Traditional public schools have a testing- and competition-focused model that often gets in the way of potentially positive social interactions. After all, you can’t test students in their personal interactions, so in what’s the point in fostering it?When considering if school is a good place to learn healthy interpersonal relationships, it is important to make the distinction between socializing and being socialized.  Socializing is fun. Being "socialized"... not so much. When we think about school, we generally see 20-30 children, grouped by date of manufacture,  in a room with one adult. Order and rules govern the room. They are required to move from place to place when loud bells ring. Recess, another thing that can’t be tested, is fast becoming an endangered species.  Today’s schoolchildren enjoying 50% less time outdoors then when I was in school.  The ability to be quiet is highly valued. Do not talk during class. Do not talk in the halls. Be quiet in the lunch room. Failure to conform to "shushing," is met with a stern warning: "You’re not here to socialize." Disobedience results in consequences, even low grades in "conduct.I want more »

The New York City Department of Education lifted the ban on cell phones last spring. For some schools the difference was that students could bring their phones to school, but have them locked up or out of sight. For some of the more innovative schools however, that meant teachers could empower students to harness the power of student devices for learning.  That's exactly what happened at Harlem's P.S. 129 where 4th grade students in Stacey Nealy’s and Ryann Geldner’s launched the initiative in their school using the devices to better understand Native Americans. Students read information and sent in their reflections via a student response system from their own phones or laptops. For students without devices they were provided a school-issued device or they shared with a peer.  In an interview with the Hechinger Report, Amy Thiam, a fourth-grader explained, "We are learning and having fun at the same time."  You can read the whole article here. 

Guest post  by Jacob GunickiFor a long time software companies have offered a number of applications that allegedly support student-writing skills. These offerings include Inspiration, Don Johnston Software, Clicker, Write on Line, Dragon Software, as well as some web based options. Unfortunately, these applications have had limited success with helping students who struggle with writing. This has happened for several reasons, which are as follows;The interface for specialized software often has a clunky non-user friendly look. Subsequently, teachers servicing high need students are reluctant to learn how to use this software. Additionally, the targeted students find the interface non-appealing and are less likely to want to use this software.Specialized software is often expensive. This limits the ability for cash strapped schools to invest their limited funds in the software applications noted above.Specialized software only targets the needs of a narrow audience. This makes the software impractical unless your needs happen to fit the expressed purpose of the software developer.I want more »

Streamline the e-learning production process with this Project Checklist Starting a new eLearning project? You can minimize stress and maximize efficiency by clearly spelling out the details of the program before production begins. The following Project Checklist will serve as a handy guide to the key steps, benchmarks and sign-offs needed for most e-learning projects. This checklist will help: Organize your project Ensure you have proper approvals Serve as a project blueprint for your production team How do you use this checklist? It’s simple. Keeping the end goal in mind, envision your course step by step thorough production. Keep in mind the needs of both your client and your production team. The process has been simplified by breaking it down into 4 key components: the Plan, the Resources, the Assets and the Technology. The Plan - The following documents will serve as a blueprint to help drive the project Task Analysis - Determine if a task analysis is necessary and if so, assign responsibility Budget - Clearly define the line items to be included in the budget Objectives - Make sure course objectives are identified and agreed upon Timeline/time period  for completion - identify major benchmark phases in the project and how long it will take for each Content outline - Outline the main and sub-sections of the course Storyboard/script - Develop a detailed storyboard for client approval and to assist the production team Assessment plan - Describe the type of assessment and grading structure, if any Functional requirements list - develop a list of all functionality to be included in the program such as SCORM compatibility, bookmarking, printing, etc.   The Resources - Define and recruit the following personnel and tools Subject Matter Experts - Identify SMEs that may be needed and are able to assist Authoring tool - Determine the authoring tool to be used Team roster- Identify the key members of the team: Instructional designer, writer, project manager, e-learning authors/developers, graphic designer Quality assurance/testing - Define how the program will be tested and by whom   The Assets - Procure and/or create the needed resources Style guide -  Be sure you are complying with the latest company standards Graphics - Good resolution, relevant graphics (icons, tables, charts, logos, photos, etc.) Video  and audio files - Schedule the production of new video and audio well in advance and produce in the highest quality possible Additional content - Identify and round-up any additional resource material that your course may include, i.e. presentations, reference materials, links, etc. Screen captures - Free of extraneous data and up-to-date   The Technology - Define the platforms you are delivering to Hardware - Identify the hardware platforms to be supported Software - Identify the software to be supported LMS - Identify the LMS if applicable Developing an e-learning program is a complicated undertaking. Streamline the process as much as possible by using the Project Checklist to grease the production wheels. Good planning upfront minimizes re-work and revisions down the road.

(As previously published in Training Industry magazine, June 24, 2015). Laying the groundwork for corporate success begins with training and developing your employees. But, those that want to catapult their market share to another sphere, invest in external enterprise training. By maximizing underutilized software like SharePoint, your business profitability can go from ordinary to outstanding in a flash.

  Press Release 2015‐07‐21 Sycor mbs and the US company ShareKnowledge, Inc. - provider of the learning management system of the same name - are entering into a strategic partnership. This makes the Göttingen company the first partner for German‐speaking regions.

