A 3d virtual world, Smallworlds addresses a ton of the major drawbacks to its bigger competitors in the space:

- Browser based. No downloads, no installations, no patches, no reinstalls for updates. It launches inside the Web browser and can even be embedded inside Web systems. This makes the transition from, for example, a Web site or forum into out of Smallworlds nearly transparent.

- Flash platform killer graphics. The graphics look terrific. The development team has obviously coded something heavy on top of the Flash engine because the rendering is beautiful, and yet the graphics load very quickly.

- Short learning curve. Sign up for your account, set up an avatar, and push a button. You’re whooshed to the “landing pad,” and from there you take a series of tutorials that provide basic training for Smallworlds. Takes about a half hour or so start to finish (much shorter for kids, I’m sure).

- Easy avatar creation. Point, click, select. You now have an avatar. The selection of possible avatar look ‘n feel options is surprisingly wide, which results in a very diverse avatar population. The avatars are decidedly young looking – not childish, but definitely hankering toward the young set.

- Dead simple navigation. No need to learn lots of complicated gestures or character movement keys. Want your avatar to walk? Click on the place you’d like them to end up, and they’ll just head on over. Want to visit another place? Find it in the places directory, click on “Go There” and, well, you’ll go there.

- Nice Facebook integration. The Facebook app is already live, which makes sense, since it’s an embedded Flash application. This seems like it could have big implications, since users can just use their Facebook accounts to sign in and out of Smallworlds. No need to set up a completely separate logon, which is becoming more of a hassle online, and is a big challenge for people trying to blend systems.

- Challenge or mission orientation. We’ve adopted the “quest” or challenge learning model for the new PlanetGED program. Smallworlds’ essential play factor involves setting up “missions,” interactive challenges that guide players through an experience or knowledge base.

- Community standards. Smallworlds is populated by a young crowd, yet doesn’t seem to have descended into the sleaze haven that Second Life can sometimes seem. There’s plenty of adult language (minimum age to join: 13) and no shortage of gamer-style griefing, but for the most part, it seems like a pretty cool, civilized place.

The Learning Application

For us, Smallworlds creates that sort of “portal” between the Web world and a virtual universe. It lets us present content, games, challenges, sample GED exams, etc. from a Web site. But we can design missions and challenges for students to complete in-world. They pop right into Smallworlds without having to fire up another application, deal with connection or version issues.

While we’re still struggling with the details, it looks like Smallworlds is going to let us pull together our 3 big components: downloadable content (games, audio, video), experiential or challenge-based learning, and a learning management system (for assessment).

At this point, we’re planning to set up “Planet GED” within the Smallworlds environment, and create 5 “island” spaces on which to host learning challenges. We think we’ll also be able to embed Flash-based games within the islands, as well as hosting them on the Web site itself.

Challenges with Smallworlds

I have to confess that the biggest challenge for us in setting up Smallworlds as a learning platform is the learning curve for me. There’s not really a central point of knowledge or information about Smallworlds. There’s no user guide, for example, that provides a 1-2-3 step by step approach to building a Smallworlds presence.

Smallworlds’ support mantra seems to extend to: “Go look at the forums,” whenver a question arises. The internal forums are great. They seem really helpful and friendly. But they’re very scattered and present a major time consuming challenge to an old dog trying to learn a few new tricks.

Maybe that’s a great opportunity for an author with some extra time on their hands.

There are other logistical and conceptual challenges to dealing with Smallworlds – setting up space, embedding assets, etc. But they can all be pretty well summarized in the user guide issue.

Also, Smallworlds is distinctly less open-source than Second Life and other virtual worlds. There is basically no user generated content, and the system isn’t yet real amenable to a professional presence (there are shops, restaurants, clubs, game rooms, etc., but not much in the way of a branded presence).

That’s probably great for keeping a hip vibe, but it seems like the development team would be smart to create some conceptual space for outside organizations to set up their “small worlds.” They don’t seem opposed to it, but not particularly welcoming, either.

For organizations – and individuals – with intellectual property, branding concerns, and stability issues (ie, no particular desire to jump on board a sinking ship), it would be great to have some policy and procedure in place for pro or corporate accoungs. Even if they have to do it secretly.

The Smallworlds Verdict

We’re going to do it. I feel like this is very early stage for Smallworlds, which of course means opportunity as well as risk going forward. But I think they’ve got the right idea. We’re going to bet they’re going in the right direction.

