Monday, September 20, 2010

The Right Stuff: Jane on Objectives

I’m on a bit of a Jane Bozarth kick of late.  Really.  Just scroll down a bit in my blog and you’ll see it’s true.

So no surprise when I was doing some reading tonight on developing learning objectives that I stumbled on more Jane wisdom:

“So: Before developing the instruction don’t just write objectives. Write the right objectives. What is this person really supposed to do back on the job? What does “understand” mean, and what evidence will show you that understanding has occurred? Devotees of Bloom’s taxonomy will argue that learner performance like “listing” and “describing” can constitute what he called ”enabling” objectives. That may valid, but they should not be the only objectives: Employees are rarely asked to “list” or “describe” anything, so it’s critical to move on to behaviors closer to desired performance, not just knowledge. And: Enabling objectives are easy to write, and to develop bullet points for, and to develop training around, and to write a quiz to assess. If you feel the training really must address these, fine, but be sure to push past them on to things that more closely resemble real performance.”

-- Jane Bozarth

Read Jane’s full article here:  http://bozarthzone.blogspot.com/2010/08/whats-your-objective.html

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Power to the SMEs! – a Presentation the BBP Way

Today I presented a webinar through MyKineo:  Power to the SMEs!  Empowering subject matter experts to help create better eLearning.

It’s an interesting topic and one I’d like to dive into more with all of you…but what I really wanted to share was my presentation creation process!BBP

I’ve been reading Cliff Atkinson’s Beyond Bullet Points. Well, I started it but then didn’t get beyond the first few chapters – realized I really needed a project to try it out with as most of the book is the how-to-do-it part.  

I pulled my project together yesterday in about four hours – included hammering out content, figuring out the BBP storyboard template, grabbing graphics, and learning how to use PPT beyond the basics that I know.  I’m proud to say I mastered Slide Masters last night!

Here are some initial thoughts on the process and the outcome.

The BBP storyboard template

The storyboard template – really an outline tool – helped me sketch out the overall presentation first and organize my thoughts. 

Unlike my usual presentation creation style – I actually thought about it first and mapped out my ideas before vomiting them all over PPT! (True confessions of an ID turned presenter…)

BBP_storyboardThe template is a formatted Word document – if you buy the book you get it on the companion CD.  Once you complete the outline, you publish your “headlines” to PPT.

The structure

You start with an overall introduction – five slides that set the scene, identify the audience, introduce the challenge, present the hoped for outcome, and state the call to action (if you look at my deck, the call to action is “Help the SMEs see the forest and the trees with three key strategies”.

Next you create three key points to support the call to action.  Each key point gets three explanation slides.  An explanation slide then gets three detail slides which get into the nitty gritty details. 

Each slide gets a unique headline.  Gone are the bullet points.  And because you’re writing these at the outline stage – before you even get to your PPT, you can quickly see the structure and see where the gaps are.

Adding a visual theme

On my slide deck, I used slide masters to apply a distinct visual style to each of these three layers – the detail slides have a leaf in the corner, the explanation slides have a light shade of green, the key point slides are dark green with an image of a tree. 

The idea of this layer of visual design keeps the audience in tune with where you are, driving home that organizing vision.  And as a speaker I found it really helped me know where I was in the presentation.

Here’s a snapshot of part of the deck in slide sorter view – you can quickly see the structure

image

It’s a start…

OK, it’s not perfect.  I pulled this together in about four hours – but nothing like figuring it out as you go along.

I did NOT sketch out the slides in advance when it came to adding visuals, although this is a key part of Atkinson’s process.  It was getting late and I needed to get it done. 

I also did a half-ass job writing out the detailed content – my “transcript” so to speak.  Ideally, you write your script out so it’s all in the PPT Notes field.  If you’re look at my deck, you’ll miss all of the stuff I said, but perhaps you’ll get the idea.

In a few sections, I added more detail slides, blowing the whole holy trinity thing out of the water.  But it needed to be done…

Because it was an online webinar, I added a few questions here and there to increase audience participation.  That’s not part of Atkinson’s model.

I added some initial slides and some slides at the end to provide a final recap and some additional resources.  Not sure if that’s allowed in this system!

Check it out  and then share your feedback!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Social Media for Trainers: Blog Book Tour Stop #5

The Social Media train in on the move – and here we are at stop #5 of the Social Media for Trainers: Techniques for Enhancing and Extending Learning, (2010), Pfeiffer blog book tour. ®H

What is Social Media for Trainers? 

Why it’s Jane Bozarth’s latest offering to the corporate training community – a short, sharp look at using social media tools to enhance the instructor led classroom.

The book is full of hand-on practical advice – and overview of some of the key tools – and lots and lots of examples.

But don’t listen to my word on it.  Hear it yourself from the author, with whom I chatted – not once, but twice! – on the subject of said book.

Check out both of my auditory offerings:

Getting Social with Jane Bozarth – an audio interview broken down into eight short ‘chapters.’

Jane’s guest spot on the Instructional Design Live show on EdTechTalk.  (link lets you download a recording of our Elluminate session).

Get yourself a copy!

Once you’ve finished listening, go buy the book!

