Learning Developments

Using Blank Slides for Feedback in Articulate Quizmaker

2011-10-10T08:00:00.000-04:00

Articulate Quizmaker is a great tool for quickly creating professional looking quizzes. It also contains the concept of a blank slide that can be put any where in a quiz and used for any type of learning, feedback, or reinforcement of learning concepts. I show an example of how to use blank slides for creating rich feedback in Quizmaker in my guest blog post for Integrated Learning Services Crafting Feedback in Articulate.

Text Animations in Adobe Captivate

2011-10-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

Some times you just need a little animation to spice up an e-learning module. Adobe Captivate 5.5 offers an easy way to create text animations that will catch the eye. These animations can be used to let a user know when a module has been completed or when a perfect score is attained. Or, just use them to draw the learners attention.

Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

I show an example of how to do this in my guest blog post for Integrated Learning Services Using Captivate to Create Cool Text Animations.

Gesturing and Projecting with Mobile Devices

2011-09-28T08:00:00.042-04:00

I love the progress mobile technology has made in the past 2 years. However, I've always thought the big limiters to mobile computing are the screen size and a clumsy interface to input data. Tiny videos, images, and small text on web pages are just not ideal for those of us past our teenage years. And my goodness, how many times have I had to retype another tweet because my "i" became a "k" when my finger was slightly off the correct letter.

Three years ago I wrote a blog post about how technology may address these issues in the future. Mobile technology has come a long way in that amount of time. For example, three years ago I didn't even mention Android in the post. Today, I'm a huge Android fan. But, thanks to Apple continuing to innovate, I am now able to add to my previous post.

Apple is signaling that they have serious plans about integrating projectors into iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. This is very much inline with what I was anticipating. However, I mentioned a virtual keyboard as the main input device. While this still may happen, gesturing seems like the more appropriate technology for these mobile devices. With the introduction of Microsoft Kinect and support for various gestures on touch screen devices, gesturing is starting to really mature as a valid solution to human-machine interface.

Imagine some of the collaborative business scenarios that can occur between people and devices once projectors and gesturing become standard. For example, gesturing from one device's projection to another to move files in between them or to swap business or contact information.

Think about the innovative games that will be developed between devices featuring gesturing and projection screens. For example, kids may be able to trade custom or rare characters for games through gesturing like they currently do by other mechanisms for Nintendo DS systems. It is not hard to imagine new augmented reality options as well.

In a more practical example, college students could exchange class notes during study sessions leading to improved collaborative study and sharing. What type of new interactions do you think will occur?

My Experience Starting Out with Google+

2011-09-01T07:00:00.001-04:00

I got my Google+ invite back in July (Thanks Derek) but it's been quite a busy summer so I put off getting to know Google+ until now. Being the big Google/Android fan I am, this is long overdue. In this post I write up my first impressions. You can get to Google+ by going to http://plus.google.com.

My first reaction after getting into it was very reserved. I found myself making lots of comparisons to Facebook. Indeed it is very similar to Facebook on the surface. For example, Google+ has a "+1" option which is the same as a Facebook "Like". I expect that the as I use Google+ more (I just started yesterday) I will start to see all the differences between Google+ and Facebook.

Circles

The first thing you'll notice about Google+ is that it is very oriented towards circles. This will be your way of categorizing relationships. I love this because I like to keep my friends from being bombarded by all the geeky stuff I do at work and I like to keep my professional relationships from being exposed to all the photos of my cute kids. I do have friends that are both professional and personal. I can expose them to all of it by putting them in more than one circle!

Circles are a great way to control your privacy.

Stream

Steam is the status feed of information from all your relationships.

Chat

Google+ has your typical chat. However, you can set your availability based on your circles. So you can only make chat available to your closest friends or professional groups for example. I like this because I always had a Facebook friend online trying to chat with me late at night. While I wanted to keep this friend, I didn't want to chat every night before bed! Disclaimer: as of 8/31/11, I found this service not working correctly (due to sync issue?). This occurs when you have Gmail and Google+ logged in at the same time.

Hangouts

Hangouts are chat rooms where you can video conference using your webcam. It's pretty cool.

Sending a Message to a Friend

It wasn't immediately obvious to me how to send a message to a friend. Let's just say I've been brainwashed by Facebook. With Google+ you simply enter the message you want to send at the top of your stream. You can set what group or person you want to send it to. You can use the "+" symbol in your message and start typing the friends name to send to an individual friend. Then hit share. Be sure "Public" is not selected...I noticed at times that public was selected by default. I'm guessing that can be adjusted somewhere.

Huddles

I haven't used the huddle yet but I understand it is a way to collectively communicate with friends when you are "on the go". For example, if you're meeting a group of friends some where, you can use huddle to organize the group better and call audibles if necessary.

Sparks

This is a way to see news feeds based on your interests. I haven't found the value in this yet. But then again, I haven't had much success with most personalized news feeds I've encountered before.

Conclusion

You will find Google+ closer to a typical social networking system than some of the more recent Google collaborative attempts (i.e. Buzz and Wave). In fact, Google+ is quite promising. I recommend to start by organizing your circles. These will be important for getting the best from your Google+ experience. Next, make sure your privacy settings are set appropriately to your needs.

As with any social network, be careful about what you share and be careful with strangers! Other than that, enjoy!

Using Lectora to Create a Smart Next Button

2011-08-24T11:49:00.001-04:00

I've been using Lectora for almost three years now. Lectora allows developers to take a snippet of code and reuse it on all your pages. This saves time and maintenance costs. You may want that code to work differently on some of the pages. Ideally, you'd still only have that code in one place but set up an exception for how to do this. I show an example of how to do this in my guest blog post for Integrated Learning Services Creating a Smart Next Button in Lectora.

The Magic of HTML (and C++)

2011-06-03T14:04:00.000-04:00

All the smart communication devices that are succeeding in the market place have a web browser that supports HTML (and Javascript). On the surface it looks like what computer scientists where trying to accomplish years ago with C++ and Java is now happening through HTML. If you want to write an application that will run on multiple devices and work the same way, you use HTML.

Saying this sounds a little weird coming out of a computer scientist's keyboard. After all, HTML is not really a programming language and it is very limited in what it can accomplish when compared to C++ and Java. And, ironically, most of the browsers that are developed for smart devices are written in C++, not HTML. C++ is still the "go to" language for writing apps that must perform efficiently at a low level. However, for the rest of the computing world (those writing apps for most business, consumer, and entertainment reasons), HTML is the way to go for cross platform compatibility...and HTML5 will only strengthen what can be done for browser-based apps.

HTML is building off the back of great work done using a C++ framework. In a lot of ways, this thought is not news...I was just pondering it on my way back from lunch today. I'm further cementing in my mind that HTML has accomplished a lot of what C++ and Java were expected to do when it comes to user interface. I'm tying back into my thoughts from my academic years from a decade and a half ago.

You don't hear "write once, run anywhere" very often any more. Maybe this is because the beautiful complexity of the internet resulting in users no longer caring where the app is run. It's running in the cloud...that magical place where developers can pick the technology of their choice and everyone can interface with it through our good friend HTML

Articulate Quizmaker and Saba

2011-03-30T10:00:00.002-04:00

I really like Articulate Quizmaker '09 software. I'm bummed to say I have not been using it much because the focus of the content I've been creating is more on software simulations and not a lot of traditional quiz functionality. However, I'm using it with my latest project and I am reminded again how easy it is to create slick looking quizzes using Quizmaker.

I'm working with the Saba LMS for this project. As most developers know, each LMS has a different "attitude" and behavior. Out of the box, Quizmaker was not exiting well when the user clicks the "Finish" button at the end of the quiz. Quizmaker is not alone, I've had this issue with other content I've used in Saba.

To fix this problem, I had to edit how Quizmaker closes. This was a simple edit that took about two seconds. To find out where to place my scalpel, that took a little bit longer. I'm using SCORM 1.2 as my output format. When Quizmaker creates the SCORM 1.2 package, it copies into the package the contents of the folder located at:

C:\Program Files\Articulate\Articulate Quizmaker\Content\lms

In this folder there is a javascript file that contains variable definitions called Configuration.js. Open up the file in your favorite editor and look for the following line:

var EXIT_BEHAVIOR = "SCORM_RECOMMENDED";

To make the Quizmaker window close correctly and completely in Saba, I had to change it to:

var EXIT_BEHAVIOR = "ALWAYS_CLOSE_TOP";

Once you make this change in the Articulate folder, the next time you publish to SCORM 1.2, the new configuration.js file will be included in the package.

Preview of Articulate Storyline at LS 2011

2011-03-29T17:00:00.000-04:00

I was really impressed with the demo of Articulate Storyline at the Learning Solutions 2011 conference this month. Tom Kuhlmann gave a nice personalized walk through of what the product can do. Here are some of the highlights I remember:

It has the same easy user interface you would expect from Articulate but it is much more powerful. Tom created an Engage type interaction in just 1 or 2 minutes.
The product is also introducing variables which will make it more competitive with Lectora or Captivate.
It contains the ability to do screen snapshots and videos.
Output to iOS and HTML5 will be a part of it, although some challenges remain to make it do everything Flash can do (that seemed to be common with all e-learning products I saw demoed).

This product will not be replacing the Articulate Studio. In fact I understand they are currently in development of the next version of Studio. Storyline is different in the fact that it makes it easier to create more interactive content and not tied as closely to PowerPoint. The lack of interactivity has been the biggest critique I've heard of Articulate '09.

I'm hoping to get a version to beta test to really see it in action!

Notes from Adobe Learning Summit 2011

2011-03-21T22:46:00.000-04:00

I'm back in my hotel room after a long day at the Adobe Learning Summit. Adobe is doing a lot of good things with e-Learning and those things were on display today in Orlando. I've decided to summarize some of my notes I took at the conference today. You can also read play-by-play tweets from the folks who are a part of the twitter-verse.

