EduTech gEEks…We’re a new brEEd

Writing technologies, writing for technology, writing about and with technology…all of these have become such a huge part of my work. What happened to eLearning? Am I in transition?

Transitioning…you know that moment in your career where your professional interests are changing and the type of designer you once thought you’d be is so far from the type of designer you are becoming?

There…that place right there…I find myself.

For educational technology, I always seen myself more into eLearning and multimedia. Although I am still “here” officially, my interest in professional writing and document design is taking off. Just look at the last several posts on my blog…

Anywho, perhaps this is something all people go through. To be or not to be an eLearning professional? To choose writing technologies and doc design over hardcore eLearning? Blasphemous!!!

Truthfully, I am uncertain.

I guess writing is a huge part of eLearning and so is document design. So I am not straying too far. Maybe it is my expanding knowledge of eduTech…naturally, the boundaries on my instructional design perspective are beginning to stretch into other areas. Perhaps :-/

~EduTech gEEk…I am a new brEEd of gEEkdome.

Are my blogs wordy or worthy?

Maria Schneider, in her Writer’s Digest blog, The Writer’s Perspective by Maria Schneider, talks about keeping blog word count to a limit of 300 words or less.

GEEZ, Maria! That seems so short!

It (wordiness, that is) was actually listed as the #10 tip in her previous blog titled, 20 Tips for Good Blogging (I blogged on this article too under the same title…for easy referencing).

This time, after receiving many complaints from her readers, she goes more in depth about why a word limit is necessary. Her recommendation has logical significance behind it: avoiding fluff and keeping your readers from hitting the snooze on your blog.

Anywho…I like details, not too many details, but enough to explain and define my subject matter. My blog discusses eLearning/Instructional Design specific content, so defining and detailing is necessary for clarification and differentiation of terms.

I recommend taking into account Ms. Schneider’s professional advice. She is one of the more informative and knowledgeable writers/bloggers out here in our cyber world.

Yes, good sentence structure is necessary knowledge for IDs. The project manager for my current ID project has three writing rules:

1. First Person (It’s really second person if you’re referring to the learner as “you”.)
2. Active Voice (no passive language)
3. Present Tense for Verbs

I did not notice how many times I made these mistakes, until now. Writing passively seems to be my numero uno guilty pleasure. The good thing is MS Word allows you to set these parameters. Thus, correcting your mistakes as you work. Pretty convenient.

Today, I came across a Writer’s Digest article titled, The Four Commandments of Writing Good Sentences. According to this article, the four rules are:

1. You shall not write passively.
2. You shall not overuse weak verbs like “to be” and “to have.”
3. You shall not fluff.
4. You shall make every word necessary.

Pretty good stuff, right? I’d say…oops…I say so…or I believe so. Trying to avoid that passive voice.

Discussions of such techniques occur in business writing courses and websites. So, if you want to learn more, google these writing techniques:

1. Business Writing
2. Technical Writing
3. Professional Writing

My New Goal: To make the above mentioned rules a part of my natural writing style.

Not much activity from me this week, huh?

The latest opportunity is a ~ 4 month contract content development position with Information Mapping, Inc. The Information Mapping method of organizing and presenting content is definitely one of the better forms of standardized writing. As far as my experience goes…

Most of my responsibilities will be technical writing and document design oriented. Of course….these two areas of designing instruction seem to follow me everywhere.

The funniest aspect of this job is the transformation of training documents from Word Perfect to MS Word!

Yes…I said “Word Perfect.”

I thought the industry was moving more toward Adobe FrameMaker for template-based document design needs. So to be working with Word Perfect is a true shocker. Nonetheless interesting. I guess these are the types of jobs that help grow you into a true instructional design/technical writing professional.

I think I even said in a previous post about how all my FrameMaker training wouldn’t even be considered for the next job. Boy, did I hit the nail on the head.

