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Tom Kuhlmann's ID Blog

Practical, real-world tips for e-learning success.
URL: http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning
Updated: 2 hours 48 min ago

How to Use PowerPoint to Create Custom Stock Images

Tue, 05/21/2013 - 3:30am

Many of the blog’s readers are forced to work with limited resources especially when it comes to building the assets for their elearning courses. As many of you have discovered, when working with limited resources we have to MacGyver much of our production.

In a recent post on how to create templates for online training, I used the image below. While the image is simple, it is a combination of three graphics and all of the editing was done in PowerPoint.

 

Today I’ll show you how to use PowerPoint to modify your stock images.

Free Stock Images from Microsoft Office

Microsoft Online has all sorts of great stock images. In fact, many of the for-pay services provide images through the Microsoft site. They’re not the high-quality choices you’d find on their own sites. But I’ve found that for most of the elearning courses I design, the free images work fine.

Of course you can use any image for the tips I am going to show below, but if you’re using PowerPoint and you have limited resources, then taking advantage of the free resources that Microsoft provides is a no-brainer.

How to Modify Free Stock Images

In the example below, I have an image of a woman thinking. I wanted to add a thought bubble to the image. But to add a bit more depth, I wanted the thought bubble to be slightly behind the woman.

Here’s how I created the image using PowerPoint:

  • The final image is layered. I duplicated the woman thinking image. One sits on top and one on the bottom. In between the two images is the thought cloud graphic.
  • To get the thought cloud behind the woman’s head requires that we remove the background of the top woman image. Use PowerPoint’s remove background feature to isolate the woman. Don’t worry about it being perfect. There’s a duplicate image on the bottom that will hide the imperfections.
  • Add the thought bubble and text. And then place the thought bubble behind the top image and above the bottom image.
Tutorial: Use PowerPoint for Basic Graphic Design

Here’s a tutorial that walks through the steps that I outlined above.

Click here to view the tutorial.

As you can see, PowerPoint’s valuable for more than presentations and rapid elearning courses. It’s a great tool to meet some of your basic graphic design needs, too.

How are you using PowerPoint to create your own images? Share your thoughts here.

Tidbits

Be sure to check out the events in June. I’ll be in Philadelphia, Florida, and Oregon.

  • June 4 & 5: Philadelphia, PA. Two workshops.
    Day 1—Rapid E-Learning Workshop
    Day 2—Getting Started with Articulate Storyline
  • June 12 & 13: Davie, FL (ASTD). Two workshops.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop.
  • June 26-27: Portland, OR. BlueVolt eLearning Conference. Join the Articulate community team for a series of how-to sessions using the Articulate elearning applications.
  • August: San Francisco, CA (ASTD). Details coming.
  • September: Greensboro, NC (ASTD). Details coming in June.
  • September: New York, NY (STC). Two workshops. Register here.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop. I’ll also be presenting at the evening chapter meeting.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop.
  • October: Baton Rouge, LA (ASTD). Details coming.
  • October: Los Angeles, CA (ASTD). Details coming.
  • November: St. Louis, MO (ASTD). Details coming.
Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

Here’s How to Build an E-Learning Template That Will Rock Your World

Tue, 05/14/2013 - 3:30am

Okay, if an elearning template’s going to rock your world you need to get out of your cubicle and go take a walk outside. Enjoy the life around you. Then come back and finish reading this blog post. I’ll be waiting.

Ready?

Now that things are in perspective let’s drop the hyperbole and look at what it takes to build the world’s best elearning template.

Create a Starter Template

Earlier we looked at how to create an elearning template that works. In that post we discussed how to build a starter template for your online training courses by identifying the major parts or elements of an elearning course that are common to most courses. Then we create a placeholder slide for each part.

This serves two purposes. The first is that it becomes the framework for a course template. The other is that this starter template serves as a simple project guide. It helps those just getting started consider all of the major elements. Often some of these elements are an afterthought in the development process. By starting with a starter template, you ensure that all of the major parts of the course are considered.

A key point here is that there is no graphic design or visual treatment to the screens. They’re just blank placeholders to remind you that these common elements need to be considered during the production process.

What Goes onto the E-Learning Course Screen?

Unless you take a constructivist approach where the learner is expected to construct the course content from blank screens, odds are the screens in your course will have content on them. And when it comes down to it, there are really only so many things you can put on the screen. I like to keep it simple and group all of those things into two buckets—text and media.

  • Text is all of the written text that is meant to be read. That can include things like titles, headings, captions, and body text.
  • Media is basically everything else like videos, pictures, charts, tables, illustrations and graphics.
Where Can You Place Onscreen Elements?

Considering those two onscreen elements, the next question is where can they be placed? There really are only so many ways you can layout your onscreen content. For example, body text, where can it go? Up, down, left, or right. The same goes for media. Where can you put the pictures on your screen?

In some of our workshops we have people brainstorm different layouts. I keep it simple. Squiggly lines are text and boxes represent media. Then I create a bunch of boxes and play around with potential layouts as you can see in the example below.

Dubberly Design Office has an interesting post where they show 892 unique ways to design a 4×3 screen. That’s a lot of screens and should give you some ideas. I usually just look for about 15-20 or so to get started. Too many choices make it hard to move forward.

Create Common Screen Layouts

Now that you know what goes on the screen, the goal is to develop some layouts that you can use. In the exercise above you brainstormed a bunch of different layout ideas. Now you want to select a few for your starter template.

Create a number of layouts that you can quickly use in your screen design. Of course you can create as many layouts as you’d like, but the goal isn’t to create 5 million layouts. Instead it’s to create a number of common starter layouts to go with your starter template. You want enough variety to keep it interesting and flexible, but not so many that it’s a pain trying to work with them.

Once you’ve decided on the layouts, add them to your starter template. In PowerPoint and Storyline, you can add the layouts via the master slide template. That makes it really easy to select a starter slide and then apply a layout from one of the many prebuilt choices.

When you’re all done you should have a starter template with a number of content placeholder screens. And then within the template you have 20 or so good layouts that can be applied to any of the screens. That gives you a great place to start when building your rapid elearning courses.

And again as a reminder, there is still no look applied to the screens. So the visual design of your course is still open-ended. But what you’ve done is make sure that you have considered most of the common screens required in a course and have set up a number of usable layouts.  This will speed up a lot of your production.

Which screen layouts do you like best?

Tidbits

Looking forward to meeting many of the blog readers in London this week. If you’re at the event, be sure to say hello. Also, be sure to check out the events in June. I’ll be in Philadelphia, Florida, and Oregon.

Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

How to Build Your Own Graphics for Online Training Courses

Tue, 05/07/2013 - 3:30am

At a recent workshop I was showing someone how I make some of the graphics I use for the blog. As I was showing her an idea, she said that while she already knew the basic steps what she really found valuable was watching me do it and then explain why I did what I did.

I think she’s right. It is helpful to not only know how to do something, but to also know what the person’s thinking while doing it. So in today’s post, I’ll show you how I created some graphics for a few recent blog posts. You’ll learn some production tips and gain some perspective on the choices I make.

Modify Existing Clip Art to Get What You Need

I’m not the biggest fan of clip art because some of the images tend to look cheap and dated.  Another problem is that while there’s a lot of clip art to use, there’s not a lot of usable clip art.

While I’m not a fan of clip art, I am a fan of inexpensive assets that I can customize. And that’s where clip art wins the day. There are quite a few things you can do to make it work for your courses.

And the reality is that many elearning developers are limited to the free clip art images they get with Microsoft Office. So if that’s the constraint you work with, today’s post will give you some ideas on how to customize your existing clip art graphics.

Example 1: How to Customize Clip Art for E-Learning

In the post titled, Sometimes It’s Good to Stop Your Learners Before They Get Started, I wanted an image of a locked gate. But I couldn’t quite find what I wanted so I decided on a bouncer image.