Video and Audio in Adobe eLearning Suite 2

Rick Zanotti of RELATE corporation presented on best practices for video and audio in Captivate
When possible, load audio/video into the library and create instances of it in your learning to save duplications and file size
Use the preloader to download audio/video that is at the beginning of your project so that it is ready when the learner starts using the content
Use Soundbooth for batch edits
Add "ponder" time after audio plays to allow the information to be absorbed by the learner
Slide video is a great way to start with a single video and insert slides at various points

Creating Mobile Content with Adobe Captivate 5 for Android Devices

Josh Cavalier of Lodestone Digital presented on some of the issues involved with developing Captivate projects for Android devices
Flash 10.2 is a good step up from 10.1 and improves Flash usability
Mobile lends itself best as a performance support device
Consider larger font sizes greater than 24 pts for readability on Android's smaller screen size
Replace default Captivate playbar with larger buttons in the Captivate project

Captivate Widgets 101: How to Create Your First Widget

Yves Riel, owner of Flash Factor, gave an informative presentation on creating Captivate widgets and lessons from his experience
Widgets have 4 different modes: preview, edit, stage, and runtime
Widgets can be either static with no communication with Captivate, interactive with communication with Captivate, or a question that can communicate question data with Captivate
Take advantage of libraries like Widget Factory and cpGears to make coding easier

Flash Snippets with Adobe Captivate 5

Frances Keefe of the University of Massachusetts Boston gave a fun and entertaining presentation on using code snippets in Flash to quickly create objects to import into Captivate
In the window menu, select code snippets
A Flash tween fills in the animation be*tween* two object states.
Use code snippets to add drag and drop, play movies, add timers, move objects, and more

Saba Player Templates and Best Practices

2011-03-17T10:39:00.000-04:00

The question is “what is the best way to create a video based training course in Saba?” When first answering a question like this, I like to look around for best practices. I have a lot of video based content. The videos are 3 to 5 minutes long and I have 40 to 50 videos in a course. In this case, I was unable to find a best practice when it comes to packaging as SCORM to deliver in an LMS.

Key Issues to be Addressed

The two issues I’m wrangling with are usability versus cost to deliver. I want my learners to have a consistent look and feel for video based courses. I want them to easily navigate the course files. To lower the cost of delivery I want a faster turn-a-round on development time, I want it simple to test, and I want to reuse my work as a template for other projects.

My Approach

I’ve decided to use Lectora for this project because it has a good frame work for handling video based content. This is the approach I’ve decided on:

Turn each video into a SCO
Each SCO has two pages

A launcher page - this page will not be shown to the learner, this page is only used to launch the second page
A video page - this is the page that shows the video to be displayed to the learner

Use a player template in saba that will serve as the table of contents for the course

Challenges

I want to launch the video in a window that is sized for that video. In Saba I do not have the ability to specify the size of a SCO window that is “popped up” from the table of contents. I also want the menus disabled and specific sizing and scroll bar options. So in Saba I am only loading the SCO, when the SCO is loaded, the video window pops up based on the code I wrote using Lectora. I would prefer to let Saba handle the popup and sizing of the code to save on my development time. It seems uncommon for LMS vendors to provide this functionality.

Another issue I have yet to resolve is that Saba is automatically launching the first SCO when the project is started. I would prefer the learner to choose the SCO they would like to launch. It seems there would be a toggle in Saba for this but I don’t see it as an option in my player template. I’m left wondering if there is a configuration issue with the deployment of Saba I’m working on or Saba requires that at least one SCO be open at all times.

Is this the best practice? I don’t know. Is this the only way to do it, no. Regardless, it seems to work well for me and the result is easy and consistent usability with minimal development effort since Saba is handling the table of contents and consolidating the scoring.

ADDIE, Beware of the Video!

2011-03-15T16:30:00.000-04:00

Getting other departments in my organization to get on board with e-learning is a goal of mine. It’s been a little over a month since my organization has been providing web based training through our new LMS. Being the training developer, I have naturally become one of the leading advocates for getting the organization's training content online and available to employees. The new LMS has become a great working model that departments can look at to get ideas about what they can do with web based training.

First batch of interest - videos

The first batch of interest in e-learning has come from some of the technical teams of our information management systems. They have an intense interest in getting video based instruction to end users. They use tools like Jing and Camtasia to create videos. Previously they were deploying the videos as exe files and sending them through e-mail or placing them in user databases that are difficult to search and access. Getting this content in a web based format is appealing so that employees can easily access it from any location or device inside their employee portal.

Mixed feelings about video learning

I’ve got mixed feelings about this. On one hand, there is interest in the new LMS. On the other hand, taping videos together is not the best way to do online training. Videos are good in that they are easy to access and to the point. However, basic questions are not being asked:

Who are our learners?
What actions should they be able to perform?
Do they understand the context in which these videos are presented?
How can we make learning stick so they are not dependent on videos?
How can be provide feedback, identify weaknesses, and provide remediation?
What does a first time learner need to know?
What does a veteran learner need to know?

If they were following the ADDIE model, they would just be left with DIE! The analysis and design seems to have been too quickly passed over. The video content is just a response to handle frequently asked questions. It's quick and easy and it has it's place; but, it's not training.

It appears that the challenge of getting people to use web based training is done. The battle for quality training has begun!

Thoughts on Managing Ideas and Tasks

2011-03-10T09:00:00.001-05:00

It seems I’m always looking for a better project and task management system. I’ve been through Task Coach, Mindmapping software, Microsoft Project, Remember the Milk, Task Merlin, Producteev, and now Manymoon. These are all great products but none fit all of my needs. I’d like to think that some where out there is the right system for me; however, I’d be a bit of a fool to truly believe that.

Managing Idea Productivity

After reading the book “Don’t waste your Talent” by McDonald and Hutcheson, I was able to identify that I have high idea productivity. I always have an idea popping in my head. Of course, they’re not all great ideas but I’ve got to do something with them. They can’t all fit in my head. This need to explore many different ideas is one of the reasons I’m so interested in freelancing. And no, high idea productivity, is not a code word for ADD!

My desks at work and at home were covered with little notes of ideas. A good task/idea management system was the perfect place to store these and get them out of my head. This is one of the reasons I have a hard time finding the right task management product. I need idea management integrated with my task management because I never know when idea will become a task or vice-versa.

Trying to manage ideas as well as tasks means a large portion of my project and task management is not actionable in the traditional sense. Sure, maybe the next action is to think about it and research it further, but the reality is that I don’t have enough time to fully research all of my ideas. So it’s not about managing action, it’s about storing my ideas and the progress I've made on ideas so that when the time comes to pursue it, I can build from where I last left off.

Traditional Project Management

I also have the need to do project and task management in the traditional sense. I need to track time, make estimates, list next actions, chart milestones, delegate tasks, and yes, I occasionally need a Gantt chart. So I need a good structured system at times. It would also be nice to use an application that helps me manage development processes like ADDIE. An application that is aware of these processes can help keep me on track.

Consolidated Dashboard

Another requirement I have for managing projects and tasks is that I want only one communication dashboard. I don’t want multiple calendars, multiple applications for tasks, multiple ways of getting notifications, and so on. This is one of the reasons I think Manymoon is promising because it allows me to use my existing Google Docs, Calendar, credentials, and LinkedIn contacts. Being in the cloud like this will stink when I have an Internet connectivity issue, but it is great when I’m connecting from different devices. It is not uncommon for me to use 3 or 4 different devices to access my information in one day.

So the search is still on for a partner who will help manage the ideas coming out of my brain and remind me the next steps I need to take to turn ideas into reality. I’m enjoying the nice dinner conversations I’m having with Manymoon but I know in the back of my head that these relationships often leave me feeling incomplete and wanting more.

Authoring Tools and Compatibility

2011-03-07T09:20:00.005-05:00

When eLearning designers and developers think about using a rapid development tool such as Lectora, they often think about the time savings they get when creating a visual pleasing project and the ability to create reusable components. A rapid development tool is a great way to quickly breath life into your storyboard. One advantage that many of these tools bring, but is not always thought about, is that these tools can make complying with browser and system requirements a breeze.

System Compatibility Built In

How many times have you had to think about how to make something look right or work right using javascript or CSS? You have to test it in a variety of browser configurations to make sure it works properly. If you use the HTML/javascript based Lectora tool, you know that it meets specific system requirements for viewing. Lectora Publisher specs say the viewing system requirements are "cross-platform compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and higher, Firefox 1.0 and higher, Safari 1.2 and higher, and Google Chrome." So by using Lectora, you remove some of the browser compatibility worries from the development process. The same goes for Captivate. When you've created your project, you can export to the version of Flash and ActionScript you want to support.

Caveats

There are a couple of caveats to pay attention to:

If you use any special coding, flash, video, or widgets with your authoring tool, you can introduce browser compatibility issues.
If you do have a browser compatibility problem, then you are often reliant on the tool vendor to fix it.

Where's the support calls? Not that I'm complaining.

2011-03-03T09:20:00.001-05:00

At the beginning of February I launched several new web based training modules on a new LMS. This training is available to nearly 22,000 employees. I've been in the web business long enough to know that something will happen that I didn't anticipate. Usually this is because of an odd configuration by an end-user. It can be a toolbar with a pop-up blocker causing problems, a corrupted plug-in, unusual accessibility settings, or a whole slew of things. But to my surprise there have been hardly any support calls in the first month.

After doing some brainstorming, here are some possible explanations as to why support calls have been very low.

Support Structure

The support structure in my organization is distributed among the school locations. While there is a central support team, the local technology coordinator serves as the first line of defense for support issues. This person is well qualified to be a first responder and help diagnosis the issue. If this person solves the problem, it never is reported to me.

Organizational Culture

As with many academic institutions, employees are geared to work with those around them before calling for help. "Can you get this to work on your computer? Then why isn't it working for me?" For better or worse, employees tend to work within their silo to solve problems. Unfortunately, if its not solved there, it often becomes abandoned.

Being Proactive

In the development of the training, I took time to understand my learners and draw from my web development experience. I know the standard system setup in my organization so I was able to gear the training towards those capabilities. My years of experience have helped me anticipate issues that might arise and I was able to address them before they became a support issue. I also spent some time writing quality help files that are referenced from each learning module.

The employees in my organization are often not technology-savy at all. Sure, there are a growing number of folks who are good with computers but a large portion of my audience or technophobes and some don't even believe online training is a good solution. I say this because I'm reiterating that the low number of support issues is not due to a tech-savy audience.

What do you think helps reduce support calls in your organization?

Control the Geek and use Wisely

2011-03-01T16:56:00.000-05:00

You know a technology geek when you see one because when they see a new cool technology, their eyes light up. They think new technology is sexy and they want to find a way to incorporate it into their lives. This is what makes them so knowledgeable about technology...they love to tinker with it.

