I have the comment for this post.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Instructional Design Portfolio Resources
6 days ago
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Delilah Show
I am not loyal for a specific American radio show but this one. Every night, I always turn on the radio to listen to it and surf the Internet. Why do I like it a lot? Before playing the song, the host, Delilah, always reads a short letter sent by the audiences or got the live call from them. The touching part is that by means of Delilah's soft sound with a tone of sincerity, I am able to listen to many warm stories or memories shared by different people, including love, family, friendship or just wish for the public. Sometimes, the occurrence of those stories are just like miracle, because they happened beyond the expectation. I was especially touched by these encouraging ones. Recently, since the Christmas is coming, the host has been playing lots of Christmas songs. It is not a big deal, though. She also teaches the audience that we are supposed to cherish what we have owned and give the wish to everyone. This is a good timing to not only show our appreciation for our families or friends, but also to reflect on myself. In addition to those stories, in this show, the audience usually states his or her life problems to Delilah, and hope to get the suggestion from her. Although it is kind of religious program (sometimes they talk about God), Delilah gives us good lessons which are worthy of being considered deeply.
If you are interested in it, please tune in FM98.5. The audio is also available online during the showtime. http://www.delilah.com/affiliates/affiliates.html
If you are interested in it, please tune in FM98.5. The audio is also available online during the showtime. http://www.delilah.com/affiliates/affiliates.html
Sunday, December 7, 2008
My Reading 12/07/2008
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Online Training for Online Faculty
- rain faculty on the same platform their students will use.
- Provide multiple safety nets for faculty during and after their training
- collections of tip sheets and job aids
- Provide multiple ways of learning for multiple learning styles.
- have training modules produced as full text descriptions, narrated animations, step-by-step graphics, and quick checklists so that learners can use whichever one resonates with them.
- Stretch the faculty members' skills and challenge their preconceptions.
- Be a role model of desired teaching behaviors for online faculty
- Your organization skills will be tested as an online faculty trainer
- ole-modeling the self-discipline and time management abilities that you want new online faculty to have.
- Remain open to feedback from your faculty trainees
- Online instructor trainees must get practice with their writing skills. A great deal of communication in an online course happens via the written word (e-mail, discussion boards, chat, announcements, and online text readings). Be sure to include several small writing activities such as mandatory discussion or short reflective essays so your faculty trainees can keep their composition skills sharp.
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- Toondoo is one popular site which people use to create and publish comic strips.
- You can also use this site to create custom images for your storyboards and e-learning demos
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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Interactivity in eLearning and Creativity
Recently, I have been designing the instructional interactivity for the projects in my company. One is that I created mouse tutorial for those bus and rail operators. It is admitted that they lack knowledge of how to manipulate computers, which is also another big gap and difficulty in implementing Elearning in MARTA. I would like to talk about this in the following posts. Another one is that I need to create quiz and built-in interactivity during the lessons for AVL Radio project. Therefore, I came across different blogs and read the posts about the interactivity. I know that there is a bunch of academic research related to interactivity and games, and I also read several in my master studies. Instead of absorbing those profound information, I would like to keep it simple but feasible for my current situation.
I think that meaningful interactivity is closely associated with designers' creativity and brainstorming ability. By reviewing different examples, usually the one which impresses me features that I can solve the problem step by step, or have ability to manipulate environment, set the direction, and affect the outcome of the activity. After repetitive tryout, not only did I overcome the challenge, but also I gained what I need to learn. Moreover, the design style and interface of the interactivity also needs to be appealing and well-organized. If the information looks cluttered, I would give up trying. I got another conclusion: If the learners do not feel comfortable viewing or playing with this interactivity, then they don't want to waste time and energy on it. It is a good starting point for me as an instructional designer to think about good and meaningful interactivity.