Getting it right on a video shoot will save re-work and editing time It’s the day of the video shoot. You’re at the manufacturing facility, shot list and script in hand. A client representative has been assigned to work with you and your crew during the production shoot. You’re ready to go. Follow these 4 best practices for a more successful shoot. Be prepared to make changes to the script It’s not unusual to make some script changes during a manufacturing shoot, so don’t record the narration for the e-Learning script until after the video shoot. E-learning scripts for manufacturing training programs can be very detailed and specific.The SME who worked with you on the script may have provided information from memory or from notes. It’s easy to miss something that should have been included or get something out of order. That’s why it’s important to reference the video script for every shot. Check that what’s being videotaped matches the script. If it doesn’t, talk with the client representative and see where the problem lies. You may need to tweak a procedure, add a manufacturing step, or clarify a production process in the script. In some cases, you may even find that the employee being videotaped does things in a way that differs from the preferred method and may need to be corrected. Make sure a technical expert is watching the video monitor The technical expert is responsible for approving what is being videotaped. The two of you will work together to get the required shots. For every shot ask: Is what is shown being done right? Is the correct PPE being worn? Is there anything in the shot that shouldn’t be? For instance: a piece of proprietary equipment or process, a missing safety guard, or holiday decorations that distract from the training. It’s important that the client watch the monitor. If you’re framed for a wide shot but the client is concentrating on watching the employee directly, they might not notice the piece of equipment missing a safety guard that is visible in the shot. Or if you’re on a close up shot, the camera might pick up a defect on a product that isn’t visible from a distance. Be vigilant about personal protective equipment (PPE). Multiple shots or an entire video shoot can be ruined if an employee is not wearing the proper PPE. Before hitting the record button, make sure everyone in the scene is wearing the correct personal protective equipment. It’s good practice to check in periodically with the technical expert to confirm that employees are wearing the right PPE. If you have any doubts, ask.Also look out too for what employees should NOT be wearing. For instance, jewelry such as watches and conductive clothing like large belt buckles may be banned in areas with exposed energized conductors or circuit parts. Different areas of the manufacturing facility can also have different requirements. Every time you change a shooting location, be attentive to Personal Protective Equipment. Watch for continuity. Employee schedules, material availability, down productions lines, and production processes that can’t be stopped can play havoc on continuity. When you’re working in a manufacturing facility, you have to be comfortable shooting the script out of order and on the fly. Because of these extra challenges, you need to be especially aware of continuity.Here are some continuity tips that you can apply to different types of manufacturing situations: If you’re videotaping a product assembly, use the same model, color and size product for each shot. Be aware of who is featured in the video. If you need to shoot out of order or return to a location to pick up a shot, check that you’re videotaping the same employee. Pay attention to which hands an employee uses to perform different tasks. Make sure there is consistency for the shots you are getting. Get wide, medium, and close ups shots so that you have plenty of options to choose from during the edit. Edit in your mind as you are watching each video shot. Manufacturing facilities present their own unique challenges on a video shoot. Take control with these best practices and both your shoot and edit will go more smoothly.

Virtually any eLearning course can be improved. Before you go into full production, review this list to find opportunities to take your course up a notch. Developing and using a repeatable format for your courses is a good practice to follow, both for the development team and the learners. It simplifies development and familiarity makes a learner more comfortable with the experience. But, it’s important to make sure that the course structure and approach that is being replicated is a good model. It needs to ultimately result in courses that are engaging while meeting the expectations and needs of our learners. If your courses aren’t completely quite up to those standards or could use a bit of freshening up, here are 8 simple methods to consider. Add a scenario or convert to one A scenario is a great way to engage adult learners and present real world benefits of the training. It’s pretty simple to re-write straight-forward instructions into an actual manufacturing scenario that the user might encounter. Add interactivity Adding interactivity keeps the learner engaged and gives them control of their learning experience. Offer them choices such as: decision making scenarios, interactive knowledge checks, More Information buttons and sliders that let them see varying results based on their input. Add video Where appropriate and in short clips, video can be a very engaging format to demonstrate procedures, show a case study or hear form an expert. Graphic makeover Anything from simple background changes, addition or freshening up of custom graphic icons to a full interface re-design can give your courses a fresh new look and make the experience more appealing to your audience. Shorten the course Continually check your content against the stated goals and objectives of the lesson. If the content is not advancing the learner toward the goal of the course, perhaps it can be eliminated. Adult learners want their content to be on-point and don’t have the time for extraneous material. Add a key graphic illustration or infographic Graphics allow users to engage with the content beyond reading text. They help organize and illustrate key points. Look for opportunities to develop key graphics for your course that can be used throughout, such as safety icons that reinforce what type of PPE to wear, an engine diagram that highlights the part of the engine being discussed or an infographic that highlights the entire manufacturing process. Write a more engaging Intro Course Intros set the tone for the module. Write the Intro to be more appealing by including a story that is relevant to the learner, add a thought-provoking headline, include a short motivational video clip from a peer or present a job-related scenario. Appeal to emotions Adult learners respond to stories, especially ones that appeal to their emotions. Try to intersperse short scenarios that present a real-world example, such as the need for safety, impact of poor quality or the positive career effects of skills development training

Save time and money by streamlining the animation process. In manufacturing environments, there are some learning objectives that can best be achieved through animation. Animations are time-consuming and expensive to produce, so be sure that animation is the best method to convey the message. Animations serve a variety of useful purposes, such as: Showing processes that can’t be seen or videotaped - how a lawn mower cuts and disperses grass or how a heating systems distributes heat throughout a building Showing interconnectivity Demonstrating human motor skills Demonstrating abstract concepts that can’t be depicted through video or photography Detailing the assembly of an engine by having it disassemble or reveal "under the hood" parts and processes There are several types of animations such as 2D, animated line drawings, animated .gif’s and 3D. Since most manufacturing facilities are developing training for physical items, the focus of this article is on 3D animation. Why? Because manufacturers are often concerned with 360 views of products or processes and this is best achieved by 3D which is based on actual object models that can be rotated in space. Once you determine that an animation is the best communication method, you will need to develop or provide the following for your animator: CAD files The key parts or materials that appear in your animation will need to be ‘modeled’ or built. Rather than building from scratch, provide your animator with CAD files, if possible. This will save a significant amount of time. Good reference material You need to show what the key components in the animation are made of and how they work. The more detail you can provide on what the piece of equipment looks like and how it works, the better. Video is a great way, but you can also use still photos, illustrations or simple hand drawings.  Storyboard You will need to storyboard the animation. They don’t have to be elaborate designs, but they do need to have a lot of descriptive detail so the animator will know what to animate.  Have a technical expert or subject matter expert review your storyboard to make sure it is accurate and on-point with the learning objective. Script It’s common to have narration describe the animation. That way your viewer has multiple senses involved in the learning.  Once the script has been reviewed and approved, record the narration and provide the final edited narration to the animator so he can time the animation sequences to the narration. Timing What is the timing and speed needed for each element of the animation? Some things can simply be timed to audio, but if there isn’t audio, let your animator know how the timing should work. TIP Keep it simple.  Concentrate only on what is necessary. Don’t animate the assembly line or the pistons firing if that’s not crucial to the learning. Keep in mind that non-essential items are taking time and money and will also distract the learner. Animation can be a very effective instructional tool for e-learning in the manufacturing environment.  To keep costs under control, focus the animation only on what is necessary and provide the right materials to your animator.

