Part 1 - Illumen’s Guide to eLearning - The Beginning

eLearning is a vague term which Wikipidia defines as Learning conducted via electronic media, especially via the Internet. And of course, Wikipidia knows everything. When we talk about eLearning it can be easy to focus on the “e” which stands for electronic. Through electronic means we have the ability to be educated through, TV, mobile devices, digital notepads, CD-ROM, DVD, and any other Internet capable device. Through these devices we have the tools to educate through a combination of mediums (text, video, animation, audio, 3D, interactivity), derive analytics, and deliver information through a highly accessible platform. But, we must remember that the e really does just mean the delivery platform and our real focus needs to be on the Learning part of eLearning. Through Learning, our focus should be to create engaging, memorable experiences that lead our audience to better understand information, improve performance, manage situations, think critically, problem solve, and make decisions.

eLearning starts with a need or an idea and from there we can begin to develop goals, objectives, and strategy. Through this series, we are going to look at the process of creating an eLearning application that teaches the user how to change a bicycle or bike tire. Each part in the series will focus on a specific eLearning topic or step in the process. We will explore different technologies and different approaches to creating a simple course that does nothing more than teach our audience how to change a bike tire.

Oh, That’s Interesting:
The term eLearning is often written eLearning or e-learning. Which is correct? The good news is that they are both accepted among professionals, although if you look at Google Trends you will see that eLearning may be taking the cake. Google Trends: eLearning and e-Learning

Bringing Note Taking to eLearning - Part 1

Go into any classroom and you will see students taking notes. What do we do when we need to remember things? We write them down.  We all retain and gain our understanding of information differently and so we all take notes differently. So, with note taking being such an important tool in education and training, it is important that, as we move learning to the Internet, we have the tools available to allow us to take notes online.

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Illumen and the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase

Illumen Group is proud to announce our sponsorship of the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase this year. This event, with more than 30 contributing speakers is setting the bar for eLearning based events.

This year, the Showcase celebrates the evolution of adult learning and performance, with an emphasis on the role of new media and interactive methods in business and institutional training. The Showcase provides a full day of educational sessions for all levels of experience. More than 30 speakers will explore all aspects of elearning—instructional design, development tools, media resources, virtual classrooms, social and interactive applications, mobile learning, rapid elearning, and more. Attendees will have an opportunity to create their own schedules from a variety of topics or follow one of four Showcase Tracks, including Simulations & Social Media, eLearning Tools & LMS, Online Design, and Management of eLearning.

More information about the event and registration can be found at the Chicago eLearning & Technology Website.

Illumen will be at the event showcasing our eLearning applications and offering information on the process and development of technology and learning based solutions. We hope to see you all there.

David Charney Talks User Experience at IBM Innovation Center

Illumen’s CEO, David Charney, talks User Experience (UX) at the IBM Innovation Center Granite Group meeting. This example filled presentation covers the meaning of UX, why it is important, where it is being applied, the process of developing strong experiences, the six elements of usability, and personas, to name a few.

June 8th, 2009  ::  IBM Innovation Center  ::  71 South Wacker Drive  ::  Chicago, Illinois 60606

Register Now for Learning 2009

Illumen had a great time at Learning 2008 last year. Registration is now open for Learning 2009. Keynoters include Capt. Sullenberger, Laura Fitton - On Enterprise Twitter and Malcolm Gladwell.

Learn, Benchmark, Collaborate, Compare and Plan at Learning 2009!  - Elliott Masie

Learning 2009 (www.learning2009.com)  ::  November 8 - 11, 2009  ::  Orlando, Florida

