The Art of Simplification in eLearning Design eLearning courses are designed for the benefit of students and not to bombard them with irrelevant information. Relevant information is necessary, but if you exceed a human’s brain capacity to understand and retain all the information, then all the learning goes to waste. Designers often ask how they can improve the quality of their eLearning content and make them more engaging. What can they do? Stick to one of design's timeless rules: “keep it simple” . Applying the principle of simplicity in eLearning means relaying information through the simplest means possible. Keeping it simple can be an art. 1) Know Your Audience The importance of understanding the target audience cannot be stressed enough. 2) Focus On the Essentials Remeber what Dieter Rams said? This is perhaps the most important step for any eLearning developer. Tip: Asking the right questions to your SME will help you focus on what's important and leave out the "nice-to-have" information. 3) Use Plenty of White Space
Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns A student takes notes at Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington D.C. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) Do teachers really know what students go through? Wiggins initially posted the piece without revealing the author. By Alexis Wiggins I have made a terrible mistake. I waited 14 years to do something that I should have done my first year of teaching: shadow a student for a day. This is the first year I am working in a school but not teaching my own classes; I am the High School Learning Coach, a new position for the school this year. As part of getting my feet wet, my principal suggested I “be” a student for two days: I was to shadow and complete all the work of a 10th grade student on one day and to do the same for a 12th grade student on another day. My class schedules for the day (Note: we have a block schedule; not all classes meet each day): The schedule that day for the 10th grade student: 7:45 – 9:15: Geometry 9:30 – 10:55: Spanish II 10:55 – 11:40: Lunch 11:45 – 1:10: World History
Your Ticket to Great Instructional Design Instructional design is certainly not an easy business. Having been in the learning, training and development industry for more than 27 years, I can assertively say so. Instructional designers shoulder the important responsibility of sugar-coating the critical learning content in such a manner that training becomes not just a mandatory activity, but something that employees love. Now how do you do that? At the heart of it lies a thorough understanding of the employees who are going to take up this eLearning course. Any instructional design process will typically consist of a mix of text, graphics, audio, video and animated elements. Establish ExpectationsNobody likes to shoot in the dark. Υour TIC(K)ET To A Great Instructional Design In addition, the textual part, if worked on in a way that can improve retention makes it so much easier for learners to remember information in chunks. Trigger ThinkingIncrease InteractivityConsistent ColorsEstablish ExpectationsTalk to Them
Marina Warner · Diary: Why I Quit · LRB 11 September 2014 The professor from the West Coast stepped out of the taxi and looked around, head tilted back and swivelling from one looming grey tower to another as she assessed the flint-studded concrete ramparts of the library. ‘Oh, wowww!’ she cried, ecstasy lifting her voice above the wind whipping off the marshes. That was last summer, and new brutalism in academia was taking on another meaning. When Derek Walcott accepted an invitation to become professor of poetry in 2009, he had a trace memory of this experimental, cosmopolitan place, so surprisingly based in Essex. When I arrived at Essex ten years ago to teach in the department of literature, film and theatre studies, a wholly unexpected rise in the teaching of creative writing was just beginning, and it was led by students who, as ‘customers’, could dictate terms in the new market. Creative writing is a controversial subject, and many who teach it don’t defend it as a proper discipline.
Should an Instructional Designer Have an Advanced Degree? As the field of eLearning continues to grow, so does the demand for instructional designers. If you look at job listings for many corporations, the listing specifies that they are seeking a qualified applicant who has an advanced degree. Is it necessary for someone to have a graduate degree in order to design quality training courses? Some might argue that having an advanced degree in instructional design indicates that a person is qualified to design eLearning content in a manner that is most effective. Others may say that life experience is the best teacher one could ever hope to have. Other Perspectives Regardless of which side of this debate you find yourself, the discussion is missing a critical element. We've all also seen situations where the person who does a terrific job in the office, simply has no skills when it comes to teaching. Which to Choose? For lack of a fully convincing argument on either side, it might be best to simply choose the best candidate for the job.
Best Online Colleges for 2014 If your New Year's resolutions include getting an education, but you're going to need to work around your job and family, an online education could be just what you need to keep your resolve. To compile our list of the best online schools for 2014, we considered levels of programming available and variety of programs. We also researched whether online students had access to library resources, academic advisers and career services, as well as whether the schools had mobile applications, allowing you to attend classes, access course materials and take part in online discussions with your instructors and classmates while on the go. As an added bonus, three of the six schools featured on our 'best of' list - American, Northcentral and Walden universities - were named among G.I. Jobs' 2014 Military Friendly Schools. U.S. colleges, universities and trade/vocational schools are chosen for this list based on their support of active duty military and veterans who are pursuing an education.
9 Tips To Improve Online Learners’ Engagement With the coming of Internet, the way learning is imparted has undergone a drastic change. It is no longer limited to teachers giving lessons to the students physically located in front of them in the classrooms. Now they can teach students living in far off places through web based learning and educational materials. This has led to the proliferation of various kinds of online materials devised for students, working professionals, and others who want to acquire new skills and knowledge. But teaching students physically present in a class is quite different from teaching individuals located in far away locations. The most online learners do not have a teacher at their place to explain things to them. Their problem magnifies even more when teachers and professionals designing online courses do not give due attention to making things simple for them. Removing excess image, text, and graphics.Some online learning courses are stuffed with too many images, text, links, and graphics.
