Launching into Video

Embedded 'Launching into Learning' Video

Several staff are interested in displaying video so this is a check that a video can be displayed from a YouTube channel. As it turned out a quick CSS edit had to be made because the top menus dropped down behind the video - not a good look  :-)

The intention now is to showcase a number of videos that will be uploaded to a YouTube channel.

Pictures from a recent photo-shoot in schools and colleges across the state makes me wonder also about displaying a FlickR badge. Something to take to the Project's Advisory Group.

What's in a Cover?

Designing templates for documents to upload to the new Internet site is a very long process... Draft templates have already been through many versions and we aren't there yet - although we are getting closer...

Policy Template (updated 19th July)

Templates are being designed for master documents which will be in Word (.docx). When approved documents will be saved in PDF format for upload to the new Document Centre (SharePoint 2010) and then linked to the new Internet site (another instance of SharePoint).

Templates have been designed with the following in mind:

• A simple and recognisable cover that complies with the Tasmanian Government Style Guide
• Standard headings and structure for policy, procedures and guideline documents that are designed for easy readability for a public audience
• Designing for accessibility in Word and the exported PDF. PDF Accessibility for Everyone presentations usefully summarise the workflow required from Word to PDF to ensure readers for the vision impaired can smoothly process the documents.

A decision must be made soon about providing alternative formats for online documents. Should we provide one or more alternative formats?

• PDF
• Word
• HTML

National Web Accessibility Guidelines state that "Agencies are reminded that it is still a requirement to publish an alternative to all PDF documents (preferably in HTML)". The guidelines also state that "any technology may be used, but where it cannot prove its accessibility support, agencies must provide multiple accessible formats". SharePoint 2012 does claim accessibility support. 

Vision Australia have a 2012 report that includes an assessment of SharePoint 2010 conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0).

We have more planning to do here.

Turning the Pages

The current DoE public website has well over 1,200 pages - and so far different organisational units have agreed to archive or move to the staff Intranet over 500 pages.

I've discovered that archives exist of the Department of Education website going back to 1999.

LINC Archive of Tasmanian Education Department Website

It's interesting to reflect on changes in web design over the years and to plan forward. I built my first website in 1992 and although it's been updated it still fundamentally reflects old design principles. 

Apart from the cute animated gifs one can see a shift from very long web pages in the 90s as documents were 'dumped' online to much shorter 'screen size' pages over the last decade. 

But some believe the pendulum may have swung too far and that is better to have an informed balance of small web pages and longer downloadable documents that is driven by user need and purpose. Currently some documents are broken down to so many web pages that editing and navigation have become very challenging.

National web design guidelines point to accepted best practice - and mandatory requirements. Tasmania also has a Government framework for web design and publishing. Accessibility and usability are key national issues with WCAG 2.0 compliance high on the agenda. There is also recent advice on the accessibility of PDFs.

Much to consider...  :-)

Managing Change

I have a new job - a 6 month Project Management position implementing a new Internet and Intranet for the Tasmanian Department of Education. My previous role in state-wide strategic planning and implementation of eLearning came to an end as new priorities were set due to budget constraints.

Current DoE Website

The Internet-Intranet project has already been running for 9 months and has implementation deadlines of 31st July for the Internet and mid-December 2012 for the Intranet.

Why are we building a new Internet-Intranet? Two key issues are:

• Difficulty locating information and services through searching or browsing
• Lack of information currency and expectations for faster online publishing

What are the features of the new Internet?

• Navigation, content and access to services will reflect the needs of our principal user groups of parents and carers, students, community partnerships, government and business, and the general public.
• Content management, access rights and web services will be delivered on SharePoint 2010 rather than the current MySource Matrix.

What are the current challenges?

• 100s of documents and web pages that no longer meet the needs of intended audiences or organisational priorities - and too many dead links. The current website has over 1,200 web pages and several hundred documents.
• A web structure and publishing culture that strongly mirrors the products and services of organisational units rather than being driven by end-user needs.
• National web accessibility guidelines, the rapid increase in mobile device access and the rise of social media.

