by AJ Walther   Here's a quick tip you may not already know that could save you some serious time with unit conversion. By default, PowerPoint measures in inches. But, if you're using PowerPoint as a design tool you might wish to work in pixels or centimeters. It isn't rocket science to Google your way to proper unit conversion, but there's an easier and faster way right there in PowerPoint. For example, let's resize a shape using pixel dimensions. We want our final shape size to be 600 pixels high and 800 pixels wide. In PowerPoint, insert a rectangle (Insert > Illustrations > Shapes > Rectangle). Right-click the rectangle and choose Size and Position. (The Format Shape dialog box will open with the Size category selected. Notice the Height and Width fields are pre-populated with the current size of the shape inches.)  Ensure Lock aspect ratio is deselected. Highlight the measurement in the Height field and type 600px followed by the [tab] key. (The Height will automatically be converted to 6.25 inches.)  Highlight the measurement in Width field and type 800px followed by the [tab] key. (The Width will automatically be converted to 8.33 inches.)  The same method can be used for centimeters. In the Height and Width fields, type your desired size followed by cm and press the [tab] key. Presto! Automatic conversion to inches!

Looking forward to co-facilitate with Fareeza Marican (Senior Learning Designer at IMU) a workshop on 2 July (2014), focusing on designing engaging presentations based on Gagne's nine events of instruction. It has been some time, since I facilitated a workshop that focuses on Instructional Design (ID), so it will be fun to rediscover my e-learning roots (started of as an Instructional Designer in 2001).Sadly, Fareeza Marican will be leaving IMU soon to explore a new world (not to be revealed...I seriously don't know either!), but Insya-Allah with her exceptional instructional and creative design abilities, she will do well wherever her destiny takes her. Wishing Fareeza the best of the best of the best in her future learning adventures!WORKSHOPIn this 2-hour workshop at the International Medical University (IMU), you will learn how to design engaging presentations for e-learning and flipped classroom sessions based on good instructional design practices. In the process, you will explore PowerPoint, Gagne’s 9 Events of instruction and other tools to engage students to learn. SLIDESThe presentation slides were co-created by Zaid Alsagoff and Fareeza Marican. However, having our own preferences and flavors, we decided in the end to go both our own ways and have published our own delicious versions on SlideShare, which you all are free to enjoy.Zaid's version: Designing Engaging Presentations from Zaid Alsagoff Fareeza's version: Designing Engaging Presentation for eLearning from Fareeza Marican Both have value added enriched and contextualized learning juice not mentioned in the other, so you are strongly recommended to explore both. Lucky you! I am again learning and rediscovering ID! In a way, I feel like a new born baby that needs to unlearn old habits, and rediscover new ones to keep up with new ID world :)

Written by Jessica Batz View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording. Sink or Swim? Supporting the Transition to New Manager - Webinar 04.24.14 from BizLibrary

I think it’s fascinating that Apple is bringing Mobile features such as notification and Dictation to the Mac. #MobileFirst — RJ Jacquez (@rjacquez) June 11, 2012 Like millions of people around the world, I too was glued to my computer on June 11 2012, following closely every news announcement Apple shared at their annual WWDC event. As always they unveiled a number of new and amazing things, like the new MacBook Pro, which now sports a Retina Display, similar to the new iPad. The next version of Apple’s iOS was also shown and it comes with some nice features, including Passbook and Maps, just to name a few. All that is well and good, however what really caught my eye is what Apple is adding to their new version of the Mac OS X, Mountain Lion, which according to Apple’s site will be available next month. I have been observing that Apple has slowly been borrowing features from the iPhone and iPad (i.e. iOS) and bringing them into their Mac operating system. It started with Lion last year when they included multi-touch gestures via their magic trackpad and this trend continues with Mountain Lion’s mobile-first features, such as the upcoming Notification Center, Dictation, AirPlay, and Game Center. My key takeaway from this is that Apple is taking everything they have learned from creating a great mobile experience on the iPad and iPhone, and now leveraging that in order to achieve the same amazing experience on the desktop. I’m not sure this was their original plan, but the reality is that by thinking mobile-first they now are able to make the desktop experience better. And that’s a lesson all of us can benefit from. How can this be applied to designing learning experiences? I think we should approach learning design in a very similar way, by thinking mobile-first and desktop second. Even if you are still not ready for mLearning, I feel you could still benefit from this approach. I strongly believe that if we approach our learning design thinking mobile-first and then take what we learn back to our desktop, we will automatically and almost immediately make our eLearning better on the desktop. In future posts (and at mLearnCon next week) I will be sharing more of my ideas on what I mean by thinking mobile-first but for now, I feel it’s about embracing simplicity in our mLearning design and sitting down and asking yourself what’s really important to the learner (e.g. are all those flying animations really necessary, what about all that text and buttons?), and then removing all the other extra fluff from the design. I believe this is an important exercise, that will result in better learning experiences across all devices, including the traditional desktop. What do you think?

by AJ Walther   If you are sending your PowerPoint presentation off to be viewed on another system that is not yours, you may be concerned that this other system won't have the same fonts. No need to lose any sleep over what your final design will look like. If you've used TrueType fonts, you can embed them into your presentation and send them along with it. TrueType fonts can be identified by a TT next to the font name in the font drop-down menu of PowerPoint. The fonts outlined in red below are all TrueType fonts.   Here's how to embed TrueType fonts in a PowerPoint presentation: From the PowerPoint ribbon, choose File > Options. Select the Save category at the left. From the Preserve fidelity when sharing this presentation: area, select (check) Embed fonts in the file.  Choose the option under Embed fonts in the file that applies best to your situation. The first option will help keep the file size small; but if the person you are sending the presentation to will be making edits, you may need to select the second option. Click the OK button to close the PowerPoint Options dialog box. Now you can rest assured that your fonts will survive the trip to another computer system. See also: PowerPoint: How to Instantly See a List of Fonts Used in a Presentation Reusing PowerPoint Animations and Audio In a Captivate Project PowerPoint 2007 & 2010: How to Extract Audio & Images from a Presentation PowerPoint 2007 & 2010: How to Extract Audio & Images from a Presentation, Part II

