More about Hot Potatoes.

While in looking at the wonderful resources posted on Paolo Cutini's site, I came across a link to Hotpotatoes.net -- a hosting site for content produced with V 5.5 of the software.

I'm once again very impressed with what I've seen so far. This resource allows teachers to score the progress of students and provides an effective avenue for feedback to both the online instructor and student. Very powerful stuff.

Another great link from elearningpost.com.

Preparing Teachers to Use Learning Objects provides background and implementation advice for teachers who would like to teach with objects.

There are a number of great references to the "state of the art" including reference to the work done by the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT).

Definitely worth a look for those who'd like to know more about the "nuts and bolts" of developing and delivering object-based curricula.

I was in looking at the toils of the Half-baked gang at UVic again over the past couple of days. The Hot Potatoes suite continues to evolve very nicely.

They've added a certification program for trainers that is unlike any other I've seen. I told a colleague today that the certification process itself represents extremely effective instructional design. Competencies are clearly defined and a "fill in the blanks" web form allows the prospective trainer to list the URLs of exhibit sites for evaluation. Paolo Cutini -- a certified trainer -- has done a great job with Hot Potatoes.

I'm especially impressed with the evolution of the Hot Potatoes. The developers have done, and are doing, a great job of keeping their product effective and relevant. No mean feat in the 'net world of the last few years ;-) For instance, I found the following on their site this afternoon:

Export to XML formats compliant with IMS e-learning specifications (if and when these become stable and practical)

The thing is ... they're not joking; their medium is constantly changing -- I remain very impressed by the way they're keeping up.

I've been revisiting some sites in my research and visited Robert Schank's occasional column -- Educational Outrage.

I found his July 4, 2002 column particularly germane in my efforts to refine the SMART Education Object (SMARTEO).

Stay tuned....

I'm looking forward to getting back to shool. I'm in the process of putting together a proposal for my Major Research Project (MRP) for my Master's of Education degree at OISE/UT. My intention is to leverage the work that I've done on the SMARTEO model and apply it to have learners use "online self-organizing social systems" to meet their own education, professional development and training needs.

I'm excited by the prospect of an "of the people, by the people, for the people" approach to online-based education -- as outlined in the SMARTEO model. I'm especially intrigued by how face-to-face (F2F) and online "conferencing" impact those educating themselves about technology in general and SMART Board(TM) interactive whiteboards in particular.

Furthermore, what benefits are gained from a group or team approach which involves SMART Roomware(TM) to build knowledge and educate all "stakeholders."

Click here for an *.rtf version of the SMARTEO whitepaper.

A Happy (belated) Halloween to all.

I travelled back to the Great White North from LAX on All Hallows Eve. Palm trees to snowshoes. (snow on the ground and daytime "highs" around freezing in Calgary).

I'd expected the passengers to be the wild ones outta Los Angeles but the "scariest" thing I saw was an Air Canada ticket/gate agent -- in a "Friday the 13th'd" goalie mask -- telling the passenger he'd just checked-in to: "Have a scary flight!"

He kept his mask on throughout the boarding process and it took everything I have not to comment as he looked at the picture in my passport.

The highlight of my trip to southern California -- notwithstanding my encounter with "Jason" -- was my visit to Yucca Valley High School. I worked with faculty of the Math and Science departments there who can really make the SMART Board(TM) interactive whiteboard (SBiw) sing. I was there to deliver a SMART Master's On-site session on the SBiw and learned a great deal from these "power users."