While the demand for HTML5 courses is yet to catch up, the demand is growing stronger nevertheless. This hardly comes as a surprise given that the iPad dominates the worldwide tablet market. As per data published by Good Technology in their Good Technology Device Activations Report | Q1 2012, the iPad 2 averaged 17.7 percent of their enterprise activations in the first quarter of 2012 in the US. In just a month since its release, the iPad 3 snagged 4.3 percent of Good Technology’s enterprise activations.

The only two devices to do better than the iPads were the iPhone 4s and the iPhone4.

Worldwide, Samsung probably sells more smartphones than anyone else, Looking into the future – this article predicts that iPads will retain more than 50% of the installed base of all tablets in 2016, but Android and Windows Metro will be the other two dominant platforms. We believe at this stage it is the iPad driving eLearning to HTML5.

Given this trend, it is but obvious that the demand for rapid authoring tools which can publish content in HTML5 will also increase. In this post, we examine 5 rapid authoring tools which show tremendous promise.

1) Adobe Captivate 5.5 with HTML5 Converter

The HTML5 Converter for Adobe Captivate 5.5 is an experimental technology that converts SWFs generated by Adobe Captivate 5.5 into HTML5 format. Once these files are converted to HTML5, you can edit them with an HTML editing tool, such as Adobe Dreamweaver. You can view the output in any browser that displays HTML5 content, including iOS (iPhone and iPad) devices.
Please note that not all Adobe Captivate features are supported in the HTML5 format. For more details, please refer to the Release Notes of the HTML5 Convertor, which describe supported features, known issues and the roadmap for upcoming features.

2) Lectora Inspire

Lectora Inspire can help you to quickly create dynamic video and Flash content as well as transform your e-Learning to HTML5 for mobile delivery. It enables you to automatically push your e-Learning to HTML5 and other publishing options.

3) Claro from dominKnow

Claro outputs HTML5-based content, so all of its authoring features can be used to create engaging and interactive content for delivery on smart phones or tablet devices. Claro comes complete with layout themes to get you started quickly, and a robust set of in-tool authoring features to help you create mobile learning courses.

4) mLearning Studio from Rapid Intake

Rapid Intake’s mLearning Studio is a cloud-based solution that can help you build mobile learning in a matter of minutes. It provides you with the option to publish to both HTML5 for mobile browsers and Flash for desktop browsers at the same time.

5) Sencha Animator

Sencha Animator is a desktop app to create CSS3 animations for WebKit browsers and touchscreen mobile devices. Since CSS3 consistently works across iOS, Android and BlackBerry OS6, this gives Animator projects a big step-up for use on mobile platforms.

Upcoming Tools

Two other tools to watch out for are Adobe Edge and Magetta.

1. Adobe Edge is a new web motion and interaction design tool that allows designers to bring animated content to websites, using web standards like HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3.
2. Maqetta is an open source project that provides WYSIWYG visual authoring of HTML5 user interfaces. The Maqetta application itself is authored in HTML, and therefore runs in the browser without requiring additional plugins or downloads.

Another rapid authoring tool that the entire industry is waiting for eagerly is Articulate Storyline. Storyline is a standalone desktop authoring tool that will be able to publish iOS-compatible output via HTML5.

A Word of Caution!

Judy Unrein makes a very valid point in her blog post Publishes to HTML5? Buyer, Beware. To quote Judy: Any authoring tool and any output is only good if it serves your design, which serves the learning/business need. Flawless publishing to HTML5 doesn’t do you any good if the tool isn’t capable of creating – and publishing – the interactivity you’ve designed.

If you know of any other rapid authoring tools that output HTML5 content, leave a comment. We’d really like to know more about them. Thanks!

The post 5 Rapid Authoring Tools To Publish Courses For Your iPads first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

With its immense popularity the iPad has found its way into both education and corporate sectors alike.  Our discussions with clients over past few months indicate schools believe it’s great to deliver ‘personalized & interactive lessons’ while corporate entities believe it is an important device in the future of workplace learning. The iPad is beginning to be included amongst the delivery options available so the discussions invariably turn to the question – should we consider developing this in HTML5 to make us future proof?  This question has started featuring in many discussions, indicating Apple is starting to win the war against Adobe. Adobe too seems to have realized this and is preparing to launch Captivate with capability to output HTML5 for iPad. It’s probably safe to say HTML5 will become a widely adopted technology for elearning development and I do think it Apple’s iPad that’s really driving it at the moment.

