Tech Trends

Our assignment this week was to investigate a tech trend that was outlined in the Horizon Report.

I chose to focus on online learning, hybrid and collaborative learning, and looked at how the site HapYak (www.hapyak.com) can make online learning interactive and controllable by the learner.

HapYak enables you to add chapters, annotations and quizzes to make videos interactive and engaging.  The site also provides analytics about learner activity on each of these options.  

For my artifact I recorded a video using Camtasia to teach our corporate learners about the resources available to them, and how they can navigate to find the right resource for their professional development.  This was imported to YouTube and then using HapYak I defined chapters so learners can click on the chapters link to skip to a section if they don't wish to view the whole video.

Link to HapYak video: HapYak Interactive Video

I enjoyed using the HapYak site even though it did take me a few attempts to get my video to load and understand how it works (unfortunately there aren't any how-to videos on the site).  Once you have an understanding of how it works though it's very simple and easy to use.  Using this will make it easier for a learner to skip over sections they may already be familiar with, and to concentrate on those sections they want to learn more about.  In an online teaching environment where videos are used, this would be a great tool to incorporate into training programs.  I plan to look into this further and possibly use in some of our corporate online training courses.


Side note:  For the creation of my video I had originally looked at GoAnimate (www.goanimate.com).  Unfortunately with a free account they only allow you to create 30 second videos.  They are great though and a lot of fun to use.  If you have a situation where you just need a 30 second video then this is a great tool.  Click here to see my original video.

NMC Horizon Report: 2013 K-12 Edition

Our assignment this week was to read the 2013 New Media Consortium Horizon K-12 report and answer key questions about the listed trends and technologies.  Coming from a corporate learning background I found the application of technologies in an education environment to be comparable.  Many of the emerging technologies outlined are also being used in a corporate setting, so this report was thought-provoking.

While all of the emerging technologies presented were interesting, the one that resonated with me in a business environment is the use of mobile learning.  Because this technology is so accessible, designing and implementing resources that our employees can access while commuting or watching their kid's soccer game could be of substantial benefit to our company.  If we could work out how to develop our compliance training courses so they are accessible on mobile devices, or to develop an app which lets learners know about upcoming classes, it hopefully would increase engagement from our learners.

Click here to view my response to this report.

EDTECH Research

Our assignment this week was to write an instructional objective, conduct research and write an annotated bibliography to support this objective.  This was my first time writing an instructional objective in a formal manner as most of the time the objective of what I'm trying to teach is clear in my head and those I work with.  So this was a good exercise to really think about and articulate what it was we are trying to achieve.

Using Google Scholar to conduct the research was wonderful.  The interconnectivity with Google Drive is great and I can see if you are working in an academic setting this could become a favorite resource.  I also enjoyed delving into our own Albertson's library and looking for articles.

While the tools used to research were easy to use, deciding on which articles to use in this assignment was tough.  I decided to chose articles that represented the case for e-Learning in a corporate setting, but also highlighted the complexity of rolling out e-Learning in a global corporate environment.  Learning to work collaboratively with your IT and communication colleagues, and gaining management buy in to any training can be challenging and I found one particular article that resonated with me about the importance of these relationships.   This article I plan to share with my learning and development colleagues as something we can attain to.
Overall, I enjoyed this assignment and look forward to digging deeper into this subject.

Click here to view my EDTECH Research