Thursday, January 7, 2010, was a busy one on Twitter. The learning-focused tweeps I follow tweeted a ton of interesting URLs. I almost couldn’t keep up, even with TweetDeck’s help. So, for my personal learning and for my PLN (Personal Learning Network… you!), I’ve listed the URLs here so I can review them as I have time. I hope they’re valuable to you.
As developers, we often need to edit image files by knocking out the existing background to create a transparent background. These Articulate tweeps (Brian and David) shared their screen casts:
Happy New Year! We’re on the road again, heading down another 365 days of adventure. Let’s welcome 2010 with a great list of resources on instructional systems design. Admittedly, this list resides in my Ridge View Media Delicious account, so that raises the subjective question, “How “great” is this “great list” anyway?
The list is “great” and a helpful resource because it bookmarks the amazing research and published works of creative, effective, and wise instructional systems designers… known and perhaps not so well known.
Please surf through these links and let me know, via the Comments section, of other URLs you recommend. You’re a part of my Personal Learning Network (PLN), and I look forward to your suggested links.
Also, I’m open to your suggestions on how to better organize this Delicious list for easy scanning and retrieving of information.
What’s New on My Blog?
On a different note, 2010 ushers in a few needed (and long overdue) upgrades to my blog. I finally added a Subscribe widget and a Follow Me widget on the top right side, plus a Share widget at the bottom of each post. Yea, yea, I know… late to the party. So sorry. I was very focused on client deliverables, so my blog took a back seat regarding upgrades and enhancements.
Thank you in advance for subscribing to my blog!
Image credit: Me, in my car with my cell phone camera, driving through the beautiful Dells in gorgeous Prescott, Arizona. Good thing no one else was on Highway 89 at the time.
December 2009’s “The Big Question” at ASTD’s Learning Circuits blog asks learning professionals who blog to go back through our blog posts over this past year and look for any “aha moments” or highlight the posts that were the best/most interesting.
Um, this is a challenge for me. Outside of a few of my local ASTD chapter peeps, I really don’t know who reads my blog. I’ll get a new Commentor or a surprise e-mail message once in awhile, where someone I don’t know writes that they enjoy my blog post very much. I’m taken aback that they found me, and yet humbly pleased that they took the time to write and express their feelings.
So, I enjoy writing for my blog, but I don’t view it as “some big thing”. Therefore, this month’s The Big Question” intimidates me a little bit. But, out of respect for ASTD, I’m going to try. So, here goes.
Voice-over narration, quality narration, is an art that takes coaching and practice. It’s acting, and it doesn’t come overnight. I learned that my coach, Beverly Bremers, can help me be the best I can be with this fun avocation.
Informal learning: I’m learning that I need to enhance my informal learning methods by formally capturing those “aha” moments. I’m open to ideas. How do you capture or memorialize your informal learning? Is blogging about those moments enough?
Thanks, Learning Circuits, and an early Happy New Year to the readers!
(Please feel free to write a Comment. I apologize that I moderate, but if you’re not a spammer I’ll approve you.)
Tuesday, 1 December 2009, Tom Kuhlmann of Articulate (VP of Community) published a blog post on effective uses of audio in e-learning courses. His post is about using background audio, or ambient sounds, and he included this great example from the New York Times:
But, his post made me think of something beyond background audio, and I remembered a March 2009 client course where the client and I created a “scene” to model effective posture, words/phrases, and tone of voice. Take a look:
The setup is somewhat similar to the NYT demo, but we didn’t use background audio. Honestly, that never occurred to me, and after reading Tom’s post and seeing the NYT demo, I’d like to add targeted, effective background audio (ambient sounds) to scenes in e-learning courses.
One example I can think of is a course on business etiquette and customer service for back-office staff in a very busy environment.
Hmmm. I can hear the phones ringing off the hook even now!
I attended ComiCon this past July, and the power of telling great stories has taken over all the back burners in my brain. Great storytelling must insert itself into our e-learning design and development projects. We engage learners by ensuring they are engrossed in a story that supports performance improvement and measurable outcomes.
This past Saturday, I went to a local film festival that showcased “shorts”. I came away awed by the film makers’ creative stories. Humbled. Energized. Amazed. Excited. Inspired. Their visual stories have embedded themselves in my brain cells, and I can “bring up and recall” their images over and over. The lessons the short films portrayed are also embedded in my brain, encouraging me to put them into practical application.
And, if video film makers with small budgets can do that, why not e-learning instructional designers and developers?
We have the tools, everyone! But, are we writing powerful and great stories?
My challenge to myself, and my goal for the next 12 months, is to study great storytelling. Whether I design and develop online learning for the Web, for “serious games”, for virtual worlds, or for mobile devices doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I write a great story so that it embeds itself in my learners’ brains, stimulates their thinking, and encourages them to put into practice what they learned through the story.
The Butterfly Circus
This particular short film continues to impact me deep down inside. All of the shorts we viewed at the film festival were awesome, but “The Butterfly Circus” is truly amazing. As you watch this 20-minute short film, remember the film makers are a husband and wife team on a very limited budget. Joshua and Rebecca Weigel’s powerful story is supported by beautiful cinematography as well. Without further ado, enjoy “The Butterfly Circus” by clicking the link below:
What are your thoughts? Please type a Comment to this post. I’d enjoy reading your musings!
(P.S. I’ll write my ComiCon post soon. The digital camera with all of the photos had to be sent to the shop for repairs. Thank goodness the images survived!)
This particular short film continues to impact me deep down inside. All of the shorts we viewed at the film festival were awesome, but “The Butterfly Circus” is truly amazing. As you watch this 20-minute short film, remember the film makers are a husband and wife team on a very limited budget. Joshua and Rebecca Weigel’s powerful story is supported by beautiful cinematography as well. Without further ado, enjoy “The Butterfly Circus” by clicking the link below:
