eLearning: Providing Learner Feedback

Real life situations in elearning can make some of the best learning opportunities, but the impact of that learning lies in the feedback.

There is real value in investigating the idea I've noted above. When dealing with learners in a WBT, CBT and elearning forum, feedback in a self-paced course can make or break a learners on-the-job application of the content. I'm in the midst of a very intensive Customer Service training program. The goal is to provide new Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) with the skills they need to be able to function as a first line support system for customers. There are many different modules included in this learning, each touching on a different software application required in the day-to-day operations of the Service Department. As well, there are modules which contain content necessary to be an effective communicator, telephone answerer, anger diffuser, and over-all customer mind reader.

One of the areas I've been struggling with (aside from the sheer volume of content) is the opportunity to challenge the learner in knowledge check, scenario based learning, chapter quizzes, and final assessments and choose appropriate feedback based on the choices or answers provided.

The Goal – Natural Feedback

I've found what works best for this particular course, is to provide feedback to my learner which is NATURAL. For me, the term "natural feedback" means: any feedback which would be given to me on the job given that same situation. This is not your candy coated "Great Job! You chose the correct answer" or "I'm sorry, that is not correct". By natural feedback I mean that is sounds as if someone is speaking to me naturally and providing me the opportunity to truly learn from my mistake. What was the business or even personal implication of the choice I just made? Telling me I got it right doesn't help me reflect on WHY it was right and telling me to try again doesn't help me understand the effect of the choice I just made.

Tips to Providing Great Natural Feedback

Here are a few tips to help you provide feedback to your learners:

• Provide Effect of a decision or action (different than the outcome ) – The unhappy client tells 5 prospects about the service you just provided
• Demonstrate Reactions – expand on the client frowning – why are they frowning, what exactly did they object to and WHY to make this more personal
• Explain (or show) Physical/verbal and non-verbal responses – does the client's face go red? Does an employee overhearing the conversation cringe, does someone else point and laugh? These to the initial event can add depth and an air of reality to the situation
• Discuss Results – The 5 prospects refuse to do business with your company and don't hesitate to tell the sales professional you are the reason
• Define the Consequences – The Customer Service Department has to work harder to regain its reputation, the sales person loses the sale, the company loses the capital
• Identify the Impacts – You lose your job, the company loses business and could potentially go bankrupt
• Reflect on the outcomes or results of the choice – ask the tough questions for learners to self-evaluate: what would you have done better, what could you have done differently?

Feedback should not always be negative. Correct answers should recap the positive aspects of the answer and demonstrate why it was the best answer. Follow through with the positive impact of the correct choice for example, did you just get a bonus, a raise, or did you make it to the coveted corner office? These details add impact to the correct answer.

If you offer an answer that is "almost correct" or works but is not the "Best Answer", provide feedback on what worked and then what doesn't about the selected answer.

Feedback, when given, should provide valuable information to help the learner develop, but keep it real!

PowerPoint 2010: Empowering Rapid eLearning

I've been an avid PowerPoint user, enthusiast, trainer and "evangelist" for many years.

I remember when I discovered the power of manipulating the clip art gallery and still feel the awe I felt when I discovered how to ungroup those clip objects so that I could manipulate the colours and even change the shapes slightly. That was PowerPoint 97 – and I immediately fell in love with the great things PowerPoint had to offer.

As I developed my skills, I shared my enthusiasm with countless students both on the corporate training front and at the post secondary level when I taught at Conestoga College. While the majority of those I taught were there to learn how to create presentations for sales, I always found a way to share how wonderful PowerPoint was as a tool for educating. (After all isn't a sales presentation a way to educate potential buyers?)

Now is no different. Now I have some really wonderful tools to share with you, when you create your next educational PowerPoint!