Back to creativity, why is it essential? In terms of interactivity models, I would say that those interactivity logics across a variety of interaction are quite simple, but the point is that how do you innovate new ways to present the interactivity. It takes time to generate good invention, because it is all about ideas. I have to confess that my creativity is not plentiful enough, but I am really enthusiastic about designing learner-centered and dynamic interactivity for my learners. Without this, what is the value of Elearning? It is also my belief that the accumulation of experiences and stimulation can build creativity. Speaking of my technical skills to create interactivity, I usually use Captivate and Flash. Captivate is an easy tool, but it is limited. Flash can be very customized, and generates very delicate stuff, but it involves much with action script. This is something I feel quite struggled sometimes.
I am pleased that I gain some concrete ideas of how to create good interactivity, and I also recognize what parts I need to improve.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
健行之旅 Providence Canyon State Park, Georgia 11/22/2008
自從搬來亞特蘭大沒有多久，因為朋友的關係，認識了一些教會的朋友，偶而會參加他們的戶外登山活動。這一次，在Peter的帶領之下，我們決定挑戰Providence Canyon State Park，又俗稱Little Grand Canyon。這座州立公園位在喬治亞州的西方Lumpkin市，開車的路線是從亞特蘭大，經由I-85，接I-185往Columbus, 再接27號公路，總共開車兩個半小時。參與的朋友還包括Bron和Rony。到了那邊，我們遇到一個很好心的日本嚮導Susumu，因為他熟悉這個公園的登山路線，又有通行證，所以我們四個決定跟著他們的團體一起行動。
在描述這趟旅行之前，我想我必須先告訴大家，在美國的健行真的是讓人大開眼界，完全不同於我在台灣的經驗。如果只是單純走在乾爽的樹林小徑裡，那只是健行時會遇到的情況之一；但是，我之所以想和他們去健行正是因為不僅可以欣賞到大自然壯闊的景致，還可以挑戰崎嶇不同的地形。
這座公園峽谷地形的形成並非完全出於自然；早期的移民因為不當的耕植土地，導致土質鬆軟，再加上河水沖刷侵蝕，造成許多的壕溝以及不同顏色的土壤層。為了可以目睹不同峽谷的風貌，我們走在非常泥濘的河床(此路稱作White Blaze Canyon Trail)
，讓我印象深刻。我沒有穿適當的登山鞋，腳趾有點浸濕，鞋子更是髒的不用說，我心裡很後悔沒有聽Peter的話穿登山鞋，但是「既然之，則安之」，我小心翼翼地走，大家都已經走遠了。但是這一切都是值得的，因為當我聽到人群聲，抬頭一看，層層不同顏色的峽谷聳立在我眼前，有銅色、橘色、白色、紫色、粉紅色，大家對這樣景致嘖嘖稱奇，我摸摸峽谷的土質，很鬆軟，像是黏土，感覺一場大雨就可以改變這裏所有的一切景觀。由於雨水沖刷，形成的壕溝可長達一百五十英尺，我看到有人甚至試著匍匐或是側身進入壕溝，不禁使我也想嘗試看看。我緩緩地移動進入洞穴，抬頭一看，圓圓的洞口在我的頭頂正上方，雖然沒有特殊的景致，但是溫煦的陽光照進來，感覺非常溫暖，心裡也不禁有了小小的成就感。我們又繼續走在泥濘的河床上，當我們走到一片狹谷壁的旁邊時，Susumu建議可以爬上去，體
驗被狹谷環抱的感覺。我想，這是一個非常難得的機會，一定要嘗試看看，因此我也跟著大家爬上去。小小的坡壁非常陡峭，我利用「四肢」很狼狽的爬上去；當我站起來的一瞬間，重重疊疊、高高低低的峽谷就在我的四周，綿延好幾英里，像是美國大峽谷的縮小版，難怪這裡稱之為「Georgia's Little Grand Canyon」。拜訪了這一帶的峽谷地形之後，我們繞回主要的支線Canyon Loop Trail，又沿著崎嶇陡峭的山路往上爬。這裡就不再那麼泥濘了!因為是走在枯樹葉覆蓋的小徑裡，我走得比較舒坦；雖然樹木都光禿禿的，但也享受了冬景之趣，而冷冷的氣息
，讓我身心舒暢。回來的路上，我真是累翻了！可是我非常高興我參加了這次登山活動，並且帶著愉快的回憶和珍貴的相片回家。
Monday, November 24, 2008
My Reading 11/24/2008
“The Less You Share, the Less Power You Have”
Posted using ShareThis
I absolutely agree with this topic's point, so I would like to post it on my blog.
