Improving linear navigation in your elearning

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A great slideshow from Cathy Moore of Django Labs. I find Cathy's examples prove elearning without audio can be quite effective.

Good elearning example by Lectora

Part of my informal education in instructional design includes learning from examples, both good and bad. Obviously, I try to recreate the good things I see and avoid the not-so-good in my own projects.

Here is an example of elearning by Lectora that I find particularly effective and well done. I guess if you're in the elearning business then your elearning better be pretty darn good. To view the elearning, you'll have to go to the Trivantis website and click the View Tutorials button. I'm not promoting the product, and have never used it, but find the training is interesting and easy to grasp. It's broken down into very short snippets of about 23-30 seconds each that can be navigated, viewed and reviewed separately. I also like the way the agent speaks in the front while the application tips are displayed in the background. Haven't seen this technique used before and, at first glance, I liked it.

I'd be interested to hear any thoughts on this example or any others you've come across.

Asterpix Interactive Video

OK, I find it difficult to contain my excitement when I come across a new e-learning tool. This site, called Asterpix, is a kindness offered to all of us who have difficulty doing...well, anything. This is the future of how-to help for many topics I think. So much easier than sifting through a user manual. Now to join the fun and post some of my own stuff. Enjoy.

Effective home safety e-learning

Here is a short (30 second) yet powerful and effective use of e-learning to describe how to put out a kitchen grease fire and the consequences of doing it improperly. I won't soon forget this training.

Common craft releases new video

I came across this video recently and want to share it. I think these people have hit on a great way of sharing knowledge and have a real future ahead of them. It is also good to see them venturing into new subject matter. Nice job!

New demo elearning videos here and more to come

As you can see we've been taken a pause between blog posts. The reason is that we've been furiously developing and producing videos and screencasts for our clients. When there has been time to spare, we thought that it would be useful to share what we do with the world and have therefore posted examples of our videos online. You can also find them located on the right toolbar and on our website. Please keep looking as we will be adding more examples of our work to show the full spectrum of our services. Until then, we look forward to helping you continue learning and growing in your knowledgework.

I thought it would be useful to have this video on-hand for when we begin uploading screencasts on our plone website. More of a reference for me than anything else, but all the better if others also find it useful.

Here is the video explaining how to publish multimedia on a plone website:



Also a link from the plone blog re: updates since the video. Very interesting stats on the adoption of multimedia on the web. There is mention that screencasts would have improved the knowledge transfer - we couldn't agree more!

Prototypes and screencasting

pro·to·type

1. An original type, form, or instance serving as a basis or standard for later stages.
2. An original, full-scale, and usually working model of a new product or new version of an existing product.
3. An early, typical example.

After numerous crashes and bug-fixes at the end of my latest project, I'd like to share an important lesson I picked up on the way. The latest screencast I was doing with Camtasia 4 became very heavy near the end, causing numerous crashes. My partner suggested creating a prototype before advancing any further to see the best way to complete the project.

The prototype took about 4 hours to complete, but what it saved in time and effort was well worth it. I was able to see how the final result would best be presented using an example that was simplified in content yet similar in form. Following this process spared me the crashes in my real project and helped me build a better tutorial. That makes prototype the new word of the day here.

Screencast tutorial update

We haven't had much to report as we have been working tirelessly to meet a deadline for a series of screencasts. Tomorrow, we should have one of them ready for the client and then move to the second one. Alas, the only news I've been able to share is screencast related - Using Techsmith's Camtasia and Snagit software for this project has been an enjoyable experience. I was glad to join the screencasting group on Facebook and plan to add some podcasts/screencast when I have some time to do non-client work. We will be presenting a family video for my mother's birthday bash in Greece later next month (shh, I hope she isn't reading my blog before then) and perhaps can include some clips from that.

Will try to join back with you soon with more DITA news. To date, I have received word from a salesperson at Ixiasoft and she has reported that DITA is breaking ground with medium-sized enterprises, even with, and I quote, "documentation teams of 3-4 writers". I will be looking at the finer points of Ixiasoft's CMS (content management system) in the fall. No question that CMS is the way to go to leverage all of DITA's benefits.

New trends in technical communications

I am inspired by the In Plain English videos produced by Common Craft that have recently appeared on the web. The videos embody the power of effective technical communication: know your audience and communicate using a style and language to match that audience. The success of the videos says that they have accomplished this feat. The In Plain English podcasts remind me of the For Dummies guides in their approach to communicating key information in an easy to follow format. Great job guys!

Wikis in Plain English:


RSS in Plain English:


Social networking in Plain English:


I know it's a lot, but thought they were worth showing. In fact, right now I am using info from a For Dummies guide to create a video. My guess is this will be an important way to transfer knowledge in the years to come.

DITA specialization tutorial just out

A great new tutorial that explains in detail how to specialize DITA for your company or organization can be found here. This is a useful guide for anyone wanting to learn the practicals of creating specializations for DITA.

Update: Same tutorial in real time from Central Texas DITA users group:

Good to watch if you want to learn more about creating specializations for DITA. Note that without specialization it becomes impossible to use XML on a large scale. Thanks CT DITA users group for this resource!

Screencast tutorials used more often in technical communications

Technical communications are experiencing a profound shift with the advent of new technologies. One example is the use of podcasts and screencasts to explain procedures that once were outlined in user manuals and quickstart guides. While I don't believe the need for printed material will disappear, online tutorials are necessary to improve customer satisfaction and product understanding.

We are currently working on an online training series for a client that takes the form of interactive screencasts. The goal of this project is to help company employees adopt and become proficient with Lotus Sametime and reduce the number of calls to an already overworked helpdesk. Lotus Sametime has the ability to connect users through instant messaging, voice chats and online web conferencing, but it will only have value if employees really start using it. Employees currently have access to written material, however, they lack the time to learn this software with their busy schedules. Hence, the IT department would like to offer on-demand training videos designed to help people get up-to-speed with the basics.

I will soon be including examples of customized training videos on our website at www.knowledgework.ca. If you think this service would be useful for your company, please contact us at info@knowledgework.ca stating your needs and I would be glad to provide you with a reasonable quote. Best regards.

Using Camtasia to do screencast tutorials

We are presently preparing a series of tutorials on software products including IBM Lotus Sametime, a web conferencing tool that allows teams to meet remotely, instant message and share desktops. This is a good tool for businesses and the software we are using to record the tutorials is Camtasia.

So far so good. The plan is to have some of these tutorials up on our site as an example of our work, and to give an idea of the kind of customized information products that we produce to enhance learning. Look for this by the end of July to early August. Have a good weekend everyone!