I had just finished posting about Networks and Topic Hubs when I saw the announcements around the launch of MyAllTop (1, 2, 3).  The reviews are somewhat mixed, and I'm certainly sitting here scratching my head. I always perceived Alltop as a way to build Topic Hubs.  This is a similar, but limited, form of what we are doing around sites like eLearning Learning, Mobile Learning, Informal Learning Flow, Communities and Networks Connection.  The goal of a topic hub is to bring quality content together around particular topics to make it more accessible to people who are not familiar with the bloggers and other information sources in the space.  If you look at AllTop itself, that's the value proposition they talk about as well - but using the magazine rack - casual browsing - metaphor. But why MyAlltop? What's confusing to me is the value of providing a means for person oriented topic hubs and the limitation to only feeds that already exist? Are people going to adopt this as their new start page?  Doubtful - there are much better tools for this.  And MyAlltop forces everything to be public. Instead, this is definitely a way for you to broadcast your interests.  But, there are also lots of other ways to do this. I really don't get this. It must be on a trajectory towards something more like what's happening with Topic Hubs. Thoughts? eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

Are you looking for an online platform to host and develop your MOOC or Massive Open Online Course(s)?MOOC DEVELOPMENT PLATFORMSBelow is a growing list of all online platforms that can be used to develop and host MOOCs. They have been divided into various categories to make your MOOCified choice easier:(E) = Elitist Only courses from 'World Class' Universities/Organizations. For these MOOC platforms, you need to be 'World Class' or associated with a top (top) University around the world that has signed an agreement to be partner with the non or for-profit organization running the MOOC platform (e.g. Coursera).(D) = Do-It-Yourself These MOOC platforms empowers anyone to develop MOOCs. But you are still required usually to fulfill their learning design requirements before your MOOC course can be published (to the public and be searchable in their course database).(U) = University/Organization CentricThese MOOC platforms are designed to host MOOCs offered by particular Universities/Organizations. Unless you are working for that University/organization or group of Universities/Organizations, you will not be able to use their platform. THE LIST MOOC Development PlatformsView more lists from Zaid Ali AlsagoffPlease vote up your favorites MOOC platforms. Also, please indicate whether you use them and whether you are an expert in using them (for MOOC or online course development).Looking for a comprehensive list of MOOC specific courses (to learn and explore)? CLICK HERE to access the MOOC list! Stay tuned for the ultimate (10 - 20 page) guidelines and tips to create sizzling MOOCs with flavor...Coming soon :)  

Written by Chris Osborn   Today's Q&A Thursday video discusses blending technology and learning content with mobile delivery platforms.     Stay Up-to-Date on the Most Current Business Training Trends BizLibrary offers 6,000+ training videos in various business training topics, with new courses added every day.   7 HR Law Training Topics for New Managers (and Experienced Ones Too!) This complimentary eBook discusses 7 key employment laws that all managers should know in order to prevent inviting legal liability. BizLibrary's Mobile Learning App meets the needs of today's digital learners. Employees no longer wait for training departments to push learning content to them. Employees are used to pulling information to themselves, when they need it, on their own terms and conditions, and on their own devices. - See more at: /technology/bizmobile.aspx#sthash.umjsk4e5.dpuf Video Transcription Hi, Chris Osborn, VP of Marketing with BizLibrary with today's Q&A. It comes from Brian, he's the Vice President of Learning and Development for a large manufacturing organization and he has a question about our comment about learning content strategies. We talked about learning content strategies and mentioned that the third part of that had to do with blending the delivery methodology of your content with the platform. From our perspective, you can't separate the two. A lot of organizations in this market separate technology from content and we think that's a massive mistake. You have to make sure that your content strategy takes into account how you're going to get that content delivered to your employees. Well Brian's concern is, well, what would happen if we set a strategy that included a delivery platform that had the chance of leaving a lot of employees behind. For instance, mobile. We make sure that we can deliver content to mobile and we have a lot of employees that just aren't there yet. Would this create a problem for getting our content to our employees? And the answer is No, Brian, it will not. And here's why. First, your employees are already there. Most of us are already accessing video content away from work for a whole range of things. This is the way people are accessing content for a whole range of reasons to learn and acquire information already. There's no reason to expect that employees won't absorb content the same way at work. Mobile has to be the primary portal of entry for employee training going forward, so jump in. The water is fine, mobile learning is here, It's no longer a fad, it's no longer something in the future. Our employees are ready for us, we're the ones lagging behind, those of us in the profession. We're ready for it, you're employees are ready for it. Last but not least, and this is a real important concept. If you think about the way we're absorbing content away from work. we absorb content in short chunks. If you think about news sites or sports videos, everything is in short, two, two and half minute chunks. And that works really well for video. Same thing for learning. That's how it's going to work. And the best device to deliver that content is mobile, be it a smartphone or a tablet. So our employees are there, we have to get there to meet them on their terms, on their conditions in their space. And if we're going to have an up to date, current learning content strategy, we have to have learning content that is accessible on mobile devices.

by AJ Walther   There are many reasons you may want to globally change every instance of a font in a PowerPoint presentation. Maybe you inherited a presentation from someone else and it needs a little work. Maybe you've had a change of heart about your own design choice. Maybe a client would prefer a different font. Whatever the case, manually changing every occurrence of a font could become a time-consuming task. Luckily, PowerPoint comes with a quick and easy tool to handle the heavy lifting for you. Here's how to use the Replace Fonts tool: From PowerPoint's ribbon, choose Home > Editing and click the down arrow next to Replace to view more options.   From the Replace drop-down menu, choose Replace Fonts to open the Replace Font dialog box.  From the Replace drop-down menu, choose the font you'd like to find and replace.  From the With drop-down menu, choose your new font.  Click the Replace button.  Just like that, you've replaced every instance of the original font! *** Want more creative PowerPoint ideas to take your eLearning to the next level? Attend our Optimizing PowerPoint Design for eLearning and Presentations live, online, instructor-led course. 

