you feel that the pairing of these two concepts is a conundrum, then elaborate a bit on that.

However, if you feel (as I do) that although there is mismanagement and misuse of information, there can and should be an ethical position that we must take in our professional practice and in our organizational policies.

Briefly share with us an issue and/or experience in the use of software, Web sites, and other information technology (kept confidential to protect proprietary sources) that you feel explains how/why we should join these two concepts in a practical way. Thanks for sharing with us, Doc

Posted in conducting research online, information ethics, management of information systems and technology, strategic management of technology innovation, user experience | Tagged , | 5 Comments

user research with blogs

Posted on May 14, 2006 by Doc

As an academic and consultant, I am interested in exploring Internet-based software that might support user research. To that end, I would like to invite discussion about the use of blogs for research, such as soliciting and collecting user feedback for information architecture or human factors design analysis of Web sites or online software.

It makes sense to me to use the same (or similar) online software as prospective or current users to support research into their experience – including their capabilities, abilities, preferences, and expectations about using that software.

In human factors and information architecture during design or re-design (such as a Web site), there are two important stages for user feedback: in the beginning to establish requirements based on user needs and in the last stage for evaluating prototypes or what is proposed for development. These stages also mirror the formative and summative evaluations performed in instructional design, so I would like to include discussion of that research area or other areas as well.

In particular, I wonder how blogs might contribute to soliciting, qualifying, and/or gathering data from users in either of those stages as well as throughout the design, development, or delivery process?

I welcome any ideas or experience that you might like to share about the use of blogs as a vehicle for supporting user research.

Posted in blogs for business, blogs for research, conducting research online, content management, human factors in information systems design, information architecture, instructional design, management of information systems and technology, user experience | Tagged , , | 6 Comments