Check out Sasha’s e-learning blog

sashasscreenA new blog to add to your feed reader, chock full of instructional design tips as well as hands-on practical info and templates for you Articulate users. 

Here’s a really slick PPT template Sasha has created (and he’s even giving it away – what a guy!)

Check out Sasha’s e-learning blog!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Kineo Top Tip: Bring the learner into the design

Check out my latest eLearning top tip offering on our site:

Tip 42: Bring the learner into the design

Who’s at the heart of the eLearning design process?  Why the learner, of course!  And yet, the dear learner so often lies lonely and forlorn amidst the piles of binders, the loads of text bullets and the pages and pages of content.  So how can you bring them front and center?  Why, bring them into the design process! 

Read more…

Be good to get your thoughts.  What are ways you keep the focus on the learner during your design process, especially on rapid projects with tight, tight turnaround times?

ID Live Recorded Session with Jane Bozarth

some4trainers Here’s the recording for this week’s ID Live Show with very special guest, Jane Bozarth author of the newly released Social Media for Trainers: Techniques for Enhancing and Extending Learning.

You can access the recorded session here.

Thursday, September 09, 2010

ID Live: This Week with Jane Bozarth

It’s another round of some4trainersthe ID Live Show on EdTechTalk!

Join us this week on Friday, September 10 at 12:00 pm eastern for a chat with Jane Bozarth, author of the newly released Social Media for Trainers: Techniques for Enhancing and Extending Learning.

Put it on your calendars and join us at this link: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008093&password=M.38BC2EDAB739D8E635ACBE1D093746

About Instructional Design Live:

A weekly online talk show, Instructional Design Live is based around Instructional Design related topics and is an opportunity for Instructional Designers and professionals engaged in similar work to discuss effective online teaching and learning practices.

Friday, September 03, 2010

ID Live: What’s Fun Got to Do With It?

Is fun a waste of time in online learning?

ID Live this week with co-hosts: Joni Dunlap (University of Colorado, Denver); Robert Squires (University of Montana); Mary Engstrom (University of Montana); Cammy Bean (Kineo)

The use of the word fun is dangerous in education – people perceive it’s about entertainment and not learning.

We can replace fun with compelling, engaging, sticky.  Stories and emotional connection, the unexpected – fun is one way of getting at those things.

Especially on the corporate front – fun seen as a waste. 

But fun with intent and purpose to help achieve learning objectives!

“People don’t pay attention to boring things.”  (Medina (2008), Brain Rules)

Strategies for integrating relevant fun…

Joni describes some activities in her online higher ed programs:

At course intro (this is for a higher-ed online program) – need to do a bio – which is important to creating community – instead of “tell me who you are” to “What are your superhero powers.  Include an explanation of how your powers are useful to you personally and/or professionally.”

These activities need to happen throughout the course – have ongoig bio activities (in a f2f classroom you get to connect in class) – Joni introduces an orienting activity every 3 weeks or so.  Virtual Paper bag  -- 5 images that represent that important areas of your life – share via Flickr.   Let’s you see what each other is all about…

As a follow up exercise, add a soundtrack (a playlist) for each of the images…what’s the slogan – ways to extend the exercise without starting from scratch every time.

Joni doesn’t call these fun…but they’re learning to use the tools, expressing themselves.

These activities are worth points towards the overall grade – if they matter. 

Twitter – a great way to stay connected

Caption this photo – get a photo and create a caption to it that is in the context of that week’s reading assignment as a way to represent understanding in a playful way.

Soundtracks – make up new lyrics to a song in a way that reflects understanding of the week’s contents..

Cloudbusting – create a word cloud of 20 words that represent who you are.  Or on a particular concept – to demonstrate your understanding of a particular concept.

Story galleries  -- give students a set of photos and have them tell the story based on the readings for the week that these 3 photos represent.

Fun strategies in assessment – look for alternative ways to represent what you know for assessment purposes. 

Roleplayingwww.xtranormal.com – create a scenario with two characters with opposing views on a topic.  Takes a lot of understanding to write a script for both sides of the topic!

Create a sense of anticipation – the unexpected is a powerful way to make it memorable.  (This is important to both students and faculty who have to keep teaching the same content over and over – the fun activities keep the teacher energized!)

______________________

About Instructional Design Live:

A weekly online talk show, Instructional Design Live is based around Instructional Design related topics and is opportunity for Instructional Designers and professionals engaged in similar work to discuss effective online teaching and learning practices.

Thursday, September 02, 2010

My brain, my devices, my addictions!

As I reach for my iPhone first thing in the morning to check my email, or see what’s happening on Twitter while I’m pushing a kid on the swing I’ve also been thinking about the rush of dopamine we must all get when we get a new email, twitter @ reply, blog comment, etc. 

Oh the thrill! Oh the excitement!  Oh the addiction!

How do you cope?  How do you manage to disconnect and maintain a semblance of balance? 

Some food for thought from the web of late:

From Lifehacker: 

Why Technology Is So Addictive, and How You Can Avoid Tech Burnout

From the New York Times: 

Digital Devices Deprive Brain of Needed Downtime

Outdoors and Out of Reach, Studying the Brain

(and then leave me a comment to give me my dopamine fix, please!  I need it .. I need it…)