Let’s Get Visual

If you are in need of fun photorealistic visuals, but you are not a Photoshop pro, check out 3dVia’s 3D Collage app. This neat Facebook application allows you to design hybrid 2D/3D images by using a photograph as a backdrop and importing 3D models into the scene. 3D Collage is fast, fun, and free. Simply upload your own 2D image into the program or snag one from Flickr, locate a 3D model from inside the app’s library, and then publish the output to your Facebook profile. Once the picture has been published, simply save a copy of it and paste it into your e-learning course. I’m currently working on a point-and-click adventure about customer experience, and I’ve used 3D Collage to develop all the in-game images.

Hit learners with a quick shot of fun and creativity by using any of these e-learning hacks.

Of course there are times when you may need to add video to your e-learning modules. Youtube is an excellent clearinghouse for finding video assets. Depending on your authoring tool, however, streaming videos can present a challenge. If you are using Adobe Captivate 4, there is an excellent Youtube widget that allows for streaming directly to your Captivate presentation. If you do not have Captivate 4, you can likely import the Youtube video as a Flash video file. To save Youtube video as FLV, simply go to KeepVid, enter the URL of the video you want snag, download the file, and then save it as an FLV. Voila! You should now be able to insert the Flash video into your presentation. This tip is useful for authoring tools like Articulate and the free online course builder, Udutu.

Another hack I commonly use is recording screencasts to demonstrate processes. Screencasts are digital recordings of computer screen output. You do not need anything expensive like the commercial version of Camtasia to record one. It’s possible to make a screencast directly from your browser by using Screencast-o-matic.com. Screencast-o-matic integrates with Youtube so that you have a place to host your screencasts for free, provided you have a Youtube account. After recording the screencast, simply upload it to YouTube from the Screencast-o-matic interface. You can link to the screencast, stream it during a course if you are using Captivate’s Youtube widget, or you can rip the FLV file using KeepVid.

It’s Not What You Say, but How You Say It

I prefer self-paced e-learning modules that have audio narration (with the option to mute in the event that the narrator is terrible!) When recording audio, course authors must be mindful of sound quality and audio level. A best practice that I recommend is to record the audio separately, using an editor like the freeware Audacity, and then optimize the audio before importing it into a course. This ensures that all slides have equal sound levels. You can also use Audacity for more creative purposes. Consider applying a voice filter to the narration of an objective slide for a change in pace. If you are using characters or agents in your e-learning, you can also apply filters to their voices for a bit of variety. Here are my three favorite custom filters for Audacity and directions for creating each.

Robot Voice Filter:
1. Record voice
2. Highlight selection
3. Go to Effect, then scroll down to Delay
4. Change the Decay amount 10
5. Change the Delay time to .009
6. Change the Number of Echoes to 30, then click OK
7. Go back to Effect, and repeat Delay four times.
8. Play your edited track

Chipmunk filter:
1. Record voice
2. Highlight selection
3. Go to Effect, then select Change Pitch
4. Modify the Percent Change to 117.50
5. Play your edited track

Walkie-Talkie Filter:
1. Record voice
2. Highlight selection
3. Go to Effect, then FFT Filter
4. Click on purple line and drag it up to the top (12db)
5. Click 10000Hz
6. Click OK
7. Click Effect, then High Pass Filter
8. Change Cutoff Frequency to 2000, then click OK
9. Repeat this process 2 times
10. Play your edited track

Have fun using these hacks, but resist the urge of inserting too many. There is no substitute to sound instructional design.

Coleman, like many who contribute to the ALA Learning Round Table and make it a first-rate resource for trainer-teacher-learners, offers an antidote to the isolation trainers sometimes experience. Through T Is For Training sessions, he provides a chance for trainers to talk with, listen to, and become familiar with colleagues from library training programs all over the country; share best practices and discuss why some practices are far from the best; contribute to a growing repository of training materials maintained on Delicious by T IS for Training participants; and have some fun while engaged in all the previously listed endeavors—all while becoming familiar, through practice, with how online communities develop and interact effectively.