I’ll keep you posted.

That’s how things have been lately on the PlanetGED project.

We’re trying to create a study system for people who are having a hard time passing the GED. We figure they’re a great group to try to help: A group that wants to do something great with their lives – pass the GED – but maybe doesn’t have the resources to do it.

It’s also a group of 200,000 people every year, so well worth the effort.

Our objective: To create an effective learning experience that is not at all like “school.” The point: If GED seekers wanted to go back to school, they’d probably still be in school.

No “courses,” no “lessons,” no “assignments,” no “tests.” Less like a lockdown virtual school and more like a fun, inclusive game.

So far, this is what we’ve come up with: PlanetGED. We’re working to create a virtual “planet” with continents dedicated to each of the 5 components of the GED (reading, writing, math, science and social sciences).

Explorers will traverse the continents corresponding with their GED challenges, completing quests, playing games, and taking practice assessments as they go.

I’ve had the distinct pleasure to contact and begin strategizing with some exceptionally talented people who love learning and espcially the chance to help others make their lives great. Thanks to the amazing Michael Williams and Ariella Furman, we’re integrating two of the most powerful technomovments of this moment: mobile gaming and virtual worlds.

The real challenge is to create a system that lets us adapt, integrate and connect. We’re adapting established genres from gaming and digital storytelling, integrating at least 3 platforms (mobile, virtual world, and Web), and crucially, create portals back to a learning framework.

Among other things, it’s almost got me thinking we need to completely rethink the Learning Management System (LMS), and adapt its framework for several new platforms.

Along those lines, I’m tentatively impressed with the SLoodle project, seeking to integrate the Moodle LMS with Second Life. At this point, it looks mainly like an effort to plug Moodle into SL, a formidable task in itself.

But I think we need to go beyond, and get to a LMS that is equal parts mobile, virtual world, and Web. I’m thinking the quickest way to do that is to create portals: effectively, to poke holes in each platform so users and their data can transport back and forth seamlessly.

No big deal, I know. haha

The group at RezEd looks like they’re working this frontier, too. I’ll have to dig a little deeper and look for solutions there.

Here’s the big point: What we’re really trying to do is create a bridge from the academic process to the learning process (seems like they should be close enough to negate the need for a bridge, yes? but, alas, they’re not).

Learning can take place in any moment, using any tool or technology. It’s completely organic and agnostic about its form. That’s why people are learning so much from tutorials and YouTube videos and even some blog posts!

But when you impose the idea of using that learning to do something like pass a standardized test, you have to stir in some measure of the academic process (the ability to formalize, assess and measure discrete bits of knowledge).

And this is where you’ve got to be careful, because the easiest thing to do is to simply default back to the academic model of courses, lessons, assignments and test. That’s the model that failed our target group in the first place.

We want explorers on PlanetGED to have fun, gain confidence in their brainpower, and also improve their GED scores.

It’s turning out to be a very interesting challenge.

Stay tuned and I’ll keep you, um, posted.

Each year, around 700,000 Americans take the GED and about 200,000 of them don’t pass one of the five segments. We’re putting together a study program to help them succeed.

One of the driving values behind PlanetGED is user-friendly space and methods. We know it’s tough to go back to school any time, at any age, and even harder if you feel like school has already been a n0-go for you.

So we are working to develop a series of animated characters to “host” the program and to deliver short (1 minute) overview tutorials that introduce subjects, test taking hints, and key concepts. Hopefully, it’ll be done with a little bit of humor, too.

We had originally looked at online animation sites GoAnimate.com and xtraNormal.com, but it doesn’t look like either will be quite robust enough. We’d like for the characters to be engaging and fun, and also look great.

Our latest effort is to try to put together an machinima effort. If you’re not familiar with machinima, it’s really an art form that uses 3d gaming and virtual world platforms to create films, tell stories, and we hope, build tutorials.

Machinima.com is a pretty good place to be introduced (head’s up: most machinima still uses video game assets and may have, shall we say, “adult” themes).

We’re starting to see some really great machinima using virtual world platforms like Second Life. With its stunning graphics Blue Mars looks like a no-brainer for machinima in the future.

At this point, we have a great team of game and audio developers waiting to get on with the project, and at least the prospect of a very exciting delivery program. We’d like to find a machinima filmmaker to take this part of the project and run with it.

If you know anybody who makes machinima either professionally or for fun, feel free to contact us via the comments (they’re moderated, but we’ll get back to you).