The post Is the iPad Driving eLearning Towards HTML5? first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

The post iPad Applications In Bloom’s Taxonomy first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

1. Mobile Learning: Are We On the Cusp of Something Big? We’re at just that point now with mobile learning. Whether it’s on an e-reader, a tablet, or a cell phone, there’s great excitement – though not a lot of research yet – around the potential of how these devices can strengthen learning.

2. Digital learning: Digital Devices To Replace Textbooks As students become more and more dependent on digital devices and digital learning becomes more popular, will textbooks become extinct? Find out in this infographic.

3. Mobile Apps: A Look At What Makes An App Popular There is no magic formula to app success; it always needs a good – if not unique – idea to make the hundreds of millions of smartphone owners take notice. And that’s just one part. Listed here are some key points that make a good app great, what differentiates one photo app from another photo app, to become a top seller on a mobile app store.

4. For Small Businesses, Work Is Increasingly Mobile (And It Pays) It’s not exactly breaking news that mobile technologies are changing the way we work and enabling employees to be productive regardless of their location. What’s interesting is the pace at which they appear to be doing so. Know how small businesses are harnessing mobile technologies for carrying out their work.

5. 10 Major Mobile Learning Trends to Watch For While the applications of mLearning are growing all the time, here are some of the major trends to help you learn more about how mobile learning is shaping the 21st century classroom – and may change how we teach, learn and interact in any educational environment.

6. Times Are Changing – Trends In The Content Authoring Tool Market As the rapid content authoring market continues to grow, new features and capabilities are equally growing. For the most part, that is a great thing, but as you are about to read, some are not.

7. 10 Reasons Teachers Love Blended Learning Blending the best of online and on-site learning can work better for students and teachers. Here are ten reasons that blended learning makes teaching a better job.

8. “There I Was”: Lessons Learned Converting Instructor-based Pilot Training to Blended Learning Know how a project of converting one-half of a 200+ hour instructor-based training curriculum (IBT) to eLearning proved to be the perfect learning laboratory from an eLearning developer’s perspective.

9. App Fusion: 30 Twitter Apps for the Learning Pro Twitter is not the answer to every learning professional’s prayer. There are limits as well as benefits that using these applications will have on learning outcomes. This article will help you get the most value out of Twitter, should you decide to include it in your personal learning strategy or that of your organization.

10. How Many Devices Can A Smartphone, Tablet Replace? Has the smartphone become the quintessential all-in-one device? And if you have both a smartphone and a tablet, where does that leave your laptop? Know more.

11. Poll Shows Generational Gap in Workplace Training Programs Millennials, who grew up in the Internet age, learn and communicate differently than baby boomers – and the results of a new national poll show current approaches to workplace training are struggling to meet the needs of this younger generation. Some staggering facts here.
12. iPad To Dominate Tablet Market Until 2015 [STUDY] The iPad will continue to dominate the growing tablet market until Android tablets take over in 2015, according to several forecasts.

The post 12 Top Learning, Technology & Media Links: Weekly Digest – 26 first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

1.#mLearnCon 2011 Backchannel – Collected Resources

This post collects the resources shared via the backchannel of the mLearnCon 2011, that was held between June 21 and 23 in San Jose, California.

2. Why You Need a Mobile Learning Strategy

Not having a strategy for mobile learning is itself a strategy. And not a very effective one at that. Understanding the decision criteria for mLearning, and having a plan for periodically reviewing those criteria and their performance against those criteria, designers and managers are in a much better position to make good decisions about how they will support learning in their organizations. This is just one of the many reasons why you need a mobile learning strategy. Know more here.

