Want to add games to your eLearning course? The new Lectora® Inspire 12.1 with eLearning Brothers Awesomeness makes that easy. The eLearning Brothers Lectora Template library is now built right inside Lectora Inspire, which makes it easy to insert a game template into your Lectora course! Brother Bryce at the eLearning Brothers explains how to add games to a Lectora project with Lectora Inspire 12.1 in a short video tutorial. Watch the video here: How to Use Games in Your Lectora 12.1 eLearning Project. To try Lectora Inspire 12.1 for yourself, sign up for a free 30-day trial. Subscribe to the Everything eLearning Blog for more how-to posts, news, and resources. The post Crash Course: Add Games to Your eLearning Course appeared first on Trivantis e-Learning.

via LeanForward Asynchronous eLearning Advantages: Greater Accessibility Save Time and Boost Productivity Minimize Disruption to Workflow Scalability Eliminate Travel Costs Simplified Training Documentation Personalization Consistency Free Up Instructor Time What additional advantages do you see for asynchronous online learning that you’d recommend adding to this list? Leave a comment with your thoughts!

Live chat Liz here, with answers to your most commonly-asked questions about the eLearning Brothers Awesomeness built inside Lectora® Inspire! Since the release of Lectora Inspire 12.1, we’ve heard a lot of excitement about this new feature for our Inspire users, but as with anything new there are questions too. On the live chat I hear a LOT of them. Here’s a recap of everything you need to know about how to access your eLearning Brothers account, what is included in your license of Inspire, and what you can choose to add on. How do I access eLearning Brothers content inside my license of Inspire? The eLearning Brothers Lectora Template Library, Cutout People, and Interaction Builder are all integrated into Inspire. You will only need to log in once before you can start downloading. You can find the login screen in Lectora in the Lectora Tools menu, located in the sliding library menu on the right. You will also access these features on this sliding screen, or on the tools ribbon under "Inspire Tools." How do I get my login credentials to access eLearning Brothers content? eLearning Brothers sends out user information via email to eligible users. Your username will be your email address, and your password is included on your setup email. If you have not received this information with your full version of Lectora Inspire, please contact your account rep or stop by the live chat for assistance. If you already have a subscription account of any kind with eLearning Brothers, your login credentials will not change. If you are using a different email for communication with Trivantis than you are with eLearning Brothers, just notify your account rep that you would like to link your Lectora account to your existing eLearning Brothers account. If I already have a subscription to the eLearning Brothers Template Library, do I need to keep it? Many of our clients already subscribe to eLearning Brothers services, and who can blame them? Now that the templates are integrated into Inspire, all Inspire users are gaining access to the Lectora Template Library. This is a curated library with templates and course starters made just for Lectora and Camtasia®. Renewal of the Lectora Template Library is included in your annual Inspire maintenance. eLearning Brothers also offers their full template library, which includes templates and course starters for a range of other tools you or your developers may use, including PowerPoint. If you are currently using the full template library, or if you would like to start, ask your account rep about how you as an Inspire user can add this on at a reduced cost! How do I access the eLearning Brothers Stock Assets Library? The eLearning Brothers Stock Assets Library includes photos, video, and audio you can download and import into your courses. While this subscription is not included in your Inspire maintenance, it is accessible from the Lectora Tools menu in Inspire. You can add Stock Assets Library access to your existing account and manage your subscription through Trivantis with your regular renewals. Contact your account rep today for a demo and pricing structure! But I’m a Lectora Publisher user. How do I get in on this deal? For a limited time, we’re offering our Lectora® Publisher users the chance to upgrade to Inspire for $595. This will get you access not only to eLearning Brothers content AND the integration with Lectora, but also to full versions of Camtasia screen recording software and Snagit® screen capture and image editing tool. This tool bundle is a total value of $1,100, making this upgrade a serious value. You can buy now in our online store. Our academic and government clients may qualify for special pricing on this upgrade. Give us a call at 877-929-0188 to find out more. Where can I learn more about these tools? eLearning Brothers has an impressive library of how-to videos and support topics. You can see the ones that relate to your tools at lectora.elearningbrothers.com. You can also check out these great articles on the Everything eLearning Blog: • Engagement Made Easy with eLearning Scenarios and Characters • Crash Course: Add Games to Your eLearning Course • The Basics of Building Interactions • Want a Head Start? Course Starters Are the Way to Go! • Making Magic: Tabbed Interactions in Lectora • Page Layouts: the Foundation for eLearning Masterpieces Subscribe to the Everything eLearning Blog for more how-to articles, free resources, and more. The post Everything you wanted to know about the awesome eLearning Brothers Tools, but were afraid to ask. appeared first on Trivantis e-Learning.

I’d like to introduce you to a whole new world today—shining, shimmering, splendid, and full of eLearning goodness. The new Trivantis Community is open for business! Connect with other users by posting discussions, share your Lectora® and Lectora® Online content, or browse the Knowledge Base for resources like webinars, articles, and video tutorials. You can even earn badges by being an active member and helping your fellow Lectora and CourseMill® users. • To get started, go to community.trivantis.com and set up your account. • If you already have an account on the existing community forum, your username will stay the same. You’ll just need to reset your password to log in. Check your inbox today for more instructions on switching to the new site. • Don’t already have an account? No problem! It’s easy to sign up. The Trivantis Community is a place you can learn and grow with other users so that you can build inspiring, amazing eLearning. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact us at community@trivantis.com. We can’t wait to see you there! Of course, don’t forget to subscribe and keep reading your favorite blog for all the best eLearning resources, product updates and more. The post The New Trivantis Community: Everything You Need for eLearning—All in One Place appeared first on Trivantis e-Learning.