Technology geeks find ways to use new technology where they can. They are the first to learn to Tweet, use the cloud, and remote access their home computer from their smartphone. Studying and putting new technologies into action is a great way to learn it; however, just because a technology is new and cool, does not mean it should be the solution to your business need.

Show Restraint

We geeks have to show restraint. We can't jump on the first release of Flash 10 or ActionScript 3 to take advantage of the new features and leave or users behind who require minimum support for Flash 8. Just because Articulate is easy to use and creates cool eLearning projects, doesn't mean we should use it to do a true to life software simulation. Twitter is an awesome way to communicate but simply want work any many corporate cultures.

When Ready...Apply

As technology geeks, we need to use our love of learning new technologies in a different way. We need to first diagnosis the business need, then pull from our experience with new technologies to suggest the best solution. Going to iPad? You'll want a tool that can produce HTML5 code. Creating a software simulation? You'll want a tool that does a great job of doing screen captures. If we always make a diagnosis before having a tool in mind, we are more likely to please our customers and co-workers.

Paradigm Shift

Of course, sometimes the business request itself is biased towards a particular technology. Often a business need is tied to old technology or an old way of doing things. In these cases we technology geeks can pump up our brain muscles and make a case for trying something new. Review with the client the business need and resultant action needed by employees. In many cases one of the new cool technologies is exactly what they need and you can help push the company to bigger and better things.

Go get your geek on but keep it in the toolbox until you understand the business need!

Am I a Flash developer?

2011-02-24T16:16:00.001-05:00

As I build up my development skills and try to communicate my skills to others I do business with, I keep asking myself, "am I a Flash developer?" Adobe Flash is a very complicated product and in order to create a Flash application, you need a variety of skills. On one hand, as a software engineer, I am well equipped to write Flash applications. On the other hand, not being a graphics designer, creating applications with amazing animations is not really my strength.

So I am quite well equipped to write Flash applications. ActionScript is just one more programming language I've learned in order to do this. I can use ActionScript to respond to events and work with Movie Clips. I've been able to take advantage of 3rd party libraries to do projects that involve math plots and work with SCORM communications. I use ExternalInterface to call out to JavaScript when necessary to communicate with a web page. So, I'm pretty comfortable saying, "yes, I am a Flash developer!"

Where I need to draw the line is where it comes to creating animations. I am not a graphic designer nor an animator. I do know how to do these things and I've done a tween or two in my time, but this is not my strength. I have a great understanding of vector graphics and the Flash time line. I also understand how to work with objects. So I am comfortable working with animations, I'm just not experienced creating them.

I make this distinction because when some people think of Flash, they think of animations. But animation is only part of an application. To write an application, you need to be able to write code, work with libraries, and understand the requirements of the system you developing for. In that since I am a Flash developer. As far as Flash animation goes, its not my strength but I can work with it.

Won't you please, please HELP me!

2011-02-15T15:35:00.001-05:00

I'd like to think my e-learning is so intuitive that there is no need to add help. (Pause for applause???) The reality is that no matter how brain dead simple I think it is, there is always a chance that it won't actually be me taking the course. That's right, it will be someone else with a different brain, a different level of experience, and a different familiarity with a web browser.

Most of the content itself is actually pretty intuitive, with the exception of learners moving or resizing the window so that previous and next buttons disappear off of it. How many people have discovered the "I can't find the buttons" issue in usability testing? But it's all the surrounding technologies where things go haywire:

You know that back button there...don't use it!
You can't see the video...yeah, that's because you're using Quicktime 6 instead of Quicktime 7!
You opened up the course in a tab in Lotus Notes...no wonder the video is choppy!

So...I need help. I host the help outside of the course so that several courses can access the same help. I label it with version numbers so that when I have to make changes, new courses refer to the new help and old courses refer to the old help. I also have different kinds of help. One help file for home grown courses and other help files for 3rd party content. The benefit of this is that I only have one help area to edit when I have issues and I won't have to recompile SCORM packages just to make minor changes to help (e.g. a support contact number change).

How do you handle help?

My mind (map) is in the cloud

2011-02-11T08:41:00.012-05:00

I love mind maps. They are a great way to brainstorm ideas and organize your thoughts. I've also found them very helpful for taking notes at meetings. I use mind maps at both work and home for these reasons.

Because I keep a lot of information in mind maps, I need to be able to access them from wherever I am. Through the use of my smart phone and storing my data in "the cloud", I am able to do just that.

I use a combination of tools to access my mind maps. I use Freemind to edit mind maps on my desktop or laptop computer. I use Thinking Space to access and edit my mind maps on my Android phone. I use Dropbox to store the maps in "the cloud" so that I can access them and keep them in sync in all of those devices.

Do you use mind maps? What tools do you use?

Adobe Learning Summit

2011-02-08T15:10:00.005-05:00

I'm looking forward to attending the Adobe Learning Summit in March. There are a few things I'm particularly interested in:

Adobe Captivate Widget 101 - I've already created my own widget to marshal communications between Captivate and Lectora so that I can save a learner's place inside a simulation. However, I'm interested in learning more about best practices for creating widgets and see some examples of what other people have done.
Captivate for Android Devices - I'm a bit of an Android fan so anything with the name Android in it immediately draws my attention. A bonus for this session is that I think learning to use Captivate on Android will also have applications to creating apps for mobile in general. Argh! I do wish this was titled Captivate for Android and iPhone. I wrote recently about some of those issues in this article.
People and Best Practices - Mostly I'm interested in networking with others that use Adobe for e-Learning and discovering more about best practices in the industry.

Are you heading to this conference? What are your learning goals?

Take Command of your next Meeting

2011-02-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

All of us go to meetings and most of us think the meetings occur way too often and last way too long. Instead of formal meetings, I’m a big fan of impromptu meetings with 2-3 people when technical decisions need to be made. I’ve never seen good decisions made when more than 4 people are in the room.

However, for large projects, it is important to have regular status meetings where representatives from all aspects of the project are present (i.e. development, support, documentation, marketing, etc.). This allows for transparency into those aspects of the project and allows a chance for miscommunications to be caught between these work silos. These meetings also serve as a good way to identify risks to the project and facilitate relationships between the various members of the project. These meetings should not exceed 1 hour and should normally be accomplished in much less time. If all is going well, 10-15 minutes are less.

One person should always serve as the facilitator of the meeting. This is usually a project manager. This person organizes the participants for the meeting, makes sure the meeting is timely, and drives the team towards decisions. This person is also responsible for the following:

Creating and following agenda and soliciting for agenda items from team members
Making sure proper stakeholders and project team members are present
Avoiding wasting members time with something that can be discussed later or after meeting, keeping the meeting timely
Hitting important items
Clarifying any statements
Driving team towards a decision point
Setting/clarifying next actions for members
Getting the correct participants involved in the discussion
Confronting issues
Identifying risks
Reducing ambiguity
Delegating tasks as necessary

The facilitator should ask one person take minutes for the meeting. The facilitator should not do this job because they need to focus on moving timely through the meeting and getting the whole team involved. Minutes should be sent to all team members and include:

All attendees present
Notes of items discussed giving careful attention to dates, name of person discussing, and concerns
Important decisions that are made
Action Items - clearly labeled as such, single name assigned as responsible, date to be completed given

Each meeting should start with a quick status on the previous meetings action items taken directly from notes. Do not reopen discussion during this status check because you will surely derail the timeliness of the meeting. Lingering action items should be addressed as soon as possible and next steps for the item should be re-identified. Meetings should end with a quick summary of action items with assignments and dates for each.

Of course, you need to tailor your meeting to your company's culture and your particular project. Keeping these tips in mind will surely improve the success of your next project.

LMSCommit and Timeouts

2011-02-02T20:00:00.003-05:00

Systems and courses timeout. We all know that. A logged in session with a computer only has so long with inactivity before the user is considered to have abandoned their session and the system logs them out. While this is well understood to those in the e-learning industry, it can be confusing for some learner so e-learning developers need to handle this time out gracefully.

With the way my organization's LMS is setup inside a single sign on portal, the web based training will continue even after the LMS and portal system has timed out. The learner will never know until they try to exit an assignable unit and the SCORM-based WBT tries to send the results to the LMS. NOT SAVED! This is particularly a problem if the assignable unit was complex and the learner spent a considerable amount of time on it.

I'm taking a two prong approach to this problem:

Save important data periodically using JavaScript to manually call LMSCommit in the SCORM API as the learner completes major sections.
Setting a pop-up message that will first do an LMSCommit and/or LMSFinish and alert the learner that they are timed out.

Has anyone else run into this problem? How have you addressed it?

Plans for Learning Developments in 2011

2011-02-02T19:55:00.004-05:00

So I guess 2010 is water under the bridge and I'll try to forget that I only managed four blog posts for the entire year. I'm hoping to contribute more this year and get my readers back for some good discussion about developing for learning. I know from personal experience there are not a lot of good resources searchable on the web related to e-learning development and want to address that with this blog. Best wishes in 2011!

-Jonathan

Your Friendly Smart TV

2010-11-23T07:30:00.000-05:00

The smart TV is an idea that has been around for a long time now. It's an idea that has value but technology and innovation has not quite found the right formula to make it happen on a wide scale. Over the past few years many devices have been popping up with their own formulas. Microsoft's Xbox is a great example of this. I can Twitter, Facebook, play games, watch movies, and voice chat with friends all from my TV (via Xbox). However, Xbox is not the easiest thing to use and does not play well with your existing cable company. Google has already changed the landscape of both the web and mobile technology, is the living room TV the next landscape Google will change? I'm thinking "yes".

Google TV is a new internet appliance that is designed to run on your TV set. It is also a new platform similar to Android on your mobile phone. It is not Android (nor Chrome) but something different. Once again Google is using its searching strength as part of the platform. Google thinks its users will be more comfortable searching for shows rather than browsing through the hundreds of channels on basic cable. And I agree! After all, TV shows are just another type of content. It's not just search though, you will be able to use the Android market to download applications and games. And starting in 2011, applications will start being developed specifically for Google TV.

Applications developed specifically for Google TV are where I think the smart TV will start to mature into something of value. I think Google will lead the charge on this instead of Apple with Apple TV (like it did with the mobile phone). I admit that I can't imagine all of the possibilities here but I'll take a poke at one. When I watch sporting events right now, I've notice that I have a whole gaggle of friends on Facebook commenting on every big play in the game. Instead of having to check my mobile phone every few minutes, and app could be written that gives me the game related status updates on the TV screen itself. Then when the running back fumbles the ball 3 yards from the end zone, I'll get to know what all my Facebook friends or Twitter connections think about it. If I want to chime in with what I think, I can use the keyboard on my mobile phone.