I liked the look of the art work I found, but I didn’t really want the background or the original clothes colors. I wanted something a bit more menacing. So I opted for a dark shirt and then added the glasses.

View the tutorial below to see how I modified the clip art and learn more about some of the decisions I made in the process.

Click here to view the tutorial.

Free assets:

Example 2: How to Customize Clip Art for E-Learning

Here’s a slightly different type of modification. In the post titled, 3 Ways to Improve Your E-Learning Design Skills, I wanted an image of someone holding a list. The options were a little slim so I went with the image below.

Truth be told, I’m not really fond of this clip art style. But if it’s all I have then what can I do to make it work better for me?

I can’t fix the art style, but I can tone down the colors. I made his clothes color a bit more conservative—dark tie, light shirt, and darker pants. I also made his hair a bit darker. In this image it looks like he’s missing an arm and leg. So I added a bit of depth to the image by adding an arm and leg.

Now here’s a trade secret, you can’t share this with others. You’ll also notice that in lieu of a chat cloud I just went with a line that connects the text to the character. The font is kind of a cartoony font and a bit organic. So it doesn’t have straight lines. If I used a regular line for the callout, it wouldn’t look quite right because it would be too straight.

So to get the line I need, I used a letter “i” from the same font and increased the size a bit. Now I have an organic line that matches the style of the font.

Here’s a tutorial that show how I modified the clip art and added the extra leg and arms.

Click here to view the tutorial.

So there you have it—a few simple ways to create your own graphics using existing clip art images. This really comes in handy if all you have is clip art. You may not always like the starting image, but with a little practice you can virtually build any image you need.

To learn more about working with clip art, check out some of the tutorials below. One of my favorites is how to create an elearning template using a single clip art style.

Tidbits

I’ll be in London next week. It’s not too late to sign up. Also, be sure to check out the upcoming sessions in Philadelphia and Florida.

Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

3 Ways to Improve Your E-learning Design Skills

Tue, 04/30/2013 - 3:30am

I get lots of questions about improving skills and becoming better at elearning. Usually people ask about good school programs and book recommendations.

Going to school is an option and it may be a good one. However, it’s not always the best option if you really want to learn to build better courses. We debated whether or not you need an instructional design degree to be successful in elearning. Be sure to read through the comments. There are some good pro and con opinions.

If you’re interested in getting a formal education, Tess Farley compiled a list of schools that offer degrees and certificates. I can’t speak to which ones are the best, but if you did attend one of the programs listed feel free to add your two cents in that thread’s comments section.

Reading books is another way to learn about elearning. And there are plenty that will help. In fact, here’s a good list of elearning and training books we compiled in the elearning community. And you’re not limited to reading books; there are plenty of blogs and websites that offer good help, too.

However, just like in an interactive elearning course, the best opportunity to learn is when you get to reflect on and apply all of this new information. So the key question is how can I apply the things I am learning?

Apply what you’re learning to your elearning courses.

Suppose you read Ruth Clark’s new book on scenario-based elearning. It’s a good book that covers a lot of ground on building scenario-based elearning. Reading the book is the first step. For the next step apply what you’ve learned from the book to one of your courses.

Look over one of your existing courses and then reframe it in the context of what you’ve learned. How would you change that old course? Is it static? What would it take to convert a linear course to one that’s more interactive and incorporates ideas from the book? Even if you don’t get to change the course, the process of reading and reflecting will help.

Practice, practice, and when you have more time, add some practice.

Being good at something means you have to commit the time to practice. If you don’t commit time to practice when it comes time to execute you won’t know how to do what you want to do.

Practice helps you think through ideas and then learn to actually build them with the tools. If you don’t practice building out the ideas, when it comes time to work on the project you may not have time to practice the techniques and process to actually make it work.

Also, some of our ideas are often ill-conceived or not ready for prime time. Practice lets you get the ideas out and the refine them so that they are viable. No client wants to hear about your whacky scenario idea, especially if you haven’t thought it through. Practice lets you think it through.

When you do commit time to practice, don’t build out big demos. Just play around with bite-sized ideas. This way you get them done and feel successful. It’s also easier to iterate on smaller elearning modules.

Focus on diverse demos and activities.

I look over lots of demos and portfolios. A common element is that the person will show twenty courses, but all twenty look exactly the same. All that I know from the person is that they can assemble the same type of course. What I don’t know is the diversity or breadth of skills.

So when you practice building your online training courses, focus on different things. For example, make a list of ten types of tab interactions. Then build them out. When it comes time to use that type of interaction in your courses, you’ll have the technical skills and some ideas. Or if you’re like Montse Anderson, you may even have used the practice to build some good starter elearning templates.

Here’s an idea. In an earlier post we looked at the three core screen interactions. They are click, mouseover, and drag. Build a simple module. Make all interactions on the module click-based. Then rework it. Instead of clicking, you’re limited to drag interactivity. This will help you learn to use your elearning software and by reframing the interaction, make you think about some things in a new way.

There are a lot more ways to improve your elearning design skills. But these three are a good start. Find a book, read it and apply the new ideas. Commit some time to practicing your craft. And then build a portfolio of diverse demos and activities.

If you do those things you’ll increase your skills and find that your courses become more interactive and engaging.

What do you do to build your skills?

Tidbits

Excited about the trip to the UK to meet so many of the blog readers. David Anderson will join me for the workshop. Should be a good time. If not, David owes you a beer.

Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

How to Create an E-Learning Template That Works

Tue, 04/23/2013 - 3:30am

Templates are great because they provide some structure to the design of your online training. But many times templates become so rigid that instead of helping the training design, they inhibit it.

In today’s post we’ll look at ways to build an elearning template that will guide the course design, but leave enough flexibility to create a course that best meets your needs.

How are Books and E-Learning Courses Similar?

Go to a bookstore and you’ll find thousands of books. They look different and cover different topics. Yet, most books follow a similar structure. They have an attention-getting jacket, a cover, title page, table of contents, chapter sections, and an index.

So while the topics of the books may be different, the structure of the books is very similar. And so it is with elearning.

Identify the Core Structure of an E-learning Course

Elearning courses may look different and may cover different topics, but most courses have a similar structure. They include a title screen, a menu, instructions, objectives, content, assessments, and exit instructions.

Think of it like a sandwich. There’s the top (welcome) and bottom (exit) with a bunch of stuff in-between.

Since the structure of most courses is similar, create an elearning template that defines that common structure. Include all of the major parts of the course. Don’t worry about the details like content, layouts, or the way the screens will look. That’s not important at this step.

The main point is to identify the major parts of an elearning course. From there you’ll be able to build a good starter template that helps guide the course structure without defining the specific look.

Create a Default E-Learning Template

Once you’ve identified the generic structure of an elearning course, you can build a starter template. Each software application is going to be a bit different in how it works. But if you use PowerPoint or Articulate Storyline, then you can follow a similar process which is to create a master template that has a placeholder for each core element.

When you’re ready to build a course, start with the default template. At this point, you’re not trying to fit all of your content to match the template. That’s what causes some problems. Instead, you’re using the template to guide your initial development.

Here’s how the placeholder screens help:

  • Placeholder screens make sure no major parts fall through the cracks during your project design. Often courses are designed and then during the pilot testing other screens (like instructions) are added. With the starter template, you know that they need to be a consideration.
  • Your course design is intentional when you step away from pre-existing content. And the starter template helps you do that. Many times we’re working with existing classroom material and we let that dictate how to build the course. By starting with a blank screen, we’re forced to be more intentional about our design.
  • Placeholder screens help us think through the user experience. Many elearning courses are very info-centric. So we easily get caught up in how to display the information. But often we neglect the experience from the user’s perspective. By crafting a starter template, you build a sold framework for your content and consider how the user will go through it. A good example is what to do at the end of the course. What are the next steps? What’s the learner to do? A starter template brings those questions out.

