This week, I was inspired to write about Learning Management Systems (LMS’) after experiencing several frustrating days lodging support tickets with a client’s LMS of choice (well - with the folks in charge of support; I doubt very much the LMS would have been able to respond to my queries, especially once they became a bit more emotionally charged). I was explaining my frustration to a friend, who was perplexed by the acronym, so I decided that 1 - I was being ignorant, assuming that everyone was privy to its meaning, and 2 - that it would be a good term to define on this week’s edition of Terminology Tuesday! So, "What is an LMS?," you ask. Ryan K. Ellis defines an LMS as "a software application that automates administration, tracking, and reporting of training events." (2009) While this definition is quite broad, it does the trick at describing the basic functions of an LMS. Basically, an LMS is where individuals may house and deliver their training materials (administration), track student progress (or even the progress of courses in development), and generate reports (varying from storyboards to student progress to student achievement). It really depends on how robust the LMS is, because all LMS’ are not one in the same. While they may all serve similar functions, there’s a market, and organizations developing these LMS’ want to stand out from their competition, so there is usually some variation from LMS to LMS. Alright. It sounds like I need to get me one of them LMS’; how do I decide? Choosing an LMS is like choosing the type of underwear you prefer - it’s really about preference, what meets your individual needs, and what you’re most comfortable with. There are many variables to consider when selecting an LMS, and I could talk your ear off for hours, so for now I’ll just narrow it down to a few guiding questions you should ask yourself: What is your budget? There are several reliable open-source options (Moodle, for example), which are free. But free comes with it’s own limitations. Moodle has been around for many moons, so there is a fairly large support community in place and a lot of equally free plugins to leverage the LMS’ out-of-the-box capabilities. If you’ve got some cash to spend on the infrastructure, you can choose between smaller or larger scale LMS’ - you also have the option to select an LMS on a per-user type of pricing model (e.g. many post-secondary institutions use the per-user pricing model because it turns out to be more cost-effective than spending say 100,000+ on a large enterprise priced model (which are often used by larger organizations like the Department of National Defence or other government entities). What do you need from your LMS? Do you need an LMS that is easy to set up and more or less idiot proof? Do you need one with robust reporting capabilities? Do you need one that will allow you to easily control access to courses? Do you need one that can handle a large volume of students? Ahhhh! I’m Overwhelmed - Help! Take a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. LMS’ are like any other technology - when it’s new to you, it can seem overwhelming to make a decision, but there are plenty of resources out there to help you out. Here are a few: Five Steps to Evaluate and Select an LMS: Proven Practices - Learning Solutions Magazine Choosing a Learning Management System - TrainingForce How to Choose the Right Learning Management System - Edweek Alternatively, I am happy to provide consultation services, should the need arise. If you’re interested - hop on over to my contact form and send me your queries! Like this post? Want more Instructional Design tips? Sign up below!  

Ed has a background in the visual arts and will be helping  the Schools of Architecture, Design and Environment and Humanities and Performing Arts to get the best out of the DLE.  He originally trained and worked as a commercial photographer in London and Bristol, before , moving on to the Universities of Bristol and Bath to provide project management, consultancy and training on projects within the Education and Heritage sectors on digital imaging, digitisation and the use of images within Teaching and Learning.  More recently Ed has worked as a learning technologist with the ASTI team here in Plymouth.  His specialist areas are the creation, management and use of images and other media within teaching and learning.  But he also has a special interest in building and supporting online communities of practice, and making the best use of social web tools within effective teaching practice.  A full CV is available on LinkedIn at:  uk.linkedin.com/in/edbremner/