Add value and engagement to your course through inclusion of video interviews Video interviews add variety to a voice-over soundtrack and personalize training. A good, informative interview connects with your audience and reinforces learning. It can motivate learners and link new information to real manufacturing experiences. Here are these three ways to use employee interviews to add value and engagement to an eLearning script. Reinforce an idea or concept. Employee interviews are great ways to reinforce ideas and concepts so that they are better understood and remembered. When used in this way interviews act as testimonials. They offer the opportunity for learners to see and hear directly from co-workers. Seeing a peer or supervisor talk about the importance of job safety is more memorable and believable than hearing a voice over narrator tell you the company values safety. Including testimonials in an eLearning program adds a personal touch that helps learners connect with and understand what you want to communicate. It improves employee buy-in by helping them see how an idea or concept benefits both the company and them directly. Consider using employee testimonials to support the ideas and concepts behind these in demand eLearning training topics: Workplace Health and Safety Quality Management LEAN Manufacturing Supply Chain Management Share a tip or best manufacturing practice. Having employees share tips and best practices are meaningful ways of presenting information in an eLearning course. This type of peer learning is especially effective when training employees to use or maintain machinery, follow a procedure, or perform a manufacturing operation. It allows learners to hear from workers who speak the same language as them and experience situations that they will encounter on the manufacturing floor. Featuring actual workers sharing tips and best practices brings context and meaning to important information by immersing learners in real-life working situations. Connect learning with a real-life story. Stories hook and connect with learners. People like telling and listening to them. Stories help convert dry, technical content into engaging learning experiences. They provide a link between the information you want to deliver and actual real-life work situations. The best stories are both informative and entertaining. Here are examples of stories told by employees that I’ve included in my eLearning courses. Supply Chain Management (SCM) success story. How the company’s automated replenishment system saves time and money by allowing product to be ordered from the customer’s shop floor directly to the manufacturing facility’s inventory system. Quality improvement story. How a team of employees used Six Sigma principles to analyze a metal fabrication process that reduced defects in parts per million (DPPM) by 20 percent a year. Safety training stories. How disregarding safety rules resulted in work place accidents, followed up by insights into what could have been done to prevent them. Productivity improvement story. How $25,000 was saved on an order of electrical wire by making a few adjustments to a re-spooling machine. LEAN manufacturing case study. How applying LEAN principles resulted in a 25% reduction in the lead-time to manufacture a line of gear drives. Use employee interviews to produce engaging eLearning content that supports your learning objectives. This one tip will go a long way in adding value to your next eLearning script.

Now that the Flash bandwagon crashed, here’s how to transition to mobile eLearning delivery The late nineties through 2010 were great years for the brand new idea of moving training to the digital world. With software like Flash and beautiful MPEG video, we threw our paper courses away and broke new ground with CD-ROMS for assemblers, inspectors, installers and distributors. Then we moved online. Everyone had the latest Flash player in their desktop browsers and Flash even upped the ante with its .flv video format. Now videos were high-quality AND had small file sizes ideal for our brand new high-speed internet connections. I was quite busy producing CD based eLearning courses for manufacturers. And then came the iPod, the iPhone and finally the iPad. And iFreaked. None of the courses that I had produced previously would work on these devices. My clients started to use iPads, but that meant their libraries of material were suddenly obsolete. Apple decided that their devices would not use the Flash player or be Flash enabled in any way. Steve Jobs declared, "Flash is dead." And, except in the world of animation and gaming, his declaration was fortuitous. In the past few years I have been making the transition to multiple platform delivery, including iOS. If you’re finding yourself in the same situation, here are a few tips to get your old programs up to speed for today’s technologies: HTML coding Choose an eLearning software platform that outputs HTML, or custom develop in HTML. There are several leading software platforms that are tailored for eLearning and output to HTML and/or HTML5. Examples of these are Adobe Captivate, Lectora, Storyline and Presenter. Videos This is almost the easy one. Update your videos to MP4s, which are good quality and universally acceptable Images Get ready for hi-retina. This can actually be tricky if you have trouble tracking down the original high resolution graphics or images you used many years ago. What you want is at least two (and now three is best) sizes of each image, doubling and tripling in dimension. Animated effects Ahh, this is the disappointing one, but will improve with time. Flash excelled at simple animations. Replacement options consist of converting animation to video using javascript, CSS and canvas, all web technologies. They are getting better, but are not near the Flash level of sophistication. There is some software, such as Adobe Edge Animate that will give you a Flash-like interface and convert what you create to web technologies. Believe it or not, if your old program contained animated gif files, those are still usable. Interactivity Like animation, interactive elements will have to be converted to javascript. If you choose eLearning authoring program, some of these capabilities are built-in and well-done. Audio Your old wav or aiff files are best converted to mp3. As with interactivity, most eLearning software will convert your wav files for you so you are still able to use them if you wish. So get out your dust rag, dig up those archived programs and polish them up with new technologies.

