Happy New Year: What I Learned in 2010

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Jenise

Happy New Year!

I welcome 2011 with a smile as I also look back on 2010. From Christmas through New Years, I was on vacation with family in real world, and learned how much I depend on the Internet and on social media, or SoMe. Although I was supposed to be offline, I did use my iPad to check my social networks occasionally and post a few comments. In all honesty, I felt afraid I was going to miss out on important tweets or status updates on LinkedIn or Facebook. However, I was rewarded with wonderful F2F (face-to-face) time with my loved ones, and saw some beautiful scenery in Prescott, Arizona.

I did think about what I learned in 2010, and what the learning might mean for 2011. I bravely and humbly share a partial list with you:

  1. Mobile [ fill-in-the-blank ] is here, and is here to stay and grow. I bought an iPad for my business and use it daily. In addition, non-mobile family members and friends moved to smartphones, and they quickly became “addicted” mobile learners; even the older folks. In the new year, I plan to become more involved in mobile anything.
  2. Social Networking via the Internet is also here to stay and grow in leaps and bounds. On a daily basis I use Twitter, Skype, LinkedIn, and (to a lesser degree) Facebook to connect with a wide, virtual network of amazing colleagues. I’ve gained new consulting work through this network as well as exchanged expertise. Social media (SoMe) is a permanent part of my business. I will continue to nurture and grow my network in 2011.
  3. Face-to-face Networking still plays an important part in my consulting practice. I pick up the phone and make a call instead of sending an email, and I schedule business lunches when possible. I’ve also discovered that when I’ve had the opportunity to meet my virtual SoMe colleagues in person, it feels like a joyful “reverse reunion”, where we finally get to add the F2F connection to a carefully nurtured business relationship. I look forward to more F2F connections this new year.
  4. SCORE business mentors (click to learn more) provide amazing resources to anyone who is starting a business … and, their advice is free. SCORE also offers low-cost workshops. In 2011, I plan to leverage the wisdom and experience from these generous, warm, and encouraging mentors.

I’ve learned a great deal in 2010, and it’s hard to pick and choose what to share in this post. What did you learn in 2010 that you’d like to share with me and with others? Please feel free to add a Comment to this post!

On Twitter

@jenisecook or www.twitter.com/jenisecook

On LinkedIn

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jenisecook

On Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/jenisecook.ridgeviewmedia

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Live, on YouTube, with Terrence Wing of LiquidLearn

Posted on November 29, 2010 by Jenise

LiquidLearn’s “10 for 10″ at DevLearn 2010

The e-Learning Guild held its annual DevLearn Conference in San Francisco, California, earlier this month. Hundreds of instructional designers and developers attended as always. Me? I had e-learning projects to wrap up, and I felt sad that I could not fly up and see some wonderful people this year.

Instead, Terrence Wing, of LiquidLearn, interviewed me for a (pre-recorded) streaming Web T.V. broadcast he used in an all-day, pre-conference workshop! So, in a way, I was at DevLearn, but virtually.

I’m posting the YouTube video Terrence made. I’m humbly grateful for this wonderful opportunity he gave me to share my crazy thoughts on instructional design. Here’s what Terrence wrote about this video:

10 for 10 is a recurring video interview hosted by Terrence Wing of Liquid Learn. Topics include skills needed to succeed in the modern workforce. The goal of the show is for the host to surface at least ten tips from the interviewee in 10 minutes. In this episode, Terrence is interviewing Jenise Cook from Ridge View Media. The subject matter is instructional design.

Terrence used Justin.tv a streaming video tool you might want to look into for your video projects.

Enjoy!

(P.S. I haven’t written a blog post in over a month because I’ve been busy, but, I’ve also been spending more time posting on Twitter.com I’ve been learning a great deal lately about the effectiveness of social media. How about you? Feel free to write and share a Comment.)