It’s that time again where we get to share with you the wisdom of one of our Elearning Superstars, this week, a man who needs little introduction, Charles Jennings, a fountain of learning knowledge and all round great guy! If at any point in my career, my CV looks as comprehensive as his I will be very pleased! In the post you will learn how 70:20:10 was devised, discover the changes this model is undergoing due to social learning, and explore the new possibilities of collaborative learning. What experience do you have in the learning industry, how did you get to where you are today? I’ve been working in the world of learning for around about 35 years at least. Initially as an academic, I ran the UK centre for network based learning back in the 1980s and into the 90s. That was set up by the Thatcher government, they realised that with the development of the PC that it was going to have implications beyond the uses of computer geeks. So a number of centres of excellence were set up in academic institutions, universities around the country. There was one for computer aided language learning, one for expert systems, one for artificial intelligence and there was one that I ran which was for network based collaborative learning. I was involved in online learning back in the early 80s, in fact I ran my first online learning course in 1982 and then my first international learning course in 1984 which was between people in the UK, France and Germany. I can remember having one of the first video conferencing machines on my desk back in the 80’s! BT were rolling out ISDN based video conferencing and they used to call me up every few weeks and get my view of it. They’d ask for improvements and I’d tell them ‘Just put this inside my computer please!’. I left academia in 95, we’d launched the World’s first pure online MBA. I then went and worked for Dow Jones as strategic technology director involved in helping build workforce capability doing a number of things, one was creating transaction tools but also helping sales and marketing build capabilities through what I suppose was very early E-learning and performance support. I was the chief learning officer at Reuters for 8 years, until 2008. Since then I’ve worked as a consultant, I established the 70:20:10 forum, but I subsequently left that organisation and now have nothing to do with it. What is the 70:20:10 model and how can it help customers improve the effectiveness of their learning, which metrics do you believe are most important in measuring this? 70:20:10 I think is often misunderstood, first I see it often referred to as a rule, which it’s not. I see people focussing in on the numbers, it’s natural to focus on the numbers because that’s (what it is) basically how it’s described. 70:20:10 is what I call a reference model or a framework, we’ve come to it in various ways, principally from a small study based on work done in the late 80’s and published in the mid 90’s at the Centre for Creative leadership in North Carolina. There was a small survey that Morgan McCall and his colleagues carried out and they asked a group of successful managers: ‘How did you get to where you are?’ ‘What development made you successful?’ From the responses they formed the model. Successful people said about 70% of their learning came from tough assignments, experience and practice, 20% came from other people (at that time this was mainly the boss, now the way that organisations are structured and thanks to the Internet this has changed a lot). 10% came from structured formal learning and reading. There was also work before this study by Allen Tough who was a professor at the University of Toronto, he did a lot of work around experiential learning and adult learning. I spoke to Allen just before he died, he agreed that this split existed (he even came up with the same figure of 70% for people learning through experience). For me the 70:20:10 model is a ‘Change’ model, and what it does is it allows people to frame how they support development above and beyond structured courses and programmes, that’s really the key benefit. It helps us communicate that we don’t learn everything we need to for our jobs simply by attending a classroom course. In fact we learn primarily through experience, practice conversations and networks. In the past I’ve been accused of being the ‘Anti-training’ guy! Well I’m not ‘Anti-training’, where I’m coming from is that training works well in certain situations, usually when people are new to a job or new to a role, it works best when you have information that is explicit and which can be codified clearly. It doesn’t work well when we deal with ‘tacit’ information, where we are dealing with ambiguity, or where we have people who need immediate support. 70:20:10 is a model for extending learning across the board, it helps us move from a focus on learning to a focus on performance. In terms of metrics, the metrics we use for measuring workplace and social learning are exactly the same as those we should be using for learning in a structured way. We could talk for hours about simply the metrics! The sort of metrics we should be focussing on should be output metrics and not learning metrics. Learning metrics are helpful to an L and D or HR department to improve efficiency. So if I know X number of people have been through an e-learning programme, or if I know that people have carried out a pre-test and then a post-test and there’s a delta there, that tells me as a learning professional something about whether people are actually using the content, but it doesn’t tell us anything about learning. If someone gets 20% in a pre-test and 40% on the post-test don’t assume that’s learning, it’s short term memory recall. Learning is behaviour change, and this should be the most important metric, can people do their jobs better? That’s quite difficult to measure and often people shy away from that. What excites you most about what you do and the affect your work has? What are the most gratifying ideas that you’ve contributed to the industry? That’s very difficult, I doubt there’s many new ideas out there anymore! I think that what excites me the most is that there is a real change occurring in that across the world organisations are looking at how they build capability. It really has changed. I remember being told I was an idiot back in the 90s when we were working on online collaborative learning. I remember doing a project with Coopers and Lybrand (before they were PWC) where we were putting together groups of people to share and develop as part of their work.  Most people in the learning world said ‘What the hell is this, this is nothing to do with learning’! That’s changed dramatically, it’s really exciting that social media is pushing the opportunity to learn through others. At some point I believe that the numbers in 70:20:10 will become meaningless, because social learning will grow, there is no doubt. If you’re in a highly innovative Environment this model won’t be the same, the 20% is going to blow up because you will be sharing and working with teams of people, that’ll be 40, 60, 80% and then the 10% may become much less. The whole awareness of social and experiential learning is really taking hold, it’s not a sideshow anymore, it’s becoming part of the mainstream. There’s a guy called Dan Pontefract who’s written a book called ‘Flat Army’ and in that Dan proposed that 70:20:10 is actually 33:33:33, we’ll ignore the fact that if you multiply 33 by three you don’t get a hundred! But Dan and I agree that it’s not about the numbers, the fact that the numbers are there makes it really easy to explain. What is the most important change in learning that you’ve witnessed in the last couple of years? Definitely the rise of social media, the increase of social media at a personal level is having an impact. Most of us use social media from a personal standpoint and therefore it changes our expectations. I often tell a story about someone at a legal firm, she’s a big Twitter user and she said her company didn’t allow Twitter, so when asked ‘How does that work!?’ she said, if I have a question I’ll go to the ladies loo and Tweet my question, and then go back an hour later and I’ll have an answer! I think the big change is the awareness of how social media can be used at all sorts of levels has changed, the approach in term of control of social media is going. Organisations are no longer blocking social media, because everyone now has a device than can access social media regardless of restrictions. So now their approach is more policy based approach to ensure their people use social media sensibly and don’t damage the company. They’ve moved from trying to control the technology to control through the policy. Bursin did a study that showed that organisations that harnessed social learning are actually 3X better at talent development. Do you think companies have been slow to make the change? The majority have, there are some that have acknowledged it from the start though. I can remember going on a mission when the Department of Trade and Industry almost 10 years ago. They used to send experts to different parts of the world to gather information on the behalf of UK PLC. We went on a mission to the US in 2006 called ‘Beyond e-learning’. We went down Silicon Valley, we went to Stanford University, MIT and we also went to Fidelity the huge financial organisation in Boston, the guys we met said ‘We couldn’t have grown without all this new technology’. What are the biggest project challenges / roadblocks that learning professionals and corporations regularly encounter? Mindset is the first and biggest challenge, I think there are still a lot of people who have ‘Course’ mindsets, in other words they look a problem and their kneejerk response to that is ‘we need a course for that’. Another major challenge for learning professionals is that most learning professionals have quite naturally developed their skills in design, development, delivery and to some extent evaluation of programmes and the changes that are occurring are requiring a new set of skills. If you are well into your career and you’re are required to have different skills such as performance consulting skills, curation skills, community building skills, these sorts of capabilities are really quite difficult. I found that for L & D professionals there’s some roadblock there. The other roadblocks with line managers and team leaders who don’t see developing the people is critical. There is a lot of research that indicates that supporting an individual’s development is worth the equivalent of an extra day a week (around about 25-27%). Who are your favourite elearning influencers? Who do you look to for inspiration? Oh god that’s difficult! It’s difficult to name individuals, but across the board there’s a range of organisations who are just doing things differently. I think you get some people like Clarke Quinn who really understands mobile learning deeply and has really helped progress mobile adoption. Jane Hart, Jane Bozarth and Marcia Connor, those three women have done more in terms of raising awareness of social learning and the use of technology than pretty much anyone! Then there are some great practitioners like Thierry Bonetto at Danone, Yash Mahadik at Philips, and then there are people like Nigel Paine who is really influential in terms of thinking about how we support development. Then there are folks who might wince at being called superstars, but people like John Hagel and John Seely Brown who are not learning people primarily, but they’re looking at new revolutions in the way that we learn. John Seely Brown was the head of Xerox PARC for twenty years, he’s deeply technical, he oversaw the development of the PC and the mouse, he wrote a great book with John Hagel called ‘The Power of Pull’ and another one called ‘New culture of learning’. People like them are really being influential in terms of how we look at learning generally. I think one of the challenges we’ve got with e-learning is that when it emerged, it emerged in the form of content led courses, companies were producing big generic catalogues, people realised that providing this Shovelware isn’t good. In my view the term E-learning will go away, I have a little thing stuck above my desk here, which was written about ten years ago by Warren Edwards chief executive of Delphi communications: ‘in a few years we will no more discuss e-commerce than we now describe using the telephone in business as t-commerce or the fax as f-commerce.’ I think in time we will no longer be referring to E-learning or M-learning, it’ll just be learning. Technology is going to be integrated totally. Conclusion What do you think? Do you share Charles’ views over the future of the industry? What do you think are the most important recent changes in E-learning? Share your thoughts in the comments box below, we’d love to hear what you think. The post Interview with Elearning Superstar: Charles Jennings appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

This week, David decided us to dole out an easy challenge; I was initially going to develop an interaction-based submission, but it’s not required and I’ve been experiencing a heavy work-week. I will assure you that my recommendations will be just as functional in text as they would have been as interactions. This week’s blog post will be a bit different in that it won’t include the method, just the concept and result. The Concept Share my favourite tools that help make course design easier. There are a lot of tools out there and it’s really up to you which tools you choose to make your course design easier, but I have attempted to compile a list of tools that make me curse a lot less (while working), and I hope they might help you curse less too! The Result http://articulate.com - Articulate products are my favourite authoring tools. I find myself using Articulate Studio less than Articulate Storyline, however, I still leverage Articulate Studio for developing slick interactions to embed within my Articulate Storyline files. There are a few kinks when going between programs, but I’m seldom disappointed. http://community.articulate.com/forums/ - The E-Learning Heroes forum is my favourite resource for industry-related content. There is SO MUCH talent within this forum, and it’s nice to collaboratively learn from one another. This community is like an extended family, and everyone is so positive and eager to help. I consult this resource whenever I have a general instructional design, e-learning, or Articulate product query. The responses are quick and the expertise is phenomenal! http://colourlovers.com - COLOURlovers is my favourite resource for colour picking because it allows me to visualize colours in palette and pattern situations. As someone who isn’t super creative, this is HUGE for me! I will say that I find it odd the domain spells ‘colour’ with a ‘u’, yet they refer to colours as ‘color’ without a ‘u’ throughout the site - even looking at it spelled that way is weirding me out! http://smashingmagazine.com - I’m not going to lie; I visit this resource at least once a month to download a user-submitted calendar for my desktop. However, this is also a great resource for CSS quandaries and finding good JavaScript codes for use in Articulate Storyline! http://adobe.com - There are several Adobe programs I use on a regular basis, namely Captivate and Photoshop. Captivate I use less and less with the emergence of Articulate Storyline; however, I still find myself using Captivate for text-to-speech exports. Photoshop I use whenever I need to manipulate or create images; I only have one license for it, so I seldom use it within my Articulate development, as I need to dual-boot into Windows OS for Articulate use, and my Photoshop license is for Mac OS. http://www.techsmith.com/snagit.html - SnagIt was first introduced to me within my first Instructional Design role, and I was smitten! Why? Because it is such a user-friendly tool for creating screen captures, recordings, and editing. I found SnagIt particularly useful when liaising with Subject Matter Experts (SME) off-site, as I could easily highlight areas I was discussing and copy them into emails, without being burdened by including the image as an attachment. http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html - I love Camtasia so much that I purchased a Windows AND Mac OS license. I use Camtasia primarily for creating screencasts and editing video files; it’s just as user-friendly as SnagIt (both products developed by tech smith, so makes sense), and it creates high-quality video files. http://dropbox.com  - I use dropbox for filesharing. http://drive.google.com - Google Drive is great for filesharing AND collaborative working. Un-drive-related - I also leverage google for my primary email provider and Google Hangouts. http://skype.com - I use Skype for communicating with colleagues and clients; it’s free and I can screenshare. http://wordpress.com - WordPress is my website platform of choice; I support any movement to a self-hosted site using WordPress, and know many designers and developers if you need assistance. There are tons of themes available, and a TON of customization options. http://pinterest.com - Pinterest is great for inspiration, from personal interests like finding the best tutorial for rockabilly hairstyles to professional interests like sourcing free fonts or locating templates or tutorials for your e-learning products. http://creativemarket.com - I use creative market SO MUCH! They release weekly freebies, which are amazing, because nothing is free anymore, and you can purchase nearly anything (icons/stock images/templates) for reasonable prices. http://fetchsoftworks.com - Fetch is my FTP client of choose because it’s been more reliable than others for me, annnnnd…I’m a dog owner. Appropriate, no? I’ll add to this list as things change, so stay tuned!