The payoff is significant. Struggling with a training problem? So are others, and they can offer suggestions as well as useful resources so you don’t have to solve the problem yourself. Wishing you were feeling a bit more creative in resolving workplace learning and performance issues screaming for your attention? T Is For Training participants have been there, too, and can, with the sense of humor they deeply cherish, rekindle the creative sparks you thought had vanished. Looking for colleagues willing and able to commiserate, collaborate, and show you how they have already done what you are trying to do? They’re available, willing, and able because they understand that in giving, they also are receiving in ways they often can’t anticipate.

Even more significant is the reminder that one great resource often leads to another. The list of regular participants—“The Usual Suspects” on the left-hand side of the T Is For Training page— serves as a reminder that there is a tremendous amount of overlap between the T Is For Training group and those of us who are also involved in the ALA Learning Round Table. If you want to see what others are writing, you’ll find articles from those usual suspects on individual blogs as well as on a variety of engaging group blogs.

The more we explore, the more we discover—including the revelation that colleagues who at one time appeared beyond our reach are actually quite accessible. Participate in T If For Training or become engaged in the ALA Learning Round Table, and you’ll discover that first-rate samples of organizational learning plans are just an e-mail or phone call away from Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Employee Learning & Development Coordinator Lori Reed. Or that an E-Learning Preparedness Checklist is available from Gwinnett County Public Library Training Manager Jay Turner. Or that Huntsville-Madison County Public Library Staff Training and Development Coordinator Marianne Lenox has produced the equivalent of a semester-long course on learning theory and resources in a single article here on the Learning Round Table blog. Or that WebJunction Learning & Curriculum Developer Betha Gutsche has edited the highly detailed Competency Index for the Library Field.

We have, as the recent T Is For Training episode reminded us, learned a lot in 2009. And one of the most important lessons is that by participating in online discussions, or responding to a blog posting, or engaging in a Google Chat or Google Talk or Skype interaction, or simply making the time to pick up the phone and call a colleague for assistance, we are working with and for each other on behalf of all we serve.

Friday, January 15 from 3:30-5:00

Learning Town Hall Meet and Greet

INTER-Rose Kennedy II

Saturday, January 16 from 8:00-12:00

Open Board Meeting I

BCEC-Room 156C

Sunday, January 17 from 10:30-12:30

Training Showcase Planning Meeting

BCEC-Room 161

Monday, January 18 from 10:00-12:00

Open Board Meeting II

BCEC-Room 206A

Monday, January 18 from 1:30-3:00

Staff Development Discussion

BCEC-Room 203

Title: Staff Day Success!  Tips for Planning, Delivering, and Evaluating All-Staff Events

Date and time: Thursday, December 3, 2009, 12 pm – 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time

This webinar will last approximately one hour. There is no charge for this webinar.  Pre-registration is not required.

For more information and to participate in the December 3 webinar, go to http://infopeople.org/training/webcasts/webcast_data/306/index.html

Are you involved with planning and implementing an all-staff event at your library? Thinking about a staff day and wondering about the next steps? A staff day may be a regularly scheduled opportunity for team building and morale boosting or may be a day specifically scheduled because of a building program, planning process or other shift in strategic directions.

Whatever the goals for the day, it’s a day with high expectations that is often produced on a shoestring budget by those who are not professional event planners. Planning responsibilities may include finding speakers (often at low or no cost), arranging a venue, dealing with room setups and equipment, developing lunch plans, and ultimately creating a valuable learning experience for library staff.

Those attending the webinar will learn about:

A planning process that involves library leadership as well as employees in all parts of the library

• Ideas for creative free or low-cost programs
• The importance of “over-communication” and why branding is part of communication
• How to evaluate and document the event to leave a legacy for future staff day planners

Join presenter Mary Ross – who has planned and implemented numerous all-staff events, as well as library-related conferences, workshops and training-as she shares tips, tricks and strategies for success. You’ll be able to tackle the challenges in planning and delivering an all-staff event, resulting in a day that is valuable to and celebrates the value of all employees.