Skills you need as an Instructional Designer Are you tired of seeing heavy content slides? Do teaching methods and strategies appear far from being comprehensible? Well! An Instructional designer breaks down content that involves any learning material, into something that is easy to comphrehend; he or she also creates the content to be appealing to the target audience. Here are lists of essential Skills you need as an Instructional Designer: First things First! Thus, as a skillful Instructional Designer you will be meeting solves the needs of the learner and facilitates the process of learning in an innovative manner. Top 5 Tips for Visual Design in eLearning In this article, I'll share top tips for visual design in eLearning. After reading through it, you'll be able to create an eye-catching, powerful, and immersive eLearning course for your audience, even if you are not familiar with graphic design principles. No doubt, eLearning professionals spend countless hours choosing the right content for their eLearning courses. They also do their best to ensure that the navigability is smooth and seamless. However, there is one essential element of the eLearning course development that is usually overlooked and this in no other than the visual design. This isn't to say that eLearning professionals don't pay attention to the aesthetic appeal of their eLearning courses. White space is nothing to fear. Use these visual design tips to make your eLearning course stand out from the crowd and be memorable to your learners. Looking for graphic design tips? Visual design is one way to direct your learners’ attention. Get 2 Free eBooks
You Can Now Create Educational Games for Students on Android December, 2014 The popular iPad game developer app TinyTap is now available on Android. TinyTap is a very good app for creating educational games based on pictures. You can either upload your pictures or grab new ones to use in your games. TinyTap, which was initially geared towards preschoolers, has now released several new features that make it appeal to adult learners as well. Some of these features include a new auto-correct tracing which cleans lines for rectangles and circles giving your app a professional look. You can also now add text bubbles on your soundboard pages. To create your own game. Add Voice Over to PowerPoint Presentations in 5 Easy Steps The presentation tool in Microsoft Office is one of the most widely used slide presentation applications available today. While PowerPoint has plenty of detractors and is often the butt of jokes (“PowerPoint has no power and no point …”, you’ve probably heard a few like this), there is no denying that slides produced with this application are central to countless educational lectures across the world every school day. BTW, this article and video is specific to PowerPoint 2007, if you are using PowerPoint 2010, check out this article and video. PowerPoint is a piece of software that is pretty easy to use, but at the same time has many features that can elevate your presentations. Here is a step-by-step guide to adding voice over to PowerPoint slides (these steps and the video are based on PowerPoint 2007): 1. 2. 3. 4. You may want to click on the “Change Quality” button (the default settings are pretty low resolution/quality). 5. About Allison Foster Print This Post
How to build an Android application, step by step This article is excerpted from Sams Teach Yourself Android Application Development in 24 Hours, reprinted with permission of Sams Publishing. Coyright Lauren Darcey and Shane Conder, all rights reserved. Every platform technology uses different terminology to describe its application components. The three most important classes on the Android platform are Context, Activity and Intent. An Android application is a collection of tasks, each of which is called an activity. Designing application features The design of the Chippy's Revenge game is simple. Splash - This screen acts as a startup screen, with the game logo and version. Starting to sound familiar? Certainly, you are free to implement any kind of user interface you desire. Determining application activity requirements You need to implement five activity classes, one for each feature of the game: SplashActivity - This activity serves as the default activity to launch. Implementing application functionality Using the application context
University of Reddit : Game Theory Game Theory Game Theory 101 is a free introductory course to the basics of game theory. Over the course of a few dozen videos, we will learn about the basics of competitive interaction and strategic thought. We will also learn the core concepts of game theory, including strict dominance, iterated elimination of strictly dominated strategies, pure strategy Nash equilibrium, mixed strategy Nash equilibrium, the mixed strategy algorithm, weak dominance, backward induction, subgame perfect equilibrium, and comparative statics. Lectures Prerequisites Algebra will get you through 95% of the course. Syllabus I have divided this course into three units: the basics, extensive form games, and advanced strategic form games. All lectures are video-based and hosted on YouTube. Additional information I have a textbook that mirrors the content of the course. You can find mirrors of this course on YouTube and Udemy: Teacher qualifications
46 Hidden Tips and Tricks to Use Google Search Like a Boss How often do you use Google to find something on the internet? If like a lot of people you use Google every day you’ll be astounded by the number of hidden tips and tricks their search facility offers. 46 of them are featured in this infographic from Who Is Hosting This, how many of those did you know about? Related The 10 Most Viewed and Shared Posts from Our Blog in 2014 2014 has been a fantastic year for Red Website Design, we’ve grown from a one man band at the start of the year to having 5 full time members of staff (and more on the way). In "Content Marketing" 13 Google Search Tricks That Will Make Your Life Much Easier Do you struggle to find the information you need on Google? In "Infographics" 5 Killer Secrets to Instantly Increase Engagement on Google Plus If like a lot of other small business owners you see Google Plus as just another social network and a waste of time you could be missing a trick.