Category (en-US)

WebLearningTools Research is not yet a California 501(c)3 non-profit education and research organization. Therefore in-kind or monetary donations will not yet be tax deductable.

The articles in this category list the kinds of computer technical questions for which this PI (and any WLTRes staff she has attracted who are working on this site now and in the future) need to receive a.s.a.p. in order to reduce "our" own "web research time" and "trial and error" (T&E) time with this web site to answer to "our" satisfaction".

T&E time happens because a site developer needs to "try out" different add-on extensions or modules about which s/he is less familar.  T&E time is (a) unpredictable and (b) can take hours over days or weeks, depending on the complexity of the extension or module and it's "degree of interaction" with other extensions, modules, and data in the site's main database!  So this PI and any additional web site developers have to "test use" a new Joomla or Drupal add-on "extension" or "module" (which is a small bundle of web server code) to see if it "works as advertised" by the developers of it on their extension's or module's download web site.

This PI believes this is a major design, development, and documentation FAULT of content management systems (a.k.a. first generation CMSes, somewhat misnamed web 2.0 sites) in general and of these two CMSes in particular (Joomla, Drupal), a problem which I, the PI, will address elsewhere on this web site "soon" for lay people, for programmers, and for site developers.

The articles (and any weblinks) in this category refer to frequently repeated, routine proceedures, or a named series of tasks, which a lab member (or the PI) performs.

If you have an idea about how to create higher quality digital library materials cheaply, please login and submit your idea. Alternatively, login and add a comment to an existing article or web link that "pushes us" in the direction you believe is more useful.

Technical Pros and Cons are synonymous with "pluses" and "minuses", or "benefits" and "burdens".  They are comments and opinions about the positive, or constructive, helpful aspects of some technology compared or contrasted with Cons, or contra-indicated, or negative, not so helpful aspects, perhaps seriously flawed and problem-creating aspects of the same technology.  For someone who wants to perform a "cost-benefit" analysis of a specific technology or to compare several similar technologies, first they would have to analyze and "rate" with at least arbitrary "ratings" or "importance-measures" (i.e. assign numeric values to) each of the "pros" and to each of the "cons" to see which group "out weighs" (has a larger number) the other for each technology.  Clearly the technology with "more negatives" than "positives" ought to be eliminated from further consideration.

In the case of "Web 2.0" content management systems (CMSes), there are some significant "pros", but also some fairly daunting "cons" as well.

News about this web site for computer technical people who may want to create a web site like this one on their own.

These ToDo lists summarize what may or may not be duplicated in public and/or private "ProjectFork" project management pages also located on this site.  The private pages are available only to registered site users who have been "added" as participating members to the relevant privately managed project.

WebLearningTools Research offers Instructional Design services by staff and by contractor instructional designers.

As part of a "client's request for information and estimate" service, a "course and/or lesson design and/or content requirements" form for the prospective client to fill out and submit will be available here "soon".

WebLearningTools Research personnel, contractors, and volunteer designers and developers will plan, build, develop and extend the features of your "web 2.0" educational web site as you require and as your budget can afford.

As part of a "client's request for information and estimate" service, an "education web site requirements" form for the prospective client to fill out and submit will be available here "soon".

WebLearningTools Research will help you select, setup, configure, and maintain your educational web site.

As part of a "client's request for information and estimate" service, an "web site hosting and maintenance requirements" form for the prospective client to fill out and submit will be available here "soon".

The following are tutorial articles and Moodle-based courses located on this web site about distance learning (DL).  The level of instruction for educators will be: "computer phobic", "computer novice", "computer literate" (or competent), and "computer experts", assuming little or no in-depth technical knowledge and experience as computer programmers or system installers.

Future technical and procedural articles and tutorials about DL (and about ITS as well) will be addressed to: "systems administrators", "computer programmers", "computer systems designers", "computer science students" at the senior and graduate levels.  This information should also be useful to "computer working professionals" in a variety of sub-fields and to "computer science instructors".

The following are tutorial articles and Moodle-based courses located on this web site about Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS).  The level of instruction for educators will be: "computer phobic", "computer novice", "computer literate" (or competent), and "computer experts", assuming little or no in-depth technical knowledge and experience as computer programmers or system installers.

Future technical and procedural articles and tutorials about ITS will be addressed to: "systems administrators", "computer programmers", "computer systems designers", "computer science students" at the senior and graduate levels.  This information should also be useful to "computer working professionals" in a variety of sub-fields and to "computer science instructors".

The eventual convergence of distance learning (DL) computer systems, artificially intelligent (AI) dynamic learning content generation computer systems, and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSes) is inevitable. Human to human education, sometimes called instruction or tutoring, assisted by such advanced computer based technologies could become "better", more accessible, more affordable, and more effective, by a factor of 10 or 100.

But saying so does not help non-technical educators plan for that eventuality or prepare them to make better informed decisions that let the educators determine which of those technologies are or will be good and best for education.

In this category "we" list (and will rank and 'tag') web links to Internet articles that this investigator (and her interested volunteer computer technical and computer science friends) think are most informative about emerging trends in these fields.  The content of the articles selected will present their information in non-technical and introductory "light technical" easily understood terms and concepts.