The quality of an instructional design is often gauged on three things: effectiveness, efficiency, and cost. Here are 5 rules that will help you achieve a high-quality instructional design: It must begin with an end in mind. It must be student-centered. It is refined through continuous assessment and improvement. It follows a well-defined system. It considers the big picture. Source: info.shiftlearning.com, via e-Learning Infographics What additional rules would you add for high-quality instructional design? Leave a comment with your ideas!

Trivantis is full of excitement this month with our new community, the 2015 Lectora® User Conference, and eLearning Brothers integration with Lectora Inspire. The articles we picked for you this month include eLearning games, microlearning, how-to tips for Lectora® Inspire 12.1, and updates on the latest news at Trivantis. 1. Lectora Inspire 12.1 Review by Rick Zanotti Rick Zanotti reviews the new Lectora Inspire 12.1 authoring tool, calling it "the right tool at the right time in an industry that demands easy tools that don’t sacrifice power." 2. The New Trivantis Community: Everything You Need for eLearning—All in One Place Connect with other users, share your Lectora and Lectora® Online content, or browse the Knowledge Base for resources like webinars, articles, and video tutorials in the new Trivantis Community! 3. Trivantis and eLearning Brothers Team Up to Rock the eLearning Industry In this article from Learning Solutions Magazine, Trivantis and eLearning Brothers announce Lectora Inspire 12.1 with built-in eLearning Brothers Awesomeness. 4. Is Microlearning The Solution You Need? Connie Malamed, the eLearning Coach, gets a closer look at bite-sized learning in this article about the microlearning strategy. 5. Ready, Set, Course Starters! Get a Head Start in Your eLearning Race. Learn how to use the Lectora Inspire 12.1 integration with eLearning Brothers Course Starters to save time in your eLearning development. 6. 4 Tips for eLearning Review and Collaboration Get tips for reviewing your eLearning course with your development team or external reviewers, subject matter experts, and course pilot participants. 7. Level Up with eLearning Games Games are everywhere. Learn tips in this article for adding games to your eLearning courses. 8. Virtually There: Defining the Modern Learner Experience This article discusses the modern classroom, including learning environments today and when modern learning takes place. 9. Future Highlights: 2015 Lectora User Conference Recap See highlights from the Find the Future LUC 2015 at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee. 10. Everything you wanted to know about the awesome eLearning Brothers Tools, but were afraid to ask. Live Chat Liz answers your most commonly-asked questions about the eLearning Brothers Awesomeness built inside Lectora Inspire. Subscribe to the Everything eLearning Blog for more eLearning news, trends, and Lectora tips. The post The Best of eLearning in May 2015 appeared first on Trivantis e-Learning.

11 Key Findings About Online College Students According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 2012 approximately 2.6 million students were enrolled in fully-online degree programs, while 5.5 million were taking at least one online course. For institutions to fully understand how to best serve this growing population, it is critical to understand who is studying online and what they are looking for in from their degree program. The "Online College Students 2014: Comprehensive Data on Demands and Preferences" report, a joint project of Learning House and Aslanian Market Research, shares the findings of the third annual survey of 1,500 former, current and future online students. Some Key Findings of the Report Online students are studying further away Fifty-four percent of students attend an institution within 100 miles of where they live, showing a three-year trend of students increasingly willing to attend an institution farther from home. (In 2012, 80% reported attending an institution within 100 miles of where they lived. This declined to 69% in 2013.) Cost and financial aid important, but not critical Although students reported that cost was a primary selection factor when choosing an online degree program, approximately two-thirds of respondents said they did not choose the most inexpensive program. Only 20% said they would not attend an institution if financial aid was not offered, although approximately half said they would need financial aid. Job placement messaging resonates When given a choice of 18 marketing messages, the overwhelming favorite was "90% job placement." This makes sense, given that a large majority of students pursuing an online degree are doing so for job-related reasons. Transfer credit makes a difference Approximately 80% of students have earned credit elsewhere, and those students want to bring that credit with them. Having a clearly defined, generous, and easy-to-navigate transfer credit policy can help institutions stand apart. Download Online College Students 2014: Comprehensive Data on Demands and Preferences

Angel Tracy and Rebekah Ostrander create eLearning for mandatory annual staff training at Gray’s Harbor Community Hospital in Washington—and they use creative ideas to make it engaging. At last year’s Lectora® User Conference, they presented their cool zombie eLearning scenario, so I knew their breakout session at LUC 2015 would be another great one. Angel Tracy and Rebekah Ostrander presenting at the 2015 Lectora User Conference They built a hidden object module (game) in Lectora eLearning software to teach hospital employees mandatory "Environment of Care" information. To make it engaging, Angel and Rebekah used a fun theme: the popular TV show The Amazing Race. Just like the TV show, the eLearning course had detours—one of which was the hidden objects module.    In the hidden objects game, Angel and Rebekah had a list of items to find in the picture below. When the learners clicked on each item, the module opened a new page with information about a new mandatory training topic. Learners also had the choice to simply read all the training material instead of participating in the hidden objects game. The hidden objects game that they created in Lectora Here are a few tips from Angel and Rebekah on creating engaging mandatory training with Lectora: • Change your mindset. As an educator, you must change traditional education methods to meet the needs of mass training in a timely, cost-effective manner. • Mix up training by choosing multiple methods where learners overcome challenges and barriers. • Make training as fun as possible. Theme-based training is an excellent way to do this! For more stories about the cool training courses that Lectora users are creating, subscribe to the Everything eLearning Blog! Try building engaging training in Lectora today—sign up for a free 30-day trial of Lectora® Inspire. The post How to Find the Fun in Mandatory Training appeared first on Trivantis e-Learning.

