The LO Down

What's happening with Campus Pack at the University of Maryland?

Wed, 16 May 2012 18:38:14 GMT

I was fortunate enough to spend 2 days recently at the University of Maryland, College Park at their sixth annual Innovations in Teaching and Learning Conference hosted by the Office of Information Technology. LO's Co-founder Hal Herzog and I conducted participatory collaborative workshops with faculty and instructional designers during 2 sessions on Social Learning Best Practices with Campus Pack. Check out their site for a host of valuable recorded sessions and information.

A few exciting things I heard and saw that they're doing with Campus Pack to enrich the learning experience for students and faculty are:

Addressing the provost's initiative for an increased in percentage of blended learning classes offered using Campus Pack's to collaborate outside of the classroom
Using Campus Pack wikis to share ideas and candidate feedback for a department head search - avoiding tons of time and inbox space wasted
Reviewing video lectures before and after class via Campus Pack Podcasts
Facilitating student responsibility and empowerment over their learning experience
Watching videos before and after class for larger introductory level classes to introduce terminology and make the most of class time together discussing it

Chris Higgins, Director of OIT-LTE-Learning Technologies & Environments and his team at UMD and all of the people we met were engaged, innovative, and focused on providing the best possible eLearning experience. UMD is turning the traditional classroom on its head and Learning Objects is thrilled to be a part of it!

Teachers are underworked and overpaid…or not?

Fri, 11 May 2012 16:07:55 GMT

Teachers are underworked and overpaid. That’s the mantra in some community and political circles, but is it true?

Well, not according to research from the University of Southern California Rossier School of Education. If you check out the infographic, I think you’ll see some alarming statistics; however, you’ll also see great opportunity.

According to the study teachers work an average of 50 hrs per week and 51% of them work on Sundays; this is compared to only 30% of other full-time professionals doing Sunday time. Now perhaps you’ll say, "yes, but teachers get the summers off." Despite that, teachers still work 99% as many hours a year as the average full-time employee, but they do it in 25% less time. Furthermore, 17% of them hold more than one job. That doesn’t sound underworked to me.

Now, how about those inflated salaries? According to the study, since 1996 teachers’ weekly wages have risen just 0.8% compared to an average 12% increase across all other professions. I wonder how much that statistic contributes to half of teachers quitting within the first five years? Seems depressing when you consider how much influence and responsibility a teacher has in molding and educating our youth. For example, one teacher can touch the lives of over 3,000 students.

However, it’s not all dark and gloomy. For technologists in education, there’s a great opportunity to improve the working circumstances of teachers’ and enhance our education system. We can’t control salaries and inaccurate opinions, but we can control the tool-set that makes teaching more efficient and more effective. A couple quick ideas include:

1. Connection to a social network: Provide or encourage your teachers to network with peers online. This exponentially expands the opportunity to collaborate and build best practices as well as create efficiency in curriculum design - knocking off some of that Sunday afternoon workload. Social networking products like Campus Pack empower instructors to build communities of practice, collaboratively design social assignments, and share their curriculum designs with peers.

2. Adoption of Mobile: Companies like Study By App allow teachers to easily and quickly build study reviews and practice quizzes without having to know anything about the technology. This improves the opportunity for knowledge retention and allows teachers to meet the students where they already spend their time – on their mobile device.

Technology in Learning

Tue, 01 May 2012 19:02:47 GMT

According to Edudemic, “[a] majority of the college students feel that their institution didn’t really train them for the “real world”. They believe that their college might have provided them with formal teachings, but didn’t really introduce them to the real world skills.”

High schools have a responsibility to prepare students for college, and colleges and universities have the responsibility to prepare students for life after graduation. This means so much more than just providing students with knowledge and information; it means helping them grow and mature, providing them with tools to be in a position to manage and excel in entirely new environments once they leave the cocoon of an academic institution.

One skill that is essential to teach students is how to operate in an ever increasingly online world. The benefits of using technology in education are unlimited, but can be narrowed down to two major categories: learning how to navigate, understand, create, and contribute to online forums that are becoming more and more common in the workplace, and learning how to effectively communicate online.

