Posts Tagged ‘e-Learning’

PowerPoint 2007: Designs for e-Learning v.2

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

You Can Still Design with PowerPoint 2007

Eleven months ago today, I wrote a post on the new design elements and features in PowerPoint 2007 (2008 for the Mac) that allow you to create visually effective designs and templates for your e-learning courses. You can use these PowerPoint templates in both your Articulate and Adobe Captivate e-learning project files.

More PowerPoint 2007 for e-Learning Templates

A few days ago, a colleague on Twitter posted a link to a simple Web page. When I clicked the link and visited the page, it seemed to speak to me: “Turn me into an e-learning design.” So, I did, and created a brief SlideShare presentation to demonstrate it to anyone who can use more ideas. Now, don’t be fooled by its simple design. You can do so much with the basic framework and modify it to meet the needs of your learners, the business (or academic institution), and the learning content that will fill the screens.

My Samples On SlideShare

My SlideShare.net mini-presentation describes just one design idea. Please note that I respect Copyright issues, and the rights of designers. My mini-presentation simply shows what you can do using only PowerPoint 2007/2008 elements plus importing a few photo image files. (My thanks to Bryan Jones – @elearningArt – for the free image files package!)

Why Give Away Design Ideas?

The global e-learning community gives, gives, and gives again. We all share the same passion, and we share what we learn and what we create with each other. Visit various blogs and Twitter pages authored by e-learning colleagues. Go to the community forums of the various e-learning software tools. If you have some favorites of your own, please share them in the Comments section.

And, my first SlideShare.net presentation on PowerPoint designs for e-learning still exists!

Visit: PowerPoint 2007 e-Learning Screens

“Always learning….”, and I welcome your design ideas!

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Hardware for Voice-Overs, Audio Narration

Monday, January 25th, 2010

Neytiri - Na'vi in AvatarVirtual communities and collaboration constantly amaze and engage me. Social media impacts the way we work and live every moment of each day. Information flows into our personal learning networks at Warp Speed. I feel almost like a Na’vi from “Avatar” due to the vast network of connections and information available to me at the click of my mouse!

David Anderson, @elearning, a Community Manager at Articulate, forwarded this Forum thread to me where he had asked the user community to share information on the hardware (etc.) we use to record audio narration, or voice-overs, in our e-learning courses. When I saw the new thread, only Gerry Waz had responded at the time. I created a demo, posted it late at night (1:00 a.m.), and by sunrise, a third person had added his hardware details. I can’t wait to see how this thread will grow… but… that’s the thing. It will only grow if people share, connect, and collaborate.

So, if you’re reading this blog post and you record narrations, please visit the forum thread and share your hardware (and software) setup for recording audio narrations. Who knows! Your information may be just what someone else needs to successfully record narrations.

Hardware for Narration – Articulate Presenter

Click here to open my brief demo in a new window.

Hardware for Narration Demo

Hardware for Narration – SlideShare

You May Also Enjoy Reading…

Voice-Over Audio Narration for e-Learning

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Instructional Systems Design: Great List of Resources

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

ISD Resources on Del.icio.us

The Dells, Prescott, Arizona

The Dells, Prescott, Arizona

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.

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e-Learning and Background Audio

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Audio that Enhances Learning

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:

ambient_audio1

Click here to view the New York Times demo.

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!

You may also be interested in this blog post:

Voice-Over Audio Narration for e-Learning

Please share your thoughts in the Comments section of this post. If you’re not a spammer, I’ll approve you!

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The Butterfly Circus | Video of the Month 200910

Monday, October 26th, 2009

The Power of Great Storytelling

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

thebutterflycircus1This 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:

The Butterfly Circus

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!)

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