By thinking through the main parts of a course you’ll be able to design a good starter template. The template provides structure for the course design to make sure key parts are considered and don’t fall through the cracks. It also provides enough flexibility so that you’re not forced to a specific design.

Tidbits

If you’re passionate about Articulate software, please take a minute to vote for your favorites. Every vote counts. Plus a good showing means I can keep my kids fed and stocked with Legos.

Upcoming workshops for 2013:

Just added the details for the workshops in Philadelphia and Florida. Seats are limited so sign up before it’s too late.

Also, if you’re an Articulate user in Austin, check out the free jam session on April 18.

Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

Are You Using These 3 Ways to Identify the Objectives of Your Online Training Program?

Tue, 04/16/2013 - 3:19am

Not all elearning courses are created equal. Some seek to share information and build awareness while others may focus on action or changing behaviors. When building elearning courses, I usually separate them into two buckets: information or performance.

The objective of an information-based course is performance support and not performance activity. Think of it more like multimedia text book. It doesn’t teach and assess performance. Instead it provides the context and awareness of important information.  It supports performance but it’s not designed to change performance.

Some people would say that those courses shouldn’t be built. Instead they should be job aids or offline documentation. In some situations that makes sense. But I don’t completely agree with that assertion mostly because building information as a “course” doesn’t take any more effort than building it as a job aid or offline resource. And the other benefit is that it is online and can be purposed in other ways as well.

Performance-based courses focus on action. There’s an activity or something that can be done to demonstrate understanding of the online training content. Those courses change behavior.  They teach concepts that have real-world application. And they allow the learner to practice and demonstrate the new learning.

Often the two types of courses can be combined. Or as some would suggest, the action oriented courses only focus on the action and any non-critical information is removed from the course and made available via job aids and other channels.  Either way works.

Ultimately your success building online training rests in identifying the type of course you’re building, its real objectives, and then allocating the right resources.

How to Build Learning Objectives for Compliance Policy Training

There’s a lot of training that is mandated by the organization but has no real performance goal. They’re usually training programs to build awareness around some of the organization’s policies. For example, one organization for which I worked had a strong focus on safety. So each year I had to take courses on lockout/tagout (LOTO) procedures. I didn’t work in a production environment and never had to do any of this in the real world. But the organization wanted everyone to take the training.

In that case, the training for people who didn’t work in a production environment was more about awareness of the organization’s policies and how they impacted the organization’s success. It probably doesn’t make a lot of sense to have them practice if they don’t ever apply it.

For this type of training the objective is to build awareness. Since the policies are not directly related to the person’s performance, I try to get them in and out of the training as quickly as I can. The goal is not to undermine the organization’s policies. So we want to make sure they get the information they need. But at the same time, we don’t want to lock them up in a course that will take a lot of extra time.

For this learner, I’d build a simple course where they get the information, they’re assessed with a simple quiz or activity, and they’re sent back to productive work.

How to Build Learning Objectives for Annual Policy & Procedure Training

There’s a lot of compliance training as described above, but there’s also a lot of compliance training that is critical to a job function. For example, assume I work in a production environment and LOTO is critical to my performance. Every year I have to take annual compliance training as a reminder of the LOTO policies and procedures. This is compliance training because I have to comply with the organization’s safety procedures and policies. But this is also performance-based training because the ultimate objective is to understand the policies and be able to demonstrate my understanding in my work environment.

Another assumption is that this type of training is not the initial training. Instead it’s refresher training. So it’s more like a certification process where the learner is reminded of the policies and can DEMONSTRATE the application of it. The training doesn’t teach them something new as much as it certifies what they already know.

How to Build Learning Objectives for Performance-Based Training

Performance-based training focuses on real performance goals. Typically there’s a gap. The learners are at point A and the goal is to get them point B. We determine the cause of the gap; and if training is the appropriate solution we build a course to close the gap.

The ultimate objective for these courses is that the learner is able to DO something after completion. Often our learning objectives will state that “at the end of this course they’ll learn or understand” but that doesn’t mean anything. How do you know they understand? How do you know they learned?

You have to create a way to measure their understanding. There needs to be an action where they can show you what they know.

Many elearning courses are structured like this: content, practice activity, assessment. This is OK if the assessment isn’t a quiz (which is limited in how it can measure understanding).  If you really want to determine understanding, then craft an assessment that lets them make decisions that are close to the types of decisions they’d make in the real world.

For example, if they need to demonstrate their understanding of LOTO procedures then have them identify where it needs to happen and then go through the process of doing it just like they would in the real world.

If we revisit the three types of elearning courses, we see in one the objective is to build awareness with no performance expectations. But the other two are tied to on-the-job performance. However one is more refresher or certification and the other is more in depth. The two performance course can be combined to create a single course. All you need is a mechanism to filter the learners.

For certification they go one way and for the in-depth training they go another. And during the certification process if they can’t demonstrate the appropriate level of understanding you can redirect them to a remedial path where they can get the information and practice activities they need to fill the gap.

As you can see the objectives of your elearning courses may not be the same. By sorting them the information and performance buckets you’ll be able to determine where to allocate your resources. Annual compliance training with no performance outcomes shouldn’t consume as much of your time and resources as the performance-based courses that will require more interactivity and development.

You’ll save time and money by building the training most appropriate to the objectives. You’ll also help the organization by sorting your learners. Those who need a simple course can get in and out and back to productive work; and those that need to demonstrate their understanding will have a course that is more than a simple quiz.

If you’re passionate about Articulate software, please take a minute to vote for your favorites. Every vote matters. Plus a good showing means I can keep my kids fed and stocked with Legos.

Upcoming workshops for 2013:

Just added the dates for the workshop in Philadelphia. Seats are limited so sign up before it’s too late.

Also, if you’re an Articulate user in Austin, check out the free jam session on April 18.

  • April 16 & 17: Austin, TX. Two workshops.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop
  • April 18: Austin, TX. Free jam session with the Central Texas Articulate User Group. It’s a great time to get answers and meet your peers. Here are the details. Seating is limited so RSVP to reserve your spot.
  • May 14 & 15: London, UK. How to Become a Rapid E-Learning Pro: Two-day master class filled with lots of hands-on activities.
  • June 4 & 5: Philadelphia, PA. Two workshops.
    Day 1—Rapid E-Learning Workshop
    Day 2—Getting Started with Articulate Storyline
  • June 12 & 13: Miami, FL. Two workshops. Details coming.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop.
  • June 26-27: Portland, OR. BlueVolt eLearning Conference. Join the Articulate community team for a series of how-to sessions using the Articulate elearning applications.
  • September: Greensboro, NC. Details coming.
  • September: New York, NY. Two workshops. Register here.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. I’ll also be presenting at the evening chapter meeting.
  • October: Baton Rouge, LA. Details coming.
  • October: Los Angeles, CA. Details coming.
  • November: St. Louis, MO. Details coming.
Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

How to Avoid Building Online Training That Wastes Time

Tue, 04/09/2013 - 3:30am

Building an effective online training program requires packaging the right content with the right type of learning experience. However that often doesn’t happen because it’s easier to pull a lot of information together, create some slides, and then publish a course.

To top it off, many of these types of online courses are merely repacked content that already exists on the organization’s network. So instead of building a real learning experience, we’re just repurposing existing content.

Do You Need Online Training?

Do you you really need to build an online training program if all you’re doing is repurposing existing content? Is this adding real value? Most likely you don’t need the course (or at least not that type of course). But often those courses get built anyway and that wastes the person’s time and the organization’s money.

How to Avoid Wasting Time & Money for Online Training?

When I consult with a client I always try to determine if the training program has a direct link to the organization’s business goals. If so, then it’s easier to find the right training intervention (assuming it’s needed) and then aligning it to the correct measure. That’s how you get your return on investment, by the way.

Become a Performance Consultant

For those new to this, follow a simple performance consulting model where you can determine where things are currently, where they should be, and how to bridge the gap that exists. I always recommend the Performance Consulting book because it’s straightforward explanation of the process and easy to implement.

