Learning Solutions Magazine just published an article I wrote on HTML5’s potential for elearning/mlearning.
Enjoy! And here’s the permalink (requires free subscription to the magazine).
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Most of you probably read the Rapid E-learning Blog, where Tom K recently recommended using handwritten fonts last year to add character to your elearning courses. There are lots of free ones out there, as well as ways to turn your own handwriting into a custom font.
I tried YourFonts.com a few weeks ago, thinking I might make a banner for this blog out of my own handwriting, but I wasn’t quite satisfied… with my handwriting, that is. The service was pretty freakin’ impressive. Still, my font isn’t there yet.
But I get another chance! On May 9, they’re running a special offer: Use the coupon code CPN4MOM2010 when you check out and you can make as many fonts as you like for free. This is only good on May 9, because… nothing says Mother’s Day like lots of free, custom fonts?
Jealous! (Did you know that orange was the color symbolizing jealousy in Shakespeare's day?)
I enjoyed peeking in to the #ls2010 backchannel today! And I realized that yesterday I didn’t even mention anything that wasn’t a concurrent session… lots of stuff going on in the ID Zone sounded really cool, too, but I’m way too tired from my week to make this post any bigger than it’s already shaping up to be. I’m kind of glad I didn’t have to decide what to actually go to. Here are my picks for tomorrow…
The Top 10 Must-Do’s for Developing Successful e-Learning Programs – Having spent the last 3 years building an elearning initiative from the ground up, I have to wonder what I missed. There must be something.
Giving Voice to Your e-Learning - Okay, selfish choice. Since I do a little voiceover work on the side, mainly for elearning, I might figure out a few things about how to market my services in this session. 
Designing Continuous Learning: Leveraging the Power of a Learning Continuum – Again with the movement away from learning “events”…
McGyver e-Learning: Creating e-Learning with Open-source and Common Tools – Even if you weren’t a proponent of open-source tech (which I am, don’t get me wrong), who could resist something called “McGyver e-Learning”?
The Evolving LMS/LCMS: Their Role in the World of Learning 2.0 and Social Learning – While I’ve heard of several LMS/LCMSs that support social learning, the ones I have the most experience with definitely don’t fall into that category. It would be nice to get more education there.
Rapid Deployment Leveraging Social Networks and Google Wave – Or maybe it would be better to see some concrete tools and examples along the same lines…
Case Study: Converting a Live Workshp to e-Learning – This just sounds good. Lots of us grapple with converting ILT to elearning and the decisions that must be made in that design process; I’m always interested to see how others do it.
Visual Design Essentials: Practical Techniques for Designing Better Online Courses – I had to reread this description before I “got it” that when the writer says “design” he means “visual design”, and that made me chafe a little (that confusion being something that bosses and clients often fall victim to, as well). Having said that, visual design is important and it’s always something I’m up for learning more about… particularly when it relates directly to what I do.
“Don’t Make Me Think”: Creating Effective e-Learning with User Testing – I reread Steve Krug’s book recently because I hope to step up some of our user testing at work; this session would be relevant. And I like that they’re recognizing how relevant web design/development is to elearning design/development…
New Applications for Mobile Games and Simulations – mLearning has never been a huge interest for me, but I’m currently doing some research on HTML5 and therefore wish I could peek into just about every mlearning session I hear about…
When Worlds Collide: Social Media and the Learning Organization – Again, interested in how social media and collaborative tools can affect learning.
Don’t be shy! Tell me what I missed… even if it’s not listed above.
Edit: I have to say (as if there are people out there who are going to get offended) — there are a few sessions that sound really cool, but I might have caught the same speaker doing what sounds like a similar topic at prior conferences. So I pretty much didn’t list those here. No offense! And from the tweets coming in about Michael Allen’s session, I might be wrong about that anyway. Again, wish I were there…
A quick look at some new images that have come onto the elearning scene recently*:
"The perfect elearning host" according CS. I concur.
Cheers: Cartoon Solutions has released Beth, a smart-looking, non-Barbie™-proportioned character that’s great for learning agents. I have to admit, though I’ve used their art in the past, sometimes I’ve changed the body proportions to be more realistic. The marketing behind Beth shows that Cartoon Solutions is paying attention to its elearning audience.
She's not bad... she's just drawn that way.
Jeers: Trivantis included a — sorry to say — salaciously drawn mermaid in the Lectora X media library. Can’t say I’ll find much use for this in elearning… even if I needed a mermaid, I wouldn’t opt for Jessica Rabbit’s long-lost oceanic kin. And that’s a pity because elearning is Trivantis’s whole business. That being the case, it’s pretty disappointing to find something this off-the-mark. Hat tip: Marc Shecter.