I expect the smart TV to emerge as a bigger player in our daily lives over the next few years now that Google has opened a bigger and better door. Do you think the real value of the smart TV is already here, coming soon, or just a pipe dream? Will this be the end of broadcast TV?

Self-Paced Success Factors

2010-11-16T06:30:00.001-05:00

This fall I launched a series of self-paced online courses. This was the company's first attempt at self-paced online training. Courses were served entirely online and learner results were tracked. I used a combination of in house custom developed content and 3rd party content. The courses developed in house were based on simulations and interactions. The 3rd party courses were based on video presentations.

The courses went well and good positive feedback was received. Here are some of the reasons I credit with success:

Quality simulations and videos - The software simulations created in house were created in Captivate and were high quality with good graphics and animations. The simulations matched exactly what the users see when they log-in to their own accounts. The 3rd party videos were very clear and smooth.
Good instructors and SMEs - The 3rd party instructors were well qualified and easy to understand. The SMEs I used for the in house courses had already taught the face-to-face courses and were very knowledgable about the subject matter. I had several experts review the course and were able to incorporate their feedback.
Limited technological barriers - It was challenging to find the best way to deploy the content. Originally an LMS was planned to be used but the LMS was behind schedule and unavailable. I choose a web service that was capable of delivering and tracking SCORM based content. The learner simply receives and e-mail and clicks on the link to start the training. There was no LMS to log into. This is not an ideal long term strategy but it works well as a stopgap until the LMS is up and running.

More to come. I will share some of the feedback I received from a survey and from talking with the learners. Also, there were some technical issues that occured as well that I'll share.

Tools for Creating Buttons

2010-02-14T20:40:00.009-05:00

I just finished a new post at the Integrated Learning Services blog about how to use your own custom buttons in Captivate. This had me thinking -- what is the best way to make buttons? My strengths are in web coding and not graphic design but I enjoy tinkering with graphics design and I am trying to learn more.

I used to do this in Paint Shop Pro. PSP has some great built in button shapes that I can use. Some of these buttons are quite elaborate and would take a lot of time for me to create on my own. In addition to the built-in shapes, I've mastered using the bevel technique to create my own buttons. This works fairly well but I'm limited in what I can do easily. For example, I don't have a technique for creating buttons with a glassy look.

Recently I've started using Adobe Illustrator. Because it does so well with vector graphics I thought this may be a better tool to use. However, I haven't found any pre-built buttons to work with (maybe I'm missing something) and the bevel tool is much different than PSP. I have not mastered this yet and all the tutorials I've seen on the bevel tool are for doing 3D graphics, not buttons.

After my experience with AI, I'm thinking of going back to PSP for my button needs. However, I'm wondering if I should explore Adobe Photoshop's capabilities for buttons next.

What's your go-to-tool for creating buttons?

What's in my pocket? Android.

2010-02-05T21:38:00.005-05:00

It's been a busy time for me lately. Thus the lack of posts recently. I finally upgraded my good ol' normal phone to a smart phone recently. I'm loving it! I now have the Motorola Droid phone. And since I'm in the U.S. and don't have the ability to take my phone to any network, that means I'm a Verizon customer. Luckily Verizon has great service in the area I work and live so I'm a happy camper.

I figured the phone would fit my lifestyle well and I was right. Here are some of the ways the phone has made my life easier:

I can keep up with friends and acquaintances on the go. I do this through Gmail and apps like Facebook and Twitter.
I keep my calendar with me at all times. I've now added my work calendar to Google Calendar so that I can remind myself about that upcoming meeting while I'm out at lunch.
My task list stays with me. I'm always remembering things I need to do or want to do. Now I have Remember the Milk with me to add tasks when I'm away from the computer or to be reminded of tasks. If I wake up in the middle of the night with something in my head. I just reach for the Droid and type it in and get back to sleep. Ok, that doesn't happen too often, but its nice to have one place to store all my thoughts and its in the cloud so I can access it from any computer.
My Droid is my alarm clock. Since I can put my iTunes and MP3 files on the huge 16 GB card that comes with the Droid, I can wake up to any song in my library. Plus the alarm clock features are great and I can quickly set an alarm or ring tone to suite my needs. I have my early workout alarm, sleep late on a weekday alarm, and weekend settings. Easy peasy.
Droid is helping me read the Bible in a year. I've got a great app for the Bible so now I can take a few minutes here or there to read my scriptures for the day. It may look like I'm doing some sophisticated business communication while I'm eating at Moe's but I'm really just reading the Bible. ;)
Google Voice. Finally a way to check voice mail that makes sense. Love it!
YouTube Videos. I wasn't expecting this but my kids love to jump in to bed with me on weekend mornings to watch children's videos on my Droid. They love "That's How a Pumpkin Grows", "The Elephant Song", and "Red Beard: A Pirate's Story".

Having the Droid is also giving me a lot of insight into how I might develop websites and eLearning for mobile. This will be a big growth area over the next 5 to 10 years and I want to be able to gear my development towards mobile devices when the opportunity comes along.

Social Self-Paced Training

2009-11-11T10:32:00.005-05:00

Social networking and online self-paced will merge into social self-paced training. I am convinced of this. After all, online self-paced training is content just like a YouTube video, a picture on flickr, a blog posting, or anything else. It can and should be commented on, rated, and shared.

In my posting on the Is Social Media Making You Think from the ILS blog I talk about how e-learning professionals need to be thinking about how to include social media in their e-learning strategy.

Informal social media doesn't replace formal online self-paced. Social media does significantly improve the learning and retention of online self-paced. This is the future, how do you make it happen?

What's in your Pocket? Part II

2009-10-13T07:00:00.001-04:00

I discussed what the Google phone is in What's in your Pocket? Part I. There's a reason I'm finally ready for a web savvy phone. The reason is that the web and mobile technology are now converging in a big way. The ability to access web search, contact information, calendar, RSS feeds, documents, weather, and other personalized information is getting a lot more practical. Frankly, I'm tired of having more than one calendar and list of contacts.

With Google Voice technology things come together in a even bigger way. Among the many features of Google Voice is the ability to have a single phone number forward to any phone (or multiple phones) depending on your choice. You can select contacts from your Google contacts to go to either work or home phones depending on how you label them. Cool stuff! Traditional phone companies should have done this a looong time ago.

Check out the following video about the convergence of the web, social media, and mobile technologies. It's a fun time to be a web developer! Developing for the desktop web browser is only part of the equation now.

What's in your Pocket? Part I

2009-10-08T15:03:00.009-04:00

If you read my post Joining the Revolution in November then you know that I've been looking forward to upgrading my standard mobile phone to a web enabled phone. The two web phone technologies I've been keeping my eye on are Apple and Google. Apple is a well proven quality product; however, with the announcement from Verizon that they are producing a Google phone this fall, my thoughts are swinging the Google way. I'm already a Google power user so having that functionality in a mobile device will be a perfect fit for me.

So what makes a phone a "Google" phone. It's the Android OS that makes it a Google phone. The Android OS is an open source project backed by Google. Unlike the iPhone which is an Apple only product, Android is designed to run on any device that chooses to support it. For example, one of the anticipated Verizon Google phones will be made by Motorola.

Check out this video on Android 1.6 and its functionality.

See more videos at the Android developer web site.

Momentary Value

2009-10-02T07:00:00.001-04:00

I'm making a second effort at Twitter. I've got too much information coming at me right now so I haven't been all that excited about adding tweets to my daily dashboard. I'm already behind on my RSS feeds and can barely get to Facebook at the end of each day. So adding Twitter seems like a complication I don't need. However, since I'm keen on studying how people learn and share information on-line, I'm redoubling my efforts to find value.

Am I alone? Doesn't all this information on the web give you a headache? Do you really feel comfortable relying on filters and keywords to guide what you learn? This seems to be the issue of our time...where do we draw the line between information value and information distraction?

Each generation deals with this to a certain extent. At one time people didn't want a phone in their house because they didn't want the disruption. What? A phone in my house that can ring at any time? Why would I want that? The current generation is slapped in the face with this--texting during movies, while driving, while in meetings, while playing with your kids, while eating dinner, while waiting in line, while on the potty, and on and on. How many of these are you guilty of? Do you really benefit from that exchange of information more than the activity you are supposedly paying attention to? If you were waiting on something then "yes". If you were spending time with a loved one then don't be so sure.

So I'm exploring value versus distraction with regards to Twitter. So far I've found both. I've deleted several tweeters who although they offer value, offer way to much distraction. I'm not sure what the threshold is yet for how to determine value. There's quantity versus quality to consider. However, it seems that if a tweeter is offering less than 25% value, I'm really starting to question whether or not I should follow them.

Social Context Is Important

Value varies depending on the context of the social network I'm using. In Facebook I'm dealing almost exclusively with friendships. I'm actually interested in where they ate out for dinner last night and how many home runs their kids made at the ball game. In LinkedIn I'm thinking about my career. I'm not primarily interested in those personal things.

Right now my Twitter account is schizophrenic. I'm using it for both personal and career reasons. This is actually where I've been having problems with Twitter. Where does Twitter fit in? The value I find in tweets changes during the day depending on what I'm doing at the time. Momentary value, now there's something to think about.

Storyboard vs. Stakeholders, Round 1

2009-09-24T07:01:00.001-04:00

I led a storyboard review meeting with several of the stakeholders of a "using e-mail" project I am working on. The feedback was very good and was a reminder as to why you review the storyboard before starting development.

I had split the course into two sections: 1) e-mail policies and legal concerns; and 2) simple etiquette. As seems to happen in many of the review meetings I have, the discussion didn't go in the direction I thought it would. I thought discussion would center around the content contained in each slide (which it did eventually). Instead, if started with questioning the organization of the project into two sections. I was pleased to see this topic come up because it is good to catch significant contextual issues early in the project. Without context, learners will be confused about the purpose of the training.

While one suggestion to combine the two sections into one section was appealing (and would be acceptable). The decision was made to keep the sections separate but to try to answer the question "how does this relate to e-mail" in the policy section more obvious for the learners.

