Structured Writing + Design = Stylish Docs

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.

De Anna L Fench
eduTech gEEk writer

The Life of a Freelancing ID

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!

De Anna L Fench
eduTech gEEk writer

Storyboards & eLearning (Pt. 4)

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!

Storyboards & eLearning (Pt. 3)

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

Any large-scale eLearning project may easily have 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
• Notes related to the 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 assessments should be developed after objectives have been defined and an instructional strategy has been planned. The objectives and strategy assist the designer in developing the most efficient assessment materials: students have a greater chance of mastering the learning objectives, while focusing on the planned content (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2005).

Content development follows assessment development. After one has decided the learning objectives and developed assessments 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 is in charge of the graphics on your team) develop graphics after the storyboard has been reviewed and signed-off. Since the instructional designer uses the storyboard to communicate the physical layout of the instructional content, then those in charge of developing graphics (or animations and other interactive, supplementary components) should become very knowledgeable of this document. To save on time and money the graphic artist may want to take a further step by having a one-on-one meeting 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/

De Anna L Fench
eduTech gEEk writer

What Can Adobe Captivate Do For You? (Pt. 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!

20 Tips for Good Blogging

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!

Storyboards & eLearning (Pt. 2)

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!

Storyboards & eLearning (Pt. 1)

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 the computer-mediated instruction.

The creator (usually the instructional designer or eLearning manager) uses a 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, animators, 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 the instructional layout, then transitions, hyperlinks and animations will only crowd an already detailed presentation. Although they are informative and detailed, storyboards should not be over-saturated with information (Alessi & Trollip, 2001). In fact, the Notes Section of a storyboard is best for brief multimedia details.

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/

De Anna L Fench
eduTech gEEk writer

DDN: Digital Divide Network

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

My Top 5 Authoring Tools

Authoring Tools, What are they?

Authoring Tools are software applications used to create/author eLearning content. They may have interactive multimedia capabilities and the ability to publish content in a variety of formates (SCORM, HTML, CD Rom, LMS, etc.). They are a great way to blend learning environments and introduce technology into the classroom by creating interactive, web-based lectures, practice activities & quizzes.

In this digital age of over flooding the market with tons of programs that do the “same dang thang”, I present to you my Top 5 Authoring Tools:

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
   • FREE and easy to use
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

De Anna L Fench
eduTech gEEk writer