Tip 1: Use the Move-To action to create interactivity

Use the Move-To action to construct fun games for your learners, without any coding knowledge necessary! This action allows e-Learning course developers to take any object on a page and move it from one location to another with a simple command, creating a simulated animation to add interest and excitement to your next e-Learning course or training. To create custom Move-To actions:

• First open Action Properties from either the Toolbar or the Menu and select the General tab within Action Properties
• Select the trigger desired, such as on mouse click or mouse over
• Pick Move-To as the action
• Select the Target (the file name of the object that you want to use)
• Next, set the new X & Y Locations to position the object on the page – you can use specific coordinates, variable values or a random value – this gives you a ton of flexibility to create a custom Move-To Action

After following the above steps, select “OK” from the bottom of the Properties menu, and with a click of a mouse, your Move-To action is created. Not only can you use Move-To actions to move objects once on a page, you can also use Move-To actions in a sequence to create interactive graphics, such as a flowchart.

You might consider using the Move-To action for times when you want to illustrate where something should go, like for filing system. Just set up the object to Move-To the correct location to show where a piece of information belongs. You could also use the Move-To action to create a game, such as a matching game. Move-To actions can be used in conjunction with the Size-To action to bring even more interactivity and life to your project, without using code. To view a video tutorial on adding Actions to your Lectora titles, go to Lectora University.

Tip 2: Use the Size-To action to magnify important information

Like the Move-To action, the Size-To action can be harnessed to easily add a spark to your next e-Learning course by resizing objects to draw attention. You can use the Size-To action to highlight specific sections of information that you are presenting, such as an image, by increasing the size of the object. Using the Size-To action in this way can help drive home essential facts and information that are important for learners to remember. Here’s how to add Size-To actions to your course:

• Open up the Action Properties menu
• Choose whatever trigger from the list that you’d like, such as on mouse click
• Select “Size-To” from the Action drop down menu and then select the file name of the object that you want for the Target
• You can then enter specific pixel values, variable values or the percentage value for the size you’d like the object to size to
• Hit “OK” to generate the action

Lectora automatically resizes from the upper left-hand corner, so keep this in mind when you’re deciding how you want the Size-To action to affect an object on your page.

It’s important to remember that once you change the position or size of an object using the Move-To or Size-To actions that the new settings become the selected object’s new starting position or new size. Subsequent changes will be based off of the new size and location.

Tip 3: Use the Progress Bar to engage

Standard Progress Bars can be used to add to add interest to a title by using them in a not so standard way. Typical Progress Bars move forward from page to page to benchmark advancement, but they can also be used to add interactivity by laying text and images over the bar itself. Progress Bars come in 3 variations within Lectora:

1. Table of Contents – Progress Bar that automatically moves forward one page at a time for a title, section, or chapter of a title
2. Timer – Set the total time and much you want it to jump for each increment
3. Custom – Insert the range, how many steps, and how far you want the Progress Bar to move for each step

To add a Progress Bar to your title:

• Open up the Progress Bar Properties
• In the General tab, select the type of Progress Bar you want to use (either Table of Contents, Timer or Custom)
• Next, move to the Layout tab and select the orientation of the Progress Bar
• In the Layout tab you have the option to add images and update the background color of the Progress Bar

Consider using Progress Bars in unconventional ways, such as setting it up as a question, or as an animation to further increase learner engagement and add life to a title.

Use these 3 simple outside-of-the-box tips to ramp up your e-Learning courses and training. There are many options within Lectora to customize and individualize pre-existing assets and familiar features that can be used in new ways. We hope these tips will help you get ideas flowing, and thinking about innovative ways that you can take an ordinary object and turn it into something unique with some Lectora magic.

My second, the middle child (so far), was corporate elearning. That kid has an attention problem.

My third child, my precious baby, is mlearning. I know I’m not supposed to have a favorite…but this kid seems to have learned so much already just from watching the older siblings. Someone is getting spoiled.

I wrote more about why mlearning is amazing: READ!

Many designers think video is too expensive to produce or requires professional personnel, or the training teams think learners cannot ask questions because video courses are pre-recorded. All that is wrong. Now-a-days you can stream live video courses on the web, interact with learners, and create video library online all for free. One example is YouTube, but even more conducive to elearning needs is Justin.tv.

eLearnChat with eLearning Guild's Brent Schlenker

Everybody knows YouTube, but I have no idea why Justin.tv is still not a popular tool in the elearning community. Even with eLearnChat using Justin.tv to put out its video interviews on elearning topics, it seems surprising that I don’t hear more about training teams using the free tool. Justin.tv is the easiest way to create live video and show anyone in the world what’s happening in your field now.