As I’ve shared previously, our family is excitedly following my cousin’s journey in the NFL. His Packers jersey appears to be more popular than even Aaron Rodgers or Clay Matthews…not bad for a 5th round draft pick that hasn’t yet even made the team.  Yes, my jersey is ordered Full story from WeAreGreenBay.com

The CDC ran an effective multinational course pilot, thanks to ReviewLink™ online review tool. That’s awesome—and I wanted to hear about it at the 2015 Lectora® User Conference, so I attended Karen Ngowe’s breakout session. In case you’re not familiar with ReviewLink, it’s a collaboration tool that is included with Lectora. You can use it to share courses for feedback with external reviewers, subject matter experts, and other stakeholders. At the CDC, Karen Ngowe used it to run an effective multinational course pilot (an official test of a course from start to finish). One benefit of using ReviewLink for this was that it allows multiple reviewers to share their opinions, while keeping their comments hidden from each other. This eliminates the problem of "What page did they comment on?" and prevents one reviewer’s opinion from influencing another’s first impression of the course. Karen explains the keys to sanity during a multinational course pilot According to Karen, there are several keys to sanity during a multinational course pilot:  • Don’t use the development copy of the course for the pilot—you will not be able to distinguish between pilot, SME, and developer comments. • Do publish a NEW version of the course to ReviewLink that is ONLY for the pilot test—only pilot participant comments are collected. • Do be sure to un-check the "Reviewers can see each other’s comments" option—prevents the pilot participants from influencing or being influenced. • Do check this once the pilot is over and the comments are closed so that the SMEs can see all the comments per page. • Don’t leave the pilot open for comments beyond the announced final date. Karen also recommended providing a guidance document for reviewers, which gives them context for the course and need-to-know information, such as how much time it will take them to complete the course. That way, reviewers are prepared and can plan ahead. For more stories about how Lectora users are creating successful training, subscribe to the Everything eLearning Blog!  Try reviewing courses with ReviewLink today—sign up for a free 30-day trial of Lectora® Inspire. The post How to Run an Effective Multinational Course Pilot appeared first on Trivantis e-Learning.

Lessons from Nashville - by Donald H Taylor, chairman, Learning and Performance Institute I spend a lot of time at conferences—whether running them, talking at them, or attending—and I can tell you the toughest thing about getting them right is not finding the right venue; it’s not getting the food to arrive hot, nor even choosing the speakers. It’s setting the right tone. That’s why I was so impressed by the 2015 Lectora® User Conference in Nashville in May. The venue—the Music City Center—was great, and the setup totally professional, as you would expect from Trivantis, but what really struck me was the buzz among the delegates and the positive atmosphere. People were there from all over the US and beyond, ready to share thoughts, experiences, and insights into the fast-changing world of learning that we’re all facing in L&D. Clearly there’s a strong community feeling among Lectora users, and the Trivantis crew had done a great job of supporting that and helping it flourish. As the opening keynote, I did my best to maintain that spirit and add some energy, by posing questions and inviting the delegates to talk together and share experiences. It’s my experience as the chairman of the Learning and Performance Institute that no matter how smart any of us thinks we are individually—and this includes the person on stage speaking—we are smarter when we share what we know. In a way, that was the simple message of my opening keynote—we are now in a fast-moving world, where traditional learning and training methods meet an increasingly smaller range of needs. Standing and talking is no longer enough. We can help people learn better, faster, when we encourage them to share. It was all very different when I began as a face-to-face trainer in the mid-1980s. Back then, courses and books were all we had. Today, we have to adjust our practice to meet the needs of learners, and the reality of a very different business environment. We now live and work in a global economy where the speed of change is far faster than ever. In 1958, the average company in the S&P 500 Index remained there for 61 years. That number is now less than 20 years. In the 1960s, stocks were typically held for over 8 years. They are now held for an average of about 6 months. The world of business is tougher, and more unforgiving, than ever. That’s the big picture. On the smaller scale, our lives are all impacted by business’s shortened time-scales. In this environment, the traditional approach of conveying new information—the course—cannot supply all the answers. A course simply takes too long to produce, check, and distribute to meet most learning needs. When Charles Jennings was Chief Learning Officer at Thomson Reuters, he reckoned many of his learning assets were obsolete within three months. That’s very different from my face-to-face training experiences in the mid-1980s, when we would create a course and use it for the next two years. Courses are still an important part of what we do, particularly for on-boarding and for compliance, where people don’t know what they don’t know. But as the business demands that skills transfer and information acquisition become ever more rapid, we have to expand our repertoire of offerings. If we don’t, we run the risk of getting stuck in what I call the Training Ghetto. When I used that term in Nashville, it struck a chord with the audience—the idea that we’re too often ignored by the rest of the business, or treated as a strange, different place where people talk a slightly odd language and think differently. When the business thinks of us like this, it has an impact on how we work. Usually that impact is pretty negative. The most obvious manifestation is when managers show up with a very specific request for training to "fix" their team, something like "They need a 30-minute eLearning course on time management." Usually, of course, the real problem is not the team. It’s the manager. The fitting response is to tell them to return to their teams and be a better manager, or as one member of the Nashville audience suggested, simply to "Get out of my office!" Although that approach would be very satisfying in the short term, in the longer term it’s probably healthy neither for the effectiveness of the L&D department nor your own job security. Instead, I advocate an approach that’s easy to describe, although more challenging to put into practice: move your approach from the supply-side to the demand-side. Stop thinking of problems in terms of the solutions we have at hand (usually courses) and ask instead three questions of the business: what are the immediate performance needs, what are the longer term capability needs, and what foundations are needed to support both of these? All of this is summed up by the experience of Andrew Jacobs. Andrew ran the L&D department for a London borough, a local authority employing about 3,000 people. When his team was cut from eight to two (including himself), he shifted his approach entirely away from producing and delivering courses and spent his time instead talking to managers about their performance and capability needs and putting in place the infrastructure that helped them meet those needs. The result: employees spent more time learning—and felt the results to be more effective—than under the previous course-driven approach. Of course, Andrew still does produce and deliver courses—but only where they are the best possible solution to the performance issue. He sums this up in one phrase: "We have behaved too much like shop keepers. We need to become engineers." Andrew’s right, and it was a thought I heard repeated by the Lectora users in Nashville. The good news is that the community of users—fostered by Trivantis—is supporting each other in making the transition to demand-side thinking. As I say, we learn best when we learn together. Having met many of them, I’m confident this group of smart eLearning specialists will keep on learning as it changes itself to meet the rigours of 21st century workplace learning. Join Lectora users supporting each other in the new Trivantis Community today. For more LUC 2015 posts and eLearning tips, subscribe to the Everything eLearning Blog. The post 2015 Lectora User Conference Recap by Donald H Taylor appeared first on Trivantis e-Learning.

