GenerateData.com

Posted on by Judy Unrein

For me, one of the most time-consuming parts of creating training courses — especially those involving screencasts and screenshots — is staging.

For example, if I’m creating a course on Filemaker or Access, it’s obviously better if I have lots of data to use in demonstrations and practice files. If I try to make it up myself, the names end up being either John Smith or Tahloolah Firecracker. And it takes all day to come up with those gems.

Thankfully, I found generatedata.com recently. It generates names, dates, all sorts of data… and it’s all instant, online, and free. (There’s also a paid version if you need additional functionality.)

data type options on generatedata.com

Data type options on generatedata.com

Enjoy!

  • http://in-the-middle-of-the-curve.blogspot.com Wendy

    Really enjoying your blog! Especially the format – keeping it short.
    Especially love how you broke down good usage of characters in eLearning and recognizing that staging the scenario for filming (especially when developing software simulations) takes almost as much time as the actual filming. Especially when you are dealing with applications that save EVERYTHING. I have screwed up more than one round of filming then had to go back and mask items because I couldn’t remove the entries.

    Would be curious to hear more about your experience getting an Instructional Design degree. I received my Instructional Technology degree 6 years ago in a more traditional/classroom format. Interesting to hear that the hesitancy about the “value” of online degrees hasn’t changed much.

    Keep up the fantastic work!

  • Judy Unrein

    Wendy — Sorry for the slow response!

    What would you like to hear about my experience getting an instructional design degree? I would be happy to share!

    Keep up the great blogging on your end too — I read in spurts but I always enjoy.