Originally posted on eLearningTV

According to Gartner research, employees have taken control from corporate IT departments.  In the future, employees will be  using multiple devices including tablets and smart phones of their choosing. What this means is corporate training departments will need to be able to deliver eLearning content to multiple devices. Today we have Chris Van Wingerden from dominknow Learning Systems to give us some tips on how to create content for tablet computers.

 

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Don Delivery Tools, Design Tools, Development Tools, Research, Vendors

Originally posted on eLearningTV

In this episode of eLearningTV, see an Articulate Storyline Demo, and learn how HTML5 is enabling the delivery of eLearning content to mobile devices, including the iPad and iPhone.

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Don Delivery Tools, Design Tools, Development Tools, Software, Vendors

This is a syndicated post, which originally appeared at The Rapid eLearning Blog by Tom Kuhlmann

There are three core questions that help guide the development of an elearning course.  I discussed this a bit in the post on building a roadmap for elearning.

• What is the look and feel of the course?
• What information needs to be in the course?
• What will the learner do with the information?

For many rapid elearning developers the most challenging part is the first question because it requires a skill set different than training or instructional design.  So what typically happens is that we create elearning courses that either all look the same or have a discordant look where the images and typography are a hodgepodge of whatever we have available. In today’s post I’ll share a simple way to get a nice look for your course that will give it a rich feel.  It’s not a substitute for good instructional design, but it is a simple way to make your course look good and take the pressure off of the rapid elearning developer who has limited access to graphic designers. In a recent post I shared some ideas on how to craft more engaging objectives.  For the demo, I wanted my earthquake intro to feature a family huddled in the dark.  And as the information was shared a family member would disappear.

Like most of you, I am pressed for time.  Since I had no time to build the graphics I wanted, I decided to change the huddled family image to a framed photo of a family.  This would be a lot easier to do since all I needed was an image of a picture frame and a family.

As I was looking for picture frames on iStockphoto I saw a few Polaroid-like images.  So I decided to switch from a single picture frame to Polaroid photos of each family member.  Doing a search for “Polaroid” revealed a lot of cool layouts.  What I like about them is that they offer some structure that I could easily use in my elearning course.

Searching through the Polaroid images lead me to an artist who had a series of images that I could use.  The artist provided a background, title and section screens, and then various layout options.  The added bonus is that since they came from the same artist they all looked like they belonged together.

Here’s a quick demo of these images used in an elearning course.  As you can see, I didn’t have to do much work because I used the default layouts for my slide backgrounds.

Click here to view the demo.

I look for images that come from the same style so I can get a consistent look and avoid a discordant style.  And then I look for “buckets” where I can add content.  In this case the Polaroid images are perfect.  I can use them to add pictures, as menu choices, or even as a way to display text that may have previously been a bullet point. The secret is to find an artist who provides a lot of images that come from the same style.  This way you have a lot to work with.  Here are a few sets that I think would work well in an elearning course:

• Grungy Photos (set used in this demo)
• Education theme

Desktop themes (same artist):

• Brown wood
• Black desk
• Office folder
• Open notebook

This isn’t a replacement for good instructional design.  You’ll still need to do that.  But for the elearning developer who has no graphic design background and wants to create a visually appealing course, it’s an easy and simple solution.    

tom Development Tools, Free Stuff, Helpful Websites, Syndicated Post

As more and more of our Learning & Development work revolves around informal learning and performance support, I thought this article does a nice job of providing some basic guidelines for those of us thinking about, or currently utilizing SharePoint.

Originally posted on SharePoint Blues by Piia Laajala

A nice looking, user friendly layout is an essential part of all SharePoint intranets. At its best the layout encourages users to come back time after time. At its worst it scares people away or makes the entire system difficult to use. Follow these ten rules and you will avoid the most common mistakes.

1. Intranet is a tool, it’s not a commercial web site

Websites and intranets serve two very different purposes. A company website needs to attract visitors with stylish layout and interesting, focused content. Intranet, instead, is an everyday tool for people in the company. Intranet contains tons of information, documents and functions. When you design a layout for intranet, keep it simple. Usability always comes first.

2. Scaling layout is good layout

Intranet is browsed everywhere in the company – on laptops, big screens and projectors. Make sure that your layout fits everywhere. Do not force people to scroll horizontally and make sure that important functions, such as Send-button, are never out of reach.

3. There’s no need to recreate the user interface

SharePoint has its own user interface, and it is actually pretty good. Of course it’s possible to change the place and order of every element, but that would not be very practical for end users. If you change everything, it is harder for end users to follow general SharePoint guides and instructions.

Branding is all about the right colors, fonts and logos. You do not need a complex layout, huge headers or heavy widgets to make nice-looking intranet. Just follow the basic rules of company’s graphic guidelines and stick to them.

5. First things first – Front Page is important

Intranet’s front page is usually set as the home page in company’s browsers. Everyone sees it every day. That is why front page should always look nice and have the important stuff high up. Design it with care.

6. Focus on the navigation

SharePoint navigation has its very own life. It’s connected to content and shows different things depending on user rights. Make sure your design is flexible. How does the quick launch look like, if there are several sublevels? What happens, if the text doesn’t fit in one row? What if somebody adds a new link on the top menu? Think of all options forehead and you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble later.

7. Get to know the company’s browser

A basic website has to look good and function well with all the known browsers.  When you design an intranet, you’ll have a bit more freedom. If everyone in the company has new browsers, you do not have to worry about old ones, like IE 6.  On the other hand, if browsers are not up-to-date, do not rely on super modern solutions.

8. Size does matter

SharePoint’s links, navigation items and fonts are quite small by default. If you want to make a nice change with just a little effort, make them all bigger.

9. Design flexible page layouts

When you design flexible page layouts, you do not need dozens of them.  Make sure your page layout looks good with or without web parts, pictures or link lists. Then it’s possible to use one page layout for several causes.

10. Don’t decorate the web parts

Would not it be fun, if all the web parts could have a unique look? Not really. One of the SharePoint’s greatest abilities is the freedom to add, move and change web parts simply by dragging, dropping and clicking. The page you designed today looks different tomorrow. Create a general, simple look that suites most web parts. Styling the title, borders and fonts should do the trick.

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Don Best Practices, Design Tools, Knowledge Management

Baseline: Those day-to-day activities that are at the core of your business. For the training department I direct, this includes activities such as delivering New Employee Orientation, and developing and delivering mandatory compliance education, and other trainng classes needed by new staff members.

Client-Driven Activites: These are separated into two groups: client and operating plan. ”Client” are for training programs requested by a specific department. An example of a client request is building a training program for a department-specific application. “Operating Plan” are for training requests tied to a specific [enterprise-wide] Operating Plan initiative. An example of an Operating Plan initiative we are supporting is the reduction of Bloodstream Infections.

Operating Plan: These are activities aimed at improving the service(s) my department – HR, and funtion – Learning Services, provide the organization. An example of this is upgrading our Learning Management System (LMS).

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Don Development Tools, Templates