This year at the Lectora® User Conference, Megan Odom from Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) gave a great presentation on the factors an eLearning developer needs to consider before creating interactive content. Megan covered: • Designing interaction for reality • Layering Lectora questions to create a reality-based scenario • Responding to correct and incorrect responses • Accounting for participant movement during the interaction The presentation was aimed at Lectora developers who are familiar with variables but looking for ways to take their skills to the next level and utilize Lectora’s built-in offerings to create something not-so-standard. "One of the things I really like about Lectora is that there is nothing I feel a SME can ask of me that I have to say ‘no’ to," said Megan. Megan walked us through some example interactions and how she created them, including this one asking the learner to correctly create a label based on content learned earlier in the course. A quick variables tip: start user defined variables with an underscore, so they stay at the top of the variable list. I’m not the only one who thought Megan’s session was great! Twitter was buzzing: For more highlights from the 2015 Lectora User Conference in Nashville, how-to tips, and free resources, subscribe to the Everything eLearning Blog. The post LUC 2015 Session Recap: Considerations in Developing Interactive eLearning appeared first on Trivantis e-Learning.

With the recent conversations that I’ve had with other institutions regarding piloting the Blackboard Enterprise Surveys and Course Evaluations (ESCE) tool, I’ve reserved a meeting room and time slot at BbWorld in the Blackboard User Group (BUG) Lounge for an open conversation on the feature gaps and workarounds that institutions are employing in attempting to implement the functionality. If you will be attending BbWorld and are currently exploring the ESCE tool, feel free to join the conversation on Wednesday, July 16, 4:00-5:00pm, Veronese 2401A. The meeting room will have bean bags and several round tables, allowing for several groups to meet at the same time. This is a low tech room. Projectors, speakers, microphones will be NOT available. I plan to take notes of the conversations and will plan to share here on LinkedIn for those who can’t attend. See you in Vegas! Jason Rhode, Ph.D. Director, Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center Northern Illinois University jrhode@niu.edu twitter.com/jrhode

The mere thought of choosing a new e-Learning authoring tool may make some eLearning professionals cringe, but it doesn’t have to be a stressful and time-consuming task. In this article, I’ll walk you through the process of choosing the best eLearning authoring tool for you. The Steps to Follow When Choosing an eLearning Authoring Tool Choosing an eLearning authoring tool that you can use to create engaging eLearning experiences is often a challenge in and of itself. The process usually involves a fair share of trial and error, research, and lengthy comparison checklists, with an abundance of stress thrown in for good measure. But it doesn’t have to be like this. In fact, this article features a step-by-step guide you can use to choose an eLearning authoring tool that offers you the features and functionality you need, without any headaches involved. 1. Determine your budget and objectives. Before you even begin to research the various eLearning authoring tools that are available today, you’ll need to figure out how much you are able and willing to spend. For example, if you have limited funds, you may want to opt for a free eLearning authoring tool or something like Snap! by Lectora® that offers an affordable entry into the eLearning world. On the other hand, if you have more room in your budget, getting an eLearning authoring tool that includes a wide range of helpful features and functions you need (and the flexibility you want), may be the ideal solution. You will also need to determine what you hope to achieve by using the eLearning authoring tool. Are you planning on producing highly interactive quizzes and/or eLearning scenarios? Do you want to be able to develop a variety of multimedia presentations and/or eLearning games? If you want an eLearning authoring tool with all the bells and whistles, then you can usually expect to pay a higher price, but you will get the functionality you need to create customized eLearning experiences. 2. Assess your eLearning team skills. Even the most expensive and high-end eLearning authoring tool isn’t going to be of much use if your eLearning team doesn’t have the appropriate skills or experience to utilize it effectively. As such, you’ll want to take a close look at the current skills, knowledge and talents of your eLearning team so that you can determine which eLearning authoring tool will offer the ease of use that you need. Is there going to be a steep learning curve involved? Is it worth the investment of time and training resources? While some basic desktop authoring tools may be easier to work with, more complex tools that offer more features and functionality may take some time getting used to, but in the end will allow you to create more robust training content. 3. Narrow down your list of features. The sheer abundance of features that many eLearning authoring tools offer can make it challenging to pick the one that’s just right for your organization. As such, when looking at the key features that each tool offers you, consider the needs and goals of your audience. For instance, if you do choose an eLearning authoring tool that is more advanced and gives you the chance to create fully interactive eLearning materials that are dynamic and engaging, is this really going to benefit your audience, or would they probably get more out of a simple and straightforward slide show-based eLearning course? Also, consider where and when they will be accessing the eLearning course when all is said and done. For instance, if they will be on the go when participating, then you may want to opt for an eLearning authoring tool that will allow you to deliver your content in various mobile devices. The Lectora® family of authoring tools from Trivantis has always published to HTML, allowing Lectora courses to be played on any device. 4. Define the level of support that you will require. All eLearning teams need some level of support, just in case the unexpected should ever happen and a glitch threatens to derail your current project. As such, you will want to ask the vendor about the level of support that it is offered. Will you be able to reach them 24/7 via email or phone, or do they just offer online support? If you ever run into technical issues or have questions about the eLearning authoring tool, you need to know that you can count on them to help you figure it out and get the most out of your new software. You may want to check out online user communities, as well. 5. Examine the ease of integration with your current software. If you are currently using a learning management system or other eLearning authoring tools, it’s important to determine if the new tool will easily integrate. Is it compatible with other eLearning tools that you use often, or will the new tool hinder the functionality of the software that you are already using? If you find out that the eLearning authoring tool may conflict with your current technology, then you may need to look into plug-ins that offer you the same features or functions as your existing platforms. 6. Research, review, and make trial runs. Before you click that "buy" button or sign on the dotted line, you will want to research every option that is available to you, based upon the above criteria. Look up reviews that other eLearning professionals have posted online about the eLearning authoring tool you consider buying, do research into the vendor’s background and track record, and ask for a free trial or live demo. Assess every feature that the eLearning authoring tool offers and determine if it’s the right fit for your organization, or if it comes with functions that you may not even need. Use this eLearning authoring tool step-by-step guide to find a solution that meets your needs, so you can design eLearning deliverables that exceed expectations, regardless of your budget or your eLearning experience. Subscribe to the Everything e-Learning Blog for more e-Learning tips, Lectora how-tos and product news. The post 6 Steps to Choosing the Best eLearning Authoring Tool appeared first on Trivantis e-Learning.