More and more we’re hearing about companies that are seeking to put their manuals and policies online rather than handing out hard copies that end up at the bottom of a pile somewhere. Here at Learning Objects we use Campus Pack as our intranet. This means that our policies are always available to employees, and can be more easily updated and redistributed internally. As this format becomes more and more common, students who have spent time working in wikis and blogs and other sorts of online forums like those available in Campus Pack, are going to be better equipped to overcome the learning curve of an ever increasing online world.

And perhaps even more important than knowing how these sorts of tools work is knowing how online communication differs from face to face communication. Students being exposed to experiences in which they will learn how to communicate online with peers vs. how to communicate with instructors vs. how to communicate with potential employers is invaluable. It is so common now that text and chat speak make it’s way into everyday communication, especially for young students who have always lived in the technology driven world of today. Learning from experience, from very early on, that different methods of communication are appropriate for different audiences will pay dividends to students lucky enough to be learning in an environment that embraces technology.

When you’re making your assignments in Campus Pack for your students, be thinking about how it’s helping them both to prepare to excel in an online world and learn the marked differences between social, educational, and professional communication.

Case Study: HACC Uses Campus Pack with D2L

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:44:21 GMT

This week, Harrisonburg Area Community College Instructional Designer Michael Nichols gave us a look into how Campus Pack is used on his campus within their LMS, Desire2Learn. Through this integration, they have been able to use social assignments to collaborate online on a particularly interesting topic: Zombies. Take a glimpse into their Zombie course by watching the short demo below.

Learn More about the Managed Upgrade Process!

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:04:34 GMT

Here's a quick video explaining the Managed Upgrade process! Check it out and sign up today!:

Pearson Cite Conference this week - stop by to see us!

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:01:25 GMT

Attending Pearson Cite this year in Orlando? Please stop by booth 5 to see Hal Herzog, Director of Product Development, Brian Behnke, and others from the Learning Objects team to take a look at the latest in Campus Pack... or just to give us the chance to say hello.

Also, we'll be co-presenting on Social Learning Best Practices Using Campus Pack with Rhonda Bergamo, Kaplan University's Instructional Design Manager. We will not only discuss best practices across the board, but specific ones that Kaplan has found helpful in increasing student engagement and enriching the learning experience. Rhonda and Hal present Friday 4/13 at 9:45 AM. We hope you can make it!

Social Learning Best Practices: Increasing Student Engagement with Online Collaboration

Rhonda Bergamo Instructional Design Manager, Kaplan University
Hal Herzog Director of Special Projects, Learning Objects, Inc.

Social learning tools foster creativity, innovation, and encourage students to collaborate, communicate, and think critically; the goal of every educator and educational institution. In this session, we will showcase Kaplan University's use of Learning Objects' Campus Pack and highlight other best practices and ways to use these tools in the classroom, as well as how to use a personal learning space to showcase academic and co-curricular work.

Our calendar is filling up fast- schedule your managed upgrade today!

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:28:32 GMT

Calling all CP3 clients! As you know, support for CP3 is ending on July 31, 2012, so this is the time to be making a plan for upgrading to CP4. We want to help make the upgrade process as smooth and simple as possible for you, and a managed upgrade is the great way to accomplish that.

Many of our CP3 clients are scheduling upgrades during the summer break, and our calendar of available times to upgrade is getting more and more full every day.

Shoot your account manager an email at am@learningobjects.com, or give us a call at 202-26-LEARN, to chat about reserving your time on the calendar for your managed upgrade!

Emilie and Margaret are starting to make a habit of this running thing…

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:31:21 GMT

Emilie from our Marketing team and Margaret from Account Management, who you might remember from their festive run through DC back in December, took to the streets once again this weekend, this time in the Cherry Blossom ten mile run.

Although the cherry blossoms had sadly already peaked, it was a beautiful day for a nice long jog and some good conversation in DC. Conversation ranged from the delicious pasta on which both Margaret and Emilie indulged the night before to e-Learning conferences both past and upcoming to managed upgrade and strategies for getting our CP3 clients to upgrade to CP4. We accomplished quite a bit in our 2 hours together!