  The quiz activity enables users to create quizzes comprising questions of various types, a list of which can be found further down in this article. The user can allow the quiz to be attempted multiple times, with the questions shuffled or randomly selected from the question bank. A time limit may be set. Each attempt is marked automatically, with the exception of essay questions, and the grade is recorded in the gradebook.  Reports on student activity can be generated. The user can choose when and if, hints, feedback and correct answers are shown to students.  This offers much greater flexibility and options such as confidence based marking (CBM) can be chosen.  A feature not available on our current e-assessment software is the ability to tailor the feedback and give hints if the selected response is incorrect or partially correct.  The score will be adapted each time an incorrect answer is selected, therefore, the more times a participant attempts to answer the question and their answer is incorrect, their mark will reduce. Quizzes may be used As course exams As mini tests for reading assignments or at the end of a topic As exam practice using questions from past exams To deliver immediate feedback about performance For self-assessment The initial plan is to migrate all current formative assessments from QMP across to Moodle.  An automated process to facilitate this is currently being developed by the Unversity’s Moodle provider.  More information will be made available about this at a later date. Question types that will be made available are as follows: (Links are to the Moodle support site and give comprehensive descriptions).  Links will open in a new window. Calculated question Simple calculated Calculated Multiple choice Drag and drop into text Drag and drop markers Drag and drop onto image Drag and drop matching Embedded answers (Cloze) Essay Matching Multiple choice (MCQ) Numerical OU Multiple response Random short answer matching Select missing words Short answer True/false For further information around Moodle quizzes, the Moodle support site has a good overview.   For further information about quizzes and e-assessment using Moodle, contact: DLE Project team: dleproject@plymouth.ac.uk Digital Skills Development team: digitalskills@plymouth.ac.uk TEL: tel@plymouth.ac.uk DLE Advocates: dleadvocates@plymouth.ac.uk (or alternatively, if you know your named DLEs for your school/faculty, use their individual email).

Your first impression to new employees can say a lot about your organisation, your culture and your vision. A smooth, educational and efficient onboarding process will set you and your new employee up for success. Learn how to create more effective induction courses by reading my seven favorite articles on the topic. 1. Navigating the onboarding journey at eLearnz Navigating the unchartered waters of a new workplace can seem daunting. But there are ways to get your onboarding programme into shipshape condition and ensure plain sailing for new recruits. Tina Griffin explains the three blunders organisations make when it comes to onboarding 2. The anatomy of great onboarding elearning Onboarding is the first impression your company makes on a new employee. With such high stakes - it is important to get it right. In this article, our very own Steve Penfold looks at the most important aspects of onboarding and shares a four-part framework for creating great onboarding elearning. Discover how to create great onboarding elearning 3. Online induction training: First impressions count Did you know that most people decide how long they will stay in their job within the first week of employment? Ruby Spencer from PulseLearning suggests "successful induction courses are your chance to show new employees what makes your company tick." She says great induction courses pave the way for an easy, enjoyable, and productive integration. But are your induction courses still being run in an offline environment? Take a look at the advantages of moving your induction course online 4. Six practical steps to increase the effectiveness of your induction program Your company cannot grow without a talented and skilled workforce. When the ‘attraction & acquisition’ phase ends with the successful recruitment, the next important phase of retention and engagement starts. For the new generation, who makes career decisions every single day, retention starts on day-one, at induction. So, having an effective induction program is imperative. It will reduce the cost of turnover within your organization, plus it will help you increase both customer and employee satisfaction. Here are six practical steps to increase the effectiveness of your induction program 5. 20 characteristics of great onboarding elearning What are the characteristics of an a great onboarding program? In this article, Li Whybrow shows you how elearning can be blended with traditional delivery to help you design and deliver a course that can help your new starters reach their potential faster. See Li Whybrow’s top 20 characteristics of great onboarding elearning 6. Onboarding with diversity: There is no such thing as a "bad" learning style The workday is busy enough as it is, and many people use standardization and routine as a way of making their seemingly endless to-do lists more manageable. While this is a great technique for many tasks, standardization in onboarding fails to make use of the inherent diversity each worker brings to the table. Max Yoder shares his ideas on how you can respect a wide variety of different learning styles by using cross-training to introduce each employee to the range of functions at your organization. Learn how to adapt diversity into your onboarding courses 7. Five examples of great onboarding elearning courses A great onboarding experience should be efficient and empathetic. Here we look at some elearning courses from leading companies that have nailed onboarding training. Five great examples of onboarding elearning The post Elearning induction ideas to help you create more effective learning appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

When Nicole and David of Articulate approached me to present at an Articulate workshop being held in Toronto, I was floored. Nicole actually gave me a nudge to submit a proposal for Dev Learn 2014 first, and that almost made me fall over…I reluctantly submitted a proposal…but would probably die of nervousness if they selected me to present (we’ll see). After having previously overcome my fear of submitting a proposal for Dev Learn - How terrified would YOU be to present your own work/ideas in front of a room full of your industry idols? Yeah. That’s what I thought! - I agreed. This will be my first formal presentation since my undergraduate degree, and I’m hoping the attendees and organizers are just as welcoming and supportive as the E-Learning Heroes Community that I’ve grown to love. But Ashley…What will you be presenting?! You know…I really considered a diorama, but given the nature of the e-learning industry, I didn’t think it would be well-received (or large enough for all to see from their seats), so with some encouragement from David and Nicole, I settled on the topic of How to Build Your E-Learning Portfolio. I’ll be explaining the pain points associated with developing an e-learning portfolio, ways of easing this pain, and how (like me) you too can build your very own e-learning portfolio. In the e-learning industry (and many others), it is critical to have a visual portfolio to present. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, but it should showcase some of your best work and competencies. Before I developed my portfolio, it was a struggle to find work; now, the contracts come to me and I’m often able to pick and choose the contracts I want to work on versus simply taking whatever’s available in order to put kibble on the table. NEAT! I’d love to attend the workshop - what are the details? The workshop is being held in Toronto, Ontario on July 10th, 2014, and all of the details you need (including how to purchase tickets) can be found by clicking here. If you do attend, please be kind and pop by to say hello. Please don’t heckle me too much - no one wants to see a grown woman sob in front of her peers. It ain’t pretty. I’m so excited and nervous for this event, but I think it’ll be a gentle way to step outside of my comfort zone.

