eLearning Cyclops

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

Next week I will be presenting at eLearning Guild’s DevLearn Conference. It is always a thrill to attend the conference and a real honor to be presenting too. Below is a link to my presentation, hope some of my readers will be there and attend my session. If not, hopefully we will meet during other conference happenings. Be Concise:Designing for On-the-go Learners Also, Thursday night will be the live #Lrnchat (an online Twitter chat), which is always a blast.

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eLearning Cyclops

AUGUST 3, 2015

On August 19th and 20th, the eLearning Guild will be holding its very first online version of their world renowned DemoFest. It will kick off with an opening session from two ever impressive speakers, Jane Bozarth and Karen Hyder. Like all the eLearning Guild's DemoFests, this will be a chance to see some wonderful online solutions for real world learning and support challenges.

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eLearning Cyclops

MAY 19, 2015

In honor of Dave Letterman and an end of an era, my top ten list. Why traditional classroom training is soooo much better than eLearning: You can learn at another person's pace. Get to see what the beltway looks like at 8 am. Stale donuts. Sit next to that annoying guy from Finance. Get another 2 1/2 inch binder. Leave at 4:30. Hey, does the beltway look the same at 4:30?

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eLearning Cyclops

MAY 1, 2015

This August 19 th and 20 th the eLearning Guild will be holding the first OnlineDemoFest , I am really excited to see the great work that will be shared and also honored to be one of the presenters - I will be sharing my “ Mission:JHome Content Manager “ course. Hope to see you there. To attend, register on the eLearning Guild’s Online DemoFest page – DemoFest:Real People, Real Projects, Real Solutions.

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eLearning Cyclops

MARCH 8, 2015

'It is always troublesome to see disregard for copyright. At times it may be a lack of awareness to copyright law or it may be someone conveniently ignoring it, but either is no excuse and as members of a profession that utilizes images, video, audio, etc., we must keep ourselves aware of how we can or can''t use such content. And I swear if I hear another person say "I found it on the web, so it''s OK," I am going to scream.

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eLearning Cyclops

JANUARY 5, 2015

'I have had Pinterest for a while now, but my use has been on and off. I think for me it is not something I need on a daily basis, but certainly a great tool for when I find an eLearning resource I want to easily curate. So, here as some eLearning resources I have collected in my Pinterest boards thus far. eLearning - Anything eLearning related, often a lot of useful infographics are pinned.

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eLearning Cyclops

NOVEMBER 16, 2014

'Streamline the content, language and course interface. Here is where prioritizing the must, good and nice to knows pays off. That "must" content is front and center - your emphasis. The “good” is still accessible but may not be up front - a bit deeper into sections, appear in interactive assets, pop-ups, etc. The " Nice to knows" - We are not using up real estate on these.

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eLearning Cyclops

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

'The third element of IMPS is Prioritize. Prioritize your content into “ must know,” “good to know” and “nice to know” levels. Must know - Look back at your objectives - What MUST they learn to reach those objectives. That''s your top level/emphasis - As newspaper journalists would say "above the fold." Good to know - Those things not imperative, but still of value in accomplishing the task to be learned.

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eLearning Cyclops

OCTOBER 16, 2014

'The third element of IMPS is Manage. Manage* stakeholder, subject matter expert and design team’s expectations - Get them “on-board” with designing concise, but effective courses. Here''s how: Get buy-in on what is needed to accomplish the course''s goal. Emp hasize it is "OUR course ," belonging to all stakeholders especially the learner. We want a course that is: Efficient use of learners’ time, as well as the organization’s time.

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eLearning Cyclops

SEPTEMBER 14, 2014

'David Kelly of the eLearning Guild interviewed me recently regarding my upcoming presentation at the DevLearn conference, " Be Concise: Designing for On-the-go Learners." T he eLearning Guild''s Twist blog also has additional interviews and posts from other DevLearn presenters - all worth the visit.

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eLearning Cyclops

SEPTEMBER 9, 2014

'In my recent Being Concise - IMPS post , I introduced my approach to keeping courses concise. In today''s post I want to explore the first component - Identify , as in identifying learning objectives. "Identify appropriate learning objectives and exclude the extraneous objectives trying to sneak into the course." Here''s how: Conduct a needs analysis (even if it must informal) Stay focused on what learners need to succeed?