My SME—working with my Subject Matter Expert has also been pretty interesting. It has only been a week, but I already realize the benefits to developing a supportive relationship with good communication.

The project has had a rough start due to many external factors that pre-date the arrival of my team and I. But, you know that’s the nature of the game. Either way I am sooooo on board and ready to work.

My Primary Goal: to develop the best instructional documents with my SME that the new batch of students will find useful during their entire program.

All my years as a student should definitely have prepared me for this position.

Writing & The Design of Instruction…They go hand-in-hand?

At least within these early stages of my career, yes! The better I have become at technical and professional writing, the better I have become at instructional design.

When studying those particular forms of writing, a lot of learned typography, formatting, and layout techniques brightened up my dreary world of plain, gray-scale unstructured text. This has truly transitioned my skill and understanding of Document Design.

Now my instructional documents and eLearning modules (even my blah blah surveys) have a new spice to them!

It excites me…puts a lil’ spark in my instructional document design tasks.

In a previous post titled, “Career Choices for an EduTech Star,” I posted a YouTube video that briefly described some of the job titles under which we EduTech Geeks fall. Look at the entire ISD process of analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation…our skill is truly extensive when you really evaluate what we do.

These past two months my work as a Freelance ID has really picked up, thus creating a desire to share some of the secrets or best ways to land these freelance jobs.

Mostly, I have been doing writing and design & development jobs. Small technical writing and document design seem to be the needed tasks amongst many companies; creating templates for corporate documents is another frequently posted job. Note: Knowing a little HTML/CSS wouldn’t hurt either.

To quickly summarize, the most common freelance jobs for this ID have been:

• technical writing docs/reports,
• desktop publishing (DTP)
• document design and layout of instructional docs,
• compiling packets of instructional information,
• editing instructional content,
• eLearning module design & development,
• presentation design (for instructional content),
• development of assessments & evaluations, &
• MY FAVE = audio/video scriptwriting for eLearning content.

The audio/video scripting, or just plain scripting for audio content, allows me to combine the film/theatre background with instructional design. Its a good skill to have and, usually, the content is already there, you’re just responsible for turning it into a script. I enjoy doing this because it simultaneously adds to both the design and writing resumes.

Good places to add a profile:

• www.ifreelance.com
• www.linkedin.com

Also, consider the creative staffing agencies in your area. I live in Chicago, the city flooded with many creative types, here are a few I know of:

• www.paladinstaff.com
• www.creaitivedir.com
• www.creativegroup.com
• AD AGENCIES!!! Ad agencies are always a good professional contact. Many DTP, document design and web-based design jobs come through their network.

“Your net worth is your network.”…can’t remember who said it, but it rings true. So get out there and get those freelance jobs!!!

The money is great! The networking is awesome! The professional independence is unparalleled!

Quick Post: Wanting to learn more about storyboarding for eLearning?

As if Parts 1-3 weren’t enough, right?

Attached to this post is an MS Power Point Presentation that discusses eLearning storyboards:

• the Process of Creating them, and
• the 8 Essential Storyboard Elements.

Download Here: eLearning Storyboards Power Point Presentation

…Enjoy!

How detailed does a storyboard need to be so it is considered “sufficient”?

For any large-scale eLearning project there could easily be several instructional designers in addition to programmers, graphic artists, photographers, animators, videographers and SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) (Leonard, 2004; Alessi & Trollip, 2001). Both Kruse (n.d.) and Alessi and Trollip (2001) believe that in order for a storyboard to effectively guide the members of a team, it must (at a minimum) include the following:

• project information (i.e. title, unit #, section #, etc.),
• screen labels,
• audio and narration information,
• video clip descriptions,
• graphic descriptions,
• the content to be included in the on-screen text,
• navigation and interaction descriptions, and
• any notes that may pertain to design choices (i.e. text style and size).

At what point in the design and development process do you think content, graphics & assessments should be developed?

