ELS 2010 brings industry experts from Texas and beyond to share their knowledge on of-the-moment topics, processes and technology within the E-Learning world. We are proud to introduce the following key professionals as this year’s ELS speakers.
John Gillis, Emcee
John Gillis, Jr. is a Partner with First Order Consulting where he focuses on Global Talent Management. Mr. Gillis provides clients with consulting and implementation expertise in leadership, learning and development, organizational development, performance management, succession planning, and career development. With a concentration on change management and strategic business value, Mr. Gillis delivers implementations impacting human capital.
As an emcee, Mr.Gillis’ thorough research and preparation provide insight, direction and value. He highlights the presenters’ discussion with enlightening questions and engaging audience interaction. John has a natural and unique talent for connecting the audience to not only the topics addressed, but also the speakers themselves.
Mr. Gillis is the founder and director of CampLIFE!, Inc., a 501(c)(3) charity enabling children to build self-esteem through the camp activities. This charity currently partners with Ft. Hood’s Gold Star Kids – children who have lost a parent in Iraq.
Nancy Moreno,”BioEd Online: Web-based Learning for Adult Professionals”
Nancy P. Moreno received her Bachelor’s degree in botany from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and worked as an investigator and editor of the Flora of Veracruz Project in Mexico. After earning her Ph.D. in biology from Rice University, she joined Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), where she is Professor in Allied Health Sciences and Family and Community Medicine, in addition to Senior Associate Director of the Center for Educational Outreach.
Dr. Moreno’s research focuses on developing effective collaborations among scientists and educators to improve science teaching and learning. She leads the development of interdisciplinary science educational materials for students, the creation of local and national partnerships to promote systemic change in school science teaching, and most recently, the application of web-based technologies for teacher support and professional development. Projects led by Dr. Moreno have reached thousands of students, teachers and others around the US, and they have helped to establish Baylor College of Medicine as a recognized national leader in the arena of educational outreach. Dr. Moreno currently is principal investigator/director of science education partnerships funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Space Biomedical Research Institute and the National Science Foundation. With more than 100 published works in bioscience and science education, she also is Editorial Director of the comprehensive, award-winning, science education websites, BioEd Online and K8 Science. In 2009, she received BCM’s highest career award for educational contributions, The Barbara and Corbin J. Robertson, Jr., Presidential Award for Excellence in Education.
“BioEd Online: Web-based Learning for Adult Professionals” Recent studies provide evidence that web-based delivery of professional learning experiences is effective in developing content knowledge and skills. Online professional development offers a partial solution to meeting the needs of large numbers of learners with up-to-date information on a broad range of topics. Examples from the high-traffic BioEd Online website, 2010 winner of a Science Prize for Online Resources in Education, will be discussed.
David Anderson, “Practical Techniques for Designing Better E-Learning”
Dave Anderson is an E-Learning designer with more than 13 years of experience in online training. His portfolio includes designing custom E-Learning for NASCAR, Mercedes, Tufts University, Delta and America West Airlines.
As Community Manager at Articulate, he works with Articulate’s E-Learning community, helping users get the most from their tools while finding creative ways to build more engaging courses. He also shares E-Learning tips and tricks through his screencasts at http://screenr.com/user/elearning
“Practical Techniques for Designing Better E-Learning”
Trainers, SMEs, and even instructional designers have spent time learning to write courseware, but very little time on visual design. Ineffective layout and design results in E-Learning courses that may be boring, non-engaging, or confusing. Just as instructional designers bring learning theory expertise to the course design process, visual communication skills can also enhance course quality. It’s not enough to conduct proper analysis, align content with learning objectives, or follow ADDIE to create award-winning courses. Visual communication, graphic design, and multimedia design principles are the missing link for most courses.
Participants in this session will learn to deconstruct the core graphic elements of a course: layout, type, image, color, and mood. We’ll see real-world lessons before and after graphic elements are applied. You’ll learn actionable steps you can apply to your own courses.
In this session, you will learn:
Layout techniques for designing around content, rather than forcing content into restrictive layouts
Image effects, treatments, and techniques for enhancing designs and aligning visual voice to learning voice
Typography basics for creating emphasis, contrast, and focus using visual style guides
Color tools used by professional designers, and how to interpret and apply the schemes
Creative exercises for identifying custom course elements to design content-specific design themes
Hiram Kuykendall, “So, You Want a Learning Management System?”
Hiram Kuykendall is a technical leader with over fifteen years of solid real world experience in application, infrastructure design, and E-Learning development. His specialties include software development management, database administration and system engineering. Mr. Kuykendall manages the development teams for numerous E-Learning sites, both for the State of Texas and the private sector. Mr. Kuykendall has extensive experience dealing with accessibility issues from managerial and practical levels. Prior to joining MicroAssist in 1995, he accumulated extensive experience working for various Texas state agencies as well as the private sector. Mr. Kuykendall received his Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin and is a Microsoft Certified Professional.
