I have just read an article by Shawn Callahan from the Sydney Morning Herald, in which he emphasised the importance of collaboration in the workplace. With the use of the Cochlear Corporation as an example, Callahan argues that Team-based collaboration (made up of a tight-knit group who work to deliver a new idea) can provide organisations with real benefits.

One of the major benefits of collaboration within an organisation is that it increases employee job satisfaction. When people are encouraged to communicate their ideas, and have those ideas being valued and implemented within the organisation; employees feel more fulfilled and satisfied with their jobs. This benefit can then be directly related to an organisations profit margins, “…simply because happy staff provide better services to customers.”

On the Headshift Wiki, there is also an interesting viewpoint that collaboration and knowledge sharing is no longer so much about “knowing about”, but more about “knowing who”. The success of online social networking sites such as Facebook, enables organisations to consider how capturing data about a persons capabilities can increase collaboration within the workplace. In capturing this data, employees will find it easier in finding the ‘right’ person with the required knowledge and experience to collaborate with on a project.

The use of cheap social networking technologies such as blogs, wikis and forums allow employees to exchange and construct ideas that could really benefit both the organisation and the people who work for them.

In this article, they have outlined what the word “Collaboration” means and the benefits of a collaborative workplace culture. They also outlined steps in developing an organisational collaborative culture.

As a person who is working in the field of Knowledge Management, I find the subject matter to be both interesting and important to me. From this article, I see that developing a collaborative culture is a key success factor in ensuring that a new Knowledge Management initiative is successfully incorporated into an organisation.

People like me who work in the field of Knowledge Management, can often fall into a dangerous tendency to equate organisational collaborative capabilities with collaborative technologies. Organisational collaborative capabilities is a lot more than just technology. It is about developing collaborative skills, practices and cultures that encourage people to actually collaborate. “There are many large organisations that have bought enterprise licences for products…who are not getting good value for money, simply because people don’t know how to collaborate effectively or because their culture works against collaboration.”

The steps recommended are as follows:

1. Needs Analysis
In commencing projects of this nature, it is important to identify and communicate clear goals and objectives for the Intranet system. This involves analysing business objectives, the structure and culture of the business, staff needs and the current information management practices within the organisation.

2. Strategy and Scoping
In this step, available resources are identified; along with time frames. The strategy(s) of implementation are also determined in accordance to the cope and size of the Intranet system.

3. Research and Evaluation
Obtaining data and information regarding user expectations is very important in determining the structure of the Intranet system. Interviews, focus groups and workplace observations can provide useful data for Usage studies and Usability Testing.

4. Evaluation
Heuristic Evaluations (expert reviews) are also very useful in determining the most appropriate software package for your Intranet system. However, this is mostly used when implementing a new Intranet system. A Content Inventory can also be conducted in order to develop a record of all content within the organisation, assessing ownership, correctness of information, etc.

5. Information Architecture
In this step, information that exists within the organisation is then organised into category(s) and groups for wireframing and designing the new Intranet system structure.

6. Page Layout Design
Visual aspects of the Intranet system would be addressed in this stage of development. Visual hierarchy and usability layout development are key areas in this step.

7. Usability Testing
Usability testing should now commence in order to improve the Intranet system based on the recommendations from users.

8. Creative Design
Graphic Designers should then be utilised in order to develop creative design concepts, incorporate branding and style guides, design “comps” for each wireframe and assist in usability testing and technical build

9. Implementation
This final step involves the construction of html or even flash pages, backend programming and User Acceptance Testing.

I have just finished reading an article by David Jennings, in which he discusses eLearning 2.0. While reading such an article, I realised that I have written about many technologies that facilitate eLearning 2.0, without really introducing what it is, or the common views about it.

According to Jennings, eLearning 2.0 is a combination of eLearning and Web 2.0. In order to help explain what eLearning 2.0 is, let me explain what Web 2.0 is.

Web 2.0 refers to the a ’second’ version of the internet, in which users can find greater interaction and connectivity with people all around the world. Social networking phenomena such as Facebook, MySpace and Wikipedia are the most evident examples of Web 2.0.

eLearning 2.0 derives from these phenomena and refers to the knowledge sharing social software that aids eLearning. Stephen Downes’
explains this really well, and explains that eLearning 2.0 encourages users to have greater input into their learning. Whereas traditional eLearning designers view learners as passive absorbers of information, designers for eLearning 2.0 recognise the valuable input of learners themselves.

In eLearning 2.0, eLearning becomes less of a content delivery system such as a CD, to a platform in which learners can make connections, share discoveries and solve problems together. Software in eLearning 2.0 is more focused on content-publishing, which allow users to learn from the very act of reading, watching and listening a wide range of texts; and publishing their own reflections about the content on the web.

If you want to see some examples of technologies that fall into the eLearning 2.0 category, please see refer to the Web 2.0 link on this blog

Today, I will now look podcasts as another form of technology that can be used for elearning purposes. According to wikipedia, a podcast is ‘a digital media file, or a series of such files, that is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The term “podcast” like “radio”, can mean either the content itself or the method or the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster. The term “podcast” is a portmanteau of the name of Apple’s portable music player, the iPod, and broadcast: “pod” refers to iPOd, and cast to the idea of broadcasting”.