In this rapid-growing society with overwhelmingly large numbers of knowledge and information, people need to understand that sharing is very important. I would like say that "the more you share, the more you will get and the more people get help." Apparently, it is a benevolent cycle to keep human's society progressive. The way to share the information is from traditionally oral expression to modern new stuff, such as blogging, online photo album, wiki, podcasting and so on. This is one of the reasons that I would like to start my blog although I am not that experted in writing. As far as my recent experience is concerned, I have discovered that many good resources have been put online. Those famous instructional designers or relevant professionals are generous for sharing their knowledge. I acquire what I want and try to give them feedback and generate some outputs on my blog. This forms good interaction, and is also a new learning relationships.
Nowadays, many people advocate the concept of online learning community: a group of people have common interests; through social networking and computer-mediated communications, people are allowed to address the learning needs, share information, exchange ideas by the proactive partnership. Therefore, one of the most important features in the learning community lies on sharing; if people do not undersand sharing and keep the knowledge private and secret, they always just know what they have known.
Nowadays, many people advocate the concept of online learning community: a group of people have common interests; through social networking and computer-mediated communications, people are allowed to address the learning needs, share information, exchange ideas by the proactive partnership. Therefore, one of the most important features in the learning community lies on sharing; if people do not undersand sharing and keep the knowledge private and secret, they always just know what they have known.
In terms of education, in traditional classroom setting, the class is instructor-led and goal-oriented, and students just need to listen to the lecture. However, sharing, inquiring, and concerning are very important elements because they foster students' communications, collaboration, and mutual interaction. How do students get full development and have their potentials stimualted in the closed learning environment? This innovative concept reminds me something that when I studied in high school, since it was very competitive to pass the exams, classmates even did not share the in-class notes. Now it looks funny, because even if no one wants to share the notes with you, you still can get a bunch of information on Internet. This non-sharing culture has deeply rooted in Asian culture for a long time. It really reflects one thing: knowledge itself is not as important as before; the most valuable thing is how we explore, interpret and even take advantage of it. Without sharing and group power, how do you do it by yourself?
Posted using ShareThis
Friday, November 21, 2008
Real-Time Collaborative Editing : eLearning Technology
Real-Time Collaborative Editing : eLearning Technology
Dr. Tony Karrer is a powerful person in not only eLearning field but also corporate training. After reading his simple autobiography, I wonder to know how he succeeds in his career. Then, by chance, I came across a post posted in August 2006; the post is about "Managing RSS Feeds: eLearning Technology".Here is the link: http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2006/08/managing-your-rss-feeds.html
I was so amazed by the way he manages RSS feeds. It also proves one thing that he constantly enriches himself and find out the latest information. Maybe this is the answer to my question above. At this point, I can't help having another question: why are some people so sensative about the new information and trend? Because the work pushes them? Or because they are the authorities in a certain field to lead the people?
I read another post "Real-Time Collaborative Editing: eLearning Technology". At the end of article, he mentions, "It's exciting to see real-time collaboration (something I worked on 15 years ago while I was a Ph.D student) finally taking off in the real-world."Wow! How did he realize that one day, people will need to collect the notes with real-time collaborative editor while meeting?
Back to the topic, I think this kind of editing tool really enhances the interactivity among the people attending the meeting and also the efficiency of making an agreement, because by reading others' notes, it is easy to undersand each other. This tool can be best applied in the small group meeting, since in the document area, texts are color -coded by who are interested in it. If we get too many people, different colors may dazzle the people, right?
