haiku LMS -

More File Storage: Free

allena — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:34:20 -0600

Have you noticed the increased storage space we gave you? All of our paying subscribers had their file storage space doubled or more. Take a look at what this means for you:

Then Now

50 Mb 100 Mb

100 Mb 200 Mb

200 Mb 500 Mb

500 Mb 2 Gb

1 Gb 4 Gb

If you have not yet upgraded to a paid subscription, consider giving it at try. At $4.95 per month for up to 3 active classes and now 100 Mb of file storage, the 16¢ per day you spend could dramatically increase your ability to share educational resources with your learners. And with the upgrades we make almost every week, Haiku LMS has become THE on-demand LMS of choice for educators from all over the world. Be sure to tell your administrators about our Corporate Trial too. We can integrate with your student information system to pass information between there and Haiku LMS. More and more we see schools, districts and other institutions wanting single sign on capabilities. We have you covered.

As always, be sure to let us know what you think of Haiku LMS by participating in the HAIKU Community.

Class Statistics and an official welcome to Blackboard

allena — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:14:12 -0500

Have you heard about Blackboard's newest venture? They call it Project NG... like next generation. In a sincere attempt at not sounding trite, I would like to welcome Blackboard (almost) into the Web 2.0 community. Bryan and I were talking about this just yesterday. I contend that Blackboard's entry into our world is a good thing. After all, we want better educated students and lower stressed educators, right? If they can help, then I am all for it. So the next time you have a lunch hour that isn't already booked with an online episode of The Daily Show, or Rush Limbaugh, or maybe yesterday's interview by Terry Gross at NPR.org, take a quick look at Blackboard's promotional video about their upcoming Project NG. The narrative sounds a lot like Haiku LMS with phrases like "comprehensive yet open solution" and "engaging yet powerful" or "integrates easily with your technology ecosystem." I have to admit, I wish I had come up with some of that language when writing or editing copy for our website. Still, we have come to expect great marketing from BlacKboard, so I am not surprised that they even impressed me with it. When you see their new drag & drop CMS, or their course dashboard, you might think of Haiku LMS' content and course-centric approach to organizing and customizing lessons that we pioneered almost two years ago.

But as I said, Blackboard and our other colleagues are enthusiastically welcome into the "next generation." If we face one challenge as a technology leader and relative newcomer it is convincing the educational community to embrace our technology as today's technology. Perhaps as the more traditional Ed Tech companies introduce products with Web 2.0 elements, technology directors and assistant superintendents will see what the teachers in their classrooms already embrace; the more invisible the technology is, the better the effect on teaching, learning and communication. Also, I am a firm believer that options are good. As much as we might like to think it, Haiku LMS is probably not for everyone. And with almost five million K20 instructors in the U.S. alone, I'm sure some of you will find something in NG or Angel or even Moodle that you like better than Haiku LMS. So, welcome Blackboard. Now, more about us...

In the last several days we launched some cool upgrades that HAIKUers will want to check out. As you know, since Haiku LMS is on-demand, you can access your stuff with a browser from anywhere. And when you do, ideas pop into your brainy heads like, "it would be cool if I could see which pages and resources my students are using; and which students are proficient or slackers." Those great ideas accumulate at HAIKU headquarters and we turn them into reality on an almost weekly basis. Nice, huh? Try THAT with the software you have installed on your own computer or servers. So, about those upgrades:

See Statistics under the Class Management button after you login. We've provided you with a report enumerating every individual user who visits your class and how many times users view or download your content. You'll also see how much time visitors are spending there. Instructors asked for this information as a way of monitoring student activities. We believe it will also help you know what kind of content best facilitates learning. Give it a try, teachers like you loved the new feature when we tested it with them over the last few weeks.

The Haiku LMS Gradebook received some attention also in recent weeks. If you haven't used the Gradebook yet, give it a try. Even for classes that do not require a traditional grade, I think you will find ours to a flexible, fast and ridiculously easy way to record progress. The recent upgrade fixed a minor bug in the way final grades were calculated when using weighted categories. One of your fellow HAIKUers pointed out the discrepancy and we fixed it right away. Another great example of the HAIKU Community working together to deliver responsive service to everyone. This is the kind of thing that makes me thrilled that we decided early on to launch Haiku LMS as an on-demand software solution.