3. How To Make The Right Call With Mobile Learning

The popularity of smartphones and tablets in the workplace has increased the interest in mobile learning. But with the mobile landscape constantly evolving, many organizations are asking themselves if now is the right time to take the plunge, or if they should wait for more stability. Know how to make the right call.

4. Quick and Simple mLearning Content for the iPhone

Getting started developing eLearning content is relatively easy; however mLearning is a different ball game altogether. The challenge is manifold: finding easy-to-use development tools, developing for multiple devices, and most importantly, determining the right context for the mLearning content. This article provides you with a very basic vehicle for creating simple mLearning content, so that you can get started quickly, see what’s possible, understand the pitfalls, and begin to figure out how you might blend mLearning into your existing training or learning strategy.

5. What Are Mobile Devices Teaching Your Kids?

Mobile learning blends traditional pedagogy with technology to reach every child. The question is not if your child should use a mobile device in school, but how to do it safely. Know it here.

6.What Exactly Can You Learn On A Mobile Phone?

Understand how a mobile phone can be considered a learning tool, and whether it can actually help bridge the digital divide between low-income, at-risk kids and those with access to computers.

7. 13 Helpful Mobile Web Design Tools & Resources

Here are 13 mobile web design resources that’ll make it easy for you to deliver a snappy but aesthetically pleasing mobile web experience.

8. How 3 Mobile Gadgets are Transforming our Lives: New Research

So how are the 3 mobile devices changing our lives and disrupting stable industries. Know what the latest research from Nielsen reveals after speaking to 12,000 mobile connected device owners about what we are doing with the 3 mobile gadgets that are changing habits.

9.HTML5 – Opportunities for Mobile Devices

HTML5 offers amazing opportunities to us for designing and developing formal and informal learning solutions. So get ready to add mLearning with HTML5 to your learning and development repertoire.

10. 7 iPad Habits of Highly Effective Remote Workers

The use of the iPad by mobile workers is on the rise, and that brings with it both boons and challenges for worker productivity. Here’s how you and your remote staff can stay on top of iPad usage, lest iPad usage controls you and your organization instead.

11. Are Tablets Made for the Education Market Doomed

Does the demise of both the Kno and the enTourage eDGe, aimed squarely at the educational market, indicate that post-PC future doesn’t look too good for education-only devices? Know more about it here.

12. Infographic: iPad Usage In The UK

What’s the media diet of an iPad user? Digital marketing production house Imano surveyed 2,000 UK iPad users in May to find out.

13. Infographic: The Enterprise Mobile Explosion

Companies worldwide are incorporating mobile technology and applications into their operations to increase productivity and revenue and reduce paperwork. This explosion in the use of mobile devices in the enterprise will help to fuel demand for mobile apps, as this infographic shows.

The post 13 Top Learning, Technology & Media Links: Weekly Digest – 25 first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

For those of you who have been bitten by the iPad bug, we have included some cool apps. Besides this, we also have some tools that will help you in mobile app development. Read it all here in our Weekly Digest – a collection of our top 9 links from the week gone by, each accompanied by a quick brief. Need to quench your thirst for the latest in learning, technology and media links further? You can dig into our previous lists here