Screen Shot Tool/Photo Album

From the insert menu there are a few tools which have definitely made me a happy PowerPoint camper! If I had to create rapid eLearning with a budget, these tools would be top of my list. The Screenshot tool, when used in conjunction with other open applications, minimizes the PowerPoint window, places a semi-transparent screen over the desktop window so that you can click and drag to create a screen clip the size and shape you want – and it uses the windows clipboard to immediately copy and paste the screenshot into the open PowerPoint presentation.

I have found this to be very helpful when creating software training and simulations. And it's a much more thrifty use of investment dollars over spending money on screen clipping software. It's also a lot faster and easier than using the old "print screen" button and then cropping the image to suit.

The Photo Album is also very helpful for eLearning. The original purpose of the Photo Album tool is to create a presentation from the images. I use this tool to organize my images and insert them into my elearning. Having my images in one place makes it faster to put my learning together making it truly "rapid".

New Picture Tools


For people like me, these new picture tools are amazing, and quick! No longer do we need to use a third-party imaging program such as Adobe's Photoshop to edit images. Now we can use the new tools to remove background from images (helpful if you only want one part of an image, a person rather than the whole image). The Corrections tool lets you sharpen of soften an image and make image corrections. The Color tool provides an opportunity to quickly re-colour a selected image, and adding artistic effects is just plain FUN!

Here is an image in its original state and then using the "Light Screen" effect. Cool right? And it took three clicks.

1. Select the image
2. Select Artistic Effects
3. Select the effect you want.

There are loads of other great features of PowerPoint 2010 and I'm sure I will find a way to discuss them all, but for now, I'm going to continue to play with these features to help me quickly create elearning courses and add interest to my course images!

Translation Blues

It's complicated enough having to design, develop and implement e-learning solutions but when your company requires that all documentation and training be translated into the "other" official language your job just got a lot more challenging.

My workplace uses Lectora to create our e-learning SCORM packages that integrate with our LMS. Now, I'm not a programmer, I am an instructional designer, which makes me very aware that there is likely a technically more savvy way of doing this – but I don't yet know what it is.

I worked with an E-Learning course vendor over the last 9 months and they were able to use some type of scripting to extract the text from a module, the problem however is that they wanted the translators to use WORDPAD (not Word, or WordPerfect, or OpenOffice) because any "real" word processor would cause formatting issues and cause their developers more man hours-so for the inconvenience we did as they asked, but I have paid the price with one translator who will now no longer work with us because the project was, in their words "HELL".

My big problem was that with the exception of some Office 2007 Word SmartArt that I used, I created everything in Lectora. All the text is in Lectora text box objects. If you are not familiar with Lectora, think of creating a PowerPoint presentation. You may use text box objects and graphics and layer them to create the look you want. Each box is an independent object and each box would need to be translated and then put back where it belongs.

When you create text in Lectora, there is not an easy way to export that text or, for that matter, to IMPORT the translated text into the correct location.

For those of you that know me, you know I like to cheat when it comes to working with computer applications. I'm always looking for shortcuts and I've had to do a fair amount of tweaking to my process, so here is what currently works for me.

1. Create all content in Lectora the way that it needs to be and have it all set up appropriately
   
2. Use two monitors: have word on one monitor and Lectora open on the other
   
3. In Word, use Heading Level 1 to type the first Lectora Page name (or page number)
   
4. For that page, copy and paste the text from Lectora to Word – do not copy the objects, just the text
   
5. If there are other items that need to be translated such as the SmartArt graphics, I leave those in the document (or copy from my initial word document where I created them)
   
6. Save the file and send for translation asking the translator to only translate text that is not assigned Heading Level 1
   
7. When I receive the translation, the Word document headings make it easy to see what pages the content to be replaced goes on to (I also use the Heading Level 1 style to add notes to other things such as objects, or placement that I don't need the translator to work on)
   
8. Always have someone check out the translation before publishing the course
   

I'm sure this process will continue to evolve for me as I become more familiar with Lectora, or develop programming skills, or find another E-learning tool to assist me, but for now, I'm happy and my translators are as well! If you have some tips on helping to make translation processes successful or streamlined, please leave us a comment and let us know your tips!