Assessment items help to narrow content, therefore I believe assessments should be developed after objectives have been defined and an instructional strategy has been planned. The research conducted in both of these phases can assist the designer in developing the most efficient assessment materials to help students master the learning objectives, while keeping them focused on the planned content (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2005).

Content should be developed after assessments. I believe after one has decided the learning objectives and developed assessment material based off of those objectives, then writing and revising the content can begin. Assessments help a designer determine what primary and secondary textual content is best for the instructional phase (Alessi & Trollip, 2001).

Graphic artists (or whoever in charge of the graphics on your team) should develop graphics after the storyboard has been reviewed and understood. Since the storyboard is used by the instructional designer in communicating the appearance of the instruction, then those in charge of developing graphics need to know this document (storyboard) inside out before any creation begins. To save on time and money the graphic artist may want to take a further step and have a sit down with the lead instructional designer and/or project manager to affirm the details of the storyboard.

***Additional Storyboard Resources

Alessi, S.M. & Trollip, S.R. (2001). Multimedia for learning: methods and development (3^rd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Dick, W., Carey, L., & Carey, J.O. (2005). The systematic design of instruction (6^th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Kruse, K. (n.d.). Creating scripts and storyboards for e-learning. Retrieved on May 19, 2007, from http://www.e-Learningguru.com/articles/art2_5.htm

Leonard, T. (2004, November 15). Creating and using storyboards. Retrieved on May 19, 2007, from http://www.devshed.com/c/a/Practices/Creating-and-Using-Storyboards/1/

Lately, I have been using Adobe Captivate 3 for some of everything: presentations, interactive lecture content, practice activities, quizzes, etc.

This video is just a beginner demo introducing the software; I will continue to post some of the more eLearning relevant ones as I find them. Special thanks to YouTuber: rzanotti….Enjoy!

Side Topic Post: I came across this article, 20 Tips for Good Blogging, on the Writer’s Digest Blog titled, “The Writer’s Perspective by Maria Schneider.”

The post has some really interesting tips for good blogging practices; I’m sure it will be useful for any blogger. The blog itself usually has some great info and resources on different forms of writing.

Really nice to see “blogging” getting the respect it deserves within the writing community.

…Enjoy!

Quick Post: Typically, I use MS PowerPoint for creating my eLearning Storyboards. Here are a few examples of Storyboard Frame Templates in PowerPoint: storyboard_frame_template_examples

…Enjoy!

What are eLearning Storyboards?

Storyboarding is a common technique used by instructional designers to visually represent each screen of an eLearning product, such as courseware or web instruction. According to Kruse (n.d.), it is a screen-by-screen example of what the learners will see, hear and do during their interaction with computer-mediated instruction. The creator uses the storyboard to facilitate communication between team members of an instructional design project (Leonard, 2004; Alessi & Trollip, 2001).

Why should a storyboard not include transitions, hyperlinks or animations?

A storyboard should not include these elements for two main reasons:

1. Including these elements can lead to unnecessary crowding, and
2. Some of these elements are created by those team members (i.e. graphic artists, programmers, etc.) who need to have viewed the storyboard before any multimedia elements can be developed.

Crowding: If the purpose of a storyboard is to give a screen-by-screen account of what the instruction will look like, then transitions, hyperlinks and animations will only crowd an already detailed presentation. Although they are to be informative, storyboards should not be over-saturated with information (Alessi & Trollip, 2001). In fact, the notes section is to be used for brief multimedia detailing.

Need for viewing the storyboard before designing: As for the second reason, an instructional designer is typically not the person who creates such interactive elements. These roles are assigned to team members such as the animator (or graphics artist) and programmer respectively. Until such members view the storyboard, interactive elements can not be created.

***Additional Storyboard Resources

• Alessi, S.M. & Trollip, S.R. (2001). Multimedia for learning: methods and development (3^rd ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

• Kruse, K. (n.d.). Creating scripts and storyboards for e-learning. http://www.e-Learningguru.com/articles/art2_5.htm

• Leonard, T. (2004, November 15). Creating and using storyboards. http://www.devshed.com/c/a/Practices/Creating-and-Using-Storyboards/1/

Quick Post: Interested in learning about the digital divide or how to combat digital literacy in your community (or workplace)?…Check out the DDN.

I do a lil’ blogging on this site as well, but really I use it to stay up on many of the digital literacy news and initiatives going on worldwide. It is such a great network of technology professionals, many in education, who recognize a problem and seek solutions. One day, within next year or so, I hope to have a better clue as to what digital divide issue I will be dedicating my career and non-profit initiatives toward.

In the meantime… http://www.digitaldivide.net

1. Adobe Captivate
   • A flash-based eLearning tool with great interactive content presentation and assessment tools; great multimedia packaging
2. Trivantis Lectora
   • Easy to use authoring tool with great assessment and multimedia capabilities
3. eXe
   • eLearning xHTML editor with such ease of use any teacher or beginning ID could use it, also integreates easily into LMSs
4. CourseLab
   • eLearning authoring to, FREE and easy to use
5. Microsoft PowerPoint (w/ Adobe Presenter aka Breeze)
   • Presentation software that is good for training and tutorial purposes when used with Adobe Present

“New York University!”

Ahhhhhh….like music to my ears. I absolutely love this institution. No, it is not Big Ten crazed like my O State (Go Bucks!), but it fulfilled my life in other ways. The very place where I began my graduate journey…

NYU always seems to find a uniquely impressive way to merge academics with the arts, not just have them co-exist on the same campus. I am talking about true collaborative effort taking place within so many of their non-traditonal academic programs. Especially the Educational Communications Technology (ECT) graduate program within the Steinhardt School of Education. The doctoral program is ideal for any educational technologist looking to bring their understanding of learning technologies to a whole new level. ECT Studies @ NYU is arguably one of the most well designed graduate programs (at both the MA and PhD level) available in our field. The curricula screams innovative leadership and training.

The most impressive part of their initiative, from my perspective of course, is the focus on video and interactive web-based learning environments as valid technologies to be used for learning. Many higher ed institutions whose curricula have a strong foundation in education, usually, lack the creative design and development training we need as educational technology designers. Believe me, I know this! I am constantly on the web searching for doctoral programs with a solid foundation in the learning process and a clear vision into the future demands of our profession; it is truly rare to find them, especially amongst the more prestigious universities…for all my Academician Snobs out there

Some of my favorite aspects of the NYU ECT Doctoral Program are:

• Major focus on the design and development of educational video & web (incl. audio/sound editing)
• Focus on cognitive learning and teaching strategies
• Student teaching opportunities throughout New York City school system, businesses, non-profits, etc.
• Multiple educational research opportunities, incl. digital research
• Top educators and educational technologist as professors and mentors
• Focus on learning technologies for areas outside of the typical K-12 sector: non-profit, training, adult education, etc.
• Home to CREATE, the Consortium for Research and Evaluation of Advanced Technologies in Education

…and much, much more!

InDesign vs FrameMaker…What is the difference?

Since they both are used for our DTP needs, that was my question. This morning, I viewed a really good tutorial that helped answer that question. To give credit and thanks, it was created by the people over at Lynda.com (YouTube ID: “lyndapodcast”).

This InDesign CS3 Tutorial focuses on workflow, showing how efficient InDesign3 can be for the following DTP tasks:

• creating a layout,
• creating text and image frames,
• importing text and images from other non-ID files,
• editing those imported frames,
• working with multiple layers, and
• working in between multiple Adobe programs (as I do daily).

…Know of any other good tutorials out there that cover Adobe products? If so, Please leave the URL as a comment.

Today, I came across this on going, open source eLearning xHTML editor called, eXe.

According to the CLPT website (Center for Learning & Performance Technologies), it is considered one of the Top 100 Authoring Tools amongst eLearning professionals….hmmmm? :-X

Anywho, eXe allows teachers and designers to edit HTML for online lesson authoring; it also easily integrates into many LMS (Learning Managment Systems, i.e. Blackboard & WebCt).

More of my work is demanding HTML and XML for web-based content, therefore this may be a solution to my disease, LIPLL (Low-Intermediate Programming Language Literacy, pronounced “lipple” ). So, I figured I would download eXe and give it a go!

…review to come in a later post.

Instructional Designers (or anyone working in a technology-based field) should not wait in exhausting highway traffic…airport lines…or hold up a boardroom in order to collaborate with team members. Personally, I would prefer to work from home…It’s not like we tech people actually “talk” to one another.

For this 8 week CBT (Computer-Based Training) Project, I was working with 2 out-of-state IDs. Design & Development went pretty smoothly thanks to our use of several Online Meeting/Collaboration Tools. Simple trial and error…figuring out which was most capable of handling all of our file transfer and presentation needs…e-mail just doesn’t “do it” for certain project tasks.

In the spirit of sharing & caring, I created a Feature Analysis Chart of 4 programs (AOL, iVisit, GoToMeeting & Adobe Connect) we tried out…

Some Additional Pros & Cons…

• AOL CHAT (a Download): Simple if you already have a Screenname, but who wants co-workers or supervisors seeing our obnoxious away messages…I don’t.

• iVisit (a Download): Too boring and limited; Requires an annoying code for log-in; Set up is more like something from the late 90s…yawn.

• GoToMeeting (Wed-based): Great online tool; Unlimited amount of meetings; Voice conferencing available

• Adobe Connect Professional (Web-based): Strictly web-based; Host has ability to maneuver through personal computer while audience/other connected members watch; Voice conferencing also available; Need for a definite high speed connection when presenting info…you and your dial-up modem holding up everyone’s time = sooooo embarrassing.

…I prefer Adobe Connect, of course.

“They’ve done it again!” Adobe’s Technical Communications Suite is just that, Sweeeeeeeeet!

Finally!!! I am so proud of them for actually recognizing the needs of the eLearning and Instructional Design communities. I simply think it is “hott” idea that couldn’t have come any sooner. Some of the most effective software programs I have used for instructional design and learning media are included:

• Adobe FrameMaker8: for all our technical document publishing needs (You already know how I feel about FM8.)
• Adobe Captivate 3: for creating some of the hottest & interactive (Flash-based) courses, presentations and assessments
• Adobe Acrobat 3D: Okay, Pause! I have yet to use 3D because I do not need do much collaboration on engineering and architectural type of projects (i.e. those where I have to view ‘all sides’ of an object…Urgh! Blah!). Still, it’s a niiiiiice product for those who need the whole “3D Collabo”
• Adobe RoboHelp 7: for the creation of help systems. I have used this product once before during the development of a mock Computer-Based Training (CBT) Learning Program. But, from what I recall, it is also really helpful for any designer or new media artist who has difficulty relinquishing all control over to IT.

…Applause.

“Salve, Genti Pubblici!” I’m back with post numero due…

I am thinking of doing a series of posts on the numerous careers that fit under the Educational Technology umbrella. Hmmm…perhaps this will be the 1st?! I’m not quite sure @ the moment.

Anywho…In my wonderful job search I came across so many positions that my education and skill as an Instructional Designer qualified me for. Instead of doing a bunch of boring textual information , I am embedding this really brief, to-the-point video presentation I found on YouTube. Thanks, zoghart!

Some of the careers that made the cut are: Instructional Designers (of course…we’re the best), eLearning Analysts, Multimedia Developers, Learning Development Managers, K12 Techies, Technology Teachers, Web Accessibility Specialists, and more…

…hope you find it helpful. Now I know what to go after for my next job.