For those of you who are not familiar with Justin.tv: it’s a website where you can broadcast live video from your smart phone, iPad or computer to the internet instantly to everyone or just to one selected learner. You can also broadcast videos from your computer library or your DVD player directly online.

The website has a small “YouTube like” screen and chat room window on the side of the web page for learners to share questions, comments, and links and to interact directly with the instructor or among themselves while they watch the video course.

If you want to broadcast any course (live video or not) all you need to get is a free account and after that you get a free online channel from which you can broadcast your live video and audio. You can set your channel to have a password so that only viewers you invite can enter your channel. When they enter, they can view your course or video webinar while they interact with everyone on the chat room. If you want to stream your video courses from your own website by embedding the video on your site, Justin.tv provides the service.

Justin.tv makes it fun, easy, and fast to gather and engage with your learners all over the world. It’s a great way to motivate people to learn your courses, follow you on Twitter, buy your product, donate to a cause, or simply establish a larger network.

Look into it and let me know if you are, in fact, using Justin.tv for learning. Please comment below.

You can visit their site to see the full lineup. I am posting an image of the day one content, selfishly, because it shows me in the line-up as Ray Jimenez. Feel free to think that Ray and I are pals!

(We could be. Hi Ray!)

This April, in Chicago, I will be speaking about  mlearning design and strategy at Learning Tech 2012. I love Chicago. It’s a city with an energy that makes events especially invigorating. I hope to see you there, April 23-25.

For more information, I contacted Courtney Green in New York to ask her about the conference:

Courtney, we know I will be at the conference representing eLearning Weekly Magazine, who else will attendees have the chance to meet, and what companies will be represented?

We have a great line-up of speakers, including Kevin Munson, Chief Learning Officer from Sears Holdings Corporation, Andrea Franklin, Educational Instructor, FedEx Custom Critical and Kacie Walters, Global Knowledge Management Lead, GE Healthcare plus many more!

Who should attend this event in Chicago?

Those who want to launch their learning to the next level and hear from innovative speakers to determine how you can elevate learning and maximize results. The event is focused on improving learning strategies with educational technologies across the corporate world, plus a special focus day for K-12 and higher-education professionals.

Are there any sessions that will share specific and practical information that attendees can take and implement right away?

We have a number of workshops, interactive sessions and case studies that will allow attendees to instantly apply! Including:

• Case Study: Integrating the iPad to Improve Learning – Michelle Burke, Director Learning & Development, Sears Holdings Corporation
• Strategies for Effective Mobile Learning - Eric Matas  Editor, eLearning Weekly Magazine
• Workshop A: Interactive “Learning Station”- New Tools and Technologies – Craig Weiss, CEO, E-Learning 24/7

Cool, I love Craig. He’s terrific. How can people register or find out more details?

Please register by visiting www.learningtechevent.com. You can also email me, Courtney.green@iqpc.com, or call 1-800-882-8684.

So what can the holiday season teach us about the user experience? Does Santa Claus have some insight? Is there some wisdom a midst the candles of a Menorah? Is there something about the hectic shopping, cooking and planning, or something to be found in the peace of a still night?

Who know? But let’s look at Christmas lights.

Holiday lights can be simple like a star atop a tree, a single candle in a window. They can also be multi-colored, blinking, neighborhood-covering eye sores. Some festive people can string up lights on a tree or house and dazzle the passers-by. And other folks, well, let’s just say some holiday lights seem like fast food meat: barely appropriate for human consumption.

But maybe the lights aren’t meant to be viewed from people on the street? Perhaps they look askew from the sidewalk because the correct view is from up in the sky in a sleigh? Or could it be that a mirror should be used to properly view these particular lights?

I’m not one to judge.

Something, though, goes on in the mind of the person decorating. They plan to lay-out the lights and imagine the perspective of the viewer. And because it’s the holiday season, they imagine the viewer full of joy and awe. That’s the experience they want for their user.

And that just happens to be what we want for our readers this season, too.

Happy Holidays from eLearning Weekly Magazine.

Eric and Shonit Speaking at DevLearn11

The eLearning Guild hosted quite a conference. Featured speakers spoke with vigor, sessions delivered an array of ideas and practice, DemoFest showcased elearning eye candy, and the expo bristled with the promise of the next best thing. Vegas was sunny. And Vegasy. The Aria Hotel and Casino is a great place for a convention. Or three (it’s actually three levels of luxurious conference space). I overhead one participant wondering why the bathrooms were so far away; they were a bit of a walk, but everything in Vegas seems to require a good stroll.

