I attended the 3-day eLearning DevCon 2009 in Salt Lake City this past week, and have compiled some brief notes based on the experience. I summarize the conference as having an enticing depth and knowledge of topics, good "presence" and information from most of the presenters, primarily for corporate e-learning developers (which was a refreshing change), not at all a bargain, and awkwardly spread out across Fort Douglas, though I must admit it was a joy to walk outside in late spring weather.
Instructional Design & Development
- ADDIE, Dick & Cary, and other ID models useful to revisit and reflect upon, especially for planning of critical stages of course design. Models do not necessarily inhibit rapid prototyping. UVU IDS might rethink how its course design process fits into such models (instead of immediate prototyping do we first analyze needs, course objectives, then outline content in design? Prototyping should be mid to late design phase).
- Build instructional design models into project mgmt software as template. We in UVU IDS do something like this with dotProject, but could more explicitly label phases to provide data documentation and data.
- Log instructional patterns (e.g. activities, interactions, assessments) and create "templates".
- Brainstorming ideas: aim for quantity not quality (no negations), stock conference room with treats and toys, limit to 1 hr/break & flow, focus everyone on the task, use online shared docs.
- In design phase, instead of lists of info, make visual representations like wireframes & site maps. Let it be basic, ugly.
- Tame your use of media to reduce cognitive load (read Clark's Efficiency in Design again).
- Avoid novelty for novelty's sake (bad example: wave runner game with multiple choice questions, our Frogger game).
- Try rapid e-learning dev tools like Captivate, Articulate, and Rapid Intake, but beware of outputs that aren't accessible, web standards format.
- More often than not Flash is just flashy.
- PowerPoint continues to be abused by presenters from around the world, resulting in mind-numbing, soul-sucking internments. Folks talk about PPT design in terms of how many bullets, words, fonts per slide, with nearly no mention of "Presentation Zen".
- Also, a PPT designed for a (classroom) presentation is not elearning, even if you convert that PPT to Flash with Captivate. @BrianDusablon says #1 problem in e-learning is PPT. (#2 is systems that put obstacles between learner and learning.)
- However, you can use PPT as an effective e-learning prototyping platform, if not a complete and robust authoring platform.
- Surprise! Corporate training wants demonstrable outcomes, not rubrics that assert generalized ideals of quality based on theory. How well do our distance learning "quality" rubrics (QM, Chico) measure the actual effectiveness of learning experiences at helping students meet learning objectives? Isn't that more important than, say, the 7 principles?
- Though the session was canceled, it appears possible to use Google Spreadsheets as a data source for live e-learning content generation (think flashcards, quizzes)
- UVU IDS should create all lesson discussions, assignments, and assessments as plain text files WITHIN the lessons folder, until Common Cartridge XML becomes useful on Moodle and Bb Vista.
- URLs from augmented reality games session: http://argology.org, http://argn.com, http://unfiction.com
Questions
- Does UVU IDS have enough accurate dotProject data yet to estimate the hour-cost of a new online course?
- Non-linear ID is still popular, but is it effective? Have we passed the point at which hypertext inhibits learning and focus?
- Where are communities that share DTDs and schemas, esp for e-learning? Does our XML DTD match any other known e-learning DTDs? (Really only Common Cartridge)
Reading List
- Goal-based learning design a la Robert Schank
- Humanizing education articles
- Videogames and Education: Humanistic Approaches to an Emergent Art Form by Harry J. Brown
- Chico State's latest vers. of ROI
- Survey of Instructional Development Models by Kent L. Gustafson, Robert Maribe Branch
- Any empirical research on linear vs. non-linear (hypertextual) learning outcomes
Software Demo List
- Articulate (rapid e-learning development)
- Captivate (rapid e-learning development)
- ProForm / Unison (rapid e-learning development)
- Jing (screen capture)
- Agilix BrainHoney (LMS/learning system)
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