Skills for Access : The Comprehensive Guide to Creating Accessible Multimedia for e-learning
Resources for multimedia accessibility in e-learning, including case studies. Part of their philosophy is that multimedia can actually enhance accessibility and make course designs more usable for all learners.
Case study of blogs used with fifth graders to improve writing skills. In both classes reviewed, blogs improved "both rich content and author's craft" but not grammar and spelling.
How Much Narration in eLearning? Our Lessons Learned by Don Bair & Mike Dickinson : Learning Solutions Magazine
Two IDs look at the use of audio narration--how much, quality of speakers, quality of equipment. Includes guidelines based on their survey of employees. I wish they had some more info about the survey they conducted though (i.e., how many responses they received, how many total employees at the company, etc.)
<p>Here are the
guidelines we have adopted as a result of this study:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>[How much?] We
will use audio only when instructionally necessary.
</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>[Control] We
will make sure students have the ability to turn the sound on and
off, and that they know how to do so.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>[Who?] We will
continue to use in-house talent, but other than credits at the end,
we will not identify the narrator unless his or her name or title is
pertinent for the instruction, e.g., having the Compliance Officer
introduce a compliance course. This will prevent having to
re-narrate when someone changes position or leaves the company. We
may audition to get more suitable voices.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>[Quality] We
only need slightly a higher quality microphone along with a pop
filter to raise our technical quality to the practical limit. We
also identified a storage room that will double as our sound studio
with the use of inexpensive draperies. This location should improve
our ability to splice in updates without sounding noticeably
different from the original.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>We will
continue to have learners evaluate the use and quality of our
narration and make adjustments accordingly.</p></li></ol>
Only 12% said they prefer
professional voice talent. A full 85% said the voice only needs to
sound good enough to get the point across without having to strain to
understand it. Nearly 60% of our employees said “no preference”
as long as the voice isn’t irritating to listen to. 40% prefer
that the narrator be someone they recognize (i.e., a well-known
manager, process owner, or <span class="glossaryTerm" id="/glossary/getGlossaryDefinition.cfm?id=131">SME</span>). A surprising 9% said the narration
could be computer-generated as long as it didn’t sound too
robot-like.
We
wanted to know the preferences of our employees so we conducted a
survey. They
almost unanimously said that 1) they do not want the entire course to
be narrated, 2) they do not want text on the screen read to them word
for word, and 3) about two-thirds of the employees want to be able to
turn the narration on or off.
Case Study: Engaging Learners in the Synchronous Distance Environment by Kim Bahr & Rebecca Bodrero : Learning Solutions Magazine
Case study in how a F2F training program was adapted for online with Adobe Connect. This includes how they prepared the participants, adapted activities, engaged learners, supported with producers, and blended synchronous with asynchronous.
Report Card: Gamification in Learning (What Works?) by Carol Leaman : Learning Solutions Magazine
Lessons learned on what works for gamification: multiple levels, fun, variety, leaderboards, tangible rewards, virtual coaches, progress tracking, social connectivity.
