Sunday, May 9, 2010
The importance of clean and Elegant Web Design
When designing my online portfolio, I became acutely aware of the importance of clean, and elegant web design. Thanks to sticking with mostly standards based web design, using CSS, my web page displays elegantly not just on laptops with 14 inch monitors, but also on the difficult to design for Safari Mobile Web browser. This means my site looks the same on an iphone/ipod touch, as it does in an Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox web browser. All of the items do not work, particularly the flash based movies, but that's OK. So long as the site structure itself works, a potential employer can access my resume, and get a general idea of what I am capable of doing, that is good enough for me. I can truly see the elegance and beauty of complying to standards, be they web based standards, such as CSS, Instructional Design Standards such as ADDIE, or Distance Learning Standards such as Quality Matters. The standards are there to ensure that the product works reasonably well given a range of normal circumstances. Thank you CSS!
Friday, April 2, 2010
PC World's Best Free Software of 2010
This is a must for any Instructional Designer, multimedia person, or DIY cheapskate home user PC World's Best Free Software of 2010
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361876,00.asp
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361876,00.asp
Thursday, April 1, 2010
This is an amazing tool for the Online Professor. Web 2.0 Technologies are affording some very rich possibilities when it comes to structuring learning activities for one's students. In online courses, professors often struggle to bring the rich, project based activities they have students work on into fruition in the online course environment. In their face to face course, professors may require students make a visual organizer, or create a poster as a visual aid to accompany a five minute speech that they give to the class in a face to face environment. But how do you structure that type of activity for an Online Course? Enter Glogster...a rich tool that allows you to create the digital equivalent of a poster, with so much more, the ability to add audio clips, video clips, pictures, etc., and create a digital Web 2.0 poster with so much more interactivity than a traditional whiteboard poster.
Here are some educational glogs that instructors asked students to create
http://sunrise651.edu.glogster.com/australia-nature/?w1
http://balmoral.edu.glogster.com/glog-4883/?w1
Below is a sample that I made on The Supremes (Diana Ross and the Supremes) to learn to use the tool, and explore the capabilities of the tool. This tool is very simple to use, even for the non-tech savvy, and it is also very easy to integrate into a blog, or a social networking site such as twitter.
Here are some educational glogs that instructors asked students to create
http://sunrise651.edu.glogster.com/australia-nature/?w1
http://balmoral.edu.glogster.com/glog-4883/?w1
Below is a sample that I made on The Supremes (Diana Ross and the Supremes) to learn to use the tool, and explore the capabilities of the tool. This tool is very simple to use, even for the non-tech savvy, and it is also very easy to integrate into a blog, or a social networking site such as twitter.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Here is a great tool for an Instructional Designer on a Budget
http://www.cheapskatefreelancer.com/ This site has a lot of great tools that are free, or are almost free for various technology services. The site features free presentation tools, free image enhancing tools, font tools, and computer management tools. This is a great site for any instructional designer to have in their tool kit during these economic times. Also great for any freelance person in multimedia, ID.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Constructivist learning tools: Toon Doo
Check out my work with the Toon Doo Tool. I am attempting to create a workshop to show faculty how they can use this tool for Instructional Purposes. This seems like a great tool to help faculty learn to create constructivist assignments that give students real world, practical application with course concepts, something that can sometimes be difficult to implement in the Online Classroom.
| mahoganyhorizon | This is a demonstration of the possiblities of toon doo to create activities for online and classroom learning. |
 |
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Instructional Design Gal: On Lifelong Dreams
When I was a young "instructional design gal", I often dreamed of becoming an author. I had a journal full of short stories, poems, novellas, and even a short novel. I wanted to go to Howard University, Major in English, minor in Computer Science, then transfer into a graduate program and achieve an MFA in Creative Writing. My eleventh grade mind was already thinking that if I had the MFA in creative writing, I would have a back up plan in case I was unable to "make it" as an author...I could become an English, or creative writing professor.
I'd tucked my dream of becoming an author away so long, I almost forgot that I had it.
I also had a secondary dream in High School, the safe dream, the one my parents encouraged me to pursue, which was to get a associates degree in Computer Studies, and work for some mid-level company doing computer programming. I actually got an "A" in a high school level programming course in BASIC, one of the few in the class to receive such a high mark The circumstances of growing up in a small town, along with the pressure to pursue a career which would allow me to immediately transition into a career to support myself financially with the smallest investment of capital possible led me to chose my safe option, plan B, going to a community college about 30 minutes away and pursuing an Associates Degree in Computer Information Systems.