Compared to Google Docs, it seems that it is much better.
This post also reminds me of the bad experience working with my team members in Google Docs.
It drove me nuts!!
Google Docs can not update the information immediately; this latency made us so confused when editing the document.
Therefore, I think if this new tool "EtherPad" is so easy to use as Dr. Tony Karrer said, it should be popular for not only corporate meetings but also students' writing group paper.
Dr. Tony Karrer is a powerful person in not only eLearning field but also corporate training. After reading his simple autobiography, I wonder to know how he succeeds in his career. Then, by chance, I came across a post posted in August 2006; the post is about "Managing RSS Feeds: eLearning Technology".Here is the link: http://elearningtech.blogspot.com/2006/08/managing-your-rss-feeds.html
I was so amazed by the way he manages RSS feeds. It also proves one thing that he constantly enriches himself and find out the latest information. Maybe this is the answer to my question above. At this point, I can't help having another question: why are some people so sensative about the new information and trend? Because the work pushes them? Or because they are the authorities in a certain field to lead the people?
I read another post "Real-Time Collaborative Editing: eLearning Technology". At the end of article, he mentions, "It's exciting to see real-time collaboration (something I worked on 15 years ago while I was a Ph.D student) finally taking off in the real-world."Wow! How did he realize that one day, people will need to collect the notes with real-time collaborative editor while meeting?
Back to the topic, I think this kind of editing tool really enhances the interactivity among the people attending the meeting and also the efficiency of making an agreement, because by reading others' notes, it is easy to undersand each other. This tool can be best applied in the small group meeting, since in the document area, texts are color -coded by who are interested in it. If we get too many people, different colors may dazzle the people, right?
Compared to Google Docs, it seems that it is much better.
This post also reminds me of the bad experience working with my team members in Google Docs.
It drove me nuts!!
Google Docs can not update the information immediately; this latency made us so confused when editing the document.
Therefore, I think if this new tool "EtherPad" is so easy to use as Dr. Tony Karrer said, it should be popular for not only corporate meetings but also students' writing group paper.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Camatasia Studio 3 ShowMe Video
Because of my work, I searched for the information on Internet and found this good site.
- This tutorial teaches people how to perform the basic functionality in Camtasia.
- Applications: recording the presentation, narration, and editing videos.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Self-Learning Experiences
I am really glad to share my self-learning experiences with people. Perhaps many people have already been doing this for a long time, but I still would like to share the pleasure with others.
I have been working for four months since I was graduated. It is true that I , as an international student, get the job in the United States. However, I feel like that this job does not meet my expectation. I don't want to describe what's wrong with the company, because it is the company that I have been working. I still really appreciate that they gave me this work opportunity. The reason that I mentioned this is because the problem lies on the fact that I am not quite satisfied with my personal growth (or career development) in this company. I told one of my colleagues. Guess what? She sometimes has this kind of feeling; therefore, she recommended that I do some research on Internet or read articles related to the projects that we are working on, because it means that I am able to recognize the problems and try to find the solutions. I also described this situation to one of my friends, and I think she gave me very good suggestions. She told me that it is good timing to explore knowledge by myself. It sounds very difficult for me, because I did not explore or find out the knowledge on my own; I always have teachers give me something to learn. I still remember that when I had the class "Adult Learning and Instruction", the classmates were talking about self-exploring experiences. At that time, I did not understand the spirit of this learning method, so I seldom remember the theory. Now, I believe it is truly one of the features of adult learning. I am thinking it is the process that people not only find out useful information by themselves but also organize and map these pieces of information systematically and meaningfully.
Then, I start exploring knowledge. It might be very slow, but I believe it worths a lot. This is also why I created this blog to record something.
