Instructional Design Top Tips

Screenr: Instant Screencast

2011-12-29T13:48:00.000-08:00

If you want to create a simple, straight-forward video tutorial, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better tool than Screenr.

Nothing to install or download
Record on your Mac or PC
Plays everywhere, even on iPhones

How much does it cost? It's FREE.

Take a test drive at http://www.screenr.com/, and let me know what you think.

Free Stock Photos Sites for eLearning Projects

2011-12-29T12:33:00.000-08:00

One question that I am often ask by new Instructional Designers is where do I locate images for my eLearning projects. Therefore, I decided that I would post a few of the FREE stock photo sites that I use in developing eLearning content. I have spent many hours of research compiling this list, and hope you discover the sites valuable in developing your eLearning projects.

If you know of others, please write a comment with links to your FREE stock photo sites at the end of this post.

PublicDomainPictures.net is a repository for free public domain photos. You can download high quality photos, upload your own photos, earn money for charity, get exposure, and gain popularity.

At FreeImages, you'll find a library of stock photography for use on websites, printed media, products, and anywhere you need a photo to help with illustration and design.

FreeFoto.com contains 132,516 images with 182 sections organized into 3,639 categories. It is the largest collection of free photographs on the Internet.

Whether you're looking for free stock designs for your project, free stock photos for your next big design, or something in-between, freestockfor.us is your resource for quick downloads!

FreePixels offers free high resolution stock photos for use in both personal and commercial design projects.

At FreeDigitalPhotos.net, download free and premium stock photos and illustrations for websites, printed media, advertising materials, book covers and pages, music artwork, software applications and much more. All free images are of high quality, produced by a community of professional stock photographers and digital illustrators.

The SXC (stock.xhng) is a site providing free-to-use stock photos and illustrations. The stock.xhng operates as a hybrid of a picture library site and a social networking site; registered users may set up a personal profile, upload their photographic works to share with other users, write a blog, and participate in online forums to discuss and critique each others' work.

The 4 Free Photos is an online community of photographers who enjoy taking pictures and sharing them with the public to use for free in their private or commercial projects. They hope you will find the collection of free and public domain images useful.

Morgue File is an easy to use free photo site. Free images for your inspiration, reference, and use in your creative work for commercial or personal work.

All images on Public Domain Image are explicitly placed in the public domain, free for any personal or commercial use.

At imageafter.com, you can expect free high resolution images of objects, places, animals, mechanics, insects, signs, circuits and plants. All stock photos can be freely downloaded and used in your commercial or personal works.

Search Engine for Free Photos

Every Stock Photo is a search engine for free photos. These photos come from many sources and are license-specific. You can view a photo's license by clicking on the license icon, below and left of photos. Membership is free, without advertising, and allows you to rate, tag, collect, and comment on photos.

If this post is helpful, please leave a comment. If you know of other sites with FREE stock photos, please post a link with a comment about the site. THX :o)

How To Popularize Social Media in the Learning Environment

2010-10-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

Today, I’m posting a podcast about how to popularize social media with your learning audiences. As an extra bonus, I’m posting at the end of this article a link from the producers of this podcast to their FREE training tools and elearning resources .

Thanks for visiting and listening! Don't forget to check out the Instructional Design Forum -- the link is located under My Wiki.

Question: If you’ve introduced social media in your learning environment, let us know how by posting a comment.

Free training tools and elearning resources: http://www.commlabindia.com/elearning-resources/elearning-resources.php

Social Media Events in October and November 2010

2010-10-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

Today, I’m posting a video podcast about Social Media events scheduled during the months of October and November. To watch the podcast about these social media events, click the Play button:

For more information about these social media events, click the event link:

BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2010: http://www.blogworldexpo.com/index.aspx

The SocialBizWorld 2010: http://www.socialbizworld.com/about/

Social Media Club Conference: http://socialmediauniversity.com/

Web 2.0 Summit: http://www.web2summit.com/web2010

Question: Have you attended any of these events in past years? If so, let us know what you experienced at the event. Or if you have attended other social media events that you think would be beneficial to other readers, please post your event and experience in the comment section.

Instructional Design Forum Informational Podcast

2010-09-24T15:06:00.000-07:00

Welcome! Today I'm sharing information about my Wiki with you , the Instructional Design Forum. Click the Play button to listen to the podcast.

ASTD Book Spotlight: A Guide to Transforming Organizations Through Social Media

2010-09-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

An excerpt from ASTD website (http://www.astd.org/)

The first ebook, The New Social Media, to help organizations understand and harness the extraordinary workplace learning potential of social media has been published through the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) Press and Berrett-Koehler.

Co-written by the CEO, Tony Bingham, of the world’s largest workplace learning organization and a consultant and writer, Marcia Conner, with extensive experience on the forefront of workplace learning technology, this book features case studies showing how organizations around the world have transformed their businesses through social media.

Social media enables learning to happen unrestricted by physical location and in extraordinarily creative ways. Bingham and Conner explain why social media is the ideal solution to some of the most pressing educational challenges organizations face today, such as a widely dispersed workforce and striking differences in learning styles, particularly across generations. They definitively answer common objections to using social media as a training tool and show how to win over even the most resistant employees.

Foreward by Daniel H. Pink, author of New York Times bestsellers Drive and A Whole New Mind.