It turns out that I did not have to make significant changes to the content of the storyboard. But there were significant changes to the context in which the learning experience will occur. That is good to know before starting development.

What are some of the things that show up at your storyboard review meetings?

It's not Voodoo, It's JavaScript

2009-09-19T21:46:00.003-04:00

Have you ever wanted to use JavaScript in Lectora? There are a couple of tricks you'll need to know. Check out my post It's not Voodoo, It's JavaScript on the Integrated Learning Services blog.

Storyboard and Blogger's Block

2009-09-16T07:00:00.000-04:00

I'm writing a storyboard for a course I'm designing. Although I'm more of a web developer than an instructional designer I'm stepping in to fill a need at my company. I am a little bummed that it takes time away from the development side of things. However, I really enjoy using my creativity to come up with a way to teach a topic that is engaging and helps the learner make memory connections to the content. I'm using PowerPoint to layout the flow of the course using a storyboard format. The first slide in my storyboard template contains the following note:

The web-based self-paced course should not be designed to behave like a PowerPoint presentation.
Use this template as a place to outline the course, course interactions, and indicate sequencing. Each page should show what learners will see, hear, and do.
This storyboard will serve as the playbook for all the members of the team during development.
Use the notes section for development notes and to indicate feedback the learner will receive.

These are the most important things I want to remind whoever is writing the storyboard. Do you use similar reminders? What's on your list?

FYI: It appears I've had blogger's block for the last couple of months. But instead of trying to write through it, I just stopped making posts to this blog. I will try to blog through it in the future to avoid large gaps without a new post. :(

Busting my Brain with Flash

2009-07-17T14:28:00.002-04:00

As a web developer learning Flash has been on my radar for quite some time. Now as an e-Learning training developer knowing Flash will allow me to do better quality training interactions with learners. So I'm off and up and learning. I thought I would share some of my thoughts about my progress towards learning Flash.

First, I started with a good online resource that shows instructional videos and allows the learner to work through sample files. I'm using Lynda.com which has turned out to be a great way to learn most of the Adobe products. The instructor shows the very basics but also some of the shortcuts and best practices for using the tool itself. This has been a great way to get started.

One thing I realized from the Lynda.com videos is that programming in Flash is really broken up into two parts: Flash animation and ActionScript. So far ActionScript seems very familar since I am used to object based programming languages and scripting languages like JavaScript. I feel very comfortable with that and I think that once I know the Flash object model (or have access to a reference) I'll be good to go.

Flash animation is the big brain buster for me. I'm familiar with editing images, photos, and interactive web sites. However, dealing with animations is proving to be the key concept I'm going to have to learn to master Flash. So I'm learning tweens, shapes and key frames but it's not all gelling yet. The first project I wanted to do in Flash has proven that I'll need more than just Lynda.com to master the animation portion.

I'm at the level now where I can do an interactive Flash animation using simple shapes, symbols, buttons, and action script. However I'm not yet at the point where I can do a complex animation. For example, a scene where you see someone using a computer from behind the person's back and then zoom in to show the monitor full screen. I'm still working on that one.

Next, I'm going to order a few books from Amazon.com to try to push myself to the next level. I'll also need to start doing some small projects in Flash because this seems to be one of those things that requires a lot of practice. Any thoughts from those of you who have been down this road before?

Joining the Revolution in November

2009-07-08T08:43:00.009-04:00

I've finally decided to commit my dollars to the mobile revolution. About two years ago I decided not to get an iPhone and save the extra $30-$50 a month in increased phone bills that would have resulted. My contract with my current mobile phone provider ends in November and now I'm having trouble waiting to upgrade to the iPhone.

When I renewed my contract with my current provider I was hoping they would come out with a competitive product but it never materialized. Oh, a new Blackberry device...meh. And my current provider seems to be more concerned with restricting services and monetizing them than in actually providing me a great product and service...meh. Now when they lose me as a customer they'll probably blame it on the economy. It's not the economy, its the result of focusing on their market share instead of on the needs of their customers. I understand the business logic here but it can back fire if you don't offer customers what they want. Ok...enough of my frustration with big wireless companies. Thank goodness for companies like Apple and Google that really seem to have their fingers on the pulse of the mobile revolution.

So, back to the iPhone. I may be overexcited about the iPhone. After all, I've only seen them and played with them a few times. But I'm a big Google user and to be able to get GMail, Calendar, Docs, Maps, and Reader while I'm on the move would be awesome. The ability to access Facebook and LinkedIn is great also. There are more benefits I really like. I can take advantage of the speed of my local wireless network. And they have a great developer network and large number of free and cheap apps that are very useful or entertaining. Oh, and then there's my music collection.

Ok, so sure I can get the applications I mentioned on other phones but those other phones seem to be in a different league than the iPhone. They are not as easy to use and the providers of those phones often complicate things by charging differently for each service the iPhone has out of the box. I'm still amazed that my current provider would do things like disable Blue Tooth so that I am forced to use their e-mail service to get the photos off my phone...argh...ok I'm digressing again.

Where is Your E-Learning Environment Going?

2009-07-02T14:49:00.010-04:00

I've learned over time that it is important for me to take time to view what I'm doing from different perspectives. Often we developers get caught up in the micro-perspective of what we do. After all, focusing on what happens after the user clicks a button is what I get paid to do. However, when we wear many hats (like both instructional design and development) we are better served to think about things holistically. I know it is important for me to check that my rudder is directed in the right position in this big pond of e-learning. So with that in mind, I've created a map of where I think the e-learning future is for my organization (a large public school system). I have drafted it in the diagram below.

Currently my organization is working on setting up a formal learning system that will manage instructor led training, web-based training, and virtual classroom training. This is the short term goal. The future is still murky for my organization. While informal and continuous learning do occur in my organization, I believe there is an e-learning solution that can enhance continuous learning. This can be done through just-in-time content and collaborative content like wikis and blogs bound through a social network. This is not just a technology solution. It will require a bit of a culture change and will require buy in from the trainers, SMEs, and other mentors who will be asked to lead the charge.

So there is a high level outlook of my best guess of the future of e-learning at my organization. Writing the event for clicking a button is in the small (but important) box I call "Online Self-Paced". What is your best guess for the future of your organization?

Morning Joe and Calculations in Lectora

2009-06-29T10:01:00.026-04:00

How can you use Lectora to convert kilobytes to megabytes? On the surface this seems like a basic question not worth expanding on. However, the solution in Lectora involves using variables in a creative way so I thought I'd share my thoughts. I'm also testing the waters with a morning cup of Joe today. I had stopped drinking coffee because it made me a little edgy but it's so good I'm reverting back today. Hopefully I won't go off the deep end!

Open a new Lectora project (or use an existing one) and add the following items to the page:

A text entry field (Add > Object > Form Object > Entry Field). Accept the defaults but change both the entry name and associated variable name to "kilobytes".
A button (Tools > Button Wizard). Choose any button. Name it "Calculate".
A text block (Add > Object > Text Block). Name it "Result".

Next, you need to add a variable (Tools > Variable Manager). Name it "calculate_megabytes".

Now its time to play with actions. This is where the logic resides in Lectora. Create an action group (Add > Group). Name the group "Calculate Megabytes". With the group selected, add the following three actions to the group (Add > Action).

In the first action, use modify variable to set calculate_megabytes to the value of the text entry field. You have to use VAR() to get the contents of the kilobytes variable. That is a little trick that will come in handy down the road if you continue to work with variables in Lectora. Be sure to spell the variable correctly including case sensitivity.

Action Name: Set Megabytes Variable
Action: Modify Variable
Target: calculate_megabytes
Value: VAR(kilobytes)
Modification Type: Set Variable Contents

On the second action, use modify variable to multiply calculate_megabytes by 0.0009765625. One kilobyte is 0.0009765625 megabytes. It takes 1024 kilobytes to make 1 megabyte.

Action Name: Kilobytes to Megabytes
Action: Modify Variable
Target: calculate_megabytes
Value: 0.0009765625
Modification Type: Multiply Variable By

On third third action, use change contents to set the text block equal to calculate_megabytes to reveal the calculation result to the learner.

Action Name: Show Result
Action: Change Contents
Target: Result
New Contents: calculate_megabytes

Be sure to check and make sure the actions are in the correct order in the action group. Otherwise, the calculation will not work correctly. The correct order is "Set Megabytes Variable" then "Kilobytes to Megabytes" then "Show Result".

Finally, connect the action group to the button. Open the button properties and select the On Click tab. Choose the action "Run Action Group" with the target "Calculate Megabytes".

You're good to go. Preview the project and test it out. My pace of typing has started to increase. The coffee must be kicking in.

Where o' Where do the Buttons Go?

2009-06-25T10:19:00.003-04:00

I'm working on a template that will be used for all my online self-paced training. There is an issue that is nagging at me. Where do I put the navigation buttons? I've already decided that the learning audience I'm developing for needs to have crystal clear navigation where buttons include text labels so that it is very obvious how to go back to the start page, exit, get help, or go to the previous and next pages. I've done mockups where the navigation buttons are at the top and the buttons are at the bottom.

For me, it feels right to have the buttons at the bottom because the user doesn't have to deal with them until they have read the content on the page. This puts the content first which is good. However, I've noticed if the buttons are on the bottom and the window is resized so that the buttons go off the screen, this creates confusion for the learner. I'm starting to believe I'm over thinking it and it really doesn't matter. Thoughts?

Shadowing by Robot

2009-05-05T08:40:00.006-04:00

I came across an interesting video from IEEE Spectrum Online that explains a robot used for video conferencing. You can think of this humanoid robot as the answer to the question "what do I do when I want to video conference with someone but I need to be mobile and let that person follow me around?" It's a pretty cool concept. (Blissfully ignoring cost) I see this being useful in the training world. For example, a lot of training is done through shadowing another employee. A robot like this could allow some one to shadow an experienced employee remotely. But keep on your toes, that robot following you may just be your boss!

Of course I can't help but think this is the first step towards human-cyborg relations. A robot that talks to the internet for you so that you can video conference. C3PO Version 0.01?

Link to video

Getting to Know Twitter

2009-03-25T11:43:00.005-04:00

I signed up for Twitter to see what all the buzz is about. I've been using it about a week and I still don't quite get it. Well that's not entirely true. I do get how it can be a useful tool to communicate and share ideas. I don't yet get why it is hyped as much as it is. I don't see it being much different than the status updates that already exist in networks like Facebook and Linked In.

