Cover image for E-learning tools and technologies : a consumer's guide for trainers, teachers, educators, and instructional designers
Title:
E-learning tools and technologies : a consumer's guide for trainers, teachers, educators, and instructional designers
Publication Information:
New York : John Wiley & Sons, 2003
ISBN:
9780471444589
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30000010053543 HF5549.5.T7 H67 2003 Open Access Book Book
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Summary

Summary

A comprehensive guide to help you cut through the hype in order to select the best E-Learning tools and vendors for your specific needs

With its ability to both reduce operating costs and train more people, E-Learning is an attractive option for companies that are trying to balance business and educational goals. But in order to implement an E-Learning program, you′ll have to wade through hundreds of learning management systems, learning content management systems, authoring schools, and collaboration environments to determine what solution will work best for your situation.

In this in-depth book, recognized E-Learning experts William and Katherine Horton survey the entire field of E-Learning tools for you. They provide you with a systematic way to identify, evaluate, and choose products and services based on different E-Learning scenarios.

In this no-holds barred look at E-Learning tools, the authors:
∗ Arm you with a complete list of questions to ask vendors before you commit to a product
∗ Describe product limitations throughout each chapter and include special Rant sections that you must read
∗ Present tips and tricks as well as common mistakes to avoid
∗ List potential vendors and contact information by tool category


The companion Web site contains design forms, checklists of features to look for in the various tool categories, spreadsheets, and lists of specific tools and vendors.


Author Notes

William Horton is President of William Horton Consulting
Katherine Horton is Vice President of William Horton Consulting