Procrastination: Synonymous with Summer?

If you are like me, some or all of the following conditions may be true at this very moment:

1. You are very busy getting courses ready for a demanding audience
   
2. You look outside every 20 minutes and long to be out of doors
   
3. Your list of things to do grows, while you list of accomplishments does not
   
4. You close your eyes and relax by remembering the wonderful weekend you had at the cottage, camping, gardening etc.(and open them 20 minutes later with slobber on your chin and eye sleeps left over from your trance)
   
5. You open your email to send important messages to your boss, but when you see the sun outside your cubicle you decide to email your friend for lunch instead
   
6. You have the best intentions of getting everything done, but you don't have enough hours to do them
   
7. Your desk is a disaster area waiting for the next big storm to clean it up…could be October before that happens
   
8. You walk to the mail room to drop off packages and check your inbox and on the way you stop at reception to stare at the visitors, you hit the lunch room to fill up your coffee/tea/water (again), and since you don't want to be rude, you say hello to everyone you pass along the way and get details on everyone else's holidays
   
9. You keep putting off until tomorrow what you didn't have time for today – and that list grows and grows AND GROWS
   
10. Fire – did someone say Fire – you deal with constant interruptions, misplaced priorities and something I like to call the Summer Sizzle
    

So let's start with the fun stuff: Summer Sizzle. Yes, the Summer Sizzle is what occurs when other people want to look as though they have accomplished all their goals while on the golf course. They dish their work to everyone else and turn up the heat until you produce the results they should have worked hard for while you your buns sizzle trying to keep everyone and their brother happy (often this means you are also trying to keep your job).

Even with events like the Summer Sizzle, I can't help but feel that I just can't say no to those people holding me over the fire. My desire to make others happy often gets in the way of my common sense.

I have found that these things generally happen only over the summer. I want to do ALL kinds of work, get loads accomplished. I don't feel depressed because the sun is shining and it's hotter than a sauna in here, the air is on the fritz again and I'll be right back because I have to find a fan to help move the air around.

Yup – it's summer and who wants to be in the office working away on eLearning projects, planning, having meetings, doing design work? Not me, I want to be outside, in the sun (or rain as it happens to be today). I want to be walking down the street, playing with my dog, enjoying a BBQ, and reading a trashy romance. I want to be anywhere but where I am right now. It's sure hard to beat the "I'm in the office all summer" summertime blues.

To lift the spirits, and because I truly like to share, I'm going to share a couple of things that help me deal with the procrastination associated with working during the summer.

• Create a to do list that encourages items to be completed
  
  • I work with the hardest item and make time commitments – I will work for 20 minutes on this item before I go for coffee
    
  • I don't list too many things…if I listed everything I had to do, well that's just too much. I try to keep my list to 8 – 10 items I can accomplish in the day
    
  • At the end of the day/week/month celebrate your successes and accomplishments
    
• Be accountable to someone besides yourself
  
  • When I have to let someone know how I spent my day, even if it is just a friend, it makes me realize that I can't daydream the hours away
    
• Bring your lunch to work and walk around the block, trail, down the road so that you can enjoy the weather, get some fresh air, and soak up that vitamin D
  
• Ensure you take your breaks – but not too many
  
  • I find when I don't take my breaks away from my desk, I don't feel as relaxed as I could/should
    
  • I also find if I don't take my breaks, I want to get up and wander around the office looking for an escape
    
• Don't work evenings or weekends unless it is part of your schedule or work agreement
  
  • If I take work home with me *few exceptions occur where I have to work in the evenings or weekends* I get the time back by leaving early on a Friday afternoon. I have to enjoy my time away from the office and feel like I not only accomplish my work tasks but my personal goals as well.
    

So – I hope your summer isn't filled with the kind of procrastination and longing that occupies my every waking, sun-filled second. Get out there – enjoy the summer, but make sure you earned it!