1. Top 10 Challenges Of Blended Learning With the expansion of the global workforce, and the continuous shifting of global economic factors, the time for blended learning has arrived. But how do we make sure we do it right? What are the hidden challenges that can create a roadblock to success before we even roll out the program? Find it all here.
2. Informalize Formal Learning: Smarter, Closer, Simpler, and More Appealing The world is full of ever-growing complexity, while at the same time the desire for simplicity drives much behavior. Learning is no exception. Engaging users simply, directly and quickly via informal methods is key to recruiting them into more in-depth and traditional learning formats. Know how you can informalize formal learning.
3. When Learning Is The Work: Approaches For Supporting Learning In The Workplace When you think about one great learning experience you’ve had, can you remember where it occurred? Was it in a classroom or workshop, or did it occur while you were completing the task? There is a good chance that it occurred during the latter. Learn how you can support learning in the workplace by leaving the golden age of training and embracing learning in the extended workplace.
4. Mobile Learning: The Next Evolution With the introduction of new mobile products such as the iPad, iPhone 4, Droid and Windows Phone 7, it is not surprising that mobile technology growth rates have quickly surpassed other digital technologies such as radio, television, personal computers and even the Internet. The question surrounding m-learning is no longer if, but when. Know the steps to implementing a successful mobile learning strategy.
5. 10 Reasons To Use Digital Textbooks The future is here. If you’re looking for ways to cut costs as either a student or teacher, why not consider digital textbooks? There’s cheaper, easier to use, and a lot easier on the back. Here are 10 reasons why digital textbooks score a notch higher than their paper counterparts.
6. 10 Must Have iPad Apps for 2011 Much against many people’s expectations, the iPad has hit the ground running ever since its release, and with the innovative apps that have been gracing it, it’s hardly surprising. Here is a list of apps that have already been released or are soon to be released that should go some of the way towards justifying your iPad’s price tag.
7. 11 iPad Apps For Meetings And Presentations Meetings and presentations are a way of life in the business world and there’s nothing worse than dragging around a bunch of files and equipment. Here are 11 iPad apps that will make your life a tad lighter.
8. 30+ Tools For Building Mobile Apps (+ Poll!) Find over 30 services which aid in mobile app development.
9. U.S. Smartphone Market: Who’s the Most Wanted? According to the latest figures, 31 percent of consumers who plan to get a new smartphone indicated Android was now their preferred OS. Get the statistics here.

The post 9 Top Learning, Technology & Media Links: Weekly Digest – 21 first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Based on this premise, we have debunked some of the common myths of informal learning. Also, we help you assess this new form of learning in a new light. From informal learning, we go on to talk about learning as the new work, eLearning testing, novice and expert thinking, tablets and more. Read it all here in our Weekly Digest – a collection of our top 9 links from the week gone by, each accompanied by a quick brief. Need to quench your thirst for the latest in learning, technology and media links further? You can dig into our previous lists here

1. The Five Myths of Informal Learning
   Informal learning is emerging as one of the most powerful disciplines in our industry. The tools and methodologies that have been developed over the past several years are changing the learning landscape in amazing ways. But there are a number of misunderstandings about this critical approach. Learn about the 5 myths of informal learning strategy.
2. Assessing Informal Learning
   Assessing informal learning is important rather crucial to the success of learning. But do the same set of parameters used for assessing formal learning hold value in assessing informal learning? The answer, quite predictably, is no. This post explains the difference between formal and informal learning and also details the various factors that need to be taken into consideration for assessing the latter.
3. Learning Is The New Work
   In a world of rapid change, learning can never stop. A conceptual worker cannot tackle new challenges, take advantage of new information, and make judgment calls on novel situations without learning along the way. They do this on the job, not in the classroom. Learning is the new work. Know how.
4. Instructional Design Review Checklists – Key to Quality E-learning In any e-learning development company, storyboards and e-learning courses go through rounds of testing to ensure desired quality levels. Find a wealth of blog posts on e-learning testing here.
5. Comparison of Novice and Expert And Why Games Can Help Here’s an interesting comparison of novice vs. expert thinking.
6. Dropping The ‘e’
   If we drop the ‘e’ from e-learning, that signifies that all forms of learning are essentially the same, whether they are mediated through technology or not. So is dropping the ‘e’ the right answer? Know here.
7. Tablets In India. The Story So Far
   India is warming up to tablets. The sales are at 8000 units per month, but that will only pick up when two things happen – hardware prices fall and so does the data plans. Hardware prices have a wide range right now. The cheapest can go for Rs. 8000 and the most expensive one can run up to Rs. 40K. So what does this nascent market look like? Get the entire story here.
8. Here’s Why I’m Waiting For The iPad 3
   The iPad 2 is very nice, but if you already have an iPad, it’s not a must-have upgrade. Know why iPad 2 could make your gadget lust to back off.
9. Asia-Pacific Smartphone Market To Double By 2016
   The Asia-Pacific smartphone market is expected to double to 200 million by 2016, with Google’s Android operating system the leading platform.