Podcasts can also be defined as an audio file which has been converted to an MP3 which can be downloaded onto a computer or MP3 player. The popularity of podcasts is its portability. Files can be easily transported from a computer to a portable device. Another reason for its popularity is due to the fact that the incredibly popular iPod utilises such file formats to store music and video clips.

Podcasts can be used in many different ways, such as:

1) Interviews
2) Music
3) Lectures
4) Radio programs
5) Special interests group reports
6) Recipe instructions
7) Political commentaries/propaganda

All of these functions are now being utilised in education.

However, Webinars have become one of the most impressive I have seen yet. Organisations are starting to utilise Webinars such as Webex. Webinars such as Webex allows the facilitation of online seminar’s with easy access for users. Webinars are much more interactive, and help to engage learners in a number of ways.

Participants in Webinars (depending on the access given by facilitators), can listen and speak to the facilitator (like skype) in an online seminar with lecture slides. Participants are provided with a chat interface, in which they could ask questions to other participants and the facilitator. Participants can even draw and write on the slides themselves, with everyone being able to view what has been drawn or written. This usually ends up in humourous collaborative situations in which a myriad of squigley lines and randomly placed texts are created. Through this process, collaboration occurs and new ideas are created. Facilitators can also even conduct live anonymous voting polls to determine how participants are responding to the information.

This highly interactive synchronous technology has enabled participants to enjoy a more engaging learning experience, as they interact with real people online rather than a program. Some of the advantages of Webinars, over more traditional eLearning technologies are:

1) They are more engaging

2) More Interactive

3) Easy to use

4) Help cut’s training costs (Decreases the need for facilitators or participants to travel for training)

4) Facilitate ‘real-time’ human communication

Therefore, in my opinion; webinars will become even more popular within organisations, due to its ability to engage participants, it’s flexibility and its ease of use. Webinars have already have an excellent reception from participants in various industries.

Flickr provides users with almost unlimited access to images that can be used for e-learning initiatives such as presentations, blogs, wikis, emails, RSS feeds and any other elearning activities. Images can be easily accessed from around the world at any computer with an internet connection; giving elearning instructional designers an easily accessible resources of images.

One of the most popular of these online social networking phenoma are Virtual Worlds such as World of Warcraft, Second Life and SIMS online. These virtual worlds allow users to explore computer simulated environments, filled with thousands of other users from all around the world. In such an environment, people can interact through their own characters in the virtual world platforms called ‘avatars’. Your Avatar can take on a number of forms, depending upon the platform that you are using.

These virtual worlds are so popular that even some educational instituations are using such platforms to promote themselves. Even now, some educational institutions are conducting elearning games and tools in various fields to aid students to learn, create and share new ideas. An example of this can be see with the Imperial College in London developing virtual hospitals in Second Life to demonstrate what healthcare in the future could look like, allowing them to observe current and possible future procedures.

According to Siemens, learning occurs when people are exposed to new content, which are then coded into nodes (elements of information and knowledge). These nodes are then connected into the mental networks of a person, and gives the nodes contextual meaning in a persons mental network construct. The success of the learning depends upon how well the node is connected to the person’s existing mental networks. The forming of such networks depends upon a variety of factors such as the persons motivations, emotions, exposure to the new content, the patterning of the content, the logic and the experiences of the person.

The implications of such a perspective on learning, affects how organisations and educational institutions view and faciliate learning. In the past such institutions have based their instructional design upon behaviourist, cognitivists and constructivists learning orientations which depended largely upon how the instructors have organised and presented information.

However, the Connectivist learning perspective recognises that learning is a messy, informal, rich and chaotic process which shifts the emphasis of learning to the learner. This means that educational instructors are required to place greater emphasis on allowing learners to navigate through information themselves; rather than the organisation and presentation of information.

Blogs, wikis and other collaborative learning tools are now allowing this type of learning in which learners are presented with a vast array of tools to construct their own learning pathways and mental networks.

As part of my university studies, I have had to study the phenomena that is Web 2.0. A part of Web 2.0 has been the increasing popularity of RSS Feeds and Aggregation. So, I had a look around to find out what on earth it is. This is what I found from whatisrss.com: and Miller’s Spin Weblog

What is RSS?

RSS stands for Rich Site Summary and is a format for delivering and managing regularly changing web content. Many news sites and weblogs have RSS feeds so that people can be informed of new content in a simple and convenient manner.

What is an Aggregator?

An Aggregator is a type of software that you can use to organise and collect RSS feeds into one place. The aggregator regularly checks feeds that you have subscribed to and compiles new content to be displayed.

How is it being used?

RSS enables greater convenience for people who view various websites that have content that are regularly updated. There are now many aggregator websites that can read RSS Feeds such as FeedReader, NewsGator, My Yahoo, Bloglines, Google Reader and Netvibes. Such sites grab the latest news on your selected favourite websites and inform you of them in a single screen.

To subscribe to an RSS through your aggregator reader, you must find out whether or not the website that you are subscribing to has an RSS Feed. A website usually indicates the availability of an RSS feed by displaying the logo.

Once you have clicked on the logo, you will be taken to another page. At this stage, you can then copy the URL of the page, and paste it into your Aggregator site.