Here are some of the highlights of what we discussed:

Mobile functionality is FREE and available on Campus Pack 4
Our upgrade process is fast and simple – more information on your upgrade options here and a testimonial from a happy client here.
Templates, templates, templates. Allow your instructors to focus on the task rather than the tool. Check out a quick overview here.
We’ll be at Blackboard world in New Orleans in July. Will you be there? Let us know!
And of course, delicious, delicious pasta!

After the finish Emilie admitted to having caught the running bug and wanting to do the race again next year. Margaret is already signed up for and looking forward to another race in Providence, RI, on May 6!

If you have any questions about upgrading, templates, or anything else about Campus Pack, let us know at info@learningobjects.com. For that matter, we’re happy to answer any questions about running, too. LO has a lot of runners on staff!

Campus Pack in this month's Campus Technology

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:25:12 GMT

If you're thumbing through this month's issue of Campus Technology, you'll spot a familiar interface on page 30.

Campus Pack is featured as an ePortfolio solution in the article "E-Portfolios: Are We There Yet? You can also view the online version here.

Have you found an interesting use for your ePortfolio? We'd love to hear about it! Email us at web2.0@learningobjects. com to tell us about it.

Encouraging Technology Use through the Flipped Classroom Model

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:27:19 GMT

Brian Nido (@BrianNido) is Learning Objects' Account Manager working solely with international clients. He is currently pursuing his Masters in Educational Technology through the University of Michigan.

A year ago I watched the following TED talk (see: http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education.html) from Salman Khan of Khan Academy explaining the method or teaching technique of “flipping the classroom.” At first I thought you literally turned your chairs, desks, books upside down for some progressive and playful student-centered learning technique. Not the case. The concept of flipping the classroom is the act of learning a lecture, which normally would occur in class, at home through podcasts, vodcasts, videos, learning software, or other forms of technology. While at school, students would do the engagement or activity piece and apply what they learned at home. In a nutshell, the learning model is flipped: teaching and learning would occur at home, and the exercise or assignments would occur while you’re in the class with the teacher. Thus, maximizing the valuable time spent with your teacher and peers.

Here's a video explanation of a Flipped Classroom at a Colorado school:

Here are some highlights and benefits for this model:

- self-pace for students; they are able to learn at their own speed

- opportunity for students to engage while together

- rewind and review teacher recordings if things are unclear

- students won’t be embarrassed to re-ask questions as they can re-watch videos

- traditional teaching is teacher lectures, students listen when in the same room; not anymore!

- now bring in human experience, lively engagement when together

- encourage experimentation

- frees up time for simulations, games in school

- able to analyze data metrics or analytics (how they are using/learning technology at home)

- 100% time with teacher is now applying what is learned

- encourages use of technology and tools (like Campus Pack!)

Here's an excellent inforgraphic (taken from Knewton.com):

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

This model is a departure from how we were all taught in school, but increases the use of technology. And we can certainly use Campus Pack for this teaching style. In this model: I would be given a tutorial video or podcast at home (in Campus Pack) where I can listen to at my own pace, come to class prepared with questions, and work through a simulation with a teacher and peers. It's that simple! There's an increase of technology use, peer engagement, maximization of time with a teacher, and all the points I mentioned above. Are any of you using this style of teaching?

Learning Objects and Jenzabar Partner to Extend Social Learning in Education

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:38:43 GMT

Learning Objects, Inc., the leader in social software for teaching and learning, is proud to announce a partnership with Jenzabar, Inc., a leading provider of software, services, and strategies for higher education. Through the affiliation, Jenzabar users will be able to collaborate online and network with peers and instructors using social learning applications within Learning Objects’ software.

Learning Objects’ application suite of social software tools, Campus Pack®, is now integrated with various Jenzabar® technology including the e-Racer® learning management system. With the broadened offerings, Jenzabar clients are able to utilize a host of applications including social assignments within courses, social networks, ePortfolios, and personal development plans.

