Positive Behavior Solutions in the K12 Classroom Infographic Discipline incidents cut in half. Improved grades. Fewer absences equal to one week of instruction for each student. In the Positive Behavior Solutions in the K12 Classroom Infographic, learn how the Alabama State Department of Education implemented a positive behaviour support (PBS) solution and improved student outcomes and school culture. The Impact of Positive Behavior Solutions in the K12 Classroom Student behavior and school culture can be roadblocks to student success. 20% of enrolled students with extreme problem behavior account for 50% of behavioral incidents. 95% of out-of-school suspensions are related to nonviolent, minor disruptions such as tardiness or disrespect. Administrators spend 45 minutes on average managing each disciplinary action. Top influencers in affecting student achievement: School culture School climate Two key measures of effective teaching: Managing student behavior Establishing a culture of learning Teachers use various methods to manage classroom behaviour and culture. Measurement and support of classroom management methods is critical. Teachers report a lack of support in implementing classroom management strategies. Even though effective classroom management is shown to produce a variety of positive outcomes for students. The Alabama State Department of Education piloted a positive student behavior program with measurable results. Initiatives: PBS/positive reinforcement solution. Embedded professional learning. Analytics and data services. Partner and solutions: Chalkable Learning Earnings Chalkable Professional Learning Chalkable Data Services Key Findings Increase in Attendance. Increase in Learning Gains. Fewer Discipline Infractions. Sub Groups Show Significant Achievement Gains. Via: www.chalkable.comThe post Positive Behavior Solutions in the K12 Classroom Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

China’s Online Education and eLearning Market Infographic The advent of educational technology is revolutionising the education industry, and it is paving the path for a more flexible and nuanced approach to learning. While pencils and papers remained essentials of the classroom, electronic devices offer the advantage of transcending over the boundaries of time and place. New technologies and faster internet make online education more convenient and affordable while traditional methods have no choice but to adapt. The China’s Online Education and eLearning Market Infographic highlights how China has experienced a massive edtech boom in recent years, as evidenced by the number of startups that capitalised on the opportunities. In online education, new Chinese startups like GenShuiXue.com, which literally means a question "Study With Whom?", has been offering numerous online courses since only last year. Another company called 17zuoye.com (numbers 1 and 7 sound like the word "together" and "zuo ye" means "homework") claims to serve more than 7 million students. It has recently raised $100M in series D round reaching reported total valuation of $600M. In exams-obsessed society like Chinese, no wonder that test prep startups have been growing fast as well. Children early education is another area where the impact of new and particularly mobile-based technology has been even more visible. When it comes to paying for quality apps that promise quick results, Chinese parents are much less price sensitive and wouldn’t be willing to spend more on such tools. Via: www.edufraction.comThe post China’s Online Education and eLearning Market Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

How to Increase Productivity at Work Infographic Everyone wants to be more productive. The How to Increase Productivity at Work Infographic explains science-based ways to be more productive. All of them are simple to do and free. 1. Don’t work overtime. In most companies, productivity and loyalty are measured by how many hours an employee spends at their desk. Judging loyalty and productivity by hours worked is the wrong attitude to have, as research clearly shows that it lowers performance and causes mental and physical health issues. Working longer hours increases your risk of depression. 2. Stop multitasking. Even though the economy is improving slightly, workers are expected to do more with less, leading to multitasking. As tempting as this might be for a manager in the short-term, it is not good for the long run. The research showed that productivity can be reduced by as much as 40 percent by the mental blocks created when people switch tasks. 3. Try to get natural light. Many people might not have the luxury of being able to sit near a window, but for them I’d say try and go outside as much as you can. Research shows that getting that natural light from a window will lead to a better night’s sleep. When you get a better night’s sleep, you’ll come in well rested the next day and be much more productive. 4. Learn to say no. In order to have the best return for your investment of time on tasks, you need to prioritize and stay laser-focused. There’s no way that you could accomplish everything on your to-do list, and every little interruption costs you time. Learn how to say no to things that won’t have a significant return for you, and focus your efforts where it will make a difference. 5. Don’t be a perfectionist. Over the years, there have been several studies that have found links between perfectionism and mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, drug addiction, and increased suicide risk. Studies have also found links between perfectionism and physical problems like asthma, migraines, and irritable bowel syndrome. This is most likely due to the amount of stress perfectionists place on themselves. If you’re a perfectionist, you need to learn to relax and let things go. It’s very likely that you will burnout because perfectionists are never satisfied, so they’re always overworking. Seriously, just relax. 6. Take time to think. In a four-year study, researchers tracked the work habits of employees at the Boston Consulting Group. In the experiment, consultants scheduled one weekly night of uninterrupted personal time, even though they were used to working from home in the evenings. Everyone on the team resisted at first, thinking they would only be postponing work. Over time, the consultants learned to love their scheduled time off because it consistently refreshed them, and made them more willing to work, which made them more productive overall. After five months, the employees in the experiment were more satisfied with their jobs, more likely to envision a long-term future at the company, more content with their work-life balance and prouder of their accomplishments. 7. Go for a walk. The effects of sitting all day at work take a serious toll on your health. Sitting has been called the new smoking, and it’s encouraged to get up and walk at a minimum every 30 minutes. Walking meetings are a great idea, because they make you more creative and take you out of your usual context, which helps you come up with new ideas. 8. Take a nap. Naps have been proven to recharge your brain, which is perfect for that afternoon energy crash we all experience. Many progressive companies have nap pods in their offices because they understand the value of their employees being well-rested to be at maximum productivity. 9. Work In Sprints Many of us will ignore what our bodies are trying to tell us and try and eat or grab another coffee to power through the day. This is the wrong way to go about working. We need to take time to rest and recuperate, to come back feeling fresh and ready to go. Via: www.officevibe.comThe post How to Increase Productivity at Work Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

