Raptivity Video Tutorial: Webinar Recording - Create Learning Arcs Using Raptivity Linker Raptivity Video Tutorial. In this webinar you will learn how to create learning arcs using Raptivity Linker. The post Raptivity Video Tutorial: Webinar Recording - Create Learning Arcs Using Raptivity Linker appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.

Why You Are Selling Your eLearning Content Short As a fledgling freelance eLearning consultant, a huge part of my day is spent trolling social media platforms for potential leads. I have joined several freelance forums and forums for entrepreneurs, I join any periscope or webinar that mentions eLearning, I obsessively check Twitter and LinkedIn for any opening for me to dive in with a golden eLearning nugget. I have established a few relationships that give me hope, but I have really started generating a ton of business yet. Having all this free time on my hands has given me lots of time to think about the state of the eLearning market, especially the for-profit courses not affiliated with academia or corporate training departments. I have seen several companies that advertise themselves in social media or marketing consultants who sell courses on how to write courses for profit or to grow an audience. There are over 1,500 courses on Udemy on how to write a course! As I learn more about the companies generating this content, I have yet to find one that has an Instructional Designer on staff (or anyone with any kind of education background at all, really). I reach out to the contact person for these companies and ask them about this, and without fail, every single one of them has seemed sort of surprised that I would think that they need a relationship with an Instructional Designer. You see, in their mind, they are not teaching Instructional Design in their "How to Create a Course" classes, they are teaching marketing. And they are marketing experts, so why would they need to shell out the bucks for an Instructional Designer to consult with on the creation of marketing products? But many of these companies are having the same problem: student retention. For a marketing person, that is a problem because their audience isn’t sticking around, which means their core mission is not happening. They are getting the money from the student for the "How to Create a Course" and then they are never seeing that student again. Or, even worse, the student never finishes the course and asks for a refund! For an Instructional Designer, there is a fairly simple solution to this. Not only would the application of instructional system development best practices improve the student experience in the "How to Write a Course" course, it would also improve the eLearning content! While I do see that the course is a form of marketing for these companies and Udemy instructors, they are doing themselves a disservice by not taking advantage of the years and years of academic and corporate research and case studies scrutinizing how people learn, and the science of student retention, and the Instructional Design process. So, What Do We do? Well, asking these marketers and entrepreneurs to study ADDIE and complete training needs assessments to identify the learning gap seems a little ridiculous. However, a less formal analysis of the problem the class is trying to solve is always a good idea. Sometime the water is so muddied with grand marketing plans that the simple question of "What does success look like at the end of this class" is never asked and there is a huge hole in the training. Or there is no clear objective for the course other than the course title. These are mistakes that eLearning designers would never make, but eLearning designers are not being brought into the process at all. Why Not? Usually the simplest answer is the right one, and in this case, the simplest answer is that the marketing folks writing these classes don’t realize that Instructional Designers are even a thing. They didn’t look to hire an eLearning consultant because they didn’t realize they exist, or if they did realize they existed, they think we are solely university employees converting classes to on-line and putting tenured professors out of work, or corporate wonks writing boring sexual harassment and timecard training. People outside of the Instructional Design industry really don’t understand what we do in the Instructional Design industry! How Do We Fix It? I think the first step is helping to define their classes as eLearning instead of marketing. Then they need to treat it like eLearning, following Instructional Design standards to produce higher-quality, sticky eLearning content. To start, as eLearning Designers, we can help these course generators to apply the most rudimentary Instructional System Design (ISD) principles to their training. I do this by personally reaching out to every marketing company I come across that offers classes on writing classes. I also ask to guest blog about Instructional Design basics on any entrepreneurial and marketing site that will let me. I have written several articles on Guerilla eLearning for eLearning Industry, but I am preaching to the choir here. We need to find a way to get the message to the masses. Once the content generators see what a difference applying the simplest eLearning design theories make on the quality of their final product, they will be chomping at the bit to work with an eLearning Consultant and really treat their course like an eLearning event, and give it the respect it deserves. As eLearning professionals, we all know the impact that well thought out, well-designed eLearning content can have on a student. I also see the marketing potential in offering good eLearning content. Now the trick is to close the knowledge gap between the Instructional Designers out there and the marketing professionals who want to use eLearning as a marketing technique. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Prezi Video Tutorial: Importing From PowerPoint This Prezi Video Tutorial presents how you can transform any PowerPoint presentation into a zooming prezi in just a few clicks. Reuse your PowerPoint files to create amazing prezis. The post Prezi Video Tutorial: Importing From PowerPoint appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.