Table of Contents

FAQ about this bookp. iii
Who is this book for?p. iii
Is this just more hype?p. v
What's special about this book?p. v
What about a Web site?p. vi
Tools and technologies for e-learningp. 1
1 People firstp. 3
Participants and processesp. 3
What do they need?p. 5
Target learners' technologyp. 6
What can you let others do?p. 10
Now what?p. 12
2 Types of e-learning and the technologies requiredp. 13
Learner-led e-learningp. 14
Facilitated e-learningp. 16
Instructor-led e-learningp. 18
Embedded e-learningp. 20
Telementoring and e-coachingp. 22
What now?p. 23
3 Categories of toolsp. 25
Levels and tasksp. 25
Categories of software toolsp. 29
What now?p. 32
Hardware and networksp. 33
4 Hardware for e-learningp. 35
What to look for in hardwarep. 35
Other factors in picking hardwarep. 61
Server hardwarep. 64
What now?p. 65
5 Networks for e-learningp. 67
In the beginning was SneakerNetp. 67
Types of networksp. 68
Private networksp. 70
Connecting to the Internetp. 77
The wonder of TCP/IPp. 83
Connecting external users to your intranetp. 88
Wireless network connectionsp. 90
Computing network speedp. 92
What now?p. 96
Tools for accessing e-learningp. 97
6 Web browsersp. 99
What is a Web browser?p. 100
How does a browser work?p. 100
All browsers are the same, right?p. 103
Popular Web browsersp. 108
Choosing a browserp. 115
Alternatives to standard browser programsp. 124
What now?p. 128
7 Media players and viewersp. 129
What is a media player?p. 129
How does a media player work?p. 130
Players for audio and videop. 131
Viewers for proprietary contentp. 133
Choosing media players for e-learningp. 137
Making players easier to usep. 144
Alternatives to media playersp. 144
What now?p. 145
Tools for offering e-learningp. 147
8 Web serversp. 149
Why you need to know about Web serversp. 149
What Web servers offerp. 150
How Web servers workp. 152
Quick tour of a Web serverp. 156
Popular Web-server softwarep. 160
Choosing a Web serverp. 163
Alternatives to Web server softwarep. 166
What now?p. 167
9 Learning management systemsp. 169
What an LMS doesp. 169
LMS vs. LCMS vs. virtual-school systemp. 170
Quick tour of an LMSp. 172
How an LMS worksp. 175
LMS productsp. 176
Choosing an LMSp. 179
Alternatives to an LMSp. 187
What now?p. 188
10 Learning content management systemsp. 189
What an LCMS doesp. 189
Quick tour of an LCMSp. 190
How an LCMS worksp. 194
Popular LCMS productsp. 196
Choosing an LCMSp. 197
Alternatives to an LCMSp. 205
What now?p. 205
11 Collaboration toolsp. 207
How collaboration tools workp. 207
Collaboration tools and capabilitiesp. 210
Online meeting toolsp. 239
Collaboration clientsp. 246
Choosing collaboration toolsp. 247
What now?p. 251
12 Virtual-school systemsp. 253
What virtual-school systems dop. 253
Quick tour of a virtual-school systemp. 254
How virtual-school systems workp. 256
Popular virtual-school systemsp. 257
Choosing a virtual-school systemp. 258
Alternatives to virtual-school systemsp. 263
What now?p. 263
13 Media serversp. 265
What media servers dop. 265
Quick tour of a media serverp. 266
How media servers workp. 268
What media servers requirep. 270
Popular media serversp. 271
Choosing a media serverp. 272
Alternatives to media serversp. 274
What now?p. 274
Tools for creating e-learning contentp. 277
14 Course authoring toolsp. 279
What course authoring tools dop. 280
Quick tour of a course authoring toolp. 280
How course authoring tools workp. 284
Popular course authoring toolsp. 285
Alternatives to standard course authoring toolsp. 292
Choosing an authoring toolp. 296
What now?p. 304
15 Web site authoring toolsp. 305
Why create e-learning with Web site tools?p. 306
Quick tour of a Web site authoring toolp. 306
How Web site authoring tools workp. 310
Popular Web site authoring toolsp. 310
Alternatives to Web site authoring toolsp. 313
Capabilities needed for e-learningp. 314
Blogging toolsp. 318
Related toolsp. 324
What now?p. 325
16 Testing and assessment toolsp. 327
How testing tools workp. 328
Quick tour of a testing toolp. 328
Popular testing toolsp. 330
Alternatives to testing toolsp. 334
Choosing testing toolsp. 335
What now?p. 338
17 Media editorsp. 341
A little strategy firstp. 342
Multimedia toolsp. 346
Graphics toolsp. 353
Animation toolsp. 362
Alternatives to animation toolsp. 364
Audio toolsp. 367
Video toolsp. 372
Virtual world toolsp. 377
Media utilitiesp. 381
To find more media editing toolsp. 383
What now?p. 383
18 Content convertersp. 385
How content converters workp. 386
Quick tour of a converter toolp. 386
Converters for PowerPointp. 389
Converters for Microsoft Wordp. 394
Acrobat: General-purpose document converterp. 399
File converters and batch processorsp. 400
Alternatives to convertersp. 400
What now?p. 401
Picking tools and technologiesp. 403
19 Strategies for picking technologiesp. 405
Overview of a strategyp. 405
Set your technology goalsp. 407
Form a teamp. 411
Identify needed categories of toolsp. 412
Set policiesp. 415
Pick toolsp. 423
Get moneyp. 424
Buyp. 426
Implementp. 430
What now?p. 432
20 Picking toolsp. 433
Steps in selecting productsp. 433
Recruit others to help youp. 434
List and rank required capabilitiesp. 435
Compile a list of candidatesp. 437
Evaluate productsp. 440
Pick a productp. 442
What if no product meets your requirements?p. 443
Common blunders in picking toolsp. 445
How much diligence is due?p. 446
What now?p. 447
21 General criteria for picking toolsp. 449
Vendor criteriap. 449
Tools criteriap. 453
What now?p. 467
Evolution, trends, and big ideasp. 469
22 Standards for e-learningp. 471
What's all the fuss about standards?p. 471
The promise of e-learning standardsp. 472
What exactly are standards?p. 475
E-learning standardsp. 477
Packaging standardsp. 479
Communications standardsp. 483
Metadata standardsp. 488
Quality standardsp. 493
Other standards and regulationsp. 496
Make standards work for youp. 498
What now?p. 499
23 What the L is XML?p. 501
What is XML?p. 501
Common applications of XMLp. 507
Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformationp. 515
Browsers understand XML (sort of)p. 518
Tools for XMLp. 522
What now?p. 523
24 Trends in technology and learningp. 525
Trends and advancesp. 526
Fundamental technologiesp. 526
Technological trendsp. 528
Learning trendsp. 533
Not the endp. 540
Appendix A Bits, bytes, Ks, and other measures of digital datap. 541
Bits and bytesp. 541
Kilo, mega, and gigap. 542
Ks, MBs, GBs, and other abbreviationsp. 542
Speed reading with Kbps, Mbps, and Gbpsp. 543
Hertz and going around in cyclesp. 544
Appendix B File formats for e-learningp. 545
Indexp. 553