A handy interactive tool for helping you decide if you need to consider the iPad or other tablets when developing your next course Mobile learning is gaining ground at a fast pace. A great number of people have access to a tablet at home or at work. But development for multiple platforms is time consuming and costly. Before jumping on the mlearning bandwagon, be certain that you need to include tablets as a deliverable platform. The following interactive tool will help guide you in your decision if iPads or other tablets need to be considered to best meet your goals and reach your audience when creating your next eLearning course. Select the correct column that matches your use case. Portability I want my users to be able to access this training on their mobile devices wherever they are. I only need the users to access this training on a desktop computer from their workstation, home or office. Platform I need this training available to only one specific corporate-approved platform. This training needs to be accessible on many platforms and I don’t know what those might be. On-site Use This training is to be viewed on-site and does not need to be accessible otherwise. This training should be accessible to users whether on-site or off-site. Cost of Production I have a substantial budget and can push the envelope when designing the interface and other interactions. I have a tight budget and need to be cost conscious about what interactions are created and how the interface looks. Future Proof This course will have a relatively long shelf life and will need to be easily accessible and viewable in the future. This course will not be available very long and will not need to be updated or adapted down the road. Existing Content This course will be using existing content from previously created courses such as Flash files and MPEG videos. The content from the course will be newly created or can be upgraded or converted from existing content. Audio There will be extensive use of audio or the audio is a very important part of the training. There will be little or no audio in this course and any audio used is only for ancillary use. Screen Size The course has a lot of content and I would like to have as large of a screen size as possible. The course has minimal content or I can limit content that does show on the screen. Text Entry There will be very little/no text entry in this course. Text entry is a very important part of this course and may be used extensively. Duration of Training This course is relatively short in duration or can be taken in multiple short chunks of time. This course is  relatively long or it requires users to take the entire course in one viewing. CLICK HERE to view your results. Note:The tool is just a guide to help with your decision making process. There are many points to consider when deciding if tablets should be considered as a delivery platform. The decision should not be taken lightly as it will necessitate additional time and resources to deliver to tablet devices. Hopefully this tool will help in the deliberative process of coming to a well thought out decision. What other points do you think would be beneficial to add to this tool?

Follow pre-teen intuition to develop a good eLearning design document Recently I had the honor of speaking to a group of middle school students in a FIRST Lego League, which is an international competition that introduces young people to the fun and excitement of science and technology. One of the components of the competition is to find a better or more innovative way to help someone learn. The team decided to help kids with ADHD learn how to play soccer by building a learning App for an iPad. I was asked to consult with the team on how to build their app. My first reactions were: "How do I get them to realize all the tasks they need to perform?" "How do we pull this off?" I’ve been working with industrial manufacturing firms to develop training programs for over 20 years. In that time it has been the rare occasion that a project team kicks off the development phase with all the information necessary to start production. There are usually gaps…sometimes canyon-sized. Well, I was pleasantly surprised! The Lego team had nearly completed the groundwork necessary to begin production. Their terminology may not have been accurate by ID standards, but the tasks had been adequately performed and the groundwork laid. This really reinforced my view that good instructional design is a clearly defined process for what is a fairly intuitive practice with good research, planning and strategy at its core. When I received an email from the teacher the day before our team meeting, my fears were alleviated. The email contained notes of the research that they had already done including interviews with: Subject matter experts about soccer technique 3 medical experts about the audience (ADHD and the best methodology for presenting the information to them) Experts on how to best deliver the content to this audience They even had a well thought-out list of questions that they needed answered before they began production. Unknowingly to them, they had outlined a pretty clear production design document. Intuitively, the Lego team is well on their way! Here is what they had; all key items for a good design document: PROJECT GOALS The Lego team had defined their goal of helping someone with ADD/ADHD learn how to play soccer by building an App for an IPad. AUDIENC ANALYSIS They defined their audience and had even done research into what methods work best for kids with ADHD. DESCRIPTION OF THE TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENT They had defined the iPad as the platform and even provided rationale for it. CONTENT OUTLINE A brief content outline had been provided and was expanded in the elaborate storyboard. STORYBOARD/SCRIPT They developed very comprehensive storyboards and even included: Graphic look and feel All content needed for the course Simulation of the key elements of the course Description of the gaming elements List and description of all activities LIST OF REQUIREMENTS Most of the requirements were also outlined, including: Game breaks and descriptions of how the games functioned How the instruction is to be delivered (video, audio, pictures, etc.) Use of music Leaderboard Assessment Feedback It was exciting to see a group of young adults so excited about developing e-learning. And it reinforced my belief that much of what we do to design eLearning is intuitive. If we could only bottle the commitment and enthusiasm that these kids had and apply it to our instructional design process…. Now there’s a winning combination.

HTML, CSS and JavaScript can greatly expand the power of your eLearning software. Your eLearning software has many built-in features that simplify programming. But what do you do when you want to add features or functionality that is not built into the software? Some eLearning software features an "HTML object" or "web object." This is an object within the software (usually found under an Insert menu or ribbon) that can be placed on your slide or page along with your other content. The HTML object can then contain HTML, CSS, JavaScript and other web languages that you copy or hand-code into it. Sounds fancy, but what would you need this for? Here are 4 examples of how to extend your software’s capabilities. Calculators and Conversion Charts Your training might involve teaching employees to use custom calculators or conversion charts. A custom tool can be coded in HTML or JavaScript outside of your authoring software and then included as an HTML object. It can then seamlessly be integrated within your course on any slide. Note that passing information from the object to the software and back can be a bit more complicated, but can be done. Pre-existing Content You can also include existing coded content like an animated graph, map, simple "To-do" list or custom video or audio player that you would like to feature in your program without having to re-create it from scratch. . The code can be copied and included inside an HTML object the same way. Animation If your eLearning module must be viewable on an iPad or iPhone, then your animation capabilities have been reduced by not being able to include Flash animation. The animation within your eLearning software is probably limited to simple moves, fades and transition effects. If you need to demonstrate a process or procedure with a more complicated animation, you might turn to other software like Adobe Edge Animate. It can output your animation as HTML, CSS or JavaScript which will run on iOS devices and can be added to your project as an HTML or web object. Customizing your own effects Sometimes you may have to customize the built in effects and animations to achieve your goal (i.e. images or text to move, scroll or pan behind other objects on your page). The way you order and layer your objects are key. I once wanted to mimic the look of a slot machine and scroll multiple rows of and columns of content. I was able to achieve this using the simple Move transition and just had to move the objects behind others to complete the effect. It took longer to setup, but the client was very happy with the results. ELearning authoring software offers great time-saving benefits. But sometimes you need to step outside the box of built in features. Use html, CSS and JavaScript to expand the capabilities and enhance your training module.