In an ideal world, you and your client come up with a solution that works. Unfortunately, often the client wants to build an online training course regardless of whether or not it’s linked to the organization’s goals.

The first step is to avoid building the wrong course (if any). That’s why you wear the hat of performance consultant. But sometimes you still have to build a course. Is so, what’s the best plan?

Three Ways to Save Time & Money with Online Training

Going back to the original scenario, you have to build training but the content already exists online. Here are a few viable options.

Create an abstract of the existing content and publish as a PDF. Don’t waste time building a “course” that’s merely content easily accessed in other places. In those cases, focus on simple job aids that can be used at work. This contents the content to the learner, but doesn’t overwhelm them with a bunch of information.

Another option is to create a summary or abstract of the key information. Then point them to the more detailed information online. This way they have a simple overview and access to more information if they need it. Of course, that’s easier said than done. Some clients will still want to create something and a PDF isn’t the solution for them.

Build a simple interactive multimedia module. When I have a customer who has to have “elearning” but was just repurposing the online content, I’d use something like the process or tabs interactions in Engage. They looked like a training course, but they really were more like multimedia documents.

Because they’re form-based they’re easy to build and maintain. In some ways, they’re even easier to build than a PDF because the software does all of the visual design and formatting. Another advantage is that they can easily be tracked in an LMS. So you get the benefit of a “course” but the speedy production.

Change the focus of the training. Since most of the training content is already online change the focus of the training. Instead of online training that covers the subject matter, do training on how to find and use the online resources.

This also gives you an opportunity to build a community of practice around that training content. You can combine training on using the resources with a peer community of others in the organization who use the same resources. A community lets you capture activity that may be valuable to future learners.

The truth is that a lot of online training wastes time because it’s just content that already exists. However, if you have to build online training like this, the tips above should help make it meaningful and more valuable to the organization.

How do you get around this type of training? Share your thoughts with the community.

If you’re passionate about Articulate software, please take a minute to vote for your favorites. Every vote matters. Plus a good showing means I can keep my kids fed.

Upcoming workshops for 2013:

David and I are really excited about the workshop in the London. If you’re interested, make sure to sign up before it sells out.

Also, if you’re an Articulate user in Austin, check out the free jam session on April 18.

  • April 16 & 17: Austin, TX. Two workshops.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop
  • April 18: Austin, TX. Free jam session with the Central Texas Articulate User Group. It’s a great time to get answers and meet your peers. Here are the details. Seating is limited so RSVP to reserve your spot.
  • May 14 & 15: London, UK. How to Become a Rapid E-Learning Pro: Two-day master class filled with lots of hands-on activities.
  • June: Philadelphia, PA. Details coming.
  • June 26-27: Portland, OR. BlueVolt eLearning Conference. Join the Articulate community team for a series of how-to sessions using the Articulate elearning applications.
  • June 12 & 13: Miami, FL. Two workshops. Details coming.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop.
  • September: Greensboro, NC. Details coming.
  • September: New York, NY. Two workshops. Register here.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. I’ll also be presenting at the evening chapter meeting.
  • October: Baton Rouge, LA. Details coming.
  • October: Los Angeles, CA. Details coming.
  • November: St. Louis, MO. Details coming.
Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

The World’s Largest Repository of Free Online Learning Tutorials

Tue, 04/02/2013 - 3:30am

Here’s a common scenario. Someone emails and asks about an elearning tutorial I have on the blog. It’s not always easy to find the specific tutorial buried in a given post. In fact, there are many times I either forgot that I had created that tutorial or I can’t recall where it’s at either. I know. It’s part of getting older.

Today I am going to fix that. I have listed every blog post that has a video tutorial that shows how to create something related to online learning. So, if you’re just getting started with building online learning courses (or new to the blog), now you have a handy resource with links to all sorts of rapid elearning tutorials.

Free PowerPoint Templates

These tutorials show how to either create or use some of the free PowerPoint templates you’ll find on the blog. Even if you don’t use the free templates, they are a great way to learn some PowerPoint techniques that will help you build better elearning courses.

Learn How to Use PowerPoint for Online Learning

This section covers miscellaneous PowerPoint tips and production techniques. They’re not exclusive to rapid elearning or online training. So if you want to learn more about PowerPoint, then this is a good list of free tutorials.

How to Build Rapid E-Learning Courses

Using PowerPoint for rapid elearning is different than using it for building presentations. These tutorials offer tips on getting the most out of PowerPoint to build effective and interactive rapid elearning courses.

Tips on Creating Interactive E-Learning

This series of tutorials cover some of the basics for creating interactive elearning and branched scenarios. You’ll learn more about simple ways to build interactive elearning as well as a few PowerPoint tutorials that show how to build them.

Free Software to Use When Building Online Training

These tutorials cover the basics of using some of the free software and applications I’ve mentioned in the blog.

Visual & Graphic Design Ideas for Your E-Learning Courses

In these tutorials I cover some graphic design ideas. I show how to come up with templates designs and build your own graphics and artwork.

Project Management tips When Creating Online Learning

These tutorials cover broad project management tips that range from managing files to working with customers.

Bonus Tutorials

The other day I was looking through the tutorials created by the elearning community and found that we have over 2,000 free elearning tutorials. That’s a lot more than I thought were there. So take advantage of them and the tips and tricks you get from your peers in the community.

Collection of E-Learning Community Tutorials

  • E-Learning How-To: good collection of elearning tutorials with some nice examples.
  • Tutorials that we curate from the elearning community. Each link has an RSS feed so you can stay on top of the latest tutorials added by community members.

Articulate Product Tutorials & Free Software Training

I haven’t counted all of these rapid elearning tutorials, but my guess is that there are at least 3,000 tutorials in this list which is something like 250 hours of free training on building rapid elearning courses.

Upcoming workshops for 2013:

David and I are really excited about the workshop in the London. If you’re interested, make sure to sign up before it sells out.

  • April 2 &3: San Diego, CA. Two workshops. Sign up before it sells out.
    Day 1 – General elearning tips & tricks.
    Day 2  – A hands-on Storyline session.
  • April 16 & 17: Austin, TX. Two workshops.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop
  • April 18: Austin, TX. Free jam session with the Central Texas Articulate User Group. It’s a great time to get answers and meet your peers. Here are the details. Seating is limited so RSVP to reserve your spot.
  • May 14 & 15: London, UK. How to Become a Rapid E-Learning Pro: Two-day master class filled with lots of hands-on activities.
  • June: Philadelphia, PA. Details coming.
  • June 26-27: Portland, OR. BlueVolt eLearning Conference. Join the Articulate community team for a series of how-to sessions using the Articulate elearning applications.
  • June 12 & 13: Miami, FL. Two workshops. Details coming.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop.
  • September: Greensboro, NC. Details coming.
  • September: New York, NY. Two workshops. Register here.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. I’ll also be presenting at the evening chapter meeting.
  • October: Baton Rouge, LA. Details coming.
  • October: Los Angeles, CA. Details coming.
  • November: St. Louis, MO. Details coming.
Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

3 Visual Design Tips for Effective E-Learning

Mon, 04/01/2013 - 3:28am

At a recent elearning conference I ran into my mentor and elearning thought leader, Dr. Werner Oppelbaumer. He was showing off examples of elearning courses and offering tips on visual design for elearning.

While he was swamped as usual, I was able to steal a few minutes of his time and talk about his latest Werner Labs project and asked if he had any tips to share for the blog readers.

 

I really appreciate all you do to push the science of elearning research forward. It helps the blog readers and anyone who wants to learn how to build elearning courses.

As you know, one of the main issues people have is a lack of resources and time. Your conference presentation on building PowerPoint presentations and elearning courses seems to fill that need. Can you explain more to the blog readers who couldn’t attend?

Each day there are thousands of PowerPoint presentations and many of them are not very good. On top of that, most elearning courses created with PowerPoint are not very good. That’s not going to change any time soon. But what we can change is the time it takes to build bad PowerPoints.

