Ashley Chiasson, M.Ed

Instructional Designer & Consultant

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E-Learning Challenge #72 – Build and Share Your Own E-Learning Image Library

This week’s challenge was an easy one for me. Mostly because it didn’t require any of my currently exhausted development brains – thanks, David!

The Concept

Create a small collection of e-learning images to share with your fellow e-learning developers and course designers.

The Method

For this challenge, I sifted through the photos on my iPhone (that were incidentally taken with my iPhone), and uploaded any I thought might be particularly beneficial to e-learning developers to Google Drive. I then renamed all of the files appropriately, and shared the link.

The Result

I ended up with a pretty cute, and small gallery of images that may or may not be usable in e-learning courses – there’s nothing really compliance-y in there, but I’m sure you can find a nice nature landscape. Shockingly, there are no cats or dogs in this album.

Please feel free to download images and use them at your leisure. I would love you to leave a comment and let me know if you ended up using any of the images (and if so, what did you use them for), but it’s not a requirement. Have at ‘er!

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Click here to access and/or download all images from this gallery.

Things I Learned from Leslie Knope

Parks and Recreation is one of my favourite shows, and in honour of the series finale this past week, I thought I would relay some of the things Leslie Knope has taught me in her seven season run on Parks and Recreation.

1. Never take “No.” for an answer.

2. Meeting your heroes can be overwhelming.
3. When you work in small business, sometimes you need a little extra help!
4. Breakfast foods are the best.
5. No one needs a child-sized soda. Ever.

Terminology Tuesday: Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

I know – this isn’t really an Instructional Design term, but it’s a term that likely affects many folks between the months of October – April…at least if you’re lucky enough to live on the east coast of North America. In these parts, we were lucky to see a flake of snow between October and December. However, once mid-January hit, we were saddled with an onslaught of snow and ice and cold. And sunshine is a very rare sighting…almost like a unicorn sighting.

What is Seasonal Affective Disorder?

Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, is a seasonal mood pattern that occurs most often in individuals with major depressive disorder. However, it also occurs in a variety of other individuals. For example, I suffer from Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and I am affected by SAD, so if SAD impacts you, it doesn’t necessarily mean you suffer from depression.

SAD often illicit feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, pessimism, and sluggishness. You may find that all you want to do is lay in bed and sleep until July. You may find that you prefer to binge eat all of the carbs. You may find that you retreat to all of your introverted tendencies…even if you’re traditionally an extrovert. However SAD affects you, it’s important to realize that it is a disorder and it is brought on by certain times of the year, and once you recognize that it’s not ‘just you’, you can take steps to create a more positive life environment. This is extremely important if you live on the east coast and frequently throw your Christmas tree to the curb in December only to find it still on your lawn when the snow melts in April.

The winter months can be desperate times, but there are some measures you can take to reduce the impact of SAD on you and your loved ones.

Suggestions for combatting SAD

  • Light therapy. There are SAD lamps, and I’ve heard very good things about them! Alternatively, you can get some fake sun in a tanning bed…which I know is not the best recommendation from a health perspective, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
  • Vitamin D supplements – When sunshine is an infrequent visitor, we all start becoming deficient in vitamin D. My general practitioner has even suggested taking vitamin D supplements year round, because in our climate, we don’t receive nearly enough of it.
  • Exercise! As hard as it is to motivate yourself to do anything when SAD is weighing you down, you need to just get off your butt and exercise! You’ll get your endorphins flowing, and eventually you’ll begin to feel more energized and less sluggish.

Terminology Tuesday: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

This week’s edition of Terminology Tuesday was inspired by a term I hadn’t heard of much in recent months (or maybe I was selectively reading…who knows). I figured I’d dive back into the world of MOOCs and get to the terminal bottom of them just for you!

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

MOOCs are just what their un-acronymed name indicate: Massive Open Online Courses – course materials for some of the world’s leading post-secondary institution are available online, for free! Bananas! These courses provide individuals all over the world (well…online, that’s the hitch) with access to course materials (e.g. lectures, readings, assignments, forums), emphasizing open access of content and encouraging the lifelong learning movement.

I remember being so excited when MIT Open CourseWare came out; the idea of learning information that I would only otherwise have been privy to as an MIT student was mind-boggling. Then came the onslaught of other open course content, such as edX, Coursera, and Udacity.

As MOOCs evolved, the free stays free, but the rich can still get rich…I say that jokingly; I don’t know if anyone is getting rich off MOOCs…someone likely is, but I’ll never know. Many MOOCs still offer their courses for free in the open access world, but some also offer upgraded certifications for a fee. The fees typically aren’t that crazy, so it really is a great opportunity to take if it’s presented to you.

For the self-motivated learner, MOOCs can be wonderful, but for the over-zealous learner, MOOCs can be particularly time-consuming and overwhelming on your inbox if you haven’t prepared yourself adequately for the number of courses you’ve eagerly enrolled in – be cautious, my friend!

3 Tips for Data Collection

This week I’m observing a training program with a goal of collecting information for an e-learning conversion project, so I figured it might be useful to share some tips for collecting data if ever you’re in a similar situation. You may have a secondary goal of building relationships; even if this is not overtly stated by your company and/or client, ensure you are polite and not disruptive. Be considerate.

1. Identify High-Level Goals

I’ve been on data collection trips that have had defined goals, ranging from high-level to module-specific training objectives. However, I’ve also attended data collection trips, like this one, where one of the goals is to identify learning objectives. Before data collection, you should outline the goals for your data collection trip. For example:

  • Identify Learning Objectives and Program Requirements
  • Define Learning Paths
  • Identify Media Requirements
  • Determine Assessment Type

Having this list will help guide you in your collection.

2. Absorb Everything

On most data collection trips, your primary responsibility will be to act as a sponge and absorb any and every bit of information you can. If you’re sitting in on Instructor-Led Training, you will be presented with a wealth of information, but the facilitator will likely have their own anecdotes based on personal experiences; likewise, other attendees may have anecdotes based on their personal experiences. ABSORB EVERYTHING! This comes in handy, particularly if you need to develop scenario-based training, these anecdotes will come in handy!

3. Be Prepared!

Mentally prepare yourself to be a keen observer. Bring your laptop or a pad of paper, and before you leave, prepare and print off a checklist. This is a particularly important point if you are collecting specific information or media.

With media, you should prepare a shot list. If you’re doing 3D development, you will need multiple views of each object; account for this, and when you obtain the shot, check it off the list.

Keep a running list of questions or concerns, and during breaks or at the end of the day, ensure you ask all questions.

When you return to your room at the end of each day, review all documentation collected and make a list of any questions or concerns you may have. Ensure you ask for clarification prior to the end of the trip and/or through communication after the fact.

Terminology Tuesday: Templates

Today I’m inspired by things that make life easier: templates!

Templates?!

Templates are magical! They can save you so much time, allowing you to streamline your development and make your process a lot more efficient. Templates will contain design elements, often times with placeholders for content and/or multimedia. These templates can be used as is, or they can be customized based on your particular needs, using the template elements as a baseline, reducing your time spent in customization.

When I first began my development journey, I would manually develop templates and design elements, paying no mind to any resources available to me. However, when I began customizing existing templates, I realized how much time I was saving, and now as a small business owner, I can appreciate the importance of any and every resource saving I can get my grubby little hands on! You should make it a point to realize the importance of these time/cost savings too.

Examples of Templates