Post A Comment

Do you have a favorite book on social media? Share your resource with other readers by posting a comment below. Also, visit our new Instructional Design Forum to offer suggestions on upcoming post or leave a question about using social media in the learning environment.

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Welcome!

2010-09-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

I’m so excited to introduce my interactive blog, Instructional Design Top Tips. My main focus is providing my readers with the most current topics relating to instructional design and a forum for collaboration.

If now is the right time to put some spark in your instructional design skills, I’ll undertake the challenge to ignite your enthusiasm through writing a smattering of short articles with tips, advice and reviews related to your world within the ADDIE model -- the analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation of instruction and learning experiences. These articles will summarize the results from recent learning research, review the top development software, announce up-coming events, offer the ‘hottest’ industry tips, and recap up-to-the-minute advice and views from some of the most well-known gurus in the field of instructional design. One of these articles could become your inspiration or go-to favorite!

Today, I’m introducing a notable resource for online instructional designers, The eLearning Coach, (visit http://theelearningcoach.com/) and an article from its writer, Connie Malamed, about Social Media and workplace learning.

In her article, Ms Malamed features an interview with successful social media expert, Jane Hart. Ms. Hart provides compelling reasons to implement a social and collaborative environment as part of workplace learning. You can read more from Ms. Hart at her blog, Pick of the Day, (visit http://janeknight.typepad.com/).

The Interview with Jane Hart

Coach: You were an early adopter of using social technologies for learning purposes. What motivated you to jump in?

Jane: Using social technologies has just been an evolution of my experience and interest in learning technologies for a long time now. I was an advocate of computer-based learning in the 80s, then early Internet/web-based learning in the 90s, social learning in the 2000s is just another step along the path

Coach: What are your criteria for defining a technology as social?

Jane: One that allows people to share (experiences or resources) or collaborate (in many different ways).

Coach: From a cognitive perspective, how does learning through social media differ from structured and self-paced eLearning?

Jane: Social learning can still be structured i.e., take place within a formal course environment. The difference with social learning is that it supports conversation and discussion and learning from one another, whilst “traditional” self-paced learning is about learning from a computer without reference to others—it’s just content, content, content. We are all social beings, so social learning is a more natural way of learning.

Coach: Do you think the knowledge and skills acquired through social media and technologies should be measured? And can it be measured?

Jane: “Learning” per se shouldn’t be measured in an organizational context, it is the new “performance” that it brings about. Sometimes that can be measured by a positive change in speed or output or productivity, sometimes not. Sometimes it is important to just recognize the other intangible benefits that occur. I think we have become rather obsessed about measuring everything—course completions, test scores, etc. With social learning comes the need to think about new ways of measuring success. I think that is going to be difficult for many L&D professionals who have become used to measuring learning in a Learning Management System.

Coach: In your consulting work, what social technologies have you found to be the best for promoting learning?

Jane: Many different ones! In fact I don’t think it’s about the separate technologies. It’s about having a toolbox containing a number of different social technologies at your disposal in order to select the most appropriate one(s) that address a particular learning or business problem. It might just be one tool—it might be a number. For instance, I am currently running a formal programme where the group is using many different technologies to share and collaborate—social bookmarking, discussions, wikis, blogging, file sharing, etc.

Coach: Can you describe the advantages of the social media environment, Elgg? (For more information about Elgg, visit http://www.elgg.org/ )

Jane: Exactly to do what I have mentioned in the previous answer. Elgg provides a private integrated suite of social media tools—within a seamless environment for individuals to use for their own personal learning and for groups to use for formal or informal learning purposes. Elgg allows organizations to take advantage of the benefits that social technologies have to offer, and yet not worry about some of the issues with using public social media tools, namely privacy and security of data, muddling of personal and organizational identities in public, and the overwhelming number of tools (with their own separate logins and interfaces) that need to be supported by IT departments.

Coach: What typical obstacles do managers and learning professionals face in trying to convince organizations to adopt social learning technologies?

Jane: Senior managers are clearly concerned by the issues mentioned in the previous answer and that use of public social media tools by employees might cause embarrassment for the organization. They also think “social networking” is a trivial activity and compare it with Facebook. I have for a long time stopped talking about social networking in an organizational context as it comes with a lot of unfortunate “baggage.” I do talk about social and collaborative platforms, social learning environments or networks or communities. Those terms are much more acceptable and accepted by senior managers.

Coach: Do you have suggestions for how they can overcome these obstacles?

Jane: Demonstrate the value of social technologies for learning by installing a private and secure social learning environment so that the benefits can be experienced by the organization.

Coach: Thanks, Jane!

Post Your Comment

Do you incorporate social technologies in your learning strategy? Tell us how by posting a comment below.

Thank You for visiting!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this introduction to Instructional Design Top Tips! In the sidebar, you’ll find a way to subscribe to my blog, which will deliver new postings directly to your email. Or you can bookmark my page for easy retrieval. I also want to hear from you! So, click the comment button to submit your remarks or opinions; and also, to collaborate with other readers. I plan to post a new blog entry about every other month, so stay tuned for my next post about social media technologies.

Comment Policy

I encourage you to leave comments. I'll reply to all questions within a week, and errors in the posts will be acknowledged in the comment area. Feel free to disagree with my point of view if there is need for disagreement, but keep in mind that all off-topic comments, disparaging comments, comments with more than one link, and comments that include profanity will be deleted.