So we created a system where anyone who creates a bad PowerPoint can upload it and share it with anyone else who needs to create a bad PowerPoint. On top of that you can mix and match your bad PowerPoints to create custom-designed bad PowerPoint files.

It’s our new Collaborative Resource Automating PowerPoint system. Bad content is going to be created anyway; we just make it easier to do so. That will be a big time saver for most organizations.

We’ve already signed on many large corporations and government agencies.

I’m interested in seeing where that goes in the future. Let’s switch topics. You gave a presentation on visual design for elearning. Afterwards, people were buzzing about what they learned. Can you share your tips for the blog readers, too?

Sure. The presentation covered three key areas of graphic design for elearning.

  • How to build better elearning in your organization
  • Get past low-value bullet point elearning courses
  • Apply NEW research to your elearning courses

I’ve included my presentation below.

Presentation on How to Build E-Learning Courses

Click here to view the elearning presentation on visual design.

Thank you Dr. Werner. You always offer fresh insight and new perspectives on how to build elearning courses. I am sure that the blog readers really appreciate all you do for the industry.

Learn more about Dr. Werner Oppelbaumer:

Tidbits:

Upcoming workshops for 2013:

  • April 2 &3: San Diego, CA. Two workshops. Sign up before it sells out.
    Day 1 – General elearning tips & tricks.
    Day 2  – A hands-on Storyline session.
  • April 16 & 17: Austin, TX. Two workshops.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop
  • April 18: Austin, TX. Free jam session with the Central Texas Articulate User Group. It’s a great time to get answers and meet your peers. Here are the details. Seating is limited so RSVP to reserve your spot.
  • May 14 & 15: London, UK. How to Become a Rapid E-Learning Pro: Two-day master class filled with lots of hands-on activities. Sign up before it sells out. 
  • June: Philadelphia, PA. Details coming.
  • June 26-27: Portland, OR. BlueVolt eLearning Conference. Join the Articulate community team for a series of how-to sessions using the Articulate elearning applications.
  • June 12 & 13: Miami, FL. Two workshops. Details coming.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop.
  • September: Greensboro, NC. Details coming.
  • September: New York, NY. Two workshops. Register here.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. I’ll also be presenting at the evening chapter meeting.
  • October: Baton Rouge, LA. Details coming.
  • October: Los Angeles, CA. Details coming.
  • November: St. Louis, MO. Details coming.
Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

Hundreds of Free Textures for Your E-Learning Courses

Tue, 03/26/2013 - 3:30am

There are tons of free textures and background images online. Some good and some not so good. It can be a bit overwhelming looking for textures so I went through some of the free textures and included the ones I think work well for elearning courses.

To save you some time, I looked around and only added textures that are free to use for commercial projects. Of course, it is a good habit to give props to the source of the free file. If you can’t give them a link back, at least go to their site and let them know you appreciate the free help.

Which Textures Work Best for E-Learning?

Fortunately no one’s written a book on the science of using textures in elearning courses. So for right now, you’re free to use any texture you like. But that may change at a future elearning conference.

In either case, here are the main categories that I look for:

  • Paper: These work well for office-theme courses.
  • Wood: As Seinfeld says, “Wood is good.” Enough said!
  • Spotlights: Spotlight effects can help pull the eye towards the content area.
  • Organic Natural: Organic material like rocks, torn paper and vegetation works because they don’t have straight lines. It gives you some wiggle room in your composition.
  • Organic Man-made: Includes organic textures like brick walls and wood planking. They combine the organic look with sectioning or straight lines that work well in screen composition.
  • Blurs: Blurred textures suggest depth or context without pulling your focus. They also help the content on the screen standout.

As a bonus, while it’s not a texture, I do like the why-be-flat approach for screen backgrounds where we combine design elements to create depth and perspective.

Here are two demos from recent posts on simple background images and creating course objectives. They’re essentially the same. In one I used a film strip texture. And the other uses a grungy concrete. They may give you some ideas on how to use textures.

Film Strip Texture

Click here to view the film strip demo.

Grungy Concrete Texture

Click here to view the concrete demo.

Free Textures

Here are some free textures that may work for your elearning courses. I tried to only include the ones that allow commercial use. As always with these free resources, be sure to do your own research on terms of use prior to using them in a project.

Free Paper Textures

Free Wood Textures

Free Spotlight Textures

Free Organic Textures

Free Blurred Image Textures

If you do a search online, you’ll find all sorts of free textures. So have at it. The key though is that not all free textures are free for commercial use. Based on my research, the ones I’ve included above are available for commercial use. So you should be able to use them in your elearning projects.

What are your favorite textures and do you have a place to go for commercially free textures? If so, please share the links with the rest of us.

Free Articulate Jam session while we’re in Austin on April 18. Details below.

Upcoming workshops for 2013:

  • April 2 &3: San Diego, CA. Two workshops. Sign up before it sells out.
    Day 1 – General elearning tips & tricks.
    Day 2  – A hands-on Storyline session.
  • April 16 & 17: Austin, TX. Two workshops.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop 
  • April 18: Austin, TX. Free jam session with the Central Texas Articulate User Group. It’s a great time to get answers and meet your peers. Here are the details. Seating is limited so RSVP to reserve your spot.
  • May 14 & 15: London, UK. How to Become a Rapid E-Learning Pro: Two-day master class filled with lots of hands-on activities.
  • June: Philadelphia, PA. Details coming.
  • June 26-27: Portland, OR. BlueVolt eLearning Conference. Join the Articulate community team for a series of how-to sessions using the Articulate elearning applications.
  • June 12 & 13: Miami, FL. Two workshops. Details coming.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop.
  • September: Greensboro, NC. Details coming.
  • September: New York, NY. Two workshops. Register here.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. I’ll also be presenting at the evening chapter meeting.
  • October: Baton Rouge, LA. Details coming.
  • October: Los Angeles, CA. Details coming.
  • November: St. Louis, MO. Details coming.
Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

Find Inspiration with These E-Learning Design Tips & Free Templates

Tue, 03/19/2013 - 3:30am

As a matter of habit I review design sites looking for inspiration and ideas that I can practice and incorporate into my elearning designs. Often I won’t even use the design ideas for real work, but I still like to practice building them.

This practice lets me develop better designs skills and helps me become more efficient using my elearning tools as I develop more production tips and procedures. In fact, over the years that’s how I learned most of my advanced PowerPoint skills.

When I find something I like, it gets added to a folder. Then when I get time or need some inspiration, I’ll run through the folder for ideas. Here’s something I ran into a couple of weeks ago that will come in handy for an elearning course. I’ve also included downloads for Storyline and PowerPoint below.

Pre-built Gate Screens

A common part of many elearning courses is the instruction or feedback screen. I like to call them “gate screens” because they serve as gates by stopping the flow of information until you’re ready to move on. I wrote more about them in this recent blog post on stopping the learners before they get started.

Introduction Gate

Feedback Gate

Because these gate screens are very common to elearning, a simple way to speed up production of your courses is to pre-build a few of them. And then when you need a gate screen, you’re ready to go.

Inspiring Ideas

One of my favorite design sites is Dribbble. It’s a community of designers who share ideas and feedback. As I was looking at some of their demos a few reminded me a bit of the gate screens I’d build for an elearning course. So I used some of those ideas as inspiration for a few simple gate screens.

Below is a demo of five gate screens. I show them as both introduction and feedback screens. The demo’s built in Storyline. But you can use them in Articulate Presenter and PowerPoint, as well. In fact, I used PowerPoint to build the all of the initial templates. Which allows me to reiterate something I stress all the time—PowerPoint is a great tool for basic illustrations and graphic design.

Click here to view the demo.

I’ve included some files for you to download and use if you’d like. Feel free to use them as you wish.

