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Many of the blog’s readers are forced to work with limited resources especially when it comes to building the assets for their elearning courses. As many of you have discovered, when working with limited resources we have to MacGyver much of our production. In a recent post on how to create templates for online training, I used the image below. While the image is simple, it is a combination of three graphics ...
Okay, if an elearning template’s going to rock your world you need to get out of your cubicle and go take a walk outside. Enjoy the life around you. Then come back and finish reading this blog post. I’ll be waiting. Ready? Now that things are in perspective let’s drop the hyperbole and look at what it takes to build the world’s best elearning template. Create a Starter Template Earlier we looked at how to create an ...
At a recent workshop I was showing someone how I make some of the graphics I use for the blog. As I was showing her an idea, she said that while she already knew the basic steps what she really found valuable was watching me do it and then explain why I did what I did. I think she’s right. It is helpful to not only know how to do something, but to ...
I get lots of questions about improving skills and becoming better at elearning. Usually people ask about good school programs and book recommendations. Going to school is an option and it may be a good one. However, it’s not always the best option if you really want to learn to build better courses. We debated whether or not you need an instructional design degree to be successful in elearning. Be sure to read through ...
Templates are great because they provide some structure to the design of your online training. But many times templates become so rigid that instead of helping the training design, they inhibit it. In today’s post we’ll look at ways to build an elearning template that will guide the course design, but leave enough flexibility to create a course that best meets your needs. How are Books and E-Learning Courses Similar? Go ...
Not all elearning courses are created equal. Some seek to share information and build awareness while others may focus on action or changing behaviors. When building elearning courses, I usually separate them into two buckets: information or performance. The objective of an information-based course is performance support and not performance activity. Think of it more like multimedia text book. It doesn’t teach and assess performance. Instead it provides the context and awareness of important information. It supports performance ...
Building an effective online training program requires packaging the right content with the right type of learning experience. However that often doesn’t happen because it’s easier to pull a lot of information together, create some slides, and then publish a course. To top it off, many of these types of online courses are merely repacked content that already exists on the organization’s network. So instead of building a real learning experience, we’re just repurposing existing content. ...
Here’s a common scenario. Someone emails and asks about an elearning tutorial I have on the blog. It’s not always easy to find the specific tutorial buried in a given post. In fact, there are many times I either forgot that I had created that tutorial or I can’t recall where it’s at either. I know. It’s part of getting older. Today I am going to fix that. I have listed every blog post that has a ...
At a recent elearning conference I ran into my mentor and elearning thought leader, Dr. Werner Oppelbaumer. He was showing off examples of elearning courses and offering tips on visual design for elearning. While he was swamped as usual, I was able to steal a few minutes of his time and talk about his latest Werner Labs project and asked if he had any tips to share for the blog readers. ...
There are tons of free textures and background images online. Some good and some not so good. It can be a bit overwhelming looking for textures so I went through some of the free textures and included the ones I think work well for elearning courses. To save you some time, I looked around and only added textures that are free to use for commercial projects. Of course, it is a good habit to give props to ...
As a matter of habit I review design sites looking for inspiration and ideas that I can practice and incorporate into my elearning designs. Often I won’t even use the design ideas for real work, but I still like to practice building them. This practice lets me develop better designs skills and helps me become more efficient using my elearning tools as I develop more production tips and procedures. In fact, over the years that’s how I ...
In my elearning workshops we discuss the parts of elearning courses that are common to most courses. One of the goals is to get participants to think through the common parts of a course and then determine how much of that can be prebuilt to save time. For example, most likely the course will have welcome and exit screens. They may not look the same for each course, but odds are that both ...
The Rapid E-Learning Blog shares practical tips and tricks to help you become a rapid elearning pro.
It is hosted by Tom Kuhlmann who has over 15 years of hands-on experience in the training industry and currently runs the community at Articulate.
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