An exciting new training and learning resource has now been launched and is available to all students and staff at Plymouth University at http://lynda.plymouth.ac.uk. lynda.com is a comprehensive library of video-based training resources, available 24/7, providing a wide range of tutorials dedicated to increasing knowledge across varied subject areas to all PU students and staff. The online courses cover everything from commonly used software packages such as Microsoft Office to specialised applications in subject areas such as photography or web-development, as well as more generic topics including presentation, time management and negotiation skills. This launch of lynda.com forms part of the University’s Digital Learning Environment (DLE) which utilises technology to benefit the staff and student learning and teaching experience. "We are delighted to be working with lynda.com" says Neil Witt, Professor of Technology Enhanced Learning. "By launching unlimited access to this fantastic resource of over 2,800 online courses for all of our  students and staff, we are helping to create a stimulating learning environment." lynda.com’s online courses are continually updated and taught by industry experts. Through these engaging video tutorials, lynda.com allows users to learn the latest tools and techniques in business, digital media, design and development. Neil continues, "Plymouth University’s licencing of the lynda.com learning resource is another avenue for students and staff to explore and refine their career development and technology skills through self-paced courses and materials. We want to encourage our students to extend their skills and knowledge outside of the classroom, and with lynda.com we will be helping them to succeed in their future academic, professional and personal lives". Each online course is divided into timed segments; you can watch just what is needed to answer a specific question, select the course transcript, brush-up on a new feature or, of course, view the entire course. lynda.com allows you to keep track of what you have viewed, will show you all the courses that you have started and those you have been completed, with the opportunity of downloading a course completion certificate. More Information for students and staff Students and staff can learn more about lynda.com by watching the introductory movie about the service and also how to use lynda.com. Here are just a few of the benefits of using this service: Access to over 2800 courses and 110,000 tutorials with new releases every week Courses are available to view on your desktop, mobile or tablet device Watch complete courses or select topics as you need them Learn at your level, with beginner to advanced courses Up-to-date content helps to keep your skills current Choose from a selection of subject specific playlists or create your own playlists Students and staff can use existing username and password to access this new resource http://lynda.plymouth.ac.uk. For frequently asked questions visit http://lynda.plymouth.ac.uk/faqs. For help with signing in please contact the Service Desk. Tel: +44 1752 588588 or email: for students libraryandITenquiries@plymouth.ac.uk for staff support@plymouth.ac.uk.

Elearning Superstars is a curated list of five inspiring elearning examples, published every Tuesday. Subscribe to get weekly updates via email. This week we have some great elearning by BMW, New York Times, Lynda.com, Codecademy and Jackie Vannice. I hope you enjoy what we have found. Let us know what you think of these examples by leaving a comment on Elearning Superstars. 1. BMW: Augmented reality training for service engineers 2. New York Times: Amazing Girls 3. Lynda.com: World’s largest video training website 4. Codecademy: Self-guided coding classes 5. Jackie Vannice: Faces of Ebola   The post Elearning inspiration: BMW, New York Times, Lynda, Codecademy, Jackie Vannice appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

I have a little something in the works, and it will make a lot more sense (and application) once it’s revealed. Until then, it’s back to regular business. This week, I’ll be discussing the term ‘Instructional Strategy’, explaining a couple of variations, and providing a few reasons why it’s essential to understand the term in relation to your course development. Instructional Strategy Basically, an instructional strategy is an all-encompassing plan of attack for your course. It defines what will be taught and how that information will be taught. Essentially, the instructional strategy is the blueprint that drives your learners to achieve the performance objectives (more on that in the coming weeks) you have defined. Instructional strategies are typically selected based upon the type of learning that needs to occur. One person may take a philosophical approach (e.g. learning based exposure to the environment) while another chooses an instructional strategy based on the type of learning (e.g. verbal information needs to be conveyed meaningfully in order to enhance retention). In the end, it all comes down to personal preference and most folks learn as they go. Alright…sounds simple enough, but why is it so important? The instructional strategy is important because it is used to conceptualize and lay out the course before getting bogged down in the design and development (it’s quite costly to fly by the seat of your pants in those phases). Without a clear instructional strategy, you will be doomed to make some costly mistakes later on down the line. Furthermore, failing to develop an instructional strategy will open up your work to further interpretation by clients, potentially increasing revision cycles (time is money). Two types to consider: A macro-instructional strategy provides an overall blueprint for a larger learning experience (e.g. an entire course), whereas a micro-instructional strategy dictates each part of the learning experience (from the course to the module to the unit to the lesson, etc.). If you’re looking for a cover-your-butt type of instructional strategy, the kind that doesn’t come back to haunt you in the end, the micro-instructional strategy is the way to go. Think about how annoying you feel when someone else is micro-managing you. Well - there’s good reason (sometimes), and that’s because the want to dictate each and every little thing…annoying for many occupations, but as an Instructional Designer, it really just protects you in the end. Like this post? Want more Instructional Design tips? Sign up below!  

Attention eLearning managers: are you looking for useful tools to help your team create more eLearning faster? In this post, I’ll share the tools I love to use and show you how to use them to speed up your own eLearning development. 1. Elucidat Elucidat is a simple authoring tool that can help you speed up the eLearning development process. Instead of using desktop tools that are great for small or one-person development teams, cloud-based tools like Elucidat are better designed for high-volume eLearning teams. Elucidat helps me author, publish and maintain eLearning faster than a desktop tool. Here are my favorite Elucidat features: Inbuilt comments and reviews so you and your team can all work in one place Ready-to-go themes to help you get started quickly Republishing feature that lets you quickly update courses without needing to publish and deploy again Related: Learn how Utility Warehouse used Elucidat to deliver elearning to 46,000 learners 2. PowerPoint PowerPoint is a great tool! Once you forget about it being a presentation tool and think about it being design software, it can be great for storyboarding. It provides a visual way to present designs and entire briefs to your development team. I use PowerPoint to create my own graphics. After I save an object as an image, I import it into my eLearning software. PowerPoint’s image effects feature can help you manipulate existing images. For example, you can use it to quickly work up decent visual designs similar to these used in Haji Kamal. Related: Draw inspiration from this comic book tutorial 3. Audacity Audacity is an audio editor and recorder. You can record live from a microphone or easily edit previously-recorded material. I use Audacity to create voiceover files. You can also use it to help you: Remove background noise Reduce or amplify volume Manipulate speed, pitch and tempo Fade in and out 4. Camtasia Camstasia is a screen-recording and video-editing tool that lets you capture anything on your screen as a video. It allows for zooming in and out, panning animation effects and audio effects including fading and noise removal. You can add and customize callouts to enhance your video, which is an especially useful feature in training videos. I use Camtasia to bring together my images, sound files, video clips and audio. It makes it easy to arrange all my clips into a flowing video and is great for creating animations that zoom in on the recording to draw learners’ attention to specific action in the video. My favorite features that can help you save time when editing videos: Cut and split clips on the timeline Edit the audio and add voice narration Add title clips and transitions Add callouts, captioning or cursor effects 5. Snagit Snagit lets you capture images and videos with just a few clicks. You can quickly take screen captures and highlight the important stuff using the built-in markup tools. Snagit enables you to take screenshots, capture screen videos and take mobile captures. I use Snagit to grab screenshots of virtually anything I want. For example, I use Snagit to quickly provide feedback, create clear documentation and enhance the way I work with my team members and clients. Elearning inspiration: Virgin Media used Snagit to empower employees to share knowledge company-wide 6. Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a design program that lets you compose and retouch images and photos. It has a full suite of painting tools like brushes, pencil, airbrushing and cloning. It has pretty much everything you want in a graphics package. Alternatively, for the less skilled, you can try Canva. Canva is a very simple design tool to help you create stunning graphics really quickly! 7. ColorPic ColorPic is a desktop tool that quickly lets you create color palettes for your eLearning courses. You can pick any color from your screen simply by putting your mouse over it. So if you have your corporate identity/branding kit, you can simply grab the colors from the screen and add it straight into your palette. For Mac users, Sip is a great alternative. 8. MindManager MindManager is a fast mind-mapping tool that you can use to quickly gather requirements and map out content into chapters or topics. I use it to organize my courses and curricula. It can also be easily incorporated into a design documentation or design brief. You can use mind-mapping tools to help you visualize the way your branching logic will work in your eLearning scenario. What eLearning software tools do you use? These are eight of my favorite eLearning software tools that I use on a regular basis. I challenge you to try some of these tools and see if they can help you speed up eLearning development. Have I missed any must-use tools? Share your favorite eLearning tools in the comments below. A version of this article first appeared on Elearning Industry The post Develop elearning faster with these eight software tools appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