Having been an end-user of the DoE website for over 15 years I'm looking forward to working with various teams to help shape its next incarnation. As an admin user of SharePoint 2003 and 2007 I'm also interested to see what SharePoint 2010 has to offer.

The LMS in a 2012 DLE

Where does the LMS sit in 2012? The need to consider post WebCT options, cuts to budget and IT support, student and teacher preferences, changes in learning and 'delivery', new national VET eLearning agenda... has led us to explore a more organic and distributed learning environment.

Yesterday Joyce Seitzinger in her post The LMS as a mixing panel for social learning touched on other drivers that have also contributed to the development of a new project that will provide an integrated range of online learning services for staff and students in 2012.

The following 6 min video describes the stage 1 implementation of this project that has just begun.



Will this model give us the agility we need to continuously co-create the online learning services that are required to 2015 and beyond?
Will this model be effective and sustainable?

Are We There Yet?

Can we begin to define our approaches to 21st century learning from experience? Developing an eLearning Strategy that takes us to the middle of the second decade has involved looking back to see what go us to where we are now.

In the late 90s and early into this new century we valued flexibility, sharing, collaboration, problem solving, future proofing... Looking at these now they appear to be largely reactive. They were our response to rapid change and the hazy emergence of new perspectives and paradigms; new ways of thinking, doing and being.

Now that we have a little experience of this century can we see trends more clearly and be more discerning and confident about how we respond?

I wonder if we are starting to make more sense of our current times and are more comfortable living with change. We are beginning to explore new possibilities and map new journeys. We are beginning to be more proactive and purposeful. We understand a little more about how to not only live more comfortably but to prosper during rapid transformational change.

Being flexible while we adapt to changing environments is shifting to being more agile - taking purposeful steps on journeys through change.

Future proofing solutions against change has become future building as we leaverage the opportunities provided by constant change.

Solving problems of increasing complexity has led to more systemic thinking and problem prevention.

Questioning one-size-fits-all solutions has led us to question our perspectives, underlying assumptions and world views.

Is planning for learning in the second decade of this century about a shift to include more pro-active strategies such as those on the right hand side of the list below?

Flexibility --> Agility

Future Proofing --> Future Building

Problem Solving --> Problem Prevention

Collaboration --> Co-creation

Social Justice --> Social Inclusion

Questioning Solutions --> Questioning Assumptions

World's Best --> Best for the World

In what other ways have we become more proactive and purposeful?
How else has our thinking, doing and being changed?
How do our new understandings impact on the development of elearning?

Or is it too early to tell?

ITs - Back to Basics

We've been listening for several weeks to views about online learning while traveling around the State to discuss the development of a Polytechnic eLearning Strategy for 2012-2014.

For some this is just more of the same e-learning rhetoric they've heard for the last decade or more. For others it's about new opportunities or solving existing problems. Some have stories to share of very successful elearning.

As these and other views were shared at a recent State eLearning Strategy meeting what emerged was a little surprising. Out of the extraordinary diversity of experience and passionately held views about urgent needs and potential solutions came the recognition that it was time to ask much deeper questions about the use of information technologies for learning.

• What is good learning, teaching and assessment? (online, face-to-face, blended)
• Where and when can learning take place?
• Who can support the learner and the teacher?

It became apparent that it's also time to question some long held assumptions about eLearning such as

• There is one best solution (one LMS, one ePortfolio, one eLearning design method...)
• In-house IT Services provides for and supports all e-learning needs
• Most students don't have off-campus access to IT
• eLearning requires content development
• Classes need access to a computer lab
• Students can't learn without a teacher
• Online learning is a poor alternative to face-to-face learning

Other agenda provide further reasons to question assumptions about how we provide education and training such as

• High ownership of mobile devices and the new 4G network due before the end of 2011
• The availability of a wide range of cloud-based managed IT services
• The current poor financial situation and its impact on resources and support services
• High-speed broadband through the National Broadband Network currently being rolled out across the state
• The desire for more flexible and agile learning

Can we get back to the basics of what education and training in the Polytechnic is about and think differently about how we might use all available resources including information technologies to give students access to quality learning?