Deconstructing My #DemoFest Course – Part 3 (Development) #DevLearn
Of the questions asked of me during DemoFest, I think most were regarding development tools. In regards to development tools used, the course is truly a Frankencourse, a term I believed coined by David Anderson (@eLearning).
So here are the development tools I used for this project.
Adobe Flash – The initial interface was built in Flash. This provided greater ease of animating the characters, creating the navigation, which is non-linear and not as simple as adding next and back buttons of which it has none. However, the Flash movie sits within Articulate Presenter and navigates to an assessment made in Articulate Quizmaker which also sits within the same Presenter project (more on this later).
Adobe Captivate – I used this for creating every simulation in the course. I find Captivate to be a great tool for software simulations, plus I could easily edit instructions in the sims, add graphics including the Captain and Ossie 7. It also afforded me the opportunity to have several sims be more exploration than just task driven. For example, the sim where Ossie 7 lets you explore each ribbon at your own pace and direction. Note: All the sims are “try me” sims in which the participant completes tasks and/or explores the application. They are not demonstrations were they simply watch the application being used.
Articulate Quizmaker – Very easy way to create the assessment at the conclusion of the course. Most of the questions in the quiz were scenario based and involved clicking the correct button on a graphic representation of the Office application (e.g., an Outlook ribbon). Quizmaker easily accommodated this, plus worked well within Presenter – it should since it is also part of the Articulate suite.
Articulate Presenter – This is what I plopped the Flash and Quizmaker into. Essentially, the first page of the Presenter project is the Flash course, which has numerous pages and opens all the sims and links to its additional resources. It also has a button that takes you to the quiz. It actually takes you to the next presenter page introducing the quiz. The third page is the Quizmaker assessment. And because it is in Presenter, I could easily publish the presenter course as SCORM compliant that would work well on my learning management system (LMS).
Social Media – Ongoing support includes the use of social media, including Twitter, Screenr videos, and Diigo social bookmarks.
That’s it. I know to some it may seem insane to use so many tools, but with so many different aspects of the course it did require these tools to get this project done. Don’t believe me? Take a look - Introduction to Office 2010.
Note: Microsoft Office 2010 was used to the extent that it was the subject of the sims, job aids, etc., but not actually a development tool itself.
View the course - Introduction to Office 2010
Cool Tools to Liven Up The Classroom
I just read an article in T&D Magazine titled “Beef Up Your Training Toolbox with Web Tool.” The author, Mary E. Green, offered suggestions for how you can use web tools to increase engagement in the traditional classroom. The article inspired me to look at what is on my Cloud Apps page that may also be helpful to the classroom trainer. Here is what I pulled from the page that I think would be great to use in the traditional classroom. Plus, they are all free.
Cartoons (also suggested by Green) - A funny cartoon can liven up the class. The following allow you to make your own that you can use in the classroom.
DoInk
ToonDoo
Charts, Diagrams, and Data - Explain it in a chart using the apps below. Plus, you will be surprised how much supporting information you may find in the Google Public Data Explorer.
Cacoo (create diagrams)
ChartGo (create charts)
Google Public Data Explorer (Create charts and visualizations form public data)
QR Code Generators - Put QR codes in your manuals and on the classroom screen. They can contain text or URLs and is a great way to get additional information and resources to attendees with smart phones.
Kaywa
Snap.vu
YouScan.me
Screencasts - Software trainers, show them how it is done in a screencast that can be shared in the classroom and also accessed later at their convenience. Heck, give them the screencast’s link via a QR code while you are at it. Participants can create their own and use them to share their new skills with others.
Screen-o-Matic
Screenr
Social Bookmarking - Make sure they have all your online resources by giving them one link to all your bookmarks. Plus, when you add additional resources at a later time, they will see them too.
Delicious
Digg
Diigo
Linkpad.me
Social Media - Get a back channel going in the classroom and keep it posted on the screen. Plus, what a great way to continue supporting learners by interacting via social media after the class ends.
Twitter
Yammer
Storify (create stories using social media)
Video – Create your own video and post it, find relevant videos already out there, and/or get your learners to make and share their own video.
TeacherTube
YouTube
These are just the apps I pulled from the Cloud App page. Do you have suggestions of where classroom trainers can find useful online tools for the classroom? If so, feel free to add them to the comment section.
