Group items tagged

"1. Understand the Goal of the Course This the main reason why you are creating the course - it's the primary objective. Make sure everyone is on the same page as to the purpose of the elearning. 2. Collect Content Assess what content currently exists and map that against what needs to be created. The gaps you discover are what need to be covered in the course content. 3. Define the Learning Objectives Each course should have objectives, and those objectives should relate back to the overall goal of the elearning program as defined in #1. 4. Create Assessment Criteria What good is elearning without measuring its effectiveness? Before creating courses, you should define what you will measure, and how this data will be collected. 5. Use Templates Where Possible For your storyboard, and courses, you should use elearning templates to help speed-up content development. Templates also let you focus on the content instead of the design - perfect for tight timelines. 6. Choose a Design Model Certainly optional, but it is helpful to understand the lifecycle of your course development, and models like ADDIE or SAM can ensure everyone is on the same page as to development and delivery expectations. 7. Select Design Elements Are you going to rely on simulations, videos, graphics, and text? If so, define each of the elements in accordance to the material you are going to deliver. For example, software training via elearning often benefits from simulations. 8. Choose an Authoring Tool There are many out there (Articulate, Captivate, iSpring, etc.), so you'll want to do your research on which tool is ideal for your situation - including type of content, timeline, and budget."

"The eLearning Guild announces the release of a free eBook, 65 Tips on Managing Projects and SMEs for eLearning. The Guild has assembled 65 tips from 11 contributors who will be presenting in the upcoming July 2012 Online Forum, "Managing Projects and SMEs for eLearning." This experienced and diverse group offers advice and insights on topics such as defining the parameters of a project, the importance of sign-offs and written approvals, what to do when you're out of resources, and what factors drive quality. 65 Tips on Managing Projects and SMEs for eLearning presents practical solutions in five categories: Dealing with Stakeholders and Planning Your Project. Planning is arguably the most important step in any project. Learn how to lay a sturdy foundation with 25 expert tips. Choosing and Managing Your Team. The team is the center of your project universe. Heed these 13 suggestions to choose and manage your project teams effectively. Effective Communication. Keep the lines of communication open with these nine tips. Constraints and Challenges. Two factors - constraints and challenges - are a way of life in the project world. Follow these eight tips from our knowledgeable panel to ensure challenges only cause a bump in the road, rather than a major traffic jam. Quality Control. Determining if your project meets expectations is key, and these 10 tips will help ensure a solid final product."

Very relevant to our current work and evolving approach. Thanks Liz.

"Using a Conversational Tone in your eLearning Courses Thursday, 02 October 2014 14:50 Written by Ruth McElhone In my last blog post, I explored the Modality Principle from the book Elearning and the Science of Instruction by Ruth Colvin Clark and Richard Mayer. In this post, I've decided to examine another principle in the book - the Personalisation Principle in Chapter 8. The chapter examines 3 types of personalisation principles but I'm just going to review the first principle. The first Personalisation Principle in this chapter supports using a conversational style of writing in our online modules. Using a conversational writing style can help explain the content in simple, plain English. "Based on cognitive theory and research evidence, we recommend that you create or select e-Learning courses that include some spoken or printed text that is conversational rather than formal." (Clark and Mayer, 2011) There has always been some debate that if we put content in a conversational or informal style, this can 'detract from the seriousness of the message'. Just because you are using an informal style does not mean that the content should be sloppy or use slang terms. It's all about keeping things simple. It should feel like a conversation, not a lecture while still feeling professional."

"Top 10 Graphic Design Tips That eLearning Professionals Should Be Familiar With"

This article discusses the basics of selecting multimedia that will draw in the learners and will provide them with the best possible eLearning experience, without taking away any from the value of the core content itself.

