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So one of the things that I do often, and get to talk about a bit, is the idea of visual design.
For the record, I am not a very graphically enabled person. I can sketch a bit, I can get a point across, but I don’t make many visuals that anyone would call beautiful. How about you? Are you graphically minded?
Regardless, being visual, or thinking visually is important part of any learning professional.
For one of the presentations I did, I even put together a presentation that starts with some visual thinking – and the power of how visuals can communicate very powerful messages – both in terms of learning and emotion.
Check out this short screencast, as one example:
Also, check out VizThink – lots of interesting material for anyone interested in become more visual. Or looking to enhance your visual thinking. http://www.vizthink.com/blog/
I’ve been reading Wired.com for a few years, usually daily. For awhile now they’ve had a feature called the Wired How-To Wiki. (this one is about getting through airport security)
It’s an interesting experiment in presenting learning content on several different levels.
First off all they have lots of resources and professional writers to make it look good and read it really well.
Second, they understand that the graphics really make a piece. Sometimes the images are truly (which is the positive), 
sometimes they are just fun (at least they give us something). Check out How to survive and Avalanche
Third… it’s a wiki – meaning anyone can make changes, comment on the content, and even see the changes over time.
Although I haven’t dug in to see if readers of wired.com are adding much content or not, it is still an interesting concept. Allowing user generated content and corrections to create learning content.
Think of organizational possibilities – you create a quick procedural write-up on how to do a task, maybe as a job aid for yourself, or for a co-worker learning on the job. Rather than letting it rot on your hard drive, you share it out to the wiki. Perhaps a coworker sees an error or inconsistency, and takes a minute or two to make a change. A third co-worker disagrees, and changes the process. All is lost– no, from the wiki we can see who made what change and when- it can be restored back to its previous state, or changed again.
So not only does it create transparency, it creates an opportunity for each member of the organization to take ownership.
A potential downside might be if and when employees don’t feel like they have time to add anything. Then we’re no better off than we were before the wiki. Also, I’m not saying that this is the strategy for deploying every type and kind of training- I wouldn’t use it for highly regulated topics, or topics that are mission critical to the success of the organization. It can assist, but probably not the primary tool.
Now, can I get my screencasts to play in the wiki?
Okay one more post on the iPod Touch (at least for a little while, since this really isn’t a blog about the iPod touch – its about learning, especially e-learning.)
Today Toolbook announced it has and will be releasing tools to develop specifically for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I am not a Toolbook user – but I think it seems pretty cool. Focused development on e-learning on a very cool tool.
They even made a screencast to preview it, check it out here: http://www.toolbook.com/demos/iphone_howto_demo/1/index.html
If anyone is working with ToolBook and is able to give this a try, I’d love to hear how it works… and even, if possible I’d be willing to test it out.
So in my travels lately I have been keeping an eye out for free Wi-Fi connections so I can use one of the features of the iPod touch that I can’t use at home. In the Denver Airport on Wednesday I was able to connect to the free connection.
A couple things I noticed as I browsed the internet, some of which will be a limiting factor if you are planning to use the iPod touch for mobile learning (m-learning).
One: using the wi-fi feature cuts the battery charge significantly. So if you’re using it with out a charger or a way to plug it into your computer, the actually amount of use you can get out of the touch is limited. I know I went from full to half in an hour or so. For shorter smaller modules this is fine. If its going to be something longer, you may not want to rely on the user going through wifi to access content.
Two: As of right now the actually types of content you can view on the iPod touch through the Safari browser is limited. No flash content. Images of most types seem to work fine. Videos- really I think I’ve only seen YouTube videos that play on YouTube. Even the YouTube video I posted recently only plays on the touch from the YouTube page.
Three: The ability to type and add content quickly from the iPod Touch. While I really like the touch keyboard, I am not yet proficient, and not fast at all. I still make mistakes. Granted I’ve only been using it for two months, I think that the keyboard is going to be ideal at all for writing or entering much information.
