10 Facts About Learning

Donald Clarks Plan B blog is always a great and informative read. The following post does not disappoint.

In this post Clark offers a short list of scientifically proven learning facts (not flavor-of-the-month variety) that should be printed and kept close by as you develop your courses.

10 Facts About Learning

Make sure to review them often to help with retention.

I do wish there was a reference list included but some of the comments to include to sources for this list.

The eLearning Guild has made several archived webcast recordings from their online conference Converting Existing Course Content to e-Learning available for free to anyone who signs up as an associate member (minimum). There are some great presentations about how to go about converting live classroom materials for delivery over the web.

These web casts, delivered by Adobe Connect feature audio, slides and live screen action along with participant text chat. This provides the feel of attending the session live, of course, without the ability to comment or vote in the occasional polls.

Migrating from "Live" to Online Courses

Despite the title, this article has some good suggestions for modifying content for online delivery that was originally used for "live" face-to-face courses.

Great Slide Show

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Elearning Tips and Tricks

I haven't had a chance to look through all 162 Tips but from what I've read there are some great suggestions in here. I like #37 myself.

"Use less text. Present only one thought or concept per screen."

The book is called 162 Tips and Tricks for Working with E-learning Tools and includes suggestion from members of the E-learning Guild.

Developing text-based course materials

Quite often--mostly due to limited resources: time, expertise, proper tools--many of our clients build their online courses with a heavy dose of text, and maybe a pinch of graphic elements thrown in for good measure (photographs, icons, drawings etc.) While there are many instructional methods that can easily be incorporated into online materials (subjects for other days) if you are developing a predominantly text-based course here is some advice that can help spruce up your text and improve the learner's instructional experience.

This article from WebDesignerWall offers some very simple, yet powerful ways to improve the look, readability and flow of text-based materials.

First and foremost, consider using different font styles, sizes and colors to emphasize (or de- emphasize) content and improve retention. Limit the use of bold, underline and italics. If you need to emphasize something try modifying the font color and font size especially for various headings and or text passages that you feel require emphasis.

For a more advanced discussion on the ways to enhance the readability of text, check out this presentation by Jeff Croft on Typography (pdf).

The "Magic (what) if"

Will Thalheimer talks in this post about the importance of considering the performance AND context of real-life situations when constructing our learning objectives. This is probably more of a reminder and rephrasing of the conventional wisdom that objectives need to be bahavior based, asking the question what will I be able to do when this training is over.

By adding the contextual layer, has the potential to force educators to become more in tune with how well the training environment simulates the real-world situations that learners eventually find themselves in.

Thalheimer's "Magic Question" reminds me of Stanislavski's
"Magic If" that asks actors to consider the circumstances of their characters in order to tap into the emotional depth and situational constructs that drive their motivations.