And a good stroll can clear the mind. A stroll can give a conference attendee time to think. A much needed moment in the eye of the DevLearn11 storm.

If DevLearn11 at the Aria did anything, it made me want to go again next year. The eLearning Guild has already announced it: same place, same week. I recommend a pilgrimage. I hope to present again next year, and I’m sure B.J., Shonit, and Kevin will be there, presenting or learning. Plan on it. I can’t guarantee that you’ll love it. But you’re going to love it.

If DevLearn11 did anything, it confirmed that one tool has had the greatest impact on elearning — by far. PowerPoint has had more influence on elearning than any other tool, person, idea, or book of ideas.

If someone at DevLearn11 had kept track of all the buzz words, from HMTL5 to to curation to iPad to mlearning to the cloud, the word most used, both positively and pejoratively, was PowerPoint. The rapid authoring tools embed in PowerPoint or import from PowerPoint. The early, crude elearning was death by PowerPoint. And the new pedagogy preaches a new era of PowerPoint panache, well past the boorish bullet points.

If DevLearn11 did anything, it gathered together a world-wide community of learning professionals who love elearning and believe in both technology and transfer. I got to meet many people I had otherwise known only online or through words. Here’s what I learned: If you walk up to only one person to say hi, make sure it’s Jay Cross. I meet him earlier in the year at another conference, and DevLearn confirmed his overall super-duper-ness. Here are a few more elearning A-list people that I recommend meeting: Clive Shepherd, Jane Hart, Tom Kuhlman, Andrew Scivally, Nemo Chu, Ethan Edwards, Dave Anderson and Harold Jarche. (Less easy to find, but just as awesome: Sheila, Patrick, Kevin, Mark, Stacy, Juli, and Video Jesus.) DevLearn11 also featured participants who looked just like Ed Asner and Steve Martin. No Elvis impersonators. But Koreen Olbrish did a showgirl shout-out during her Ignite! presentation.

Should I do the if DevLearn11 thing again? Or just say it: I’ll meet you at DevLearn 2012 in Vegas. Don’t be late, and don’t leave early!

Mark Lassoff of LearnToProgram.tv

I was very lucky to catch Mark Lassoff in between speaking at DevLearn, working on his forthcoming book from Focal Press, and producing his next training video for the company he founded, LearnToProgram.tv. Mark is an anomoly in the world of elearning these days, because he knows how to code.

I’m not just talking about the two big programming languages, HTML and Flash. Mark works with and trains javascript, PERL, XML, CSS, PHP/MySQL, and the new and somewhat talked about HTML5. In a world of rapid elearning tools that eschew code at every turn, I knew I had to talk with Mark, who mixes elearning and code everyday.

eLW Mag Interview  with Mark Lassoff, Founder & Corporate Technical Trainer, LearnToProgram.tv

eLW: I want to ask about your training work at LearnToProgram.tv, but first, tell me about the book you’re writing — I love to get a behind-the-scenes look before books hit the shelves.

ML: I am currently writing a new title for Focal Press called Android Development Code Camp.  It’s part of a new series that I am editing for Focal that will include books geared towards beginners.  I am excited because it will be branded after my LearnToProgram.tv training company.  The people at Focal have been great to work with , and I am looking to produce a book that even a total beginner can read and work through and master beginning level application development in Java with Android.

eLW: You’ve got that technical background, you know all the major programming languages, what courses do you offer through LearnToProgram.tv?

ML: More and more courses every month.  We changed our focus as a company about three months ago and wanted to focus on the consumer or beginner market.  There are hundreds of thousands of people who want to learn programming, but no one focusing on that beginner’s market.  Right now we have three courses available– HTML and CSS for Beginners (Including HTML5!), Javascript for Beginners, C Programming: iOS Starts Here and Objective C for Beginners.  These courses are designed for people who are trying to learn web development, eLearning development and mobile development.    We’re introducing a new course every month.

Our courses are delivered three ways– an instructor supported, asynchronous option that includes lab exercises, code listings and hours of video lecture is our least expensive and most popular.  Our self-paced HTML course has over 1000 students in it.  We also deliver courses instructor-led online.  There is nothing better than having a live instructor so we offer that option as well.  Finally, any of our courses can be delivered via traditional classroom instruction.

eLW: I took your HTML/CSS course on Udemy.com. That’s a great way to learn code. That’s real elearning, but you’re kind of an outsider to the elearning industry. Explain that.