Unshrouding the Mystery of Blended Learning The Mystery of Blended Learning Infographic summarizes what blended learning is. For many, blended learning is still a muddled concept. One may be basking away in the glory of facilitating learning via all sorts of devices - PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones, thinking that blended learning is ‘mission accomplished’. Sorry to burst the bubble, but that is NOT blended learning. The realm of blended learning extends far beyond just technology based learning. There’s a difference between blending technology and layering it - when you make content available across different devices using the Internet, it is technology layering. Blended learning on the other hand is creating a mix of both offline and online learning experiences in a way that they complement each other. Instructional strategies such as lecturing, guided learning, exploratory discussions, debates and role-playing must be amalgamated with online learning tools such as podcasts, e-books, webcasts and digital video libraries, massive multiplayer online games, wikis, etc. to create a unique learning path of each learner. Every learner’s experience is different and personalized according to his/her learning preferences. The single most important challenge to blended learning currently is that the concept is not understood properly, making availability of human resources who can successfully implement it, difficult. Directly measuring the impact of blended learning is also a slightly difficult task because of its fluid and abstract nature as well as the presence of so many learning elements. However, organizations and educational institutes have established that using a wide range of learning methods (both online and offline) is far more effective in delivering personalized and more relevant learning experiences. Via: blog.originlearning.comThe post The Mystery of Blended Learning Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

Top 5 Tools for Webinars Infographic In the growing field of eLearning, soon expected to cross the $107 billion mark in terms of global worth, web seminars or webinars hold the dominant spot. They are easy to use and their ability to actively address and interact with a large pool of geographically scattered individuals remains a favorite in terms of information dissemination and knowledge sharing. Webinars are both one of the most affordable and most accessible tools for online learning. When choosing a business solution like webinar hosting platform or other collaborative tools, you need to keep your company’s size, budget and general objectives in mind. The Web offers scores of different webinar solutions, meaning people can easily get lost while looking for the perfect pick - this costs time and money. In order to choose a solution that one will be satisfied with, it’s paramount to understand the needs which are planned to be satisfied. Webinar clients come with a host of options and an even bigger array of price tags, which makes it hard to strike the perfect balance. There are some things, however, that are always good to have when it comes to functionality and design, and those are a dependable audio-video flow with clear, uncluttered outlay, basic interactive tools such as polls, surveys or graphics, as well as high compatibility with various platforms. Given that many organisations and businesses are struggling to find just the right solution to match their business needs, the Top 5 Tools for Webinars Infographic provides a list of first-rate solutions - along with their advantages and disadvantages. Top 5 Web Seminar Tools GoToWebinar Join.me Cisco WebEX Adobe Connect Webinars on air   Via: www.collectmythoughts.comThe post Top 5 Tools for Webinars Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

How College Graduates Can Save Money On Health Insurance Infographic When you graduate college so many things are changing. One of the things that is often overlooked is your health insurance. What are you options? What is the best way to save money? Should you stay on your parents plan? What if your parents kick you off their plan? With all of the options out there it is important to know what is going on and what should you do to find a plan that not only fits your needs, but is affordable. Check out the How College Graduates Can Save Money On Health Insurance Infographic to learn what a recent college grad should be doing to find a plan that works for them at a price that will not break your budget. Via: www.gohealthinsurance.comThe post How College Graduates Can Save Money On Health Insurance Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

5 Reasons to Use a Gamified LMS for Training Gamification has proven to be a successful motivation strategy. The 5 Reasons to Use a Gamified LMS for Training Infographic shows how learners can benefit from a Gamified Learning Management System. 1. Boosts engagement. Employees enjoy gamified elements such as earning points, leaderboards, and badges because they make learning more enjoyable and drive participation. 2. Motivation and goal tracking. People are motivated by a need to accomplish, to work towards goals. Using a gamified LMS helps them have specific targets which seem achievable and exciting to attain. 3. Improves knowledge retention. With gamification training is more engaging and the level of information retention is increased. Employees are much more likely to remember what they are taught because they are more involved in the process. 4. Promotes team building. Use a gamified LMS to enhance collaboration, communication, and knowledge-sharing between employees by providing them with an outlet to connect socially and contribute content. 5. Valuable feedback. A gamified LMS allows you to easily track the performance of your employees and get real-time feedback about how they’re learning and developing skills as they progress in their training. Read also: Gamified Learning Management System: An Upcoming Motivation Strategy Via: www.matrixlms.comThe post 5 Reasons to Use a Gamified LMS for Training Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