WOW! Thanks to my e-mail resource/ideas sharing buddy Paul Kurchina, I just discovered this morning a cool interactive video authoring tool called TouchCast. TOUCHCASTTouchCast claims to be a new medium that looks like video, but feels like the web. The Desktop version brings powerful features to video producers, including a robust compositing engine, multi-camera support, video import, and Hot Spot creation. TouchCast's unique authoring environment allows you to effortlessly add anything from the web, images, and other interactive features into your video in real-time. As you can do your interactive video features on-the-fly there is no, or little need for post-production editing. PRODUCTION OUTPUTI have yet to try the powerful TouchCast desktop version with multi-camera support, but I did explore the iPad version, and this is what I managed to swoosh up within minutes after playing around with it this morning (Direct link to the video).(Important Notice: My eyes were looking at the wrong corner of the iPad! Not the camera side....LOL! Blooper!)CLICK HERE to experience the interactive video on the TouchCast site (More interactive than the embedded one). Please try!FEEDBACKWhat do you think of the TouchCast iPad (studio) version output (besides my performance)?If we exclude the lack of crispiness of my cropped self in-front of the background (might be due to iPad camera quality or lighting issues?), it is the coolest interactive video authoring tool I have come across in a long time.At the moment, you can only record 5 minute videos on the iPad version (for free), and upload up to 60 minutes of your video output to TouchCast's cloud space. Also, there is no post-editing features once you have recorded your interactive video on the iPad version (probably available in the commercial version). As I am really NOT an expert in video production, and know that there are many other cool video authoring tools, please suggest other ones that can empower you with a video production studio from a mobile smart device, tablet, notebook or desktop (for free, or a small fee)...Thank you :)

Using various social signals we came up with the following as being the hot items during February 2009 via eLearning Learning. You can find a bit more on this capability in the post Hot List. Enjoy. Top Posts and other Items The ‘Least Assistance’ Principle eLearning is not the answer Multi-Generational Learning in the Workplace Here’s How I Built That PowerPoint E-Learning Template Informal learning - what is it? What Goes in the LMS? Blogging in a Walled Garden Sacred Training Cows What is Informal Learning Design elements - a graphics style manual Mathemagenic " PhD conclusions in a thousand words: blogging practices of knowledge workers Why Doing Things Half Right Gives You the Best Results Pedagogy - MoodleDocs How to Find the Right Wiki for Your Project or Organization Hot Keywords During February - Social Media Business Conversation Twitter MindTouch Scuttle CourseMill Tools Sample Pinnacle Adobe TechSmith Atlassian Apple eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