As The Saying Goes

Is it really true, that old adage: "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach"?

Deep in thought this morning at my desk I was reevaluating my current work/life balance and wondering if, in fact this was true.

As an instructor, I cared very much that the content provided to my students was meaningful, timely and valuable. I tried to relate it with the real world and give as much opportunity for group discussion as could be allotted to our tight course timeline.

I facilitated many successful sales, telesales and customer relationship management courses over my many years of instructing. I read many books, listened to audio tapes and knew what to do in any given situation.

What I couldn't do was put everything I knew, had learned and successfully instructed, into practice. I was not a very good sales person, but I knew what made a good salesperson great and could share that information with others.

Many of the individuals in my training sessions have had very successful careers in sales and I've had many of them remain in contact with me. I received an email not long ago from someone in one of those sessions thanking me for the time I took to share my knowledge, my pain, my ideas, feedback and wisdom and for being frank when I told her at the end of the three days that she really wasn't cut out for sales and strongly suggested she think about other career opportunities. She (like me) knew what had to be done but just couldn't do it…so guess what?

She is now teaching sales management for a large multinational – taking many of the same approaches I did with her and mentoring new sales professionals in her company.

We talked for an hour about how we could take all those great exercises we did in class and translate them to an E-Learning environment, and it's got me thinking about it more and more…

Maybe, just maybe, that saying really is true. I can't so I'll help someone else do.

New E-Learning Network

For those that know me well, you know I have a passion for community, sharing, education and people!

I am pleased to let you know that I've been working very hard to bring all those things together via a FREE community for e-learning professionals from ALL areas of e-learning and instructional design including, content generation, testing, storyboards, graphics, animations, programs used, databases, and will bring you, my fellow e-learning pros, a new blog complete with some of my best friends in the e-learning spere, best practices, cheap solutions (I'm all about the pocketbook fitness challenge) and some networking and free online presentations and support from some of the biggest names out there – like Microsoft, Articulate (thanks Tom!!!) Trivantis, just to name a few. And to the ITPRO community of Greater Toronto – thank you for letting us piggy-back as a Special Interest Group!

My goal for this community is to create a place where e-learning pros can meet and greet, learn new skills, network and find people with expertise that perhaps you don't possess but need for a project, a place for free learning and sharing of ideas, best practices, and solutions as well as a place to engage yourself and your peers in a little friendly competition from time to time.

I invite you to visit the blog and if you are interested in posting an article please let me know – my contact info is in the May post…The online community will go live before the end of June (I hope) www.etrainnetwork.com – currently there is a placeholder there until my good friend Dominic at Rebel Networks gets me up and running. (thanks Dom for supporting the e-learning community). We already have our first item up on the blog-poll – asking about your dedication to Mobile Learning…so get heard and put your vote in.

It is also important for you to understand that while I had the idea for this community I couldn't do it without the great support of Microsoft Canada, Shannon, Jenn, Sheri and Ian, who being in Scotland truly makes this a GLOBAL community for e-learning professionals.

Thank you and I hope you find it as fun and enjoyable to participate as I have had putting it all together.

Discovering Camtasia Studio’s SmartFocus

It's been a number of years since I used Camtasia Studio 3 to create a cool recording of a virtual classroom learning session.

I was concerned that perhaps I had forgotten how to use it or maybe there were so many features they added since 2001 that maybe, just maybe I'd not be able to use it and I'd look a fool for having said, "ooooh – Camtasia Studio ROCKS".

The reality is, it does still rock, only this time, it rocks WAY MORE!

The one cool feature I found that I just love, especially since one of the projects I'm working on is a project to demo a new area of a company "portal", I needed to find a way to zoom in to areas on the screen capture so that I could show a close-up of the screen options.