9 tips on how to save time and money developing eLearning Maximizing the return on the investment of your eLearning course is an on-going concern. We all want to develop impactful courses, without over-spending our resources. Before you begin development on your next course, use the following list of time and cost saving ideas to see if any are applicable to your project. Finalize a design document Before you begin production, make sure there is an approved, thorough design document. This document should outline the following. goals and objectives content outline delivery platform authoring tool specific functionality needed length of course testing methodology media to be used timeline budget The design document will help to ensure that the program scope, content, technical environment and functionality is spelled out and agreed to, saving time consuming and costly changes down the road. Secure approvals from all stakeholders Be sure that all stakeholders have signed off on the design document before production begins. Stakeholders have different viewpoints and expectations. Be sure that all stakeholders are in agreement before production begins. Edit out extraneous material If you’re in the position to review and edit content, take advantage of the opportunity. Too many times I have seen content that is non-goal oriented included in a program. It is also tempting to include unnecessary contextual background information in courses. Be a critical judge of the content; only include the necessary. Re-use resources Judicious re-use of resources is a great way to save time and money in course development. Recycling code, tools, templates, videos and graphic icons are a great way to expedite production. But be mindful of developing cookie-cutter courses. Schedule your video and photography at one time If you need to interfere with a production line to shoot photography or video, schedule all the shots in one block of time, if possible. Record narration after the video shoot Scripts are quite frequently tweaked when faced with the real manufacturing world. Processes and procedures may not be performed exactly as described back at the office. Save the time and money of making narration changes by holding off on recording narration until after the video shoot. In addition, when you record the narration for quiz and assessment screens, have the format, instructions and feedback finalized before you record the audio. Set the terms for the review Typically more than one person reviews a beta program. Insist on receiving ONE review document that details the groups’ consensus on changes. I have received documents with columns from each reviewer that sometimes contradict each other or are non-directive. This often happens when the document gets passed around from one reviewer to another. Save time and money by meeting with all reviewers to go over the final document before sending it on to the developer. Talk to a programmer Reviewing a storyboard with a developer before production begins can uncover time saving methods to achieve the same goal. There could be a less time consuming approach to how a tool works, a story is presented or an interaction is developed that doesn’t affect the purpose, but is more efficient. Use your developers as efficiency experts when possible. Explore animation alternatives Training for manufacturing applications occasionally calls for animation. If you have determined that animation is the best method for delivering specific content, there are different levels of animation production. Perhaps you don’t need fully rendered 3D animation. Other less costly alternatives include: Series of photos or CAD drawings, line drawings with graphic enhancements or 2D drawings

6 tips to deliver meaningful training by developing skills, not just "covering content" A few weeks back a friend purchased a new car. It was a huge technological upgrade over the 12 year-old car she had been driving. The salesman assured her that when she picked up the car he would ‘teach’ her how to use them all!  The salesman then spent 20 minutes racing through all of the functions, handed my friend the keys, wished her luck and said to call with any questions. My friends’ experience reminded me of something I have often seen, and a point underscored by Ruth Colvin Clark in her book, Evidence-Based Training Methods, "Content covered is not content learned". The car salesmen had run through the features but he clearly hadn’t helped my friend develop the skills needed to perform the tasks to use her new car’s technology. When trainers say that a lesson has "covered the content" they often mean that the content has been presented. Usually such instruction is in a lecture format and, at best, accompanied by slides, or graphics, or a video. And typically a learner is minimally involved. The thought that instruction offered through such an event, whether a lecture or online tutorial, is universally effective without the opportunity for overt engagement is most often case an illusion. It’s fairly common to be tasked with delivering a lot of material without regard to the actual quality of the learning that takes place. It is easy to be trapped into focusing just on the content. However, there are some instructional elements you can incorporate into your learning to avoid similar mistakes: Explain the standards of performance Do so early in the lesson. Cover what has to be achieved for the task to be considered completed satisfactorily. Train to the task Present only those steps and decisions necessary to perform the task. This will keep the lesson shorter, allowing the learner to promptly return to his or her work area and apply the learning. Avoid presenting too much information Stick to what is critical to successfully perform the task. Avoid required ‘nice to know’ material. Highlight task-specific safety or other hazard considerations Cover safety issues as they would likely come up while completing the task and when they might be most commonly encountered. Add interactivity Provide opportunities to practice or try what is covered. Offer frequent, instructive feedback It’s best to give the learner opportunities to see how he or she is doing in developing the skills and knowledge being taught prior to getting back on the job. You can avoid the trap of just covering content by: engaging your learners, pointing out what a successful performance looks like, and offering frequent feedback on how to successfully complete the job-task.

