The next episode of the e-Learning Lingo Podcast Series is up! This week's word is "Emergent Literacy".
On the e-Learning Lingo Podcast Series, there are three ways to
comment on each episode. You may post a message to the blog; leave a web-based
voice mail by clicking the button in the upper right-hand corner; or
call in and leave a message about each show. You may find each weekly episode and
its accompanying transcript on the e-Learning Lingo Podcast Series page located in the Media
Center of the SyberWorks web site.
Episode #34 is an interview with Dana Fine, Senior Instructional Designer at SyberWorks. In this edition, Dana discusses her latest article, “Building Student-Friendly Courses.”
The next episode of the e-Learning Lingo Podcast Series is up! This week's word is "Open Source Software".
On the e-Learning Lingo Podcast Series, there are three ways to
comment on each episode. You may post a message to the blog; leave a web-based
voice mail by clicking the button in the upper right-hand corner; or
call in and leave a message about each show. You may find each weekly episode and
its accompanying transcript on the e-Learning Lingo Podcast Series page located in the Media
Center of the SyberWorks web site.
The students who began college this year have been dubbed the first “Net Generation,” because they habitually seek, receive, and even expect information to reach them over Web services like Twitter, Facebook, Google, and YouTube. Soon, they will join our world’s “movers and shakers,” but they are already so wired into the Web that (according to Beloit College’s “Mindset List” ® for 2009), before arriving on campus, they had checked out their roommates on Facebook, “…where they have shared their most personal thoughts with the whole world.”
This is the first of many future college classes that:
• Drink electronic media like water, and breathe broadband communications like air.
• Will expect us to deliver e-Learning content over the Web channels where they “live.”
• Will require highly interactive, graphic, and “engaging” training materials.
• Won’t allow themselves to remain bored by training that doesn’t grab and hold their interest.
This implies a lot for the e-Learning community. But it doesn’t mean that we must abandon the way we create and deliver e-Learning today. In fact, you may already possess all the tools you need, to start producing more interactive and engaging e-Learning materials immediately. If you haven’t yet tried the following technologies and techniques, now might be a good time to start!
Active Images
These are images over which one defines “hot spots” that launch other windows, actions, and animations when users click the hot spots. This technology is often used in Graphical-Choice Questions and Web Demonstrations, and can add a lot of interactivity to learning materials (without too much effort).
Some course-authoring systems include their own tools for creating these Active Images, and yours may be one of them. A good way to see if your course-authoring system has this ability is to check its documentation.
Web Demonstrations
Your existing course-authoring system may also include tools for creating animated Web activities with which users interact. And in some cases, you don’t even need to be a programmer or Flash expert to create them.
If your online course materials are mostly limited to static images and simple Flash movies, then consider adding interactive demonstrations and exhibits. They should be pertinent, of course, and ideally, should add information to your training (rather than just repeat what’s already there).
Flash Activities
We’re all familiar with Flash movies. But Flash can do so much more than just movies. For more information about this, check out Al Lemieux’s earlier blog article, “10 Tips for Using Flash in e-Learning.” In it, he describes how Flash authoring tools can:
• Produce step-by-step procedure animations
• Pull many audio formats into e-Learning materials
• Create and enhance online course navigation
• Produce animated simulations
• Bring various video formats into e-Learning materials, and trigger events directly from video frames
Intellectual capital comes in many forms. Your department, or others in your organization, may have already created images, Word documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, Flash animations, or even entire Web pages that (in part or whole) could be turned into informative and engaging training materials. And your course authoring/delivery systems may already provide functions for turning them directly into training.
Yes, many of these sources can be pretty static…even Web pages. But some of them permit much more interactivity and engagement than we usually see. PDFs, for instance, can link to other PDFs, animated exhibits, Flash movies/demonstrations, and Web pages.
So scour your organization’s existing intellectual capital. You may unearth some gems for your online training.
A Good Text Editor
Not quite as glamorous as some of the above, but don’t forget to include a text editor in your training-developing arsenal. The “Net Generation” that we mentioned earlier (and those that follow) probably won’t rank reading as a preferred learning activity. Text alone won’t be engaging enough for tomorrow’s learners. And though it’s still done, the days when one could throw a bunch of words onto a Web page and call it “online training” are largely past.