First off, congratulations to my old team at Adobe for launching Adobe Captivate 6. It has now been 6 months since I left Adobe and this is the first version of Captivate that I get to explore from the outside. I did not participate in the beta program, nor was I invited by my old PR team to be part of the press tour, so my very first look at the new Captivate 6 was the day it was announced, after downloaded a trial copy. Like many of you, I too watched some of the sneak peeks the team was showing off in preparation for the launch, but other than that, I had no idea what to expect. Well, actually I did have an idea of what to expect, or at least I thought I did, since I was part of the initial talks for what would be in the next release of the product, right before leaving the company. The thing is, almost nothing I thought would be in the product ended up making in Adobe Captivate 6. In fact there was one killer feature related to mobile learning (mLearning) that we had talked about as a team, but its nowhere in Captivate 6. I can’t tell you what that is because of confidentiality, but I can tell you that it would have been revolutionary and a real game-changer and without this, it’s tough for me to pick that one killer feature that I believe every product launch should come with. After playing around with the trial, my first impressions unfortunately aren’t positive, to me the product feels half-baked, almost rushed (perhaps just in time for mLearnCon?), some of the new features feel disjointed and out of place and if you want my honest opinion, it feels like in the middle of development, the team changed directions most likely because Articulate launched Storyline. I feel like the team quickly scrambled to make sure the next version of Captivate could include some of the same features that Storyline users have come to love since the launch, for example Interactions, Themes, Actors, etc. One thing that always frustrated me working on Captivate at Adobe was that we were always very "reactionary," for the most part features were added just to make sure we looked good when reviewers compared us to other products, it was that need for a feature in order to get that coveted check-mark when put side-by-side against one of our competitors. This is precisely what Captivate 6 feels like to me, Storyline introduced Characters, so the Captivate team says we need Actors to compete; Storyline introduces lots of interactions, Captivate introduces Smart Learning Interactions, Storyline introduces slide templates, Captivate comes out with Themes, Camtasia has Zoom-and-Pan, no problem we will add Video slides in Captivate 6 the team likely said. I’m a bit surprised there are no Triggers, States, Slide Layers and oh, where’s the Captivate Mobile Player iPad app? I wish companies would be original in their development plan and stuck with it all the way and not waver just because one of their competitors comes out with something cool in the middle of their development cycle. Haphazard Effort In looking at most features, it seems to me that most features could have easily been extended all the way. Here are some examples. Whether you like the new User Interface or not, on the surface we have to admit it’s much better than the old plain, color-less UI in Captivate 5 an 5.5. However the changes are only on the surface, if you dig deeper, almost every dialog box I’ve seen is still plain and color-less. Take a look for yourself at the Questions dialog box, as well as Advanced Interactions, Advanced Actions, Skin Editor and pretty much all other dialog boxes. And then from time to time you find message boxes that someone in QA just missed it completely, such as this one (notice the out-of-place question mark on the second line). And then there is the new Actors feature in Adobe Captivate 6. I feel this could have been so much more than just bundling multiple stock photos of the same person in different poses. For the record, I’m still not convinced the future of eLearning is crowding slides with a bunch of photographic characters of people in different poses, but for the sake of argument, Storyline beats Captivate 6 hands-down here. In Storyline, Characters is a real feature, you pick your Character, position it where you want, adjust the timing accordingly, manipulate it via Triggers and you’re done. Then if you need to change its Expression, Pose and or Perspective, you don’t have to disrupt the timing or the triggers that affect it, and it just works. You simply double-click the Character and up come options for character, expression, pose and perspective. Not so in my experiments with Captivate, the Actor appears to be literally an image and thus if you need a different pose or expression, you must replace the image you inserted initially and potentially have to readjust the timing via the timeline. Again just a half-hearted effort here. DOES ADOBE EVEN UNDERSTAND MOBILE? I don’t mean Adobe as a company, clearly the Dreamweaver, Shadow, inDesign and the Edge teams do, I’m talking about how the Adobe Captivate team thinks about Mobile and Mobile Learning. In following their tweets, they claim that ‘real’ mLearning is pausing a course on the desktop and continuing from there on the iPad is where it’s. Really, isn’t that something we have been doing for years via SCORM for desktops at least? What about creating unique mobile experiences, that are radically different from their desktop counterparts and that delight mobile users? My initial tests of the new Publish to HTML5 were so bad that I doubt any company out there, that is serious about delivering a powerful mobile experience to their Learners would even consider this functionality a viable mLearning solution. And I’m not even referring to all the features that are unable to make it across to HTML5 (see question types no supported below). Even if every single feature in Captivate could get published to HTML5, I’d still question the idea that mobile learning is simply about converting your desktop eLearning courses to HTML5. Oh and where’s Tin Can support for tracking mLearning? I could go on an on talking about how I feel about how convoluted and disjointed new features are in Captivate 6, such as having to go out to a separate video editor in order to apply zoom-and-pan, but I really wanted to get this out now while my first impressions are fresh. I will continue to make short posts and/or video screencasts highlighting my feelings about all the other new features. Conclusion Sadly I’m very disappointed with what I’ve seen out of the new Captivate version, and I say sadly because for years this product was my baby, from my early days working at eHelp, later Macromedia and more recently Adobe as a Senior Product Evangelist for Captivate and the eLearning Suite. It’s not even this particular version that disappoints me; it’s the overall lack of vision that Adobe has clearly shown in this release. There’s nothing in there that addresses real solutions for today’s trending topics, such as Cloud computing, Mobile Learning, Responsive Design, Adaptive publishing, Mobile Apps, etc. Having said, I cannot recommend this version of Captivate nor would I recommend relying on Adobe as the future vendor that can deliver innovating and breakthrough eLearning and mLearning experiences for the 21st Century. Share your thoughts and ReTweet this post if you get a chance! Update: I also published a post on what I would have liked to have seen in Adobe Captivate 6 for true mobile learning development.  

Written by Jessica Batz View and download the webinar slides. View the webinar recording. Employee Training and Development: How to Measure Effectiveness and Impact - Webinar 04.30.14 from BizLibrary       Employee Training and Development: How to Measure Effectiveness and Impact This eBook shows you the keys to success in today's volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world. BizLibrary's Mobile Learning App meets the needs of today's digital learners. Employees no longer wait for training departments to push learning content to them. Employees are used to pulling information to themselves, when they need it, on their own terms and conditions, and on their own devices. - See more at: /technology/bizmobile.aspx#sthash.umjsk4e5.dpuf

by Kevin Siegel    Unless you've been deliberately avoiding them, it's a good bet you've come across images similar to the one below.     The image is known as a QR code. As you can see, QR codes are images that are made up of black and white squares. They are typically used for storing URLs or other information and can be scanned by QR Readers. In fact, if you have a smart phone, it may already have a QR Scanner. If so, scan the image above with the QR Reader and you'll be taken to the IconLogic website.   There's plenty of software you can find on the Internet that will allow you to create your own QR codes (some are free; some will cost you a few bucks). However, if you own Adobe FrameMaker 12, you have that ability to create QR Codes right now. Open or create a FrameMaker document and click where you want the QR code. Choose Special > Generate QR Code to open the QR Code Builder. In the File Name field, give the QR code a name (it will be saved as a PNG image) and specify a storage location. From the Type drop-down menu, select the type of QR Code you'd like to create (you can select from SMS, URL, Phone, Email, and Text). In the image below, I selected URL from the Type drop-down menu and then typed the IconLogic website URL. The final step is to set the size of the URL from the Size drop-down menu. (You can select a size from the Image Dimensions drop-down menu or type your own value into the Image Dimensions field.) Click the Insert button to insert the QR Code into the FrameMaker document. And that's that. If you only wanted to use the QR Code in your FrameMaker document, you're done. However, if you want to use the QR Code in a different program, or include it in a newsletter like I did above, you'll find the QR Code image file in the folder you specified when you named the image (see step 3 above).   *** Looking for instructor-led training on Adobe FrameMaker? Check out our live, online, instructor-led FrameMaker classes.