Student Nicknames can now be turned off by instructors. I'm sure this doesn't happen with your own students, but some HAIKUers found that their students were using some rather creative nicknames for themselves. We're all for creativity, but teachers sometimes need to reign it in a bit. Now you can.

Almost weekly we launch some sort of minor upgrade. As I said earlier, many of these are the result of requests or ideas from our users. Don't forget to check out the Feedback Forum to add your two cents. We take your ideas quite seriously. In fact, Bryan, Reynard, Marcos and I spent 2 1/2 days this month at our twice-annual retreat planning our next 12 months of development. The items you all voted for on the Feedback Forum played a major role in our deliberations. We will keep you posted as each new idea becomes a reality. In the meantime, don't underestimate the influence you have. We consider HAIKUers to be among the most conscientious and talented educators around. It is no surprise that you come up with such awesome brainstorms. Keep them coming.

Bryan and some of our more proficient HAIKUers started a community "brain trust" a few weeks ago. These super users provide invaluable ideas and often serve as testers for new features or upgrades. If you are interested in participating, drop us a line. I'm sure Bryan would love to have you aboard. Even as 2008 begins to approach its end, we have plenty to look forward to. The U.S. will soon have a new president. (Let's hope it is one who understands and supports education.) And pretty soon the holiday season will be upon us. It is our experience that as we move into January, educators begin to feel the end of the school year approaching. As that happens, let's support each other to keep our energy high so that student achievement remains a priority. We are here for you. And we appreciate your being there for us.

A healthy future

allena — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:23:43 -0500

We are working on a number of business related changes at HAIKU, all of which are designed to help educators teach and students learn. That was the reason Bryan and I started HAIKU and it is the driving force behind everything we do. We started, in April 2006, with the belief that our collective vision and skill combined with the expertise of some really smart partners could play a small but important role in the improvement of our collective educational experience. We believed (as did you, most likely, if you are reading this) in the power of learning. And for every learner there is a teacher. We know a lot of them.

What they want, what almost all of them live for, is to facilitate learning; to play a role in the collection of knowledge and wisdom. Two years ago we knew that there were ways to make it easier for these teachers to teach. They have stuff to do; stuff that is sometimes marginal at best to the learning process. Yet teachers find themselves spending a greater and greater share of their available energy and time NOT teaching. Bryan and I spent the four years prior to starting HAIKU designing and building very specific tools to help specific educators reduce that share of NOT teaching. So we knew firsthand that there was time to be saved; time that is much better used helping students learn. Naturally, creating Haiku LMS was the next thing to do.

And we are not finished. Next year we will provide teachers access to content in a couple of mouse clicks that was created by tens of thousands of other teachers just like them. Later, that same content will be presented as optional supplements to teachers on Haiku LMS, organized by the academic standards addressed in the exams the teachers create. Oh, we're just getting started.

As lifelong learners, we are not unaware of the things we know now that we didn't know in April 2006. Perhaps the most significant of those is the importance of reporting. On our journey to create software that gives teachers more time to teach, we neglected the needs of some other very important educators. The administration.

School administrators feel the pressure to show results. This is both a personal emphasis on doing a good job and an acknowledgment of external pressures from those to whom they report or are accountable. After focusing almost exclusively on the needs of teachers, we realize that administrators have unique needs as well, yet the problems they face are similar: far too little time.

As you can imagine, the specific needs of administrators and teachers are often different. Yet the outcomes are the same. They are all educators who find themselves with less and less time to affect learning. Again, we don't claim to meet every need, but we sure can help. In October we will launch the first in a series of upgrades designed to provide reports on the experiences of students within a Haiku LMS class. Eventually, this will lead to specific reports on the effectiveness of Haiku LMS in general and the specific content and activities within Haiku LMS on the learning process. Teachers who use Haiku LMS already know how it saves time and positively affects learning. These upgrades will give administrators the proof that this is true and the data necessary to further improve the learning process.