How Student Debt is Dramatically Affecting Millennials’ Lives Infographic Here are some things we know about Millennials: they have record amounts of student debt. They are renting or sharing, rather than buying. And they are pushing major life milestones, such as marriage, back further than ever. While each of these statistics has myriad causes and effects, a new survey from the online education website Study.com finds that high levels of student debt has had a widespread and persistent impact on how many Millennials live their lives. In particular, Study.com recently polled recent college graduates on how much student debt they took on and what that meant for these students later in life. The How Student Debt is Dramatically Affecting Millennials’ Lives Infographic presents the findings: 51% of survey respondents left college with more than $10,000 in debt. In comparison, a similar survey of Baby Boomers that we conducted found only 26% of Boomers graduated with a similar amount. A few recent graduates left school with more than $100,000 in debt, whereas when the Boomers graduated, this amount of debt was unheard of. This debt is affecting young graduates’ lives: 42% report that debt affected their choice to pursue major purchases like a car or house, 28% reported debt affected major life decisions like marriage or children. 39% of survey respondents said they graduated with a lot of debt, which they felt would be hard to pay off. 79% of respondents said student loans were a major problem for young people in general; only 4% of respondents disagreed. Only 20% of respondents said they understood college tuition and debt well when they first started school. Via: study.comThe post How Student Debt is Dramatically Affecting Millennials’ Lives Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

How Technology is Reshaping Modern Education Over the last few years, modern education has gone through some major changes. Teachers have long adopted interactive technologies and students increasingly use smart devices to access learning resources. Such trends are mainly triggered by the development of web technologies and the growing use of mobile devices in particular. The ability to access the Internet almost anytime and anywhere is, of course, the primary driver of innovation in the education sector. As opposed to older generations, modern teenagers grew up using technology and can hardly imagine their lives without smartphones and tablets, which are becoming irreplaceable learning resources. Often referred to as Digital Natives, these generations keep exploring the potential of new technologies and readily use them for educational purposes. The accelerated technology development, therefore, enabled us to access previously unimaginable spaces, thus changing our perspective on most aspects of our daily lives. In the world where information is constantly available, the ways we learn and teach are bound to change. Unsurprisingly, most schools and universities worldwide are introducing policies regarding technology implementation, while students continue to explore it on their own. Consequently, we are witnessing new paradigms in the modern education system, with more and more resources being made available to students’ in classrooms. However, there are also numerous self-study applications, tools and online learning resources that enable people of different ages to study whenever and whatever they want. The Reshaping Modern Education with Technology Infographic outlines some of the key figures related to the use of technology in modern education, particularly focusing on language learning. As a highly interactive field, language learning largely benefited from the development of tools that enable real-time communication. Currently, language learning is one of the most popular fields of educational innovation, especially in terms of self-study apps. With thousands of downloads and almost as many active users, language learning apps are changing the ways we approach languages. Via: saundz.comThe post Reshaping Modern Education with Technology Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

The Big Benefits of eLearning Infographic Did you know 40% of people have access to the internet around the globe today? In 1995, it was less than 1%. The figure increased tenfold from 1999 to 2013 and will only increase in the future.  46% of college student are taking at least one course online. However by 2019, roughly half of all college courses will be eLearning based. In 2011, it was estimated that about $35.6 billion was spent on eLearning across the globe. In 2015, online corporate training alone is estimated to be a $107 billion market. The Big Benefits of eLearning Infographic reviews the top 5 eLearning benefits. Top 5 eLearning Benefits Time Savings. eLearning saves time as it can be accessed anywhere, at any time, resulting in cost savings. Additional time usually spent on Face to Face Training can be re-directed immediately into business tasks and operations. Reduced footprint. The environment benefits too. eLearning reduces our carbon footprint by replacing physical, printed training materials and reducing training travel requirements. Increased reach. eLearning allows a large, geographically dispersed audience to be reached 24/7, while providing exciting opportunities to personalise the experience. Cost savings. Moving content online results in business cost savings. eLearning eliminates expenses associated with face to face training such as travel, trainers, venue hire and printed materials. Improved pedagogy. eLearning strategies such as gamification, improve leaner engagement and increase leaner retention. The variety of eLearning tools available today makes it easy to cater for different learning styles.   Via: www.pulselearning.comThe post The Big Benefits of eLearning Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

2015 Back-to School and College Retail Trends Infographic Behind Holiday, Back-to-School is retail’s second biggest season and often a barometer of how well retailers will perform the last half of the year. NRF’s annual survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, is among the most anticipated consumer research releases each year. The National Retail Federation asked online shoppers if they plan to use retailers’ omnichannel delivery options, including free shipping, same-day delivery, ship-to-store and reserve online. The topics they ask about each year — from school uniforms to living in a dorm — also yielded interesting insights. The 2015 Back-to School and College Retail Trends Infographic the top 10 trends as students get ready for school. Not surprisingly, back-to-school shopping continues the shift to mobile with a whopping 40% of searches done via mobile device - that’s a 25% increase from 2013. Those searches are a combination of searching for products as well as finding retailers nearby that sell the products. Back-to-School and Back-to-College represents a $68 billion opportunity for American retailers, and new shopping trends are emerging as the long-promised omnichannel has finally become reality. Retailers like Target and Meijer are making back-to-school shopping even easier. Technologies like Point Inside are helping retailers integrate store-specific shopping lists and interactive maps into their branded mobile applications. The maps show store layouts and guide shoppers along the most efficient path to pick up all the items on their list. If you’re a retailer, this is an interesting combination of technologies to enhance the user experience and increase conversions: Ensure that you’re leveraging local search engine optimization in coordination with your inventory so that you’re easy to find online and your customers can find the products they need. Make it easier for consumers to find and buy the items they need when they get to the store. Oh, and keep in mind that while many shoppers are waiting to the last minute, savvy shoppers are heading to the stores and online earlier than ever. 75% of all back-to-school shopping happened in the first two weeks of August! Via: nrf.comThe post 2015 Back-to School and College Retail Trends Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