Dabbling in QR Codes
I have been hearing so much talk, and seeing use, of QR Codes lately. Maybe I am noticing it more because I started dabbling in them myself or maybe they are on the rise. Either way, I want to share a few things about QR Codes. First off if you do not know what they are, here is a quick definition:
A QR Code is a specific matrix bar code (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR bar code readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.
Source: Wikipedia
To simplify, with a QR Code reader on your smart phone you can use the phone’s camera to scan the QR Code (like the crazy black and white thing at the top of this page) and it will take you to a web page, display text, phone number and/or prepare a text message to be sent.
The great thing is they are extremely easy to create and use in your online learning or in the traditional classroom. Using a QR Code generator (e.g., Kaywa, Snap.vu, etc.), you can create and copy the code to a web page, PowerPoint slide, add it to a manual, print it, etc. Now when it is seen in your classroom or online course participants can scan the QR Code and visit the site, obtain the text info or data.
Here is a demo showing how easy it is to generate a QR Code.
Here are a few ways I am starting to use QR Codes:
- Adding my contact information to my classroom powerpoints and manuals. I even posted one with my contact info outside my office.
- Include QR Codes in manuals and job aids that take the user to relevant URLs.
- Adding codes in e-learning courses. For example. the video below shows one in a course that directs the user to social bookmarks containing additional resources and tutorials.
See an example of a QR Code in a WBT course.
Here are also my QR Codes bookmarks where you will find more resources on this subject including links to QR Code generators. Of course the QR Code for this link is below too.
Quiz Maker Pro Give Away
ProProfs has been nice enough to give one of our lucky readers a free copy of Quiz Maker Pro. They created a sample quiz, which if you score 100% you will be included in our drawing for a free one year copy. Below is the link to the quiz, which will give you a good feel of what can be done with Quiz Maker in addition to moving you closer to winning your free copy for one year.
How Teachers Can Use Web 2.0 In The Classroom (Quiz Maker)
The deadline is December 27, 2010. I will select a name from all who scored 100% and announce the lucky winner December 29th right here on this blog.
Good luck!
Frankenstein Course Development
I am currently creating a course and as usual it involves numerous development tools. This course consists of using three main tools. Here they are and why I am using them.
Adobe Flash – My favorite tool of choice. I like its flexibility in making the interactive assets I need for the course and not being constrained by prepackaged interactives that come with many e-learning development tools. In this case I am making the course itself in Flash. This includes each page, characters, animation, and interactive elements with the exception of the software simulations (sims) and the final assessment/quiz.
Adobe Captivate – The course will contain many “try me” sims for a software upgrade in which we are implementing. I am developing these in Captivate, which in my opinion is the best out there for creating software sims. Each sim will launch in a new window from the Flash course. Keeping these in a separate folder and launched as individual SWFs will also help keep the file size and load time down.
Articulate – Presenter and Quizmaker are providing the assessment and an ease of packaging it as a SCORM compliant course. What I like is the ease of developing an assessment in Quizmaker. In this case I will take my Flash course and import the SWF to the first page of Articulate Presenter. A single button in my menu, called Knowledge Check, will move the user from the Presenter page containing the course SWF to the second page where the assessment begins. The ability to have a Flash button, or menu, work within Presenter was the kicker. This allowed me to get the best of both worlds; Flash and using Articulate to create the assessment and SCORM packaging. Here is a tutorial from Screenr that shows how you can make a Flash menu that will change slides in Presenter.
See What Adobe has Been Doing With HTML5
As my readers may remember from my past posts, I believe it will be quite a while before HTML5 becomes a practical means of delivering e-learning or a viable threat to Flash. However, Adobe has begun prototyping a tool for creating animation in HTML5. Still a long way to go, but a good start. The video preview from Adobe TV is below.
Adobe’s Project Rome
Project Rome is the latest coming out of Adobe Max. Project Rome is available for download as a free preview. There is also a Project Rome for Education. Project Rome can be used to produce a variety things including publications, presentations, websites and even animation. The outputs include PDF, SWF, JPG, PNG, SVG, FXG or web files. I downloaded the Air application, but it can also be used as a web-based service. I plan on playing with it and seeing what this new tool can do. I will keep everyone updated. FYI: It also appears that for those involved in piloting the education version, there is some integration with Moodle.