The post 9 Top Learning, Technology & Media Links: Weekly Digest – 19 first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

Besides this, we have uncovered some cool resources, reports and findings that will keep you abreast of the latest happenings. Read it all here in our Weekly Digest – a collection of our top 14 links from the week gone by, each accompanied by a quick brief. Need to quench your thirst for the latest in learning, technology and media links further? You can dig into our previous lists
here.

1. Can Your iPad Replace Your SmartBoard?
   Whatever your philosophy regarding frontal teaching methods and the uses of Smartboards, there’s no denying two facts: Smartboards have become extremely popular tools in educational institutions & are relatively expensive and eat major portions out of our shrinking school budgets. Then, can an iPad replace the smartboard and help cut down on cost? Read to know the answer.
2. QR Codes In Education
   Find resources for getting started with and using QR codes in the classroom.
3. Quick List Of iPad Resources For The Classroom
   Many schools and classrooms all over are investing in mobile devices and educators want to know how to use them effectively, the apps to consider and more. Here’s a quick list of iPad resources specially meant for classroom study.
4. 5 Reasons for Integrating Technology
   Reasons for integrating technology in classrooms and schools far outweigh the reasons for not. Here are 5 top most reasons you should be getting your school technology-enabled.
5. Growing Up Digitally: The iPad As A Learning Device
   Kids as young as 2 are using the iPad and how! Devices like the iPad can assist the child at learning at his or her own pace, and possibly in his or her own individual way. Is this better? Know more.
6. A Model Of Workplace Learning The proportions of formal and informal learning vary with the task at hand, the context for learning, and the psyche of the learner. Generally, informal learning carries anywhere from four to ten times the weight of formal learning. This article discusses a new model for learning that is a distant cry from the old model of learning.
7. Where Does Informal Learning Fit In?
   With so much rich information for learners available and accessible on the Internet – everything from how to play the guitar to applications of the Pythagorean Theorem – how can the formal education system leverage all this within schools? And more importantly how does this type of informal learning fit in? Read to know more.
8. 50 Websites To Download and Read Online Free E-Books
   E-books have become a very important part of our lives. As technology continues to grow, the reading preferences amongst people tend to bend towards the e-Books, which are easy to find and most importantly, easy to share. Here are 50 websites to download and read online free ebooks.
9. 31 Of My Favorite Digital Storytelling Sites
   Here are 31 digital storytelling sites that you would want to check.
10. Why Thinner Isn’t Always Better: An iPad Upgrade Experience
    Given our weight-obsessed culture, it isn’t surprising that many launch-day reviews of the iPad 2 focused on its slimmed-down form factor. Know why slim is in.
11. 1 in 4 College Textbooks Will Be Digital By 2015 Sales of digital textbooks still only account for a small fraction of the U.S. college market. But according to the latest report by the social learning platform Xplana, we have reached the tipping point for e-textbooks, and the company predicts that in the next five years digital textbook sales will surpass 25% of sales for the higher education and career education markets. Know more.
12. Mobile App Users Are Both Fickle And Loyal: Study
    A study released by Massachusetts-based application analytics firm Localytics, today confirms the suspicion that we both love and are quickly bored by our mobile applications. Read the entire study.
13. Video Games: Where To Now For The UK Industry?
    The global video game industry now makes more money than Hollywood, but UK publishers are struggling – thanks to high wages, a skills shortage and no government support. Know more.
14. 30+ Places To Find Creative Commons Media
    SitePoint has gathered up over 30 of the best resources online for audio, video, images and more for finding just the perfect Creative Commons licensed item for use in your next project. So, have a look around and get inspired!

The post 14 Top Learning, Technology & Media Links: Weekly Digest – 18 first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

More on tips and tricks that will help you get the most out of your iPad, digital story telling and the future of the tablet. Speaking of the iPad, the growth of mobile devices has led to an increase in social and informal learning. Know how you can evaluate this new form of learning effectively. Also, find interesting reads on eLearning and technology sprinkled finely throughout this post. Read it all here in our Weekly Digest – a collection of our top 16 links from the week gone by, each accompanied by a quick brief. Need to quench your thirst for the latest in learning, technology and media links further? You can dig into our previous lists here.

