Flash Tutorials on Screenr
As a Adobe Flash addict, I am always on the lookout for tutorials and new tips and tricks that can make Flash development easier. Every now and then I peruse Screenr.com for Flash tutorials. Because screencasts on Screenr have a five minute limit, they are usually very succinct, which is what I like. They are also easy to search if you do a site search (flash site:screenr.com). Below are a few I found. I threw in one of my own too.
FYI: If you are interested in creating screeencasts, Screenr is easy to use and free. Thank you Articulate for offering this free tool. Also, if you are looking for Articulate tuts, they have plenty of those too.
To see the remaining tutorials for the paddle game, visit @paulkeenan59’s Screenr page.
Had to throw the last one in with the release of the iPad looming (feh).
If you are creating Flash tutorials on Screenr, please feel free to add a link to it in the comments section. Thanks!
March Big Question - Open Content in Workplace Learning
This month’s Big Question is “how do we leverage open content in workplace learning?” To learn more about about some of opportunities available in open content, I visited the sites listed on the Big Question post. These were OER Commons and Open Courseware Consortium. For the first time, I perused these sites. A bit embarrassed that I have not visited these sites before, but it is never too late to find new learning opportunities. My first impression was that these are very heavy on the academic end. They certainly have many opportunities for learning and development. In fact, I found a course on e-learning accessibility, an interest of mine.
So, back to the Big Question. I am confident there are corporate trainers creating the same training content as their brethren. Wouldn’t it be great to upload those software sims, leadership or sales courses, etc. somewhere that other companies’ staff can access them. And in return, I don’t need to create those ______ software sims because XYZ, Inc. made their sims available to my staff. Oh, how great would that be?
Sorry to piss on the parade, but here are the challenges that pop into my mind that make sharing corporate training difficult:
- Most corporate training is designed specifically to the company’s audience. For example, the training probably includes policies and procedures as they pertain to internal staff.
- Much of the content is proprietary information not to be shared externally.
- Often quality training is seen as one of the things that “gives us the edge” over the competitor, why just hand it over?
- “Do we have to talk to legal about whether we can do this?” Will they find a potential liability?
Would I like to leverage open content in the workplace? Yes. Something I will do is to keep an eye out not only for open content that will benefit my company, but also what am I producing that can be used as open content. Of course, anything shared as open content has to overcome the fore-mentioned hurdles.
Earthquakes Online
With the tragic news of the recent earthquakes, first Haiti and now Chile, I thought I would share some of the e-learning resources regarding earthquakes and tsunamis. Prior to that, it is important to note the valiant relief efforts so many are doing and the support they need. There are many relief groups in need of donations and it can be done easily online or via text. Mashable has posted a list of ways you can make online and text donations.
Here are some e-learning resources regarding earthquakes along with emergency preparedness:
- “Written in Stone” Earthquake Animations - SDSU
- Earthquakes - SDSU
- Earthquakes for Kids - USGS
- Forces of Nature - National Geographic
- Seismology Animations - IRIS
- The Tsunami Disaster Explained - BBC (2004)
- The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire - Bancroft Library
- Be Red Cross Ready - American Red Cross
- Are You Prepared? - 72hours.org
These are also now listed on the Free e-Learning page.
Preview a Tablet, but This One has Flash
As we all know, that tablet everyone has been talking about recently does not have Flash. Oh well, I am over it. However, Dell will be releasing a multi-touch tablet of their own, the Mini 5, and it WILL have Flash. Take a look of the preview below from Adobe TV.
Yes, I know what you are thinking. A 5 inch screen and they are calling it a tablet? It may be a stretch, but Dell is talking about scaling it up and offering larger versions. Beyond a 5 inch screen and I will let them slide on the semantics.
A Great Example of Using Multiple Forms of Media
Last year “We Choose the Moon” was launched in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch. This is a fantastic example of using video, audio, photos, and animation all in one course. Here is the link, www.wechoosethemoon.org. It is absolutely worth the visit.
Also, here is a video from AdobeTV that provides some background on the development of “We Choose the Moon.”
If you liked this course, you will also like these courses on space and NASA.
Explore the Apollo 11 Landing Site - NASA
International Space Station - NASA
One Small Step - NASA
NASA 50 Years - NASA
Rocket Science 101 - NASA
A Sense of Scale - The Elegant Universe
Trace Space Back to You - NASA
And there are plenty more on the Free e-Learning page.
Development Tools - Should I Cut Out the Middle Guy?
Back when I first started developing e-learning courses, I used Macromedia’s Authorware. For more interactive elements, I used Flash and imported the SWFs into Authorware. Over the years, I have used ToolBook, Trainersoft, and even Dreamweaver with Coursebuilder. Almost every course involved using Flash for interactive elements (animations, games, quizzes, simulations, video, etc.). It has gotten to a point where some of my courses are all developed in Flash and the e-learning authoring tools (DHTML) have been used more as a “shell” that decompiles it as a SCORM package. I really prefer the robust ability of creating courses in Flash and only use the DHTML e-learning authoring tools for their ability to make the course SCORM or AICC compliant.