These 3 tools will help organize the authoring process, keeping your project on track When the design phase of your eLearning program is complete, it’s time to pass the project on to your developer. Organizing the resources needed to author the program is key to effectively communicate what needs to get done. Here are 3 resources that will help organize the project for your developer. Flowchart of the program A flowchart is a graphical representation of your eLearning program that maps out all the sections of the program and their relationship to each other. It’s a useful visual aid because it provides an overview of the learning flow of the program - navigation and branching - in a single glance. The flowchart is also a helpful tool for reviewing and troubleshooting the program, and answering questions from your developer. Storyboard The storyboard maps out the eLearning module. Three types of information need to be spelled out in the storyboard: What the learner will hear and see when navigating the course. This can include narration, sound bites, sound effects, videos, animations, graphics, text, navigation buttons, and pictures. How the learner will navigate through the program and step-by-step directions of what happens. What does the learner need to do to trigger an action? What kinds of interactivity needs to be built into the program? What happens when a navigation button is selected? How do you advance the program or replay a section? File names for every audio and visual element . Every individual element called out in the storyboard i.e. narration file, sound effect, picture, video clip, animation, graphic, or PDF needs to have a unique file name. To help organize and keep track of the different types of files, I like to assign each type its own 3-letter prefix. For instance if I have 3 video files I’ll name them VID_01, VID_02, and VID_03. Pictures would have a PIC prefix; animation would be ANM, etc. Revision Documentation You are most likely going to have some updates and revisions during the development process. Any content changes need to be noted in the storyboard, clearly identified as a change. If there are any new or updated materials, these need to be provided to the developer. Again, be sure and give a unique label name to any new materials and note changes in the storyboard. I also like to make notes on the first page of the storyboard that describe the change and call out the page title that was updated or revised. This way the developer can easily find what needs to be changed. These notes can also be useful when reviewing or troubleshooting the program. Be sure to revise the name of the storyboard file to reflect when a change is made, and replace the old storyboard with the updated one. Good communication with your developer is essential in creating an eLearning program. Providing the information above in an organized manner will keep your project on track and moving forward.

Increase the effectiveness of your course through instructive feedback If you’ve played the guessing game, I Spy, then you realize how important good feedback is. The rules of the game limit feedback to your questions as "yes" or "no". Although that may be the game’s charm, structuring feedback throughout a lesson similarly undermines its integrity. Many courses, however, rely on similar response tactics when learners answer a question or complete an activity. The added risk is that when a learner guesses correctly, they may not understand why the answer is correct. Which begs the question; do you want a learner guessing how to apply a skill or information once back on the job? Ensure that your learners are maximizing their eLearning experience by intentionally including quality feedback as an integral part of you lesson. Here’s how… Design feedback that is instructive. It helps to anticipate what feedback may be needed to help a learner successfully complete the lesson. It is often more instructive when you explain why a response is correct or incorrect and with a focus on techniques or problem-solving processes. The role of feedback is to help ensure that an individual returns to the job recognizing how to apply what was learned. Build time into your project plan to design feedback. Quality feedback does NOT require new content - it should be drawn from the lesson’s content. It is often only a matter of consciously setting aside time for writing explanations as to why an answer is correct or not. Depending on the types of instructional interactions designed into a lesson, I have found that the creation of instructive feedback usually only increases the writing phase of your project by around 5%. Know your authoring tool. I sometimes find organizations are not aware of the range of interactions that can be built using related templates or features within their authoring tool. They miss opportunities to construct more engaging lessons that challenge people to apply what’s being taught and to present effective feedback that reinforces what is being learned. A template can serve as a checklist, drawing attention to what’s needed for an interaction to be effective and how to present feedback that is instructive. You don’t need to explain why the response to every question or activity is correct or not. For example, if a learner only needs to pick the correct switch that will secure a device from a display of switches, then a simple ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ is probably sufficient. If, however, the wrong choice could lead to a hazardous situation, then greater guidance is necessary for both a correct or incorrect response. A wrong answer doesn’t have to mean failure - it can be part of the e-learning experience challenging the learner to do better via guidance offered through feedback. All learners can benefit from instructive feedback.

How to develop effective e-learning courses through strategic use of video Use of video by large companies for their employees is exploding. By 2016, predicts Gartner Research, each employee will be viewing 45 minutes of business videos per day. Video has some great benefits in the workplace. It can: Show what can’t easily be seen or is difficult to explain Provide convincing expert testimonials Demonstrate procedures Tell stories in a convincing manner Engage the viewer emotionally, visually and personally in ways that text can’t Increase retention by involving multiple senses Illustrate realistic case studies Plus, videos are in demand. Most employees would rather watch a video than read instructions. So let’s get rid of instructional designers and hire video producers. Let’s give ‘em what they want! Right? Well, not so fast. Keep in mind, viewing is not learning Although video has many strengths, using video as the sole, stand-alone instructional technique has limitations. Video is: Linear (even annotated, non-linear video is very limited) Passive Not customizable Non-responsive - it cannot judge responses or provide feedback As a standalone item, video can be effective as an on-demand resource, used in blended learning for instructor support and in limited applications as a demonstration tool.  But relying solely on video to deliver self-paced training is generally not the most effective method for comprehensive training. Video is most effective when it is appropriately integrated into a -multi-layered training program that allows for practice, feedback, assessment, and the opportunity to dig deeper. Videos do a good job of showing, but they don’t let you practice. Performing activities is at the core of most training objectives. Video allows you to view, but does not let the learner internalize the training by practicing. Adult learning theory suggests that retention and engagement is increased when adults interact and participate in their own learning. Effective, immersive multimedia e-learning uses a strategic combination of training methods in addition to video to help students achieve their goals. Suggestions beyond standalone video for development of a fully interactive e-learning include: Incorporate ACTIVE learning experiences such as use of scenarios and interactive activities Offer learners the opportunity to dig deeper or seek assistance by linking to additional resources, providing embedded Help, or encouraging engagement in social learning to maximize their experience. Build in games, simulations and other interactive activities that can result in a more engaging experience than linear video. Develop opportunities for students to check their knowledge and be provided with customized reinforcement Embed navigation controls so users have a self-paced learning experience. Vary the instructional methodology used throughout the program Video is only one of many tools in the Instructional Designer’s toolbox and used appropriately, it can offer great value and results. But it is rarely THE solution for comprehensive, self-paced e-learning. When developing a course plan, ask yourself, is video the best tool for me to help learners accomplish a certain objective?