Otherwise, I’m going to have to learn machinima tools and techniques. Now that would be scary!

One of our priorities is to make the program user-friendly. Not just easy to use, but also friendly to the users. There are probably lots of ways to do that, but we’d like to use animated characters.

Now, I don’t know if you’ve been involved with an animation project, but they can be brutal. Animation is a super technical process to start with, and figuring out how to use it is a whole separate challenge. Every time I get into anything involving animation, it reminds me why it takes the folks at Dreamworks years to create their movies.

Anyway, there are two very cool online animation sites on my radar screen these days. Both make it possible to create animated clips without actually having to learn animation.

Both are free for casual users. Both have commercial licenses for business, education, etc.

Both launch animations from their own servers. You can build, publish to YouTube or a video hosting site and then embed in your own site. It’s kind of clunky, but there’s probably a tech reason for it.

GoAnimate is a burgeoning site and community for animated filmmakers. It features a ton of stock images and characters, plus the capability to create your own.

I like …

• Its ease of use. A couple quick tutorials and I can at least build my first animation (no, you’ll never see it).
• I can upload background images, characters, props, etc.
• It has a very active user community.
• Support seems very helpful.

I don’t like …

• No lip sync feature. It does provide for a sound track upload, but the movements won’t sync.
• The commercial license that I’ve seen so far is quite pricey ($500.00 per mo., at least).

xtraNormal allows users to create animated clips much the same way as GoAnimate, but uses a text-to-speech engine that makes it possible for you to enter text and have the character actually speak.

I like …

The text to speech feature I like massively.

The characters and scenes are pretty cool.

xtraNormal has produced a desktop version called “State” which promises to put the whole process in your lap.

The “State” product will feature a voiceover, so you can record audio and have the character “speak” your piece. It features a lip sync function, and looks very impressive.

The commercial license is only $250 per year.

I don’t like …

The technology still seems a little bit primitive. It has a very “in development” vibe about it.

The beta version of “State” has some pretty serious bugs.

I can’t quite get a handle on the company or its support function. It uses a forum approach and looks like user questions go unanswered for quite a while at a time.

At this point, I haven’t quite decided which product to use for the Planet GED study program. I’d like to have the customization features of GoAnimate and the lip synch and speech to text of xtraNormal.

Can’t have both, I guess. So I’ll keep evaluating and figure something out within a few days.

Their accreditors are too stodgy. Their faculty are too territorial and entrenched.

They need an outsource solution that can move fast, provide world-class quality and accountability, and keep their students at the leading edge.

We’re working on it.

The Program Development Challenge
One of the greatest challenges facing all colleges and universities is the need to develop and deploy new degree programs. The need to do so rapidly and with extraordinary quality further complicates the issue.

Most colleges and universities are not configured to quickly develop and deploy new education programs. They are staffed by experts, and often serve under bureaucratic accreditation regimes, which slows down their ability to quickly create and offer programs.
Cost Barriers
Further, even if schools are able to quickly configure new programs, the cost to develop and deploy them is prohibitive, especially when there is no guarantee of a payback.

As a result, most schools limit themselves to the “standard” degree programs, both in the classroom and in their online and distance learning operations. In the distance education marketplace, they compete head-to-head with other schools who offer almost exactly the same product as they do.
The Dilemma
Consequently, schools such as those featured in the DETC survey results sit on the sharp tip of a dilemma: they need to differentiate themselves from the 1800 other schools offering the convenience of distance education, yet lack to ability to bring new products to market.

Partnering To Increase Enrollments
Outsource Degree Programs

Progressive institutions of higher education have begun to think in terms of outsource solutions to resolve many of their operating issues. Outsourcing degree programs is one sensible approach to solving their program development dilemmas

Advantages of Outsourcing
Outsourcing degree programs offers colleges and universities several important advantages:
• Rapid Development – Often, degree programs can be tailored and launched within 30 days
• Creative Product – Degrees are easily configured to meet innovative and unique market niches
• Cost Effectiveness – The cost to create and deploy degrees is significantly less than the cost of doing it in-house, both in terms of time and money
  

Outsourcing Options
Schools may choose from several outsource degree options:

• Turnkey Comprehensive Programs – in which schools may contract out the entire development, deployment and delivery process, including faculty
• Content-Only Programs – in which schools may contract out the development process, but deploy and deliver the degrees themselves, employing their own faculty members
• Blended Programs – in which schools may contract out any a portion of the overall process

Should You Outsource Degree Plans?