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e-Learning Storyboards: Using Both Word and PowerPoint

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Jenise

Many instructional designers (IDers) have a variety of tools at hand to design and map out the client’s e-learning course for the client’s review, and to provide a detailed roadmap for the team who will develop the course. Most of the IDers I talk with use Microsoft Word to write out a detailed storyboard. Others like to do rapid prototyping by writing up the storyboard, with generic graphical elements, inside PowerPoint itself.

I’ve used both processes as either/or but not together. Recently, I decided to use both processes simultaneously, and I sent out a tweet about it on Twitter. A couple of “tweeples” replied that they were interested in hearing more.

Simultaneous Storyboarding in Word and PowerPoint

Screen shot of Word and PowerPoint for simultaneous storyboarding

SimulStoryboarding: Word & PPT

The screen shot to the left shows my desktop on my Apple MacBook Pro laptop. I have Office for the Mac. Word is open on the left, and on the right you can see the Thumbnails view in PowerPoint (PPT).

The Word document shows the storyboard template for two screens (click the image to enlarge). The PPT file shows the draft prototype for each screen in the course, and the generic elements (circles, squares, rectangles) I added as placeholders for the actual photos, text, and graphical elements I’ll add later.

I begin by writing the “business story” in Word. As I begin to think in terms of on-screen content and navigation, I use PPT to prototype what I’m thinking in terms of the navigation and content “load” on each screen. I really enjoy this process because PPT helps me to “flesh out” what I write in Word, and make corrections where needed.

This post is brief, so if you’d like additional information, feel free to contact me at this e-mail address:

info AT RidgeViewMedia.com

And, in the Comments, please share your storyboard tips and tricks so we all can learn from each other. Thanks!

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Dave Grady: The Conference Call | Video of the Month 2010_09

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Jenise

I know. I haven’t posted a Video of the Month in quite awhile. However, “The Conference Call” by Dave Grady on YouTube had me laughing out loud. As a virtual ( telecommute, at-home ) worker, I have experienced what Dave depicts in this video. And, it just cracks me up!

My thanks to my sister who posted it to her Facebook wall.

And, no, I haven’t been the “bloop-bloop” person. I call in early! ;-)

“Hi, who just joined?”

Enjoy…

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How to Organize Your e-Learning Project Files

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Jenise

Do you need help organizing and managing your e-learning project or course files? The e-learning community often talks about files and project management. In fact, Tom Kuhlmann of Articulate has a new blog post today that can spark new ideas. Click the image below to learn more from Tom.

Click to view The Rapid e-Learning Blog, by Tom Kuhlmann. August 31, 2010, post.

Or, Do It My Way…

With apologies to Frank Sinatra, then there’s my way of organizing and managing e-learning project files. The “system” I use I borrowed from my early Web site design days. Our Adobe Dreamweaver and Flash instructor showed us a system that works well for both individual designers and those who work on multiple projects shared by several designers. See my screen shot below:

Image of my project folders, the management system.

On my local drive (my C: or hard drive), I have a directory, or folder, named “Articulate Presenter”. Inside that folder I file all of my Articulate e-learning project files. In the image to the right, “00ProjectFolders” I keep as a template for future projects. I simply copy that folder and paste it with a new name, such as, “ACME New Hire Orientation”. That folder is the main project folder, and it contains lots of subdirectories (subfolders) inside. Those subfolders contain the precious assets for my projects. They are:

ACME New Hire Orientation (example project name)

  • Assets
  • Engage
  • PPT
  • Published Output
  • Quizzes

The “Assets” folder really helps me keep things straight, and is organized this way:

Assets (folder)

  • audio
    • music
    • vo (for voice overs/narration)
  • docs (for PDFs and Word files)
  • img
  • swf (for Flash *.SWF files)
  • video (FLVs, MP4s)

I know I’ve described this structure quickly. So, if you have questions about how I organize and manage my e-learning project files, please send me an e-mail message.

And, help us all to learn more as well. Please share your ideas in the Comments below, and be sure to visit Tom’s blog and add your 2 cents there.

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Posted in Project Management, e-Learning | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments