Adobe Museum of Digital Media (AMDM)

Adobe now has a preview of its Adobe Museum of Digital Media. This is a virtual museum dedicated to digital media. As Adobe describes it,

The Adobe Museum of Digital Media (AMDM) is a unique virtual space designed to showcase and preserve groundbreaking digital work and to present expert commentary on how digital media influences culture and society. (see full description)

It will be online and always open. I always enjoy seeing great examples of digital media, especially when it is very creative and pushes the envelope. I hope to see some very innovative exhibits and hopefully be inspired too.

The museum opens October 6th, but you can see a preview now at at www.adobemuseum.com.

Nevermind the iPad, Here Comes the Galaxy Tab... It has Flash

Even I will admit the iPad is an exciting device, but because it is  missing Adobe Flash it is not something in which I am willing to spend the money. As you can see in the video below, we will be able get a tablet with Flash, which is enticing to me. Who knows, maybe with enough tablets coming to market with Flash on them Apple will rethink adding Flash to the iPad.

http://images.tv.adobe.com/swf/player.swf

Johns Hopkins Medicine YouTube Channel

It's amazing how many resources I have been discovering at Johns Hopkins. I work within one small part of Johns Hopkins Medicine and have been discovering the many resources across the larger organization available to both staff and the public. One I recently discovered is the Johns Hopkins Medicine YouTube channel, which I would like to share with my readers. I embedded just a few examples from the channel below.

The Johns Hopkins Medicine channel has many more interesting and informative videos. The link has also been added to the Free e-Learning page.

Voice Over in e-Learning, Sometimes

September's Big Question over at the Learning Circuits Blog is regarding use of voice-over in e-learning. The question addresses numerous topics regarding the use of audio. So, I thought I would contribute my two cents. First off, most of the courses I have created do not have narration. Some courses just don't need audio to be effective and it is better to spend the time (often limited time) and effort on improving the course design than adding audio. Cathy Moore addresses the topic of whether narration is needed and a few supporting studies in her post - "Do We Really Need Narration?", which is well worth the read.

So, when have I used narration in e-learning? Almost exclusively simulations (software and web application sims). I have found these lend themselves well to voice overs. The reason being that the step-by-step audio instructions allow the user to focus on the visuals of the task at hand (e.g., which button to click) and less need to bounce back and forth between reading text and perusing the simulated interface.

Here are my tips if you are using voice-over.

• Keep text as option, whether on the screen or available through a transcript that can open for each page. This also addresses accessibility for the hearing impaired.


• Provide a mute button for those that find the voice-over to be just a distraction (again, make text available).


• If budget allows voice-over talent and a studio, great. If not, find the best person for the job at your organization. You want someone with a good voice and a pleasant personality that comes through in their narration. If they know the subject matter, that is a big plus too.


• Script it out beforehand, but don't be afraid to improv a bit as long as it is still true to the instruction.


• Do practice runs. This will help everyone get comfortable with the script and reduce the amount of retakes needed.


• Don't make it redundant. Don't read the text on the screen or transcript. However, make sure both text and narration provide the same instruction, but not exact word for word.


• Get yourself a good microphone and suitable place to record the narration. Here are some good tips on this.


• If it works with the design, use several voice talents to narrate. This will add a little more diversity and less monotony.


• Consider narration as a nice extra touch, but not a priority. Even if it works with the course design, do not sacrifice the time needed for proper design and development. Prioritize what needs to be done to create the course and put narration low on the list. Remember, a well designed course without narration will still be effective.

If you have any e-learning narration tips, I would love to hear them. Please feel free to add them to the comments section.

Books Not Recommended by Members of #lrnchat

Last Thursday, #lrnchat's topic was "book talk" and question five was great fun. The question posed was "What are book titles you hope never to see?" Here is a list of just some of the responses. They are not just very amusing, they are also a great reflection on so much of what we should avoid, or at least rethink, in our industry.

Dave_Ferguson: “I Can Haz Smarts: Lolcats Guyd to Learnin Stylz”
JaneBozarth: "More Levels for Evaluation by Autopsy"
sillym0nkey: Rapid Oganizational Change
kelly_smith01:  I’m OK, You’re my SME?
trchandler:  “Mandated Learning Made Easy”
billcush: ADDIE for Dummies
Quinnovator:  “Adapting Learning: Learning Styles, Generational Differences, and Brain-Based Learning”
susannahrl: How to outsource all eLearning design and development in 3 easy steps
Quinnovator: “Content and a Quiz: your guide to meaningful change”
moehlert: @lrnchat Compliance Training for Fun and Profit
sillym0nkey: how to bring back ppt lectures to the classroom
trchandler: “How to Squeeze More Bullet Points into your Presentations”
Quinnovator: “The LMS: your complete learning solution”
mpetersell: “101 versions of jeopardy for learning”
odguru: How to keep them guessing: Butchering the socratic method to make people feel dumb
Dave_Ferguson: Management Secrets of Donald Rumsfeld (a new musical)
kasey428: The Audio Book of Advanced Calculus
minutebio: "Incorporating Informal Learning into Your LMS"
jsuzcampos: Speak When Spoken To: Your Guide to Lively Classroom Discussion
mbr1online: Death by PowerPoint: A Manual
Dave_Ferguson Are you not a fan of lateral thinking or is it interpretive dance that annoys you?
Quinnovator: “Investing in Organizational Learning: The Cost Center Approach”
Dave_Ferguson: Take It to the River: How Hammurabi the CEO Dealt with Naysayers and Nitpickers.
TriciaRansom: The Complete Guide to Standard Clip Art
Dave_Ferguson: “How to Rail against Social Media while Maintaining Eight Twitter IDs, or, Easy Self-RTs”
kasey428: Improve the Classroom Experience: Adding Motion to Your PowerPoints!
Quinnovator: “Social Schmocial: Why Formal Is the only Real Learning”
NYChase: The Client is Always Right.
sillym0nkey: How to use smile sheets effectively
TriciaRansom: More Time in Training = More Learning
mbr1online: Idiot's Guide to Organizing Your Files and Catching Up on Email while Watching Webinars.
trchandler: "Class Evaluation Questions that Guarantee a Raise"
minutebio:  "Google Wave and How it Will Change Learning"

Want to see the books that ARE recommended? See the book list from the early #lrnchat and the full transcripts can be found on the #lrnchat page.