Here are the FAQ pages for more info – Project Rome for Education FAQ and Project Rome FAQ. They also have quite a few tutorials too (tutorials for education version).
Adobe Museum of Digital Media (AMDM)
Adobe now has a preview of its Adobe Museum of Digital Media. This is a virtual museum dedicated to digital media. As Adobe describes it,
The Adobe Museum of Digital Media (AMDM) is a unique virtual space designed to showcase and preserve groundbreaking digital work and to present expert commentary on how digital media influences culture and society. (see full description)
It will be online and always open. I always enjoy seeing great examples of digital media, especially when it is very creative and pushes the envelope. I hope to see some very innovative exhibits and hopefully be inspired too.
The museum opens October 6th, but you can see a preview now at at www.adobemuseum.com.
Make a Quiz on the Cloud (ProProfs Quiz Maker)
There is a new addition to the Free Cloud Apps page, it’s ProProfs Quiz Maker. Quiz Maker is a quick and easy way to build a quiz that is hosted on the cloud. No software needed, it is completely web-based. You can easily post a link to your quiz from a blog or web page. It also has the functionality to tweet a link or add to Facebook or MySpace. Proprofs was gracious enough to give me a complimentary account (full disclosure) to test drive it. Here is a link to a simple quiz I made to test some of the features and so you can see some of what it does - Take my Rhode Island History quiz.
Although you can embed the quiz in blogs and sites, it uses iFrames, which does not play nice with my WordPress blog, otherwise I would have done so here. I was told they are working on a new widget with additional customizations for embedding the quizzes, which is expected later this week. However, it is very easy to post a link to your quizzes (like above) or share via social media.
Here is what I like about Quiz Maker:
- It is extremely user-friendly.
- It is on the Cloud, so users have access anywhere, whether taking a quiz or building one.
- You can add images, video, and links to each question.
- You can add feedback.
- They offer a free version.
- You can track participation, including each user’s answers and quiz stats. I was impressed with how easy it was to view participants’ answers and overall quiz stats. I wish most learning management systems (LMS) made this same task so easy. FYI: Tracking is not included with the free account.
- According to a representative from ProProfs they are currently working on SCORM compatibility, so integration with an LMS is on the horizon.
What I wish it had:
- If you update/edit a quiz the stats are reset to zero. So, once you have a quiz made, make sure it is the absolute final version.
- More question types. They have multiple choice, fill in the blank and essays, but it would be great if they had some more interactive options like hot spots, drag and drop or matching, etc. Hopefully they will expand the question types in the future.
- I am splitting hairs, but I would like to see the fill in the blank allow the blank to be placed anywhere in the sentence. Unless I missed something, it appears the blank could only be placed at the end of a sentence.
- I would have liked to be able to also add graphics, video and links to the feedback.
Regarding the free version, you cannot add the creator’s name to the certificate and it is only an ad free trial for seven days, then ads will be posted. Also the tracking and stats features are not included in the free account after seven days. You can view the comparisons of pricing plans here, including what you do and don’t get with the free account. FYI: They do have a very reasonably priced plan for educational users.
All in all, if you are looking to create and share simple quizzes with the benefits of doing so on the Cloud, it is worth your time. I will emphasize the word “simple” because if you are looking for more interactive question types (e.g. hot spots, drag and drop, graded sims, etc.), you will probably need to utilize more robust e-learning authoring tools to do so.
If you are interested in taking Quiz Maker for a spin, here is the link again - ProProfs Quiz Maker.
Google App Inventor – Make Apps/m-Learning
Google is releasing App Inventor for Android. You can find it listed at Google Labs and can learn more about it at http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about.
There is obvious potential for m-learning, including quizzes, educational games, mini-courses, informal learning.. really the sky is the limit. If development is as easy as they claim, then we can focus even more on design and are not as limited by the complexity of app development. The App Inventor uses Open Blocks, which is distributed by MIT’s Scheller Teacher Education Program. Please note, the apps are for Androids and I will assume they will not be supported across all smart phones, which is a hindrance in developing m-learning.
According to the site, they will be granting access to interested users in the coming weeks. I have put in my request and will let everyone know if/when it is granted. All that is needed is a Google account to sign up.
Here is a video Google provides showing the development of a very simple app.
Google also provides descriptions of examples that have been developed.