ML:  Well, I’m not an instructional designer. I have no traditional training in education… However, I am lucky enough to be one of those people who can walk in to a room an teach– and I think teach well.  I find the eLearning industry to be frustrating– It seems to be very vendor driven instead of driven by best industry level best practices, professional ethics, and what is best sound educational practice.  Vendors start screaming “HTML5″ in response to media buzz and all of a sudden eLearning practitioners are all screaming “HTML5″ without having the slightest idea of it’s current implementation in browsers, it’s shortcomings or even it’s structure.  Some vendor said it’s good, and that’s good enough.

I don’t mean to indict the entire industry– There are plenty of hardworking, creative, talented folks creating amazing work.  But the baseline still appears to be Powerpoint (or some easier/ more powerful modification to Powerpoint) and that’s sad.  It frustrates me to no end that people don’t want to learn HTML– they want a tool that creates HTML for the.  It’s easier.  What they don’t know is that there are countless limitations that each tool has.  You box yourself in with tools.  If you can code you can do anything.

ML:  I think there are many things in eLearning you can’t do without code–for example, simulation.  Do you want the captain of your 737 to have learned in a simulator or from Powerpoint slides?  A few years ago we built a complex avionics simulator to train helicopter pilots from a government agency.  We had to write code–there was no way to do it well without coding.

I realize that most elearning departments are understaffed, underfunded and overworked, but even learning HTML and Javascript will give you enormous power to modify, create and design learning interactions that stretch the abilities of even the most powerful toolset.

Tools come and go– We have been coding in HTML now since 1994.  Actionscript has been around as long as Flash has.  If you can learn coding you make yourself a very powerful eLearning Developer.  While it’s difficult to learn to code, it’s not impossible for just about anyone.  Of course– as I think we often forget in eLearning– learning takes time, practice and effort.  There is no Power Point slide deck I can show you — no matter how many avatars I use– that can make you learn to code.  You actually have to do it.  You have to practice.  I’ve been coding for over 20 years– and I am still learning every day.

ML:  I think critically.  If a vendor claims x, y and z, I want to see proof.  At DevLearn one vendor told me that with his tool, “I wouldn’t have to write Actionscript any more!”  Great– What are the limitations?  How would you accomplish this with your tool?  Oh You can’t?  Moving on…

I just think I ask the questions that others don’t want to for fear of being seen as negative– or don’t know to.  

ML:  It would be my pleasure.

ML:  Sure.. If you go to my site– www.learntoprogram.tv, and choose any online, self-paced course, I’ll give you 50% off the published price.  Just enter the coupon code “ElearnWeek” at check out and the discounted price will be applied.  I can’t emphasize enough how important it is for eLearning developers to have basic HTML and Javascript skills.

ML:  Wow, that’s easy.  Family Ties.  Skippy was played by Marc Price.  As a child Skippy got his head caught in the bannister three times.

ML:  Well, I think you’re fishing for Sarah Jessica Parker– but the better actor on the show was Jamie Gertz.  Jamie just did an episode of Modern Family.

eLW: OK. Growing Pains. First names of all the Seavers?

ML:  Jason, Mike, Ben, Maggie, and Carol.  The last couple of seasons they had a baby? Right?  I can’t remember the baby’s name, but I remember the baby grew up during hiatus.  At the end of one season she was an infant and then at the beginning of the next season she had speaking lines.  Leonardo DiCaprio was on there for a season as well– He played some runaway that family adopted.

eLW: Who played the kids?

ML:  Easy– Tracy Gold was Carol– Her sister, Missy, was the governor’s daughter on Benson.   Kirk Cameron played Mike.  Jeremy Miller was Ben.  The late Andrew Koenig played Mike’s best friend, Sylvester Stabone.  His father played Chekov in the Star Trek Series.  Got any more?

ML:  Lynn.  Brice Beckman, who played Wesley, just had a series on VH-1 a couple of years ago.

ML:  We are talking about exhibiting at Learning Solutions, but have not yet made a decision.  I will likely be at the MLearning Show in June and will be back at DevLearn next year.  We’re also planning on going to ISTE 2012.

I’d love to hear from people online– My company is www.learntoprogram.tv.  I am at www.MarkLassoff.com.  My linked in is www.linkedin.com/in/marklassoff and my email is mark@learntoprogam.tv.

Hope everybody reads and responds to my upcoming columns.

Buh-Bye.