Free Downloads:

  • Storyline: You’ll find two slides for each gate screen.
  • PowerPoint: You’ll need to copy and paste the gate objects to a slide. Then set your hyperlinks to branch to the appropriate slides.

Here are links to the originals because I want to give props to the many designers who freely share their ideas and things they’re working on. They always give me some cool ideas to play with.

So there are two key lessons for today’s post:

  • The first is to continually look for inspiration and apply the ideas. They’ll improve your design skills and help you be more fluent with your elearning tools.
  • The other key idea is that you can pre-build certain parts of your elearning course. Then when you need them you’ll be able to speed up production and save time.

Have you found any cool ideas that would make great gate screens? If so, please share them with the rest of us.

Tidbits

Work with me and the Articulate community! There’s a cool opportunity to be part of what we’re doing in the Articulate community. You can learn more about the job here.

What you’ll need:

  • Writing samples. Look over these blog posts to get a sense of what we do: Word of Mouth & E-Learning Heroes.
  • Portfolio that shows your best elearning skills.

I will keep the community manager position open until March 25. That will be the last day that we’ll accept applications.

Upcoming workshops for 2013:

  • March 20 & 21: Durham, NC (ASTD). Two workshops. 
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop.
  • April 2 &3: San Diego, CA. Two workshops. Sign up before it sells out.
    Day 1 – General elearning tips & tricks.
    Day 2  – A hands-on Storyline session.
  • April 16 & 17: Austin, TX. Two workshops.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop
  • May 14 & 15: London, UK. How to Become a Rapid E-Learning Pro: Two-day master class filled with lots of hands-on activities.
  • June: Philadelphia, PA. Details coming.
  • June 26-27: Portland, OR. BlueVolt eLearning Conference. Join the Articulate community team for a series of how-to sessions using the Articulate elearning applications.
  • June 12 & 13: Miami, FL. Two workshops. Details coming.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop.
  • September: Greensboro, NC. Details coming.
  • September: New York, NY. Two workshops. Register here.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. I’ll also be presenting at the evening chapter meeting.
  • October: Baton Rouge, LA. Details coming.
  • October: Los Angeles, CA. Details coming.
  • November: St. Louis, MO. Details coming.
Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

Sometimes It’s Good to Stop Your Learners Before They Get Started

Tue, 03/12/2013 - 4:58am

In my elearning workshops we discuss the parts of elearning courses that are common to most courses. One of the goals is to get participants to think through the common parts of a course and then determine how much of that can be prebuilt to save time.

For example, most likely the course will have welcome and exit screens. They may not look the same for each course, but odds are that both will exist. Why not build a template that has a screen reserved for the welcome and exit process of the course? At this point, you’re not assigning a look or feel; you’re just making a space for it.

Introducing the Gate Screen

Another common part of many courses is what I like to call the “gate screen.” It’s a screen that serves as a gate by stopping the flow of information until the learner is ready to move on. Generally, there are two types of gate screens: introduction and feedback.

Introduction Gate. This gate usually appears prior to the start of an interaction. It pauses the course to provide some introductory information and instructions. Then when the person is ready, she can advance.

Feedback Gate. The feedback gate does the same thing as the introduction gate—it pauses the flow and provides some information which is usually the result of a decision the learner’s made. This type of gate is very common as feedback in elearning quizzes. Make a choice and hit submit. Up pops the feedback screen. Read the feedback and then click the next button (or possibly go back to make a different choice).

Both of these gates are essentially the same because they stop the flow of information, let the person regroup or get oriented, and then move on.

As I stated earlier, these are fairly common in the construction of elearning courses. And since that’s the case, why not plan for them in your design before you get started?

  • Create a placeholder for the gate screens in your initial design so you don’t forget to add them in during the production process.
  • Plan the look so that it fits your course design. The last thing you want is a Frankencourse. I usually use the same design for both gates and then just change the buttons and placement of them for each screen.
  • Determine the user experience. How will they work and will they seem intuitive to the flow of the course?

The two gate screens are essentially the same. They’re gates that stop what you’re doing; get you to focus on something; and when you’re ready let you advance (or go back). And odds are that they’ll be in your next elearning course. So why not save some time by putting them in the production queue before you get started?

Do you use gate screens in your elearning course? If so, share with us how you use them.

Tidbits

Work with me and the Articulate community! There’s a cool opportunity to be part of what we’re doing in the Articulate community. You can learn more about the job here.

What you’ll need:

  • Writing samples. Look over these blog posts to get a sense of what we do: Word of Mouth & E-Learning Heroes.
  • Portfolio that shows your best elearning skills.

We won’t start to look at the applications until after the Learning Solutions conference so that should give you plenty of time to put together samples of your best work.

*Also, check out all of the other open positions at Articulate.

Upcoming workshops for 2013:

  • March 20 & 21: Durham, NC (ASTD). Two workshops. 
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop.
  • April 2 &3: San Diego, CA. Two workshops. Sign up before it sells out.
    Day 1 – General elearning tips & tricks.
    Day 2  – A hands-on Storyline session.
  • April 16 & 17: Austin, TX. Two workshops.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop
  • May 14 & 15: London, UK. How to Become a Rapid E-Learning Pro: Two-day master class filled with lots of hands-on activities.
  • June: Philadelphia, PA. Details coming.
  • June: Portland, OR. BlueVolt eLearning Conference. Join the Articulate community team for a series of how-to sessions using the Articulate elearning applications.
  • June 12 & 13: Miami, FL. Two workshops. Details coming.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop.
  • September: Greensboro, NC. Details coming.
  • September: New York, NY. Two workshops. Register here.
    Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
    Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. I’ll also be presenting at the evening chapter meeting.
  • October: Baton Rouge, LA. Details coming.
  • October: Los Angeles, CA. Details coming.
  • November: St. Louis, MO. Details coming.
Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

Are Your Courses Looking Flat? Here’s a Simple Tip for a Quick E-Learning Course Makeover

Tue, 03/05/2013 - 4:34am

Many rapid elearning courses look at lot like the stereo-typical PowerPoint slide. They’re flat and bland. In a recent email, someone wanted to know how to make their screens look more interesting without requiring advanced graphics skills.

In today’s post I’ll show a simple tip that we’ve been sharing in our workshops for a few years now.

Why Be Flat?

We call the following tip the floor-wall-baseboard (FWB) technique. However at a workshop a few years ago, one of the participants recommended we change the FWB to WBF (Why Be Flat). I like it.

Why be flat? That question addresses the essence of this technique. Why should your screen be flat? The world isn’t flat (maybe). It has dimension and perspective. So why not do the same for your elearning courses?

The trick is to break the screen into three pieces: floor, wall, and baseboard. That’s all you need to get started. To do this, create three core shapes. The shapes can be filled with solid colors, gradient effects, or images.

Essentially you’re adding a horizon line which creates a sense of perspective and the illusion of space. This allows you to convert a flat screen into one that is visually rich and offers a sense of perspective.

Here’s a quick example of the “Why Be Flat” technique.

The image above represents the typical slide. We have a character and we’re using the ever popular chalkboard. This screen isn’t bad, but the background is stark and there’s no depth.

First, we’ll add a different background. That’s our wall.

The wall already starts to make the screen look more interesting. The white’s gone and the screen has a softer and more elegant look. Next we add the floor.

The floor creates the horizon line which gives the image depth and is visually rich. But just like when remodeling your house, you want a baseboard on the floor to add that extra finish.

As you can see, the baseboard does a great job dressing up the image. It creates a clean line; and based on where it’s positioned, the baseboard adds perspective. The cool thing is that you’re not limited to be too literal. In the example below, the baseboard’s a ruler which ties into the visual theme of education.

The examples above are a literal floor, wall, and baseboard. But don’t limit yourself to what’s literal. The key point is to create a horizon line and then work from there. In fact, David Anderson, who presents with me at my workshops, has some really good tips on using the “Why Be Flat” technique for your elearning.