Campus Pack General Manager Craig Johnson offered, “Learning Objects is excited to partner with a leading education technology provider like Jenzabar to deliver Campus Pack’s social media functionality to instructors, administrators, and students. Through this partnership, Jenzabar clients will have access to a palette of tightly integrated social media tools including wikis, blogs, journals, podcasts, discussion boards, and templates, for use both within courses and by individuals outside the course.”

Additionally, all users will have access to a Personal Learning Space to maintain academic and co-curricular content, as well as share information with anyone inside or outside the institution, such as peers, advisers, or prospective employers. Personal Learning Spaces also allow users to network, send messages, and create common interest groups online, such as communities of practice, study groups, athletic teams, and panhellenic organizations.

“The integration of Campus Pack into Jenzabar’s learning management system, e-Racer, will foster collaboration, increase student engagement, and improve learning outcomes,” said Robert A. Maginn, Jr., Jenzabar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Social media components are an important part of today’s pedagogy, and this partnership will provide Jenzabar clients with the opportunity to use the latest Web 2.0 social collaboration tools in the learning process.”

Campus Pack integrates with e-Racer using Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI). LTI is a new specification from the IMS Global Learning Consortium, which allows for seamless launch and single sign-on between eLearning systems.

About Jenzabar, Inc.

Jenzabar, Inc. is a leading provider of enterprise software and services developed exclusively for higher education. With more than 40 years of combined experience offering technology solutions to colleges and universities, Jenzabar is the trusted partner of choice to more than 700 campuses worldwide, including private liberal arts, state, and community colleges and business, medical, law and other graduate schools. Jenzabar is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, with regional offices located across the United States. For further information, please visit www.jenzabar.com.

A Follow-Up Case Study - The Digital Citizenship Project

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:42:24 GMT

Earlier this year, we took a look at the Digital Citizenship Project, and how Jon Orech (@jorech) has used Campus Pack to connect students across the nation and prevent cyber bulling. Here are some additional details on how this project took shape:

High school sophomores serve as cyber mentors for middle school students on the topic of cyberbully protection & promotion of digital citizenship

When it Happened: The first deployment of the Digital Citizenship Project was the Spring of 2011. The project was repeated this past fall with new students, and will continue every semester.

Challenge Faced/Project Inspiration: Illinois state law requires Internet safety instruction for all students in grades 3-12, but was nebulus about the nature of the instruction. District 99 decided that a vertical embedded curriculum be developed. The main topics selected were Netiquette, Digital Citizenship, Cybercrime Prevention and Managing Digital Tattoo (Footprint). In addition to being embedded in existing classes, it was decided that all curriculum be project based with a focus on creating for an authentic audience.

How It Works: During a Personal Safety unit, sophomore health students research the causes and ramifications of cyberbullying and pose essential questions. Through “lit circles” students read and discuss cases taken from “Teen Cyberbullying Investigated” (Jacobs, 2011). Armed with this new knowledge, students post letters on Campus Pack blogs intended for middle school students with personal anecdotes and suggestions for cyberbully prevention and protection. Blogs are sent to participating middle school (MS) teachers and students. MS students read 2-4 posts and respond by commenting and asking further questions. Serving as “cyber mentors” sophomore students continue the conversation, displaying good Digital Citizenship to their “protegees.”

What Sets It Apart: This project matters for two reasons. First, students CREATE (instead of complete) for an authentic audience and purpose. In addition to cyberbully protection, students look in the mirror and ask “I’m behaving responsibly?” The HS mentors guide protegees, pose and answer questions, and engage in authentic discourse with those who genuinely want to know more. Second, both groups of students are assessed, not only on their knowledge of the topics, but also their practice of the behaviors.

Key Beneficiaries/Results:
The first benefit for the high school students was the amount of voluntary revision that was done. HS students wrote and revised more once they knew the audience was younger students.
Another benefit was the knowledge that was learned about the legal ramifications of cyberbullying. HS students scored significantly higher on an assessment measuring knowledge on legal consequences of Cyberbullying after participating in the project.
From the younger students’ perspective, there were also numerous benefits. MS teachers reported that students were impressed that HS students cared enough to write to them. As a result, they were more prone to continue the discussion in a safe, familiar environment, knowing they could trust their mentors. In at least one case, MS administrators are reporting a decrease in known incidents of cyberbullying after students participate in this project.