We outsource complete degree plans, so we often hear the question, “Should we really outsource a degree?” After all, there are accreditation concerns, faculty issues, and quality control to maintain.

These are excellent points, and great issues to consider when deciding to outsource a degree. However, in this age of intense competition for students, outsourcing a degree has many advantages.

Whether or not to outsource depends upon two major factors: 1.) whether it suits your model for innovation and 2.) whether your outsource partner understands your environment and requirements.

Opportunities in Outsourcing
There are many great reasons to consider outsourcing degree programs. By “outsourcing,” we mean contracting with a partner to provide some combination of the content, structure, and instructional process that make up an academic degree program.

Outsourcing can mean simply purchasing a program to be offered by local faculty. It can mean contracting to have a specialized degree program developed. Or it can mean entering into an agreement in which the outsource partner provides a turnkey degree solution, including program, structure, and instructional faculty.

Cost
Although it may not seem so at first glance, licensing or purchasing a degree program can represent a significant savings over developing one in-house. Cost, as we are using the term, must be measured in both money and time. Developing a degree in-house can be brutally expensive by both measures. For many fields, such as Bioterror Security or Digital Media Production, change is occurring so rapidly that the average institution is simply not possible to develop an entire degree before it becomes obsolete!The other important cost measurement related to outsourcing is the risk associated with non-compliance, especially as it relates to accreditation. We work carefully with each client to make sure our programs meet their institutional profiles and accreditor’s expectations.Time To Market
Outsourcing a program is the most efficient way to move to market quickly. Related to the cost issues discussed above, every day that a degree program is “in development” is a day it loses the opportunity to enroll students. It is also a day that competitors can use to get ahead.

With our programs, “time to market” is literally days, usually 60 to 90 at most. We use those days to configure our degree programs to your specifications, make any necessary customizations, and load them into your online learning platform, if needed.

In many cases, clients can be offering their new degree plans for the following semester.

Innovation
The degree development process makes it difficult for most institutions to develop truly innovative degree programs. Sometimes there are “too many cooks” working to brew up a new degree plan, and the process gets bogged down. Other times, there are too few reality checks, so well-meaning faculty committees produce implausible or unmarketable degree product.

We test our degree programs across a broad spectrum of variables, including current trends in education, emerging trends in industry, and profound shifts in areas such as national security or health practice.

Perhaps most important, we test our ideas across a wide spectrum of institutions and providers. The feedback we receive from you and your competitors is invaluable in helping us shape the degree plans we offer today, and the ones we will introduce tomorrow.

Issues in Outsourcing
Just as there are outstanding opportunities in outsourcing degrees, so there are important issues and potential landmines to understand as well. It is crucial that your outsourcing projects be structured so that they do not detract from your overall mission or erode your base of credibility.

Maintaining Institutional Control
We are careful to be sure that every program is tailored to match our client’s institutional profile and to fit within their span of institutional control. The client’s situation and accreditation relationships drive decisions such as program level (ie., certificate only, bachelors, masters), assessment measures, and faculty deployments, among others.We are aware of the importance of institutional control, especially for accredited institutions. Our programs are tailored to meet institutional control standards for each client.

Reporting Systems and Relationships
With an outsource program, it is important to establish clear and mutually agreeable reporting relationships at the outset. Arrangements such as revenue sharing, traffic sharing, and content sharing can be confusing and cause irritation to the outsource relationship.All of our programs are offered for either license or purchase. Our license fees are due on a monthly basis. Sales arrangements are made up front. With either arrangement, clients are welcome to enroll as many students as they wish, serve the courses in as many platforms or formats as they wish, and integrate the programs into as many offerings as they wish.

Learning Management Systems
Especially in the online environment, a “gap” can emerge between the format in which the courses are designed and the format required by the client’s learning management system.

In the academic environment, this “gap” can be addressed by instructional technologists or support staff members. In an outsource environment, it can become difficult to decide who should handle converting and adapting materials to the client’s learning management system.

We believe it is our obligation to provide programs that are ready to serve. With our client’s permission, we offer to convert and upload all program content into their learning management system (“permission” refers to the occasional desire for clients to keep their LMS private).

How to Outsource
If you have never purchased curriculum or outsourced a program before, it may be a challenge to envision the process. There are several ways to structure an outsourcing arrangement, including license and purchase options. There are also multiple ways to arrange for instruction of an outsourced program.