1. Buying an iPad 2
   What You Need to Know Are you interested in procuring an iPad 2 in its first few days of release? Whether online or in-line, here’s the necessary information.
2. Digital Storytelling With The iPad Digital Storytelling can transform your students’ writing into a visual masterpiece that is filled with voice and emotion, while enhancing critical thinking skills. The iPad takes digital storytelling to a new level by making the process easier and even more engaging for students of all grade levels as well as for their teachers. Know how.
3. 100 iPad Tips and Tricks–Free Download It seems with the release of the iPad2, the iPad mania is in full swing. Here are 100 iPad Tips and Tricks from iPad Video Converter that will help you get the most out of your tab.
4. The Future of the Tablet, and It Isn’t the iPad 2
   The iPad 2 is here. It will certainly dominate tablet sales this year, but it is not the future of the tablet. Then what is? Get the entire lowdown here.
5. Beginning Instructional Authoring: Get Clipped
   A series on rapid authoring, starting with the considerations to be adhered to while using clip art in a rapid eLearning authoring tool.
6. 25 Places To Find Instructional Videos
   From instructional and how-to videos to videos from more than 100 institutions of higher education around the US, this post lists 25 of the best places to scout for instructional videos.
7. How To Evaluate Social And Informal Learning In today’s scenario where learning is increasingly migrating from events (think “workshop”) to processes (think “social learning”), how can one evaluate social learning and informal learning? Is there another sluggish metrics as for the conventional forms? Know it all here.
8. Top 10 eLearning Mistakes Know some of the top 10 faux pas most likely to be committed in designing eLearning solutions. Lesson for us – avoid them!
9. 2020 Classrooms Will we still need classrooms by 2020? If so, what kind of learning environments will they be? Or will students learn on the move, in their workplaces, at home, and through the multiple connections facilitated by new communication technology? Know how the classrooms of 2020 will really look.
10. “I’m not an idiot!” – A Letter from an Agonized Adult Learner
    We are adults, literates, and professionals. We manage our finances, our investments, wealth and health with equal ease. We also manage our family, team, career, and social needs effortlessly. Then why can we not manage our learning and training sessions?
11. Smartphone Users Focus on Apps, Not Talking or Browsing
    The average smartphone owner spends 667 minutes a month using apps, more time than spent talking on a smartphone or using it to browse the Web.
12. Mobile Gaming Dominates Game Developers Conference
    With retail video game sales smacked down by the rough economy and ever-growing competition in the crowded social and mobile game marketplace, it seemed like attendees at this week’s annual Game Developers Conference were more frustrated than birds catapulted at pigs.
13. 12 Great Ways to Download and Convert YouTube Videos for Your Classroom There are many ways to download YouTube videos to your computer. Whether you use a Mac or a PC, here are 12 ways to download and convert YouTube videos for your classroom.
14. 5 Ways To Integrate Technology Into Your Child’s Education Technology can be an asset to the learning process, if used appropriately. Here are five tips for integrating technology into your child’s education.
15. 8 Must- Reads About Digital Distraction And Information Overload
    Digital overload caused by a deluge of information and frequent interruptions is a phenomenon that you cannot ignore. A recent spate of articles in the popular press highlight the impact of distractions on our lives. Here are just a few “must read” articles from the last several weeks.
16. Adobe Releases Flash-to-HTML5 Converter, Codenamed Wallaby Monday night, Adobe released a new, experimental Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool codenamed Wallaby. Wallaby is an AIR app that lets developers and designers quickly and simply convert Flash Professional files to HTML5. Know all about this new tool here.

The post 16 Top Learning, Technology & Media Links: Weekly Digest – 17 first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.

But before you jump on the iPad bandwagon, it is imperative to lay the foundation for effective implementation at your school. Get the entire lowdown right here. For all of you who have worn your ears out listening to all things iPad, the past week, there’s a something on eLearning skills, digital storytelling, TED videos, instructional design , game-based learning and more. Find it all here in our Weekly Digest – a collection of our top 15 links from the week gone by, each accompanied by a quick brief. Need to quench your thirst for the latest in learning, technology and media links further? You can dig into our previous lists here.