About those "business related" changes I mentioned earlier... I'll tell you more when the dust has settled. For now, I'll just say that HAIKU is growing and expanding. We believe that a healthy company should be proactive when looking toward a healthy future. To this end, we will soon have even more resources resulting in an ever greater ability to help educators teach and students learn. For those of you who are already part of the HAIKU family, I want to thank you for your support and wisdom. Our collective futures are as bright as ever and we are honored to be on this journey with you.

Ballooning (Help) Web 2.0 Style

bryanf — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:20:20 -0500

One of the main reasons I love my job is the challenge of designing software that keeps "Teachers in Motion".

We spend a lot of time at haiku maximizing teacher time, and that means keeping our users moving seamlessly from point to point in their workflow. If Sally Teacher has to stop to think, "Now what do I do next?" then we have a problem.

Thus, we are always on the lookout for the 'disconnect', the moment a user who is otherwise productive gets stymied by software. We want to build haiku so that our users' impulses are correct, their intuition is something to trust, and their minds are on nothing but content. Software needs to be visceral and it needs to flow organically. Like any other good tool it needs to be a seamless extension of your body and mind.

A Good Idea, Revisited

About a month and a half ago we ran across another web tool that did a simple introduction to their product. It was a travelleing comic-book-like balloon that stepped the user through each of the main items on every page, explaining concepts as it went. It was casual, comfortable, and completely removed the need for video training for the product.

It was only four to five steps, and nothing revolutionary, but I when I saw it in action, I knew it smoothed out a small bump in haiku's learning curve.

So a team of us sat down (thank you Mike and Marcos!), rewrote the help, storyboarded the process and laid out the plan. We retired our old video help, which as a static resource was hard to maintain as new features were introduced. We also retired our old introduction screens, which seemed to be ignored by our users anyway. (Totally understandable, I might add... I tend to ignore them too).

Bal(lo)ons for haiku

Reynard, one of our developers, did the footwork on this project. He created his 'Balon' (indonesian for Balloon) that we applied to every major element in haiku. We are excited by the result. Reynard's 'Balons' explain each button in a casual and unobtrusive way. I think it is one of the most low-impact forms of help that I have ever encountered.

And oh, by the way, If you have an account in haiku LMS, it appeared in your account this morning. :)

So, I'm excited, but I'd like to hear what you think. Is it simple, is it elegant...and most importantly, does it get the job done?

So with that, I welcome you to haiku LMS, version 3.2. Have fun!

-Bryan

News From the Blogosphere: haiku LMS is the Best, Has Room for Improvement

santhonys — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:59:22 -0500

Haiku continues to garner some nice reviews from new users. Recently Judy O'Connell of HeyJude wrote:

This is why the Haiku LMS has instant appeal. It is as easy to use as any blog, wiki, ning etc tool you are currently playing with. It does what a good LMS needs to do - allows you to create classes, drop boxes, add attachements - whatever. Choose your own templates for a fun look too!

BUT here’s the BEST part - it already has over 80 Web 2.0 tools ready to embedd - just drag and drop to rearrange your layout!

This is the BEST of cloud computing I have seen for a school-based LMS yet. The power of this is amazing and wonderful - and just what we should all be doing.

Thanks Judy! That's really sweet.

We were also really interested in the comments that her initial post inspired. Check out the full post to read the discussion.

Web 2.0 and What I Learned at NECC

bryanf — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:38:00 -0500

The National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) is the largest convention of its kind in the states, and one finds that a convention of its size can swallow a poor blogger whole. There have been a plethora of posts about this convention already, but I for one needed a few days to digest what I saw...and more importantly...learned.

