EDITOR'S NOTE:

Udutu-Teach & Udutu-Learn

It is Spring time in Canada and the flowering cherries have burst into bloom along with the Rhododendrons and other Spring flowers. They make a spectacular display and remind us that warmer days are ahead, in spite of the rogue snow storms that jealously try to upstage the first signs of Spring.

This is the perfect time to tap into the invigorating energy that surrounds us and come up with new ideas and concepts. And that is exactly what Udutu is doing! Have your heard about myUdutu-Learn and myUdutu-Teach?

The Udutu team has just returned from the eLearning Guild Annual Expo in Orlando, Florida where they launched myUdutu's innovative application which turns Facebook into a powerful LMS! What better place to connect, learn and even teach people?

I hope you were able to attend. For those who couldn't, not to worry, we will be hosting a webinar on this topic in May. This is one session you won't want to miss, so make sure you check the webinar schedule on the Udutu website and reserve your place.

Take advantage of Spring energy and have a wonderful month.

Laureen

EXPERT'S CORNER:

Working with Advanced Screen Templates:
Here is a new set of Udututorials that deal with myUdutu's powerful Advanced Screens. Each one is designed as a quick "POP Feature" approximately 1 minute long. No frills, just the facts.

Udututorial 16 - How to create a slide show
Udututorial 17 - How to create an image roll over animation

TIPS, TECHIQUES AND IDEAS:

Did you know ...

• You can create your entire course structure in myUdutu before you import even one content item! Building a course framework and then populating screens is a simple and effective way of getting the job done. Once the screens are populated, you are not tied in to the structure you created. You can change the look and feel of templates and the course as a whole. You can drag screens to different locations, change content, save specific sections as stand-alone Learning Objects, share objects groups or content with others and much more! To find out more about how to build a course framework, view the Udututorial on our web site: "How to create a course framework".
• When you upload an image into myUdutu, it will automatically be resized, retaining the image aspect ratio. myUdutu also uses anti-aliasing settings, ensuring your images are always crisp and clear. If you want to create an image the exact size of the image holder in a specific template, simply move your mouse over the "media location" placeholder in the authoring screen and a tag will appear displaying the image size in pixels. To find out more about working with images in myUdutu, view the Udututorials under "Working with Images".
• myUdutu plugs into Moodle? You can create your course in myUdutu and import it into Moodle via the plugin. All you have to do is download the plugin and import your course. The steps are simple and intuitive. For further information on this topic, view a past webinar on the subject:
  "Moodle and myUdutu".

FEATURED ARTICLE:

Make it stick!

In last month's Newsletter we looked at four steps to making a course meaningful for the learner. They were:

This month we will take a look at the second step in the "4 Ms" and that is how to make your course content "Memorable". Here are four aspects for you to consider when designing memorable courses:

1. Use a strong storyline

In these newsletters we have touched many times on the importance of producing powerful stories. I am reiterating this point yet again, because if you don't have an interesting or powerful story to build your course around, you are going to have a difficult time holding your learners' attention.

I recently read an excellent book by Chip and Dan Heath, called "Made to Stick". In this thought provoking book, the authors discuss the various aspects of what makes ideas "sticky". How can we make our ideas stick in people's minds? What steps can we take to ensure the most important data is retained long after a story has been told?

One good example they explore is "Urban Legends". Read more...

RAVE REVIEWS:
The Krystal Company
By Robert Craigo, Director of Training

"This is to express our complete satisfaction with the work that the Udutu team has done on a complete series of Web Based Training courses for the Kyrstal Company. Their creativity and innovation has made our on-line courses a huge success within our company. The Udutu team worked with us to design and develop some of the most innovative courses in our industry. In addition to creating our courses, they made a special effort to collaborate with us and to teach us how to use our Web Based systems and resources to our best advantage.

Even after the courses have been released the Udutu staff continues to provide outstanding service.

We remain committed to our association with Roger Mundell and the Udutu staff and are confident that they will continue to offer us the best, most creative and innovative products and services available in the emerging field of on-line learning."