What can you learn in 6 seconds? Or what can you teach (show or tell) in 6 seconds?  VINEVine (please don't confuse it with 'Wine'!) is a mobile service (owned by Twitter) that lets you capture and share short looping videos (6 seconds or less). Like Tweets, the brevity of videos on Vine inspires creativity. The Vine app is free for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone.Today, millions of people are using it around the world, and it is one of the fasting growing social media tools around.LEARNIf you thought 60-second lectures were short, what about learning nuggets that are 6 seconds or less? Can Vine be used for learning and teaching at the University level?Ponder this...SourceWOW! If humans' attention span is only 8 seconds, then 6 seconds or less could be awesome for a quick learning nugget. Even instructional designers will be impressed if you can chunk your learning nugget to 6 seconds or less.  As Vine loops (rewinds and play again) the published video content, the mother of all learning techniques is automated into this learning tool...Finally, Vine is a powerful tool to capture and share learning moments on-the-fly. So, it is another perfect tool for mobile learning and sharing. SHOW & TELLBut, what can you show or tell in 6 seconds or less? The lecturer will only be able to say, "Hi, my name is Zaki. Today I am going to..." CUT!!! Vine forces you to get to the point quickly in a creative way to spark that learning moment. Though, perhaps it would have been cool to be given at least 29 seconds or less to show (tutorial), but let's be open minded and explore the learning possibilities with this 6 second video capturing constraint.Here we go: Teaching with Vine from Shelly TerrellWOW! Also, don't forget to explore the 6 Second Science Fair (Creative ways to express science in 6 seconds). IMUSo, how could we use this mobile learning tool at our University? If we are open minded and imaginative, there are actually many ways we could use this tool to inspire learning and student engagement. For example, here are three (3) ways we could use Vine for learning and teaching:Lab Exercises and ExperimentsLecturers or students use their mobile cameras to capture key moments of their lab experiments. This could be anything from the 'How to' to the 'Outcome'...Kaboong!  Field TripsStudents' video capturing interesting things discovered while they are on field trips or hospital postings, which can be shared and discussed further with their community or group.Student AssignmentsStudents can be assigned to act out scenarios, professional dialogues, how to communicate with patients, role play, storytelling, etc. They could also use it to give feedback and share opinions/critiques on various topics in a course. If you need more than 6 seconds, you could always create multiple videos (or scenes). Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, etc. I am sure, you can think of many other ways to excite learning and spark student engagement using Vine. Just let your imagination go ____!Imagine: From 45 minute lectures to 6 seconds video learning nuggets. What's next?The 1-second video learning swoosh :)

Herbert Marshall McLuhan, the late, great philosper, who is known for coining powerful expressions, such as "the medium is the message," had one quote in particular that has stuck with me for a long time, namely: "The past went that-a-way. When faced with a totally new situation, we tend always to attach ourselves to the objects, to the flavor of the most recent past. We look at the present through a rear view mirror. We march backwards into the future." This became known as the rear-view mirror effect. "We march backwards into the future" Wow. Very powerful stuff indeed. I believe this helps us understand what we are seeing today in this new era of mobile computing. It’s human nature to hold on to principles we feel comfortable with, as we tackle new paradigm shifts. I’m seeing this everywhere in eLearning and mLearning, including how tool vendors scramble to figure out how to get their users from eLearning to mLearning. And I saw this effect again yesterday as I watched Microsoft unveiled their upcoming Tablet called Surface. I admire the fact that in designing and manufacturing a Tablet, Microsoft chose not to "copycat" the iPad and instead took a chance with a bold new approach to Tablet computing. Having said that, I’m not sure I agree with their approach as compared to Apple with their iPad. In fact I think Microsoft’s latest move epitomizes what Mr. McLuhan meant by the rear-view mirror effect. Microsoft is holding on to everything they know about the PC as they figure out how to compete in a mobile, Post-PC era. While watching the Keynote video, I noticed Steven Sinofsky from Microsoft described Microsoft’s vision of the tablet as follows: "We have a vision for reimagining the Tablet, we see a Tablet that has been designed the way Windows has been designed. We see a Tablet that represents a unique vision for the seamless expression of entertainment and creativity. A Tablet that works and play that way that you want to. A tablet that’s a great PC. A PC that’s a great Tablet." I was right there with him until he said "A Tablet that’s a great PC. A PC that’s a great Tablet." And then I heard another thing that made me think that Microsoft doesn’t really understand mobile. This one is from Steve Ballmer himself "If you use your PC to design and create things, this is for you. Imagine if we built this so we could use all the apps you’re familiar with." In seeing the demos in the video, it’s clear to me that Microsoft really looks at a Tablet as a traditional PC. The Surface even comes with a USB port, so does mean users will be able to attach a mouse? What about the beauty of touch computing? They also showed a full blown version of Word running on the Tablet. They are literally taking everything in Windows in "shrinking" it down for the 10″ tablet display. Imagine if Adobe would have decided to port the behemoth Photoshop software to the iPad instead of developing Photoshop Touch? I think it would have a disaster. Or imagine if Avid Studios would have done the same with their desktop software instead of developing a unique Tablet experience as they did with Avid Studio, their iPad app? I’m sure there are lots of people, who will argue that we do in fact need all the PC apps to run on a Tablet, but I disagree, I think Mobile presents new opportunities and as such we need experiences uniquely designed for mobile, without a mouse and certainly without full-blown MS Office applications. This is how I think about eLearning vs. mLearning. We have an opportunity in the Industry to revolutionize learning with a "less is more" attitude and whatever we do, we should not simply convert our desktop eLearning to HTML5 and call it mobile learning.   How very True this is with every new era in computing "We march backwards into the future" Marshall McLuhan #mobile — RJ Jacquez (@rjacquez) June 20, 2012   Share your thoughts and ReTweet this post if you can spare a click or a finger tap. Read more of my thoughts on Mobile and Mobile Learning here: http://rjacquez.com/category/mobile-learning/  