*Wordpress tells me I started this blog post almost three months ago. I haven’t posted it because I’ve had an issue with Lectora X’s media library on my company’s network… not Trivantis’s fault from what I can tell, but it’s taken some time to get resolved, and I wanted to be able to say that in all fairness, the rest of the media library is at least work-appropriate. It is, and otherwise I’m pretty darn keen on Lectora X’s improvements. 
When I was little, the day the Sears Wish Book arrived at our house was one of the best of the year. Second only to Christmas, even… My sister and I would eagerly page through the book for weeks, picking out what we were going to ask Santa for.
It’s with somewhat less anticipation that I make my yearly requests for new software, but the shopping researching is still fun.
I know I’m not going to get everything I ask for (particularly not the Deluxe Chemistry Set), and yes, it will all be tied to the company’s business needs blah ROI blah etc increasing productivity blah etc. But having said that, I’m wondering…
What was on your software wish list this year?
Apparently, I need to renew my P.O.E.M. membership, because I didn’t know it was National Punctuation Day yesterday until I saw something about it on Facebook (and by then it was too late at night to post again).
But it gives me the opportunity to rant about an error that I see every single day now: the confusion between “it’s” and “its” (and general bad application of apostrophes in written communication of all kinds).
I feel it’s relevant to us as IDs because our writing needs to be nearly impeccable, and I don’t know many of us who have the benefit of a copyeditor. But I’m also pleading to you as learning professionals: does anyone know of a catchy way to teach the difference between “it’s” and “its” — or do you have a shorthand that you use to remember it?
I’ve never used this software, but Free is one of my favorite words, so I’m going to try it out. It looks like this offer is available until 2 AM Central, 9/11/09.
You have to download and install it before the offer expires, but according to my reading, you will then have a fully-functioning copy of this software. Here are the limitations, from the enclosed README:
1) No free technical support
2) No free upgrades to future versions
3) Strictly non-commercial usage
Read more and download here, then come back and tell me what you think of it!
I spent some time tooling around with the newly released Camtasia for Mac this evening, so here’s a quick follow up on my August 9 post.
Techsmith did release a comparison chart between Camtasia Studio (for PC) and Camtasia for Mac, and indeed, the Mac version does have fewer features. But it does a great job, it’s fairly intuitive to use, and I like how it integrates existing Mac functionality (such as font selection).
Most disappointing to me is that there is no closed captioning capability at this point. I’m sure Techsmith is going to bring it up to speed, but of course, no one knows when.
I’m thinking about doing a more complete comparison of the new Camtasia for Mac with other Mac screencasting tools… which ones would you like to see compared?
I’m baaack!
My summer semester ended yesterday and it inspired the title of this post. I did a credible job (I hope), but studying Flash coding further has reinforced my belief that if you’re going to use advanced tools, you’re so much better off with an expert developer. After all, you wouldn’t want someone who only dabbles in ID to design the course, would you? (Please say no.)
Honestly, I think I have the brainpower to do the coding, I find a certain amount enjoyable, and I think it’s very beneficial for the designer to understand the basics of the development work. But…
1) I’m never going to be as efficient as a dedicated Flash developer, and…
2) Coding all my own designs might make me lazy about their level of interactivity. And that would be bad.
I’ve had a lot of storyboarding inspiration lately…
1) Notebook, purchased at Muji
2) Pretty amazing example, seen at MoMA:
Storyboard for The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down, an opera by Robert Wilson. (Photo by Scott Unrein)
3) Video on storyboarding, posted on MinuteBio
I’ve been reflecting on how much these notions of storyboarding really relate to e-learning. Most of the e-learning storyboards I’ve seen focus much less on the visual design than these do, and much more on which words need to appear on screen and which words should be spoken.
I generally do the kind of storyboard that just communicates which words the developer needs to put on which screen, but only in “development”, after the interaction itself has been designed through a prototype. That way Word or PowerPoint or whichever tool I’m using doesn’t force me down a completely linear path; the tool has to accommodate the interaction I’ve designed.
Best way I’ve heard to keep from saying it depends: “That’s like asking how much a house costs.”
However, a realtor would be able to estimate that cost for you based on what you want, and an instructional designer should at least have a starting point to do the same. If you don’t, here is a short document created by Karl M. Kapp, EdD and Maria Plano.
An overview, but the whole document is well worth the read.
It shows both 1) how variable the process is based on main factors, and 2) that it’s time-consuming, no matter what. For those reasons alone, it’s a useful place to start for departments just starting their e-learning efforts. In terms of its accuracy… every shop is different, so you tell me! And which other major variables affect your development times?
Props to the Chicago Lectora User Group for posting this resource on their website.