Surprises, "Ah Hah!" Moments, Next Steps, Advice:
While strong relationships were forged throughout the project, one interaction was truly remarkable. After reading the “mentor’s” post, one MS student confessed that he had bullied someone online. A second MS student berated the first for his actions. Taking the “high ground,” the HS student politely intervened and pointed out that the second student’s behavior was in effect bullying, and asked her to stop. The 2nd MS student apologized.
In the future District 99 plans to:
Develop longer cyber mentor relationships.
Have HS students include pics of self with post.
Skype with groups afterwards to place faces with names.
Develop a Campus Pack blog for teacher communication, resources, conversations.

Reasons for choices of technology: Campus Pack replaced Edmodo for this project. Minimal setup was required for students to write text, add images, and videos to help younger kids understand how to safely navigate the web. With one click, we made blogs accessible and sent links to middle school students nationwide who select and comment on our students' posts and continue the conversation. Assessment is efficient since teachers can read, comment, or collect all posts and comments by an individual student.

Did You Know? - How to improve the look of your PLS

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:35:06 GMT

Everyone who uses Campus Pack gets their own place, outside of the course areas, to make their own. This is called the Personal Learning Space, or PLS. You can use it as an ePortfolio, store of your academic work as well as extracurricular activities and interests all in one place. You can share some or all of PLS content with others inside and outside your school. You can even invite people in via email.

You can do a lot to make your PLS look like your PLS, and not someone elses. Let's take a look at what I did...

You can see that I changed the default colors, and I changed the default image to a lobsta (there are rumors I'm from Maine).

Changing your theme

Most of the time, you can get to your PLS by clicking on a PLS tab or a link in your CMS. This is something your CMS admin would setup.

Once there, click on your name in the upper right corner, and then click on settings.

The settings page allows you to use either the default theme, or one of the many others. Yes, there are a plethora of themes.

Changing your icon

From that same page you can also change the icon. While writing this, I decided to bother Hal by changing my icon to a jumping frog.

There's one obvious button called Change Image. When you click that, you're able to select your new icon. I chose the froggyanimated.gif.

Here is the final result. My icon changed from a lobster to a jumping green frog and the color theme is now green.

Changing your shirt

Ok, this really isn't part of Campus Pack, but, from time to time, change your shirt. Trust me.

Have a great idea for the LO Down? Let us know at web2.0@learningobjects.com!

Let us nominate you for the Campus Technology Innovators Award!

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:12:37 GMT

Campus Technology Innovators is seeking applications from institutions using technology on their campus in new and innovative ways for their annual Campus Technology Innovators Award. We know that you, our clients, are using Campus Pack in ways that will catch the eye of their decision makers, and we want to nominate you!

They are looking for innovative ideas in areas including teaching and learning, student systems and services, administrative systems, leadership, governance and policy, IT infrastructure systems, and education futurists. Click here for more information on those categories, and on what the winners will receive.

Please contact web2.0@learningobjects.com and share with us an exciting and innovative way in which your institution is using Campus Pack! The deadline is February 15, 2012, so send us your entries soon!

In the meantime, sign up for our free trainings this week that will showcase 5 use cases from Campus Pack schools and how you can recreate them. Click below to sign up.

Tueday, Feb 7, 10:00 AM EST
Wednesday, Feb 8, 4:00 PM EST
Tuesday, Feb 14, 11:00 AM EST
Wednesday, Feb 15, 5:00 PM EST

FETC Kindle Winner Announced

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:11:14 GMT

Congratulations to Chris Lambert from Translyvania County Schools in North Carolina! He won the drawing for our free kindle at FETC.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth!

Campus Pack - Free Training!

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:09:13 GMT

Free Campus Pack Training Scheduled

Start your semester off with new ideas! Get a free refresher on the tools available in Campus Pack 4, and how you can use them in your courses!