1) Web 2.0 (in Education) is at last among us

Last year many a teacher came by our booth and asked us about Haiku LMS. "Interesting name, they would say...but what makes you different?" I would say, "It's an exciting new LMS, Web 2.0 style." Instantly eyes would glaze over. Web 2.0 was a conversation killer, a techie term and possibly something to hide from your students (and teachers). It was at best bleeding-edge, and at worst something to set your firewall to "Kill on Sight".

This year was different. When Web 2.0 would drop from my lips teachers nodded, technology coaches brightened, and one IT member said "Oh, Yes...we love it...and we just unblocked YouTube".

This is promising. The potential of Web 2.0 in a learning environment is powerful, and something that turns traditional publishing and teaching on its head. What it means for the future of Education, I don't know. What I do know was that this year, we passed the first milestone, recognition that "Web 2.0 is among us."

2) SCORM appears to be recieving more than just lip service.

One of the catchphrases from NECC 2007 was..."We love your LMS, and is it SCORM compliant". Our response was "Not yet, but tell us, do you actually use SCORM?". I think I went 0 for 10 on that question last year.

This year was different. It appears that there are a collection of exciting tools on the market that are getting attention and starting to pick up speed. Macromedia Captivate, PointeCast and Fuse Elements were some of the names thrown around as our vistors mentioned modules they were authoring themselves. It sounds like there are a number of SCORM repositories in the makings, with sites soon to be released like scoport.com, creating social communities of SCORM module authors and users.

This makes us excited, this has been a long time in coming, and it means that we are going to join the collection of SCORM adopters in the near future.

3) Social Communities of Students and Teachers are creating an exciting new environment for learners

News that came out just before NECC was Blackboard's release of a Facebook app. This was just the beginning of the Ed/Business recognition of the value of social networking in education. Although we are not a social networking community ourselves, we like the pioneers that are forging new territory with social networking in education. We made some good friends among the admirable Curriki.org people, creators of an Open Content community where users can create and share content for free. We are excited to find what communities of open source content creators can do and we hope to be doing some work with them soon. Also, the advent of a new social networking community, SayWire, occured at NECC this year. They set up a wonderful booth two rows away from us for their NECC debut. They haven't launched yet, but we like what we've seen. We wish them well as they get their communities off the ground.

In conclusion, what did I learn? I discovered that K12 education is ripe for content collaboration in this country. Educators are asking for it, and companies are responding. As for us? We've got our next list of features prepped--we are beginning the design process today. We are pumped to be a part of the Web 2.0 movement.

Bloggers Thoughts on the NECC Convention

santhonys — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 12:15:37 -0500

Another year, another NECC!

We had an amazing conference. Thanks to everyone who dropped by and learned about Haiku. It was great to see our old friends, and we look forward to working with many new faces.

We’ll write more about what all of this means for haiku LMS in the near future. But in the meantime, here’s a quick roundup of what the blogosphere is saying about the conference:

The Cool Cat Teacher’s Ten Takeaways
EDTechLife - NECC Recap
Doug Pete, of Off the Record, names the NASA Math Simulator his personal “Best In Show.” (We're not at all offended, the math simulator looks really cool).
Streaming Thoughts posts a nice wrapup.
Ideas and Thoughts: My Big fat NECC brain dump

And if you missed NECC, they’ve posted podcasts of many sessions at: http://www.kzowebcasting.com/necc/

haiku LMS 3.0 Is Here!

allena — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 01:10:25 -0500

Once in a while a great idea merges with excellent execution. Even less often the result actually has a positive impact. This is one of those times. I was showing our newest feature to the instructional technologist from a large marketing company the other day and he used more superlatives in those ten minutes than I've heard in a long time. Check it out for yourself and tell me if you don't immediately think of a dozen ways that Embed the Web™ could make your life as an educator easier and more exciting.

As you know, we upgrade haiku LMS almost every week. This week's upgrades include some amazing new features and some really useful additions to our current functionality. Be sure to try them out and tell us what you think:

New

1. With Embed the Web™ you can place widgets from just about any Web 2.0 app right on your class pages. A widget is a movable mini-application that runs inside your haiku LMS class, right on the page. Applications like chats, videos, slideshows, collaboration tools, file sharing, games and more make for excellent widgets you can use to facilitate learning and communication. Look for Embed the Web™ under the +Add Content Block button inside haiku LMS. If you don't see the widget you want under the "browse" tab, try placing it anyway. Suggest your favorite sites and we'll add it to our Embed the Web™ catalog.