Thinking Critically Through Experiential and Environmental E-Learning

My first job was at an Arby’s. I learned how to make sandwiches, work the register, work drive thru, clean dishes, prep for the day, shut down the store, etc. I was taught how to make each sandwich, the correct order to place the ingredients, and how to wrap the sandwich. All this I learned from a book, a few triple laminated guides, and from making a few sandwiches on my own. I felt pretty comfortable and ready to make my first sandwich for the customer. What I wasn’t ready for was the 5 for 5 sandwich deal that was available. Five Regular Roast Beef sandwiches for $5.00 (a great deal compared to today’s prices). Suddenly on the sandwich monitor there were three 5 for 5 orders, a Super, two Arby’s Melts, and a Chicken Cordon Bleu. The Super needed extra sauce and the Cordon Bleu had added lettuce. Someone working the drive thru yelled back that they needed their Arby’s Melts first and that the second order of 5 for 5s needed cheese. I had limited space and limited time to make everything I needed. More sandwiches were popping up on the monitor. The frier and slicer were beeping. Customers were waiting and managers and employees were shouting. I was in a panic. What is going on? What goes on what sandwich? Did they say they needed cheese on the sandwiches? Do I have enough chicken? Was this worth making only $5.25 an hour? If I didn’t perform my job well we could lose time, lose money, and upset customers. This was real life and I didn’t have the experience I needed.

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Developing for Training & Education

I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn. - Albert Einstein

Knowledge is obviously a big ingredient when it comes to our ideas and actions. It is the foundation to what we do, how we think, and how we interact. Knowledge is often accrued through the presentation of materials, through self exploration, through mentoring, or through trial and error. Personally, I learn most of my lessons through screw ups. This knowledge forms the foundation we need to understand a situation, think critically, and make the decisions we need to grow and succeed.

When developing educational or training based applications we tend to look at three key ideas involved with understanding and applying knowledge: developing state-of-mind, problem solving skills, and experience.

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RIApalooza Brings New Ideas to Developing Better Applications

RIApalooza is an annual meeting of designers, developers, managers, and creative professionals focused on the user experience and developing better rich Internet applications. This all day event  is driven by platform agnostic and PowerPoint-free presentations. Among the presenters are top technology developers and consultants from Microsoft, Adobe, Magenic, and Roundarch, to name a few. Their discussions involve theory and practices covering topics such as mobile applications, user experience principals, and social medias. These sessions conclude with an evening  meet and greet to network, ask questions, and continue discussions. And like last year, a free t-shirt for all those who attend!

RIApalooza is on Friday, May 8th 2009, downtown Chicago. Check out the RIApalooza website for details.

RIApalooza is sponsored by CD2, which is an Illumen sponsored user group focused on bridging the gap between design and development to create stronger, more engaging solutions and experiences.

Analytics is Hard!

It’s an interesting conundrum. Never has our economy been more competitive. Never have companies been under more pressure to make every aspect of their operations ultimately efficient. Never has there been a more tangible link between learning and productivity . . . and yet, the number of organizations that can effectively measure and assess the performance of their learning programs or can accurately analyze visitor interaction with their web-based learning initiatives is less than 12%.

The reasons are easy to explain, but difficult to change.

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Make a Meal, Not a Shopping List

When starting a project, it is easy for us to gather up a shopping list of goals, wants, needs, and ideas. We may say “I want a chat room, a product configurator, a calendar, a blog, a forum,…”  - you get the idea. In fact this list is a great component when within the discovery and defining process. The more information and ideas we can put on paper, the better. But this is shopping list. It is a list of ingredients that don’t necessarily relate to each other. We buy ingredients to create a meal. There are a lot of ingredients we like but we must understand the that not all good ingredients can be put together to create a great meal. We choose ingredients that have their own unique flavors, textures, and colors, that intermingle to form the perfect tasting meal. This same idea can be applied within training, educational, and marketing applications. It is important that we not only define and develop the individual components, but how these components work together to form a comprehensive, cohesive experience.

When we make a meal we pay attention to how it tastes. We make adjustments to the ingredients to make the next meal even better. Metrics, or measurements do the same for your applications. We don’t make a meal and not wonder what people think of it. We don’t give it to someone and not ask how it tasted. The process continues past the development of your application. Use it yourself, find out what others think, and review the analytics.

If we focus both bottom-up and top-down, explore ideas that are detailed while stepping back to review the big picture, there will be no stopping our pursuit in creating more engaging, better measurable, and more delicious applications.