Welcome to the first issue of myUdutu's monthly Newsletter. We hope you will find it to be a valuable resource that you will save and refer to often.
__________________________________________________________________
IN THIS ISSUE
Author's Note:
Building on a firm foundation
Experts Corner:
Tour myUdutu's Interface
Good Course Design
Create your Course Framework
Tips, Techniques & Ideas:
Stay in touch with family and friends using myUdutu
Article:
A new way of learning
Webinar Schedule:
November 2007 webinars
______________________________________________
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Building on a firm foundation
Every morning at 7:00am sharp, I wake up to the pounding of metal on metal outside my window. On the opposite side of the bay which our condo overlooks, a nine story high rise is being erected. It is being built right on the beach and so enormous steel pylons have to be pounded into the earth as a foundation to ensure the safety and integrity of the building. Once the pylons are in place, construction can begin.
While counting the days to its completion, I thought about how important a strong foundation is in many areas of our lives and in particular when it comes to good course design. If we don't lay a firm foundation before building our course, we face the possibility of constant repair, upgrading or even complete disaster.
In this Newsletter, it is our intention to provide you with all the tools and information you need to lay a solid foundation for your training program as well as assist you in it's construction. Whether you work in the corporate world or private enterprise, we are confident you will find this newsletter a valuable resource.
If you have any questions or would like us to address a specific elearning topic or training, please contact me with your requests and suggestions.
Have a great month!
Laureen Barry
About The Author
Return to Top
__________________________________________________________________
EXPERTS CORNER
Good course design based on Learning Outcomes
In keeping with our theme of building on a firm foundation, we have included three Pop Features to help you get started.
Click on the link in each feature to view the corresponding tutorial.
Return to Top
__________________________________________________________________
TIPS, TECHNIQUES AND IDEAS
Stay in touch with family and friends using myUdutu
You’re on vacation, sitting on the beach thinking how nice it would be if Grandma and Grandpa could see the kids having so much fun. It may have even crossed your mind that others are working in the office while you're soaking up the sun. How envious they'd be if they could only see you now! Well they can! – with myUdutu.
As long as you have a computer and internet connection, you can upload your vacation video clips or images into myUdutu from anywhere and share them with others instantly. In five simple steps you can make the grandparents happy and your colleagues green with envy!
So with all the other media sharing options available today, why would you want to use myUdutu? Good question; which I'll answer with another question.
What other free sharing option allows you to add music, text comments or your own narration on the fly?
Creating a mini “vacation course” would be like sending your friends and family a talking post card!
And you thought myUdutu could only be used for creating online courses!
Want to see how it's done? CLICK HERE
Return to Top
__________________________________________________________________
ARTICLE
A new way of learning
The internet has opened up a whole new world of learning. Instead of sitting in a class room, students can now take courses online, in the comfort of their own home or in a work environment. But how engaging are these courses? Do we in fact have to do anything more than offer the regular text books online? Will students enjoy the course so much that they will come back to it again and again? Is there a way to capture the learner's imagination? How can we achieve that?
These are questions that have circulated within the elearning community for many years, and continue to motivate forward thinkers to invent new methods of presenting training material.
Which is more compelling to the learner - facts or stories?
In every learning experience there are two parts:
- The mechanics: These are facts which come in the form of objectives, descriptions, procedures, methods, quizzes, references and so on.
- The organics: These are real-life stories, examples, scenarios anecdotes, illustrations and case studies.
It is a simple task to transfer the mechanics of a course to elearning because they are usually found in written manuals and documents. They are produced by professional instructors or writers and are printed as manuals or participants' handouts.
Unfortunately, in converting content to elearning, many developers only migrate the mechanics from printed material resulting in a course that amounts to little more than an online book. They fail to include the organics in the elearning format. The result is a predictable disaster - boring and uninspiring elearning programs.
In every good training environment, instructors will keep the course interesting, alive and engaging through the effective use of stories, anecdotes and illustrations. In fact, without organics, the learner has difficulty learning and retaining the information.
So what is the answer to creating compelling elearning programs? Simple: Stick with the facts, but weave a story around them.
"You can say the right thing about a product, and nobody will listen. You've got to say it in such a way that people will feel it in their gut. Because if they don't feel it, nothing will happen, ... and you won't be interesting unless you say things imaginatively, originally, freshly."
William Bernbach
Doyle Dane Bernbach advertising agency
This quote relates to advertising, but it also holds true in the elearning environment.
Here are some facts for you to consider when creating your online course:
- People learn and comprehend by assimilating and interpreting facts in terms of relative stories and case studies. They use their imagination.
- People do not relate to facts.
- Interaction enhances the learning experience; whether it's the exchange of information between instructor and learner, or interaction with the training course itself.
- The use of multimedia further enhances the learning experience as it engages the learner's physical senses.
- Facts are communicated more effectively through building exercises through organic accounts and images.
Incorporate all these observations into your training program and you are sure to create a winner!
myUdutu supports this type of course authoring and has been designed with the non-technical course developer in mind. If you haven't already explored and discovered it's many features, I invite you to do so now. Sign In ...
Return to Top
__________________________________________________________________
WEBINAR SCHEDULE
Starting November 8th, 2007 we will be hosting online webinars which we hope you will attend. These webinars will be held every Thursday at 11:00am PST and will cover a variety of topics such as:
-
Take a tour of myUdutu's interface
-
Explore unique features you won't find in any other course authoring platform
-
Learn how to quickly create a simple course
-
Learn how to create a simple scenario
-
Discover how to use "jump screens" effectively
-
Customize your course theme interface
You will receive an email invitation before each webinar, with details and instructions on how to attend. We look forward to meeting you online and answering any questions you may have about the tool.
__________________________________________________________________
COMING IN THE NEXT ISSUE...
- What is "Immersive Learning" and how can you use it?
- How to turn your Power Point into an online course
- How to create basic screens in myUdutu
- Make money using myUdutu
Return to Top