Blackboard is conducting a series of user research studies to aid the design of the next generation of Blackboard Learn, the flagship LMS. Please pass along this invitation to participate to any students or faculty who might be interested in these opportunities. Who: Blackboard is being assisted by TecEd (www.teced.com), an independent research firm. What: You’ll try some features of the redesigned Learn and tell us your thoughts. Where: At your own computer, speaking on the phone with a researcher during the one-to-one research session. Sessions will last 30 or 60 minutes for students, and 45 or 90 minutes for faculty. When: Sessions will take place July 11 - August 29. What else: Participants who complete a session will receive an Amazon gift card to thank them for their time and input. The card value will range from $50 to $150, depending on the session length. To apply to participate, please click this link, or copy this link into your browser: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XHLZYLZ If you meet the study criteria, TecEd will contact you to schedule a research session.

Down in Nashville this past spring, secret Lectora® tricks were revealed, sneak peeks were given of future products, and the crowd went wild… especially during the presentation "How the LUC15 app was built in Lectora." Sergey Snegirev shared his insights into the—sometimes frustrating, but ultimately rewarding—process of creating the 2015 Lectora User Conference app in Lectora. Deliberately Designed Sergey talked about the decision to make the app in a portrait orientation instead of landscape. He took inspiration from other utility apps, like Mail, Twitter, and others. Those apps are all naturally portrait, probably because it’s easier to hold your phone in a portrait orientation and scroll vertically through a lot of information. (As you may have noticed, the conference app had a LOT of information we wanted Sergey to include.) It was important that the conference app have a "real app" look and feel—not like a course simply transferred to mobile. That included having an intro splash screen, pictured below. Living in the HD World Attendees learned about the importance of using vector graphics for mobile and a bit about flat design. Sergey pointed out that fonts are actually vector graphics! Icon fonts can be a great solution for graphics that resize well on different mobile devices. Overall, Sergey’s session was a fascinating look into using Lectora for more than just eLearning authoring and a great insight into mobile design. Download a free 30-day trial of Lectora to start creating your own mobile courses and apps! To read more conference recaps and get valuable Lectora tips, subscribe to the Everything eLearning Blog. The post Building Mobile Apps with Lectora appeared first on Trivantis e-Learning.

As in the past, I again this year plan to blog my experiences at BbWorld, July 15-17th. Somehow my calendar is already fuller this year than ever, including 3 presentations, 1 poster presentation, and a host of a few other commitments. Stay tuned here on my blog for more or go directly to jrho.de/bbw14 for all my #BbWorld14 posts. Are you headed to #BbWorld14? Leave me a comment or hit me up on Twitter @jrhode and let’s connect!

Love your CourseMill® interface, but think it could use a little more… pizazz? I have good news for you! There are many upgrade options to choose from that include custom pages, additional graphics, and more in-depth tab design. Let me show you a few examples to help inspire you! To start, you can take your Student tabs a little further by making a graphic for them, relocating them, or just changing up the design a bit. Additional graphics are always a great way to customize your CourseMill interface. You can add a graphic to become a banner above your search box or as part of your header. You can also have a custom log in page that adds graphics, links, additional text, or even videos to your log in page. Plus, check out what our News Pages are all about! These pages give you a great place to share the latest updates and information you want learners to check out first. Go into your Manage Properties to set the News Page to be the first tab learners see when they log in. This can be designed and updated by you, or Trivantis can do it for you. Spice up your CourseMill interface design today! Check out our CourseMill Customization page to see more details, examples, and the prices! To see more cool things CourseMill can do, register for the "Custom Reports Made Easy" Inspiration Wednesday Webinar on June 24. Subscribe to the Everything eLearning Blog for more insider tips, how-to articles, and free resources. The post Spicing Up the CourseMill Interface appeared first on Trivantis e-Learning.