If you want to continue the conversation and learn more, follow this thread in the elearning community. It offers some additional tips and tricks as well as files to download.

Tidbits

Work with me and the Articulate community! There’s a cool opportunity to be part of what we’re doing in the Articulate community. You can learn more about the job here.

What you’ll need:

  • Writing samples. Look over these blog posts to get a sense of what we do: Word of Mouth & E-Learning Heroes.
  • Portfolio that shows your best elearning skills.

We won’t start to look at the applications until after the Learning Solutions conference so that should give you plenty of time to put together samples of your best work.

Upcoming workshops for 2013:

  • March 20 & 21: Durham, NC (ASTD). Two workshops:
  • April 2 &3: San Diego, CA. Two workshops. Sign up before it sells out.
        • Day 1 we’ll look at general elearning tips & tricks.
        • Day 2 will be a hands-on Storyline session.
  • April 16 & 17: Austin, TX. Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
  • May 14 & 15: London, UK. How to Become a Rapid E-Learning Pro: Two day master class filled with lots of hands-on activities.
  • June: Philadelphia, PA.
  • June: Portland, OR. BlueVolt eLearning Conference. Join the Articulate community team for a series of how-to sessions using the Articulate elearning applications.
  • June 12 & 13: Miami, FL. Two workshops…registration page coming soon
      • Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
      • Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. 
  • September: Greensboro, NC.
  • September: New York, NY. Two workshops. Register here.
      • Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
      • Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. I’ll also be presenting at the evening chapter meeting.
  • October: Baton Rouge, LA.
  • October: Los Angeles, CA.
  • November: St. Louis, MO
Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

Three Common E-Learning Design Issues & How to Avoid Them

Tue, 02/26/2013 - 4:18am

I review lots of elearning courses and demos. Since elearning is a mostly visual medium visual inconsistencies tend to stand out. They’re the types of things that cause the Frankencourse design.

I’ve been making a list of some of the more common issues that I find. So in today’s post I’ll highlight three that I see quite a bit and offer some feedback on how to avoid them.

Images are Skewed

Images on the screen are obviously not the right dimensions. They’re usually skewed or flattened. This is probably the number one issue I see and easily fixed. The most common reason an image is skewed is because it’s resized to fit a specific area or shape. To get it to fit, we use the anchors on the side or top and bottom to change the shape. What happens is that the shape is resized but doesn’t maintain its aspect ratio. So it looks off.

Here are a couple of quick fixes:

  • Use the corner anchors. To scale or reposition the image without skewing it, hold the SHIFT key and drag from one of the corner anchors. That resizes and keeps it from skewing. This also goes for shapes, especially circles. I notice that a lot of circles become egg-shaped when resized without proper scaling.

  • The cropping tool can change the image dimensions without skewing. The cropping tool in PowerPoint 2010 and Articulate Storyline lets you crop the image to a specific aspect ratio to meet the size requirement for the space available without losing the image quality. You can also move the image around inside the crop to get exactly what you need.

Font Confusion

Many courses tend to use too many fonts and without rhyme or reason. I usually tell people to limit the fonts they use to about seven. Just kidding! Often I’ll see all sorts of whacky fonts plastered on the screen. When I ask why they chose a certain font it’s usually because they wanted to make the course more interesting or engaging.

That’s a good goal. But an interesting font is not going to make your course interesting. And a poorly chosen font may even distract from it. Or just make it seem less polished.

As a general rule of thumb (especially for those just getting started) limit yourself to two or three fonts. Typically you need:

  • Title

  • Subtitle
  • Body font
  • Emphasis: this could be the body font bolded or recolored

Being deliberate about your font choice and user fewer in your courses is an easy way to add consistency and polish to your elearning course. Here’s a previous post on working with fonts which offers some ideas on which ones to select.

Text Alignment Issues

Text is the most common element on the screen. Obviously we use text to read and acquire information, but the text also is part of the course’s visual design. Because of this, alignment is important. Here are three common issues I see regarding text:

  • Large blocks of text are centered. Centering works for titles or small chunks of descriptive text, but not for big chunks of text. A clean side margin looks good and makes it easier for the eye to track.

  • Avoid widows. If you’re inclined to help the widows and orphans that’s good. But you don’t want any widows hanging around your elearning course. What’s a widow? They’re those single words that hang out at the end of a block of text. Fix them by resizing the text box.

  • Margins in textboxes are inconsistent. This is fairly common. Sometimes text is scrunched to the side or top with no margins and sometimes the margins are too big; or they’re not applied consistently. This is easily fixed by modifying how the text appears in the box/shape. I like to create a separate text box over the shape. This gives more control to nudge the text inside the shape without being constrained by the shape’s text formatting.

You don’t need to be a graphic designer to know when something doesn’t look right. We may not always be able to explain why something doesn’t look right, but we do know it when we see it. And that’s the case with these little annoyances. If they don’t exist no one notices. But when they do, things just don’t look right.

The good thing is that they are easily fixed and doing so will help your course have more polish.

Tidbits

Work with the Articulate community! There’s a cool opportunity to be part of the Articulate community. You can learn more about the job here.

What you’ll need:

  • Writing samples
  • Portfolio that shows your best skills

We won’t start to look at the applications until after the Learning Solutions conference so that should give you plenty of time to put together samples of your best work.

Upcoming workshops & locations for 2013:

  • March 20 & 21: Durham, NC (ASTD). Two workshops: Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop. Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. Sign up fast because seats are limited.
  • April 2 &3: San Diego, CA. Two workshops. On Day 1 we’ll look at general elearning tips & tricks. Day 2 will be a hands-on Storyline session. Sign up before it sells out.
  • April 16 & 17: Austin, TX. Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
  • May 14 & 15: London, UK. How to Become a Rapid E-Learning Pro: Two day master class filled with lots of hands-on activities.
  • June: Philadelphia, PA.
  • June: Portland, OR. BlueVolt eLearning Conference. Join the Articulate community team for a series of how-to sessions using the Articulate elearning applications.
  • June 12 & 13: Miami, FL. Two workshops: Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop. Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. Registration page coming soon.
  • September: Greensboro, NC.
  • September: New York
  • October: Baton Rouge, LA.
  • October: Los Angeles, CA.
  • November: St. Louis, MO
Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

3 Free Tools That Save Time & Money Plus Get a Cool Job

Tue, 02/19/2013 - 4:11am

Time and money are the resources most of us don’t have. So in today’s post I thought I’d share some free applications that you may find handy as you work on your elearning courses.

Find Everything

The app is called Everything by VoidTools. David Anderson shared this with me after a recent workshop. It’s a simple application that lets you quickly search your computer. I created a custom keyboard shortcut and use it throughout the day because it really is super-fast.

I’m addicted. I just start searching stuff because I can. Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night just to do random searches. Works like a charm. There are other tools like this out there. If you don’t use one, Everything is worth trying and the price is right.

WaveShop

In a previous post I shared some tips on recording narration and ten free audio programs that can be used for elearning. I’ll throw WaveShop in the mix of good free audio editors.

WaveShop is straightforward and has a lot more than basic editing functions. So if you only need to do something simple, you’re all set. But if you want to do more, then there are plenty of features to let you.

K-Lite Codec Pack

This isn’t really an application as much as a great resource. When working with multimedia you may run into issues playing audio or video files. Often these issues can be resolved by making sure the audio and video drivers are up to date for your computer’s hardware.

Another simple solution is to make sure you have updated audio and video codecs. They help encode and decode the various media formats. The K-Lite Codec Pack is a collection of all sorts of filters and codecs. Don’t confuse this pack with the Chi-Lites where you’re limited to soulful funk but no AV codecs.

Cool Job: Work with the Articulate Community

I mentioned this open position in last week’s post and had a few people email questions. You can learn more about the job and apply here.

What you’ll need:

  • Writing examples
  • Portfolio that shows your best skills

We won’t start to look at the applications until after the Learning Solutions conference so that should give you time to put together samples of your best work. Articulate’s a great company with some of the smartest people I know. And our elearning community is filled with some great people, too. So we’re looking for someone who’s going to fit right in. That could be you!