SmartFocus is a new tool in Camtasia Studio that does just that. While you mouse is resting in an area on the screen, SmartFocus adds code to the record to zoom in to an area, then when the mouse is moved, it zooms back out. The cool thing is that you can edit the SmartFocus points if you want some but not all of the preselected, Camtasia assigned focus points. Unfortunately I was not able to attain permission from my company to use the item I created for this session, but maybe if I can find some time in my busy schedule I'll post the example.

I highly recommend that you try it! You get a 30 day trial – no restrictions on use like some programs. (My new big beef these days are those companies that let you try their stuff but you can't save what you spent hours working on!!!! It makes me not want to purchase their products for the frustration. But I do understand it is a business preservation act so … enough said! J)

Lectora Vegas Conference – April 30 – May 1

I was lucky enough to be given permission to attend the Lectora Conference held in Las Vegas April 30 and May 1, 2008.

For those that do not know, Lectora is a leading software application used to develop e-learning modules and works with almost any LMS or direct to web publishing. Lectora is a product of Trivantis and I have to give huge Kudos to Traci Connor who was a major reason this conference was, in my opinion, a huge success!

The two conference days were jam packed with educational seminars and break-out sessions designed to provide all levels of e-learning professionals, from newbie to the most savvy of designers, with something valuable to take home.

While many of the sessions were really good, there are two that stand out for me and left me with that "wow" feeling I was looking for.

Presentation 1

Title: Turning Heads Not Pages
Presented
by: Brian Doegen and Gareth Harris
Company: PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Why did I like this presentation?

Sorry guys – I didn't like the presentation based on the presentation skills however Brian, if you read this – you are the funniest thing when you roll your eyes! What I really liked about this was that the guys talked with the audience (not to us) and the information was really grounded. The major point of the presentation was that e-learning needs to grab the attention of the learner, and not just be like a book you read on the screen. The major required element for the training Brian and Gareth offer for PriceWaterhouseCoopers is in telling a story to engage the learner and keep them "inside" the training.

The examples shown of some of the low, medium and high tech (and high budget) modules included a fantastic "choose your own adventure" theme which allowed you, the learner, to step into what it would be like to be a mobile professional, with interactive audio, hot-spot elements to assist you in understanding tools you would use in your day to day life, and the ability to make choices and experience the repercussions without suffering the scars associated with on the job failures. It's all part of the real learning process and provides real world experience without the negativity.

Presentation 2

Title: Graphic Design for eLearning
Presented by: Diane Elkins
Company: Elkins, Alcorn, Ward & Partners

Shannon, another conference participant and I had serious reservations at the beginning of the presentation. For those that have been using PowerPoint and WordArt since way back in the day – oh say 1995 – then you will understand when I say that the screen she first showed looked like it was created by someone who had just learned the background colour formatting tools and the WordArt tools. As instructors, Shannon and I both recognized the childish and unprofessional message this title slide showed, but of course we were set at ease right away when Diane vocalized exactly what we were both thinking! ICK!

I will try to recreate a similar screen to what Diane used as the opener!

The take-away from this session was an excellent little tip sheet on thinking about the visual appeal and to minimize the clutter. Yes, I am paraphrasing, but I truly believe that when you use a couple of the recommended tips, like her first, and I do believe the most powerful tip:
"Just because you can't, doesn't mean you should."

That just screams don't clutter the page, keep is simple, sweetie! Just because you know how to use WordArt doesn't mean you should really use it. After instructing PowerPoint and Word for as many years as I have, one of the fun things we learn is how to use the tool – then I burst the bubble of fun and always tell the class that WordArt has special applications…and nothing is special enough to warrant using it! (of course I do still have some fun with text once in a while, but I tend to keep that simple too.

Diane was an excellent speaker, and her tips on creating top notch visually pleasing courseware were excellent – she showed everything from using the new PowerPoint 2007 SmartArt (which I love) to working with graphics in Photoshop! It was an amazing and very informative session.

The next Lectora User Conference is next year in San Diego – I plan to be there…not just for what you learn in the sessions, but also for the valuable networking opportunities, ideas generated and relationships formed.