Author: les

We've been hard at work this summer and have just launched a major update to Dojo Learning.  Take a look!

New features:

Developer API
This allows other developers to make use of our online learning application in unique and custom ways.  The API has many functions that can be used in almost unlimited ways to customize your Dojo Learning experience.

Facebook Application
We have added a Facebook application that allows you to share which lessons you are taking and which ones you are instructing and connect with other Dojo Learning users on Facebook.  Great if you are selling your training or using Facebook in your online classroom.

Profile Pages
Upload your photo and connect with other learners using your profile page.  Learners are automatically connected to each other when they subscribe or when they are invited into a lesson.

Widget Tool
We have developed a Widget tool that let you embed your lessons into your own blog or website. You can use the Widget to promote your lessons while keeping your already branded webpage.

Promote Your Lesson
Use your address book from Gmail, Outlook, Plaxo, AOL, Yahoo! or use a CSV file to promote your lesson to all your contacts or submit your lesson to over 20 social media sites.

Updates:

Journal
The Journal tool has been improved.  Navigation is easier, responses are easier to read and profile pictures are connected to each response.

Improved Landing Page
When logging on to Dojo Learning, you are presented with a new, more informative landing page that quickly directs you to the lessons you're taking or instructing, and provides you with a quick link to add a new lesson to your account.

Chat Tool
The chat tool was taking too much screen real estate, so we tucked it away in a side tab.  When a fellow learner or instructor starts a chat, an indicator will let you know that a chat has started.  You can disable the indicator tool if you want to work in private.

We are very exited about these changes and are already working on Dojo Learning version 2.0.  We will strive to make Dojo Learning the most engaging learning application on the net.  Enjoy the upgrade.

We've been working hard this summer to improve Dojo Learning.  We are making a major upgrade October 1st, 2008.  We've developed a Facebook Application, an API, added Social Network features, and have made user interface upgrades.  Stay tuned for more details as we approach our launch day.

We had our first Dojo Learning outage today. It was an Apache server error and we just fixed it. Dojo Learning is up and running and we are looking further into this error in order to resolve future outages.

Dojo Learning

Assessment is the process of investigating a learner’s work for evidence of understanding and competence.  Typically, we learn content and then we are assessed through a test at the end of the process.  But that’s not natural, assessment happens throughout the process of learning.

Let’s take the case of self-assessment.  When we teach ourselves a skill or new knowledge we are constantly asking ourselves “did I get that?”  We usually don’t move forward in our studies until we do.  We are self-assessing and it occurs constantly. I call this natural assessment and why should it be any different online or in a classroom?

Building learning materials and assessments to mimic natural assessment will create stronger knowledge foundations because learners will have their trouble areas flagged before moving onto new material.

The Dojo Learning course builder is structured in a way that creating natural assessment is encouraged.  At anytime in the process a journal object (those are our assessment objects) can be added.  This means that as an instructor you can see the progress of your learners and their level of competences within a unit rather than at the end of a unit.

This information is vital to understand your employee’s or client’s strengths and weaknesses and helps gauge if further training is required in your organization.

This is the second of a series of posts we'll be making about workplace learning and the ideas that went into making Dojo Learning for work. Make sure to subscribe through email or RSS to catch future posts.

We just finished a new lesson on "How to Use Dojo Learning."  Try it out by subscribing to it below.

http://www.dojolearning.com/course-action/id.96

Adult learners in the workplace are accustomed to the the freedoms of adult life. Free will, independent thinking, and the ability to make choices are only a few of the joys of being cut loose from our constrained youth.

However, the straight jacket experiences of high school and adult control never leave us completely. We spend twelves years of our lives learning how to behave and perform for our teachers. Rebellion is part of this experience for some while others are picture perfect students through it all. One truth does emerge, in that as soon as we become adults we start to shed the shackles of control. Or at least we try to.

When workplace learners take professional development courses or go back for upgrading, an internal trigger is evoked. It can be subtle or overt, but a tension between independence and control creeps into the experience, especially during evaluation or assessment. Percentile grading places people on a social spectrum and often makes learners feel inadequate. It evokes an emotional response instead of offering practical indicators. Isn't the workplace supposed to be practical?

The real question that needs to be asked when evaluating or grading a learner is: "Did this learner understand and perform to the level that we deem satisfactory for the work they are doing?" Of course we all want our workplace learners to perform at the highest level, and over time they may.

One way to measure performance is through a system that measures outcomes to a specific competence level. To learn more about these assessment methods, visit the Centre for Education and Work at www.cewca.org.

At Dojo Learning, we use conversational assessment through our Journal feature. We believe that workplace learners are more interested in having an instructor provide conversational feedback because it provides learners with a way to understand what they’ve learned and what their gaps are. This way the company is ensured that their employees have achieved real learning and can plan for future lessons to meet learner gaps.

This is the first of a series of posts we'll be making about workplace learning and the ideas that went into making Dojo a unique tool for that. Make sure to subscribe via email or RSS to catch future posts as well.

Here is one of our new Tour videos.

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Just letting everyone know, here is Part 2 of the Journal video. 

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All those folks starting to use our system.  We understand that our help section needs to grow and we are working on it.  A series of video help files are under development.  But please contact us if you need any help during our initial launch phase.  We want you to have fun with our web application.

To pay homage to our logo we have provided two links to creating your own paper fortune teller.  We want to take you back to a simpler time when we played more than we worked and getting muddy was the norm.  So here goes:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/306045/how_to_make_a_cootie_catcher_fortune_teller/

http://www.momsminivan.com/article-cootie-catcher.html