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eLearning Cyclops

AUGUST 3, 2014

'I''m excited to be presenting again at the DevLearn conference this fall. Below is the description of my presentation. Be Concise: Designing for On-the-go Learners eLearning designers often face complex training topics that are difficult to deliver concisely. This results in lengthy courses that are counter to the needs of today’s learners who need to be extremely efficient with their time.

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eLearning Cyclops

JULY 13, 2014

'eLearning Designers wear many hats – some by choice, some placed upon us. Here are the hats I wear because I need these skills as an eLearning one-person shop. Those on the second list are ones placed upon me either because they are skills I can adapt my elearning skills to or because assumptions are made (e.g., you are an IT guy, right?). Instructional Designer & Developer - These are the obvious ones and why most of us are hired.

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eLearning Cyclops

MAY 30, 2014

'For a course I am currently completing, I included an infographic. The course is an overview of a new line of business at my org. I knew that for many, especially those not directly involved in the new line, retaining detailed knowledge about it will be a challenge as time passes. So what better way to provide a refresher than an Infographic that highlights and visualizes its important features?

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eLearning Cyclops

APRIL 16, 2014

'I like to think I have a knack at being concise, at least in my writing and courses.

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eLearning Cyclops

APRIL 4, 2014

'I have got on-board and signed the Serious eLearning Manifesto. I believe it is a good blueprint for ensuring quality eLearning. For successful implementation, I believe it not only requires the commitment of eLearning designers, but also the support of course stakeholders and learning & development management. I am continually negotiating with the aforementioned for the time and resources needed to develop effective learning programs.

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eLearning Cyclops

MARCH 8, 2014

'It is a rare exception when I can publicly share one of my online courses. That is because most are on a corporate learning management system (LMS) which is only accessible to my fellow employees or they are on our Intranet, which is also inaccessible to non-staff. This course is one I created for our public site and is accessible to the world. It is a pretty straightforward course that includes scenario based learning.

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eLearning Cyclops

MARCH 4, 2014

'So often I get a call from subject matter experts (SME) and other stakeholders regarding elearning courses asking, "Can''t you just send me the PowerPoint?" My answer of "There is no PowerPoint" is usually not received well and followed by a tone of disbelief. I don''t deny them a PowerPoint because they will probably compromise the instructional integrity of the courses, which is possible, or because I am selfish.

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eLearning Cyclops

FEBRUARY 20, 2014

'I started a Pinterest account quite a while ago, but my interest in it waned quickly. It really did not fill any need for me. In the last few weeks I decided to give in another try. So what have I been pinning? Here are the categories I have so far: eLearning - I pin interesting eLearning infographics, pages, resources, etc. eLearning Screenshots - Various screens from courses I have made.

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eLearning Cyclops

DECEMBER 8, 2013

'I think like most people in our field, I am often asked how to get started in eLearning. Well, the eLearning Industry site has released " How to Become an eLearning Professional ," an ebook of tips for people interested in getting started. It has practical advice from 23 leaders in the field. It will definitely be a resource I share with people interested in entering our field.

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eLearning Cyclops

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

'I''ve been catching up at work since my trip to the DevLearn Conference. Although I do not have the time needed to write a very lengthy post about my wonderful DevLearn experience, I at least want to post a bit about some of the things that impressed me and also provide some post-conference resources. By the way, the only complaint I have about the conference is that there were just too many great presenters.

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eLearning Cyclops

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

'With the help of the Pulp-o-Mizer , I have completed my Devlearn session poster. Hope to see you at Devlearn 2013.

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eLearning Cyclops

AUGUST 18, 2013

'I am very excited to be presenting at the eLearning Guild''s DevLearn Conference this October. If you are heading to the conference this year, I hope to see you there. If you cannot attend, keep an eye on their Twitter hashtag, #DevLearn , which is a fantastic conference backchannel. I will be discussing using characters in eLearning, a topic near and dear to me.

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eLearning Cyclops

JULY 28, 2013

'While exploring how others develop characters, I stumbled upon character charts, a tool used by some fiction writers. In the past, I have developed characters in elearning more off the cuff. It has worked well for me, but a character chart, what a great idea. A character chart allows one to flesh out the finer details of a character''s personality, appearance, position, abilities, etc.