The value of Twitter seems to be highly tied to the people you follow. I've been following some people in my industry this week; however, I really haven't had anything ground-breaking come across my desk yet. I've found more value in the blogs I'm following. Maybe I need more colleagues and friends using Twitter before I find the value. And I'm not sure why this bothers me so much but I don't like that many people using Twitter love to share hyperlinks. I don't have the time to check out what's at the end of every hyperlink that is tweeted. I don't find value in that. Am I alone?

I'll keep Twittering for the next few weeks and see what happens next. I do like the fact that Twitter seems to be a little more personal than social networking and blogging. I do think there is value in seeing what people are up to day to day. It can give me insight into improving some of my day to day activities. I know what projects people are working on so I can ask them about issues while they are still fresh on the mind. But I don't think this is golden nugget of Twitter. I think there is more I'm missing.

Storyboarding and Objectives

2009-03-17T16:40:00.008-04:00

I've started reading Creating Successful E-learning by Michael Allen. It is an interesting read so far and Allen's thinking seems to be very pragmatic. A thought hit me while reading the book that maybe I've given too much attention to the storyboard in my course development process. I'm even thinking I don't need a separate storyboard step since the course itself serves as the storyboard. Because of this, I think I'll go back to the development process I'm writing and give more attention to the learning objectives than to the storyboard.

I'm using rapid development tools which make it easy to change the course on the fly. If I have to change a learning objective late in the process it is a bigger deal than changing the way a learning objective is presented to the learner.

The current training project I am working on has brought this to my attention because the learning objectives were a little fuzzy from the start. I am taking a brick and mortar classroom based course and putting it online in a self-paced format. It was decided that I would not cover everything in the course for the first release of the online version; however, as I was developing it I realized that I needed to cover some of the omitted objectives from the classroom based course after all. If we had spent more time on the objectives earlier, we might have caught this problem. I don't want learners to feel they are missing out when they take the online version of the class.

What's your experience with objectives in relation to the course development process?

Lectora Score to LMS Basics

2009-03-13T14:16:00.008-04:00

I have completed developing my first course in Lectora and it is ready to run inside the LMS. The LMS I am using is Saba. This is important to note because each LMS handles SCORM content slightly differently and some SCORM related settings must be adjusted appropriately. For this course, I am not requiring a passing score for an assessment. Instead, I am requiring the learner to have simply completed a series of simulations and a non-binding assessment at the end. So once all sections of the lesson are complete, the user will receive a score of 100% and a status of complete. To set the score and status in the LMS the following variables need to be modified:

AICC_Score = 100
AICC_Lesson_Status = completed

The AICC_Score variable is a percentage between 0-100. If I had a Lectora test or assessment in this course, then the variable would be set automatically. I do not, so I am setting it manually.

The screen shot below shows the AICC_Lesson_Status variable being updated in Lectora. Notice that this variable is set to "completed" and not "complete", "passed", "finished", or some other value. This variable must be set to "completed" for Saba to correctly interpret the course status.

eLearn Authoring Round-Up

2009-03-11T14:18:00.007-04:00

As my organization selects an LMS and gears up for web based training, I've been looking at a variety of authoring tools for online training. I was naive enough to think that tool existed that would have everything I want. I imagined something similar to Microsoft Word or PowerPoint that was designed for eLearning. Such a tool does not exist yet. I'm sure this is due to the complexity of web based learning content, the variety of requirements out there, and the market size of eLearning. However, there are several tools on the market that have a lot to offer. For this post I tool a look at the following products:

SoftChalk
Articulate
Lectora
Captivate

My Findings

SoftChalk and Articulate are the easiest to use and are good for basic courses. Both have a different focus (HTML vs. Flash; Word vs. PowerPoint). Check out Articulate if you are interested in leveraging PowerPoint or in doing voice presentations. Lectora and Captivate have a steeper learning curve but allow for more advanced interaction with the learner. With the release of Captivate 4, Lectora and Captivate have become very similar products. However, Lectora provides a bit more flexibility for customizing that Captivate.

Summaries of Each Product

SoftChalk, www.softchalk.com

Easy to use
Works like Microsoft Word
Provides an good organizational structure for courses
Content is easy to add and includes multimedia, flash, and questions
QuizPopper, TextPopper, and Activities are easy to add
Exports to HTML and is SCORM compliant

Articulate, www.articulate.com

Easy to use
Works like Microsoft PowerPoint
Provides an good organizational structure for courses
Content is easy to add and includes multimedia, flash, and questions
Uses PowerPoint so user authors in PowerPoint (very nice integration)
All of PowerPoint's slide features can be used in authoring
Excellent for doing voice overs with annotations
Includes Quizmaker and Engage for adding flash based interactions
Exports to Flash and is SCORM compliant

Lectora, www.trivantis.com

Works like Microsoft PowerPoint
Provides an open organizational structure that can be customized to users needs
Content is easy to add and includes multimedia, flash, and questions
Actions can be determined based on variable values
Variables allow sequencing and decision making based on previous responses by learner
Imports PowerPoint slides
Exports to HTML and is SCORM compliant

Captivate 4, www.adobe.com/products/captivate/

Excellent for software simulations
Works like Microsoft PowerPoint
Provides an open organizational structure that can be customized to users needs
Content is easy to add and includes multimedia, flash, and questions
Actions can be determined based on variable values
Variables allow sequencing and decision making based on previous responses by learner
Imports PowerPoint slides
Exports to Flash and is SCORM compliant

What exactly is a friend?

2009-03-04T15:42:00.005-05:00

I was asked to give a Web 2.0 workshop yesterday for a group of school technology coordinators. Web 2.0 is a huge topic to try to cover in an afternoon. This is especially true when you discuss the benefits and caveats of using this technology in the classroom. As I was talking about how students are using social network sites like Facebook, I found myself wondering exactly how we determine who our "friends" are.

There was a friend I recently made contact with that I haven't seen or spoken to in nearly 25 years. I was in the 5th grade last time we were true friends. While I consider him a good friend, do I really know who he has become in the last 25 years? There are many friends and old acquaintances that I've run into on Facebook. Many I've been longing to reconnect with and I accept as a friend without further thought. But still there are many who I only knew vaguely in the past and while I'm kind of curious who they've become, I don't feel comfortable sharing photos and updates that I really intend for true friends. So do I friend them just out of curiosity? I've decided I want to be a little more picky about who I "friend" and who shows up in my status updates. I've got a busy life with information overload and I feel that reining in my "friends" list just makes things less complicated. What are your thoughts?

I make an exception for my Linked In profile because I use that profile professionally and often make business or trade contacts. I'm not sharing personal photos with these guys, I'm exchanging ideas and networking so I define a "friend" differently in that environment. Does any one else do the same?

e-Learning Benefits and Challenges

2009-02-05T11:07:00.004-05:00

e-Learning is an important consideration in education for several reasons:

Implimented correctly, it can reduce some of the costs associated with education
It allows schools to educate people they could not previously (e.g. people that work for a living, people geographically dispersed, etc.)
Many students communicate better in a web based environment than in the traditional classroom. Studies have shown that students who would not raise a hand in class will be very active in posting to discussion boards for example.

e-Learning is a challenge for educational institutions because the technology involved can be difficult to manage and use. A lot of training or practice is required to get proficient in e-Learning solutions. Also, self-paced WBT courses are very time consuming to create and really only make since when there is a large learning audience (e.g. at a large corporation). For example, Flash based applications need to target customers that have a large learning audience to justify the expense. Virtual classrooms are often a more cost efficient solution in many cases.

e-Learning is an active and growing industry. It may take a hit with the economy being like it is but it will re-emerge very strong. Since managers are really starting to think about ROI for e-Learning you will see a continuing growth in the systems that manage the e-Learning experience. Also there will be a shift to what works best for the smallest cost. This is why a lot of people think the informal learning that social networks bring will be the bedrock for the future of e-Learning. Social networks are mostly personalized and self-policing and don't require the ongoing cost associated with producing and maintaining rich interactive content in self-paced learning modules. That's not to say that self-paced learning modules that use Flash are going to disappear. They will not, but they will be used in a blended learning environment that adds a social/informal aspect.

So, online courses will continue to be offered. Furthermore, I think e-Learning technologies will continue to grow as instructors start offering more blended classes that take advantage of the best aspects from the traditional classroom and the best aspects of the e-Learning technologies. As virtual worlds (e.g. second life) become more prevalent in e-Learning more and more subject matter will be able to be taught on line.

Take Pleasure in what you do

2009-01-30T08:27:00.002-05:00

I work out in a gym most mornings before work. As I work out I'm always observing those around me (and no, not in the creepy way). I take pleasure when I see a person who started out as a timid newbie at the gym turn into a more healthy person who enjoys working out. For example I've noticed a swimmer that could hardly swim a lap that now does long workouts back and forth across the pool like she's been doing it all her life. Training at the gym has made these people healthier and happier.

Being a part of the employee training community, I also find great pleasure when people who were timid about their technology skills turn into confident employees that:

Enjoy putting together engaging PowerPoint presentations
Use Excel to track their job responsibilities
Or, no longer have to ask another employee how to order items from the procurement system

And even better, I smile when these people then start passing on their knowledge to other newbies.

So take pleasure in being a part of the training community because you are giving confidence to people who will then take more pride in their jobs.

eLearning Learning

2009-01-26T16:11:00.003-05:00

Tony Karrer has created a web site called eLearning Learning that collects postings from a variety of eLearning professionals' blogs and organizes them in one place. Learning Developments is now featured there. Tony describes his site as follows:

"eLearning Learning is a community that tries to collect and organize the best information on the web that will help you learn and stay current on eLearning."

eLearning Learning can be a good place to search for eLearning specific information that has been posted on many of the members' blogs. You may find it useful to do a search here before expanding out to the rest of the Googlized Internet.

A Budding Relationship for Captivate and Lectora

2009-01-23T16:11:00.009-05:00

I've been working with Lectora and Captivate to create my eLearning content (see Jan 13th I'm not yet Captivated by Lectora). In that post I identified three possible techniques for passing the score/results from Captivate back to Lectora for processing:

Use the e-mail command in Captivate and overwrite the JavaScript function for sending the mail.
Use Javascript calls from within Captivate to write to variables in Lectora.
Call a Javascript flash API from Lectora to pull the values out of the flash object.