5 Easy Ways to Develop an Engaging eLearning Course Engaged learners are what we are actually looking for in eLearning. The 5 Easy Ways to Create an Engaging eLearning Course Infographic provides 5 tips to create engaging eLearning courses that will allow you to increase your audience’s engagement levels. 1. Make the content relevant to students. The purpose of a course should be to provide students with relevant content that is packed with useful information, it’s easy to understand, and helps students reach their learning goals. 2. Make the content visually appealing. An eLearning course should include a variety of elements that make it more appealing and keeps the students engaged. Make sure that the content is clean, easy to follow, and includes resources such as pictures, videos, and other multimedia files. 3. Use gamification. Students enjoy gamified elements such as leaderboards, earning points, and badges because they make the learning experience more enjoyable and drive participation. 4. Allow students to collaborate. It’s important for students to talk with each other about the class, exchange resouces, and collaborate on projects. That’s why class tools such as groups, chat rooms, forums, blogs, and wikis are a great way for them to connect. 5. Use storytelling to captivate students. Stories make courses more interesting, intriguing, and motivate students to learn more. For students it’s easier to remember the concepts if they are taught through inspirational stories that excite them. Via: www.neolms.comThe post 5 Easy Ways to Create an Engaging eLearning Course Infographic appeared first on e-Learning Infographics.

Elearning translation is complex, time-consuming and costly. Here are eight articles - from eight elearning experts - to help give you some new ideas to make your elearning translations more efficient - and more cost-effective. 1. Christopher Pappas: How to effectively translate your elearning course (8 tips) Translating your eLearning deliverable can be time consuming and quite costly, but in this article Christopher will show you how to effectively translate your elearning course without the stress that is usually involved. Here are some invaluable tips and tricks for elearning translation 2. David Kasteler: 10 easy steps for successful elearning course translation Elearning course translation can have challenges but with proper organization companies can easily overcome those challenges. In this article David outlines some easy steps to follow to help the translation process. 10 easy steps for successful elearning course translation 3. Annette Heidrich: 10 essential tips of elearning translation and localization With many moving parts, elearning and training translation can be quite complex. In this article Annette explains how proper preparation can eliminate unnecessary costs and foster an efficient process to keep the project on schedule. Here are Annette’s 10 tips to help avoid common localization issues 4. Christopher Pappas: 5 elearning translation mistakes you should avoid Elearning translation can prove to be challenging, even if you have a vast amount of eLearning experience under your proverbial belt. Christopher shares some of the most common mistakes and some tips to help you avoid making them. 5 elearning translation mistakes to avoid 5. Training Zone: Elearning translation & localization There are two options to be considered for eLearning localization. You could either re-record the whole course in the language you require, or you could just try out subtitling. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each option 6. Acclaro: Top 10 tips for training and elearning translation Acclaro shares 10 tips to help you avoid some common translation pitfalls when gearing up to take your computer-based training modules, classroom instruction materials or eLearning applications multilingual. Click here to read the 10 tips 7. Ingenuity: Elearning localization is more than just translation When translating elearning it’s important that the end user understands each aspect of the course, without making the course dry or stale. Effective eLearning localization is more than just translating words - it’s about choosing the right regional context. Learn why elearning localization is more than just translation 8. Dan Scholes: 7 tips when creating elearning for translation and localization Strong, multi-lingual elearning requires a comprehensive strategy for localisation to be incorporated into the project. To help, Dan Scholes from Sponge UK has put together a few tips for a successful and pain-free process. Read Dan’s elearning translation and localization tips The post Elearning translation ideas to help you create more effective elearning faster appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