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eLearning Cyclops

MAY 21, 2013

'Here is another post regarding the use of characters in eLearning. Below is a collection of some of the more unusual characters from my courses and job aids along with brief notes on how they were used. The ghost of Alexander Graham Bell - He floated about while coaching staff through using the new IP Phone system. Ossie, the robot sidekick that assists during the Office 2010 course and also keeps the course''s superhero, Captain Upgrade, out of trouble.

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eLearning Cyclops

JANUARY 21, 2013

Over at L & D Global Events they have been posting a series of interviews of learning and development professionals. I have been reading them over the last several months and it has been a real pleasure to learn more about others in the field, including their perspectives on the L&D business, where they've been, where they're going and more.

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eLearning Cyclops

DECEMBER 9, 2012

I am a big fan of adding characters to my courses when they are appropriate and work with the course design. Starting with this post, I am going to begin a series of posts sharing examples of how I have used characters in learning. When I refer to learning I am not simply referring to only web-based training (WBT), but also job aids, informal learning and marketing learning events.

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eLearning Cyclops

AUGUST 5, 2012

Tonight the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and NASA are landing the Curiosity Mars rover on the red planet. To say the least, no easy feat. They have put out videos that not only created some great hype for this venture, but are also very engaging and accessible means of educating the public on the purpose of the mission and how they will accomplish it.

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eLearning Cyclops

JULY 4, 2012

Happy 4th of July everyone! I thought I would dig through the Free eLearning page for some of the US history courses in there. And here they are: Abraham Lincoln’s Crossroads – National Constitution Center An Overview of American History (video) – Digital History Constitutional Timeline - National Constitution Center Native Words, Native Warriors (Codetalkers) – NMAI The Supreme Court – CSPAN U.S.

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eLearning Cyclops

JULY 1, 2012

I'm happy to announce the eLearningCyclops blog is now featured in the eLearningLearning community. If you are not familiar with eLearningLearning , it is an aggregation of elearning blogs. My prior blog, prior to migrating it to this new location, was also part of this community. As it was then, it is an honor to be among these fantastic blogs. Give eLearninLearning a visit and get a wide perspective of what's happening in the elearning world.

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eLearning Cyclops

DECEMBER 7, 2009

Google is launching its Real Time Search [youtube [link].

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eLearning Cyclops

DECEMBER 25, 2009

Here is a video that gives us a glance at astronaut training including NASA's use of virtual reality. [link] To read more about Cady's training, read the CNN article " Training Day for Astronaut-mom Cady Coleman.".

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eLearning Cyclops

DECEMBER 27, 2009

Perhaps I have been living under a rock, but until today I have not heard of Pecha-Kucha. I am not a big fan of PowerPoint mostly because of the abusive use of the tool itself. After all, PowerPoint does not bore people to death, presenters (or e-Learning designers) WITH PowerPoint do. Upon being introduced to the term Pecha-Kucha, I Googled it and was intrigued by the concept.

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eLearning Cyclops

DECEMBER 6, 2009

While recently reviewing my "best of" posts, I also looked at its top keywords. Seeing cloud computing ranked as the highest keyword inspired me to add a bit more about the Cloud. So I have decided to add a cloud application page. The Cloud App page is a compilation of free cloud applications. Many of these are useful online learning tools. So far, I have listed 20 apps, but there are many more out there which I hope to add as I encounter them.

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eLearning Cyclops

DECEMBER 13, 2009

A free e-book, New Technologies, New Pedagogies: Mobile Learning in Higher Education , is available for free download through the University of Wollongong's Research Online. This book provides examples of m-learning implementation and concludes with some recommended design principles for m-learning. For anyone involved in m-learning, this is a worthwhile read.

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eLearning Cyclops

DECEMBER 5, 2009

Here is a compilation of free cloud applications. These have a slant towards learning tools and web development, but is open to any suggested cloud apps as long as they are free to all users. If you has an app to suggest please do so by posting a comment. Blogging WordPress Documents Google Docs Graphics Picasa Web Albums ChartGo (creating charts) Screencasts and Simulations Screenr Social Bookmarking Delicious Social Media and Networking LinkedIn Plaxo Twitter Yammer Video YouTube.

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eLearning Cyclops

DECEMBER 20, 2009

I have started test driving Yammer. For the last six months, I have been using Twitter and getting great rewards from using it. So naturally a similar application that is tailored more for use in a corporate environment would spark my interest. Thus, I have created an account and convinced a few of my teammates to do the same. It is a microblogging application like Twitter and is a fantastic app for collaboration and knowledge sharing.

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