The 3 Roles Of Feedback In eLearning Good feedback is the most powerful part of an eLearning course; even when thinking about more sophisticated forms of eLearning (i.e. simulations, games, role-plays, etc.), deep understanding of the subject is usually being provided by some form of feedback. Designing good feedback should be an important part of Instructional Design; however, it is distressing to see in how many eLearning productions this part is totally neglected. Feedback plays many roles in an eLearning course; here are the 3 most important ones: Educational. Motivational. Appreciative. Let us have an analytical look at each one. The Educational Role Of Feedback In eLearning. Feedback should not only provide information about whether the exercise has been completed successfully or not: What do you do if you don’t know the answer to the question posed? I bet you just try to guess the correct answer. However, even assuming that you guessed it right, what will you learn from the feedback "Bravo!"? Feedback should explain "Why": "Why" I failed or why I succeeded. Feedback should be explanatory and not simply offer information about failure or success. Don’t assume that the correct answer is a result of a deliberate intellectual process. And don’t assume that when eLearners give the right answer they are at the same time competent to provide it. As eLearners are frequently participating in eLearning courses while in the rush, we have to find ways to make them stop for a while and have a moment of reflection. Feedback is the best part in an eLearning course for that. The Motivational Role Of Feedback In eLearning. After all the well-prepared exercises and quizzes have been placed in an eLearning course, we can expect to have a substantial group of eLearners who failed and succeeded. The motivational role of feedback concerns the ones who were not successful. As Instructional Designers, we must take special care of them: Our goal is not only to persuade unsuccessful learners to make another try, but also to prepare them once more for the exercise in order to help them learn. The educational message of feedback is important, but sometimes it is not sufficient to understand the issue. Unsuccessful learners very often need to be redirected to the certain part of the eLearning module with a motivational message that helps them engage once again in reaching the competence required to complete the exercise. The Appreciating Role Of Feedback In eLearning. Positive feedback should also appreciate all efforts to reach goals in an exercise. It is important not only to inform eLearners about accomplishing the challenge, but also to make them feel like winners. The words are important here, but their tone is also a crucial part of the feedback message. For instance, it is not very appreciative to read "You managed to answer all questions". Providing right answers and delivering good results in a challenge is usually more connected with high engagement than with luck; so let’s not diminish learners’ success by setting an improper tone in the message. Summary  When using advanced eLearning authoring tools we are sometimes tempted to follow a mechanistic approach to designing feedback. It is easy to use templates or just to copy and paste automatic feedback comments in quizzes. However, we should remember that proper feedback can be a very influential mechanism with an ability to improve people’s competencies. To use the full power and potential of feedback in eLearning we need to spend much more time on designing it and just forget about doing simplified work on it. This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Prezi Video Tutorial: Using Frames (slides) In Prezi This Prezi Video Tutorial shows you how to use frames, so you can start adding your content in no time. Prezi’s frames are designed to help you organize your content. The post Prezi Video Tutorial: Using Frames (slides) In Prezi appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.

PowToon Video Tutorial: Using PowToon In Online Learning This PowToon Video Tutorial presents some tips on how to make your online learning more effective and engaging for your learners. PowToon is a free animated presentation software and a free animated video maker. The post PowToon Video Tutorial: Using PowToon In Online Learning appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.

Prezi Video Tutorial: Inserting An Image This Prezi Video Tutorial shows you how to add an image using Google Images, and you don’t even have to leave the Prezi editor! Adding an image to your Prezi only takes a few clicks. The post Prezi Video Tutorial: Inserting An Image appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.

PowToon Video Tutorial: How To Use PowToon In eLearning Video 2 This PowToon Video Tutorial presents some tips on how to introcduce some movement and interest to your course. PowToon is a free animated presentation software and a free animated video maker. The post PowToon Video Tutorial: How To Use PowToon In eLearning Video 2 appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.

ICEEE2015 will be held over three days, with presentations delivered by researchers from the international community, including presentations from keynote speakers and state-of-the-art lectures. ICEEE2015 will cover a wide range of topics such as: Distance Education Distance and E-Learning in a Global Context E-Learning Hardware and Software E-Learning Platforms, Portals E-Learning Success Cases E-Testing and new Test Theories E-learning in Electrical, Mechanical, Civil and information engineering Educating the Educators Errors in E-Learnings Mobile Learning (M-learning) Synchronous and Asynchronous Learning Technology Enhanced Learning Technology Support for Pervasive Learning Theoretical Bases of E-Learning Environments Virtual Labs and Virtual Classrooms Web-based Learning, Wikis and Blogs All registered papers will be published in SDIWC Digital Library, and in the proceedings of the conference. The 4th International Conference on E-Learning and E-Technologies in Education (ICEEE2015) will be held at Surya University, Indonesia on September 10-12, 2015.   This post was first published on eLearning Industry.

Prezi Video Tutorial: Inserting A Hyperlink This Prezi Video Tutorial shows you, in less than a minute, how to insert a hyperlink into your presentation that your audience can click on, even while you’re presenting! The post Prezi Video Tutorial: Inserting A Hyperlink appeared first on VivaeLearning: The Best Free Video Tutorials Online.