960 Grid System
A grid system for visual design. While this is typically used for web design, Jerson Campos shared how he uses this for designing slides in Storyline and PowerPoint. Using this grid can help you create better looking visual designs.
Blog posts
Twine Screen Reader: A Browser Extension for Improving the Accessibility of Twine Stories for People with Visual Impairments | Interactive Storytelling
Twine exports stories to HTML, so in theory the content should be reasonably accessible to screen readers (as long as you add alt text for images etc.). In practice, some of the Twine-specific HTML elements don't always work well with screen readers. This paper discusses how the authors created a screen reader browser extension to improve the accessibility of Twine stories built with Harlowe and Sugarcube (the two most common story formats).
12 Books for Instructional Designers to Read This Year
Connie Malamed shares 12 books for instructional designers, all recent publications. I've only read 3 of these (although I have the previous edition of one), so it looks like I have some new selections for my "to read" list.
Facilitation Techniques and Workshop Activities | Library | SessionLab
Looking for ideas for planning a workshop or instructor-led training? Check out this library of facilitation techniques. There's a category for remote facilitation, but some techniques not tagged that could potentially be used or adapted for vILT too.
10 Rules You Need to Create Great Captioned Videos – Meryl.net home
Meryl Evans shares rules for creating great closed captions. While these are described as rules for videos, this applies to other elearning too.
10 guidelines for accessible captions: Readable, accurate, synchronized, length, position, sound, credits, voice changes, speaker identification, and motion with one or two sentences describing each one.
Moho Animation Software - Professional 2D Animation
For projects that need animation control beyond what's possible in tools like Vyond or Powtoon, you need dedicated animation software. Moho is an alternative to Adobe Character animator that can animate characters and lip sync animation to audio. The Moho Debut product for beginners is reasonably priced ($60 for a lifetime license).
Paperbell Coaching Software
Software for managing coaching, including scheduling coaching calls and payments. h/t Patti Bryant
Cognitive Load, Student Attention and PowerPoint Presentations
Results of an eyetracking study of PowerPoint slides with tips on how to design slides so the information attracts attention and is easy to scan.
<h2><strong>Our top 5 tips for PowerPoint presentations summarised</strong></h2>
<ol>
<li><strong><em> </em></strong><strong><em>Less is more</em></strong></li>
</ol>
<p>To optimise student engagement and comprehension, use minimal text per slide and present examples before explanations.<strong><em><br><br></em></strong></p>
<ol start="2">
<li><strong> </strong><strong><em>Keep text with diagrams to a minimum</em></strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Minimising text on slides containing diagrams <a href="https://www.innerdrive.co.uk/blog/the-split-attention-effect/">focuses students' attention on the visuals</a>, facilitating better engagement and understanding of complex information.<br><br></p>
<ol start="3">
<li><strong> </strong><strong><em>Focus on how you present information</em></strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Focus on delivery by breaking down content into key words, bullet points or simplified blocks to ensure student engagement and comprehension when presenting extensive information.<strong><em><br><br></em></strong></p>
<ol start="4">
<li><strong> </strong><strong><em>Draw attention to key information</em></strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Vocally guide your students through the content of data-heavy slides to ensure focus on essential information and accommodate varied scanning habits.<strong><em><br><br></em></strong></p>
<ol start="5">
<li><strong> </strong><strong><em>Use handouts</em></strong></li>
</ol>
<p>Providing handouts alongside PowerPoint presentations can significantly enhance your students' learning by emphasising key points and consolidating information, offering a more engaging and effective reference tool.</p>
AI Story Generator (Free, No Signup & Unlimited)
This seems like something that could be done with a combination of other tools (an LLM plus an image generator), but this is a tool that creates stories plus images to accompany them. It would be interesting to experiment with as inspiration for training scenarios. However, note that the site claims copyright of all stories created, so don't plan to use this for commercial purposes. Use it for inspiration rather than as the actual content of a story.
TIP: The Eightfold Path of Troubleshooting - Articulate Storyline Discussions - E-Learning Heroes
Judy Nollet's tips for troubleshooting Storyline courses. Judy gives great advice in the Storyline forums, and she's seen a lot of the same kinds of errors come up over and over. Following best practices like naming your objects and variables will make your life easier when trying to track down issues.
Kajabi Gamify Pro - Ultimate gamification course template for Kajabi
A course template for Kajabi with badges and Easter eggs
Storyline Accessibility and Mayer's Principles - Scissortail Creative Services, LLC
Kayleen Holt shares tips for creating accessible courses in Storyline beyond just adding closed captions. This includes tips for adjusting the focus order when you have animated content, providing a "skip animation" button for screen reader users, and allowing users a choice to autoplay media or not.
GamiFlix - Netflix like course template with gamification for Kajabi
A Kajabi template with gamification elements like badges and settings for customization
Tips to share your files - Google Workspace Learning Center
Directions to share links for Google Drive files as PDF files
Beginner's Guide to Midjourney Consistent Characters.
Tips from Rory Flynn on how to use Midjourney to create consistent characters. This shows how to use CREF in your prompts, with sample prompts and a few tips to improve your results
Masters' Q&A - Christy Tucker
My answers to questions on simulations on Dan Topf's blog. I share my views on why simulations and scenarios are valuable, how they help participants demonstrate learning on-the-job, why they're meaningful, and what energizes me about my work.
The Pesky Challenge of Evaluating AI Outputs – Usable Learning
Julie Dirksen observes that lots of people (myself included) talk about the importance of making sure that any content created by AI is reviewed by a person. The task of evaluating the outputs of AI is a challenging one though, and it's one worth paying attention to as we continue to explore the possibilities of AI.
First of all, you need <em>the expertise to judge an output</em>, and second you need <em>the discipline to exert the effort </em>required to assess an output.
<p>More thoughts to come on this, but for now, I think there are a few questions we should be asking:</p>
<ul>
<li>Does this person have the knowledge and expertise to judge this output?</li>
<li>Is it reasonable to expect this person has the discipline to evaluate the outputs in detail?</li>
<li>What is the risk if output errors are not caught?</li></ul>