3 quick tips for strong scenarios
Tips from Cathy Moore on writing scenarios:
- Put dialog in quotation marks.
- Ask, "Why aren't they doing it?"
- Branching? Start with the end in mind.
Blog posts
Expert Tips for Writing Great E-Learning Conference Proposals
How to write proposals with a better chance of being accepted
How To Create A Money-Making Online Course - Forbes
This isn't about instructional design--it's for SMEs who want to create courses on Udemy to share their expertise. I like the comparison used that creating a 2-3 hour online course takes about as much time as writing a book; that's a good metaphor, at least for an audience of experts with knowledge to sell.
Update: Where to Find Freelance Instructional Design Gigs - Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed
Ashley explains how her methods for finding clients have changed now that she's been freelancing longer.
How Do You Show Conversations in E-Learning?
Samples of different styles for conversations (comic book, text message, interactive conversations, pull quotes, etc.) Read the comments for additional examples. Most of the samples are in Storyline, but you could do similar actions in any tool.
Cushion - Peace of mind for freelancers
Time management, analysis, and planning for freelancers.
Google Tip: Force a Copy of a Google Doc | Eduro Learning
Change "edit" to "copy" at the end of the URL to force people to make a copy. This is useful for sharing templates or assignments.
12 ID Books
Connie Malamed's list of books, with everything from quick reads to graduate level textbooks. Several of these books are new to me.
Replay (slide) Button - Captivate blog
Two methods for creating replay buttons in Captivate. I have needed this before and never come up with as elegant a solution as Lieve offers here.
The Problem With Having a 'Growth Mindset' - Finding Common Ground - Education Week
Growth mindset doesn't seem to work as well in classrooms as it does in the research environments, partly because it gets oversimplified as simply "more effort" rather than providing useful feedback and rewarding trying new strategies.
E-learning by Tracy Parish | ZEEF
Large collection of free tools and resources in many categories
Seth's Blog: Training and the infinite return on investment
This assumes the training actually has an effect on behavior (and let's be honest--it doesn't always), but this is a good breakdown of how training someone to be better at their job has a great ROI
The Growth Mindset : Telling Penguins to Flap Harder ? | Disappointed Idealist
Lengthy criticism of growth mindset, looking at both Dweck's research and the way it is misinterpreted and applied in educational policy
To a certain extent, I feel the growth mindset is the equivalent of putting a penguin next to an eagle and inviting them to both take off. When the eagle is a speck in the sky, the observer then tells the penguin that the only reason it isn’t also flying is that it isn’t putting enough effort in. If only it flaps its wings harder, it’ll be chasing the eagle in no time.
15 Platforms to Publish and Sell Online Courses
Platforms for selling courses. These are mostly not full LMSs but aimed at SMEs who want to sell courses. Academy of Mine, Coggno, CourseMerchant, DigitalChalk, EdLoud, Educadium, EZLCMS, Inquisiq, Learning Cart, Litmos, MindBites, Mindflash, OpenSesame, Pathwright, ProProfs, Ruzuku, SkyPrep, Teachable, Udemy, WizIQ
6 Free Platforms for Teaching Online | OEDB.org
LMSs for experts to sell courses. These aren't all completely free, in spite of the title. This list is geared more to teachers who want to sell something online on the side. Udemy, Odijoo, RCampus, Learnopia, Peer 2 Peer University, Teachers pay Teachers
Nuts and Bolts: Read Up! by Jane Bozarth : Learning Solutions Magazine
Even if you don't have a degree in instructional design (and maybe especially if you don't), you can improve your skills by reading deeply in more academic literature. Jane Bozarth shares some recommendations for authors to start with and strategies for finding sources.
You may find something that surprises or unsettles
you. Or you may find something that confirms what you believe with data and not
just some anecdotes or gut feelings. Some time spent here will help you move
past “I think” or “it feels right” to “evidence shows.”
Tips from L&D pro Jane Bozarth
Lots of gems from Jane Bozarth here about elearning, instructional design, meaningful interactivity and engagement, social learning, PLNs, and more. This is a very quotable interview.
To “get” from a PLN you need to “give.”
I think that we are getting the idea of more interactivity, of more engaging real stuff, not just making it spin and zoom and move. And I think the authoring tools that have made that easier have certainly helped people understand that learners need to actually get their hands on the content in some way.
<p>You do not blame the hammer because the house fell down. It’s the person using the tool. It’s really about effective design. You can do fabulous stuff with PowerPoint. You can do dreadful stuff with PowerPoint. You can do dreadful stuff no matter the tool.</p>
<p>In PowerPoint you can actually build nice little branching scenarios and reveals. You can make choices. You can do interactivity. There’s a lot of stuff that I think people just don’t take the time to learn.</p>
CpExtra Online Help | Infosemantics Pty Ltd
Documentation for the CpExtra widget that provides additional variables and options for HTML5 Captivate courses
Learning at the Speed of Life
CSAP review
Is LinkedIn still relevant? | Technology Enhanced Learning Blog
David Hopkins asks if LinkedIn is still relevant when we have other social networks available. I still get value from LinkedIn, and I think it serves a different purpose than Facebook and Twitter.
Adapt Learning
Open source tool for creating responsive HTML5 elearning. SCORM compliant.
Story-based elearning: top tips for captivating elearning
10 tips focused on how to write compelling stories for learning. These aren't about the technology, but about how you craft characters, conflict, and narrative.
Focus on better writing, not the bells and whistles
The Top 8 Free/Open Source LMSs - Capterra Blog
This is actually 18+ free and/or open source LMSs. Some are truly open source, some are freemium or other business models. If you want a list that goes well beyond Moodle and Canvas, this is a good place to start.
Cutout People - Free
Free cutout characters in a few poses for use in elearning scenarios
Rev - Transcription, Captions, Translation
Transcriptions and captions for audio and video at $1/minute. This would be very useful for transcribing SME interviews and captioning videos. They also offer translation
Google Forms: Create a Branching Quiz Question - Teacher Tech
Use Google Forms to create a branching quiz. This could be used for a branching scenario as well. You can add images in Google Forms, so you could add some visual interest as well. A tool called Flubaroo can be used for scoring.
CSS Button Generator: Create HTML and CSS Button Styles
Create CSS buttons
Learnlets » Deeper Learning Reading List
A book and resource list for learning about going beyond the superficial and supporting "deeper learning"
BugMuncher - Website User Feedback
Add a feedback button to your website that lets users highlight areas with problems and make comments and suggestions. Screenshots and user browser info are automatically logged. I wonder if this could be used for collecting feedback on elearning, both during formal review cycles and to collect ongoing feedback after courses have launched.
How Chunking Helps Content Processing
This article explains content chunking from a usability perspective, but this applies to writing for elearning too