While I was able to excel in the heavy programming courses, such as Visual Basic.Net, the courses that interested me most involved web technologies, and playing with multimedia. At the time when I was working on my AAS degree, from 1998-2001, the Web 2.0 technologies that we take for granted today were not even a forethought....but I knew that I loved designing fan webpages for my favorite musician....could this be a career path for me....graphic design or multimedia design perhaps? At the school, I served as an intern, first helping students on Microsoft Office software in a computer lab (where I learned that I liked to teach), and through that connection, I was able to serve as an intern in the area of Multimedia Development, and upon graduation with my AAS degree, they created a fulltime position just for me, "out of the air", I even helped write the job description to which I applied in September 2001.
Serving as a multimedia specialist is where I first discovered my passion for Instructional Design...as an intern, I was doing much of the work of an Instructional Designer who left the college high and dry after a six month stint. I had no clue what instructional design was...but I did know that I enjoyed working with the software, director, flash, recording videos, editing videos, recording sound and helping turn a "blob" of content into a useful educational product for our burgeoning growth of distance education students, a whopping 20 students at the time. I soon learned that figuring out how to turn that "blob" of content into a useful product, one with instructive value was Instructional design--and I was hooked. A love affair of sorts. So I found my career direction, and I continued to pursue the educational goals established as a child- a Bachelor's degree part time through a local university, which I've recently completed, and now am in pursuit of my master's.
Just this morning, driving into work, I realized that I've reached my life long dreams albeit sideways. When I go to work each morning, I get to be an author, and I may not be writing like Maya Angelou, but I do get to write, Job Aids, Manual Chapters, and training plans for face to face and online courses. I also get to do a bit of programming, fiddling with HTML to get pages to appear how I want them to appear in the Learning Management system, programming a flash tutorial to get it to function as needed visually, or for instruction. I'm also involved in selecting attractive graphics that help shape the learning experience, and give faculty pointers on how to improve their own webpages, so I get to satisfy my graphic design thirst. I'm also living my early dream of instructing, although they are not English Students, but community college faculty receiving training in how to be good instructional designers for their online students. So, I get to be a writer, a programmer, and a graphic artist, and a teacher all rolled up into one. Now I'm not claiming to have the level of expertise of a master in any of these disciplines, but the role of the Instructional Designer touches upon all these roles. Stretching myself in all of these roles keeps work fascinating for me. I can think of no other profession where I could honestly say that I was gainfully employed achieving all of my varied lifelong career dreams. I expect that I will be involved in some aspect of Instructional Design for a long time.
I'd tucked my dream of becoming an author away so long, I almost forgot that I had it.
I also had a secondary dream in High School, the safe dream, the one my parents encouraged me to pursue, which was to get a associates degree in Computer Studies, and work for some mid-level company doing computer programming. I actually got an "A" in a high school level programming course in BASIC, one of the few in the class to receive such a high mark The circumstances of growing up in a small town, along with the pressure to pursue a career which would allow me to immediately transition into a career to support myself financially with the smallest investment of capital possible led me to chose my safe option, plan B, going to a community college about 30 minutes away and pursuing an Associates Degree in Computer Information Systems.
While I was able to excel in the heavy programming courses, such as Visual Basic.Net, the courses that interested me most involved web technologies, and playing with multimedia. At the time when I was working on my AAS degree, from 1998-2001, the Web 2.0 technologies that we take for granted today were not even a forethought....but I knew that I loved designing fan webpages for my favorite musician....could this be a career path for me....graphic design or multimedia design perhaps? At the school, I served as an intern, first helping students on Microsoft Office software in a computer lab (where I learned that I liked to teach), and through that connection, I was able to serve as an intern in the area of Multimedia Development, and upon graduation with my AAS degree, they created a fulltime position just for me, "out of the air", I even helped write the job description to which I applied in September 2001.
Serving as a multimedia specialist is where I first discovered my passion for Instructional Design...as an intern, I was doing much of the work of an Instructional Designer who left the college high and dry after a six month stint. I had no clue what instructional design was...but I did know that I enjoyed working with the software, director, flash, recording videos, editing videos, recording sound and helping turn a "blob" of content into a useful educational product for our burgeoning growth of distance education students, a whopping 20 students at the time. I soon learned that figuring out how to turn that "blob" of content into a useful product, one with instructive value was Instructional design--and I was hooked. A love affair of sorts. So I found my career direction, and I continued to pursue the educational goals established as a child- a Bachelor's degree part time through a local university, which I've recently completed, and now am in pursuit of my master's.