Design Quickly and More Efficiently with these Useful Tools Design has an impact on learning. Design impacts how easy an interface is to use, calls attention to key items on a page, imparts an overall feel for the course and can enhance comprehension of course content. There are lots of great online tools that you can use to help you design a great user interface, envision typography, select complementary color combinations and position placeholder text and images. Balsamiq - https://balsamiq.com/ Self-proclaimed as "Everyone’s Favorite Wireframing Tool", Balsamiq Mockups is an easy to use program that can help you quickly map your design using premade elements. Features such as Quick Add allow you to partially type the elements you need such as buttons, grids and forms and simply press Enter to add them to your screen. You can customize, resize, and drag and drop elements right on to the screen, making this tool an excellent starting point for helping you visualize your layout. Balsamiq lets you build your designs online or download a trial version. It’s free to try, with more options that come along when you upgrade to a paid version. InVision - http://www.invisionapp.com/ InVision is a multipurpose tool. Create a prototype of your work to begin, then collaborate with members of your team to get direct feedback right on the design itself. The feedback is then transformed into a neat to-do list that you can check off and that everyone can see. This way your whole team can stay in the loop. It integrates with Sketch http://bohemiancoding.com/sketch/  (a great design app for Mac users) too. You can export artboards or single parts of a design as well. Adobe Color CC (formerly Kuler) - https://color.adobe.com Adobe Color CC helps you find colors that work well together for your e-learning projects. You can upload images, build color schemes around an image, and explore color palettes created by others around the world too. And, you can use the presets based on color theory, and create and save color libraries to use with other Adobe software in the future. Lorempixel - http://lorempixel.com/ Lorempixel is great for finding placeholder images. It has an image size generator that instantly creates images you can use for positioning only. You choose the width and height, and the generator spits out a perfectly sized image. Lipsum - http://www.lipsum.com/ Lipsum is a simple site that creates dummy placeholder text for you to place in your designs when actual content may not be available. You can create a few words, or entire paragraphs in just a few clicks. Type Tester - http://www.typetester.org/ Typetester allows you to compare up to 3 different fonts on the same screen. You can change and compare font styles, line spacing, alignment and more with immediate results. This site is currently being updated, but is still a great resource to use in the meantime. There are great free tools to help with the design of your e-learning courses. Give ‘em a try. Let me know some of your favorites by Replying to the article.

eLearning Developers - Expand Your Authoring Capabilities with these Tools Popular eLearning platforms are fairly robust. But there are occasions when you need to break outside the built-in tools or seek additional resources. Here are a few references and tools that come in handy for an advanced eLearning developer. Introducing the W3C The W3C, or World Wide Web Consortium is the main international standards organization for the world wide web. This is where coding standards are gathered and agreed upon in order to ensure that your web-page or web-based eLearning program looks and functions the same across browsers. It is also a great reference for you, the developer. For instance, before you even begin your eLearning program, you are likely to target the hardware platforms and browsers your users will be using to view your program. The W3C keeps up to date statistics on browser usage so that you can make the best decisions in this area. Find browser statistics at: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp External HTML Objects All the major eLearning platforms allow you to insert your own HTML. Since the output of your online eLearning project is likely to be HTML read by a browser, these external objects are simply additional customized HTML snippets (pieces of code) inserted into the page. The W3C has handy references for HTML tags and other languages for you to grab correct syntax from, or just learn about what is possible. For instance, if you would like to add an interactive graph or animation that goes beyond the capabilities of your authoring tool, it can be hand-coded as HTML, CSS and javascript and be added to an HTML object. HTML reference http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp CSS reference http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/ Animation If you are somewhat skilled in coding HTML and javascript, you can develop advanced animation techniques to enhance the learning by creating code to add to an html object in your authoring platform. Examples of using animation in learning are: animated graphs, animating a manufacturing system or process, or anything more complex than a move or a fade.  Incorporate these advanced capabilities with helpful tools such as the Greensock Animation Platform. http://greensock.com/gsap Debugging Finally, when testing your course or an added piece of code, you might notice something doesn’t look right. For instance a color, a font-size, or the location or size of a graphic. In cases like this, the developer tools that come with most browsers can be useful. They are found in the menu of your browser of choice (in Chrome they are in More tools>Developer tools; Firefox uses an add-on called FireBug). When you open these tools, they enable you to click on anything on the page and view the html, css, and javascript that make up that element. Use tools like these to enhance your eLearning authoring. They will make you more efficient, enhance your courses and help with troubleshooting. Don’t sit down to author without them!

4 ways iBeacons can be a powerful tool for instructional designers when used appropriately Recently, I have been prototyping the new iBeacon technology. The more I work with them, the more possibilities I see for use of this technology in e-Learning applications. For those not familiar, iBeacons are small (about the size of quarter), inexpensive pieces of wireless technology that give location-based information to smart phones and tablets via a low energy Bluetooth signal. Apple released iBeacon technology with iOS7, but the technology is also available on Android devices. The purpose of a beacon is to enhance the user’s overall experience, connecting the online world with the physical world. Beacons allow you to push location-based information to anyone who has the app. They can detect how far the iBeacon is away from the user and perform a function like open a website, push a location-based reminder or notification, offer up a video, animation or audio file, or even help guide the user to the beacon. Beacon applications are just starting to emerge in many industries - from retail and education to hospitals and airports. Retail will be a key application. Imagine shopping in a store or mall and receiving special promotions or additional information about a product when you are within its proximity. Or even be able to find a product’s location via mapping technology. I can pretty much guarantee you’ll be seeing this new technology in a store near you soon. So, how can this powerful new technology be used in training? Location-based job aids - Imagine iBeacons on the manufacturing floor pushing just-in-time help or safety information. Handy machine-side information such as videos, Material Safety Data Sheets, customized line set-up procedures or technical specifications can be immensely helpful, on-site resource materials. Location or audience specific information - Your training can be set up for different audiences. Installers, assemblers, service techs and quality inspectors may all need role-specific content. When a learner opens the app, they can select the job function they perform and then be served the specific content that is applicable to them. Specific learning zones can be set up in a classroom based on the piece of equipment they are training on, area of the classroom or factory that the training is taking place or even type of learning that needs to be communicated. Learning scavenger hunts - iBeacons can provide discovery learning experiences by placing them in different areas or on different pieces of equipment or help guide learners through an assembly process. Like most other techniques available to an instruction designer, iBeacon technology can be powerful if used appropriately. It has some very positive qualities, such as it is: location-based easily updatable customizable by audience­­­­­­­ able to push a variety of content able to provide more contextual learning cost savings - no more printing brochures, training material or maps that become useless when the information changes Please share your ideas about how you can envision iBeacon technology enhancing your audience’s learning experience.