Four: At least for now, I don’t have a good application for note taking, organizing, or accessing other documents. I was checking my work e-mail through the web (which is a great and easy way to see wants going on, unless a response is needed ASAP), but I can’t even begin to look at attachments that come in. So again a limit on the formats that can be viewed and accessed.
I’m not trying to be negative, because I do really like my iPod touch – wow screen video looks so nice! I also want to be realistic about what it can and can’t do right now.
So my last post was about Launchy, with a quick video posted to YouTube.
There are two things I wanted to comment about, in conjunction with the last post. First, is the notion that with technology, I need to stop and think about the implications for learning– especially for tools.
Think about it. A tool like this, whether it is Launchy or some other program really has interesting potential in a learning environment. If I was working with a synchronous or a-synchronous group and had multiple websites, documents, etc… that I needed to access on even a semi-regular basis, I would add these to the list that Launchy pulls from. I would also have my student’s use this tool. It simplifies some of the process to quickly accessing materials.
I think it also very cool that it makes it very easy to launch an application. I think with a little become familiar with it, and a bit of regular use, it can make teachers and learners processes a bit smoother and faster.
Second Point
Maybe this is an aside, but after posting the video to YouTube, my first by the way, I was shocked to see that withing an hour there was a comment from someone:
I guess I’m not surprised, Launchy is similar to Quicksilver. Although I admit I was disappointed. I can see how someone entering into this space, trying to do something new, get involved in web 2.0 would be intimidated.
Honestly, who cares – I’m a PC user, I’ve taught classes for students at Indiana University, as grad student for both PC and Mac. Both platforms have pro’s and cons.
I think anyone that is using a forum like YouTube to try passing on educational materials probably needs to develop a thick skin, since you never know what will come your way. The idea of sharing and commenting is truly a powerful concept, but it is also can be scary and down right nasty if your materials is received negatively. In the case of this one video, fortunately, there was no cussing 
So here’s the question, what do you see as the positives and negatives of posting to sites like YouTube for e-learning purposes?
I have been using Launchy for about a year now. I really like it. When I have been using a computer without it, I always miss it.
It really is cool. You can quickly launch it with a hotkey- then you can use it to launch programs, websites, or go to folders, it even can be a calculator.
I put together a 2 minute video to give you a preview. Check it out:
I’m hoping to do more screencasts… let me know what you think….
Today was a good day.
We started off attending the opening session at the ASTD TechKnowledge conference. The open speaker was Joe Miller, Vice-President, Platform and Technology Development Linden Research, Inc — i.e. creators of Second Life.
I don’t want to give the wrong impression, I think the potential future uses on 3-d worlds is interesting and could be very useful. I think that right now for many of the organizations I have talked to the idea of using something like Second Life isn’t an option – for a lot of different reasons. I’ve stated before I am a bit of naysayer – even though I keep many of the Tech trends – but I am trying to critically think of how it can be used. I guess the Second Life bug just hasn’t bit yet. And I’m still struggling to see it’s niche.
I guess its like a lot of things – as instructional designer I try not to get beholden to any one tool. I think like like many other positions the instructional designer needs many tools, so that the right one in the right situation at the right time can be used effectively.
Oh – and I think the presentation would have been more convincing if the avatars in the images used during the presentation weren’t large busted, scantily clad females. I mean, really, are those the only ones they could find. I suppose for some folks that’s the fun right – but when you’re talking to a group of professionals that already have to do a lot of work to justify tools a lot older and more standard than Second Life – couldn’t you help us out a little by at least not making it look like its spring break in Florida on the beach? [sigh.]
On a different note, Ryan Eash (Instructional Designer from TechSmith Corporation) and I presented another session on Camtasia Studio. It went really well. It was funny, I mentioned Second Life and got lots of laughs. I think some of the feelings I have we’re mutual.
The session was really good. We tightened up some of our presentation and felt pretty fluid. Still some more we can do, but teaching Camtasia Studio in 1 hour and 15 minutes is pretty tough.
After the session we received some really nice compliments. In fact, one gentleman mentioned that he has been to the conference for 3 or 4 years and this was the best session he has ever attended. WOW!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you! That is quite the compliment, and I feel its safe to say that Ryan deserves most of the credit.