Just this morning, driving into work, I realized that I've reached my life long dreams albeit sideways. When I go to work each morning, I get to be an author, and I may not be writing like Maya Angelou, but I do get to write, Job Aids, Manual Chapters, and training plans for face to face and online courses. I also get to do a bit of programming, fiddling with HTML to get pages to appear how I want them to appear in the Learning Management system, programming a flash tutorial to get it to function as needed visually, or for instruction. I'm also involved in selecting attractive graphics that help shape the learning experience, and give faculty pointers on how to improve their own webpages, so I get to satisfy my graphic design thirst. I'm also living my early dream of instructing, although they are not English Students, but community college faculty receiving training in how to be good instructional designers for their online students. So, I get to be a writer, a programmer, and a graphic artist, and a teacher all rolled up into one. Now I'm not claiming to have the level of expertise of a master in any of these disciplines, but the role of the Instructional Designer touches upon all these roles. Stretching myself in all of these roles keeps work fascinating for me. I can think of no other profession where I could honestly say that I was gainfully employed achieving all of my varied lifelong career dreams. I expect that I will be involved in some aspect of Instructional Design for a long time.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Will the iPad change the textbook game?
As a long time student, a "semi" fan of the Mac Platform, and an Instructional Designer, I am truly wondering whether the iPad has what it takes to "shake up" the textbook game. Many folks are clamoring for the "death of the textbook". I find myself straddled on the border between the world of the traditional book purist, and the student who is completely comfortable reading in a digital world with no keen desire to hold a textbook in hand while studying material. I must admit that I do like having a physical textbook, which allows me the sensory feeling of highlighting a book, and the distinct pleasure of sticking my finger in the spine of the text while I flip back and forth between a few pages. However, I can live without that feeling and read quite comfortably on screen. There are times when I prefer to read on screen, particularly when immersed in a graduate research project; if I am reading online I can pull up additional sources of clarification at my fingertips. For example, it is helpful to Google historical information about Kirkpatrick in one Firefox tab, while reading about the Levels of Evaluation in another tab.
The device has a few points in its favor that may render it a textbook "game changer":
1. An installed user base that is already gravitating to Apple (college students).
2. A nice sensory feel which stores all books on a virtual bookshelf, and allows you to turn pages in a similar fashion to a traditional book.
3. Agreements with Simon and Schuster, Penguin, Harper Collins, and MacMillian (names that all in academia land will recognize as popular textbook publishers).
There are also a few caveats that make me skeptical about the device's ability to change the textbook industry:
1. iBook does not come installed by default on the iPad. This means that users have to install the iBooks software, and we all know how each additional layer of difficulty sours the end user on using an application.
2. iBook is currently only available in the United states (see ipad features on the apple Website http://www.apple.com/ipad/features). What about the myriad of students in other countries who would like to use the iBook? This will inhibit the e-text adoption rate.
3. Annotating and highlighting features are not supported by the iBook's e-pub format (http://newsfromthemill.com/2010/01/28/ibooks-on-the-ipad-the-kindle-killer-or-not/)
Caveat #3 makes me nearly certain that the iBooks and the iPad will not revolutionize the textbook industry. The bottom line, as a graduate student, I need to be able to highlight a textbook, write in the margins, draw a diagram on a sheet of notebook paper and tape it in my textbook. Any electronic device that will not allow me to do this is not going to offer a good study experience for a serious student.
The iPad may have what it takes to revolutionize how books are served to those reading for pleasure, I love the virtual bookshelf, and the tactile book reading experience. I also like the idea of being able to free my bookshelf of some unnecessary clutter, and the potential elimination of packing, and boxes of books during a household move. When I read for pleasure, I do not need to annotate, highlight, or deeply digest information, I am being captivated by sheer joy as I read Amy Tan or Alice Walker. But when I'm reading a graduate level ID book, I'm seeking to highlight, annotate, obtain a framework of facts, make them malleable and assimilate them into my memory. Thus my needs for textbook reading versus pleasure reading are very different.
iBooks may change the way folks read a novel, but it will not change the way folks need to interact with a textbook, as humans have been employing similar strategies to grasp new material for centuries. The device that will be a game changer for e-textbook delivery will be a device that offers the convenience of the digital world, with the ability to learn and study in the fashion that has facilitated learning for centuries, the good old fashioned highlighting, and taking notes in the margin.
The device has a few points in its favor that may render it a textbook "game changer":
1. An installed user base that is already gravitating to Apple (college students).
2. A nice sensory feel which stores all books on a virtual bookshelf, and allows you to turn pages in a similar fashion to a traditional book.
3. Agreements with Simon and Schuster, Penguin, Harper Collins, and MacMillian (names that all in academia land will recognize as popular textbook publishers).
There are also a few caveats that make me skeptical about the device's ability to change the textbook industry:
1. iBook does not come installed by default on the iPad. This means that users have to install the iBooks software, and we all know how each additional layer of difficulty sours the end user on using an application.