I’ve been feeling pretty slack lately, but I won’t argue about being too busy to participate to my fullest potential. In any event, this week’s e-learning challenge is all about interactive step graphics in online training - coming from a Defence background, this is a great challenge for me, because at least 80% of the work I did previously was procedural training for complex procedures (e.g. aircraft maintenance training). I will warn you that this week’s submission is 1 - a throwback to one of my initial portfolio pieces (because this month has been all about the hustle) and is 2 - likely not going to dazzle you as much as an Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) for removing the main landing gear of an aircraft. The Concept Create an interactive step graphic that trains users on a very important procedure. In this case, I chose to discuss the steps for bathing your cat. This is a very tricky procedure, so be especially cognizant of Step 3. Full Disclosure: Our cats are very good at cleaning themselves and we have never had to forego this procedure first-hand. Please let me know, in the comments, how you’ve fared in your attempts. I’ve heard that some cat’s need to be sedated; if this is the situation you’re faced with, and you find it challenging to administer pills to your feline, Bruce Graham has a lovely training module to help you with this problem. The Method For some reason, I really wanted to have a background image, so I sourced one from ColourLOVERS and modified the transparency. Then, I sought about creating some cute looking tabs and writing the procedural documentation for how to bathe a cat. I consulted WikiHow for these assistance, and they did not disappoint, providing me with many fantastic images to use within the module. I tossed everything together and added triggers to my tabs, with each trigger displaying a layer. Images were called up within a new lightbox-esque (but not to be confused with an actual lightbox) layer, and Bob was my uncle. The Result   To view the complete interaction and potentially save yourself a world of hurt (literally), click here.

New technologies are changing the way learning is being created and delivered to learners. Read on to here some predictions from seven elearning experts. 1. Upside Learning: Elearning Trends For 2015 This presentation highlights the 10 elearning trends for 2015 that may act as the game changers in the field of Technology Enabled Learning. 10 elearning trends for 2015 (Slideshare) 2. Connie Malamed: 8 Learning Design Trends To Watch In 2015 These are exciting times in the world of learning. "Ubiquitous Internet access, shifts in workplace power structures and wider dissemination of cognitive research are some of the many factors contributing to the following trends to watch in the coming year." Read Connie’s learning design predictions for 2015 3. Pranjalee Thanekar: Top 13 Elearning Trends for 2015 Elearning has gradually shifted its base to tablets and smart phones, now evolving into multi-device learning. "While multi-device learning continues to be a major technology trend as we move into 2015, there are some other technologies and trends that (continue to) influence the way eLearning is developed and delivered," says Pranjalee Thanekar. Here’s a look at the top 13 eLearning trends for 2015 4. DigitalWits: Top 8 Elearning and EdTech Trends for 2015 DigitalWits spent the past four months talking with people in large companies, elearning agencies, corporate training departments, human resources, recruiting, edtech-focused venture capitalist firms, staffing agencies, instructional designers. They identified eight key trends in their 2015 Elearning Forecast 5. Eric Skilling: 9 Mobile Learning Stats That Will Blow Your Mind Mobile learning is set to make a splash within corporate training if it hasn’t already. Here’s an infographic Eric put together that includes some interesting facts about mobile learning. Click here to see Eric’s nine mobile learning statistics 6. Steve Penfold: 6 elearning statistics to consider in 2015 Learning and development is changing. Here are some statistics to help shed light on some elearning trends that might affect you. 6 elearning statistics to consider in 2015 (infographic) 7. Litmos: Gamifications Trends in Elearning Did you know that 80% of say that their productivity would increase if their university or organization was more game-like? Take a look at this infographic with more elearning gamification trends The post Elearning trends: 7 experts share their 2015 predictions appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

It’s only been two months since I took my side-gig Instructional Design work full-time, but I have been LOVING it! Making the leap was one of the scariest decisions I’ve ever made, but it has paid off, and I’m a lot happier for it. My favourite aspect so far is being location independent; it’s nice to not have to be tethered to an office to do my job, and I think our dog has been really enjoying the extra time spent home. Now, taking your side-gig full-time does not always have its perks - this past month for instance has been extremely busy for me, which is a great problem to have, but it has also meant that I need to hustle harder to get my work done and invoice those clients! I’ve missed every Thursday poker night in May and was unable to go on a day-long hiking trip that I really wanted to go on, all in the name of work…and I’ve been working some long days (and nights…and weekends). If you’ve been wondering how you can take your Instructional Design gig full-time (or even break out into the field), here are the best three bits of advice I have for you: 1. Build Your Portfolio This is so important! I understand that it may be difficult to do - heck! I have over 5 years of work that’s considered ‘controlled goods’ that I can’t use in my portfolio - some of my best work…it’s disappointing. However, don’t let Non-Disclosure Agreements and controlled goods get you down, instead proactively build your portfolio. Research various types of courses to develop and create miniature one-offs of those courses. Challenge yourself to step out of your comfort zone by producing a creative portfolio that showcases your skills and abilities. If you need help, David Anderson puts up weekly e-learning challenges over on the E-Learning Heroes Community, and these are a great way to get your creative juices flowing and add pieces to your portfolio. Another alternative is to volunteer your services to small businesses; this is a great way to help out organizations to develop their training opportunities, while building your portfolio. If a contract is developed for such an arrangement, MAKE DAMN SURE that the only important requirement (on your end) is that you get to use the project in your portfolio - very few things in life are free, and free training is a steal! Cover your butt and make sure you spell it out in the contract, just to make sure! "But is a portfolio necessary?" - You know, it’s really not. However, it does give you a HUGE leg up when you’re competing against others for an Instructional Design job. You’ll end up being more of an ‘on purpose instructional designer’ instead of an ‘accidental instructional designer’ (both are fine, but you want to highlight your worth)! My business has grown considerably since adding a few small pieces to my portfolio; now, professional pieces are still hard to come by due to the aforementioned NDAs and controlled goods issues, but just showcasing some of your abilities can really help clients visualize how you can work for them on their projects! 2. Get Online! Be Social! Be Proactive! Now - I know you’re already online, because you’re reading this, but what I mean is go get a website and start blogging. Now that you’ve built an awesome portfolio, put it somewhere for all to see. Get on twitter! Be active in communities! Take time to build a profile and following on LinkedIn! The internet and social media is amazing when it comes to promoting yourself - it’s one of the best marketing tools I’ve come across so far, and once you start building a group of followers (on your blog, twitter, LinkedIn, wherever)…you will begin to see results in the form of business. Another downside of small business ownership can be the hustle - the time you spend, that you aren’t being paid for, promoting yourself and seeking new contracts. I have to be honest - at least 1 hour a day is still reserved for finding new business opportunities. It can be frustrating and discouraging, and every industry has its peaks and valleys, but you want to make sure you’re contracting yourself out in advance (as much as possible). Keep hustlin’ and don’t get lazy! You’ll quickly find out that in the world of freelance, lazy = no work = no pay = no mortgage payment. Now, I will make one forewarning about being active on social media. Try your best to keep your participation to meaningful posts; reciprocate. If you’re involved in a community, try to be helpful! You’re there for a reason and so are others, the least you can do is engage in meaningful ways and share your wealth of knowledge. 3. Remember - You are on a continuous learning journey! As Instructional Designers (or aspiring Instructional Designers), I would hope that you have long-since been embracing your journey as a continuous learner, but if you haven’t - GET ON IT, GIIIIRL! Making it on your own in a very competitive industry can be difficult, but it  doesn’t have to be. You can get a leg up on your competitors or find freelancers who need help with overflow work or even just need to collaborate with your services to get their contracts done, but the difference between you and your competitors will often be your abilities. You don’t need a formal education, but I will say that it has definitely helped - people love qualifications, let me tell you! You don’t need a lot of experience, but start now, because it definitely helps! What you need are mad research skills - research anything and everything you think might help you improve your abilities. If you want to enhance current skills or acquire new skills, you can often find all of the information you need online. Invest in yourself - TREAT YO’ SELF! It will pay off in spades, I promise. The Internet is a wonderful place - you can find courses on almost anything at sites like Udemy, SkillShare, and Lynda. Many post-secondary institutions offer formal diplomas and/or certifications in Instructional Design, and there are SO MANY great books out there. You just need to do the research! By and large, the best resource I’ve found for my field has been the Articulate E-Learning Heroes Community. I’ll say it once, and I’ll say it again - THESE FOLKS ROCK! There is so much talent within those forums, it is unbelievable; when it comes to researching, you can find almost anything within that forum, and everyone is so supportive! Like this post? Want more Instructional Design tips? Sign up below!  