So, do I really need to continue using these authoring tools? No, I can skip the middle man and produce entire courses in Flash. These courses can be published as SCORM or AICC compliant courses. This includes the learning interactions that are easily added as components. The learning interactions can be used for multiple types of quiz questions that will be tracked by a learning management system (LMS).
Here is a tutorial on How to Add Basic SCORM code to a Flash Movie from Pipwerks.
And from Adobe, Creating e-Learning Content, which includes configuring learning interactions and tracking to a SCORM or AICC compliant LMS.
Granted, many authoring tools provide a great deal of ease when adding content, navigation and quizzes, but the interactions they include within these tools are limited. For me, if I am already developing so much of the course in Flash, I might as well use the Flash learning interactions for the quiz questions and publish the entire Flash file as a SCORM compliant course. I will note that I will keep Captivate in my toolbox, as it is more effective for developing software/application simulations than building them from scratch in Flash. Of course any sims developed in Captivate (also SWF files) can easily be included, or launched from, a course developed with Flash.
History of Adobe Flash
I am a big user of Flash and find it to be one of the most effective tools in my e-learning toolbox. Earlier this week I was very disappointed to learn Flash will not be included in the Apple iPad. I was hoping the iPad would be a great new medium for m-learning delivery, but without Flash it will be very limited in its ability to deliver the level of interactivity mobile learning deserves.
Now that I got that out of my system, here are a few resources on the history of Flash.
Of course there is “The Rather Amazing and Slightly Distorted History of Flash” created by Nectarine.
If You are Reviewing It Online, Why Do You Want Me to Print the Course
All too often people reviewing a web-based training (WBT), including subject matter experts (SMEs), request the course printed for them. If it is the absolutely only way they will review it, then I do accommodate them. Keep in mind this is after I have exhausted all other attempts of getting them to do a proper online review.
Here are reasons not to print courses for a review:
- It is important for anyone reviewing a course to not just look at content, but to review the entire learning experience including the delivery medium.
- If they themselves are not willing to participate online how can they expect, or request, our audience to participate.
- Online courses are very often non-linear. Thus, do not fit in a printed, linear format.
- Courses are interactive. They may contain anything from simple rollovers to complex games or simulations. Interactivity does not translate to a printed page.
- Once printed it is occasionally handed around for others to review without the designer’s knowledge. This can result in not being able to identify the origins of edits, if needed. It can also result in draft content mistakenly being distributed to the end user. This can all be prevented by setting appropriate access in an LMS.
- Depending on the authoring tools used, it can be time consuming to print a course. For example, a course that contains many interactive Flash elements will require many screenshots to be taken. Time is better spent on on design and development.
- It is more environmentally friendly to review online. As a fellow e-learning designer said to me recently, “I killed many trees with “WBT to be printed out” for SMEs, higher ups, etc.”
The reality is people reviewing courses are going to push for a printed version and sometimes the only way to get them to review it will be to comply. However, I am not going to comply without at least explaining the importance of an online review. In the end, even if I send them a printed version, or screenshots, I always supply easy access to the online course along with several reminders of how important it is to also review it online.
Google Image Swirl
From time to time, I like to visit Google Labs and see their most recent projects. One of their latest is Google Image Swirl.
“Google Image Swirl organizes image search results into groups and sub-groups, based on their visual and semantic similarity and presents them in an intuitive exploratory interface. Try this tool to resolve an ambiguous query visually (apple, jaguar, beetle) or to explore a concept from different visual perspectives (Eiffel Tower, beach, impressionism).”
Below are some the results/swirls from searching “Caesar.” It is nice to see Sid is right up there with Julius.
It is still in the labs, so I am sure there will be improvements when released, and I do hope they increase the size of the images in the swirls. They are a bit difficult to view. What I do like is that I can very quickly dig into subgroups of the image results, refining the search visually.
Go ahead, give it a try, Image Swirl.
What is HTML 5?
I have been hearing more and more about HTML 5 during the past year. It has received A LOT more attention in the last week since YouTube released an HTML 5 Beta program. So, what is HTML 5?
HTML5 is the next major revision of HTML. It is currently still a draft, but expected in 2012 (W3C Candidate Recommendation status). Here are some of the improvements that will be found in HTML 5:
- There will be new tags that make it much easier to embed applications and handle interactive elements.
- Offline data storage.
- Ability for visitors to edit sections of web pages.
- New HTML elements that better describe content.
- Improved web form handling and validation.
- Numerous APIs
- Will it compete with Flash?
For more information on the improvements that will be found in HTML 5, visit “5 Exciting Things to Look Forward to in HTML 5, ”HTML5 and the Future of the Web” and “HTML 5 Differences from HTML 4.”
Here are a few places where you can see examples of HTML 5 in use today:
If you want to learn more about HTML 5, here is also a video from Google. Be forewarned, it is 42 minutes long.
If anyone has additional info on HTML 5 to share or if you have examples, please add them to the comments section.
