EPS411 ELearning Design and Production

Elearning Design and EMS Education Resources

Greg Friese — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 03:14:11 +0000

Thanks for visiting the official blog of Emergency Preparedness Systems LLC. Since its founding in 2002 EPS carved out a niche to provide elearning design and production for emergency response agencies. A shared interest in elearning, EMS education, and emergency responder preparedness is probably what drew you to EPS411.com. Now, I am the Director of Education for CentreLearn Solutions.

EPS411.com will continue to exist as an archive of my writing about elearning for emergency responders. I welcome you to continue to browse the site, read and share posts, and even write comments. Here are some places I am continuing the conversation about elearning, EMS education, and EMS professionalism.

CentreLearn Community blog. I post here regularly about elearning design and production.
Everyday EMS Tips. This is my personal blog that focuses on tips, resources, and product reviews for EMS professionals. Subscribers receive an ebook of some of my top tip posts. Visit this post for links to some of my favorite writing.
EMSEduCast podcast. The weekly podcast by and for EMS educators. Browse the archives at EMSEduCast.com or subscribe at iTunes or the ProMedNetwork.
Medical Author Chat. Semi-regular podcast where I interview RNs, Physicians, and Paramedics that have written books – memoirs, novels, self-help has a new home on the EMS Blogs Network..

And of course I would welcome the opportunity to connect with you, if we aren’t already, on Facebook, Twitter, and/or LinkedIn. Just follow the links on the right side bar. Thanks for the work you do to design and deliver education that is effective, educational, and entertaining to emergency responders. Stay in touch.

Best regards, Greg Friese, MS, NREMT
Facebook.com/gfriese
Twitter.com/gfriese

Content: Dr. Anonymous Show Appearance

Martha Bonnie — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:19:54 +0000

Last night I had the pleasure of being on the Dr. Anonymous podcast. We talked about:

Why I started in EMS
Tips for EMS education
The EMS podcasting community
Uses of social media
How Dr. A got started in blogging and podcasting
Streamlining social media production

Take a listen to this episode and visit Dr. Anonymous’ blog to listen to past episodes and see upcoming guests.

Content: 50th Episode of the EMSEduCast

Greg Friese — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:00:00 +0000

On Wednesday March 3 at 2000 CST we are recording the 50th episode of the EMSEduCast – the podcast by and for EMS educators. Ways to subscribe to new episodes and listen to any of the episodes from the archives include:

Also make sure to join the EMSEduCast Facebook page for the latest news, discussions with the hosts and other listeners and to connect with other listeners.

EMSEduCast on Facebook

Connections: EMS Today Conference

Greg Friese — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:00:02 +0000

Are you going to EMS Today?

It has been the most frequently asked question I have been asked the past two weeks. The EMS Today Conference, from JEMS Conferences and Expositions, started today in Baltimore, Maryland and runs through the weekend.

Unfortunately I am not going to EMS Today, but if you are I want to encourage you to connect with these people:

Dave Konig, co-founder of PIOSocialMediaTraining.com, will be attending the conference. Look for Dave to talk all things social media. He is an evangalist for how EMS agencies can use social media to accomplish their mission.

Mark Glencourse, Justin Schoor, and Ted Setla from the Chronicles of EMS are hosting a meet-up with JEMSConnect.com and will be at the Zoll booth in the exhibit hall. Meet-up details.

Chris Montera of the EMS Garage podcast and Jamie Davis from the MedicCast podcast will be hosting a series of live podcasts near the JEMS booth in the exhibit hall. Watch a live broadcast or invite yourself on to the stage to talk with them.

John Dillon will be at the C3Softworks booth. He and I have been delivering classroom and online training programs on how to use games to teach. Ask John to schedule a training program for your school or conference.

Many of my favorite bloggers will be at the Chronicles of EMS Meetup and kicking around the exhibit hall. Look for the Rhett from FireCritic.com, Chris from LifeUndertheLights.com, and John from Firedaily.com.

Follow all the action at EMS Today with the Twitter hashtag #EMSToday

Who am I missing? Who are you going to connect with at EMS Today?

Connections: EPS Team Member in the News

Greg Friese — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:12:42 +0000

EPS411.com team member and flight paramedic Kevin Collopy appears in this video (see below) and article about the new helicopter and training simulator that the flight service he works for is putting into service.