Speaker: Mary Bucher Ross.  Mary Ross has over 25 years of experience working in public libraries and managed the staff training and development program at the Seattle Public Library for eight years. Under contract to the Washington State Library, she designed “Anytime, Anywhere Answers” and “The Virtual Reference Adventure,” online training programs for virtual reference providers. She has also designed courses for WebJunction and LibraryU. She is co-author of Virtual Reference Training: The Complete Guide to Providing Anytime, Anywhere Answers, published by ALA Editions in 2004. Currently continuing education coordinator for the Washington Library Association, she is also on the board of directors of the Continuing Library Education Network and Round Table (CLENERT) and was a delegate to ALA’s 2nd and 3rd Congresses on Professional Education.

If you are unable to attend the live event, you can access the archived version the day following the webinar.  Check our archive listing at:

http://www.infopeople.org/training/webcasts/list/archived

Webinar: Staff Day Success! Tips for Planning, Delivering, and Evaluating All-Staff Events

Date: Thursday, December 3, 2009

Time: 12pm – 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time

Speaker: Mary Bucher Ross

Image: Instructional Design by Lauren Pressley

Like many others I’m learning how to do most of my job on the fly. Because the precepts of my own learning  require me to share, I thought I’d air my own personal learning adventures in case there are others in the same situation. Learning Just In Time, I’m grappling Andragogy (Adult Learning theory) and Instructional Design theory so that I can effectively build professional learning plans in a Learning Management System for HMCPL staff.

After my recommendation, we have a brand new installation of Moodle, the leading open source LMS application in the educational community, as the basis for what will be a series of competency-based learning plans for staff. While it’s still in the ITS testing phase, I’m trying to get in the right frame of mind before I begin. Of the three learning theories (Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism) Moodle’s philosophy is guided by a “social constructionist pedagogy” which might be perfectly suited for library staff learning. The concept behind PLCMC’s “23 Things” seems to be an excellent example of Constructivism, in that by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world we live in.

While there are There are Model-Based Usability Heuristics for Constructivist e-Learning, I do plan on submitting a budget request so that I may participate in a Moodle-based class titled “Implementing Online Teaching and Learning: Using Moodle and Other Web 2.0 Features” by Diane K. Kovaks. Until then, I’ve come up with a syllabus of my own: I’m subscribed to eLearning Learning Community’s feed for Instructional Design to keep up with the latest posts on the subject and I’m absorbing well. I’m following Thursday evenings’ #lrnchat on Twitter. Though still at the legitimate peripheral participation (lurking) stage, I spoke up just this week and was rewarded with good conversation about learning. Moodle tutorials (2 Minute Moodles) are to familiarize myself with the Moodle interface, while Martin Ryder of the University of Colorado at Denver School of Education has compiled an exhaustive list of Instructional Design Models and I’m working through those.

Interesting that Catherine Lombardozzi is studying the Constructivist theory within the ADDIE Instructional Design Model to develop a Learning Environment Design model.  A more common, systematic approach to eLearning, the ADDIE model get’s it’s name from the following five components: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation. Raleigh Way of Georgia Southern University’s Center for Online Learning says that ADDIE is a “strategic planning of a course. It is a blueprint that you design and follow. It helps us connect all the dots to form a clear picture of teaching and learning events” and has an excellent set of tutorials here.

Thought recently maligned, I appreciate the systemic manner and fluid hierarchy of ADDIE, and the more I study it more I feel this approach can be given to almost any talk, course or series of learning opportunities.

In TechSoup’s recent webinar Tech Training Made Simple with Online Videos with Lee Lefever (creator of those fabulous CommonCraft videos) I asked Lee if he had any tips for library trainers on teaching technology. His reply was to tell a story with a sympathetic character, then solve that character’s problem. A dominating thread in his videos, we all relate to his characters and scenarios. While there is debate among professional Instructional Designers about the lack of ID theory in CommonCraft videos, there is no doubt as to their effectiveness on the adult learner. I know I’m just at the beginning of my learning journey here and that there are many experts to learn from. but this is the level of ‘explainability’ that I hope to achieve in our staff learning plans.