Since then I have tried out the first two techniques and have the following to report. Using Send E-mail from Captivate Using the e-mail command works great as advertised in sflowers post in the Trivantis Community Forum. There is also another example of this same approach I found useful in a post by Tim Mushen. I used Captivate 3 to verify this. Summarizing the sflowers e-mail approach you get:

Create Captivate animation
Setup Captivate to use e-mail for results
Publish and insert into Lectora
Create custom HTML header scripting element to insert JavaScript Function

Here's a few additional things you might find helpful:

Use the alert() function to test out that the Lectora JavaScript code is functioning correctly before writing the "real" code
Understand how to reference Lectora variables in JavaScript. If the variable is c3Accuracy when created in Lectora, then the variable is referenced as Varc3Accuracy in the JavaScript code. Remember the "Var" prefix. See code below.
When previewing to test this out I exported to HTML and ran on an Apache server on my local desktop.

Sample sendMail() code to be inserted in Lectora:

function sendMail() {

var stripCoreData = gstrEmailBody.replace("Core Data", "");
var stripQuotes = stripCoreData;
while(stripQuotes.indexOf("\"" ) != -1) {
  stripQuotes = stripQuotes.replace("\"", ""); // remove quotes
}
var results_array = stripQuotes.split(",");
Varc3RawScore.set(results_array[7]);
Varc3MaxScore.set(results_array[8]);
Varc3MinScore.set(results_array[9]);
Varc3Accuracy.set((Varc3RawScore/Varc3MaxScore)*100);
trivNextPage(); // advance to next page
}

Using JavaScript Calls I was able to use JavaScript calls from Captivate to set Lectora variables. However, I have not yet figured out how to access the scoring variables from inside Captivate. I'll need more research to do that. What I can do is monitor a click event in Captivate and set variables in Lectora and advance to the next Lectora page. I'm using this to track when the learner has completed the Captivate simulation. This way I can prevent the learner from advancing in the course until the simulation is complete. The two major steps are:

Set a click box to execute JavaScript in Captivate
Create a Header Script option in Lectora to execute those commands (optional)

For some reason I had trouble running more than one line of JavaScript from Captivate so to work around it I just call a function from Captivate and use that function to run multiple commands. In Captivate:

In Lectora:

In the screen shot above, simCreateReqComplete is the name of the variable I use in Lectora to track if the simulation has been completed. If it has been completed then the user can advance to the next part of the course.

I could spend a lot more time explaining this in detail but this is all I have time for today. I think if you look at the two examples for using the e-mail method you'll have a good idea of how to implement that. Please comment if you have any questions or suggestions for better approaches.

Authoring Tool Quandary

2009-01-21T11:34:00.005-05:00

I've spent some time over the last couple of months researching authoring tools that fit eLearning development needs. I whittled the list down to a few core tools.

I like Articulate because of its ease of use and integration with PowerPoint. I think more people will be able to participate in the authoring process by using a tool like Articulate. Nice job Articulate.

I like Lectora because it seems designed for advanced eLearning by providing a structure for tracking variables and actions on objects. I'm confident I can do just about any thing using Lectora but there is a bigger learning curve and projects may take longer than using a tool like Articulate. It seems that many of the newer eLearning tools are Flash based whereas Lectora is HTML/JavaScript based. There are advantages and disadvantages to that. I'm wondering where Lectora sees itself in 2 or 3 years. Still, a very pragmatic choice.

I like Captivate 3 because it does a great job of recording simulations and allows for annotations. Simulations will be very important for technology training. I've found Captivate very easy to use for this purpose. I realize Captivate can also be used for creating the entire eLearning package but it does not seem as strong for that purpose as Articulate and Lectora. Great product.

Now that I feel like I've got a good grasp on the tools out there, Captivate 4 has been released. On the surface it looks like a great release that can handle the majority of my needs. I'll be evaluating it soon to see what it can do and how it does things. How good is the Word import? What all can you do with variables and actions? Have the simulation recording tools changed?

Previewing in Lectora

2009-01-15T11:00:00.003-05:00

I'm still wiggling my way through the ins and outs of Lectora. The Lectora support team has been very helpful. I've discovered some things I'd like to share.

Limitations on built-in preview. Up to a certain point, the built in preview functionality works great. But once you start doing advanced techniques such as using flash to set Lectora variables, the preview will not work.

Limitations on HTML preview. So the next step is to publish to HTML and preview it from the local machine. However, web-browsers have built in security that prevents some Javascript code from running locally. So things like flash communication and use of the Lectora VAR() function will not work when run locally. I believe most browsers have settings that can be adjusted to make this work but setting those hampers you security when you are on the Internet.

Web Server based preview. So now I've switched to previewing my content from a web server. I installed the Apache web server and send my Lectora HTML output to a folder under the htdocs on Apache. This allows me to view the content as the end-user will see it and I can catch errors earlier in the process. However, it's not a substitute for testing it out in the actually LMS. If I had to test it in the LMS every time it would take way too long.

Do you have a method for previewing that has worked well?

I'm not yet Captivated by Lectora

2009-01-13T09:26:00.005-05:00

I'm putting together a self-paced web-based training course for how to order textbooks using a PeopleSoft application. I'm using Lectora to develop a SCORM package that will eventually be imported and used in the LMS. The course will contain several simulations I am creating in Captivate 3.

So far I've found Lectora to be a good course development tool. There is definitely room for improvement but it is meeting my needs right now. The problem I am facing now is how to communicate with the flash objects I use in Lectora. Specifically, I want to find the status and grade that the flash application has assigned to the learner. I am trying to use some flash I've created in Articulate Quizmaker and Captivate. For now, I'm focusing on the Captivate integration.

Currently I see a few ways to integrate:

1) Use the e-mail command in Captivate and overwrite the JavaScript function for sending the mail to instead write out to variables I create in Lectora. See Topic: Captivate to Lectora Instructions on the Trivantis Community Forum. This looks very promising but is a hack and I'd prefer to avoid hacks if possible.

2) Use Javascript calls from within Captivate to write to variables in Lectora. This may be a better route but I'm still trying to get this to work. In theory it should be working but instead of writing to the variable, it is writing to the screen as a new HTML page. I know that sounds bazaar and I expect after a little more trial and error I'll have found out how to accomplish this.

3) Call a Javascript flash API from Lectora to pull the values out of the flash object. This is the preferred method because all the logic can stay in Lectora which is my main authoring tool.

There is some documentation that I can't seem to find that would help me in these tasks. For #2, it would be nice to have a Lectora developer's guide that would list what Javascript calls I can make. For example, unless you inspect the behind the scenes code, you won't know that Lectora attaches a "Var" prefix to its variables in Javascript. So, test1Score becomes Vartest1Score. These are important things to know! Also, apparently I there are calls to advanced to the next page, exit, and so forth. I need some documentation on this. Next step...contact Lectora Support.

For #3, I need a Captivate developer's guide that tells me how to extract variables out of a Captivate flash object from Javascript.

So, I've got some tasks ahead of me. Any advice is appreciated.

Cool Tool: Jing

2009-01-06T13:59:00.003-05:00

Technical issues can often be communicated better with pictures than words by themselves. TechSmith offers a tool called Jing that is great for capturing pictures on your desktop. Jing can record areas of the screen for single images or full video with audio. Jing is incredibly easy to use. I've used it for documenting processes, web based training courses, technical support, and my blog. I've been using version 1.6.8198.

What makes Jing cool:

The very first thing Jing ask you for is what area you want to record. You can easily select a window, a component of a window, or a customized area of the screen.
You select whether you want an image or a video.
Images can be quickly annotated using a small set of annotation tools. There is nothing fancy here. It is very practical.
Images can be saved, uploaded, to the web, or copied to the clipboard. I find myself often copying to the clipboard and pasting into and e-mail or Word document. Jing makes the process of capturing and pasting into e-mail incredibly fast.
Video can be paused, stopped, and restarted.
Audio can be recorded simultaneously while the video is being recorded so you can talk through what is being demonstrated. This makes it very easy to add step by step instructions.

Lessons from Three Months of RSS Feeds

2009-01-02T16:44:00.003-05:00

As I mentioned in my last post I've been using Google Reader for three months now to manage and read many blog postings. I thought I'd share some of the lessons I've learned. Following blogs in the eLearning industry is useful...

...to get up to date on new technologies
...to learn how technologies are applied
...to learn industry terminology
...to network with others in industry
...to find people with similar backgrounds as me

I have also learned more about how learners (employees) might use RSS in the workplace and I've learned the dangers of information overload. I'll be able to use this knowledge as my organization goes forward with eLearning initiatives. I'll be able to better guide learners on the difference between personal and professional blogs and how to best manage several feeds at once.

How I Caught Up on my RSS Feeds

2009-01-02T16:30:00.003-05:00

After about three months of active blog reading I've finally caught up on my RSS feeds. When I first started subscribing to blogs I found so many interesting topics that I wanted to read everything. Time quickly became a frustrating factor. Now I want to share a couple of ways I've been able to manage the information overload that is common when subscribing to many blogs.

Quickly determine if the blog post your looking at is pertinent information for your job over the next year.

While a lot of the postings about learning 2.0 are interesting, it's not my primary task so I've learned to skim it more loosely. My organization is more than a year away from having the right systems and environment for that. So, I read just enough to get the latest buzz and then move on.

Become an expert skimmer.

After three months I've really improved on my ability to skim for important information. I've also found myself thanking authors that write for skimming (Karrer) and getting frustrated by authors that tend to not get to the point quickly enough.

Don't be afraid to miss information.

There is more information out there than you can consume. I found myself not wanting to miss any information contained in the blog postings I read. However, I finally had to accept the fact that I will miss interesting thoughts and ideas. But it is better to take away a few good nuggets than to try to grab all the nuggets and potentially lose the important ones by running out of time and brain space!

Note: I use Google Reader to manage my feeds. I've found The 10 Most Useful Google Reader Productivity Tips by Mukherjee to be very useful (especially the j and k shortcuts to quickly move through postings).

Remember the Milk Experiment

2008-12-19T11:44:00.015-05:00

So I've started my Remember the Milk experiment. This will be my list for all work related tasks. Click here for an introduction to RTM if you are unfamilar with it.