A bit over two years ago, more than 3,500 people enrolled in the first Blackboard MOOC on "Instructional Strategies and Technology Tools for Online Success" with Professor Curtis J. Bonk from Indiana University. This course helped to set the stage for this exemplary course MOOC! In one of the synchronous sessions of that course, Dr. Bonk presented his online motivation framework called TEC-VARIETY with each letter representing a motivational principle backed by decades of research on human motivation. In a polling item at the end of that session, his MOOC participants overwhelmingly voted that Curt’s next book on online motivation and retention should be free to the world as an e-book. Well, guess what? He did just that! After nearly 15 years of planning and 3 years of writing, his new book, "Adding Some TEC-VARIETY: 100+ Activities for Motivating and Retaining Learners Online" is done. And Curt Bonk has made this book FREE for anyone as an interactive PDF document both by chapter as well as in total. Explore the book homepage and you will find a download link for the entire 382 page book (http://tec-variety.com/). More important, there are dozens of low risk, low cost, low time activities featured in the book. In addition, each individual chapter is free to separately download and share with your students, trainees, colleagues, and administrators (see http://tec-variety.com/freestuff.php). You can find chapters on creating a safe tone or climate, learner engagement, online collaboration, interactivity, encouragement and feedback, learner autonomy, goal setting, and much more. You even can find a chapter on ways to support instructors who might remain hesitant or a tad resistant to online or blended instruction. According to Professor Bonk and his co-author, Dr. Elaine Khoo of the University of Waikato in New Zealand, you are free to download, use, share, and, with permission, even translate any part of the book (for more details, see the Creative Commons license in the copyright page of the book). Adding Some TEC-VARIETY is already being translated into Chinese by scholars at Beijing Normal University as a free e-book. If you have any questions or comments about this new online motivation and retention book, you can contact Professor Bonk via email at curt@worldisopen.com.

"We’re all built to run from tigers." This is why learners respond so well to game-based training—where they must complete challenges to get achievement, satisfaction, and recognition—according to Emil Heidkamp from Sonata Learning. Emil presented on gamification and simulations at the 2015 Lectora® User Conference in Nashville this spring. In his session, Emil discussed balance—how appropriate a game or simulation’s difficulty level is for its intended audience. With gamification, you want to create an engaging game experience that is also a learning experience. The goal is to achieve cognitive flow, a state of heightened emotional and cognitive engagement achieved when the difficulty of a task is proportional to an individual’s ability. Then, reward the learner for participating so that he or she feels that sense of accomplishment. Here are a few tips from Emil on enabling cognitive flow: • Have concrete goals with manageable rules. • Demand actions to achieve goals that fit within the person’s capabilities. • Have clear and timely feedback on performance and goal accomplishment. • Diminish extraneous distraction, thus facilitating concentration. Emil’s session was so popular that we had to bring in extra chairs! Emil also explained why Lectora is great for creating games and simulations: • Variables allow you to "keep score" and track states, essential for creating games and model systems or processes. • Modify Variable Actions allows games and simulations to be dynamic. • Random Value Generator can be used to introduce an element of unpredictability. • Conditional Logic allows for branching scenarios and more complex game or simulation mechanics. • Timed Triggers are great for adding stress or difficulty to your game. LUC 2015 attendees were excited to start creating their own games with Lectora. Have you created something cool in Lectora that you want to share? Post in the Trivantis Community! For more Lectora tips and eLearning news, subscribe to the Everything eLearning Blog. The post Balancing Difficulty in eLearning Games & Simulations appeared first on Trivantis e-Learning.

I’m fortunate to be able to attend BbWorld for the third straight year. In additional to presenting this year, I’ll also be spending time at the Knowledge Bar with other BbMVP’s in addition to facilitating on open discussion about Enterprise Surveys and Course Evaluations in Blackboard. I’m also honored receive a Blackboard Catalyst Exemplary Course Award. Here’s a list of the presentations I’ll either be giving or be a part of at BbWorld… Scheduled Presentations Being Present and Engaging Students Online Using Blackboard Video Everywhere Learn about one instructor’s use of YouTube’s free and easy-to-use features incorporated in Blackboard for recording, editing, captioning, and embedding video into his online course. An overview of the steps for recording, editing, captioning, video in YouTube will be provided as well as examples shared for various approaches for seamlessly incorporating video into any online course. A summary of feedback survey results from students regarding their experiences with video in the course will be shared as well as lessons learned by the instructor for those wishing to follow the same suggested steps for incorporating video in their own course. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions throughout the session and see first-hand a demo by the instructor of how the video was seamlessly incorporated into Blackboard Learn. Date/Time/Location: Tue, 7/15/14, 2:45PM-3:30PM, Murano 3304Presenter(s): Jason Rhode Blackboard Catalyst Exemplary Course Award Poster: Instructional Media and Technology Poster for 2014 Blackboard Catalyst Exemplary Course, ETT 510: Instructional Media and Technology, taught by Jason Rhode, Ph.D., fall 2013 Date/Time/Location: Tue, 7/15/14, 5:00PM-7:00PM, Exhibit HallPresenter(s): Jason Rhode Trends in Online Learning What’s holding you back from growing your online presence? Based on research with hundreds of your peer institutions, this session will explore how the use of collaboration tools, mobility, and more will be changed by shifts in student demands and the fight to attract and retain students. Join this session, led by a panel of academic technologists to learn how leading schools are thinking about online learning in the future and what you should be thinking about as part of your long term strategy. (This is based on a webinar held in April of 2014 that was very popular.) Date/Time/Location: Wed, 7/16/14, 9:15AM-10:00AM, Murano 3301Presenters: Jason Rhode, Melissa Stange Enterprise Surveys and Course Evaluations: An Open Discussion of Feature Gaps Join us for an open conversation on the feature gaps and workarounds that institutions are employing in attempting to implement the functionality. I plan to take notes of the conversations and will plan to share here on my blog as well as LinkedIn for those who can’t attend. Date/Time/Location: Wed, 7/16/14, 4:00PM-5:00PM, Veronese 2401A It will be a busy week, but one in which I am looking forward to! Let the presentation preparation begin. If you’ll be at BbWorld, look me up! I’ll be tweeting @jrhode and will share my presentation slides and other resources here on my blog. I will try to also blog my experiences at BbWorld. Looking for Presentations Slides/Handouts? I will be posting the slides and accompanying resources from my BbWorld presenters here on my blog along with any other BbWorld-related reflections. Enjoy!