If you’re not careful, eLearning maintenance can quickly spiral out of control. Let’s look at three real-world examples where cloud publishing can save you hours of time by making elearning maintenance easier and more efficient. Why eLearning maintenance can be time consuming and frustrating When you begin a new eLearning project, always make sure you think about how you intend to maintain it into the future. There are three common challenges that can come to frustrate you down the track: Controlling changes and future versions Make sure you agree on a scope of changes before starting a new product. For example, will changes be made on an annual or bi-annual basis? Will text, media, resources and links need updating and if so, to what extent? How will you manage the project files on an ongoing basis? And do you have the resources and budget for future changes? Republishing and testing Don’t forget that any changes and additions will require a thorough testing of the whole module. That means if you’re publishing a SCORM package, you’ll need to run it through testing to make sure everything conforms and works. Deploying to LMS If you manage your client’s LMS or LRS, you’ll need to factor in deploying the module(s) and then testing again in the environment. The added costs and resources required to maintain eLearning cannot be ignored. To streamline your maintenance, you should consider using a tool with inbuilt cloud publishing. How to maintain eLearning more effeciently Let’s look at three ways modern authoring tools with inbuilt cloud publishing - like Elucidat - can help you maintain eLearning more efficiently. Changes can be logged and managed within the tool. This reduces the need to maintain separate documentation. Project files are all together in the cloud. This removes the burden of maintaining files on your network and allows access to anyone with a login to work on the project. Changes can be pushed to the LMS without the need to republish project files and redeploy them. Let’s look at some real-world examples of how Elucidat’s cloud publishing feature can help you efficiently maintain eLearning courses without draining your budget. 1. Product training: Product name has changed Imagine your marketing team changes the name of a product and you need to make the change to your eLearning in several instances that have been translated into different languages. This would generally mean you either go through and change each instance by hand or you write and run a script to make the changes across all the courses. In both cases, you’ll need to republish the courses, retest and redeploy. With Elucidat, instead of redoing it all and then re-uploading, you can quickly make the change to the product name at the Course Master level and the changes will be automatically pushed to all the courses that belong with that Master. What’s more, these changes can be pushed directly to courses on an LMS. This saves you heaps of time because you don’t need to republish or redeploy the courses. 2. Induction training: Fire safety procedures have changed Your fire safety procedures change. Only one resource in your eLearning needs updating, but you have to re-do it all! With Elucidat, you don’t have to redo it all. Since all the project files are kept together in the cloud, you just need to replace the single resource with the change. Provided the file name remains the same, that’s all you have to do! No need to republish and retest the whole module: the change is automatically pushed out to your LMS. 3. Compliance training: Company policies need to be updated Imagine your information-security and fraud-awareness courses for the whole business need to be updated on an annual basis and whenever there is a change in the law or policy. If you don’t proactively make these changes, you’ll be legally liable and your business will be at risk. Typically, you’ll need to change the course material and the accompanying assessment. Once this is done, all your staff will need to confirm they have understood the amendments and for auditing purposes, you’ll need to report this in your LMS. With Elucidat, all of this can be managed simply and quickly in the ways described in scenarios one and two above. What’s more, using Elucidat’s system of badges, you can attach an achievement badge to the course updates. This is useful so you can track which of your staff members have taken the new course and passed the assessment. When a learner visits a screen or answers a question (or set of questions) correctly, an achievement badge is awarded and the test results tracked in your LMS. Summary: Cloud publishing can save you time Tools with cloud publishing can save you time and money because they intuitively help you run and maintain eLearning courses more efficiently. All your files are kept in one place. Your projects are always up to date and available to everyone with a login. Changes can be made once at the Course Master level and then pushed out to all courses that are built from the Master (including courses with translations). Changes are automatically pushed out to SCORM courses in your LMS. This saves you the time and cost of having to separately republish, test and redeploy. Learn more: Take a tour of Elucidat to see how it can save you time on eLearning maintenance The post 3 Real-World Examples Where Cloud Publishing Can Save You Time on eLearning Maintenance appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

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 Tesco, Cambridge University and TechFuture Girls. Showcase your elearning: Have you created a great piece of elearning that you’re really proud of? Showcase your elearning here to win awards and get published on Elearning Superstars. 1. Tesco: Learning Leap (Won bronze at Elearning Awards 2014) 2. Cambridge University: A suite of animations for GCSE and A-level computing and maths 3. TechFuture Girls: Activities, games, and projects designed to build girls’ skills and confidence The post Elearning Inspiration: Tesco, Cambridge University, and TechFuture Girls appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

Are you using storyboards to guide your elearning development? Read on to hear how five elearning experts use storyboards to create more effective elearning, fast. 1. Connie Malamed: Storyboards for elearning Many people who are new to eLearning want to know how to create a storyboard. Should they use a professional tool? Should they create a template from scratch? What should they put into the template? In response to these types of questions, Connie interviewed herself about this topic. Here are Connie’s storyboarding tips 2. Christopher Pappas: 12 Tips To Create Effective eLearning Storyboards A storyboard is a map that guides elearning professionals through every twist and turn of their eLearning course design. eLearning storyboards make the elearning design and development process much more efficient. Christopher shares 12 tips to help you create elearning storyboards that effectively communicate your elearning vision 3. Michael Treser: How to use storyboards to build better courses in a more efficient manner Let’s take a closer look at what storyboards are, and how you can use them to start building better courses in a more efficient manner. How to use storyboards to author better elearning 4. David Demyan: The Rapid Storyboard Development Process In this article David shows you how use Snagit to capture - and move - screen captures and pictures quickly and reliably into the storyboard document, eliminating the manual repetition of copy, paste, resize, and repeat. And if you need to link your visuals instead of embedding them, there’s an easy way to do that, too. Learn how to rapidly develop a storyboard with Snagit 5. Justin Ferriman: 8 Easy Steps for ELearning Storyboards Before you jump into creating any elearning program, it is important to first create a storyboard for the course. If you are new to storyboards, then Justin has an eight-step process to help you get started. 8 easy steps for elearning storyboards The post 5 elearning experts share their storyboarding ideas to help you create more effective elearning appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

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 Brickwall, TeacherGaming LLC and The Resuscitation Council UK. Showcase your elearning: Have you created a great piece of elearning that you’re really proud of? Showcase your elearning here to win awards and get published on Elearning Superstars. 1. Brickwall: Retail Experience Programme 2. TeacherGaming LLC: KerbalEdu helps students explore space 3. The Resuscitation Council UK: LIFESAVER "Crisis Simulator" The post Elearning inspiration: Brickwall, TeacherGaming LLC, LIFESAVER Crisis Simulator appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

