Google Wave is out!

In a previous article, I wrote about a new web communication protocol being developed by Google called Google Wave. Well, five months later,  I finally have my Google Wave developer’s preview invitation and I can start creating waves and experimenting with my very own account. Embedded in this article below is a Wave hosted on… Continue reading Google Wave is out!

Social networking for EFL/ESL

In this article, I’m going to discuss the relevance of social networking to learners of English, some of the developments in learning English as a foreign/second language on-line and how this might shape the future of e-learning and learning management systems for EFL/ESL. So much to learn, so little time to learn it. For learners… Continue reading Social networking for EFL/ESL

Making e-learning resources relevant

E-learning resources have a number of advantages over book and paper based resources. In this article, I’m going to write about one in particular: the importance of being able to edit the resources that you use with learners. This article focuses directly on resources for learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as… Continue reading Making e-learning resources relevant

Video formats and media containers

…or Why don’t videos of the same type, i.e. AVI, MPEG, etc., work on everyone’s computers? With broadband Internet connections becoming the norm, video on the web has become commonplace but beware, authoring video files for deployment on the web can be a minefield –  WMV, FLV, MOV, MP4, F4V – There’s a dizzying array… Continue reading Video formats and media containers

Students adore Moodle

I’ve just read this post by Phil Shapiro on his PCWorld.com blog. He certainly lays lavish praise on Martin Dougiamas‘ brainchild and life’s work, an LMS (learning management system) called Moodle. Read the article here. Update Here’s a global map of Moodle sites and list of links to them. Here’s a set of bar graphs… Continue reading Students adore Moodle

Google Wave

Another revolution in the way we communicate and interact with each other on the web. Google may have done it yet again. Introducing… Google Wave! What is it? It’s difficult to explain. The Google developers’ way of describing it is to ask the question, “What would e-mail look like if it were invented today?” It’s… Continue reading Google Wave

LiveMocha.com & Pearson buddy up

Reuters announced on Wednesday 11th March of this year that LiveMocha.com and Pearson Education Publishing (owners of Longman Publishing) have teamed up to provide a English as a Foreign Language e-learning service marketed directly to consumers. What is LiveMocha.com? It’s essentially a social networking website, similar to Facebook, for example (it evens includes a Facebook linking… Continue reading LiveMocha.com & Pearson buddy up

Dictations made easy!

Dictations are a very difficult activity to get right. Traditional computer based dictations are usually a quite awkward, unhelpful and ultimately frustrating experience to say the least. The idea of this learning application is for it to be more of an enjoyable exploratory, learning activity than a listening test. So far it has been my… Continue reading Dictations made easy!

SCORM: The Pros and Cons

  With e-learning becoming more widely adopted by schools, universities, governments and private companies for their educational and training needs, SCORM has become the de facto format. But should we really be adopting it? What is SCORM? SCORM, or the Sharable Content Object Reference Model, is a widely used web standard for e-learning interactions. It… Continue reading SCORM: The Pros and Cons