“So, You Want a Learning Management System (LMS)?”
Getting an E-Learning program off the ground can be a daunting task. One must select a package in which to create training, go through the process of creating the training and select a potentially expensive Learning Management System to deliver it! Now that’s a heavy cognitive load.
In this presentation we will review questions you should be contemplating before you engage a Learning Management System vendor. To facilitate the conversation we will be using a free open source LMS, Moodle, as a test package.
Outline:
What is a Learning Management System
Two Most Important Questions: Authentication and Enrollment
Catalogs VS Courses
Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM)
Augmenting SCORM
Security
Host Internal or SAS
Panel: “Social Media – How is Your YouTube Generation Learning?”
Scott Rehling, “Integrating Video with a Social Media Strategy”
Scott Rehling, the co-founder of Lava Studios, is a communications professional specializing in digital media development and production and Internet-based rich media distribution. With audio and video development and production at its core, Lava Studios develops, produces and distributes award winning rich media content for clients such as Whole Foods Markets, University of Texas, State of Texas, Amazon.com and Dell Computer.
Prior to Lava Studios, Scott founded Alternate Audio in the early 1990’s which was the first entirely digital recording studio in Austin, TX and one of the early pioneers in the field of digital media production.
Scott has also spent several years consulting high tech companies on development and growth of their channel sales and marketing strategies. His experience in this arena ranges from Apple Computer and CompuAdd Computer to Exodus Communcations and Motion Computing. This experience from the other side of the table as a consumer of rich media tools for sales and marketing gives Scott a unique perspective on rich media development and production for sales and marketing organizations.
Scott has an MBA from the University of Nebraska.
“Integrating Video with a Social Media Strategy – Are You Transferring Knowledge to Your Learners?”
This presentation will provide participants a rich media perspective, explore how adding rich media to your E-Learning program will make it more effective, and how it can be done at a reasonable cost. Scott presents real-world examples for increasing our opportunities to communicate in E-Learning programs through video.
Through this session, you will learn:
Key elements in determining how to produce audio and/or video content in-house
Considerations with integrating video in your E-Learning projects
How effective audio leads to effective learning
Incorporating still images; the next step
Communicating via video vignettes increases content retention
Gregg Orr, “Academic Research in Mobile Learning: What are We Finding? What are We Missing?”
Gregg Orr is a Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Texas. He is working on his Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, specializing in Instructional Technology and holds a Master’s Degree in Adult Education. Gregg also does contract work as an instructional designer developing online courseware for Dell, IBM, The State of Texas, and Swire/Coca-Cola of China. Gregg’s research interests focus around the contributions of mobile learning to the educational experience.
“Academic Research in Mobile Learning: What are We Finding? What are We Missing?”
M-Learning has become a new focus for technical issues as well as pedagogical issues for instructional technology. But so far there has not been much academic research into the issues of creating effective M-Learning. Participants looking for academic research in M-Learning will find this session a good place to start.
Participants in this session will learn the appropriate definitions and explore the learning theories surrounding M-Learning. You will learn the affordances and constraints of M-Learning for both business and academic settings, and how M-Learning is being deployed as a supplement to traditional E-Learning or in addition to a classroom. You will look at the current research on M-Learning, and find which areas research is addressing and which are not being researched. You will also get a breakdown of where the research is being published, and resources you can tap into for access to the latest research.
Topics covered will be:
The educational theory and pedagogy addressed in M-Learning research
The affordances and constraints of M-Learning
The areas covered in current research about M-Learning
What areas of educational research are not being addressed by the current body of literature on M-Learning
Debby Kalk, “Web 2.0 in Training”
Debby Kalk is an instructional designer and E-Learning project developer with over 20 years of experience producing interactive, video, and classroom-based learning programs. She has developed training and customer education programs for companies such as USAA Insurance, Dell Computer, and Verizon Wireless. She is co-author of Real World Instructional Design from Wadsworth College Publishers. She has an MA and is working on a PhD in Instructional Technology at the University of Texas at Austin. For her dissertation research, she is examining social engagement in distance learning.
“Web 2.0 in Training”
Can Web 2.0 tools help people learn? Training developers – and their managers – are eager to introduce innovative technologies into their learning environments. It seems logical that adding a wiki or blog feature will encourage knowledge sharing; podcasts will make mobile learning easier; virtual environments are cool; and everyone is addicted to social networking. Debby Kalk reveals what educational research tells us about using Web 2.0 in learning environments. So Web 2.0 shows results, right? The results may surprise you!
In this presentation, Debby will review what researchers have found about using wikis, blogs, podcasts, virtual environments (such as Second Life), and social networks. She will describe how these technologies have been used, discuss the trends, and draw some conclusions about what works, and what doesn’t. She will also provide a checklist for you to use in determining whether to implement each technology in training, and how to use them effectively.
Early Bird registration ends September 27! REGISTER TODAY