License
With a license agreement, clients pay a monthly fee for the use of our degree programs (36 month minimum commitment). They are entitled to unlimited upgrades as the program content is updated to reflect changes in the environment or technology. The client’s right to offer the programs ends at the close of the license period.

Purchase
With a purchase agreement, clients pay a single fee for unlimited use of our programs at their own discretion. They are entitled to unlimited upgrades for the first six months after purchase.

Outsource Courses – Insource Faculty
Clients can handle the instruction of outsource courses by matching the courses with their own faculty members. Oursource Courses – Outsource Faculty
Clients can handle the instruction of oursource courses by contracting with us for a turnkey solution, which includes qualified, pre-approved faculty members for each course. (Turnkey solutions priced separately from purchase or license agreements.)

The Future of Oursourcing
The benefits and opportunities associated with outsourcing degree programs make the outsource model highly attractive. Especially in an age of cost sensitivity, cash-flow demand, and constant rapid change, it makes sense for some institutions to pursue outsource arrangements for some of their programs.

We believe our programs will greatly benefit those institutions.

Four Components of a Learning Lifetime

“Lifelong learning.” It’s all the buzz.

But what does it mean? Get more degrees? Read incessantly? Seminar after seminar after seminar?

More important, how do you do it?

Lifelong learning is made up of 4 slices. We create learning for each.

Formal Education

Formal, traditional education forms the base of your lifetime learning. From compulsory to advanced, formal education provides the platform to launch a learning lifetime. Or it should, anyway.

Diplomas, degrees and sometimes certificates (like the GED) make up your formal education. Many people also believe that “formal” education is the same thing as “complete” or “finished” education.

Big mistake. Life changes too fast. Opportunities and jobs disappear in a cosmic eyeblink. And new ones appear just as quickly.

Your formal education is only one component of a learning lifetime. There is plenty of good evidence to suggest that it’s not even the most important.

Our offerings in formal education:

• Outsource degree programs
• Bi-lingual education programs

Specialized Skills

Welcome to the world of niches. Here’s what’s happened: Standard “work” as we’ve known it for several generations is vulnerable to replacement. That is, if you can be trained to perform a function easily, someone else can be trained to perform that function, too. If that someone else is willing to perform your function for cheaper than you, guess what: They’re going to get the “job.”

It may not seem “fair” but it’s the way things work. Always have, always will.

What’s your best (maybe only) line of defense: Develop a specialized, valuable skill that someone else cannot easily learn. In other words, create your own niche. It’s not only smart to find and mine a niche, it’s also fun. Much more fun than a mundane, repetitive, work-for-the-man “job.”

Our offerings to help you create a specialized niche:

• Ames Media Institute (creating media niches)
• Institute for Technical Magic (coming soon)

Periodic Reskilling (and upskilling)

If you followed the point above about finding and mining your own specialized niche, you’ve just got to know: as soon as you develop a highly specialized and valuable niche, somebody else is going to want in.

So you’ll have to create another. Then another. Then another. It’ll never end.

That’s the nature of life in the Learning Age. Get used to it.

Our offerings to help you periodically improve, enhance or revise your specialized skill set:

• Training Activator
• Industry-specific Academies

Disposable Knowledge

It may sound like a heresy, but some knowledge is disposable. Use it once, twice, three times, and you’ll never need it again. (Think about your mad skillz in Wordstar 5 for an example.)

Our offerings in disposable knowledge:

• OTF Tutorials

Welcome to Canis Learning Systems

We build learning systems in each of the 4 quadrants of a great learning life. Our mission is to create a lifelong “learning system” that meets the needs and demands of the Learning Age.

It is an Age when learning and applying knowledge quickly are the only ways to stay ahead. An Age when specialized skills lead to prosperity; and general, easily-replicated skills get outsourced.

That hurts. But it’s true.

Globalization has combined with the digital revolution to mobilize work. Any work process or skill that can be learned easily is susceptible to becoming a commodity.

And commodities are always sourced from the lowest cost vendor.

Learning quickly. Specializing. Staying ahead of a curve that never ends. All ways of saying that “life long learning” is not just a quaint phrase. It’s a drop dead necessity.

Just ask somebody whose job has been sent overseas.

Our Mission: Help You Keep Up

We create learning programs in each segment of the 4 square KnowledgeQuad. The KnowledgeQuad describes a grid of 4 areas of knowledge and skill development that make up a learning lifetime.