The Rapid Elearning Blog

2008rat

2007 has been a wild ride.  Five minutes after launching this blog, our servers crashed.  And then five minutes after that I got a few hundred emails telling me that the servers crashed. 

After a few hectic minutes, we got the servers back online.  I answered all of those emails (with the help of a Starbucks Venti Americano).  And, it’s been smooth sailing ever since.

Highlights for 2007

  • You are 14,000 strong.  In less than five months, over 14,000 of you have subscribed to this blog.  Thank you to all who subscribe and participate in the blog.  I appreciate the emails I get and all of the kind comments.  I even appreciate the critics…most of the time. 🙂
  • You have written close to 800 comments.  I enjoy the comments and the many great ideas and links that come from you.  In addition to the comments, each Tuesday after the post goes live, I get a few hundred emails.  This makes for an exciting and busy day, as I try to respond to all of the emails I get.
  • You are global.  My favorite part of the blog is communicating with people from all over the world.  I’ve connected with people from all of the continents, except Antarctica (they’re too cold to build elearning courses).  I’ve even gotten emails from countries that I didn’t know were countries.  Shhh!  Don’t tell my kids.  They still think I’m smart.

And Now for the Top 10…Drum Roll, Please

I assembled my crack team of blog researchers and analysts and we were able to pull together the top ten most popular blog posts of the year.

  1. What Steve Jobs Can Teach You About Designing E-Learning
  2. Warning: Using the Wrong Images Can Confuse Your Learners
  3. 5 Ways Web 2.0 Can Make You a Better E-Learning Designer
  4. What Everybody Ought to Know About Using PowerPoint for E-Learning 
  5. Little Known Ways to Create Your Own Graphics Using PowerPoint
  6. Go Beyond Information Sharing – 5 Ways Your E-Learning Courses Can Create Understanding
  7. Why Course Navigation is Less Important Than You Might Think
  8. Create Engaging E-Learning Courses You Can Be Proud Of
  9. How to Get Your Learners to Remember More
  10. The Secret to Creating Your Own PowerPoint Templates for E-Learning

Tip:  A good way to quickly scan the blog post titles is to click on the archives link on the bottom.

Final Thoughts

It’s no surprise that three of the top ten posts reference PowerPoint.  While it’s fashionable to criticize PowerPoint, many in our industry still use it to build their elearning.  It’s a good tool and easy to use.  In fact, I think it’s still one of the best tools to build elearning, period. 

Speaking of PowerPoint, here’s a bonus template to bring in the new year.  The zip file includes the .pot, background images, and the color scheme for those who use Articulate Presenter.

The Rapid E-Learning Blog - demo elearning course

Click here to see the demo template.

Thank you for reading the blog posts, adding your comments, and sending emails.  I truly enjoy hearing from you. Keep the comments coming.  Also, if you have ideas for things you’d like to see me cover in the blog, send them my way.

2008 is going to be a great year! I look forward to what’s coming down the road.  Wait until you see the next generation elearning tools.  They’re pretty slick.

Have a great New Year!

Events

Free E-Learning Resources

Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.

Here’s a great job board for e-learning, instructional design, and training jobs

Participate in the weekly e-learning challenges to sharpen your skills

Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.

Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.

Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.



13 responses to “Your 10 Most Popular Posts of 2007”

The demo template is very good

Hi Tom,

Wish you a prosperous 2008. I look forward to reading your posts this year.

Cheers!!

Anitha

Happy New Year, Tom! I hope you have even more fun with your blog this year.

[…] Rapid eLearning Blog – “Your 10 Most Popular Posts of 2007” An excellent roundup of this blogs best posts – if you’re wanting to jump on the rapid […]

January 1st, 2008

“Wait until you see the next generation elearning tools. They’re pretty slick.”

Now Tom, you can’t just say that and walk away… do tell!

With such great content, no wonder your list grew by 14,000! Thanks again for being such an inspiration to us all.

Would love to know what you’ve done to grow the list so rapidly (over and above the great content!)

Thanks again,
May 2008 fill you with delight
Love n laughter
Shelley

January 1st, 2008

Hi Tom,

Happy Year 2008 and beyond. I am rather selfish in greeting you thus, as I and with many manay m… are the beneficiaries getting educated about e-learning through your Posts.

Thanks Tom. Please keep it up.

Diwakar B

Hi Tom,

Wish you a very Happy New Year. Hope you will continue this column for entire 2008 and beyond.

Cheers
Nilesh Joglekar

January 2nd, 2008

Hi Tom:

Thanks for the Template – looks great. My question is …is their a way to import the Articulate Colour Scheme file you included or must it be inputed manually?

Thnaks and best wishes for a great 2008.

Dennis Gray

Hi tom,
thanks for the template.It’s very interesting.respond my comments.thank you.

Great Work Tom. I really liked the free form approach to the Template Design AP (http://www.articulate.com/community/blogdemo/PPT_template/player.html). Cheers G

Dear Tom & everybody

Happy new year.

This is a nice blog……I love it.^_^

Cheers

Jack

I thought your post was very informative! Cant wait to read more!