An important note: If you have not participated in #lrnchat (online chat via Twitter), you are really missing a great experience. It is great fun and a chance to interact, learn and share with many great instructional designers. They have both an early and a late version every Thursday. The schedule and helpful information on participating is available on the #lrnchat blog. See you next Thursday!

My e-Learning Don'ts

Here is a list I compiled of things I think should NOT be done when designing e-learning courses. I believe the following are counter to adult learning theory, sound e-learning design and they just down-right irk me. They are not in any particular order.

Don't:

1. Turn off navigation until a screen's audio is done. Not only do most people read quicker than narration and may choose to move on, it is just plain wrong to deny learners user control.


2. Have audio without close caption or at least equivalent content on screen. This is not just a 508 compliance (accessibility) issue, it is also possible that some computers won't have audio capabilities. For example, this was the case at a bank I worked for where tellers did not have sound on their PCs.


3. Force navigation. You know those courses that you can only go in a linear direction using the dreaded next button and they don't even give you access to a menu, ugh! Didn't I mention user control  earlier?


4. Neglect to include orientation. Let me know if I am on page 1 of 10 or 1 of 100. However, if you have page 1 of 100 written anywhere in your course you have even bigger issues to resolve.


5. Call a course interactive when all it has is a bunch of pop-ups. There is more to creating an interactive course than adding pop-ups and rollovers. Here is a good resource if you are looking for ideas on how to make your course more interactive -  Schone's "Engaging Interactions for eLearning."


6. Make courses that look like it's PowerPoint. I know PowerPoint is sometimes used as an authorig tool, but at least use it to create engaging, interactive courses that do not resemble PowerPoint slide decks that you just uploaded to Captivate or Articulate. Need tips on bringing PowerPoint to life? Try the Rapid eLearning blog.


7. Leave out feedback for review and assessment questions. Providing feedback is a chance to correct misconceptions, reinforce learning,  etc.


8. List objectives like they are written in your course design plan. Of course it is good to include objectives, but write them in a way that is more conversational and spark interest.


9. Use graphics that have absolutely nothing to do with the learning at hand. See the eLearning Coach for some tips on using graphics.


10. Make a course mandatory if it absolutely does not have to be mandatory. Let the learners learn for learning sake.

If you have additional e-learning don'ts, please share them in the comments section.

Make a Quiz on the Cloud (ProProfs Quiz Maker)

There is a new addition to the Free Cloud Apps page, it's ProProfs Quiz Maker. Quiz Maker is a quick and easy way to build a quiz that is hosted on the cloud.  No software needed, it is completely web-based. You can easily post a link to your quiz from a blog or web page. It also has the functionality to tweet a link or add to Facebook or MySpace. Proprofs was gracious enough to give me a complimentary account (full disclosure) to test drive it. Here is a link to a simple quiz I made to test some of the features and so you can see some of what it does - Take my Rhode Island History quiz.

Although you can embed the quiz in blogs and sites, it uses iFrames, which does not play nice with my WordPress blog, otherwise I would have done so here. I was told they are working on a new widget with additional customizations for embedding the quizzes, which is expected later this week. However, it is very easy to post a link to your quizzes (like above) or share via social media.

Here is what I like about Quiz Maker:

• It is extremely user-friendly.


• It is on the Cloud, so users have access anywhere, whether taking a quiz or building one.


• You can add images,  video, and links to each question.


• You can add feedback.


• They offer a free version.


• You can track participation, including each user's answers and quiz stats. I was impressed with how easy it was to view participants' answers and overall quiz stats. I wish most learning management systems (LMS) made this same task so easy. FYI: Tracking is not included with the free account.


• According to a representative from ProProfs they are currently working on SCORM compatibility, so integration with an LMS is on the horizon.

What I wish it had:

• If you update/edit a quiz the stats are reset to zero. So, once you have a quiz made, make sure it is the absolute  final version.


• More question types. They have multiple choice, fill in the blank and essays, but it would be great if they had some more interactive options like hot spots, drag and drop or matching, etc. Hopefully they will expand the question types in the future.


• I am splitting hairs, but I would like to see the fill in the blank allow the blank to be placed anywhere in the sentence. Unless I missed something, it appears the blank could only be placed at the end of a sentence.


• I would have liked to be able to also add graphics, video and links to the feedback.

Regarding the free version, you cannot add the creator's name to the certificate and it is only an ad free trial for seven days, then ads will be posted. Also the tracking and stats features are not included in the free account after seven days. You can view the comparisons of pricing plans here, including what you do and don't get with the free account. FYI: They do have a very reasonably priced plan for educational users.

All in all, if you are looking to create and share simple quizzes with the benefits of doing so on the Cloud, it is worth your time. I will emphasize the word "simple" because if you are looking for more interactive question types (e.g. hot spots, drag and drop, graded sims, etc.), you will probably need to utilize more robust e-learning authoring tools to do so.

If you are interested in taking Quiz Maker for a spin, here is the link again - ProProfs Quiz Maker.