2. iBook is currently only available in the United states (see ipad features on the apple Website http://www.apple.com/ipad/features). What about the myriad of students in other countries who would like to use the iBook? This will inhibit the e-text adoption rate.
3. Annotating and highlighting features are not supported by the iBook's e-pub format (http://newsfromthemill.com/2010/01/28/ibooks-on-the-ipad-the-kindle-killer-or-not/)
Caveat #3 makes me nearly certain that the iBooks and the iPad will not revolutionize the textbook industry. The bottom line, as a graduate student, I need to be able to highlight a textbook, write in the margins, draw a diagram on a sheet of notebook paper and tape it in my textbook. Any electronic device that will not allow me to do this is not going to offer a good study experience for a serious student.
The iPad may have what it takes to revolutionize how books are served to those reading for pleasure, I love the virtual bookshelf, and the tactile book reading experience. I also like the idea of being able to free my bookshelf of some unnecessary clutter, and the potential elimination of packing, and boxes of books during a household move. When I read for pleasure, I do not need to annotate, highlight, or deeply digest information, I am being captivated by sheer joy as I read Amy Tan or Alice Walker. But when I'm reading a graduate level ID book, I'm seeking to highlight, annotate, obtain a framework of facts, make them malleable and assimilate them into my memory. Thus my needs for textbook reading versus pleasure reading are very different.
iBooks may change the way folks read a novel, but it will not change the way folks need to interact with a textbook, as humans have been employing similar strategies to grasp new material for centuries. The device that will be a game changer for e-textbook delivery will be a device that offers the convenience of the digital world, with the ability to learn and study in the fashion that has facilitated learning for centuries, the good old fashioned highlighting, and taking notes in the margin.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Rapid Instructional Design (George Piskurich)
I recently purchased the Rapid Instructional Design book by George Piskurich. My interest was piqued, because I think that efficiency is an important training goal that is often overlooked by instructional designers. I was looking for a reference work on instructional design that I could use as a desk reference. After completing my first graduate level instructional design course, I have a great reading list of weighty ID articles regarding Behaviorism, Edgar Dale's cone of Experience, and Robert Gagne's events of instruction. What I wanted was a short, practical desk reference where I could pick up even more tips that would help me in my quest to be a better Instructional Designer.
This is a great book for someone with a similar need. There are a ton of Job Aids that instructional designers can use as a spring board of ideas to quickly complete ID tasks. And unlike most Job Aids, you know that they are well written, for they were written by an Instructional Designer :)
I have enjoyed this book so much I have stayed up very late lately reading it. If you are looking for a handy instructional design reference, and you do not already have this book, pick it up!!
Rapid Instructional Design (George Piskurich)
This is a great book for someone with a similar need. There are a ton of Job Aids that instructional designers can use as a spring board of ideas to quickly complete ID tasks. And unlike most Job Aids, you know that they are well written, for they were written by an Instructional Designer :)
I have enjoyed this book so much I have stayed up very late lately reading it. If you are looking for a handy instructional design reference, and you do not already have this book, pick it up!!
Rapid Instructional Design (George Piskurich)
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
I know it's been a while since I posted (Porfolio)
I know that it's been a while since I posted. I have been caught up with life at work, being an instructional design gal, along with working on my Master's Degree in Instructional Systems Development.
I am currently in the process of thinking about developing a portfolio for my work. I have worked on so many projects during the past 9 years, in both the areas of multimedia and instructional design, and I have yet to document any of them! Of course, I keep copies of all of my projects, but I cannot help but hearing the voice of one of my old managers saying long ago "you need to be developing a portfolio". And now, in an era where it is so easy to create an online portfolio, and with web design experience, there is simply no excuse for me not to have a working portfolio. So I am going to work on my web portfolio, and when it is finished, I shall link this blog to the portfolio.
Here is a link to a site that gives great information about what instructional designers should be including in their e porfolios. http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/heres-why-you-need-an-e-learning-portfolio/
I am currently in the process of thinking about developing a portfolio for my work. I have worked on so many projects during the past 9 years, in both the areas of multimedia and instructional design, and I have yet to document any of them! Of course, I keep copies of all of my projects, but I cannot help but hearing the voice of one of my old managers saying long ago "you need to be developing a portfolio". And now, in an era where it is so easy to create an online portfolio, and with web design experience, there is simply no excuse for me not to have a working portfolio. So I am going to work on my web portfolio, and when it is finished, I shall link this blog to the portfolio.
Here is a link to a site that gives great information about what instructional designers should be including in their e porfolios. http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/heres-why-you-need-an-e-learning-portfolio/
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