Join one of our one-hour free training webinars!

What: Campus Pack 4 training

When: Several dates scheduled
Who Should Attend: Instructional technologists, eLearning trainers, directors of technology, chief technology officers, faculty, and others interested in using Campus Pack
Where: Online webinar with VoIP
Cost: No charge

Click the date to sign up for a live training. Please note all webinars are listed in Eastern Standard Time.

Tueday, Feb 7, 10:00 AM EST
Wednesday, Feb 8, 4:00 PM EST
Tuesday, Feb 14, 11:00 AM EST
Wednesday, Feb 15, 5:00 PM EST

Can't make any of the dates above? We will post the recordings on the community site, and plan to schedule more over the next several weeks.

Understanding Personal Learning Spaces

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:37:57 GMT

Check out our short 3 minute video on our personal learning spaces work in Campus Pack 4!

Managed Upgrade - Feedback from Babson College

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:10:54 GMT

If you haven't upgraded to Campus Pack 4 yet, Learning Objects is offering a new service to help make your upgrade experience easy. This process entails a dedicated Learning Objects engineer moving all of your Campus Pack 3 content en masse to Campus Pack 4, followed by a monitoring and supervision window to ensure that all content has successfully been upgraded and resolve any unforeseen issues within the new environment.

Over their recent semester break, our team successfully executed a quick and painless managed upgrade to Campus Pack 4 for client Babson College. Babson College has been a long time client, and has published two case studies based on their usage of Campus Pack.

Tova Duby, Senior Manager of Blended Learning Implementation in the Curriculum Innovation and Technology Group at Babson was able to relax and enjoy time off while her dedicated engineer upgraded their social learning content to our latest version. She shares that "Everything's great! Any issues encountered were understood and quickly addressed. This upgrade was easy and painless for us."

Stay tuned for more feedback from Babson soon about their experience and how their hybrid and traditional programs are taking advantage of the new capabilities now at their fingertips. If you are interested in learning more about Managed Upgrade, please contact your account manager at am@learningobjects.com.

FETC 2012

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:09:57 GMT

Are you heading to FETC 2012? We'll see you there!

If you haven't registered yet, you can use the Learning Objects VIP code FREE116 during the registration process, and receive free expo only passes or $30 off your full conference pass, courtesy of Learning Objects.

We also invite you to stop by the Learning Objects booth (#759) to discuss what's new in the latest release of Campus Pack, or your options for upgrading to Campus Pack 4, including our new managed upgrade service.

If you would prefer a one-on-one meeting to discuss your upgrade options, or any other questions you have, please contact Director of Client Services Sharon Della to schedule a time. She can be reached at 202-265-3276, ext 153 or sdella@learningobjects.com.

Jingle all the Way 8K!

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:29:43 GMT

At the end of December Emilie Udell of our marketing team and Margaret Whiting from client services took to the streets of Washington, DC, for the annual Jingle all the way 8k race. They ran the 5+ mile race through the streets of DC and in the shadow of the capital building with bells on their shoes and an excess of holiday spirit!

They were huge crowd favorites as Emilie cruised along in candy cane garb with Margaret in tow dressed as an elf (Buddy the elf, specifically). Lucky for all of us Emilie Sullivan from our operations department was on hand to snap a photo of them in action!

It was a beautiful morning in Washington and the run was a wonderful way to usher in some great holiday spirit. All of us here at Learning Objects hope you had a great holiday season, and we look forward to working with you in this new year!

After the finish!

Feng Chia University - A Training Story from Belle Chu

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:41:23 GMT

Belle Chu works as a Market Specialist for Learning Objects in Taiwan. In today's LO Down, she shares the following story about Feng Chia University, and how they are using Campus Pack to chart each student's career path.

One of the key features of Campus Pack is its social networking and powerful linking ability. Schools can use this flexible function to build their academic department and student clubs. The group members can easily include supplemental information for a course and from their personal learning space to add color to the group’s community. This function also provides a great environment for designing the school’s career center community, because it has several elements that the career center needs including student’s individual accounts, their course assignment collection, resume template, and an ePortfolio function.