Do you have recommendations for creating courseware which inspires learning at the CommonCraft level? If so, please share. If it can’t be done, then why?

Influencer is threaded with stories that reinforce the authors’ ideas. The most powerful story is that of the Delancey Street Foundation, a “self-help organization for substance abusers, ex-convicts, homeless and others who have hit bottom.” Their successes are all the more inspiring for the enormity of the challenges and intractable behaviors to be overcome. The challenge of training library staff and guiding them through change seems totally attainable by comparison.

You really need to read the book to get the full development of the processes. I’ll just highlight some key takeaways, with a few Delancey Street examples.

Outcome is good but behavior is vital

This was a light bulb revelation for me—that focusing on outcomes is not the best way to achieve them. Outcomes are certainly desirable but they’re not concrete enough. For someone who is trying to kick a drug habit, the outcome is to become drug-free. That’s a noble goal, but it so often succumbs to failure. A person needs a whole lot more than the target outcome to achieve success; he has to know exactly what to do. The individual must learn the day-to-day, minute-to-minute behaviors that need to change every step of the way between addicted and clean.

Strong influencers take the focus on behavior a step further and identify the vital behaviors that are pivotal to unlocking a flood of change. Changing just a few key behaviors can cause problems to “topple like a house of cards.”

At Delancey Street, “the hardest thing we do here is to get rid of the code of the street. It says: ‘Care only about yourself, and don’t rat on anyone.’ If you reverse those two behaviors, you can change everything else.”

When deviance is desirable

An effective method for identifying those vital behaviors is to look for “positive deviance.” Who is achieving success against the odds and what are they doing that differs from the norm? Once the unique behaviors are filtered out, test them to see if they can be replicated with other communities.

Get personal

“Personal experience is the mother of all cognitive map changers.” Great teachers and presenters can certainly be verbally persuasive, moving an audience to open their minds and think differently about a topic. But real learning involves some actual change in behavior, and that happens most readily from direct experience. At Delancey Street, any attempt at preaching values or making eloquent verbal appeals may be met with a reactive volley of profanity. Residents make progress by doing, by putting into practice new behaviors before they even understand the full intent of what they’re doing and what they’re supposed to be learning from their actions.

Eat the elephant one bite at a time

The phrase is becoming a cliché but I still love the image it conjures. When the challenge to change looks enormous, when the learning curve looks impossibly steep, just get out your fork and dig in one bite at a time. For Delancey Street residents, the bite of the elephant may be as small as learning to set a table—first get the fork in the right place, then the knife ….

You can sign up for a free account with the Influencer website and download the Influencer Worksheet to help plan your next training initiative. However, it probably won’t make enough sense until you’ve read the book. If every library trainer reads and implements Influencer ideas, will we be riding on the top of a tidal wave of positive change?

Information has become an off-shored commodity. Google handles more questions in a second than a reference librarian will answer in a career. Social gatherings have moved to online networks. Why come to a library? For the experience! If your members still experience your library the way they did in the 1990s (1950s?), perhaps it’s time to rethink and revitalize. In this webinar, library consultants Joan Frye Williams and George Needham will reprise their popular presentation from this year’s ASCLA President’s Program. They’ll describe new ways to present your services to the world. By the end of this webinar, you will:

• Understand the difference between passive and active library experiences, and how to make each work in your favor;
• Know what makes an environment inspiring to independent learners;
• Learn several ways to “layer” library services for increased impact;
• See how you can plan library services around life’s predictable passages.

As always, George and Joan will challenge you to rethink how you do business, turning some old stereotypes on their ears while refreshing our notions as well as our services. The tips and techniques covered here won’t necessarily cost more money, but they will help make your work more valuable and more fun.