Even though I’ve been drawing and cartooning my whole life and developing elearning for the past ten years, I never put the two together. I’m a decent artist but most artists are their own worst critics, and even though I was passionate about it, I never once considered earning a living doing it. That is until I got serious and decided to officially freelance while working a day job.

Some of you may know me through Twitter as @learnnuggets and some of you may know my work through NuggetHead Studioz. I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t have years of experience freelancing let alone freelancing full time to share success strategies. I do have some ‘getting started’ experience and things I’ve learned in the past year that I’ll share what I call my “3D Experience.”

Okay, so you have this thing you’re really good at. You’re really passionate about it and you want a piece of that industry’s pie. What’s next?

Decide

Deliberately deciding is crucial to your success. Think of it like a New Year’s exercise plan. You’re all excited about starting to exercise every day and lose the holiday weight. Off you go and usually within a month the ‘every day’ turns into ‘a couple times a week’ until eventually you don’t have the staying power to continue.

Think in terms of cost when deciding the amount of time you’re willing to commit. Go easy on yourself if you’re unsure; say ten hours a week. Remember, you still need to change hats when you go to your day job the next morning, so you want to ensure you’re still getting proper rest – and getting the work done.

Describe

Next, know what is it that you are going to do. Think of your skills and your talents. Describe what you will be doing to yourself before you start telling others. If you don’t know, what makes you think they will know? Definitely, differentiate between practical work and consultation.

1. Are you going to be doing the practical application of the work? If so, to what degree? If you’re a designer/developer like me, you have to be honest with yourself about how long it takes to put something together. Whether it’s an illustrated graphic or developing an elearning course, describe the boundaries. I started off with offering the full bucket load from cradle to grave. Everything from instructional design to publishing and LMS support. That’s a lot for a shop of one to handle. I’ve scaled back and focused more on what I do best – design/develop.
2. Are you going to be a consultant? If so, to what degree? A consultant brings years of practical application experience to a market where others hire you to help them down a path you once traveled. It’s still time invested but a different kind of time. Lots of phone calls, emails, managing calendars and perhaps even some traveling involved.

Describing what it is you are going to do – and what you’re not going to do – sets boundaries. Not just for your prospective clients, but for yourself. The boundaries will keep you safe from bidding on a project that may be more than you can chew starting out. They’ll also keep the stress at manageable levels.

Deliver

The phrase, “Under promise and over deliver” comes to mind. When you bid on projects, be honest with yourself about what you can deliver. Not so much in terms of the project itself, but how many current projects you have and how many you can balance at one time. I manage anywhere from 4-6 at any given time. Usually I have 3-4 illustration/graphics projects (which take less time), and/or 2-3 elearning projects (which are spaced out in terms of their production). I do this simply because I’m creative, and creative people (me at least) get bored easily. I need multiple projects at one time so I can switch between them often. And often, one project helps solve problems in another.

1. Add a minimum of 20% time to every bid. Even if you know without a shadow of a doubt you can make a peanut butter & jelly sandwich in five minutes, bid six minutes. Why? Part time freelance is still life, and the dog is going to run away, your kids will want to play a game, you and your spouse may need to consume an evening talking about something more important. If not the normal stuff, then—even worse—the really crazy will happen. Multiple things will interrupt you. Plan for it.
2. Don’t overcharge. It’s very attractive to get all caught up in the world of being your own boss and wanting to make your first million dollars in the first year. Stay humble. Do the work. The rewards will come in due time.

NuggetHead Studioz has only been an official business for less than a year. I have much to learn and only share these thoughts from what I’ve experienced already in that short time. Your situation will be different so just think through it carefully to ensure success. Oh, and of course…just do it!

Right now, in the midwest especially, the heat and humidity are collaborating to ruin everyone’s days. The dew point is so high that windows and glasses are sweating. Everyone is so sticky in the muggy air that nothing seems like a good idea. Except maybe a thunderstorm.

Does the misery make elearning difficult? I think so.

Are there better times during the year to schedule elearning?

Can designers and developers control the environments in which our learners launch elearning? These questions always make me think about flight simulators. In a flight simulator, you can control the environment — make it shake or even make it hot!

So, I imagine the ideal Personal Learning Environment (PLE) — a utopic  arrangement of computer, desk, mouse, beverage, snack, window, lamp, and whatever else at whatever temperature at whatever time, wherever suits the learner best. Perhaps with soft classical music wafting in the background.

I like the list Prometheus Training uses to prep learners for optimal elearning — is anyone else using such tips? Is anyone else melting? Are your screens dripping with dew?

Photo Credit: greggoconnell