This week, I’m going to talk a bit about M-Learning. Why? Because it’s pretty popular - heck - I wouldn’t be surprised if my dog had a smartphone! M-Learning - Say Whaaaat? M-Learning (or Mobile Learning) refers to learning through means deployed by mobile devices. Really - it’s a pretty brilliant thing! In a world that is constantly on-the-go, what could be more convenient than being able to learn on the go? Mobile learning allows for this flexibility. With all of the devices (smartphones, laptops, tablets, MP3 players, digital books, etc.) learning has expanded its reach, and it’s up to us as Instructional Designers to work to develop solutions that are deployable through these devices. It’s a very exciting time! One of my favourite aspects of M-Learning is the portability. I love that you can design training solutions or learning aids that professionals can take into the field and learn from on an need-to-know basis (similar to just-in-time training). Working within the Defence sector, I worked on many programs designed for aircraft maintenance technicians to be able to carry to the maintenance environment to consult during a procedure. Often these involved 3D demonstrations of part removal/installation. Alternatively, medics can use portable devices to access information as a sort of encyclopaedia, therefore M-Learning holds great capabilities - how many times can you say that something is capable of saving a life?! You can also look at benefits of M-Learning from an efficiency standpoint. While mobile devices may be costly, it is a lot more cost efficient than having a school upgrade technology or purchase curriculum-based reading materials every other year. Our kids are growing up in a world where their backs no longer need to ache from carrying around all of the heavy books (I distinctly remember kicking myself in the butt for taking Biology, Physics, and Chemistry on the same day one semester…)! I’m sold - are there really any limitations to M-Learning? As with any technology-based approach to learning, there are limitations that range from the technology side of things (e.g. battery life) to the academic side of things (e.g. ensuring appropriate assessment and preparation for standardized testing) to the accessibility side of things (e.g. not everyone can afford or can access mobile devices). However, solutions are forthcoming! I read an article last week about a start-up organization who are launching public charging stations (free of charge!) - this would be fantastic in schools! There are many programs that provide mobile devices to students enrolled at academic institutions, and there are plenty of amazing instructional designers out there who are working hard to ensure students are being properly assessed. In a digital age, it’s important to embrace changes in technology; now I’m not saying right away, but with proper research, I’m fairly certain you’ll understand that M-Learning is going to be a huge part of our future! Helpful Resources EDUCAUSE library of Mobile Learning resources Why Mobile Learning is the Future of Workplace Learning 10 Mind-Blowing Mobile Learning Statistics E-Learning Guild’s mLearnCon - Mobile Learning Conference and Expo

Another late one, but better late than never, right? This has been yet another nutty week, and originally I had wanted to brush up on my Linguistics degree and include some phonetics or morphology, but instead you’ll get to see some semantics in action! I may come back to this challenge at a later time and make another contribution, but we’ll see what happens! The Concept This week’s challenge was to build a spelling or vocabulary quiz that could leverage user interactivity. While I wouldn’t consider my result much of a quiz (in length), it gets the job done. The Method After reading 30 Incorrectly Used Words That Can Make You Look Bad by Jeff Haden, I was inspired to create a vocabulary quiz, using some of the terms identified. I created a free-form drag and drop interaction utilizing sentences with blank shapes. The user would need to drag the correct term from the bottom of the page to the correct placement in the corresponding sentences. This would test the user’s ability to distinguish between the appropriate use of various terms. The Result To view the complete interaction, click here.

Back in January Learning Technologists piloted a new method of providing CPD. DigiThings was a self-directed, peer-mentored online programme that aimed to support staff with teaching and research responsibilities to explore and engage with a range of different presentation tools and techniques. It was adapted from Dr Helen Webster’s ‘23Things for Digital Humanities‘ (DH23Things) course which she ran at Cambridge University. Instructional posts were delivered via WordPress and participants were encouraged to try each tool and reflect on their experiences using the ‘A New Curriculum for Information Literacy‘ (ANCIL) framework developed by Coonan and Secker (2011). Although initial interest was high, engagement with the course declined steadily. Please see the full DigiThings Evaluation for a more detailed report to find out why this might have been. Despite the decline, participants did like the format and the quality of content and as a team it is definitely something we would run again having learnt lessons from this first pilot.   Interview with DigiThings participant, Dr Emily Beaumont, Lecturer in Entrepreneurship.

Elearning Superstars is a curated list of inspiring elearning examples, published every Tuesday. Subscribe to get weekly updates via email. This week we have some great elearning by The Guardian, Kia and Duolingo. Share your inspiring elearning: Have you created a great piece of elearning that you’re really proud of? Submit your elearning here to win awards and get published on Elearning Superstars. 1. The Guardian: How sustainable is your smart phone 2. Kia Academy   3. Duolingo: Reinventing language learning on an epic scale The post Elearning inspiration: The Guardian, Kia and Duolingo appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

Today I thought I would approach the subject of ‘authoring tools’, as I use this term frequently, but often don’t take into account that individuals outside of the industry may not understand what this phrase really means. I recently encountered this issue of my own ignorance while revising a contract sent to a client. The client asked me to more clearly define what I meant by the use of authoring tools…leading me to provide clarification. Authoring Tools? Authoring tools are more or less any tool that facilitates the development of your courses and/or products. This isn’t just a phrase used within the e-learning industry, but one familiar with those within design and programming industries as well (and likely more). Any tool that helps you design, develop, program, write (or author) your product can be considered an authoring tool. There are countless options, and I could drone on for days and still come up short with my list. What kind of authoring tools are available for the e-learning industry? As stated previously, there are so many options! However, a few of my favourite authoring tools have been Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Articulate Studio, and Camtasia. I also use Microsoft Office (Word/Excel/PowerPoint) extensively for authoring (albeit less interactive). Depending on your preferences, you may also dabble within Adobe Photoshop, Flash, or Dreamweaver…or perhaps you have an internal Learning Content Management System that you use. There are so many options out there, you really just need to consult some industry professionals or The Google and start playing around. But…how do I choose?! Choosing really isn’t so much of the issue - you can choose multiple authoring tools to produce your courses, you don’t have to choose just one, but I would limit the options a bit to streamline your process or you’ll quickly find yourself overwhelmed with your development process. The truth is that you won’t know which tools you prefer or which are effective (for what you need to produce) until you start playing around within the environments and authoring content. If you’re new to the industry, I would suggest you attempt to align your preferences with well-known tools (e.g. Articulate/Adobe Captivate), as these products are more likely to have a strong community of support, which is critical when attempting to meet delivery dates and troubleshoot products simultaneously. Like this post? Want more Instructional Design tips? Sign up below!  