I’m not saying that writing isn’t important. It’s actually more important than ever. Tomorrow’s learners won’t have much patience for masses of uninspiring text. And if training materials aren’t as clear, direct, and short as we can realistically make them (while still communicating required ideas), then we’ll risk losing our audiences. So in addition to interactivity and engagement, we’ll need to strive for conciseness, clarity, and as much brevity as is practical, in our future online training.
I’m sure you can come up with many more examples. And please look for them. I just wanted to point out that you may already own tools for adding interactivity and engagement to the training that our “next-generation” audiences will demand.
About the Author:
Steve Pena is a Senior Instructional Designer and Implementation Consultant at SyberWorks, Inc., Waltham, Mass.
About SyberWorks, Inc.
SyberWorks, Inc. is a leader in the custom e-Learning Solutions and Learning Management System/Learning Content Management System (LMS/LCMS) industries for Fortune 1000 corporations, law enforcement, healthcare, and other industries. Located in Waltham, Massachusetts, the company serves the multi-billion-dollar e-Learning market. Since 1995, SyberWorks has developed and delivered unique and economical solutions to create, manage, measure, and improve e-Learning programs at companies and organizations in the United States, Canada, Europe, and around the world.
“This webinar is the first in a series of webinars in which we are partnering with Veracord and its 21 CFR Consulting division to provide critical information regarding compliance, validation, training and certification issues associated with companies in the pharmaceutical, life sciences, biotechnology, medical device manufacturing or any other industry regulated by the FDA."
The next episode of the e-Learning Lingo Podcast Series is up! This week's word is "Trojan Horse".
On the e-Learning Lingo Podcast Series, there are three ways to
comment on each episode. You may post a message to the blog; leave a web-based
voice mail by clicking the button in the upper right-hand corner; or
call in and leave a message about each show. You may find each weekly episode and
its accompanying transcript on the e-Learning Lingo Podcast Series page located in the Media
Center of the SyberWorks web site.
SyberWorks, Inc., a leader in
custom e-Learning Solutions and the Learning Management System (LMS) industry,
today announces the next episode in their LMS e-Learning Implementation Podcast
Series: “Interview with Chirstophe Boehm
of Hoerbiger, Inc.”
Mary Kay Lofurno, Marketing Director of SyberWorks, states,
“This podcast looks at Hoerbiger’s use of the SyberWorks Learning Management
System (LMS) to provide employee training for their manufacturing organization.
Christophe Boehm, KT Academy Manager for
Hoerbiger, Inc, discusses their training goals such as performance management,
cost savings and others.
Lofurno continues, “He also describes their use of the
SyberWorks Competency Management Module to manage training plans and job role
competencies.” Dave Boggs, CEO of
SyberWorks hosts this episode.
HOERBIGER (www.hoerbiger.com) is
active throughout the world as a leading player in the fields of compression
technology, automation technology and drive technology. 6,400 employees have
achieved sales of around 1 billion Euros. The focal points of its business
activities include key components and services for compressors, gas-powered
engines, and turbomachinery, hydraulic systems and piezo technology for
vehicles and machine tools, as well as components and systems for shift and
clutch operations in vehicle drive trains of all kinds. Through innovations in
attractive technological niche markets, the HOERBIGER Group sets standards and
creates high-quality unique selling propositions with long-term benefit for the
customer.
About The SyberWorks
LMS e-Learning Implementation Podcast Series
The SyberWorks LMS e-Learning Implementation Podcast Series looks
at actual Learning Management System (LMS) implementations and e-Learning
program rollouts. Developed for busy training and e-Learning professionals, the
series explores how corporations, governments, and non-profit organizations are
using online training to improve performance, instruct employees, increase
customer acquisition and retention, and more!
About SyberWorks
SyberWorks, Inc. (http://www.syberworks.com) is a leader in the
custom e-Learning Solutions and Learning Management System industries for Fortune
1000 corporations, higher education, and other organizations. Located in
Waltham
,
Massachusetts
,
the company serves the multi-billion-dollar e-Learning market.Since 1995, SyberWorks has developed and
delivered unique and economical solutions to create, manage, measure, and
improve e-Learning programs at companies and organizations in the
SyberWorks e-Learning Podcast Series
Join the SyberWorks Learning Management Technology Group on Linkedin
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