Although I was hired as an instructional designer, I still have a bunch of things to learn. I am too new in this field. I felt kind of sorry for my job title "instructional designer", because I indeed use the Internet every day and also use facebook, but I rarely make good use of Internet to enrich my knowledge, not to mention blogging, wiki or podcasting to exchange the ideas and connect with other people. However, it is a very important thing to spend time doing this kind of stuff. In the past, I had classmates and we learned together; nevertheless, since nowadays I feel a little bit isolated while learning, I am eager to know and see what other people are doing.
Fortunately, I found out Ms. Christy Tucker through coming across her blog "Experience E-Learning", I obtained much good information about instructional design and she also explains some myth and truth about instructional designer. I immediately contacted her by email. Because of her prompt response, I found people on the blogs are really nice and pleased to share the information. I also got several links so that I can meet "virtually" other IDs. I really appreciate for this experience. Although I was not able to absorb those information quickly, I think I got the access to ask for assistance or suggestions. This is my first personal big "discovery".
The second thing is that I found "Diigo", which is a website that offers the database for users to collect and categorize all of information online. Why is it good? Because if I find a good article as future resources, not only can I bookmark it, but also I can highlight the words in color. For the purpose of connecting other people, we have chances to know that who are also interested in this topic. In this way, we may have the interaction with them.
This is my first post. I hope that I can keep moving to develop my blog.
I have been working for four months since I was graduated. It is true that I , as an international student, get the job in the United States. However, I feel like that this job does not meet my expectation. I don't want to describe what's wrong with the company, because it is the company that I have been working. I still really appreciate that they gave me this work opportunity. The reason that I mentioned this is because the problem lies on the fact that I am not quite satisfied with my personal growth (or career development) in this company. I told one of my colleagues. Guess what? She sometimes has this kind of feeling; therefore, she recommended that I do some research on Internet or read articles related to the projects that we are working on, because it means that I am able to recognize the problems and try to find the solutions. I also described this situation to one of my friends, and I think she gave me very good suggestions. She told me that it is good timing to explore knowledge by myself. It sounds very difficult for me, because I did not explore or find out the knowledge on my own; I always have teachers give me something to learn. I still remember that when I had the class "Adult Learning and Instruction", the classmates were talking about self-exploring experiences. At that time, I did not understand the spirit of this learning method, so I seldom remember the theory. Now, I believe it is truly one of the features of adult learning. I am thinking it is the process that people not only find out useful information by themselves but also organize and map these pieces of information systematically and meaningfully.
Then, I start exploring knowledge. It might be very slow, but I believe it worths a lot. This is also why I created this blog to record something.
Although I was hired as an instructional designer, I still have a bunch of things to learn. I am too new in this field. I felt kind of sorry for my job title "instructional designer", because I indeed use the Internet every day and also use facebook, but I rarely make good use of Internet to enrich my knowledge, not to mention blogging, wiki or podcasting to exchange the ideas and connect with other people. However, it is a very important thing to spend time doing this kind of stuff. In the past, I had classmates and we learned together; nevertheless, since nowadays I feel a little bit isolated while learning, I am eager to know and see what other people are doing.
Fortunately, I found out Ms. Christy Tucker through coming across her blog "Experience E-Learning", I obtained much good information about instructional design and she also explains some myth and truth about instructional designer. I immediately contacted her by email. Because of her prompt response, I found people on the blogs are really nice and pleased to share the information. I also got several links so that I can meet "virtually" other IDs. I really appreciate for this experience. Although I was not able to absorb those information quickly, I think I got the access to ask for assistance or suggestions. This is my first personal big "discovery".
The second thing is that I found "Diigo", which is a website that offers the database for users to collect and categorize all of information online. Why is it good? Because if I find a good article as future resources, not only can I bookmark it, but also I can highlight the words in color. For the purpose of connecting other people, we have chances to know that who are also interested in this topic. In this way, we may have the interaction with them.
This is my first post. I hope that I can keep moving to develop my blog.
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