We curated instructional design tips from five elearning professionals. Use these ideas to create more effective elearning, faster. Anand Timothy: 7 instructional design tips for effective elearning In this article, Anand shares 7 instructional design tips for creating effective eLearning courses. Use this advice to impress your target audience almost instantly, regardless of your elearning design experience. Read Anand’s instructional design tips Christopher Pappas: The power of the agile instructional design approach Agile instructional design may have its roots outside of the world of eLearning, but it is now being widely used by instructional designers in all niches. In this article, Christopher shares the basics of the agile instructional design approach and shows you why it can be so powerful. Read Christopher’s agile instructional design ideas Jolie Miller: How we do instructional design at Lynda.com Whether you’re teaching a friend how to knit, creating online instruction, or just want to be able to better communicate—these strategies don’t disappoint. Read Jolie’s 10 favorite instructional design tips Will Holland: Top 6 mistakes you should avoid in elearning instructional design Have you ever watched a video or used a self-paced training module that was supposed to teach you something — and it was a total fail? Undoubtedly, you have. If you are now involved in the creation of elearning courses—you need to know what mistakes often lead to the audience feeling frustrated, bored or not taking training seriously. Learn the six common instructional design mistakes to avoid Clare Dygert: What makes for great instructional design? Find out what a veteran instructional designer considers to be the three essential elements of great instructional design. Read Clare’s instructional design tips and ideas The post 5 elearning professionals share their instructional design ideas and tips appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

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 Science Museum, Linda Dong, and Training Bricks. Showcase your elearning: Have you created a great piece of elearning that you’re really proud of? Showcase your elearning here to win awards and get published on Elearning Superstars. 1. The Science Museum: Climate Science 2. Introduction to Financial Statements 3. Linda Dong: The Dangers of Fracking The post Elearning inspiration: The Science Museum, Linda Dong, and Training Bricks appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

Are you an eLearning manager working with a talented but large or distributed team? Looking for ways to increase the efficiency of your team? Read on to learn why online collaboration might be the answer. Today I’m going to share some solutions to help you solve the common challenges that are affecting your Learning and Development (L&D) team’s efficiency. I’ll address the 3 phases in eLearning development process: design, development, and review. The 3 Phases In eLearning Development Process: Design, Development, and Review. 1. The Design Phase In the old days, key stakeholders would pass eLearning projects on to the design and development teams who would produce the shiny eLearning courses. Problems came up when the key stakeholders saw the finished product some time later and it either didn’t meet the original requirements or the requirements had changed in the time it had taken to get the project out. Oops! All that time was wasted and now you’re stuck with painful change requests. Prototyping. With rapid eLearning tools, you can now build functioning prototypes early in the process, without spending much money. You can get these early designs in front of stakeholders before you start development, and then iterate until you get the solution right. Online collaboration plays an important role during the iterations. Authoring tools -like Elucidat- include a comments feature that lets you provide feedback by adding sticky notes on the screen exactly over elements. This is useful if you want specific feedback on specific elements. For example, is the logo correctly displayed? Or are the colors acceptable? You can share your feedback and comments with people in your organization so they can sign off on the design before you start any costly development. 2. The Development Phase  With most eLearning courses, you’ll be using a multi-talented team of authors, graphic designers, and developers. In order to compress time lines and reduce costs, you don’t want your team sitting idle while waiting for files that someone else is working on. Authoring tools with inbuilt collaboration enable your team to work on projects simultaneously. Instead of packaging up and sending big eLearning files over email or via the network, team members can access and make changes directly inside the tool via an internet connection. Inbuilt collaboration encourages agile development by allowing you to bring your entire team into the development phase. In the past, you may have used waterfall methodologies such as ADDIE. In this scenario, you have a lot of contact with stakeholders in the design stage, but lose contact during the period of the production. The problem with this approach is you miss out on all the opportunities to collaborate and risk the final product not meeting your stakeholders’ expectations. An agile development approach keeps you in contact all the time, enabling you to iterate and demonstrate the results every week. You get to show progress, ask for feedback and decide together what the next priorities need to be. 3. The Review Phase.   If you’ve been around the eLearning block a few times, you’ll be familiar with the review bottleneck. One of the biggest challenges in managing your project is that subject matter experts and reviewers are busy people with full-time jobs. Traditionally, you might create an alpha version to package up for review. Stakeholders then review the eLearning in a Word document with screenshots and feedback referenced as Page 4 or that picture in a separate document. This is a nightmare to manage and organize. Inbuilt collaboration features can remove a lot of these issues. Instead of being tied to your desktop computer, online collaboration enables anyone with access and an internet connection to view and leave comments. Now, instead of waiting around for feedback or suggesting changes in a separate Word document, you can ask for and get feedback directly inside your eLearning course. Tools such as Elucidat allow you to make comments on the screen and track the responses. This eliminates the need to send files back and forth or track review cycles in other software applications. Summary: Give Online Collaboration A Try Online collaboration can increase the efficiency of your large or distributed Learning and Development team because it makes it easier to work with team members in all the key stages of the development process. Personally, I think the biggest efficiency gain comes in the form of the online review. I love how Elucidat empowers me to collaborate with reviewers directly inside a fully-functioning module (all directly through the system). This facilitates a collaborative process that enhances quality and streamlines efficiency. A version of this article first appeared on ElearningIndustry.com The post Why Online Collaboration Is The Solution To Your Learning And Development Team’s Efficiency Problem appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