Kevin and I are co-authoring a series of 12 CE articles for EMS Magazine that will begin with the March issue. Kevin wrote about abdominal trauma. Look for that article soon in EMS Magazine and at EMSResponder.com. Readers will also be able to take a test at RapidCE.com to receive CECBEMS approved CE credit. Some of the other articles we have in progress for future issues include:

facial trauma
febrile seizures
pediatric pain management

You can connect with Kevin on EMSUnited and EMSConnect.

How many slides for a 30 minute elearning program?

Greg Friese — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:06:04 +0000

EPS produces narrated flash movies that are the result of converting PowerPoint to flash with a program called Articulate Presenter. One of the most common questions I receive is “How many PowerPoint slides should I have in a 30 minute elearning program?”

They are rarely satisfied with my answer, “The number of slides doesn’t matter.”

“Well someone told me to never use more than 30 slides in a 30 minute presentation.” Or I was advised this:

“We can’t have this lesson be any more than 10 slides.”

The better question is “How many words should be in the audio script for a 30 minute elearning program?”

When converting PowerPoint to Flash, PowerPoint is the storyboard for designing the lesson. Each slide is like a frame in a movie. If the slide has animations it is like multiple frames in a movie. When I watch a movie every 3 to 10 seconds (sometimes even quicker) the on-screen visual changes. A newscast is filled with changing graphics. In this regard an elearning lesson is much more like a television show or movie than a classroom presentation.

30 minute lesson = ~4000 words

Typically we script elearning lessons by writing the narration in the notes view of the PowerPoint slide. The word count of the script determines the length of the lesson. 150 slides with 10 words of narration (the audio track) is a lesson that is 10 to 12 minutes long. 75 slides with a word count for the narration that is about 4100 words will be a lesson that is about 30 minutes long.

When creating a lesson I usually write one paragraph or one important point per slide. That leads to slides that will be on screen for 10 to 45 seconds. Each slide usually has one or more animations so something is happening on the screen at least every 30 seconds. Visual change with interesting audio content and opportunities to interact with the lesson helps keep students engaged throughout the lesson.

Explain your parameters for determining the length of an elearning lesson. Thanks.

Content: Promote AED Program with Social Media

Greg Friese — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:00:11 +0000

Last week I wrote a guest post on using social media to promote a public access defibrillation program for the Cardiac Science Blog.

You can read the post here: Public Access Defibrillation and Social Media: 7 Ideas You Can Use Right Now

Content: Chronicles of EMS Premiere

Greg Friese — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:00:00 +0000

Something really amazing is about to happen – in just a few hours the pilot episode of the Chronicles of EMS will be broadcast to a live audience at the Hotel Frank in San Francisco and for an online audience around the world.

I really want you to watch the Chronicles. Watch the premiere party from 4pm to 7pm Pacific Time and the episode at 5 pm PST 2/12/2010.

React to the Chronicles of EMS.

Share with the Chronicles of EMS.

Engage with EMS professionals and supports from around the world.

EMS needs you to be a leader. Be a part of the Chronicles of EMS.

As you read this on 2/12 I am in San Francisco for the premiere party with more than 50 EMS professionals and supporters from around the world. I am sure I will be tweeting during the event so look for my updates and photos at Twitter.com/gfriese.

Content: Incident Management Training

Greg Friese — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:00:20 +0000

One of my 2010 projects is writing quiz questions for a monthly EMS knowledge challenge at EMS1.com. The quiz questions are loaded into the C3Softworks Bravo software and can be delivered in a variety of training formats. Some user comments:

Enjoyed the review….
Good review of responsibilities on a disaster scene
Great for remembering skills I haven’t used for awhile
This was great!

Test your Incident Management knowledge and response capabilities. Contact me if you want more information on how to use games for training.

Non-Invasive Positive Pressure Ventilations CE Lesson

Greg Friese — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:23:27 +0000

Visit RapidCE.com to enroll in your free lesson or to subscribe to all lessons.

Non-Invasive Positive Pressure Ventilations: Prehospital Use of CPAP and BiPAP
Fortunately, for EMS providers and their respiratory distress patients, non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NiPPV) treatments are becoming widely adopted. NiPPV comes in two forms, C-PAP and Bi-PAP, and has been shown to be a safe and effective prehospital treatment that greatly improves patient vital signs and comfort by emergency department arrival. In this lesson for CentreLearn and RapidCE.com users learn about relevant physiology, indications, contraindications, benefits, application steps, and adjunctive therapies.