Speakers: Joan Frye Williams and George Needham.

Joan Frye Williams – For more than 25 years Joan Frye Williams (joan@jfwilliams.com) has been a successful librarian, consultant, vendor, planner, trainer, evaluator and user of library services, with a special emphasis on innovation, technology and emerging library trends. She is the president of her own library and information technology consulting firm. Joan is best known as an acute–and sometimes irreverent–observer of trends in what she calls “the cultural anthropology of libraries.” She is a nationally recognized library futurist and designer of innovative library services.

George Needham – Before joining OCLC in 1999, George was State Librarian of Michigan. From 1993 to 1996, he was Executive Director of the Public Library Association, a division of the American Library Association. From 1990 to 1993, he was Director of Member Services of the Ohio Library Association. From 1984 to 1989, he served as Library Director of Fairfield County District Library in Lancaster, Ohio. From 1977 to 1984, he held various posts at the Charleston County Library in Charleston, South Carolina.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 3– 4 pm Eastern/12-1pm Pacific

This webinar will last approximately one hour. There is no charge for this webinar. Pre-registration is not required. For more information and to participate in the November 17 webinar, go to http://infopeople.org/training/webcasts/webcast_data/363/index.html

If you are unable to attend the live event, you can access the archived version the day following the webinar. Check our archive listing at: http://www.infopeople.org/training/webcasts/list/archived

Email has brought about many improvements in the way we communicate in the workplace. It’s quicker than inter-library mail, less intrusive than a phone call and it can be an efficient way to keep track of the correspondence details. When used improperly, however, email can be an impediment to your career and your library’s organizational efficiency and effectiveness. Managing your inbox and replying in a timely manner is a critical part of managing your communication with others. Do you feel “Buried in Email”? Do you have an effective way to organize and process your emails? Most people don’t. This webinar gives you the information and proven strategies you need to effectively manage your emails once for all. Did you know that email can be one of the most misunderstood communication tools that we use? Why? Because many times, email messages are poorly written and the receiver has not been given the information they need. In this one hour program, you’ll learn the tips and techniques to writing and sending email messages that people will read and understand. By the end of the webinar participants will learn and begin to master:

Using a decision making process for managing email

• Scheduling uninterrupted time to process and organize email daily
• Organizing Logins and Passwords
• Writing Subject Lines that attract the recipient to open your email
• Keeping the message focused and readable
• The difference between formal and informal email writing
• Easy steps to proofreading email
• Email Etiquette for managing incoming and outgoing email

Speaker: Andrew Sanderbeck. Andrew Sanderbeck is adjunct professor at Johnson and Wales University, and works with Kent State University, The University of Louisville and Rockhurst University in their Corporate and Community Learning Programs. Andrew trains and consults with libraries and library organizations to help them realize the true human potential of their management and employees. He is the publisher of the Friday News Minute, a free weekly e-newsletter read by thousands of library professionals around the world.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 3-4 pm Eastern/12-1 pm Pacific

This webinar will last approximately one hour. There is no charge for this webinar. Pre-registration is not required. For more information and to participate in the November 24 webinar, go to http://infopeople.org/training/webcasts/webcast_data/315/index.html

If you are unable to attend the live event, you can access the archived version the day following the webinar. Check our archive listing at: http://www.infopeople.org/training/webcasts/list/archived

Wouldn’t it be great if complicated technology concepts were explained in a simple way that’s easy to understand? Imagine how something like this could assist you in training sessions for patrons or staff. Well look no further, Common Craft creates explanatory videos “In Plain English” that cover topics like green, money, society and technology.

In this free webinar, Stephanie Gerding from TechSoup will interview Lee LeFever, from Common Craft to learn more about their videos and how they are created. We will also hear how librarians are using these videos to support the needs of their community.

Wednesday, November 18 from 2-3pm Eastern/11am-12pm Pacific

Register here: http://www.techsoupforlibraries.org/events/tech-training-made-simple-with-online-videos