Some tools and activities within Moodle enable users to receive notifications. These can be useful for monitoring activity in an area or task, and can provide useful information or prompts for both lecturers and students. Subscribing to such activities also eliminates the need to regularly check for posts or submissions, as notifications are automatically generated when additions are made. The principal ‘activity’ that provides this facility is the Forum, and there are several forum types available in Moodle: News Forum: (a special forum for general announcements on a course. (acts the same as the news alert item on tulip), and is automatically created for each course on the front page. A single simple discussion - A single discussion topic which everyone can reply to (cannot be used with separate groups) Each person posts one discussion - Each student can post exactly one new discussion topic, which everyone can then reply to Q and A forum - Students must first post their perspectives before viewing other students’ posts Standard forum displayed in a blog-like format - An open forum where anyone can start a new discussion at any time, and in which discussion topics are displayed on one page with "Discuss this topic" links Standard forum for general use - An open forum where anyone can start a new discussion at any time Notifications from the News Forum: By default, the news forum is placed in the top of the centre section of all courses on Moodle, and only teachers and administrators can add posts or reply to posts. The default setting for the news forum is that every enrolled person on a course is automatically subscribed to it (forced subscription), and will therefore automatically receive notifications (emails), of forum posts. This is therefore a very useful tool for sending important notifications to entire cohorts, such as room changes, lecture cancellations, tutor sickness etc. In addition, the "Latest News" block (located on the left or right-hand column of courses) displays recent posts/discussions from the News Forum, and therefore serves as another prompt for students on their course home page. Notifications/alerts are also automatically sent to users’ mobile devices with the Mobile with Plymouth app installed. (Anyone accessing ‘Mobile with Plymouth’ on a web browser will also receive the alerts): Mobile with Plymouth (web version) showing 3 alerts Notifications from other forums: By default, students are given ‘optional subscription’ on the other forum types in Moodle, unless the teacher chooses another option in the ‘edit settings’ area when creating the forum. Students can then set their own preferences. Subscription options on forums: When a user is subscribed to a forum it means that they will receive notification (via popup and/or email, depending on the user’s messaging settings preferences) of each new posting. Teachers and students can choose whether or not they want to be subscribed to each forum. However, the teacher can choose to force subscription on a particular forum, then all course users will be subscribed automatically, even those that enrol at a later time (e.g. News Forum). There are 4 subscription mode options: Optional subscription - Participants can choose whether to be subscribed Forced subscription - Everyone is subscribed and cannot unsubscribe (News Forum) Auto subscription - Everyone is subscribed initially but can choose to unsubscribe at any time Subscription disabled - Subscriptions are not allowed. How to subscribe to a forum: Whilst in the forum, go to the ‘navigation block’ on the left > Administration > Forum administration > subscribe to this forum How to edit the subscription mode of a forum: The subscription mode, and subscribe or unsubscribe links appear in Navigation > Forum administration when viewing the forum. Teachers can quickly change the mode via the ‘Subscription mode’ options and can also view the current subscribers via the ‘Show/edit current subscribers’ link.  Tips: Changing the setting from "Yes, initially"  to "No" will not unsubscribe existing users; it will only affect those who enrol in the course in the future. Similarly changing "Yes, initially" will not subscribe existing course users but only those enrolling later. There is also a "Subscriptions not allowed" setting which prevents students from subscribing to a Forum. Teachers can also subscribe to a forum if they wish. Other Moodle activities that enable notifications are the Feedback activity and the Scheduler: Feedback Activity   This activity enables a teacher to create a custom survey for collecting feedback from participants using a variety of question types including multiple choice, yes/no, or text input. When creating a feedback activity, it is possible to enable notification of submissions in the ‘edit settings’ area. Anyone who then chooses to subscribe to that particular feedback activity will receive email notifications of any submissions made (mobile alerts will also be received by any users who have the Mobile with Plymouth app). Scheduler This allows teachers to schedule appointments with their students. Time slots can be specified for students to book, and an outcome can also be recorded if desired. Notifications can be enabled so that students receive emails to confirm their appointment slots, and teachers can receive notification when a slot is booked. Notifications will also be received if any cancellations are made. In addition, appointments are automatically added to the Moodle calendar and also appear in the ‘Upcoming events’ block as a reminder.

Learning and development is changing. Here are some statistics to help shed light on some elearning trends that might affect you. Global elearning market is expected to reach $107 billion by 2015 (Global Industry Analysts, Inc) LMS market is expected to worth approximately $4 billion in 2015 and over $7 billion in 2018 (MarketsandMarkets) Global mobile learning market to reach $8.7 billion in 2015 and $12.2 billion by 2017 (Ambient Insight) 77% of USA companies offer online corporate training to employees (Roland Berger) 30% of all elearning buyers are large companies (Docebo) 8% of companies use MOOCs, while another 7% will experiment with MOOCs in 2015. By 2017, it is predicted that 28% of companies will use MOOCs. (Towards Maturity) The post 6 elearning statistics to consider in 2015 appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