I do have to mention thanks to ASTD for having us — it’s been a lot of fun….
One last note: I showed a few people the Camtasia Studio video I have on my iPod Touch – and everyone is blown away how good it looks. The screen is crystal clear, the text is very readable, it just looks amazing – and I didn’t even add any zoom-n-pan key frames. Man, I love what I do!
So today has been a very full day. We started off with David Pogue’s presentation. Poor guy woke-up to a dead hard-drive. He said he had to throw together the presentation – and minus some small technical issues, it was a great presentation.
David Pogue focused on a few technologies that are going to be big or bigger. There was Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) or the idea of using a phone through a wireless connection – it already exists, but he sees a lot of potential. He talked about some other technologies – one in particular that is here and now is what Google is doing with information on the phone.
If you’re not familiar with Google SMS – I’ve made a quick Jing video to shows of how it works and how you can use it (Check out the Jing Project from TechSmith). http://screencast.com/t/NTesNX2a10o — Oh yeah, and it’s free (both Google SMS and Jing)
I also like Google 411. You dial 1-800-goog-411 (1-800-4664-411). You say you’re location, what you’re looking for and they will connect you. You can also get a business address as well. If you want you can get a text message of the information as well – super handy if you don’t want to write down the number.
Check out the Google video:
Ryan and I taught a Camtasia Studio session that went pretty well. We’ve talked about tightening up the presentation a little, and making sure we dig into the content faster – even if that means we pause at regular intervals to present information we normally give up front.
We also participated in one-on-one sessions. It’s a good opportunity, although pretty limited since we are only doing 2 sessions, with each session having two people participate.
It’s interesting to hear what different folks in the industry are doing. Of course there is a lot of buzz about simulations and needing to do simulations. I heard this at the e-Learning guilds DevLearn conference last November as well.
It’s funny in Grad school 4 years ago I was looking at this. So I was on the bleeding edge, looking at this opportunity coming down the pike… and I actually walked away from it. Partly because I was worried it wasn’t going to be something that I could build a career on, and honestly partly because I had family and friends that ribbed me about the games side of it (What? You’re playing games in grad school?)
So I probably missed one of those opportunities of a life time- but then again – is the simulation trend here to stay, or is it another tool that will go in the tool boxes and only pulled out when the hammer and duct tape won’t cut it?
Been awhile since I last wrote. Updated the theme, and recommitting myself to the blog.
Been thinking a lot lately about how education can be moved forward. Seeing a lot of discussion in both corporate and the higher education realms about games, simulations, and other technological approaches (Have you learned in Second Life?)
I think that the move to use more technology is great. I think there are probably lots of great things that can be done in these environments. What I worry about is the pendulum swinging to far to one direction. The technology is cool, it can do a lot- but it can’t be the whole solution. Its an important part that can provide great opportunities for learning- but it really can’t fill every need every time.
I’ll keep it short tonight. Couple things to write about in the future: What I’m reading and have read (currently Wikinomics, just finished Black Swan, going to reread Tipping Point), the collaborative role of instructional development (between the designer, instructor, and learner), and much, much more!
I am going in for more ASTD Internationa l presentations today. Hopefully there will be some things I can take back to apply in designing training for TechSmith .
Specifically I would like to have some conversation with folks who are trying to do e-learning (or move towards more of an e-learning 2.0). I think there is a great room for screencasting, which I hope to do some soon on this blog. It definitely is not the end-all-be-all solution, but I think there is a lot of merit in begin able to show someone at their pace the info that they need.
I think in situations where someone is trying to reach a mass audience and there is not necessarily going to be a lot of two way conversation – then screencasting is a powerful tool – especially when conveying information/knowledge/learning or what ever else you call, about something on your screen.
I could see an educational YouTube – home-grown topics in training and education. Although, there would have to be a half-way reasonable way to weed out junk… It could create a whole new realm of educational discovery. Throw in social networking, ways to comment on the video (thinking something like digg )
-matt
