URGENT! Wheel just invented!

Oh...wait... that's already been done, hasn't it?

I am in the middle of teaching my government-only "Online Trainer" course, which culminates in participants turning in a storyboard/outline/dummy version of a program the would like to put online. Drafts came in this week: Of the 16 enrolled, one's doing ethics, another 'cube etiquette', and another 'unlawful harassment'. That's great, but they're all planning to do it...from scratch. And...most of it's shaping up to be bulleted text-heavy slides.

I just googled 'free online harassment training' and got, and no I'm not kidding, no fewer that forty-eleven thousand sites to view.

PLEASE, please, watch the temptation to reinvent the wheel! Development time for from-scratch e-learning is often in the hundreds of hours. There's already plenty out there on most topics we do. Unless you are working to train on your company's how-we-make-blue-left-handed-gorilla-widgets, the odds are that someone, somewhere, has already done much of the work for you. If you can't use it outright you can at least use it for idea-starting.

Those on tight budgets must start looking at the hidden costs of creating everything from scratch, especially if something better already exists for free or cheap.

Learn to use what you have before buying something else...

“In user testing, Microsoft found that nine out of every 10 features that customers wanted to see added to Office products were already in the program.”


-- Ina Fried Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: September 20, 2005

FREE PowerPoint templates

Check out Indezine for hundreds of beautiful, free PowerPoint templates, including many for health care, teaching, and computer-related topics.

Prices?

Readers know I'm a proponent of the 'buy-what-you-need' approach; that is, rather than outsource whole projects, I advocate outsourcing work on components, like custom video or a flash piece, that may be beyond your grasp skill- or time-wise. Getacoder lists projects and accompanying bids; not only is this a good source for contacts, it's also a good way to get a feel for what particular work should cost.

Love the One You're With

I've had lots of questions this past week about products -- most costing in the upper hundreds -- that don't do anything that can't be done with things most computer users already have--like PowerPoint, MS Paint, and the MS Sound recorder. Become skilled at using--or at least knowledgable about-- the tools you already own. Check your programs-start-accessories button and take a look at what's there. And: know what you're trying to accomplish, then choose tools that meet your goal. Beware of solutions in search of problems!

Beware of "featuritis"

I can't say it enough...before you buy anything, identify the problem you're trying to solve. AND be sure that you can't already do what the new product does. There are endless products out there in the form of solutions in search of problems. For instance, I had someone come to me last week all excited about a new product he'd gotten an ad for: a 'cool thing' that would let you phone in powerpoint narration. I can't imagine why one would want to do that---there are a pile of microphones in my office (they only cost $10 anyway), and we actually have the luxury of having a soundproof room--but he just thought it was the neatest thing. Apart from the fact that recording sound by phone gives terrible audio quality, the product itself didn't do anything that powerpoint can't already do. Caveat emptor...

FREE "Learn Italian" Podcasts

Basic lessons available to play online or to download. Add-ons are by subscription (still only a few dollars a month) but the basic lessons are free.
www.learnitalianpod.com . Also-- www.learnchinesepod.com and coming soon www.learnspanishpod.com .

FREE Whiteboards, VOIP, etc.

Sourceforge is a repository with hundreds of open-source products. Click 'projects' for a searchable list of what's available.

Cool FREE Timer

Check out this great timer! I use this in synchronous online sessions as well as F2F classroom events. It's available for free download from hahntech.

Online tutoring

A comment from partner in crime Nanette Miner, who saw on a recent Today show "a man in India who is tutoring a 15 year old CA girl in Geometry. The young lady's mother found him by conducting a web search. The camera showed a view of their computers, over their shoulders (both the teen and the tutor) and guess what they were using? WebEx! The tutor was using the whiteboard feature to write equations and explain them to the teen. Too cool, don't you think?"

Free Live-Online Classes!

My fall schedule includes FREE synchronous sessions of "TrainerSmarts", "Speaking with Sizzle, Substance & Style", "TGIM: (Thank Goodness It's Monday)Enjoy Your Job, Enjoy Your Life", and "Holiday Stressbusters", all in collaboration with InSync Training. We'll be using the WebEx virtual classroom platform. Hope to see you at some, or all, of these!

Palm Springs, CA, USA: June 11-14

I'm headed to sunny (and hot!) California tomorrow morning for VNU's Training Director's Forum. Hope to see you there!

WOW

Just home from Ireland, thanks to the conference organizers of the the Irish Learning Technology Association, and saw this at an airport bookshop. Not necessarily "shoestring" (though only about $10 more than a new hardback book), it may be the coolest new tech-thing I've seen in a long while. Check out Playaway self-playing audiobooks. The company website offers suggestions for how to reuse/share the product, too. Though it may not look like much to hard-core iPoders, it's a perfect airport product, and may provide a gentle nudge for some technology resisters. And it would have been just perfect back when my elderly father, losing his vision, found books on tape too cumbersome to manage.

Location, location, location

Am on the road a good deal the next few months so please do look me up if I'm in your neighborhood: Irish Educational Technology Users' Conference, Sligo, Ireland, May 26; Training Directors' Forum, Palm Springs, CA, June 11-13; NASPE, San Antonio, TX, Aug 13; Training Solutions, Denver, Oct 23-25.

FREE file transfer

E-mail attachments getting blocked? Check out YouSendIt for file transfer. Upload your file to the web, send an email to the intended recipient, they go and get it. Very cool. Love getting around those IT dragons...

The Right Technology for the Job

I'm concerned about the oft-mentioned--and, in my opinion, false-- distinction between "classroom" and "e-learning". We need to start choosing the delivery method that meets the learning need. Here's an article about the success of podcasting in training cardiologists to recognize heart sounds. If the skill is listening, then we need training that requires listening...not reading PowerPoint slides or looking at animated hearts.

Do you PowWowNow?

Powwownow provides FREE voice conferencing, shared presentation, and PDF documentation--you pay the phone charges.

Coming to Training 2006?

I'll be in Orlando Sunday--Wednesday. Am presenting all day long Wednesday and have a book signing that morning as well. Please stop by and say hello!

Using Blogs in Training

Blogs (FREE!) can be used quite successfully in instruction: for reflective activities like journaling, support for writing courses, and knowledge management tools. Here's a link to a 52-page pdf file on blogging in corporate America.

Using Mobile Text Messaging

From David Gibson's Eureka! newsletter:
Pre-workshop - Send a text message welcoming learners to their workshop.
Post workshop - Send a thank you text message for their input to the workshop.
Post workshop - Send short tips (or shortcuts if it was a systems training) once a week for the next 6 weeks adding or helping embed what was uncovered during their time with you.
Post workshop - Send links or suggestions for additional resources via a text message.