Nancy Devine has been really helping me recently with comments on my blog on posts Topic Hubs, Good Writing, Search, Corporate Training.  But it was a twitter comment (side note: Twitter Forces us to Transmit the Big Idea) that really made me pause and go - wow, I need to think about that: @tonykarrer people are hungry to connect w/others, to talk about things that matter to them, to learn. This is so very true.  Look at the speakers in SharePoint Update who came and willingly pitched in and helped.  And most thanked me for the opportunity to spend 3 hours plus preparation and time in discussions.  Why - because it's a topic that matters to them and they could connect with others to learn.  Nancy nailed it! As Learning Professionals, we should be constantly thinking about creating opportunities for people to connect and learn.  When I think about the SharePoint Micro Virtual Conference, that's what it was all about.  Creating connection points for myself.  Inviting others to join.  It was really a set of conversations that I wanted to have on my own.  I just included others.  And they wanted to have that same discussion. I'm hoping I can get the total effort down a bit to continue to put these things on.  It was a huge help to have Kim Caise, Steve Tuffill and Scott Skibell.  If we get this figured out, I think we are onto something. Give them opportunities to connect - as Nancy says - they are Hungry to Connect. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

Click here to view the event's Facebook PageTHE STORYOn May 28th (2014), a passionate and inspiring Brother named Murtala Kazaure (above the MMU logo) from Multimedia University (MMU) connected with me on Facebook (Thanks to Siti Hamimi Burkan). As we started sharing ideas and thoughts about learning and e-learning, he suggested that I should come to MMU to share my experiences with their students and academics. I thought about it, and then suggested that I come to MMU to give a 1-2 hour talk (about 'Becoming Creative Super Learners'), which then grew into a 3-hour workshop as we discussed. Then Murtala shared this idea to his colleagues and some MMU academics, and as a result a committee was established to manage this event. As they discussed and more minds joined to explore the idea, the idea grew bigger and bigger and today the idea has evolved into a full-day workshop and seminar with multiple speakers entitled 'Empowering Digital Learning in the 21st Century' (2nd September).  Anything is possible when you have an idea and people with passion, creativity and drive to make it happen! WOW! THE EVENTHere is more about the event...(Click on the images below or Command/CTRL+ your screen to expand the view)The speakers are:The first half-day will be a workshop facilitated by me, and after lunch the other three inspiring speakers above will share their learning wisdom (Seminar style).WORKSHOP Imagine if you could read a 200-page book in 20 minutes? In today’s information overloaded disruptive world driven increasingly by innovation, we are required more than ever to transform the way we learn and think in terms of speed and creativity. In this half-day workshop, we will explore some of the things that we can do to stimulate and empower our brains and senses to be more focused, learn faster, and think more creatively. It fuses the latest in neuroscience about how the brain learns, technology, and instructional design to awaken and empower educators to design more effective and engaging learning content and environments. The most important message is that our brains can be rewired to be ‘Creative Super Learners’ at any age. LEARNING OUTCOMESAt the end of this workshop, you will be able to:Discuss how the brain learns.Use at least 2 techniques to optimize your learning mindset and senses.Use at least 3 techniques to increase your reading speed with comprehension.Use social curation tools to discover, collect, organize, and sharing learning resources. Use at least 2 techniques to improve your memory.Use at least 2 tools to empower creative and critical thinking.PARTICPANTSA digital guestbook of all the participants who also displayed a digital mindset for learning and sharing (direct link):Created with Padlet(No login required to add yourself...just double click or double tap anywhere to post anything)ACTIVITIESLinks (URLs) to all the digital learning activities during my workshop:Google Challenge - KahootSpeed Reading Test - Online version - Offline versionParticipants Speed Reading level- Poll (Anonymous)- Speed Reading Tools: AccelaReader,  Spreed, Acceleread & QuickReader Twitter Hashtag- #MEDL14- TweetbeamDisney's Creative Thinking Strategy- Dreamer Wall- Realist Wall- Critic WallSLIDES Here we go: Becoming Creative Super Learners at MMU! By @zaidlearn from Zaid Alsagoff COME!If you aspire to learn HOW TO LEARN more effectively using your brain and technology, I strongly recommend that you attend this workshop and seminar at MMU. If you can't attend, why not send your son or daughter to attend (preferably above 16)?CLICK HERE to know more and register!Be prepared to juggle balls, too :)

by Anita Horsley     In the first article in this series, I discussed the definitions for Section 508, the amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which requires all Federal agencies (typically schools and government institutions) to make information technology accessible to people with disabilities. I also discussed the use of assistive devices that provide a way for people with seeing, hearing, or dexterity challenges a way to communicate and train using technology. People who have visual impairments use assistive devices such as Jaws, Window Eyes, and HAL. They also use screen magnification and braille displays/keyboards. People with hearing impairments need visual representation of auditory information such a closed captions and graphic displays. People with mobility impairments may need alternative methods to moving through your eLearning content, such as keyboard shortcuts. The goal of creating accessible eLearning is to enhance your lessons by ensuring that all learners can master the instructional material and meet the learning objectives. When learning is accessible to all types of learners, you are not only complying with regulations, but you are reaching a larger audience. Designing eLearning to Include 508 Compliance Standards Most learners retain information through seeing, hearing, and doing. Keep that in mind when creating eLearning courses. It's relatively easy to ensure that a person who cannot see can hear your course content by adding narration and using accessibility text for images (also known as ALT text). However, the more challenging component to eLearning is keeping the lesson interactive. When creating interactive eLearning, it's important to include accessibility that all learners can use. All learners need to be able to easily identify and select interactive screen objects. You should ensure you are using a tab order for any interactive components. And you should always provide meaningful feedback in your lessons... and offer remediation if necessary. Here are a few general tips to Instructional Designers to improve effectiveness of accessible eLearning: Use accessible online help (programs such as Adobe RoboHelp and MadCap Flare allow you to create Help Systems that adhere to Section 508 standards). Alt (alternative) text for images, tables, and graphs (any purely visual object). For the visually impaired, Alt text is read aloud by assistive devices. Use contrasting colors for learners who are color blind. If you're using a slide-based eLearning development tool like Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline, name your slides. (The slide names are read aloud by assistive devices.) Set a tab order for every interactive object (for keyboard accessibility) Include keyboard shortcuts for all interactive objects (again, for keyboard accessibility). Be consistent when adding slide-to-slide navigation. Use tool tips. (Tool tips are read aloud by assistive devices.) Use Closed Captions for learners with hearing disabilities. Provide Printable versions of your course materials (for learners with hearing disabilities). Watch for my next article which will cover a step-by-step accessibility eLearning plan. *** If you'd like to take a 3-hour deep-dive into the best practices for creating accessible eLearning, check out Anita's live, online course. 