Our 2015 Lectora® User Conference presenters were such a hit in Nashville! This year’s conference received some amazing feedback, and we were so happy with all our speakers. If you’ve been a longtime Lectora user, you know that sometimes we bring an LUC presenter back for an encore in the form of an Inspiration Wednesday webinar. Adam Leibler from the eLearning Brothers presented "Creating Interactive, Immersive Learning for PC and Mobile Use" in Nashville AND graciously agreed to come back and present again for our Inspiration Wednesday crowd. Here are a few things attendees learned from his presentation: 1. What not to do on an iPad. (Adam did note during the Q&A at the end that Androids are much more friendly toward interactive eLearning than Apple devices. 10 points for my Samsung Galaxy phone!) 2. Saving custom fonts as images to ensure they display correctly on all devices. 3. Creating swipe navigation to enhance the mobile experience. Adam shared many more great tips during his presentation. Viewers also learned that you are actually supposed to pronounce .GIF with a soft ‘g,’ like Jif peanut butter… I’ve been saying it wrong for years! Now go watch the entire awesome presentation on the Trivantis Community! Subscribe to the Everything eLearning Blog for more Lectora tips, how-to articles, and free resources. The post Immerse Yourself in Interactivity—Tips from the eLearning Brothers appeared first on Trivantis e-Learning.

For the next 4 days, I’ll be attending the BbWorld 2014 conference in Las Vegas. I’ll be frequently posting to social media using hashtag #BbWorld14 as well as blogging from the conference, prefixing all my BbWorld blog posts using hashtag #BbWorld14 I’m continuing to work on grading Unit 5 activities and will send a quick text message once Unit 5 scores and feedback are available for you in Blackboard. Enjoy your week…I’ll see you online! ~ Dr. J