If you’re a Learning and Development manager, how can you get your team working together effectively so that all your eLearning projects result in ta-da! moments of triumph? Effective teams know how to collaborate. In this article, we’ll look at a simple exercise called Marshmallow Challenge that can help your team work together and embrace collaboration. The Marshmallow Challenge  Last week, a few colleagues and I got together in a room and were tasked with The Marshmallow Challenge. I thought I’d gone to a session on agile development! The challenge, if you don’t know it, is a fun and instructive design exercise that encourages teams to experience simple but profound lessons in collaboration, innovation and creativity. The challenge seems simple enough: small teams have to build a structure in 18 minutes using 20 sticks of spaghetti, 1 yard of tape, 1 yard of string and 1 marshmallow. The winning team is the one that can construct the tallest freestanding structure with the marshmallow on top within the time allowed. The point of the exercise is to collaborate very quickly in order to respond to the task. It reveals some surprising lessons about the nature of collaboration. We spent a little time getting our heads around the task, jockeying for power, then laying out the materials and talking through the approach (the planning stage). Then we spent most of the remaining time taping spaghetti together and wrapping string around arbitrary bits of the structure (the build stage). Then, with seconds to spare, someone grabbed the marshmallow and popped it on top of our structure. Needless to say, it fell over! The challenge has been done hundreds of times and the results are intriguing. Who performs poorly? Recent business school graduates. Why? They cheat and get distracted. They try to find the single correct plan and then attempt to execute that. They run out of time and when they put the marshmallow on top, it’s a crisis. Sound familiar? Who performs well? Kindergarten kids. Why? First of all, none of the kids spend time trying to become CEO of Spaghetti Inc.! More importantly, they start with the marshmallow and then build successive prototypes, all the time keeping the marshmallow on top until they find a solution that works. Kindergarten kids prototype and refine. They adopt an iterative, collaborative process and get instant feedback on what does and doesn’t work. The lesson learned from all this fun? The capacity to experiment and prototype is essential to success. What Can We Learn From This? We all want to avoid the uh-oh moment when the marshmallow causes the structure to collapse. The Marshmallow Challenge teaches us that prototyping and iterating can help achieve success. It also shows that success is dependent upon close collaboration between team members. Here are some simple tips to help keep your marshmallow on top of your eLearning projects: 1. Prototype Use tools that let you build a quick and dirty prototype while involving every member of your team. Cloud-based tools like Elucidat empower your team to work together simultaneously. You can quickly try out ideas, make modifications, and refine your end product. It’s easy to get started with Elucidat. It comes with pre-built screens that your team can experiment with so you don’t have any costly coding up front. 2. Iterate Build courses from a single Course Master (template) so that your team doesn’t waste time on recreating screens again and again. This saves a bunch of time because if something isn’t quite right, you can trash it and quickly start again. 3. Collaborate Online tools make it easy for your team to work together at the same time on the same course. There’s no need to package up the files and send them around to the team via email or via the network. Instead, files are kept in one place and are constantly and automatically updated with everyone’s work. This really saves time and headaches with version control when you have several team members all working on a course at the same time. Related: Why Online Collaboration Is The Solution To Your Learning And Development Team’s Efficiency Problem 4. Feedback Encourage your team and your Subject Matter Experts to work on the project at the same time. Make use of comment and review systems so you can get feedback from the Subject Matter Expert. By encouraging this direct feedback, you can handle changes within the project itself, so you don’t need external bug-tracking or reporting software to manage the process. 5. Improve Since your whole team can see changes and updates, they can use this knowledge to make improvements as they go. Instead of making the same mistake throughout the project, you can run quality control in real time, as the project is being built. This will help you catch any issues early so you can make changes and modifications straight away (rather than dealing with lots at the end of the project). 6. Keep files together Keep all of your files together so your whole team can reuse them when needed. Most authoring tools will let you manage images and media files together in one place so you don’t waste time searching for or emailing around files that they need. Final Thoughts As we saw with The Marshmallow Challenge, team collaboration is much like a contact sport - you have to get your sleeves rolled up and get stuck in. Collaboration helps get everyone involved in the process right from the start so you can reach that ta-da! moment at the end of the challenge. We need to learn from our kindergarten colleagues. By getting started and focusing on iterating the process, we can implement what works and quickly throw out what doesn’t work. This approach ensures that when we reach the end of the project, the marshmallow is sitting firmly on top. The post The Marshmallow Challenge: What We Can Learn From Kindergarten Students About Team Collaboration appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