Embed the Web™ NEW!

Embed the Web™ has been getting some wonderful reviews during our testing period. One haiku LMS user said, "I think this is absolutely fantastic... you guys nailed it! Haiku LMS is what has brought the possibility of exploring embeddable content to me and helped me get my head around the idea that it does not need to be that difficult! LOVE IT!"

2. New chat feature(s). We all have our nuanced favorites when it come to chat. With Embed the Web™ you can now place your favorite Web 2.0 chat widget on any (or every) page. Placing a chat widget (like Gaggly, TokBox, or MeeboMe) on your class pages keeps chats with students safe and secure as long as your class is "private." Try it; you'll love it.

Enhanced

3.Reuse and Import Assessments. Instructors have been clamoring for this one since we first launched our Assessment tool. These upgrades do a couple of cool things: 1)You may now import test questions from a third party (publishers, Blackboard, ExamView, etc.). 2)You may now reuse test questions from previous assessments when you create new tests. If you haven't yet tried the haiku LMS

Assessment tool, I encourage you to set aside ten minutes sometime to create your next exam. Think of it, no more grading tests late at night on your livingroom floor. You create the test, students take the test, haiku LMS grades it and places the mark in your Gradebook for you. Ahhh, sleep.

4. Print the class roster. Yep, you can do that now.

5. Confirmation that an assignment was handed in. Students want proof that assignments sent to the Dropbox made it through. Now they will receive an email telling them just that.

We love hearing from you, so keep the comments coming and don't forget to tell your friends about us. Next week we will be exhibiting at NECC in San Antonio, Texas. If you plan to be there, please stop by booth number 5030 to say hi. We have some cool stuff we'd love to give you as a thank you for your confidence in HAIKU.

Top Five Reasons To Visit Us at NECC

santhonys — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:18:08 -0500

We're headed to San Antonio for the annual National Educational Computing Conference early next week. We're exhibiting at booth #5030 and all our information can be found here. We LOVE this conference. It's always full of old friends and new inspirational ideas.

With that in mind, we're looking forward to meeting lots of new people this year. Here are the top five reasons you should visit our booth:

Free Goodies. We have an excellent back massage tool this year (seriously, we've had fun beta testing them around the office this week).
More Free Goodies. For anyone who experiences a site demo with us, we're giving away a sweet haiku coffee mug (while supplies last). They look HOT, so be sure to find us early.
Check out some great new hardware from fellow Indiana-based entrepreneur, RedPost. They build beautiful and cool digital signs.
Meet the team who built this software. We don't staff our booth with marketing hucksters, models or interns. You'll find our Product Manager and CEO and we'll be there all day and ready to answer any questions you have. Seriously, ask us anything.
Be the first to see our newest feature, Embed the Web. After months of careful development, we're ready to reveal our latest achievement. It might just blow your mind. Seriously.

See you there!

(And, if you can't be there, let us know. We may even have some leftover goodies).

Haiku LMS – The Latest Word (June 9, 2008)

santhonys — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:23:06 -0500

So, we accomplished a lot this week (especially on our soon-to-be unveiled social media strategy). One item that we can share is an observation that there are really a lot of useless and bizarre widgets in the social nets! We were mildly astonished to note a widget company (RockYou!) raised $35 million in venture capital today. Their “killer” widget is a flash slideshow with pop music playing in the background.

We think we’re doing something a little more valuable than that, and can’t wait to roll out some social features that help deliver interactive and exciting learning. The official announcement is just a few weeks away.

And in other news… we’ve really nailed the question library tool. Seriously, it's a great feature that will make building exams so much easier. As an added bonus, Haiku teachers can now seamlessly import Blackboard questions. Look for this update in the next couple of weeks.