Feng Chia University is well-known for their eLearning development and is always eager to test new software and adopt new ideas to help their students. They have been using Campus Pack since last year and have decided to implement Campus Pack in building their Career Development Center community.

Feng Chia University provides outstanding career development help for their students, and really focus on linking the school education to the students’ future career path. They provide career testing, career training courses, presentations, internship opportunities, and career consulting for their students. Campus Pack’s social linking ability, resume template, course assignments, and ePortfolio can help them reach their goals.

Feng Chia’s career development center regularly invites some well-known industry professionals and experts to give speeches. The presentation can be recorded and recast using the podcasting tool Campus Pack provides. Speeches have been separated into episodes and include written content about the recordings. This makes it easier to review the speech and students are able to absorb more since, as we know, a two-hour speech might only require 10 minutes to read.

They also use Campus Pack’s template function to link to a students’ career path. For example, it helps students design their resume template and introduction model verified by different types of majors. It also provides an ePorfolio function, so students can easily build their ePortfolio to share with others. They can even include their previous schoolwork in their ePortfolio since some of their course assignments are kept on their own personal space.

Students use Campus Pack to design their ePortfolio which can be easily linked to different pages as shown on the right hand side.

Feng Chia University also effectively use Campus Pack to collaborate and build the long-term relationship with students, since it is facilitated through Campus Pack’s ability to keep lines of communication open. The discussion board allows up-to-date information to be quickly delivered student feedback to be quickly received and shared. They also through Campus Pack’s individual personal space link to other people and read the content they want to share. The member list will be displayed in the group community. They can use this connecting feature to continue to provide help to the students individually and provide help specific to a particular student’s needs.

Feng Chia concentrates in building the great community site for their students!

Learning Objects Holiday Party

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:11:57 GMT

Learning Objects' staff enjoyed dinner out at Carmine's last week in celebration of the holiday season, and the close of another great year at Learning Objects! Here are a few pictures from the event:

Support Lead Travis Beall, Sales Manager Mike Betnun, and QA Manager Stephen Affleck

Co-founder Hal Herzog gives a toast.

Enjoying food at Carmine's.

CEO Derek Hamner awards trivia winners with gift cards.

Controller Pamela Rosenberg and Director of Client Services Sharon Della

Engineers Kai Rikhye, Jamie Albinson, and Darrel Gasper

Engineer Darrel Gasper, Systems Engineer James Martin, Support Team's LaCharles Earle

Cheers with Merlin Hughes, Craig Johnson, and Noel Johnson

Consultant Chris Baer, Director of Marketing Noel Johnson, and Software Engineer Jeremy Dunsworth

Special thanks to Chris Baer for the photos!

Reflections from the CUNY IT Conference

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:27:43 GMT

The City University of New York celebrated its 10th annual IT conference last week and by all accounts it was a huge success. Over 1,000 people attended the 2-day conference where sessions focused on Strategic Planning for Online Courses, Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, and Enhancing Collaboration and eLearning on Campus. LO was so thrilled to be included in this exciting event.

We were honored that our presentation on Social Learning Best Practices: Increasing Student Engagement and Retention was well received by the standing room only group attending. John DiGennaro from Baldwin-Wallace College who co-presented with us on how he's leveraged Campus Pack to increase at-risk student retention by 15%.

In case you missed the presentation, you can view copies of the slides below.

View more presentations from learningobjects

We would also like to announce the winner of our survey drawing for a $100 Amazon Gift Card: Congratulations to Donna Dickinson from Borough of Manhattan Community College! Happy spending!

Understanding Managed Upgrade

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:20:24 GMT

Interested in upgrading to Campus Pack 4?

Let us do all the work!

For a nominal fee, Learning Objects will conduct a managed upgrade for you. This process entails a dedicated Learning Objects engineer moving all of your Campus Pack 3 content en masse to Campus Pack 4, followed by a monitoring and supervision window during which your engineer will inspect and ensure that all content has successfully been upgraded and resolve any unforeseen issues within the new environment. To find out more about this option, contact your account manager at am@learningobjects.com.