Can too many cooks spoil the broth, or can they make the broth taste better? In this article I explore 7 tips you can enhance eLearning quality by involving more of your Learning and Development team. eLearning development is usually a team process. But with so many skills and personalities, how can you get utilize everyone in the most effective way? Let’s look at some practical tips to help you to get the best from your Learning and Development team. 1. Set up your team for success Make sure that responsibilities and expectations are communicated to all members of the team. Give your team the responsibility for quality control by providing standardized instructions, style guides, reference materials, and project files. 2. Create a culture that embraces agile methodologies The need to involve multiple team members with different talents can pose a number of challenges. Consider adopting an agile approach in which the team is one and everybody in the team is responsible for the result and quality. This is a big game changer. There will be no more "Sorry it’s late, the testing didn’t finish on time". The team is responsible for the tasks and project deadlines. In an ideal situation, all members have all the necessary skills. Unfortunately, this is never the case in the real world. But, it is surprising how much responsibility people can share if the expectation is set from the start. Encourage your team to look beyond their core skill sets. For example, ask your graphics person to quality check the overall design and layout. Ask your developer and testers to use correct language in your content. And ask your Instructional Designer to help with sourcing imagery. By involving more people on a project, you can speed up the time it takes to review and make changes. Further, if you use smaller review cycles, you can iterate faster which will help you improve overall quality. 3. Enable online collaboration Online collaboration makes it easier to involve all team members in discussion, which reduces the chance of miscommunications which can impact the quality and accuracy of the end product. Here are 3 ways you use online collaboration to foster a good team-working environment: Host team hangouts: Try hosting knowledge-sharing hangouts twice a month where your team comes together to present a project. Discuss the challenges you encounter and how you overcame them. This teaches your team new practices that can increase overall efficiency. Share lessons learned: Share expertise, tools and resources, solutions and techniques, and good practice. Embrace online collaboration tools: Some authoring tools -like Elucidat- have inbuilt online review/comment systems which makes collaboration fast and efficient. If your tool doesn’t have this feature, take a look at Trello. Related: Why Online Collaboration Is The Solution To Your Learning And Development Team’s Efficiency Problem 4. Use tools that encourage your team to work together, simultaneously Modern, cloud-based tools make it possible for all of your team to be work on one project simultaneously. This can significantly reduce the time and effort spent on packaging and moving files to-and-from team members. At Elucidat, we’ve added "roles" so you can quickly grant different rights to different people. For example, you can have assign team members to test and review chapter one, while you assign others to design and develop chapter two. By assigning roles you can eliminate the risk of the reviewer accidentally making changes or deleting anything in chapter two. You can also assign your Subject Matter Expert (SME) as a content editor. This role gives him or her the right to change and add text or images to pages, but not to create or delete pages. For Subject Matter Experts who have content knowledge, but no eLearning authoring skills, this can be very useful. 5. Use inbuilt online review The best way to improve team efficiency is to use a tool with inbuilt online review. Consider selecting an authoring tool -like Elucidat- that provides reviewing and commenting functionality right inside the project itself. This will save you the need to use additional software to track and manage your review process. 6. Empower Subject Matter Experts to design and develop If the project is small, simple, or highly technical, empowering your Subject Matter Experts create the course themselves can save time and money. You can complete a lot more projects this way, and reduce costs associated with hiring additional staff. Tools that let you easily create courses from a master theme (template) will help ensure your Subject Matter Experts produce eLearning that is consistent with your other courses and meets your instructional design standards. 7. Use freelancers to scale up (or down) production It’s expensive to keep staff around when you may not always have work for them. Instead, why not consider is taking on freelancers as extra-hands for your team when you need to increase production? You can test the waters by engaging new freelancers on straightforward, low-risk projects to see how you work together. When you feel comfortable with working relationship, you can integrate them into your Learning and Development team and involve them in more projects. Start Involving Your Entire Team New technology has now made it more important than ever to involve all of your Learning and Development team in the eLearning development process. Gone are the days of relying on specialists to create modules or design pages, tools like Elucidat remove the technical headaches so everyone on your team has the design and development skills to create best practice eLearning. The post 7 Tips To Involve Your Learning And Development Team And Enhance eLearning Quality appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

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, Drug Treatment, and Training Bricks. Showcase your elearning: Have you created a great piece of elearning that you’re really proud of? Showcase your elearning here to win awards and get published on Elearning Superstars. 1. The Guardian: The anatomy of a wind turbine 2. DrugTreatment.com: Essential information about drug rehabilitation 3. Training Bricks: On the farm The post Elearning inspiration: The Guardian, Drug Treatment, On The Farm appeared first on Elucidat Blog.

Do you have an strategy for compliance training? We’ve curated six of the best articles on compliance training to help you create more effective elearning. Christopher Pappas: 7 tips for effective online compliance training Successful online compliance training programs are rare and few between. An effective program must make sure employees understand the rules, no matter how complex they are, and protect your company’s most valuable asset: its reputation. In this article, Christopher shares seven tips to create the most effective online compliance training courses. Here are Christopher’s seven tips for compliance training courses David Becker: What’s your elearning strategy for compliance training? Compliance not only helps to manage risks and control costs, it also contributes to brand value and revenue. In this article, David shares how designing a compliance training strategy based on a risk assessment model and treatment hierarchy can drive a more rational, measurable and aligned approach to compliance training. Read David’s approach to compliance training Asha Pandey: How to create a sticky learning experience in compliance training In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point, he says a message is "sticky" when it makes an impact, sticks with you beyond the learning experience, and when it influences your behavior. In this article, Asha elaborates further on this sticky concept, explaining how innovative approaches must be adopted when creating online compliance courses. Read Asha’s approaches to creating a "sticky" compliance training experience Heather Pope: Using storytelling for compliance: Why Storytelling is at the heart of great compliance training Storytelling is useful when you need to make data and complex information meaningful and relevant to your audience. In this article, Heather Pope explains how using storytelling helps compliance learners not only absorb information, but also change behavior. Learn Heather’s four tips on how best to use storytelling John J. Park: How mobile learning tackles compliance training   Find out how the Qualcomm’s Mobile Learning team created a solution that sets a model for mobile compliance apps. Read John’s article on mobile compliance training Melissa Dougherty: 2 Top tips to make compliance training fun through gamification Do your employees find compliance training boring? Have you tried gamifying your online compliance training courses? This is a must read for any business as Melissa shares her two key tips to making compliance training fun! Discover how to make compliance training more enjoyable The post Compliance training ideas from six elearning experts appeared first on Elucidat Blog.