Open Clip Art Library

Stumbled upon a fairly significant library of open source clip art at openclipart.org. Simple search features, vector images, and all in the public domain. What more could you want?

Here's a screenshot of a simple search I did that yielded a couple pages of presidential images:

The site, which was started back in 2004 boasts hundreds of thousands of images available. Maybe you have some you'd like to contribute too. :-)

Editing MS Vector Clipart in Inkscape

I'm working on a new learning model and I needed a vector graphics tool to help me produce a visual representation of the model. I came across Inkscape, with which I'm quite impressed. It's an open source product that strives to capture some of the functionality of Illustrator, Corel Draw, and Visio. It appears to do most of what I need. One of the great things I realized while playing with Inkscape was the ability to pull a vector image in from the Microsoft Clipart library and edit it in Inkscape. Just copying from PowerPoint won't bring over the vectors; instead, you must copy the item from the clipart library, as shown here.

Then, just Paste in Inkscape and the individual vector pieces are placed. The image below shows where I've updated an avatar with a better wardrobe and hair style. I also changed his eye color and moved the corners of his mouth down in protest. '-) Inkscape produces SVG graphics, so the edited images looked nice and clean in Inkscape; I just did a copy and paste back into PowerPoint to illustrate the changes. Here are a couple of samples in Inkscape. Context menus provide you plenty of options, including the ability to ungroup grouped vectors:

Below, you can see that vectors come through quite well and can easily be modified.

Again, for my needs, it's a pretty robust tool...and certainly worth investigating.

Have fun! Joe

Learner Engagement

I've been spending the last year focused on two key topics: creativity and learner engagement. Fortunately, I've found that a lot of others are focused on these topics.

Mid-year in 2010, I did a session on Autonomous Engagement and introduced a concept I call "the five opportunities" framework for autonomous learning. The opportunities are:

Assess - learners gain an awareness of their autonomy and the opportunity for self-direction.

Introspect - learners need opportunities to determine what is important, especially at the beginning of the learning, and to construct complex meaning throughout the learning.

Engage - Experience-based activities provide the grounds for proof, as well self-validation of competency.

Reflect - Reconsideration throughout the learning helps learners determine what should be integrated and how. It also helps them decide what to forget.

Share - We all are compelled to make contributions and become advocates for the ideas that we share.

I've shared this model with about 400 people now and it's generated a bit of buzz at conferences and in online sessions. I'd be interested in your thoughts...and would be happy to flesh out more details.

PLENK2010 - Personal Learning Environments

Stephen Downes, George, Siemens, Dave Cormier, and Rita Kop are conducting a "course" in September that may interest you...it certainly interests me!

It's an experience centered around Personal Learning Environments Networks and Knowledge (PLENK); it's for the serious learner, from what I gather...and if my guess is right as to the reach of the participants, it's likely to result in some significant advancement and awareness of PLNs.

For information on how it works and what it's all about, start here. If it works for you, I'll see you there. I'll blog here through the experience; if you do, remember to include the hastag #PLENK2010 in whatever you create.

e-Learning DevCon Insights

I'm speaking at eLearning DevCon 2010 this week for the first time. I've heard about this conference for years, but this is my first trip here. I have to say that it's been a great experience.

Smaller venue that some of the bigger conferences, and much fewer attendees--about 300+, according to the opening session.

The networking has been great, as virtually everyone at the conference is interested in e-learning development. Sessions are fewer, but the topics are more focused on development and related concepts.

Particularly enjoyed Brian Chapman's keynote, which while it was future-focused, was mainly informative around what some larger companies have been doing to solve key problems, especially social learning challenges. Also Nick Floro has done a bunch of really good sessions. Tatiana Chapira also had a nice session on prototyping this morning and will be doing another on "bite-sized learning" later.

Overall, this is a nice conference and well worth consideration. The hands-on sessions are a great way to pick up some competency quickly.

Twitter hashtag: #EDC10, which apparently is someone's twitter name too. Oops.

The 12 Tutorials of the Promised Land (sorta...)

Okay, so I may have gotten a little carried away with the headline, but our buddy Tom Kuhlmann has just posted another great article pointing to 12 tutorials that walk you through an approach to creating engaging, interactive e-learning.

Definitely worth a read: The Rapid e-Learning Blog

e-Learning Salary Survey

The e-Learning Guild released findings from it's 2010US Salary Survey today...among the highlights:

- The average salary of a person who lives in the United States and works in e-Learning is $79,252.

- Salaries of e-learning pro's continue to rise, even against a poor economy.

- Still appears to be considerable gender inequity, with men making more than women.

- Contractor salaries are are relatively weak when compared with full-time employees and factoring in benefits.

This is my off-the-cuff summary a couple hours after reading the report. If you want the details and you're a Guild member, it's here. If you're not a member, you may want to search for other, more detailed summaries...or join the Guild for full access.