Save authoring time and money - find out if Lectora Inspire is the right e-Learning tool for you Lectora is a powerful platform for developing eLearning content, but what are its strengths and weaknesses as an authoring tool? And given your own needs, is it a good fit? With professional experience working in the most popular platforms (Articulate Studio, Storyline, Adobe Captivate and Lectora) I have experienced the strengths and limitations of each one. The strength of Lectora comes in its robust set of tools and its programming flexibility. What is it? Lectora Inspire is actually a suite of programs. When you purchase Inspire, you get: Lectora Publisher - the authoring tool An audio recorder and editor A limited version of Camtasia - a screen recording software and editor Snagit - for still image capture and editing Flypaper - a tool for creating flash animations Lectora is a robust authoring tool specifically built for eLearning.  Its file structure follows a textbook analogy: the slides are "pages" that are grouped in chapters and sections all visible in the left side Title Explorer.  Like most other platforms, Lectora’s interface is slide-based, with the program starting at slide 1 and going on from there.. So what are Lectora’s strengths and in what areas do other tools come out stronger? Strengths Power and flexibility - When you purchase the suite you have the biggest toolbelt of all the platforms in terms of what comes with it, listed above. This helps to make graphics, screen captures, and narration all within easy reach and of high quality. Quizzing - This is perhaps Lectora’s strongest area, it was built for quizzing. Lectora has more built-in variables and actions than the other platforms so you can make custom quizzes using your own logic, feedback and tracking, or pick from Lectora’s built - in quiz templates . Interactivity - With platforms like Articulate Studio, when you want to add an interaction or quiz, you do so via add-on programs (Engage and Quizmaker) which can make you feel like you have left the software altogether and must work within tight templates. Lectora’s interactions are built right on the slide and are highly customizable. Areas where other platforms shine Expense - Lectora Inspire is expensive, costing approxiamtley $2500for the full suite Learning Curve -Lectora will take some time to master, especially if you plan to use variables and conditional actions. However,if you are coming from a powerpoint background and are not used to working within a timeline, Lectora may be easier for you than Captivate or Storyline. Flowchart View - If you are a person who prefers working with flowcharts and visual layouts, you might prefer Storyline which has "story viewIn Lectora you have to keep track of it in your head, draw a picture or actually look at slides to find the buttons and actions to see where they lead. Software Simulation - While Lectora Inspire comes with Camtasia, a powerful screen capture tool, it comes with a limited version, not the full version. Adobe Captivate and Storyline integrate screen capture and interaction with video more seamlessly. Take-Away If you are working mostly with software simulation and screen capture, you might want to look to Captivate, Storyline, or the full version of Camtasia. If your eLearning is heavily quiz based and interactive, Lectora is a good choice to make. If you are working under time and budget constraints, it may be too much horsepower to fit your needs.

Save authoring time and money - find out if Adobe Captivate is the right e-Learning tool for you When shopping for software to develop your eLearning content, it is important to get the right tool for the job. Today we’re looking at Adobe Captivate and what its strengths and weaknesses are in comparison to competing tools like Articulate Studio, Storyline, and Lectora Inspire. Having worked with all of these, I have found Captivate to be, above all, a powerful and affordable tool with particular strength in software simulation/screen capture training. What is it? Adobe Captivate is a full-featured eLearning authoring software. It is available as a subscription or can be purchased. Like most eLearning software platforms, Captivate’s interface is slide-based, with the program starting at slide 1 and going on from there. With Captivate, like Articulate Storyline but unlike Lectora and Articulate Studio, each slide has its own "timeline," where you set the appearance and timing of events and animations on the slide. It is important to state that almost all the platforms do everything you need to do in one way or another, but some are stronger in certain areas. So what are Captivate’s strengths and in what areas do other tools come out stronger? Strengths Software Simulation - One of the slide types in Captivate is screencasting and another slide type is video demo. These features are integrated into Captivate and your recordings translate right to slides, with mouse movement and keypress events layered over as editable animation. No need to go outside the software. Nice! Responsive Layout Options - Captivate is the only tool where you can see all three views on one slide in a responsive project. You can toggle from desktop, to tablet, to phone and even drag elements around on the slide to optimize the look of a particular view without affecting the other views. Price - Captivate by itself costs about $1000, but it also comes as part of the subscription-based, for $30/mo Along with price, it integrates seamlessly with Adobe’s other tools like Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash. Areas where other platforms shine Quizzing - While Captivate has full interactive and quizzing capabilities, Lectora has more built-in variables and actions. If your interactions or quizzes are complicated or you want to customize their logic, Captivate might be slightly limiting. Learning Curve -Captivate will take some time to master, especially if you have never worked with a timeline palette. But once mastered, it is a powerful platform. Articulate Studio is easier to learn since it works from within PowerPoint, but it doesn’t have near the power or flexibility as Captivate. Flowchart View - If you are a person who prefers working with flowcharts and visual layouts, you might prefer Storyline which has "story view." In Captivate, you have to keep track of branching in your head, draw a picture, or actually look at slides to find the buttons and actions to see where they lead. Take-Away If your eLearning is heavily quiz-based and interactive, you might want to look to Lectora or Storyline. If you are working mostly with software simulation and screen capture, need a responsive authoring tool or are working under budget constraints, Captivate is a good choice to make.