"Below is my categorization of the most important elearning paradigms as of 2014. eLearning Paradigms 2014 Content Presenter (enables content to be presented to learners) Comprehension Tester (enables learners' knowledge to be tested--and feedback provided) Practice Provider (enables learners' decision-making to be tested--and feedback provided) Performance Supporter (enables performers to be prompted toward action) Reminder (enables learners or performers to be reminded to learn and/or take action) Social Augmentation Provider (enables learners to learn from and with each other) Gamification Provider (provides motivational incentives and behavioral prompts to action) Mobile Learning Provider (provides learning and/or performance support through mobile technology) Data Utilizer (enables data collection and data-based interventions) Video Provider (enables video to be utilized in various ways) Learning Organizer (provides organizational structure around learning opportunities) Personalizer (enables content or prompting to be individualized or tailored) Learning-Delivery Augmenter (enables easy delivery of content or prompting) Context-Based Triggerer (enables content or prompting to be delivered depending on context) Cost Saver (enables learning to be delivered at a lower cost)"

Ensuring that you've crossed off every item, this "to-do" list will allow you to create and implement successful, effective, informative, and practical eLearning courses for learners in both educational and professional settings.

Yowza! Great resource, Betsy.

"We organized our expert presenters' tips into seven categories: Making Learning Stick, Effective Instructional Design and Development, Managing Project Costs and Time, Demonstrating Your Value, Documenting and Managing Your Designs and Standards, Designing for Mobile, and Customizing and Personalizing Learning. We compiled these into a free eBook for your enjoyment. Read here for details and where to download the book!"

72 Tips for Using Media to Engage and Teach"

"Guidelines for Professional Development of Online Teachers Based on the SREB Standards for Quality Online Teaching Providing quality professional development for online teachers is extremely important to ensure ongoing quality teaching and learning - just as it is for teachers in traditional classrooms. The professional development of online teachers should be well-planned and organized to meet the specific academic and instructional needs of online teachers."

"make their compliance e-learning more interesting and impactful. 1. Focus on behaviours not policies If the organisation requires people to read the whole policy, e-learning should not be the answer - put in place an effective system of tracking completion and the right carrots and sticks. What e-learning should be used for is providing realistic ways for learners to practice the desired behaviours and providing the minimum viable knowledge to do this. If you get the attitudes right, people will refer to the policy when they need to. Several entries successfully boiled the underpinning policies down to just a few key messages which could then be communicated in engaging ways. This may take significant trust from your subject matter experts, but this is increasingly the direction of travel that regulators are taking (away from 'tick box' compliance). 2. Make the learning part of a campaign Once you have defined the key messages about how you want people to behave, think about it as a communications campaign. E-learning is just one channel within the overall campaign. There has been much already written on this, so I won't dwell on the benefits of campaign thinking and spaced practice e.g. improved memory, social learning, buzz, ease of learning transfer back into the workplace. Some entries applied campaign thinking very effectively. 3. Pre-test Life is too short to be told things you already know so that your employer is legally protected. It's a far better use of everyone's time if learners have a pre-test. This means that the people who need the learning get it and those who don't don't (pre-testing enables a variety of routes through the learning). To make this viable, the questions in the pre-test need to be challenging and really robust. The amount of learner time that you'll save more than justifies paying for additional instructional design expertise if you need help to step up the quality of questioning. 4. Use role filters Learne

"I'll argue that what is useful is making better decisions. That is, the ability to explain what's happened and react, or predict what will happen and make the right choice as as consequence. This comes from model-based reasoning. What sort of learning helps model-based reasoning? Two types, in a simple framework. You need to process the models to help them be comprehended, and use them in context to make decisions with the consequences providing feedback. Yes, there likely will be some content presentation, but it's not everything, and instead is the core model with examples of how it plays out in context. That is, annotated diagrams or narrated animations for the models; comic books, cartoons, or videos for the examples. Media, not bullet points. The processing that helps make models stick includes having learners generate products: giving them data or outcomes and having them develop explanatory models. They can produce summary charts and tables that serve as decision aids. They can create syntheses and recommendations. This really leads to internalization and ownership, but it may be more time-consuming than worthwhile. The other approach is to have learners make predictions using the models, explaining things. Worst case, they can answer questions about what this model implies in particular contexts. So this is a knowledge question, but not a "is this an X or a Y", but rather "you have to achieve Z, would you use approach X, or approach Y". Most importantly, you need people to use the models to make decisions like they'll be making in the workplace. That means scenarios and simulations. Yes, a mini-scenario of one question is essentially a multiple choice (though better written with a context and a decision), but really things tend to be bundled up, and you at least need branching scenarios. A series of these might be enough if the task isn't too complex, but if it's somewhat complex, it might be worth creating a model-based simu