To download the webinar slides. To view the webinar recording.   KEY POINTS: Don’t get stuck on ROI only. Communicate the cost justification and strategic impact of your training initiatives. Plan and organize. Understand your current situation, where you want to be and when and how you will get there. Know the facts and risks back it up with data. Communicate how your plan will benefit the overall organizational goals.

Looking forward to facilitate another workshop at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) on 28 August, 2014. This time around we will be challenging ourselves to design engaging and effective presentations for learning and teaching... ATTENTION!Before we get busy with this workshop, let's introduce ourselves on a Padlet wall and connect in a Facebook group:Padlet WallPlease introduce yourself and add a cool picture of you (No login required). Also, it would be awesome if you could share in a few words what you desire most to learn from this workshop.Facebook GroupPlease use this Facebook group to ask questions (during and after the workshop), interact, share ideas, stories and resource links (URLs). Let's connect! Created with PadletEven if you are not attending the workshop, you are more than welcome to introduce yourself on the Padlet Wall and join our Facebook Group. Your interactions, discoveries, insights and wisdom are most welcome!WORKSHOPWouldn't it be awesome if your lectures were as impactful and engaging as Ken Robinson’s unforgettable TED talk about ‘How schools kill creativity’?In this workshop, we will explore how to design effective and engaging presentations for learning, teaching and research. In the process, you will learn some sizzling PowerPoint tricks, ‘Gagne’s 9 Events of instruction’ for more effective presentation flow, discover other cool presentation tools, and how to engage, gamify and assess students during face-to-face learning sessions  using various  interactive web tools. It will be hands-on from start to finish, and you will be challenged individually and in groups to design unforgettable presentations that stick beyond the classroom or lecture hall. LEARNING OUTCOMESAfter this workshop, you will be able to:Discuss how the brain learns.Apply ‘Gagne’s 9 events of instruction’ to design effective and engaging presentations.Design visually attractive slides using PowerPoint.Use interactive web tools to engage, gamify and assess students during face-to-face learning sessions.SLIDESHere we go: Designing Effective Presentations from Zaid Alsagoff GROUP PROJECTHere we go:Yes, we can...right? :)

by Kevin Siegel      Text Captions have been available in Adobe Captivate since before Captivate was Captivate (think RoboDemo). While there's nothing terribly wrong with Text Captions, you're a bit limited when it comes to editing the way they look. Take the Text Caption shown below for example. The arrow in the upper left of the caption is known as a callout.    You can control a few attributes of the callout (you can use the Properties Inspector to select from a list of pre-determined positions and you can elect not to show the callout). But if you want to fully adjust the callout (perhaps move it a bit to the left or right, or make the callout a bit longer), you're out of luck. Many Captivate developers, tired of the limitations of standard Text Captions, have forsaken Text Captions altogether for Smart Shapes. In the image below, I'm using a Rectangle Smart Shape. The shape looks much like a Standard Text Caption. I can control its appearance via Object Styles. However, check out how I am able to drag the shape's callout by dragging the yellow square. You can't do that with a Text Caption. Because Text Captions are really bitmap images, I'm not able to fully control how the captions look unless I edit the bitmaps using an image editing program. With Smart Shapes, you can control just about every aspect of the way the shape looks by combining options found on the Properties Inspector with Object Styles. While there is much to love about Smart Shapes, a perceived downside to Smart Shapes is that you can't use them to automatically get captions when recording a Software Simulation. You'll be happy to learn that you can, in fact, use Smart Shapes instead of Text Captions during the recording process. Display Captivate's Preferences (Windows users, choose Edit > Preferences; Mac users, choose Adobe Captivate > Preferences). Choose a recording mode and, from the Captions area, select Use Smart Shapes instead of Captions.   At that point, you'll be able to select the Smart Shape Type you'd like to use during the recording process.     Click the OK button to close the Preferences dialog box and you're done. The next time you record a Software Simulation, the project will automatically contain Smart Shapes instead of Text Captions. *** Looking for instructor-led training on Adobe Captivate? Check out our live, online, instructor-led Captivate classes.