Tidbits

Upcoming workshops & locations for 2013:

  • March 20 & 21: Durham, NC (ASTD). Two workshops: Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop. Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. Sign up fast because seats are limited.
  • April 2 &3: San Diego, CA. Two workshops. On Day 1 we’ll look at general elearning tips & tricks. Day 2 will be a hands-on Storyline session. Sign up before it sells out.
  • April 16 & 17: Austin, TX. Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
  • May 14 & 15: London, UK.
  • June: Philadelphia, PA.
  • June: Portland, OR.
  • June: Miami, FL.
  • September: Greensboro, NC.
  • September: New York
  • October: Baton Rouge, LA.
  • October: Los Angeles, CA.
  • November: St. Louis, MO
Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

Convert Your Bullet Points to Interactive E-Learning with Video

Tue, 02/12/2013 - 4:57am

Before elearning I did a lot of video production. Back then it was time intensive and costly. But in many ways that’s changed. Today you’re able to shoot decent video on your smart phones or inexpensive HD cameras. And then editing them is also relatively easy and inexpensive. In fact, most smart phones have access to video editing apps and there are plenty of free or low-cost video editors to use with your personal computers.

A few years ago you’d never consider adding video to a course because of the time and expense. But today adding video to an elearning course is easy especially if you keep the project relatively simple. You can create a decent elearning course that uses video in no time and at little cost.

The trick is finding ways to use video in your course and still maintain some form of rapid development. A great place to start is with your bullet points. Why not use video to make your bullet point information more interesting and engaging? In today’s post I’ll show one way to create interactive bullet points that when combined with the right type of video can make your elearning course more media rich and interactive while not adding too much to the production.

Example 1: Learn to Cook

Demonstrate the finer points of cooking. Watch the video and at any point where you want to learn more, click the information bullet.

Click here to view the demo via Mike Enders

Example 2: Change a Tire with Your Friend

Follow a step-by-step process of how to change a tire. This particular video demonstrates how to deal with the non-helpful observer.

Click here to view the demo

For this type of course to be effective, you need a topic that works with video. The most obvious is when you can show procedures like working on a machine or operating some equipment. It also works for role play scenarios. For example, record an interaction between a manager and co-worker. Then use the interactive buttons to point out key points during the interaction.

The key is to select a topic that is easy to record and that can be augmented with bullet point information. Here’s a quick demo I put together showing how to use the Keurig brewer.

Example 3: Using the Keurig Brewer

Following is what the information about the brewer may have looked like in a standard elearning screen. It includes four steps and corresponding information.

And here’s the same information using a video and interactive bullet points. The video allows the learner to see what’s happening. And then interactive bullet points appear along the timeline to add additional information. If the learner wants to acquire more info, she can click the button. If not, she can ignore it and continue watching the video.

Click here to view the elearning demo.

Here’s what I like about this approach:

  • Video is easy to shoot and relatively simple to edit with today’s tools. So it lets you make an elearning course that doesn’t look like every other course. Even if it’s a simple procedure like the demo above, it’s more interesting than a screen full of bullet points.
  • Today’s elearning software offers more capability. A few years ago even a simple project like this wouldn’t have been possible for someone without programming skills. However, that’s changed. Today’s tools make this type of project possible. For example, I shot the video and compiled the course in Storyline in about 30 minutes.
  • Flexibility for the learner. This is a great way to address different learning needs. Experienced people can watch the videos only and those with less experience can click on the interactive buttons to collect more information.

Of course this type of approach won’t work with every course and it’s not always feasible to shoot video and make interactive buttons. But if you want to use video in your elearning courses, this is a good place to start because it’s straightforward and simple to produce. Give it a try.

Tidbits

Do you love what we’re doing with the blog and Elearning Heroes community? Well, here’s an opportunity to join the Articulate community team and be part of it all.

Upcoming workshops & locations for 2013:

  • March 20 & 21: Durham, NC (ASTD). Two workshops: Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop. Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. Sign up fast because seats are limited.
  • April 2 &3: San Diego, CA. Two workshops. On Day 1 we’ll look at general elearning tips & tricks. Day 2 will be a hands-on Storyline session. Sign up before it sells out.
  • April 16: Austin, TX. Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
  • May: London, UK.
  • June: Philadelphia, PA.
  • June: Portland, OR. 
  • June: Miami, FL.
  • September: Greensboro, NC.
  • September: New York
  • October: Baton Rouge, LA.
  • October: Los Angeles, CA.
  • November: St. Louis, MO
Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

Do a Simple Background Check On Your Next E-Learning Project

Tue, 02/05/2013 - 4:14am

The single largest visual element in your elearning course is the background. And the right background can set the stage and build expectations for your learners. A course that looks like a converted PowerPoint file isn’t as inviting as one that is aesthetically rich and looks more professionally designed.

Here are some quick examples. Look at the image below. It looks like a typical rapid elearning course screen. It’s not bad, just not very dynamic or rich.

Now look at the following makeovers. Just changing the background adds a more polished look. The background images match the course context and they offer a richer visual experience. This approach also doesn’t require advanced graphics skills or creativity to implement.

Start with a Good Background

In a previous post, we discussed tapping into the visual voice. It’s the process of crafting the course’s visual elements to meet the expectations of a given course subject or context.

For example, if you are going to build a course on operating room technology, what colors would you use? What would the people look like? What are they wearing? What fonts would you select for that course?

Capturing your visual voice helps identify the key design elements in your elearning course. However many of you aren’t graphic designers. So it can be a challenge to create a course that is visually rich and engaging.

Choosing the Right Image

If you can’t design everything on your own a good substitute is to at least start with the right background. The trick is to find the single image that best represents the elearning course or screen that you’re building. Here are some tips on selecting the right image:

  • Brainstorm a few ideas. Think about the images that bets represent your course content. Write them down and use that list to look for the right image. If not, you’ll go to an image site and waste a lot of time searching. You’re better off having a list and using that to start. From them take note of the keywords used to describe the image. That will help you extend the search.
  • Look for simple images that convey the essence of what you need but without too much detail. The images above suggest hiking but they don’t have a lot of extra information that may distract. Keep in mind that everything on the screen communicates something. The more you have on the screen, the more apt you are to miscommunicate. Thus you want to reduce the amount of information and detail on the background image. The image should provide visual context but not content.
  • Find content holders. The background image is just that—a background. Because you’re putting content on top of the background find images that have some flexibility. I look for images with solid colors or blank areas that work for text or media elements like the two hiking images above. The people in the image suggest hiking, but the snow areas are perfect content holder. I try to stay away from really busy images because I don’t want the background content to conflict with the teaching content.
  • Find more than one image. You’re not limited to a single background for the entire course. You can select different backgrounds per screen or section. As the context changes feel free to change to the appropriate background image.

Starting with a visually dynamic background that is contextual and matches the content can set positive expectations for the course and adds a lot of aesthetic appeal. It’s not going to replace good content, but it is a start to building an engaging course especially if you have limited resources.

Tidbits

Here’s a list of upcoming workshops.

  • March 20 & 21: Durham, NC (ASTD). Two workshops: Day 1 – Rapid E-Learning Workshop. Day 2 – Articulate Storyline Workshop. Sign up fast because seats are limited.
  • April 2 &3: San Diego, CA. Two workshops. On Day 1 we’ll look at general elearning tips & tricks. Day 2 will be a hands-on Storyline session. Sign up before it sells out.
  • April 16: Austin, TX. Rapid E-Learning Workshop.
  • May: London, UK. Details coming.
  • June: Portland, OR. Details coming.
  • October: Baton Rouge, LA. Details coming.
  • Working on some other locations like New York, Philadelphia, and Phoenix. So stay tuned.
Download your free 46-page ebook: The Insider's Guide to Becoming a Rapid E-Learning Pro

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