I have set up my RTM environment as follows:

General - Miscellaneous tasks (e.g. Install new computer memory)
Maybe/Someday - Miscellaneous tasks that are low on the priority list and are not currently essential for my work
Personal - Tasks that are not related to work but I may need to do at work; I actually have 2 RTM accounts and will share my personal tasks with my work account using the share feature (e.g. Call Dr. Smith about appointment)
Projects - List of projects I am working on; read more on projects below (e.g. PeopleSoft Textbooks Training)
pst - Holder for all project related tasks; read more on projects below; acronym for project sub tasks
Complete (month) - Tasks completed in last month, I'm forgetful ;o)
Complete (week) - Tasks completed in last week, ditto
High Priority - List all tasks given a priority of 1 or 2; these may be project specific, personal or general tasks; also lists overdue tasks regardless of priority (over due tasks that sit in this list should be either finished or rescheduled)
Next Action - Lists all tasks tagged as "next"; I use this to schedule my events each day...I don't always work on tasks based on priority alone. Note: this is not the same as Allen's GTD next action.
PeopleSoft Textbooks - My major projects may have their own tab. This is one of them.
Priorty - Lists all tasks given priority 3
Waiting - Lists all tasks tagged as "waiting"; these are tasks were I am waiting on action from someone else; tasks in this list will no longer appear in my priority lists.

About Projects

I've figured about a way to do sub tasks for projects that seems to work fairly well.

Each new project is created as a task in the Projects list
I tag the project with a unique tag with a prefix. I use "c." for a course I am creating. (e.g. c.pstextbooks)
Each new project sub task is created as a task in the pst list
I tag the project sub task with the same unique tag for the project (e.g. c.pstextbooks)

So now the steps to see a list of all the sub tasks for a project are as follows:

Go the Projects tab
Click on the project you are looking for
Click on the unique tag for that project to see the list of all sub tasks for the project (see below; view Jing animation)

I realize that RTM may not be the best solution for a project that is complicated enough to require a project plan. In that case I may use some thing like Microsoft Project to manage the project plan and use RTM to manage tasks related to the project but may not be in the project plan per se.

The next step is to see how this experiment works over the next month or so and report back.

The Perfect Task List

2008-12-15T14:25:00.002-05:00

I hope you didn't read the title of this post and hoped that I had found the end all perfect task management tool. I've had no luck in that department yet. Has anybody found the perfect task list management tool? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess the answer to that question is "no". I've been looking for ways of managing my work flow and I've been hoping task management software will help out. The problem I've found is that there are basically only two different types of task management software: to-do lists and project management tools.

What I'm looking for is something in the middle. While I'll have "real projects" I have to manage, I'm not anticipating I'll be tracking resources and using advanced project management features any time soon. E-Learning content development projects where I'm the primary developer will be the main projects I'm tracking. More often than not, I'll be managing less formal projects like "Prepare for meeting with Bob" that might include tasks like "Do dry run with Sally on Dec. 19th" and "Print out process documents in preparation for meeting". These are the types of "projects" I want to be able to easily manage. These projects seem to be some where in between a standard to-do list and a formal project management tool.

The organization I work for provides a work productivity tool that contains e-mail, calendar, database, and task list functionality. Like many to-do list implementations I've seen, the software leaves much to be desired. Tasks can not be sub tasked easily for managing projects. There is no good tagging scheme. Tasks can not be easily filtered. Completed tasks seem to linger around instead of leaving the list once completed. Needless to say, this is not a valid option for me. I decided to use a mind mapping tool called FreeMind to manage my tasks. The ability to create a tree like structure and the free form approach was very conducive to managing my work flow. I've used this for a few months and it has been very useful. The drawback I am running into is that it is not easy to filter (for example show all priority 1 tasks) and there is no good tagging scheme. I've decided I'm ready to try a new approach.

I've been using Remember the Milk for my personal task list. (Note that I've been using many of David Allen's principles but his principle of combining work and personal lists is not something I'm ready to do) I like the tagging scheme RTM provides and it has a lot of good features like due dates, repeats, and notes. The main drawbacks I see are that there is not a good way of handling sub tasks and I don't know how to easily export tasks to a new system if RTM no longer is a good option for me. However, since it's worked fairly well for my personal list I'm now ready to try it for my work list. I have a plan in mind to handle project management through tagging but I have seen no good examples of this so I consider my plan experimental at this point. More to come on that.

Do you use a tool to manage your tasks? What has worked and what has not worked?

A Glimpse into the Mobile Future

2008-12-11T10:49:00.005-05:00

I have a vision of what mobile devices will be like in the future. I suspect universities, airports, and coffee shops will deliberately put up white walls in certain areas to serve as projection screens for mobile devices. Who wants to look at a tiny two inch screen when they can project on a wall. I've always pictured this day as far off in the future but now I'm ready to believe that we could be there in as little as five years.

Time magazine's top gadget for 2008 is the Optoma Pico PK-101. This is a quality projection device about the same size as an iPhone. It is designed to be used with an iPod to project video on a wall. Combine this with another device not much different in size than an iPhone, a laser virtual keyboard, and you turn a mobile device into a system that is as easy to use as a laptop and fits in your shirt pocket. This is where I believe mobile devices are heading.

The devices I've referenced can be bought today at stores like Think Geek and Amazon.com (Optoma/Keyboard). Of course there is still work to be done to bring down the size and combine them into one device but I don't have much doubt that this can be done.

Projector + Virtual Keyboard + iPhone/Blackberry = Mobile Future

WBT Development Toolbox

2008-12-09T08:15:00.006-05:00

The organization I work for has never formally offered web based training. My role is to help start up a web based training program. One of the tasks I've been working on is selecting a tool kit for creating the content. My goals for selecting a content authoring product are as follows:

Ability to easily import from existing course materials made in Word and PowerPoint
Ability to export to SCORM 1.2/2004
Ability to create simulations
Ability to use UI templates or global “skins”
Must be easy to use
Must be able to create interactive content that keeps the user engaged

I looked at several products including IBM Content Producer, IBM Simulation Producer, Wimba Create, SumTotal Toolbox, Lectora/Saba Publisher, Thesis Rapid SCORM, Articulate, and Adobe Captivate. I ended up selecting three of these products. All the products I selected have the following attributes:

Create SCORM 1.2/2004 packages
Questions and quiz functionality is powerful
Easy to add audio soundtracks in to content
Import a course story board created in PowerPoint
Relatively easy to use compared to other tools in the market
Easy to create highly interactive content

Articulate

The first content authoring product I choose was Articulate Studio '09. This product really makes a lot of sense and it's integration with PowerPoint makes it easy for more people to become involved in the authoring process. It works within PowerPoint so that any one who knows PPT can quickly come up to speed to create a nice looking presentation. Studio ’09 contains a great quiz maker and has engagement objects like timelines and charts that can be used. There are certain courses that this tool will work very well for and save lots of development time.

Lectora

I choose Lectora as the next piece of my tool kit. It is good for creating more advanced courses that require more customization than Articulate. It can take better advantage of variables and decision making structures which will allow me to create more engaging content with better feedback. Course development time will take longer than Articulate but the resulting content will likely be of better quality. Lectora has the option to import from PowerPoint so I can still use PowerPoint to storyboard the content.

Captivate

The last content authoring tool I choose was Captivate. I will be doing a lot of technology training courses so software simulations are very important. Captivate does a very good job of creating software simulations. Articulate and Lectora do not do simulations. My current plan is to use Captivate to create flash simulations that can be embedded in content created by Articulate or Lectora.

Those are the main authoring components of my WBT development toolbox. There are several other supporting tools in my toolbox that handle images, audio, video, and screenshots. I will save those for a future posting.

Workplace eLearning Environment Sketch

2008-12-05T14:30:00.007-05:00

I've been reading a good bit about different aspects of the eLearning environment. There's a lot of bloggers out there talking about incorporating Learning/Web 2.0 into workplace learning. I'm a big fan of the informal learning opportunities Web 2.0 helps create. However, my organization is just getting its feet wet with online learning so the immediate chore is to get the LMS going and start offering formal classes online. So I want to try to keep the immediate chore in perspective with the context of the larger learning environment I have in mind.

Click on the following graphic to see how I've mapped the eLearning Environment I have in mind for my workplace. I'm interested in learning if you see a similar environment or if you see it completely differently.

Rebooting Processes

2008-12-05T11:44:00.006-05:00

Do you ever feel like you need to reboot your brain? Feel like you've got several errant processes running and you need to reset them? I felt like that this week.

Unfortunately for us humans rebooting is not that simple. We can't just flip a switch and reset everything. However, I do think we can look at the processes in our lives that are out of control and deal with them one by one. For example, my sleep process is stuck on too low of a setting. I've got to kill that process so that I can start a new process that allows me to get the full sleep my body needs.

The consequences of not rebooting our processes occasionally is that our brains get crowded and have too many out of control processes to deal with. It can get overwhelming. It can stifle creativity.

How does this relate to eLearning? This is a great time to be in eLearning. There are a lot of new products and methods emerging that are allowing learners to be engaged more than ever before. As an eLearning professional we need to re-evaluate processes that are old, out dated, or just not working. Ask ourselves, what is the learning objective of this process? Is there a better/newer way to accomplish that objective?

For example, in my work place we use a Lotus Notes database to have discussion board postings. However, those discussions would probably be more effective as part of a social network where they are easier to access and more visible by more people. That example may be more difficult to reboot but at least we can make ourselves aware that a better process exists. Another process I had to reboot recently was a content development tool that just wasn't working. It was expense, slow, and difficult to use. With a little bit of research I was able to find a content development tool (Articulate) that was on the opposite end of the spectrum and would save the training developers here hours of work per project.

What processes do you need to reboot?

Bang! And the blog is off and running!

2008-12-05T11:28:00.005-05:00

I'm starting this blog for the following reasons:

To learn by teaching
To get feedback on topics of interest
To discover ways in which blogs can be used for eLearning (especially in the work place)
To get experience with writing
To provide an additional avenue for networking with others in the eLearning field

I had previously developed a personal blog which was mainly about my kids and accomplishments in life. My intended audience was family and friends. I maintained that pretty well until Facebook emerged and became a much better tool for managing relationships and friends. I like the concept of sharing thoughts and knowledge with others. I think it makes the world a better place. ;)

The plan for this blog is to discuss issues that relate to my profession. However, profession and personal life often overlap so at times I may venture off of eLearning and into life in general.