I recently did a presentation in Los Angeles on Web 2.0 for Professional Services for the Institute of Management Consultants.  The focus was on the two main things that management consultants do with their time: Reaching Prospects and Serving Clients. Serving Clients In terms of serving clients, I covered parts of Tool Set, specifically Work Skills Keeping Up, Better Memory, Information Radar, Processing Pages with Links, Networks and Learning Communities, Collaborate, and Twitter as Personal Work and Learning Tool. I didn't really have time to go into, but wish I could have covered: Search and Browser Short Cuts. The reality is that management consultants are very much concept workers and as such have to shift how they perform their work and how they serve their customers. I went through examples similar to LinkedIn for Finding Expertise and Searching for Expertise - LinkedIn Answers to show the basics of how LinkedIn works.  This was more about getting help with questions.  I also discussed being more or less open as a LinkedIn Networker: My LinkedIn Open Connection Approach. Reaching Prospects By far, the more interesting topic to the audience was how to reach prospects.  The earlier presenter had talked about LinkedIn and someone in the audience asked for a show of hands for people who have got business through LinkedIn.  Mine was the only hand raised.  Great set up for my presentation. Prospecting vs. Conversations Here was the fun part - I asked: If I could put you into a networking event where there were 100 people who fit the profile of your prospects and they had their resumes taped to their chests so that you could pause at any time to read the resume, what would you do? One of the participants said that they would ask questions of the person about how they are dealing with issues that relate to their services.  Ask interesting questions and get them to talk. That's what I think of as the right answer and fits with what I learned about effective networking 20 years ago.  Other people would suggest more social conversation, but that's not my style nor the style of the person who answered.  I don't think anyone would suggest trying to hard sell at a networking event. People are interested in interesting conversations not in prospecting. Engaging in Interesting Conversations Let's get back to the room full of prospects who you are trying to engage in interesting conversations.  Well, first that never actually happens.  Even if it did, it would be really tough because you often don't get past the resume level in a networking event.  You also have to weed out people who are not prospects. Live networking is incredibly inefficient.  The good news about the networking event is that by being there, participants have signaled a willingness to network according to the cultural norms of the networking event. Let's compare that to LinkedIn.  It does contain many more than 100 prospects.  Most people on LinkedIn have signaled their willingness to network according to the cultural norms of LinkedIn.  And you have their resume right there.  You can pause the action to read it.  It's much more efficient than live networking.  Think of it as the biggest networking cocktail party in the world. But the challenge is that there are subtle differences in the networking culture.  I personally find that people on LinkedIn are Hungry to Connect around interesting topics just like the rest of us.  But you have to make sure that you are engaging in an interesting (to them) conversation.  Ask them for help on something that's challenging you with a client.  Are you running into X?  How are you handling it? When I was thinking about this during the presentation, I realized that I've almost completely stopped prospecting.  I don't think about the person that I talk to in terms of whether they are a future prospect.  I think of them in terms of their ability to engage in an interesting conversation.  The natural byproduct:  I meet and talk to interesting people about interesting things. Business has and will continue to result from this over the long-term. Oh, and this provides high value to my clients who are getting the benefit of these conversations. eLearning Technology Browse eLearning Content

"33% of the S&P 500 CEOs' undergraduate degrees are in engineering, and only 11% are in business administration." - Business Insider 2013PROF MUSHTAK AL-ATABIProfessor Mushtak Al-Atabi is currently the Dean of School of Engineering at Taylor's University, Malaysia. He is a passionate educator, innovator and has an exceptional drive to challenge the status quo, and inspire students to discover and unleash their true potential.  He is most known for pioneering the use of the CDIO (Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate) educational framework in Malaysia, and offering one of the first Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in Asia in 2013.Click here to discover more about him and his exceptional work.THINK LIKE AN ENGINEERWhy should you read Think Like an Engineer?Today, we are for spoilt for choice on books exploring the mind (and Neuroscience of the brain) and how we can unlock our amazing potential through rethinking the way we think, which include positive thinking, entrepreneurial thinking, growth mindset, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), law of attraction, creative/critical thinking, etc. So, why this book? Coming from a non-engineering background, it was really refreshing to explore Think Like an Engineer, which introduced me for the first time to CDIO process, and how it can be applied to solve everyday challenges and unlock the inherent values in them. More interestingly, Think Like an Engineer goes beyond that to explore passionately and creatively how the brain works (Brainology), emotional intelligence, ergonomics (Human Centred Design), communication, teamwork, project management, entrepreneurship and innovation, encouraging failure (to innovate), structured problem solving, and engineering holistic education.Alright, most of the items above can be Googled or found it other books, but what really inspired me to read Think Like an Engineer from start to end, was re-experiencing with my imagination Prof Mushtak's captivating personal stories and unique techniques he uses to systematically and creatively rewire students brains to develop an entrepreneurial mindset with a healthy, caring and positive outlook.For example, Prof Mushtak outlaws the P-word (PROBLEM) in his courses and replaces it wherever it appears in the curriculum with either "OPPORTUNITY" or "CHALLENGE". To encourage students to stop using the P-word, he has created what he calls the "OPPORTUNITY NOTE". If they keep their promise of not using the P-word throughout the semester, he will personally sign this special note for them.  In his Emotional Intelligence course, students are required to "brain rewire" a positive mindset by reporting 5 things that they were grateful for on a daily basis for a period of 18 weeks (adapted from Ben Shahar's gratitude journal reporting technique).Think Like an Engineer provides many examples on how his unique techniques (and passion) has worked with transforming the mindset of especially Asian and Malaysian students, which I find more relevant and contextualized than reading how successful people like Steve Jobs has created a dent in the Universe. Finally,  Think Like an Engineer also provides some insights on how he has explored his learning and mindset techniques online through MOOCs (using the OpenLearning platform), and how thousands of students joining his MOOCs from more than one hundred countries have been impacted positively from them.MOOCIFYTo find out more, you might want to explore these two MOOCs offered by Prof Mushtak:Global EntrepreneurshipSuccess - Achieve Success with Emotional IntelligenceWhat I found most perplexing and astonishing with Prof Mushtak (after getting to know him) is that he is not exactly the most tech savvy educator I have come across, but through his amazing drive and passion to transform and prove people wrong, he is facilitating one of the most inspiring and dynamic MOOCs that I have come across. His student enrollment numbers (2,000+ per course) cannot compete yet with the kings of Coursera, Edx, Udacity, etc., but the quality and personal touch he provides by every day engaging with students using various tools on OpenLearning, especially through chat....Makes his courses second to none!After discovering him online, I have also got to know him offline. I have learned a lot from him since, but I have also made sure he has picked up a few tricks from me, too. Like juggling balls!We both have a passion to share what we learn, so that is a good start :)