It should be no surprise that I love me some Articulate products (come on - my entire portfolio is based on Articulate Storyline outputs right now). They’re just so versatile and user-friendly! And I’m not even being paid to say that. In taking my freelancing full-time, I was quickly becoming overwhelmed with the amount of work I had to do, most of which is done in one Articulate product or another. I decided that if I was feeling overwhelmed, other freelancers may share that feeling, so some tips may be in order. Today I’ll be talking about three ways that I have streamlined my development process using Articulate products. 1. Parallels for Mac I have a Mac Book Pro, and do the majority of work from my laptop. Now, anyone who has a Mac knows that Articulate products are currently only available for Windows OS. This makes it extremely frustrating. When I first purchased my Mac, I knew I would need to set up a Windows OS partition using Boot Camp, but this was before I took my freelancing full-time. Once I went full-time, I quickly found out that I needed a lot more space than I had allotted to my Windows partition. Not to mention, dual-booting was extremely frustrating to me. I often found myself syncing files to dropbox or using flash drives to access files previously stored on my Mac OS (which I work exclusively in UNLESS I’m using an Articulate product). This very quickly became annoying, especially when I forgot a flash drive at home. The Boot Camp setup works for a lot of folks, but for me, I found it annoying and I often felt disorganized and stressed out. After running into a deleted file situation, I consulted the folks at my local Apple store and the guy I spoke with recommended Parallels for Mac. Parallels allows you to run Windows OS within your Mac OS (simultaneously). It was probably the fastest and simplest install of Windows OS I have ever experienced (which says a lot as a former serial PC purchaser) and it runs like a charm. I’ve experienced no lag (even while working in larger Storyline files), and it has a coherence setting which allows my Windows applications to behave like Mac applications. IT IS AMAZING! I never thought such a simple solution would be so life-altering. I’m not being dramatic - Parallels for Mac has honestly changed my workflow for the better, and has allowed me to streamline processes that were previously very clunky. Now I can work within all of my Articulate products, launching them from Mac OS, and still access anything I would have previously saved on Dropbox or a flash drive. It is so much better! I’ve only been using it for 3 days now, but I feel confidant in recommending it to anyone with a Mac who is looking for a solution to running Windows OS-based programs seamlessly. 2. Cheat Sheets! We all have a lot of things to remember on a daily basis, and for most of us, hot keys don’t rank very high on the list of things to remember. Especially the more obscure hot keys. Luckily, the kind folks over at Articulate have provided several job aids (or cheat sheets) to help users streamline their development process. This printable collection of time-saving Articulate Storyline short-cuts is printed and on the cork board in my office - thanks, Mike! Articulate even has a Job Aids download section which provides users with tons of helpful resources for adjusting player properties in various products. Everyone likes shortcuts, and I’m not one to buck the system on that one! 3. Saving Frequently and Backing Up Regularly Now this may seem like a no-brainer, but sometimes you just trust your machines too much. This type of trust can greatly hinder your productivity and throw a huge wrench in your development process. This is not necessarily an Articulate product-specific tip, but my most recent productivity-destroying experience occurred with several Storyline files, so it’s kind of relevant. When I was blabbering on about Parallels, I briefly mentioned having a run in with a deleted file situation - ugh. I had spent an entire week developing three modules for a client, and once they were all sent for revision, I backed them up to my external drive. Or at least my computer made me think I did. Silly me. The next day, the client came back with several revisions; I was on my way home, got the email, and thought ‘Great! Only two small changes! I’ll do those as soon as I get home!’ - I arrived home, bitterly dual-booted into Windows, and went to open the files…but the files were no where to be found. After consulting The Google (many times) and spending about 7 hours trying to recover the files, I was able to recover two of three…except that Storyline would not longer recognize them. This left me to spend my Saturday and Sunday morning foregoing a fun and exciting hiking trip to redevelop all of that work from the Storyline outputs. I wanted to cry, but in the end it took me a lot less time to reproduce the files than I had originally thought it would take, and the world was alright again. But I did miss that hiking trip - dammit! What did I learn? Save ALL THE TIME and back things up every other second. To multiple places. I know have Mac’s Time Machine running on my external hard drive, backing things up hourly, and I also have all of my files backing up to Dropbox. When I’m feeling extra paranoid, I’ll save files to Google Drive or a flash drive. Eventually, I’ll probably get a Time Capsule from Apple (it’s a product - I’m not crazy enough to bury a bunch of flash drives in my yard) so I can set up wireless backups, but for now I’ll leave my external hard drive tethered to its USB port (first world problem, I know). Like this post? 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Did you know that Moodle has an inbuilt quiz editor which will enable you to create polished online assessments to complement and enhance both the student learning experience and deliver powerful metrics which can feed in to learning analytics at department, school, faculty or university wide level? Using online assessment can be a way of offering different assessment types as specified in the CEP (Curriculum Enrichment Project). Some of the ways in which you can utilise this valuable tool are as follows: Diagnostic assessment: Diagnostic assessment takes place prior to, or at the commencement of, a learning experience.  It gives both the student and the tutor an indication of the current knowledge level of the student and can indicate if the student will need access to sources of support. Formative assessment: Formative assessment takes place at regular intervals during the student learning experience and as in the diagnostic stage, provides both student and tutor with reports which indicate how the student is progressing.  Formative assessment can help identify any areas a student may be struggling with and when combined with effective feedback, can empower the student to improve these areas. Summative assessment: There are two classes of summative assessment: High stake and low stake: High stake summative assessment is usually the large, end of year exams, which involve the University exams office.  Currently all Plymouth University’s high stake online assessment is delivered using Question Mark Perception, but this may change and staff will be apprised of any changes made to this current policy. Low stake summative assessment is usually any other type of assessment which contributes to the achievement of the module. Examples of low stake summative assessment which could be delivered using Moodle quizzes are: open book or in-class quizzes. A Moodle quiz has reporting functionality and offers a choice of different report types.  These vary from a straight forward overview of marks achieved in an assessment by all students within a specific module or group, to statistical reports which can give detailed information about individual questions which can assist when evaluating the validity and reliability of assessments. Currently ASTI has an introductory session in which participants will learn how to access the quiz functionality and how to set up both quizzes and questions. A new workshop will be available very soon which has been designed to follow on from the introductory session and will look in more detail at the more pedagogic aspects of question design and effective feedback.  Further information about either of these sessions can be found on the ASTI website Over the coming months ASTI will also be running events which will concentrate on specific areas, for example, how to insert media into questions or how and when to use various feedback options.  These sessions will also be available online as mini-tutorials.  Details of these will be released as they become available via various avenues of communication, including the ASTI Newsletter. There are also tutorials available on lynda.com which give a basic overview of using different areas in Moodle 2.6, including quizzes. (Access to lynda.com requires your university username and password).

Recently, I experienced issues associated with backing up information, causing me to lose work and want to sob uncontrollably. Since then, I have spent time getting to know the lovely folks at my local Apple Store, and have invested in several pieces of technology (one of which I mentioned in the previous post - Parallels for Mac - not necessarily for backing up information). Today I’ll be discussing some important tips when it comes to backing up your information, and hopefully these tips come in handy, allowing you to avoid uncontrollable sobbery - because no one wants to watch that. 1. Ignorance is not bliss - back EVERYTHING up. When beginning my foray into the realm of virtual work, I blatantly ignored the process of backing up my information. Sure, I had some things on flash drives, some things in my email, some things hanging out on dropbox…but these things weren’t all necessarily current and some were just too large to be backed up on any of those three options, so I lazily left them where they were on my hard drive, believing foolishly that hard drive malfunctions or user error were things that would never happen to me. Boy was I wrong! After experiencing the loss of important work (work I had slaved over for weeks in some cases), I quickly realized that trusting technology is not always the best way to deal with the security of your files. So I recommend to trust MANY technologies. I now have my hard drive backing up hourly, daily, and monthly to an external hard drive, my working files backing up hourly to dropbox, and all important text-based documents backing up to Google Drive and USB flash drives, as necessary - call me paranoid, because I am. 2. Invest in technology that will save your butt! I’ve made some personal investments and will be making several more in the near future. Losing information has been a traumatic experience, and I’ve learned that the amount of cash I would typically balk at when it comes to storage and data back up is worth the expense if it saves me from tears. Here are some items I have recently invested in (or will be in the very short-term - no I am not being paid to promote these products): AirPort Time Capsule - There are other, slightly cheaper, alternatives to Time Capsule, and while the guy at the Apple Store wasn’t entirely convinced it was a necessary purchase, it will be a purchase for my business within the coming weeks. Why? Because of my sanity. Time Capsule backs everything up wirelessly and works double duty as a router - hooray! WD My Passport for Mac - While not the best external hard drive, this little guy has proven to be a valuable purchase and comes with me almost everywhere. It’s lightweight, portable, and doesn’t talk back. It lets me back up information regardless of where I am. Flash Drives - I have SO MANY of these and they are in every one of my bags. I use them predominantly for backing up documents, saving scanned documents, and backing up working files on the go if I don’t have my WD Passport on hand. Dropbox - Get a dropbox account and upgrade it; you’ll quickly need more space than what is offered, and it’s a pretty small monthly investment for the service it provides. You can download the application and easily auto back up your information. Google Drive - I haven’t had to upgrade my Google Drive account yet as I use it primarily for text-based documents, but if I had to (or if you were interested) you can upgrade from the free 15GB of space to 100GB (!) of space for a measly 1.99/month - chump change - DO IT! 3. Have a Good Emotional Support System This one might seem a bit silly, but you’ll understand why it’s important once you experience your first loss-of-work. My husband is always my greatest support, and he didn’t let me down when I royally screwed myself work-wise; we spent about eight hours attempting to recover my data, he empathized, and was very understanding in my time of need. Alternatively, consult your communities. Wherever your tribes are, you should consult with them about how they go about backing up information and what systems they have in place. Industries vary and one system for backing up information within one industry may not be the best option within another industry. Find out what your colleagues are doing and take their recommendations - worst case scenario, you end up with way too many methods for backing up information - a problem I would consider small (and cautious) in the grand scheme of things.