Welcome to the Toucan House Online Ed. Updater - 20 March 2001

This occasional newsletter keeps you up to date with innovation and change in online and flexible learning.

In this edition:

Commercial online education development products; finding what you need

Innovative initiatives; new products and events

Commercial online education development products, finding and selecting what you need

The Influent technology Group (http://www.cyclonecafe3.com/iucawards/ballot.cfm) is running a ballot to identify which online education tools are most popular. The ballot itself provides a comprehensive overview of the range of most popular products that are out there in the following areas:

Authoring Tools (Tools that are used to create asynchronous web-based learning content and/or courses)
Multimedia/Creation Tools (Tools that are used to create special animation, develop graphics, format video and audio, manipulate photography, etc.)
Testing & Assessment Tools (Tools that are used to create learner skill assessments and/or online testing)
Learning Management Systems (LMS) Systems that are used to manage courseware delivery, track learner performance and skill development, allow access to courses, etc.)
Knowledge Management Systems (Systems that are used to manage knowledge and/or can be used as database repositories for learning content and/or LMS data.)
Synchronous Learning Systems (Systems that are used to create and/or conduct online synchronous learning and/or can be used for online interactive group collaboration.)

To give you an idea of the range of products that exist, here's the list for online assessment tools. You'll be able to find information on each product by searching the web using the product as your keywords.

Docent - Enterprise Publisher

Half Baked Software - Hot Potatoes 5

Learn2.com - Stream Maker

Mentergy - TestLinc

MindLever - Learning Content Composition Suite (LCC)

Question Mark - Perception for Web

Quia Corporation - CAT Quiz Editor

ReadyGo - Web Course Builder 1.2

Respondus - Respondus 1.0

Trainersoft - Trainersoft 7 Professional

Vuepoint - VLS 2.06 - Content Creator

WebCT - WebCT 3.1

HLP Technologies - X.HLP Designer 4.5 (eLab)

YnotLearn.com - YnotAssess

It's one thing to find products, but it can be quite another to evaluate them and make a choice. It's hard to find good comparative data that's not biased by the developers, and running trial versions on local systems can take weeks... Marshall University (West Virginia) has compiled a large analysis of Learning Management Systems; it provides good hard data on the features and relative attractiveness of the major players. A good place to start your hunt:

http://www.marshall.edu/it/cit/webct/compare/comparison.html

Innovative Initiatives, examples of CBT and Online learning

Commercial product:
VCom3D has developed a 3-D animation tool that translates English into sign language and presents via an animated character, or avatar.

http://www.distance-educator.com/dn2.phtml?id=3322

Educational event:
CNNfyi.com will host a Webcast exploring destructive weather forces and changing global climate patterns. The event (Friday March 23rd) will include online stories and lesson plans. CNN's NEWSROOM (CNN television at 4:30 a.m. EST) will be running a parallel event on March 22. CNN staff will be brought in to provide different slants on the topic of extreme weather forces. Topics include how greenhouse-effect gases contribute to global warming; the formation, tracking and effects of hurricanes and tornadoes; and weather recording equipment.

This type of event, combining commercial interests, subject experts and educational outcomes, is becoming common in Cyberspace. Commercial interests see an opportunity to promote their online profile and generate site traffic, and educators get access to a range of resources they would otherwise not be able to find or pay for. As with any other form of training, the value of this type of event is determined by the quality of information presented and the extent to which it suits the profile of the learners.

http://www.cnnfyi.com