1. How the iPad 2 Will Revolutionize Education
   The iPad 2’s new features facilitate remote learning, exploration, and stylish lectures. Know how it will help revolutionize education.
2. Top 5 eLearning Skills For 2011
   Here are the top skills for eLearning now, in 2011. These are skills that will show up on job descriptions where they list job criteria, requirements or experience.
3. A New Source Of Great Talks On Learning This collection of talks is centered on the annual ‘Learning Without Frontiers ‘(LWF) conference in London, UK. Watch some of the heavy weights in the learning industry talk about learning, technology, apps and more.
4. Digital Storytelling
   Digital stories derive their power by weaving images, music, narrative and voice together, thereby giving deep dimension and vivid color to characters, situations, experiences, and insights. Here are handouts, lesson plans, worksheets, websites, blogs, wikis, forums and nings in digital storytelling that you need for teaching & learning.
5. Working With Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
   The key is not just finding an SME, but finding the ‘right’ SME. The better choice isn’t always the most experienced worker, but the newer person who remembers what it was like not to know how to do a task, who remembers having to learn and what that entailed. Here are some tips for working effectively with SMEs, and getting the help you need.
6. The Luxury of Instructional Design
   In developing an eLearning course, with steep deadlines and resource constraints, we find ourselves in situations where we need to get some ducks in a row – quick, real quick. And these are precisely the situations where Instructional Design takes a back seat. This post revolves around a simple yet important question – ‘Can we afford to forget about instructional design?’
7. 10 Steps To Take Games Based Learning To The Next Level
   If you carefully choose the right sort of game, it will engage the children in your class. It is what you do with that engaged group of children and how you make a difference to their learning that counts. So here are 10 steps that will help you take game-based learning to the next level.
8. Fixing E-Learning with Participatory Assessment The explosion of eLearning has inflamed nagging tensions over instruction. This presents challenges for educators, schools, and delivery systems. These challenges in turn reveal tremendous potential for new “participatory” theories of learning. Participatory theories assume that the concepts that schools traditionally focus on get all their meaning from the contexts in which they are used. Know how you can use participatory assessments to fix eLearning.
9. What Students Need From Teachers
   Lest there’s any doubt that educators are a crucial part of learning – with or without tech tools – here’s sixth-grade teacher Heidi Siwak’s recent discovery – Students need their ‘teacher’ after all.
10. Preparing Your School For An iPad Implementation Planning is imperative for any technology initiative – iPad or otherwise. You need to ensure that you clearly understand and communicate how the technology integrates with your overall pedagogical objectives. Here are few considerations and questions you need to consider before implementing iPads in schools.
11. 12 TED Talks Worth Seeing Right Now
    It’s that time of year again. Time for TED. The big event is happening this week in California and there’s lots of TED speakers from years past that you should check out. From J.J. Abrams to Douglas Adams to Al Gore, here are videos from some really incredible speakers.
12. Read And Write Fun Collaborative Stories With Foldingstory A Folded Story is a story created by a group of people that do not know what the whole story contains. Different people write different sentences only knowing what the person before them wrote. Folding the paper and passing it along when they were done would keep the whole story a secret till the end. Know how you can have fun and learning with folding story.
13. The Way We Live Now: More Kids Can Work a Smart Phone Than Tie Their Shoes
    A study conducted by AVG found that 19 percent of 2-5 year-olds could play with a smart phone app, but only 9 percent of those same children could tie their shoes. Yikes!
14. The Idea Economy Requires Digital Learning Now
    Between the two growth sectors, middle class jobs — the ones that created two-car-garage suburban American – are disappearing. Learning is the entry ticket to the idea economy.
15. Is Mobile Affecting When We Read?
    Readers want to consume content in a comfortable place, on their own time and mobile devices are making it possible for readers to take control once more. So is mobile really affecting ‘when’ we read? Know more.

The post 15 Top Learning, Technology & Media Links: Weekly Digest – 16 first appeared on The Upside Learning Blog.