Why learning objects make sense

It’s about learning by design. When you offer learning in the form of bite-size chunks, known as modules or objects, you set yourself up for knowledge-sharing success on many different levels.

Cognitive load. Your customers and employees are much more likely to retain information about your product and service when it’s presented in smaller pieces. Our working memory can only retain about four ideas at a time, so it’s a good idea to give people the option to go to something, learn about it, and come back again when they’re ready.

Adaptability. When information is built in smaller pieces, it’s more flexible and less costly to change it according to learner needs. Equally, it is easier to build upon information that has already been learned by adding new information incrementally. This lets you custom build training that grows with the learner. There has never been a better time to build a scalable knowledge base for your customers and employees.

Focus. Learning products offered in smaller chunks have the benefit of focusing exactly on what learners need to know.
In today’s busy world, people don’t have time to sift through long documents or attend lengthy training or e-learning sessions. Instead, why not offer them searchable content where they can access exactly what they need, when they need it?

Reuse. When information is easier to find, and use, it’s also easier to reuse. Changing information in the form of updates, versions and compliance requirements can put a burden on content developers. Updating information that is built in smaller reusable chunks is much easier because only the parts that need changing are affected.

Interoperability. The increasing use of learning management systems makes learning by design even more sensible. Using a learning framework such as SCORM means that you know your information can be included in a learning management system in the future should you choose to go that way.

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!

Lone-DITA offers useful compilation of links

I was beginning to compile a list of links and data related to DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture), which is a method of structuring content created by IBM. We believe DITA is useful for those who need a way to maintain consistency and reduce costs with the increased push to publish information about different products in multiple formats and languages. Specifically, we find DITA has the potential to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of information due in large part to its ability to:

• Publish content in multiple formats from a single source
• Create reusable content
• Create versions for multiple audiences, platforms and products
• Separate content from formatting
• Improve consistency by making changes in one place and the change propagates everywhere
  

Today I discovered the site Lone-DITA. This site is extremely helpful in that it provides a DITA tutorial, which explains DITA and also allows you to see how it functions. The site contains a plethora of useful links to information that will help anyone learn about this methodology and determine whether it is right for their needs. I was randomly collecting links related to DITA, XML and other related technologies but will hold off, seeing that this has already been taken care of by Lone-DITA.

I plan to use Lone-DITA as a resource and am adding it to the right hand side of links for anyone else who would like to delve in and explore. This has saved me time in trying to do this myself and I would like to thank the author of this site and wish her much success. Cheers.

W3 working document on best practices for XML internationalization

A working draft by W3 consortium came out a few days ago on best practices for XML internationalization. This is an important piece of work and something our company will strive to implement.

I have linked to it on my wiki and will be pouring over it in the coming days/weeks. This is key information for me to apply for any of my clients producing or seeking to produce global content. Note the coverage on ITS (internationalization tag set) and DITA in the document. Enjoy.

XML Master Basic Examination (and other things)

I'm excited to report an online examination from XML Master to obtain certification in - you guessed it - XML. As a proponent of open, free access to knowledge, this is a course I feel compelled to post about. I hope to see more opportunities like this to help people advance their skills, and it is my goal to offer avenues of my own as I become more of an expert in these technologies.

In conjunction with the goal of promoting knowledge, I downloaded DemoStudio today, an open source tool for making screencasts and presentations. There is a link to download it here. The near future will find me busy devouring this technology and creating learning tutorials via screencasts. If you are interested in other open source technology, Sharon Bett made a helpful table, which includes links - it's worth taking a peek.

Something I would like to discover more in depth is a method where content can be stored in XML and translated into powerpoint format, ready to use for a screencast tutorial. I was reading Towards Global Component Architecture for Learning Objects: A Slide Presentation Framework, where they detail how to reuse and repurpose learning object content. Using XML to convert into slide format and then adding audio and appropriate caption boxes would be a powerful way to efficiently and cost-effectively replace traditional, written online help. I think this will improve user support and achieve a goal of creating more knowledgeable, satisfied customers.