Facebook may be perceived as a distraction for online learning audiences. However, there are ways that instructional designers can actually use it to their advantage to create immersive and engaging eLearning experiences. In this article, I’ll share a Facebook guide for eLearning professionals explaining why Facebook is such a powerful eLearning tool. You can also find 6 invaluable tips on how to use Facebook for eLearning, as well as 10 additional tips on how to run successful Facebook groups. Read this guide and follow these tips to integrate the king of social media into your eLearning course design and maximize the effectiveness of your eLearning course. The Ultimate Facebook Guide for eLearning Professionals You’ve probably already been using social media as an eLearning platform or following your favorite authoring tools on Facebook, because you realize the role it can play in your social learning strategy. After all, social networks are a great place for interaction, collaboration, and information sharing, which are the cores of social learning. On the other hand, we’ve all found ourselves, at one time or another, perusing the posts on Facebook when we really should have been working or studying. But what if there was a way to turn this addictive social media platform into an amazing eLearning resource? Whether the use of Facebook may be beneficial for your audience or not is for you to determine. But if you decide to integrate Facebook into your eLearning course design, you should be active and have certain things in mind. In this article, I’ll share a Facebook guide for eLearning professionals, so that you can be sure of how to use the most powerful social network of all time for the benefit of your learners. Why Facebook Is Such a Powerful eLearning Tool 1. It reaches learners in a familiar environment. One of the best things about Facebook is that there isn’t much of a learning curve involved. A vast majority of learners already know how to use Facebook and have a profile set up. It’s a natural online environment for them, thanks to the fact that this social media site is so popular. Rather than asking your learners to sign up for a different, lesser-known networking site or engaging them solely through the eLearning course platform, you can reach out to them via a social network they are already familiar with. You can immediately provide them with links or relevant posts that can make their eLearning experience even more beneficial. 2. It attracts new learners. Facebook is, inherently, a networking platform that thrives on social interactions. When learners are going to attend one of your upcoming eLearning events, for example, RSVP invitations can be sent via Facebook to others in their network that can automatically be notified about the eLearning event too. As a result, you can reach out to new learners even without actively doing so. You can also create groups that attract like-minded individuals who are already interested in the subject matter, making it more likely that they will enroll in your eLearning course or attend your webinar. 3. It’s user-friendly. Facebook is one of the most simple and straightforward social media interfaces. You simply sign up, create a profile, and start contacting friends, colleagues, and learners. However, despite the fact it’s so user-friendly, it doesn’t have a shortage of features. You can organize public or private Facebook groups, create threaded discussions with specific groups, and keep your learners up-to-date quickly and conveniently. There are also Facebook applications and games that can enrich the eLearning experience of your audience. And it’s all free! 6 Tips on How to Use Facebook for eLearning 1. Separate your personal and your professional identity. This is the number 1 Facebook Rule you definitely need to follow. It is not unusual for people to blend their personal and professional lives on Facebook. In fact, it is quite common; people share their personal photos and stories with their colleagues, and they often comment on their friends’ pages about their jobs. Don’t make the same mistake. If there is only one rule you should follow on Facebook, this is that you need to keep separate your personal and your eLearning professional identity and be aware of who sees what posts. While Facebook does not allow you to have multiple personal accounts, you can adjust the privacy levels on each individual post you share. You don’t need to do this because you have something to hide; rather, it sends the message that you are a responsible professional who understands that there is a time and place for everything. No matter how talented and successful you are, a photo of you bungee jumping or of your dog wearing a green hat simply cannot convince your existing or potential partners and clients that you take your job seriously. These photos are better shared with only your real life friends. It may sound unfair, but this is how things work. And if you’re worried that keeping your colleagues and learners out of your personal life will deprive them of the opportunity to enjoy your personality and creativity—don’t worry! You are free to create an eLearning account that can capture your audience’s attention in various ways, for instance via your Facebook cover photo. How do you keep personal and professional separate on Facebook? If you run a freelance eLearning agency, you can create a business Facebook page, like the eLearning Brothers page. If you don’t have your own agency, but still want to use Facebook for eLearning, you can allow people to follow you. When you allow people to follow you, anyone on Facebook can follow you to get your public updates in their News Feed, even if you’re not friends on Facebook. A potential new eLearning connection will see this when they visit your Facebook profile for the first time: You must simply be aware of what group you are sharing your posts to after this—"Public" or "Friends Only." 2. Encourage group collaboration and discussion via Facebook. Facebook can be a powerful collaboration tool when you develop activities and class assignments that encourage students to work in online groups. Simply ask learners to divide into Facebook groups and assign a leader who will moderate the discussion and keep everything on track. They can work together to complete the assignment, be it a blog or presentation, by posting on each other’s walls, using Facebook Messenger, and sharing resources through Facebook. 3. Provide immediate feedback and resources for your online learners. Thanks to the fact that you can create closed groups, providing immediate feedback for your learners has never been easier. You can help them to correct or positively reinforce learning behaviors to provide them with the best possible educational experience, without having to worry about embarrassing them by posting things in a public forum. You can also share links to articles and videos with your learners conveniently, so that they can instantly learn about resources that can expand their comprehension of the subject matter. 4. Create groups to cultivate different learning communities. Facebook allows you to create a diverse range of learning communities that center on different topics and ideas so that you can share relevant information with specific learners. For example, learners who are enrolled in your customer service course may not necessarily be interested in the same information as learners in your account management course. However, if you create closed groups in Facebook you can directly interact with members of different learning communities in order to provide them with a customized learning experience. 5. Ask students to conduct Facebook research for upcoming assignments. Facebook may often be seen as nothing more than a social networking site, but it’s also a great source of information. Facebook questions and groups gives students the chance to conduct research for upcoming eLearning projects or assignments by interviewing professionals and experts in the field and viewing posts and links that pertain to particular ideas or concepts. For example, a learner enrolled in a nursing course online can speak with experienced nurses or other medical professionals to learn more about a specific topic or when studying for an assessment. 6. Use polls and surveys to fine-tune your eLearning course. Facebook serves as a powerful feedback tool due to the fact that you can create polls and surveys to collect the opinions and insights of your current or potential learners. For instance, if you are considering starting a new eLearning course, you can reach out to your existing network to see if there may be interest in the subject, and get a clear idea of what lessons you may want to include in an eLearning course. Learners can simply "like" the post to let you know if you’re on the right track. Lack of "likes" may indicate you need to rework your plan. This same rule applies to your existing online courses. You can fine-tune your eLearning curriculum by polling your learners and finding out what they like and what they think needs to be changed. 10 Tips for Running Successful eLearning Facebook Groups A Facebook page is a great way for promoting and branding your eLearning professional identity, as well as sharing eLearning content, multimedia, and news from eLearning websites and blogs with your learners. But creating your own eLearning Facebook group will give you more control over its content, as it can be closed and used for any purpose, from distributing your eLearning courses to creating your eLearning projects. Here are some of the best tips on how to create a successful eLearning group on Facebook: 1. Choose a descriptive name for your Facebook group. When your Facebook group is easy to identify, it can communicate more successfully its purpose. 2. Select an eye-catching group icon. Whether your Facebook group is open or closed, a stylish group icon will make your group stand out. 3. Introduce your Facebook group properly. The description of your Facebook group should be friendly, concise, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) compliant, and should include all the right keywords. This last one will give your Facebook group more visibility. 4. Ask partners, clients, and learners before adding them to your Facebook group. The Facebook netiquette suggests that you should always ask people before adding them to your group. Send polite, personalized invitations, and explain your group’s purpose. 5. Spark interesting conversations. Start commenting on a few topics that you find thought provoking and ask your group members to contribute their personal insights to the online discussion. 6. Encourage interaction, collaboration, and bonding. There is little use for one being on social media if they are not being social. Encourage your Facebook group members to interact with each other and share experiences and tips, as well as collaborate as a team and find solutions to eLearning challenges. This way, they will develop bonds with each other sooner. 7. Don’t forget visuals. Integrating images and graphics into your posts is a great way to engage your Facebook group members. Make sure that they are aesthetically pleasing and intriguing. 8. Encourage eLearning sharing. Whether it is subject matter related content, links to websites and blogs, or eLearning news, ask your Facebook group members to share eLearning information that can spark interesting discussions. 9. Use polls and reviews. Asking of your group members to offer their input about your Facebook group’s operation will offer you both valuable feedback and fresh ideas. 10. Be active. Finally, be there. Managing an eLearning group on Facebook requires investing a considerable amount of your time. Make sure that you are always, or almost always, available to answer questions, follow discussions, and offer interesting eLearning material. Facebook can transform even the dullest subject matter into interactive and engaging eLearning activities for your online learners, regardless of their age, educational background, or learning goals. It’s versatile and collaborative; the perfect match to enhance the effectiveness of your eLearning course for the benefit of your audience. Now that you know all the tips that this Facebook guide had to offer, you may be interested in learning how you can use social media to increase the effectiveness and longevity of formal learning. Read the article 10 Tips To Effectively Use Social Media In Formal Learning and find out how to enhance the social aspects of learning through the use of social media. Subscribe to the Everything eLearning Blog for more great guest posts from eLearning experts, free resources, and how-to articles. The post The Ultimate Facebook Guide for eLearning Professionals: 16 Golden Tips to Follow appeared first on Trivantis e-Learning.